The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-08-08 00:00:00

GREAT FIRE AT GATESHEAD.

A fire, the moo destructive that has been experienced
urn the Tyne for several years, broke out in the
riar's lease Chymical Works, Gateshead, on Sunday
afterne, and destroyed a large portion of manu-
facturing plant and other property estimated at
CO,OOO. The Friar's Goose Works are the property
of the Jarrow Chymical Company. They covered an
area of twenty acres. The articles manufactured were
alkali, bicarbonate of soda, bleaching powder, &e., and
in the process a series of sulphuric acid chambers were
used, numbering about thirty. These chambers were
constructed of sheet lead, and were divided into six
aeries, which contained In the aggregate about
2,500.4.10011% weight if sulphuric acid used in the pro-
cess of manufacture. A good deal of wood was
employed for the roofs and other parts of these
chambers. On Sunday there were only two men
employed about the works, and a very short time
before the outbreak of the fire the watchman had
examined the chambers and works generally and found
them safe. The woodwork of the roofs of the chambers
! h!ul been newly tarred, and there is reason to think
that the rays of the sun, which were very hot on
Sunday, must have set fire to the roof. The fire WaS
first discovered M No. 2 chamber situated at the south-
east end of the block. It commenced to blaze
and spread at once with fearful mpidity, and
it was very shortly discovered that the conflagra-
tion was going to be an extensive one. Besides the
local engines belonging to Newcastle and Gateshead
and the works about brought to the fire, two steam
fire•eno,sines, one belonging to Mr. Merryweather and
the other belonging to Messrs. Shand and Mason, :
which were down in the north on trial, with the •
floating 21.gincs belonging to the River Tyne COM-
missioners and the North-}:astern Railway were called
into requisition. But so immense was the mass of
flame and the rapidity of the fire that they could do
little else than circumscribe the area of its destructive-
ness. As the lead of the chambers melted suphuric
acid flowed out and streamed down to the Tyne in
rivulets, burning the boots and clothes, and even the
flesh, of any one who was unfortunate enough to slip
into it. This, rsi doubt, greatly contributed to extend
the fire, an it very much inipedcil the operations and
imperilled the lives of the men who were attempting to
sulishie the flames.
. _

When the fire was at its height a sadaeeident happened
to Sergeant Bryson and Police.constable Thomps.a. of
the t lat 'ahead police, and a young man named Kirton,
belonging to Gatesheads whi, were knocked off a roof
ly a large lead pipe falling on it. They were thrown
among the wreck below; and, besides hurts received by
the fall, they were badly burnt by tumbling among the
acid which had escaped from the chambers. Their
injuries are dangerous. Eventually the fire was
cut off by the firemen gutting or p Ming down the
intervening buildings. The greatest amount of mis-
chief was done among the elaborate series c f chambers,
and an immense range of buildings devoted to manu-
facturing operations is entirely destroyed—the factory,
in fact, to a large extent will have to be rebuilt. Be-
tween 400 and 500 workmen will be thrown out of
employment. The works were insured with the
Royal, the North British, anol the Yorkshire fire.
offices, but not to their full amount.
The fire is believed to have been spontaneous. It
was principally confined to that part of the building in
! which the manufacture of sulphuric acid was carried
on. Between two and three million pounds of the acid
have been destroyed, or have flowed into the Tyne,
killing the fish and polluting the water for miles
round. Several policemen, who made a daring attempt
to cut the roof, so as to prevent the progress of the
flames, were seriously injured by the fall of a portion
of the slates, and by the fumes of sulphuric acid.
By a singular fatality, a handsome new mansion, ,
belonging to Mr. J. C. Stevenson, the principal part- I

net in the ohymical firm. and who is also Mayor of
South Shields and one of the Liberal candidates for
that borough, was gutted by an extensive fire a few
months ago.
About a quarter past nine o'clock on Sunday night
as the Newcastle tire brigade were returning home
from the tire, and while crossing the High Level
Bridge, a horse in a conveyance behind them took
fright and ran into their reel, smashing it. Inspector
John Moffatt, who bad got his foot sprained at the
fire, was severely bruised, and a young man named
Thomas Brutnell had one of his legs fractured.