The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-03-01 00:00:00

ALARMING EXPLOSION AT .& LONDON
RAILWAY STATION.

in explosion of an alarming character oce3rttd ,at
a few minutes after one o'clock on Tuesday nyzning
at the Victoria Station of the London, Brighton, and
South Coast Railway. The station was partially%
closed, as the last outward trains had been dispatched;
but, as a main line train had just arrived, some few
of the officials were still on the premises. The ex-
plosion, whiAt took place either in the parcels or
cloak room which adjoin, was of a most violent and
destructive character, and was heard at so great a dis-
tance as Clapham. Several persons, including a
policeman on duty just outside the station, were
thrown down by its force, and its effects were felt over
an extended area. The sides and windows of That por-
tion of the station in which the supposed outrage
occurred were blown outwards, the materials of which
they were constructed being scattered in every
direction for a considerable distance. Some
of the windows of the Metropolitan District Railway
Station on the other side of the station yard, fully
sixty yards distant, were shattered, and the fronts of
houses, equally far removed in other directions, were
also damaged. In the station great havoc was
wrought; the offices near and their contents were
almost completely destroyed, and the verandah in
front of the station also suffered,. The station yard
was strewn with debris.

A large number of police, detachments of the
Metropolitan Fire Brigade and the Salvage Corps were
quickly on the spot, and promptly extinguished some
flames which had broken out. As already stated, the
station was almost deserted at the time, and so it is
not surprising that no one was injured by the explosive
itself, but two men sustained injuries from falling
glass and debris. Chief Inspector Goldsmith was in
attendance shortly after the occurrence, and placed a
strong cordon of police around the damaged buildings,
so that they might remain undisturbed until Colonel
14fajendie, the Government Inspector of Explosives,
had visited and viewed the scene.

With reference to the origin and natum of the ex-
plosion, the first supposition was that it had been
caused by an escape of gas, but others, including the
station master, thought gunpowder was the agent
employed, whilst the theory which found most
general acceptance
_was that dynamite had been used.

I A further-account says: Although at a first glance
the scene of the accident is an appalling wreck, it for-
tunately turns out that the real damage is not so very
extensive. The cloak-room, in which the explosion
undoubtedly took place, together with the waiting-,
room and booking-office adjoining it, at the back and
side were very lightly constructed, and thus its force
was minimised to an extent that would have been.
impossible in a building of stone and brick. All the'
walls and ceilings were light lath and plaster, with,
matchwood boarding, while the roof was also lightly
constructed of slates- on, iron bratticing and wooden.
rafters. But here the wreck is complete. The
roof, walls, windows, luggage, and furniture lay
in one vast mass mingled together, while on sundry
sides are charred heaps showing where the
conflagration that broke out was so speedily
extinguished. In, the front of the station the walls
are bulged outwards, and the window frames blocked
with debris, while not a single pane of glass is left
whole in that part of the shelter roof. Just adjoining
the cloak-room are the steps of the subway leading to•
the District Railway. This was surrounded by a stout
iron railing, firmly fixed in a strong stone coping, the
whole of which had, been thrown over as though it
were a bundle of firewood. The three clocks in the.
booking-office point to the exact time when the explo-
sion occurred, they all having stopped at three
minutes after one o'clock. In the booking-office-
itself, where passengers were accustomed to
take their tickets for the mainline, the glass or interior
office occupied by the clerks is entirely demolished,.
and one side of it, that nearest the cloak-room,
partially stove in. The ticket cases are also knocked
over, and tickets lie scattered all over the place with
the other debris of broken glass, plaster, and splinters,
of wood. Adjoining the booking-office is the refresh-
ment room, but here there has been no material
damage, though the force of the explosion burst all,
the locks in the cellar, which runs below, the front
yard. On the platform side of the station the injury
is confined to a few sheets of broken glass in the roof,
and the adjoining station of the London, Chatham,.
and Dover Company. has only suffered in a similar-
fashion. Outside the station several of the surround-
ing houses and the District Railway Station have had
their windows broken by the concussion. At the
Shakespeare Hotel; some 50 feet on the left., one largo
sheet of plate glass- was broken, and at the District
Railway several were blown clean out of their frames..
In Victoria-buildings and Wilton-road, opposite, some,
six or seven houses have suffered in a similar manner,
but no damage is reported in the interior, of any of
them, most of the windows appearing to have broken
outwards. A jeweller's has all the wilidows upstairs
broken, but the proprietor states that inside his shop
not a single article appears disturbed, and his. clocks,
did not stop.