The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-28 00:00:00

TRADE OUTRAGE IN SHEFFIELD.

A DWELLING HOUSE BLOWN UP.

Another of those disgraceful trade outrages which have
at intervals bean committed in Sheffield, was perpetrated
on Saturday morning. A c ,nsiderahle portion of a house
has been literally blown to pieces, and it is a marvel that
the inmates have escaped without serious injury. The
house attanked is in B..araber-street, Tomcross-lane, and is
occupied by George Gillott, a file grinder. The outrage
was committed about twenty minutes past one. Gillott,
who was sleeping wi'h his wife in the front bedroom,
was learoke by hearing a noise as of some one ham.
timing at the cellar grating beuezeh the window. In
the course of about a minete or a minute and a half,
an explosion took place which shook the very founda-
tion of the house and alarmed the whole neighbour-
hood. Gillott and his wife immediately got up and pro-
ceeded downstairs, where they had considerable difficulty in
making their way through the plena Upon a complete
invesneation, it Virtta evident that this diabolical outrage
had been effscted by putting a quantity of combustible
material through the cellar window. A tin bottle, with
the month blown off, was f,und lying in the cellar, and the
explosion had ao doubt been managed by fastening to the
mouth of the battle a fusee connected with the deadly
material inside, setting fire to the fusee, and leaving it tb
do its work of mischief. The force of the explosion seems
to have spent itself almost equally in every direction—
directly upwards and on all the four sides of the cellar. The
beam, of eve )d supporting the room above were split in
fVet awl a 1,1,0 heap of =bet Was left lying on the floor.
In ihe sitting room, immediately over the cellar, everything
was left lying a confused heap' of ruins. The sofa was
overturned, and one of the lege wrenched off; the other
furniture WAS blown in all directions, and some of it shattered
to pieces: One of the walls was as completely demolished
as though a mason had been employed to pull it down.
This wad which was thus blown down was the partition
dividing the house from a passage leading into a yard at
the back, where there are a number of houses. This wall
being destroyed, and the kitchen wall, which is a continna-
ion of it, being also blown down, the house on this
side was entirely open so far as the rooms on the
first floor are concerned ; and the opening leading into
the passage from the street was barricaded up., so as to
afford some protection for the property. The floor of the
sitting room was blown threugh and shattered to pieces in
several places. The hearthstone was dislodged from its
bad. The window was driven out of its frame and sent
flying to the other side of the street, where the fragments
were found scattered about. the front door was also forced
out and driven into the street. Large piceces of paper
were forced in pa ches off the walls. Tae ceiling was
also damaged, in one place the plaster being torn off and
the laths laid bare; and in another place a large hole being
made through which the rafters were visible. The wall
fronting the street was shattered and csaeked in several
places. In the kitchen, on the same floor as the sitting
room, the violence of the explosion was scarcely less se-
vere. The shock seems to have spread itself with great
force in a direct line up the cellar steps. The two b om
stairs, which are immediately over the cellar head, were
forced clean away from the rest, and driven several f et
into the kitchen. Two dogs in the kitchen, one tied under
a chair close to the door, and the other under a table on
the opposite s'de of the room, escaped unhurt. No
person in the house was injured, though serious damage
was done in the front bedroom, where Gillott and his wife
were sleeping. The mantlepiece was partly destroyed,
and the whole of the grate was forced out and left lying
in fragments on the hearth. One side of the room was
erank'd from top to bottom; and in several places the
walls were cracked just above and parallel with the
wainscoting. A chest of dra very underneath the window
was moved an inch from the wall ; and in the chairs
close by, the cushions were forced out of the chair
bottoms and turned right round, without being thrown
on the floor. The bed was disturbed, and some of the
woodwork at the top fell on the bed. In one of the back
rooms on this floor the window was forced completely out.
The plaster was cracked to a considerable ex ent in all the
rooms ore the third storey, a distance of thirty or forty feet
from the ground. Persons were sleeping in all the rooms.
The outrage is supposed to have been committed owing to
Gillott having declined to pay to the union connected with
his trade. At the To wn Hall, on Saturday, before
Joseph Haywood, Esq., a powerful looking man, named
George Royston, Who lives very near to Gillott, in Br tmber
strew, was brought up on suspicion of having been the
perpetrator of the diabolical act. The prisoner lives a little
below on the contrary side, and some time ago he and
Gillott had a quarrel, when the prit oner used some threats
as to what he would do. After the explosion took place,
the prisoner's house was searched, and a pair of stockings
were found, evidently damp, as though they had been used
recently. Some rain fell during the night between eleven
and one o'clock, so that any one out at Chet time would
get a little wet. Powder was also found in the prisoner's
house. • Mr. Raynor bad not had time to get up the case,
and asked for a remand till Monday. Mr. Chambers, who
appeared for the prisoner, asked that he m ght be admitted
to bail. Mr. Haywood said the charge was a vary serious
one, and it 'would not be right to admit the prisoner to
bail. The prisoner was then remanded.