The Press.
London, England, 1855-08-18 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

In order to secure the requisite scenic effect, each
scene had attached behind it a gallery, where the
devices of panoramic or pyrotechnic art might be
put into requisition. Thus the business of the mock
siege had to be conducted on a series of stages as it
turned out quite unfit to bear the rush of a number
of stalwart Guardsmen, since, just as the spectacle
was reaching its close, the highest part of the staging
gave way, bringing some sixty men with bayonets
fixed on their muskets crashing to the ground
through a fall of at least twenty feet. Among those
precipitated by the accident were several boys of the
Duke of York's School, who assisted in the fête.
Happily none of these poor little fellows sustained
any serious injury, but the Grenadiers fell heavily,
and twenty of them are more or less hurt. Some
received bayonet wounds in the Italie of' the tumble,
but not of dangerous character. There were, how-
ever, five fractures, one man had both his legs
broken, and another suffered some' severe internal
injuries. Every attention and asistance were of
course promptly rendered. The circus was imme-
diately converted into a temporary hospital, and as
fast as stretchers could be procured the injured men
were carefully removed to their own hospital. The
Wellington College Fund will gain considerably by
the Rte.

A FATAL CONFLAGRATION happened on Monday
morning in the premises belonging to Mrs. Ford-
ham, pawnbroker, at 35, George-row, near Bermond-
sey-wall. The building in which the calamity
occurred was four floors high, each room being filled
with plate, wearing apparel, and other articles left in
pledge. As soon as the fire was extinguished, the
firemen, under the direction of Mr. Henderson and
Mr. Slow, the coroner's officer, went in search of
several parties who were reported missing. After
some time three bodies were found in the ruins
fearfully burnt, and at a later hour a fourth corpse,
that of Mary Reeves, a servant in the house, was
also discovered. The names of the others who
perished were William Wood, aged 49, the brother
of Mrs. Fordham, Alfred Fordham, aged 14, and
Robert Fordham, aged 4. The premises and
property were insured in the Sun Fire-office.
Aw ACCIDENT, by which three lives were sacrificed,
has occurred at the works connected with the railway
bridge now erecting across the Medway in Rochester
for the East Kent Railway Company. The plan
adopted for laying the foundation of the piers is as
follows :—Large iron cylinders, of about nine feet in
diameter, and of great weight and thickness, are
sunk at spots selected. They are then braced toge-
ther, forming a long upright hollow pile. The
water is then pumped out, and workmen proceed
down the inside to the bed of the river, where the
soil is excavated to a great depth, the cylinders
sinking with their own weight. The interior is then
filled with concrete mixed with gravel, &c., the
whole forming a solid bed for laying on the masonry.
Last Saturday morning a number of workmen were
employed in this description of work. The men had
sent up several "journeys" of soil, when from some
unexplained cause the bottoms came out of the
buckets. The whole suddenly fell down inside the
cylinders, carrying in their fall the stages inside, and
also a large diving-bell, the whole mass weighing
several tons. At the time of the accident there were
two men working inside, and from the immense
weight which fell on them their deaths must have
been instantaneous. Their names are Thomas
Colvill and James Carter. One man who was work-
ing with the bell, named George Humphries, was
also killed. The escape of some other men was most
marvellous. An inquest has since been held on the
bodies of the men who perished, and a verdict of az •
cidental death returned.

SEVERAL PERSONS went yesterday week from Sun-
derland over to the sands at the entrance of Jarrow
Slake, to dredge for shrimps. Among them was a
man named Bartram. He was dredging on the sands
at some distance from the rest, when he was suddenly
heard to exclaim, " Lord Jesus save us," and the
next moment he was engulfed in a dangerous quick-
sand. His body has not been found.

THE STEAM•PACKET that left Dover for Calais last
Saturday night came into collision with the brigan-
tine Henry of Yarmouth, bound from Shields to
Rouen, deeply laden with coal, when the latter was
sunk, and the master, Robert High ; the mate,
Charles Holmes; and a boy, [F. Fulcher, sunk with
the vessel, not having been able to cast the boat they
had got into adrift from the ship. Two other men
who were on board, named Hastings and Rudam,
were picked up by the boat of the packet.

A FATAL BOILER ExmosioN took place this day
week, at the Castle Mills grinding-wheel, the property
of Samuel Parker and sons. A large tubular boiler
had recently been put down at the works, and while
it was being tested, preparatory to commencing work
on Monday, it burst with a most terrific explosion.
An engine-tenter named Samuel Hill, who was at-
tending to the fire at the time, was instantaneously
killed, and the immense boiler, weighing upwards of
fourteen tons, was driven through the closed gates
across 131onk-streete and, passing complotel/ through

783

some melting furnaces on the opposite side, dropped
in the river beyond, a distance of about eighty yards.
Several others were severely hurt by the catastrophe,
two of whom have since died.

