The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-28 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 28, 1851.

FIRE AT THE NEW HOUSES OF

PARLIAMENT.

'A portion of tse followiog eppe•red in gros'er part of
r Impression of lut evosiogl :
- - - - - •

A fire, which fora brief period timatenel the ex-
istence of this palatial edifice, broke out yesterday afternoon,
at balf•paat two o'clock, in a iti,rey of the Clock Tower, on
the side faring Westminster bridge. Owieg to the hitherto
unesplaiced presence of a quautity of timber zaatertale to
this tower, the flames rose wits • vigour rarely observed in
the conflagrations of buildings where stone bean so
lards • proportion to wood as in the New BOOMS.
From a quarter to three o'clock until half•put the
tower was more or less concealed in • cloud of
dense

smoke. By ten minutes pawl throe o'clock
the en&ne of the eetablisbnien., directed by Mr. Wing,
chief fireman of the house, with others of the London
brigtde, were brought to act on the burning materials, and
in about half an hoar the times were extirgnished.

During the interval between the cutburst and suppression
If the fire, Westminster bridge was crowded with spec:awn,
and every point commanding a view of the structure wee
ocenpied. In Westminster•hall the cscitement attending
the transient prospect of a burning out gave a temporary
fillip to tLe lagging oratory of one or two learned gentlemen,
bat beyond this left the progress of beeineas unaffected.

GREAT CONFLAGRATION IN THE CITY.

SHOCKING ACCIDENT.

Yesterday morning a fite of serious magnitude,
involving • very he►vy loss of property, broke out in the
long rinse of premises belonging to ?tears. Benefield and
Sour, wholesale clothiers and outfittere, the front buildings
being numbered I'.G and 127, Iloundslitch. The basintse
was one of the largest at the cut end of London, upwards of
1,600 hands being employed by the firm. The property
comprised three warehouses, extending backwards to a con-
s:derabla extent. Those fronting the main street had bets
formed out of two capacio•ts houses: • em►ll portion was
occupied by the domestics. In a line with the front
part of the premises, and adjoining, ran two fine
laity buildings, one 120 feet in length, and the other about
60, both four stories high, and bad been erected about two
years ago, at • cost of 7,000. The three buildings coni-
muniestad with each other on every floor, iron smarm or
doors elachig up the apertures at night. Each warehouse
contained a very heavy stock, principally garments (slope)
which had been made up for exportation. There was also a
considerable amount of woollen and other goods in the piece.

Wi h respect to the origin of the bre, not the slightest
idea can be formed by the firm. In the construction of
the buildings every precaution was adopted to secuse
them from the ravages cf fire, by substituting iron
girders tor the ordinary timber beams, yet the
nestructi is apparently as great as it they had been
built in the usual manner. On Saturday evening
about seven o'cl..ck, the realm' were closed in the
regular our*e of business, and Mr. Bonifield, as we,
his prectice, went over the establishment with ene of the

clerks and saw that all was safe. The doors were locked,
and the warehouse remained cloud the whole of Sunday.
The lint intimation of the property being on fire was given
shortly after 6 o'clock yesterday morning, by some parties who
resided in one of the houses in a gateway, on tee south side
of the warehouses, leading to the Jews' Infant School. One
of these individuals had been aroused by the reflection of a
great glare of light in her room, and on g Aim to the window
discovered the opposite building to be en fire. Dimes
were issuing from the counting-hcuse windows at the western
part of the establishment. On alarming the rest of the
inmates ire the house, no time was lost in knocking op
those residing on the premises of Mr. Bousfieid, anti
giving the alarm to the City police on duty in the
street. With great alacrity the news was conveyed
to a fire-brigade elation in Jeffrice-etiusre, the engines of
which were inuncdiattely coovoyed to the spot. During that
brief period, however, the fire ohtsini el an !CO:MAO amend_
*my; the flames had eatcntled along the whole ba ement
floor of the centre warehouse, and were winding up the
principal staircase and firing the tipper stories. Intelli-
gence of the outbreak having been despatched all our the
metropolis, a general turn-out of the brigade ensued, end
ere half an hour had 'lapsed the neighbourhood around the

othgration was crowded with engines, •igomrely playing

upon the blazing buildings. Tte lituitsd width of the
avenue leading to the property in the rear ma
dered the operations of the firemen very ediktat
and hersrdcus, and it was only by scaling the roof of
the opposite building that any favoarabvi commend could be
had over the destructive element. Other engines, who were
at work at the gable enu of the premises, had to adopt a
similar amuse before they could obtain an effectual bearing

