The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1861-01-29 00:00:00

FRIGHTFUL EXPLOSION AT TIIE 40YAL
ENGINEER FATABLISIIMENT, CHATHAM.

CHATHAM, Monday, Jan. 21.
An esploaion of a most terrible character, by which
world own belonging to the Royal Engireer establish.
went, Brotuitton ltnrrneks, have auatailied frightful in.
juries, occurred about noon to-day, at the head•quetr.
lire of the Royal religiose's, spreatliog conaiderable
alarm among all the permits connected with that vital).
lisliment. The scene of the calamity W 11.4 • juirtion of
the eatatilistiment known RS the north gun-abett, a build.
hug 1t...0y AM feat in length by about 211 in width,
which ia ..tni ti at • abort Matinee from the main build-
ings .nspricing the barracks. A portion of the liked
was pet apart for the Matt-liana of the Altars and
men for ilnl Royal anfl !when Engineers in the manufac-
ture of fuses, hand-grenades, and other destructive
wiasihet Wird by that branch of the mortice. At the
lilac of the ar,i.lent about thirty men, pno t of them
belonlin4 to the, Indian Engineer% anti only a very few
of Ihe lt..yals, among whom were several lion.einnintie
atoned onicera, wi re uniler the direction of &meant
Adaina, ILL., a zion-conintimaioned officer of great ea•
perietiee, who wit+ ',pedal!). •ppointed to that duty from
los great ability and the practical knowledge he brought
to hear on the subject.
. . .

The engineers had been employed the whole morning
in filling the fuses and lianidgrenalles, and nothing oc-
mural to create alarm until a few ininutes before the
time fur the turn discontinuing work to go to dinner.
It is necessary to explain that a fortiori of the grenwlei
moil reset are filled 51111 powder, at the top iif which is
placed • coimosition compmed ef tine powder. salt-
petre, and sulphur, a 'rich is known to be of • highly
combustible character. Special orders were therefore
oisued by Sergeant Adams. It appears that one of the
111. pi 'era of the Indian Enb,ineers, a MAU named George
Smith, was employed in ramming the composition into
• fuse, but hiding that it went hanl, reAuested the
Mall next him to assist hint, wnich lie did. Suddenly
the fuse which Smith held ill 116 hand became ignited'
dualities.' from the amount of tamping it hail bevn nub
jested to, Smith, who seemed parimsticken, it II hold-
ing it in his hand. The fuse then explodril, when the
composition in the saucers warn ignited, together with
the preparations for some 10-inch shells, •nil half-a-
barrel of gunpowder which was in the shed. The effect
tithe explosion was of the most serious character, tbe
first report, which mounded like the discharge of a 32
-
pounder, being followed by several urinor explosions as
the ignited hand-grenades and fuses burst.
The portion of the roof ef the gun-shed which covered
the compartment where the engineers were at work was
lifted up and parts blown away, the Iced which cowered
it bring rolled up like a scroll. The entire side of the
shedass billWll out. Ynd the wood-work of which it was
semi...mil, scattered in all directions, limey of the pieces
being afterwards picked up a considerable distance off.
The ,ales of the eompartineht were also blown down,
and a great deal of hams committed in the Plied. Many
of the men liad their clothes nearly blown to shreds,
one man having the entire front of his clothes blown
off, and being otherwise terribly burnt. Two sir
three men were found to be on fire after
the explosion, and were much burnt. A sap-
per, named Thoinaa Rogers, is so seriously
injured that his life is despaired of, and should lie re-
cover it is feared that he will he totally blind. Ser-
geant Chapman, together with two mappers, mimed
Goode arid Elliot, were blown liy the force id the explo-
sion through the gun-shed into a coal yard between 20
and 38 feet.

linmeiliately after. the oecnrence e board of officer%
emoi.titigot Major Lovell, Captain iichaw, and Captain
Stuart, a...titbit,' at ktrompton Barracks by order of
Colonel Harems., C. 8., to investigate the worm of the
accident. cud were uccupied • considerable time in the
eisuninotion of winesses who could afford any in.
formation.

