The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-07-02 00:00:00

TERRIBLE FATAL FIRE IN LONDON.

LOSS OF FOUR LIVES.

The West-end of London was visited in the early
hours on Sunday morning by a terrible fire, by which
a mother and her two children were burnt to death
and a young fellow was instantly killed by jumping
from a window. The scene of this disaster was n 2,
Newman-street, Oxford-street, and the fire broke out
in an old-fashioned building, which,so years ago, was
undoubtedly a mansion. The house is a lofty one,
with double front doors, which open upon a wide
stone-paved hall. A winding stone staircase leads up
to the second floor, but unfortunately ends lune, and
a stone overhanging passage leads into the front
room, from which a wooden staircase leads to the top
floor The building was occupied by a large number
of individuals, kr no fewer than 11 different families
or tenants lived in, the building. The lower floors
were tenanted by a firm of polishing powder manufac-
turers, a dancing academy existed in the front part of
the first floor, and six different artists rented rooms on
the first and second floors. These people, however,
were; it would appear, personally unaffected by the
fire for they did not sleep upon the premises, and
those wholvere vitally concerned, and the majority
of whom lost their lives, were the lodgers upon the
third floor. The rooms of the house were large ones,
and the top front room was occupied by a shoemaker
named Hammond, his wife, Mary Ann, and his two
children, a little boy aged nine, and a little girl of
six. After the fire nothing could be found or heard
of Hammond, and it was thought that he had perished,
but at ten in the morning he appeared at the Totten-
ham-court-road Police-station, and reported that he
had stopped with some relations in Euston-street,
Euston-road, who were quarrelling all night, in order
to quiet them, and returned in the morning to be told
that his family was burnt to death. The other lodgers
were a Mrs. Townsend and her son, a young fellow of
18, and a Mrs. Lawrence and her sons. All the
occupiers of the house retired to rest about midnight
en Saturday, but what actually occurred afterwards is
eery diffitult to say, for the people concerned are
chiefly dead. It is certain, however, that Mrs. Ham-
mond threw open the top window, which was a great
height from the ground, and commenced cry-
ing out, " Fire !" " Murder !" and " Police ! "
A party of gentlemen were seated playing
cards in a house oppoelte, and for a time
took no notice of the cries, associating them with a
Saturday night row, until a sudden glare of light
warned them that there really was a fire. Then they
witnessed an appalling sight. At the top windew,
with a child in her arms, and making piteous gestures
for help, stood Mrs. Hammond, but nothing could be
done for a moment or two, and the unhappy woman
was seen to stand rigidly upright for a moment and
then to fall backwards, apparently overcome with the
smoke. Immediately afterwards, a youth appeared
at the window, and rapidly threw out a mattress,
pillow, and bolster. The people in the street, it
seems extraordinary to state, fancied the young
fellow was throwing out the things to save them,
and carefully removed them; but his intention, it is
now certain, was to jump upon the things, for
immediately afterwards he got out on to the
window sill, and in -another second jumped out.
The distance he had to fall was fully 60 feet, and for
a time he came down feet first. Then the horrified
spectators saw him turn over in mid-air, and he came
head first upon the pavement beneath, right opposite
the front door, with a sickening thud. His brains
wets) dashed out, as may be imagined, and
the place around was splashed with blood and
brains, while a great stain of blood now upon the
double doors bears witness to the fearful force with
which he came to the ground. The agonising moment
had scarcely passed when there was a shout, "There's
another! ' and a woman.—Mrs. Townsend—was seen
at the same window. She first put her legs out of the
window, and then, gradually slipping out, hung at full
length by her arms from the window sill for a moment.
Her intention to drop herself out was obvious, and
now the crowd of 30 or 40 people which had collected
by this time, determined at all hazards to attempt to
prevent a second dreadful catastrophe, rushed round
the spot where the poor young fellow had just before
met his death, and loudly called on the woman to drop.
She did EC, immediately, but struck against the rail-
ings as she came, and sustained injuries to her thigh.
From these she rebounded to the shoulders of the
crowd, and so broke the force of her fall, but her in-
juries necessitated her immediate removal to the ad-
joining Middlesex Hospital, to which she, and the
dead body of her son, were at once taken. These
scenes had only occupied a minute or two from the
time when the first screams of the woman attracted
the attention of the neighbours, but even then it does
not appear to have struck anyone to give the alarm to
the firemen or to the escape men; and the first inti-
mation of the occurrence reached the firemen in a singu-
lar manner. It is scarcely credible that it was not until
these unfortunate people had jumped from the house,
been removed to the hospital, and been seen by the
houee-eurgeou there, that any information was given
to the firemen. Directly the authorities at the hos-
pital heard of the fire they rang their own fire alarm,
Bed this ringing into Portland-road Station gave the
fiat" call" to the brigade. The station is half a mile
PO 220 yards from the scene of the fire, and from
the time t alarm rang at eight minutes to one
