The Express.
London, England, 1864-10-08 00:00:00

THE BELVEDERE CATASTROPHE.

YragMeath of the mutilated and mangled retrains
of persons who perished in the expiation oe Saturday coo-
ties, to be picked up among the ruins. Several of these
relies, blackened and charred, have been found since the
inquest wee mead at Belvedere on Tuesday, and taken to
• Med behind the hotel them. They appear to be beyond
identification, if, indeed, that were desirable under cirown-
dames so revolting. It is now certain that eleven penman
in all perished is the catastrophe. Of these the bodies of
five have been found and identified, and de are
miming, namely, the four kergetom, and two men
named. York and Wright, laboarere employed about
the magazine of Mews. Hall. The death of
th:, Joan Italian, Angelo Morandi, who received
in injuries in the crowd at the Erith railway station on
Sunday night, adds another to the number. The ease of
the York's is very lamentable. Father sad son (a boy of
13) were killed in the explosion ; a younger boy of six or
eight, now an orphan, lies is a precarious condition at
Belvedere ; and the mother and a little girl, the latter of
whom is nearly recovered, are in Guy's Hospital. The
bodies of George Rayner, the storekeeper, and of the lad
Yorke were buried on Thursday in one gram in the little
cemetery attached to the parish church of Erith, hard by
the scene of the calamity. The considerate kindness of
Oaptein M'Killop, of Belvedere, in taking the poor
little orphan boy Yorke, suffering from compression of the
brain, into his house, and providing him with medical at-
tendance and all the comforts of a home, is the theme of
praise throughout the neighbourhood. Grimes, the muter
of a Trinity ballast lighter, who was seriously injured by
the explosion, remain, at the Yacht Tavern in Frith in •
condition which precludes his removal. He had a narrow
Or=He was passing the spot in the lighter at the. time
erpkision, with two other men named Bruce
and Clarke. He was steering at the moment, sad his
two mates were in the hold of the lighter. The effect
of the first explosion wee to sweep him clear off the
Ulm to • considerable &Mum, ead as he fell in the
water fragment, of timber and bricks were hurled upon
him from the shore by the second and still more appalling
one, some of which struck him upon the hip, inflicting a
dangerous wound. The shock prostrated his companions
in the bold of the lighter, sad for some naivetes they were
unable to reader him any assistance. Being • strong man
and an expert swimmer be made for the lighter, disabled
though he was, but made vain attempte to catch hold of it,
and was on the point of drowning when one James
Hams, who had been fishing in a little boat just opposite the
megadoes at the time of the explosion, went to his reams,
though he himself was hurt, and with the aid of Bruce and
Clarke put him on board his own lighter. Williams is the
man who had his right whisker blown off.
Yesterday again about 101 navvies, in the ser-
vice of Mr. Webster, the contractor at the out-
fall sewage works at Crossness-point. were at work
backing up the embankment with solid clay at the
place where the breech was made by the explosion.
The wore so promptly begun by the navvies, and followed
up by the Sappers and Miners from the garrison at Wool-
wich after the catastrophe, has never in the least yielded
from the first, and probably when it is finished the break-
water will be stronger at that particular point than all the
rest of the embankment, which has lasted for ages. Had
the attempt to repair the beach failed in the firm instance
the subjacent country for miles would have been deluged
with about seven fest of water, and engineering skill
would have been taxed for months in the attempt to
recover it. Some amenities have been exchanged
between Major-General Wardle, the commandant of
the garrison at Woolwich, and Mr. Lewis Moore, an
engineer connected with the Theme* embankment, residing
at Frith, is reference to the manner in which tbe embank-
meet was reinstated. Mr. Moore, it will be recollected,
was among the Hest who proceeded to the spot after the
explosion, and having at once perceived and appreciated the
attain from the peril of inundation, he de-
:•=l7messengers both to the garrison at Woolwich and
to Crossness Point, which had the effect of bringing first
the navvies, and thin the Sappers and Minas and the
Royal Artillery, with General Warde at their head, upon
the scene, with what glorious result is now well known.
Mr. Moore states, in a letter to the general,
that the amistanos rendered by him and by his offi-
cers and men during the trying crisis had saved from inun-
dation an immense tract of country extending from Graves-
end to Battersea. He has ne hesitation, he says, in asserting
that, having himself been present from half an hoar after
the accident, but for that assistance, with the aid rendered
by the 4l) men in the employ of Mr. Webster at the Main
Draining Works at DrOgigegg, nothing could have prevented
a disinter exceeding in magnitude that of the Dagenham
Reach or Middle Level inundation. He took the respoi-
ribidty himself as an engineer in communicating with
the garrison, knowing that one tide flowing through the
bre .eh would wash down a great part of the river wall
and render it irreparable for years. General Wards
writes is reply to the effect that it was very fortunate Mr.
Moore was on the spot and capable of realising the very cri-
tical state of things. He adds that he has forwarded his
letter to the Hone Guards, and he thanks him, on the part
of the troops, for giving them the sredit they deserved.
An inquest has been held by Mr. Serjeant Payne, the
coroner for the City of Louden, of the body of Angelo Mo-
randi, who died at Guy's Hospital from the injuries he re-
oneed at the Erith station of the North Kent Railway on
Sunday evening. The deceased was 24 years of age, and a
cabinetmaker by trade. With thousands more, he went to
the scene of the explosion on Sunday, and about 8 o'clock in
the evening was one of an enormous crowd of people
waiting at the Frith statics to be tam back to London.
In a rush which was made to a train on its eeriest he fell
or was pushed under the wheels. On being taken up he
said, " I'm a dead man." He was conveyed to Guy's
Hospital, where he arrived half en hour after midnight,
having bled profusely in the interim. He was found to
have sustained a compound fracture is the right thigh
and other injuries; he was cold and almost paladins.
He objected to amputation, which would have afro, led
the only chance of life, saying he would author die than
lose his leg, and he expired is three-quarters of
an hour afterwards. His account was that he we,
pushed under the train by the crowd. It came out in
evidence that from 700 to 1,000 people had anesnibkd on
the platform at the time, that the company's servants
were wholly unequal to restrain the crowd ; that numbers
had got upon the platform over the railings for a quarter of
a mile on each ads of she station ; and that many slipped
down an embankment 50 feet deep. When the train was
coming into the station it became amemery to telegraph to
stop it 40 yards down the line, on account of the "
who were being pushed upon the rails by the preesure.?Al:
jury returned a verdict that the death was sooideatal.