on the dunes.
By 7 o'cleck the scene had aremened an awful appearance,
the whole of the main buiidiosts, from end to end and but-
meet to roof, were in one gen.mal burning mass,illumina•ing
the entire city. Toe alum and distress that prevailed
among the iatiabitaats to the vicinity of the Jane' Exchange
and Petticlat lane, at the back of the warehouse, smelted
much eommiutration. The streets being below the level

of the main thoroughfares in Iluundtditch, the water from
the plug. completely swamped those densely populated
localities and Hooded the houses to a cAmiderable extent,
inflicting much misery aLd loss on the unfortunate occupants.
In some instances the unh,ppy creatures stead in great peril
of being burnt to death by the dense shower of burning
fragments that kept falling upon and about them, others got
seriously hurt by being thrown down by the mob, and pro-
bably would have been drowned but fur the pretence of a
strong force of the City police, whose duties were now
Vying. Fur some time the firemen had but faint hopes
of preserving the remainder of the warehouses, the
one facing lioundsditch and the other at the ex-
tremity of the main or gutted building. Beery means
were adopted for their preservation, and although the
Intensity of the heat and smoke rendered the office of the
firemen one of much *offering, they finally succeeded in
keeping the flames at bay, and rescuing this potion of the
property from destruction. It was nine o'clock, however,
b.fore this could be accomplished. During the remainder
of the day an immetre quantity of fire continued to burn
within the walls of the main building consumed, and some
dozen engines were k. pt playing on the ruins up to a late
hour last evening.
While the brlgailemen were actively engaged in stopping
the fire, • friantful accident happened to one of their
corps, • young married man, named Bolinger, attached
to the Waterloo-road station. With another of the
body, the unfortunate fellow was standing in one of
the window openings in the putted centre were-
hous►, directing a stream of water from a branch pipe into
the body of the rotor. Without the slightest warning, the
flooring of the story gave way, and the falling joists striking
him, knocked him out of the window, and, shucking to
relate, be fell on to some iron relines beneath, which
completely impaled him. The points of the spikes pene-
tutted his body to the extent of several inch. s. A comrade,
a fireman, a very powerful young man, who happened to be

close by, instantly caught the pax falew in his arms, and
careutly lifted him off the spikes. A sitn.ter being pro.
cured, he was with all haste removed to the London Hos-
pital, where it wes found. that be had sustained very serious
injury.
Throughout the day the neighbourhood of the ruins was
thronged with assay honored& hi the eoreptupl. moray
females, who for a time are necaustily thrown out disrupt°,
meat by the unfortunate event.
From what has more transpired, e.• result of an iavesti
gation made by the officers al the brigade, it appears
evident that the fire commenced in toe ai huller; horn. It
was from that quarter the throes were firs: eau.
The official report made by Mr. the superin-
tendent of the brigade, r the iniaenee of the in-ursr.c..
offices, confirms the damage deierthcii in the foregoing
details. It states that the property is insured in the Sun,
Penni:, Loudon, and Union Odia a.
The total lose la reported to exceed 30,00u1.

Tnz DEPORTATION OF PAUPER CHILDREN TO Bzi-
NCDS.-10 reference to the recent deport:6os of pauper
children to B. muds., by the dir.cion and guudiene of the
poor of the parish of St. Pancras, the following letter from
the poor law board has been addressed to the vestry clerk:—
" Poor•law Bard, Somerset•honee, 24th Jan.,
I am directed by the poor law booed to acinowledga the
receipt of your letter of the 22nd inst., relative to the cm* of
the children who have been OEM from the workhouse of IP.
Pancras to Bermuda, and 1 am directed to state that the
board have Instructed their inspector, Mr. Hall, to institute
an inquiry Into all the circtinistanc,s c,naected wit'. this •
cue, and to report thereon. Mr. Hall will give due Wife ,1
to the directors of the time at which he will be prepared to
eater on the enquiry.—l am air, &o.—(signed)-11. G. Lust.
LU!, Wet sec.-8. W. F. Cook, Bal., sleek to the dftectors
of the poor of St. Pancras."
SUICIDE OF A PRISONER LT lions EMONGILB-LABB
GAOL.—Yesterday ef.ernoon Mr. W. Carter held an inquest
in the magistrates committer-room of the above gaol,
touching the death of Genres Foster, who committed said e
by hanging himself in one of the cells in which he was eon •
fined under remand from the Sault:lvrea Polio. Court. The
circumstances ander which this remand took Flute were
stated in our police intelligence of Illiturdsy last, wiles it
was stated that prisoner was charged with Leglect and cruelty
to his child. Thejory returned the following verdict " That
the deceased did destroy himself by hanging himself, but
that she jury consider they have not autticient evidence as to
bit state of mind."