Obitnarz

THE DITHE OH SOMERSET expired, after a pro-
longed illness, on Wednesday last, at his town resi-
dence in Park-lane. The deceased peer, Edward
Adolphus St. Maur, eleventh Duke of Somerset,
Baron Seymour of Hache, Baronet, a Knight of the
Garter, Vice-Admiral of the coast of Somerset,
D.C.L., F.R.S., and F.S.A., was born on the 24th of
February, 1775, and had consequently completed his
80th year. He was the son of Lord Webb Seymour,
the tenth duke, and inherited the title at his death,
in 1793. In 1800 he married a daughter of the
Duke of Hamilton, who died in 1827, and by this
lady had issue three sons and four daughters. His
grace subsequently married (in 1836) Margaret,
daughter of Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, Bart, who
survives him. The late duke was educated at Christ
Church, Oxford, and was very much devoted to
scientific and mathematical pursuits. Some years

ago his grace published a treatise of the relative
elementary properties of the ellipse and the circle.
He was also President of the Royal Institution.
The seventh duke was created Earl of Northumber-
land, with remainder to his son-in-law, Sir Hugh
Smithson. The first duke was the celebrated Lord
Protector Somerset, temp. Edward VI.: his titles
were granted with remainder to his issue by his
second wife, and then to his issue by his first
marriage ; but his honours were attainted and he
was beheaded ; his eldest son by the second wife
was, however, raised to the peerage, and the
attainder subsequently was reversed in favour of his
great-grandson, who then succeeded as second
duke. On the death of the seventh duke, the late
peer's grandfather succeeded as heir of the first
duke's eldest son by the first marriage, the line
derived from the second marriage having failed.
His grace is succeeded by his eldest son, the
Right Hon. Edward Adolphus St. Maur Lord Sey-
mour, now 12th Duke of Somerset. He was born in
1804, and married, in 1830, the youngest daughter of
the late Thomas Sheridan, and granddaughter of
the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
His grace was a Lord of the Treasury from 1835
to 1839; Secretary to the Board of Control from
1889 to June, 1841; and Under-Secretary of State
for the Home Department, from June to Septem-
ber, 1841, in Lord Melbourne's Administration. He
was appointed in Lord John Russell's Government
Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests in 1849,
and became First Commissioner of Works in 1851,

until February, 1852. The representation of Tot
ness will become vacant by Lord Seymour's accession
to the title.

GENERAL. PEPE, who died at his residence near
Turin on the Bth inst., is well known to the readers
of Italian history of the last half-century, as from
1799 to 1849 he had been actively engaged in every
political movement of importance. He was born in
Calabria m 1783, and in 1799 sided with the French
party in the Neapolitan kingdom, for which he was
condemned to death, but the sentence was commuted
to exile, on account of his youth. When Joachim
Murat became King of Naples Pepe entered the
Neapolitan army, and accompanied the contingent
sent to Spain. In 1815 be fought under Murat for
the independence of Italy, and continued in the
Neapolitan service after the restoration of the Boar-
bons. In 1820 and 1821 he was the leader of the
revolutionary party, for which he was again exiled,
and remained in France and England until 1848.
During this period he became acquainted with many
of the most eminent men in both those countries,
and was an intimate friend of the late Joseph Hume.
In 1848 be returned to Naples, and was appointed
commander-in•chief of the army sent to Central Italy
against the Austrians by the constitutional Govern-
ment of Ferdinand 11. At Bologna he received
orders to return, which he refused to obey, but re-
signed the command of the army, and repaired to
Venice, when he was made commandant, which
command he held until the surrender of that city in
1849, and there ended the long and checkered military
career of General Pepe. From Venice the general
went to Paris, and continued to reside there until
the coup d'etat of 1852, when he went to and settled in
Piedmont.

THE total number of bushels of malt charged with
duty in the whole of the United Kingdom during the
year ended the Ist of July, 1855, amounted to
36,398,668 bushels, against 39,511,220 in 1853-54, and
41,915,541 in 1852-53. The number of bushels
charged in England was 31,060,285; in Scotland,
3,261,101 ; and in Ireland, 1,470,282 bushels.
IN the " California Homicide Calendar" for May,
1855, we find the following item :—" 17th. W. Link
shot a Chinaman for fun near lireasertown, Calaveras
county. The Chinaman drew a revolver, and ebali
at, and killed, Link,"