The Press.
London, England, 1858-11-20 00:00:00

Six HOUSES were burnt down at Stratford, Essex, early on Sunday morning last. The fire was caused
by a spark from a candle.
A MOST MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT, which has thrown
the family of the Earl of Bradford into the deepest
affliction, has just occurred. Lord and Lady New-
port arrived at the family seat at Weston on Monday
last, and before retiring to rest, between twelve and
one o'clock, her ladyship was engaged in conversation
with the Ladies Lucy and Harriet Bridgman, when
the dress of the latter accidentally came in contact
with the fire, and was immediately in flames. Rash.
ing out into the hall, she was followed by her sister,
Lady Lucy, who, in her vain attempt to help her,
likewise caught fire. The piercing screams of the
terror-stricken ladies summoned the Earl of Bradford
and Lord Newport, who were in a distant part of the
house, and the domestics, who bad retired to rest.
The flames were with difficulty extinguished, but not
until the unfortunate ladies were fearfully burned,
and the earl and Lord and Lady Newport were like.
wise seriously burned about their hands in their
efforts to save them. Special messengers were int•
mediately despatched to the medical advisers of the
family, Messrs. Turner and Johnson, of Shiffnal, and
to Mr. Bennett, who was on avisit at Wolverhampton,
and it is neediest; to say that every effort was made
to relieve the fair sufferers which talent and kindness
could devise. Lady Lucy Bridgman is, however, so
dreadfully burnt about the head, chest, and arms,
that faint hopes are entertained of her recovery,
while her sister, likewise, is in a most deplorable
condition.

AN APPALLING TRAGEDY, says the New York
Herald of the 28th of October, occurred at the resi-
dence of Mr. Francis Goudly, a retired merchant,
residing at No. 217, West Thirtieth-street, on Tuesday
night. The eldest son, Frank, a young man nineteen
years old, returned home about ten o'clock, after all
the family bad retired. His father chided him for
keeping such late hours, and spoke to him about his
extravagant course of living, when the yo ith retired
to his room vowing vengeance on the whole house-
hold. Arming himself with a hatchet, knife, and
pistol, he soon afterwards proceeded to execute his
hellish intention. Descending to the bedroom where
his father was sitting, he struck him on the bead
with the axe until he was insensible; then, turning
upon his mother, he attacked her with the same
weapon ; then his brothers, Nathaniel and Charles,
aged fourteen and six years, who ran to the assistance
of their father, were assailed. The attention of the
fiend was then called to the servant-girls, Joanna
Murphy and Elizabeth Carr, and they in turn were
also horribly wounded; and finally, the young man
wound up the night's atrocities by blowing out his
brains with a pistol. Altogether, the affair was one
of the most horrible butcheries ever perpetrated In
a Christian community. At the latest date, all the
sufferers were in a fair way of recovery.
A THIRD CALAMITY, remarkable as apparently
arising from the same cause as the recent Bradford
affair, has taken place at Bolton. Two children died
suddenly, and a post-mortem examination proved
that the only reason for death was inflammation of
the stomach apparently produced by poison. the
mother says she bought a pennyworth of lozenges
trom Mr. Smethurst, of Bolt.on•moor. The deceased
children partook of them. A coroner's jury has
adjourned, in order that it may be put in pcssession
of complete evidence.