The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-07 00:00:00

NoitTIIUMBERIAND.

AN EXTENSIVE illlii;;;7li.cu---vert.•;lon Sunday morning
in the pr: miser of?bears. Itieharthant and Comm, linen-
drapers, Grey-street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It was WOO
ascertained that premi.es adjoining, occupied by Messrs.
Alder and Co., were also on fire. The engines were well
suppliA with water, and the firo was subdued in the cour,e
of ii'tle more than an hour, but nos before very great diunuge
had been done.
Titt: ATTENTION OF THE POLICE OF NEWCASTLE has
lately been attracted towards a house in Granger-street, in
consequence of rumours that gaming was earned on there,
and that considerable sums had changed hands ; the games
being rouge et noir and hazard. The keeper of the gaming-
house was said to be one well known on the turf, whose re:a-
-lit:11M was in London; and it was determined upon by the
authorities to put a stop to the proceedings. A plan was ac-
cordingly arrausted by the superintendent of police, fur ob-
taining access to the house. From inquiries, it appeared
that a hall porter, of great strength, had been engaged at a
large salary to guard the door, and who, un any person pre-
senting himself, of a su-picious appearance, gave a sigt.al to
those above, so that all toe instruments of play might be put
out of sight. Between ten and elesen o'clock on Wednesday
night, two of the police in plain clothes rung at the le 111, m , al
asked to be admitted, but were refused, the door being only
partly opeut d and secured by a chain. A second attempt was
atterwarls made with better success. The door being opened
to admit others, the ins , police officers entered. The hall-
porter, however, recogni•ing them, endeavoured to stop their
progress, but he was put aside ; and they hastened up stair,
where they observed several persons playing at chicken-
hazard, with heaps of gold and slyer before them—and dice,
eminters, and so on. These we re taken possession of, and at
the same time the addresses of the assembled gamblers were
s•-cured, for the purpose of being reported to the magistrates.
Much confusi-sn was created on the entrance of the officers—
one player hiding behind a curtain, and another (who was
disturbed while picking the wing f a chicken) seeking the
dark shades of a eual-hule, but unavailingly. Next morning,
Benjamin Hunt, the keeper, was brought before the magis-
trates t and as he c:afessed that he played, and was respon-
sible for the play carried on, he was fined 271..yrihich he paid.

UCWL M.

FATAL COLLIEUT EXPLOSION.—At an early hour on
Sunday morning, a great deal of smoke having been observed
issuing from the mouth ofthe downcast shafted the Alexander
Pit, at Rainton, near Durham, the property of the Marquis
of Londaoderry, f ars were entertained that during the night
an explosion had taken place, and on some of the officers of
the pit descending the shaft, they found that their fears were
too fully verified. It appeared that shortly after three o'clock
on the preceding day. the workmen hod left the pit, when
there was not the least appearance of danger from as explo-
sion. The only person who was left in the shaft on the Satur-
day night was a pitman named Richard Set!, aged about 'JO
years, who had charge of the furnace used fur ventilating the
shaft. When the deputy overman descended the
shaft the following morning he found Stott lying
beside the furnace quite dead, his body exhibiting
the usual appearance of a person who had been killed
by an explosion of fire-damp. On proceeding towards
the stable, it was four.d that the whole of the horses, seven-
teen in number, had also fallen victims to the explosion. It
is a most providential circumstance that the explosion took
place on the Sunday morning, for had it happened at any
other time, the consequences might have been of a still more
frightful nature ; everything in the mine having life at the
time of the explosion perished. Had the catastrophe oc-
curred on the Saturday morning, it is supposed that upwards
of 100 lives would have been sacrificed. On Monday after-
noon an inquest was held on the body of St-ft, when John
Streaker, the deputy overman, stated that on Saturday he
left the pit at about three o'clock in the afternoon, and at
that time there was not the least appearance of fire in the
shot ; there was, as was the usual custom, two oil lamps left
burning; but their being left burning would not have caused
the pit to fire. He could not assign any reason for the ex-
plosion, but it was his opinion that it had not taken place
spontaneously. Verdict, " Accidental Death."
STAFFORDSHIRE.
ANOTHER FATAL MINE EXPLOsION is recorded by the
Bientinyham Journal. It appears that Mr. John Ilaylis,
the " doggy," or manager of one of the pits of the late Mr.
Horton, at Lyttclton Hall, bad gone down, as usual, with
the miners, to the number of twenty-four men and boys.
As was customary, he tried the workings with the safety-
lamp ; and in the first side of the work he discovered an
accumulation of sulphur. He set the colliers to disperse it,
awl shortly after went to the other side of the work to
ascertain s hether any sulphur had been forced into it out of
the first. In about ten minutes after the explosion took
' place. It is impossible to tell how it occurred ; but the pro-
bability is that it was through the carelessness or negligence
of some of the colliers, who are always anxious to get to
work as soon as the sulphur is dispersed, taking a lighted
candle into the workings—the recision individual probably