This occurrence caused the suspension of all work in
the laboratory at the north gun.she.l. where the explo.
pion took place, and, from the utter ruin is which the
interior of the factory wee found after the soeident,.it
will be some time before work of any kind eau be fe•
sinned in that building. The north gnii-sbed, it ought
to be stated, is a building by no mean., suited for the
description of the work carried on within it. and, as
the moue implies, was never intended to be mod as •
laboratory for the manufacture of dabgeroua 'Maude*.
The only protection afforded the inmates on one side of
the shed is a row of paling.; carried no to the roof, coin-
municating with the outside, to which the public have
access, and where the operations of t:ie persons ein-
ployed can be witnessed by any persons from the
tenor. Two Two large romp:sof buildings are now in course
of erect at the Engineer eitabludiment for the re-
quirement' of the officers and men, and it ia probable
that a portion of one of thew will be ultimately used
for the purpose.
Considering the force with which the heaps of hand-
krnooles and fuees exploded, it was little short of a
miracle that there was not a large losa of life. At the
time of the explesion there were about 50 shells, of
esrious sizes, on the Boor of the laboratory, some of
them being as large as 10-inch ; these, fortunately,
ware not cfiowd, or the mesh ci thsir "Picaas liamM
hare bees 111104 appalling. There were also several

hundred hand grenades and fuses, some charged, and
others waiting for that operation to be performed on
them. These were oeutterml about, and it is owing to this
fortunate circumstance that the violence of the explosion
Wes much less than it otherwise would have been. So
great, however. was the force of the explosion. that
nearly every but in the rang... of buildings forming the
loit•barr.wile, a short distonee trout the Engineer
e.tdblishment, wit.. shaken to its foundation, the iutuates
of in of them ri.hiog out to ascertain the cause. A
number of troops of the line were tieing exereitied very
near to the north gdieshed at the urostent of the
accident, and theme, observing the aide of the she.l
Woo n out, threw dowd their aims and run away, under
the impres.dm that the entire building would Wow up.
The whold of one aide of the laboratory was blown clean
away, and through this opening' were hurled a sergeant
and two Mappers irto a coal yard below After the
explosion tbe laboratory was discovered to be on tire in
two or tbres places, but, the engine. being soon on the
spot, the dames were extinguished.

Tat WALLBlume hltinista.—On Thursday, Mr. W.
H. Phillips. deputy coroner for the Wolverhampton
district, held an inqueet at the Wallhrook Tavern, Wall-
brook. near to the Princess End station of the West
Midland Railway, on the body of Elisedoeth Lewis. a
married woman, aged 30. whose throat was cut on the
21st of Nosember last by John Stephenson, • lodger.
Stephenson made improper advances to the deceased,
who resented them, pig.l he mit her throat with a razor.
Having left her for dead, he drew the razor &crofts his
own throat, end abitmit immediately fell a corpse by the
aide of the unolfending woman. In his ease the jury
returned a verdict of
.felo tle se. and his body warm inter-
red with the customary indignities accompanying the
burial •of • self murderer. Not the faintest hope
was entertained of the women's recto try during at least
• fortnight after she received tier injuries. By that
time, however, die bad begun to mend, and continued
to improve till she could ta:k audibly and with ease,
and meat and wino formed part of her diet. On the
16th inst., however, she left her room without the
knowledge of her surgeon (Mr. Smith), and, taking (gold,
was emnpelled tie return to her bed. In two 'Lye alio
wag suffering from bronchitis, and, on the 31st inst.,
just two lunar months f the day on whiell elle re-
ceived her wound.sho died of asphyxia produced by an
atteek of bronchitis supervening on the wound in the
windpipe. Iler cam wee a remarkable instance of amp
mosful aurdeal treatment. A pow onortens examination
of the throat by Mr. Smith showed that the windpipe
had been quite divided, excepting the small membrane.
OM portion behind, in the position just below the
larynx, yet the several part* bed been brought into per.
feet apposition, mot the wentel lied thoroughb healed.
Before her remote, occasioned by the newt reprehensi-
ble ineatition, Mr. Smith had entertained confident ex-
pectation of her retrivery being complete enough with
Ihue caution, to enable her to reauitie her ;meal duties.
It was shown that tie decimate( and her relatives were
prune to CallC..ro,i, diseases, which, Added to the very
dangerous position of the womet and the imverty of the
Patient. caused the progress that she made towards a
complete recovery tlic more remarkable. It tieing the
aurgeotea opinion that the wound in the throat was the
primary MIN of death, en I tile evidence as adduced on
the impust of her murikrer being again related by the
several witneww• timejury returned • verdict of wilful
murder against John Stephenson.