o'clock to t e appearance of an engine on the scene,
the time r I ght be measured by seconds. Four
utinuteis la, er a man ran into the Tottenham-court-
roed street etation and gave the alarm to the firemen
for a privet i house alight, and almost directly after-
wards the b igade of efiing-street, Regent-street, were
informed o: the firs and sent on their steamer. The
bdrning hoes° was in the centre of three fireesecape
pdintse-those at Whitfield Chapel, Tottenham-court-
ro'ad ; at the Princess's Theatre, Oxford-street; and
st;Great Portland-street; and the Oxford-street man
rebeiced the first alarm. Ho rang the fire alarm point,
arsd proceeded with haste to the fire, but at that time
it was hopeless to think of saving any people who
were in the building. Outside the flames were biaz-
in'g through the roof to the height of 12 or 14 feet,
,ined they were bursting as well from the front window.
Inside tbe. building the firemen ran up the stone stair-
Cie, but were beaten back again and again, for the
err od in the old building burnt with terrible fierceness,
a it was not until a great quantity of water could
brought to bear upon the flames that any thought
✓ intlsy. '.4rt tea cekoemd
of enterieg tho floor where the fire was burning could
be
ente. %hied. The flames had evidently originated
o tbe r . oond floor, in the front room—for the back
comparatively enlnydeunntsotauicrhneadszaanndd , hraudnniinng-
u thers set light to the floor above. A strong fire
ix
w s, tht efore, raging in a very short time, and more '
help was urgently needed. A telegraphic message
w s ae erdingly forwarded to Mr. Palmer, at Vic-
i t a, describing the serious character of the fire, and
steamers and manuals were sent on, while the super-
i ndenS of the district at once went on to the scene
and directed the firemen. The information being
al o forwarded by telephone to Captain Shaw at head-
qearters, at Southwark, the chief officer at once went
to the fire in a hose van, and was soon as hard
tit work as any of his men. Two steamers and
two stand-pipes were quickly pouring water upon
thiA a:sales, which, however, continued to burn with
grleat fierceness for is long time. The work of the
firemen was a very difficult one, for the molten lead
was dropping through upon them, while inside their
footing was very insecure and unsafe, and the chief
officer himself had a narrow escape, the flooring
Frail,' giving way underneath him. The smoke, too,
w . most suffocating, but the firemen, by dint of hard
week, Neese enabled to prevent any extension of the
flakess ' o the lower floors, and at four o'clock the
flehnes wore subdued. Captain Shaw then discovered
this bodies of the two children ,which were so burnt
tokether that when the firemen carefully lifted the
lager body the remains of the little child came with
it.! Immediately afterwards the body of the mother
wee found between the two windows, and presented
„ . ,
~.,
a sfueekine soot. The body was simply a charred
,re as of bones, which it was impossible to
,sa represented the body of a male or a
fetuale, and the head was partially destroyed.
Ttie remains were at once placed in shells and re-
tepvcd to the parish workhouse, where an inquest
1 non them will be hold. Inquiry as to other
1 intnatcs elicited the fact that Mrs. Law-
, rmce and her sons had effected their escape by
rtinnieg along the reirapet and getting into the next
premises. The fire caused a painful sensation in the
neighbourhood due ng the whole of Sunday, and
riat, crowds visited the scene. Captain Shaw thus
officially describes the fire and its results: "Called at
12.47 a.m., Sunday, to 22, Newman-street, Oxford-
stieet, W, the preniises of W. Rich, draughtsman;
f-ont rocne, third floor, M. Hammond, lodger; ditto,
ditto, lii. A. Townsend, lodger; back room, ditto. C.
Lawrence, private; front room on second floor, J.
Everard, artist; back room, ditto, B. Porter, artist;
ditto, ditto, D. 0. Brand, artist; front room on first
floor, G. Gibbs, dancing academy; back room, ditto,
M. Barrett, artist; ditto, ditto, Mr. Hough, artist;
ground and basement floors, J. E. Baumgartner,
merchant; cause of fire unknown; second and third
floors and the contents nearly burnt out and roof off,
rest of house of 10 rooms and the contents damaged
by fire, heat, and water. Mary Hammond, aged 36,
ainjeud l, killed by y jumping from Jonathan Hammond, aged 9, and Mary Hammond,
ftm third
the
floor
thirdorw in floor
dow,
aged 6, burnt to death; Edwin Charles Townsend,
4
window; Mary Ann Townsend, aged 53 years,
red 8
by jumping m the
taken to the hospital.

Tnn earth is a tender and kind mother to the bus.
bandman ; and yet at one season he always harrows
her bosom, and at another plucks her ears.

A SNURT young articled clerk, bearing it stated by
a lecturer that man is merely a machine, remarked
Then I suppose an attorney may be said to be a suing.
machine.

A SAILCR'S COMPLIbIENT.—A compliment, true and
genuine, waspaid by a sailor who was sent by his cap.
tam to carry a letter to the lady of his love. The
sailor, having delivered his message, "stood gazing in
silent admiration upon the lady, for she was very
beautiful.—Well, my good man, she said, for what
do you wait? There is no answer to be returned.—
Lady, replied the, sailor, with humble deference, if
you please, I would like to know your name.—Did
you not see it; on the letter ?—Pardon, lady, I never
learned to read. Mine has been a hard, rough life.--
And for what reason, my good man, would you know
my name ?—Biciase, answered the old tar, looking
up honestly, in a storm at can, with danger afore me,
I would like to call the name of the brightest thing
I'd ever seen in my life. There'd bo sunshine in it
even in the darkncee.