The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-01-04 00:00:00

A MISSING BRIDEGROOM.

A correspondent of the Nor York Votes, writing
from Washington, on Dec. 17, says :

The city ha startled to night with a thonsand eonflicting
rumours roeariling the disappearance of Coionel Ely Parker,
id fbi rat Gratit'sstalf, who was to have been 1,1 mind this
morning, at 10,39 o'clock, to al 'as Minnie Saket, of this
c,ty Is seems that Cilonel Poker hail made every prepara-
tion for the event, CY,a, to the issuing of veept inn cards for
his Is hods in New T. rk at the Metropedtau Hotel, and at
his residence it Washington at, h-• return trim the ex.
pee' el brim! tone Ile had putonaseil his wedding suit, and
on Ca' uniny ev,1111,, went to General 1;rallt.311.0114, ehere
he borrowed In lit Mrs. Grant one of the genera's military
sashes to Wear at the wedding After remaining an hour or
two, at 830 he bid the fatuity good night, since whids time
he has not been seen iu the city. At the appointed hour this
morning the bride's mother, who is a widow, General Grant
and staff, and a large number of friends and distinguielied
attests were assembled at the Church of the Epiphany. The
bride was in readiness, and General Grant was prepared to
give her away in neewitance With the arrateeinentil male
at-Colonel Parker's reqinst, who, however, failed to make
his appearance. lift fellow-I/dicers of Lie Staff had
arranged L, make the bade an elegant present, Mid other
friends were ready to -make appropriate ants.
The seen' which ensued when It li,came know it that Colonel
Parker could not be found can be faintly Imagined, but the
pen fail, to describe It fitly. Messengers were ilmpatched
to the utual resorts of the uthsing One, and when the report
came that all search waa in vain, the an iiihre quietly dis-
persed with many heartfelt prayers for the lady so cruelly
deserted. All search tinday has proved fruitless, hut up to
• late hour to night no tidings of Colonel Parker have been
received. Meantinie there are rumours current that he Was
seen in Baltimore this morning that his body had been
found tin !cr the ice in the Potomac, and, agaiii, that he was
mart foil to 'Mother person in Buffalo this day. Miss
ickett'a friends ore doing everything in their power to
console her in her terrible PM etion, anti express a hope
that the mystery may yet he cleared up in a satisfactory
manner. The syinpathy of the entice cuttnnunity is enlisted
in the lady's behalf.

THE TERRIBLE EXPLOSION OF GUN-
POWDER AT FAVERSHAM.
A few minutes before eleven o'clock on Saturday morning
the inhabitants of Faversham were startled by a terrific
noise, followed in an instant loy a second ainil third report
ev.m fonder, and accempanb2d by a COliell?Sion which shook
the place like an eerthquake. Almost instinctive.), people
knew whet bad heinweed. For many years past the manu-
facture of gunpowder has been carried 011 Inn the vicinity by
the well known firm of Hall 11.101 Soon, and unhappily thg
WAS by 1.0 means the first time that a similar dreadful
11011101 has loeen heard, hut since the memorable eXplosion
of coin cotton In July, 1847, when thinly-five lives were de-
stroyed, no shock like that of Saturday has been ex-
perienceol. The first feeling of mute terror was sue-
taroolesi by extraordinary excitement, and an the town clock
struck eleven, the roads leading to the powder mills were
crowded by hundreds of men, rushing wildly tewarols the
scene of the ilisAster. Nearly two hitortred families are de-
pendent on the labours of thorn employed in this perilous
nianufacture, and consetteently the most fearfool apprehen-
sions prevalent regarding the fate of relatives and friends.
After the eXact locality of the accident--had been discnvered,
loop interval of agonising suspense elapsed before the
extent of the fatality could he ascertained. In an hour the
horrible truth heroine known that eleven men had been
killed, that as many wives were rend., a:lowa, and nearly
thirty children left latherl,s. The oniy elemeet of creosote.
Von in relatieg R titsaster of this magnitude is fiord the de-
struction nor ht. have been fifty- fold greater. The powder
wtoieb exploded hears a very small proporti .... to that which
ef caned toit ion. It is impcssible So 0411111sto WIVAL the con-
seop,ticee 1,01111.1 have heen had a Stank AOlll/11111kkatell WWl'
the magazine, •11.1 that Its contents remain Intact Is little.
short oda iniraele . . . .

