The Express.
London, England, 1859-10-26 00:00:00

SINGULAR =PLOSION AND LOSS OP LILL

On Sunday afternoon considerable alarm was
crested Melee village of Hidsgrove, neer Birmingham, by an
explosion of gunpowder at the housed Mr. Lead better, watch
and clock ma., who resided Mare with his wife and it child
abouteight moat& old. It epitomes that Ledbetter intended
to take part in a pigeon shooting match on Monday morning,
and on Saturday night, after the eke had been raked out for
the night, fancying hie gunpowder might be damp, he placed
the flak in the oven of the firegrate in the back room, fur the
of drying the powder,letending remove the flask
to
theam was again lighted in the grate the next morn-
ing. Uefortunately he forgot that the powder was In the oven,
and, contrary to custom, the oven was not
geed that morning for cooking purposes, so that
nothing occurred during the morning to remind hint of his
negligence, or to acquaint his wife with the fact of the oven
ooutaining such • dangerous article. Ledbetter and his
wife at down to dinner at the usual hour, and be afterwards
went out for the purpose of taking • walk, leaving his wife
busily occupied in washing the dinner things. fibs was en-
gaged in doing this, and apparently steadies; with her back
to the fire, when the powder exploded with terrific violence.
The grate and oven were shattered to pieces, and fragments
were thrown all over the room, the luminae ass knocked
about and damaged, the centre of the ceiling was blown
through; the frame of the grate in the adjoining room of the
next house was shaken to fragnieuts, and forced into
the middle of the mom; in the adjoining room'of
' the house on the other side of Leadbetteis. tie
wall was violently shaken, and • number of bottles
thrown from a shelf on to the floor, the door leading
from the hack room to the (root, which was need as a shop,
with the framework, was blown out, and the force of the ex-
plosion was so great that the window and door of the shop
wets blown out, and considerable damage done to the walla,
floor and furniture. At the outset of the explosion it would
seem that a portion of gunpowder took a downward direction,
it la thought, through as opening In the bottom of the oven,
and to have got under the tender, which was raised, and then
thrown with overpowering tome scree* the room; with such
extraordinary force, indeed, that coming in contact with Mrs.
Ledbetter, • little above the knee, the edge of the fender cut
clean ttrough the clothes and one oe the limbs, which
instantly dropped down on the float., and fearfully,
eat and mangled the other !hob, after which it
knocked down the table at which Mrs. Ledbetter had
been standing, the contents of which were act court.) slut-
tend, sod thus alrocet completed the work of ruin. The un-
fortunate woman sank upon the floor senseless, endemic other
neighbours, attracted by the noise of the explosion, coming to
gee what was the matter, and finding her in the pitiable
state &earthed, sent fur her busland, woo opeeddy tea
turned, and se speedily sect off for medical minium:me. Mr.
John Davenport, surgeon. arrived shortly after, but tits sec-
vier were of little use. The broken limb was too mush Ma
Jared to be set, and the only thing which could be done wee
to amputate it. The poor creature was sot la • condition to
for stoputatiou, and all that remained was to arrest as much
as poesible the flow of blood, which was rapidly draining
eery life. In lee than two hours after the accident oc-
curred the poor woman died. It is strange that the child,
who was sleeping in it. cradle, not far dr from where its
mother stood, escaped almost uninjured. The head of the
cradle was blown sway, and one of the chiles eyebrows wail
fined, but with this exception it was not the le,at ethos&
The • splo.ion attracted • good deal of attention during the
adernooo, • luge number of people crowding in front of the
bones, cuing et the effee,, of the catastrophe, end spicule&
las iota Its cause sad owequenees.

A letter from Florence mays:—" The veteran lit.
' kriteur, Nicole Tommasen, a Venetian, irtri has resided in
Turin for the last ten years, has now taken up his abode ht
this more genial Tuscan capital. We have here also Fes .moo Ferrero. en exile from Sicily, who was aim 1849
professor of political economy at Turin, sad is now to 811 the
same choir at Pun, and to become one of the greatest °ma-
rmite of that ticse.honoared university. His coUsegue. Pro-
, tumor M4llCiti, a Neapolitan, is also here, and will deliver
public lectures in one of the balls of the rtiocordi Palace,
The bits emancipation of Tuscany thus briers some first•
nal literary notabilitirs of the peninsula into this town,
' which may well now, more than ever, est up its claim to the
proud appellation of the Athens of Italy."
ACCIDENT TO HER MAJESTY'S SHIP BEAGLE'S GIG.
—Vestertley, so the cantata'. gig of her bisieety's ship
Beagle, anchored at Spitbeed, was entering Portsmouth
hour, having pot beck freer her attempt to reach the skip
owing to the hsavy sea and wind prevailing et the time she
was unfortunately, in trying to cress a steam-tug', bole,
which was laying to at the barbour's mouth, caught by the
tide snd swept Meares the steamer, when the crew end four
sitters in the stem sheets became frightened and jumped
overboard to avoid dos collision. The steamboat picked up
ewe people. The surgeon of the ship, who was am of the
ibbin In the oga.eheete, was picked op by Mr. Pearson.
brclctiougptob they
aLi.v.erpool.re.v.erdcuilter,..end Lamb, man was
pi wte
fear torn the boetTa addition to the four sittenle.in the
stern sheets, it is Owed that one of the men wee Iwo, as on
inquiry ocly Gm mm were on board the Victory, sad two
(the surgeon and seamen) were landed at Portugal:AWL A.
the sitesol-tug wee not ea the move, had the man oil eat
mill la their boat there is every probability that no
wield hers moaned.