.....
Messrs Hall an son have three different ponder hill's in
the neighbourhood of . Faversham, of which chefs a, litre.
and a seciind at Idi lenham The third, which was the scene
of the terriblo catastrophe of Saturday, Is situated on the
marsh,' near the elver, awl is distant shalt a mile awl a
half from the town. The factory entishted of five or six
contiimous edifices, to each rit which was twinned a distinct
yirocess in the manufacture. Along the base ot there houses
ran • canal or broad dyke, used, partly for the purpose o.
if. einem., slot partly for the conveyance of powder to the
river. 'The grounds are grown with young trees anti brush-
wmet, in which Ste. fisH .reserved a large nobler of
pheasants and ralibits. The "corning bonne" it a large
structure surrounded by thick walls about thirty fret in
height Solider tn appearance Was the next house, in which
the process of mixing was canted on, and which was divided
rem the first by an liitirval or ala, ut twenty yards. Beyond
this, at the same distance, was Vie " press house," and still
mi ire remote the " easing bonne,- in which the ;mailer was
finished. Behind this last is the magazine, where a vast
quantity of gunpowder was stored. For the protection of
Faversham against any contingency inititemie embankments
of earth have been piled against the back walls cif all the
buildings, while the brickwork on the stile of the canal,
though i if considerable stt °oath, was not defended in the same
manner, the object being that should the powder blow or, the
force nt the explo woold take the direction of the marshes,
where comparatively httie mischief could lie done. 'thin
brief clescrtption of the works is necessary in onler to
explain the tearful disaster that has taken place. The
whole apt earance of the place has been changed. There
were three distinct explosions, the first occurring at about
five ninnies before eleven, the second half a minute after-
wards, and the third was only separated from the second by
an interval of about ten seconds. The first took place in
the cr111.4 lions., where the process of granulating the
crude mass of moist aiateiiai. which had been prepared in
the adjoining bulling was being performed. " Corning " is
the most perhaps awl difficult stage of the manufacture, ,
and the workmen employed in it are alms)s the most expe-
, rienced and careful that the manager can Pelee,. Only a
very snaall quantity of the material is operated in at a time,
, and the object is tote accomplish the remit with the smallest
goadble amount of friction. The destruction or the first
building communicated the tire to the misfile h.inve, and
front this it spread to the thirst structure. Shod provideni
Bally, although the walls of the glazing have were shattered
and its roof broker?, the contents were not ignited. Th-s
will seem all the wore gonna, halite when it is stated that,
the powder ass a'rcWo r,le,int ill iturnense heaps and the
broken walls were greatly heated by the effects of the cons
cussion.
Words will only convey a faint idea of the scene presented
on Saturday afternoon. There was nothing menresque
shout it. It was simply ghastly and revolting—a sight to
shudder at, Laige elms had been uprooted and Unseen
son's, the lane. Oiliers were elm. ist completely stripped of
their branches, and showed nothing but broken splintered
trunks. The 'ohne trees around the corning house hail keen
cut down as if wi'h an axe, and thole more remote were
blasted and destroyed. The ground was torn Into furrnws,
or scooped into holes. The el) ke was blocked up with fallen
masonry. :Cot a vestige of a roof rent lined on three of the
builitims. The walls facing the river were totally swept
away. An immense Mass of iron, weighing Is cot, was
lifted off the press honer and firing about 200 yards, Into the
Ham Farm, where it made a deep pit. Numbers of dead