The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-09-05 00:00:00

OUTIL4G7sS IN IRELAND.

(From the Limerick Chun:Wel.

- _
On the day after the fair of Rathkeale, a barbarous
murder was ascertained to have been committed en a young
man of the name of Charles Robertson, steward and gar-
' defter to Sir Aubrey Hnnt, Bart. of Curragh, who was
found lyina dead in a field at Cappalt, not far from the
s: ens of Major Got ing's murder. He was at the fair the
day previous, and, on his return home in the evening, was
way-laid and killed by some sanguinary wretches, who are
I not yet discovered. Ilis skull was beat in above the left
ear, as if from the blow of a stone, and the fatal wound is
i believed to have oricirated in malice.
On Sunday night last, a strong party of insurgents, all
armed, attacked six farmers' houses on the lands of Mr.
Rose, hear Elfin, in this county (Limerick). They beat
most akerely, with heavy spade handles and short clubs,
two of the farmers. Robert Tucker and James Casey, be-
sides a man named Clohessy, who was in the house of the
former. They forced an entrance by breaking the win-
dows and doors. Major Maxwell. as a Magistrate, pro-
leeeded next morning to inquire into the circumstances,
land learmd that the party took some of the inmates out-
, side, and showed them a well dressed man on horseback,
' with a white sash and,white band round his hat, saying
I " Captain Rock is still ali'.e." They demanded firearms
at two of tilos? houses, and ordered them, under pain of
destruction to themselves and families, not to charge their
workmen more than five guineas an acre for the first crop
of potatoes, and 31. for the second crop. On retiring they',
stook off' the farmer's horses, which wire found next morn-
i ing on the road to Doneraile, near Ballvhoura mountain,'
ifrom which circumstance it is conjectured they time from
the county of Cntk. In their return they met a steward of
Mr. Hill of Doneraile, uho was distraining for rent, and
deprived him of his gun, which they carried away. :
On Monday night, the 22d instant, a man named Ben-
jarnin Reardon, of Roughal, in the county of Kerry, near
Newmarket, returning from the fair of Dromagh, in the
county of Cork: teas so severely beaten in his endeavours
to protect a female from. violation, that he only survived
i four days. An inquest was held on the body by William
Allen and James Cronin, Emirs., Magistrates of Kerry,
in the absence of the Coroner, and a verdict of Wilful
Murder returned against a man whose name for the pre-
seat must remain concealed.

DREADFUL EXPLOSION IN WHITECHAPEL.

On Saturday morning, about half-past eight o'clock,
Whitechapel-road, and the numerous streets that abound
I there, were thrown into the greatest state of agitation, by
the inhabitants experiencing a most tremendous shock, as
if caused by a volcano or an earthquake. The houses for
a considerable distance were deserted by their inhabitants,
and men, women, and children were seen running about
in all directions, under an impression that the world was
at an end. It was soon ascertained that their alarm was
produced by an explosion at the factory of Mr. Brock,
the artist in tire-works, at No. 11, Baker's-row, White-
ehapel-road, nearly opposite tile London Hospital.
The following particulars, relative to this direful disas-
ter, have just reached us:—Mr. Brock has resided for the
last five years in Baker's-row, and at the back of his dwel-
ling-house is his repository for fire-works, where they are
manufactured. This building is about 55 Let by 20, and
contains three magazines, which arc lined with lead, and
would be perfectly secure from fire, should it occur, on any
of the adjoining premises. In these receptacles were depo-
sited all the powder, composition, and, in fact, all the com-
bustible matter, and Mr. Brock was remarkable for the
method lie had taken to prevent any accident occurring
on his premises. A few weeks since he had taken two
boys out of the poor-house to instruct in the art of
firework-making, and he kept them chiefly employed
in filling and ramming the cases of the skyrockets.
serpents, squibs, &c. &c. The latter part of this
stage of the work is done by a funnel, or piece of tin made
in the shape of an extinguisher, and a small piece of iron
wire, about a foot long, which is used as a ram-rod. The
small end, or stipple, as it is called, of the extinguisher, is
introduced into one curl of the rocket or squib, anti tie boys
ram the powder and wadding down with the rain-rod. Sa-
turday, at the time above stated, Mr. Brock and his men
left the factory to go to breakfast, keying the two boys en-
gaged
at the work-board, ramming the sky-rockets. They
had scarcely sat down to their meal, when they, as well as
the inhabitants around them for some distance, heard a sort
of rumbling noise, as if of distant thunder, and the next mo-
ment a tremendous and deafening explosion followed, and
the air was illuminated with of various descriptions,
and accompanied by continued reports. The concussion
was so great that the inmates in the different houses were
shaken from their seats, many of whom were sitting at
their breakfasts, and the table and tea things were upset
and broken to pieces. The window frames were all forced
out, and the brickbats and materials were flying about in
every direction. The roofs of Mr. Broek's manufactory,
and the factory of Mr. M`Devitt adjoining, were blown a
considerable height, an the falling materials did very great
mischief. After the agitation was somewhat subsided,
an inquiry into the cause of the accident took place, when
it appeared from the statement of the two boys (who were
blown a considerable height and much injured) that they
were at work, ramming the rockets, when the ram-rod
struck against the funnel, and the friction caused a spark,
which flew into a bowl of gunpowder that stood near
them ; this soon exploded, and ran like a train to all the
other lire-works in the factory, and at length communica-
ted to the magazines, which caused the disaster. Mr.
Brock, however, declares it could not have arisen in that
that way, as the nipple of the funnel was copper, therefore
a friction world not cause a spark. One poor woman,
sister to the beadle, who lives next door to Mr. Brock,
was so dreadfully injured by the broken glass, that she lies
in the London Hospital without hopes of recovery. The,
following houses have been injured by the explosion—in
Baker's-tow, Mr. Anderson, butcher; Plunkett, beadle of
Whiteeliaptl ; Prendergast, coal-dealer; Livesay, baker.
In Princes-street, Mr. Davies, coal-dealer ; Kenning, tal-
low-chandler; Boswell, ironmonger; Constantine, tailor;
Philemon, clothes-dealer ; the King's Head public house
at the corner, and about sixty other houses, most of which
have their windows demolished from top to bottom. We
arc sorry to state that Mr. Brock, who is considered a most
ingenious artist, is by this accident reduced to ruin, as he
was uninsured, not being able to pay the premium rt quired
by the Insurance Offices, his business being treble hazard-
ous. His loss is estitnated at 8001., and he has a wife and
six small children. He states that he had only 2S pounds
weight of powder by him at the time, but the mischief was
done by the quantity of fire-works that were on the pre-
mises in an unfinished state, and the powder and composi-
tion being thus confined was the cause of much mischief
being done.

On Tuesday week a young man, apprentice to a black-
smith
at Langwith, near Cockney, in Notts, slightly
scratched one of his fingers with a rusty nail, which soon
caused an extraordinary degree of inflammation along the I
arm. In a few days the complaint reached the head, and
he died on the Sunday following.
A most disgraceful occurrence took place in Phillips-
burgh Avenue, Dublin, on Sunday night. A wedding had
taken place in a house, towards the tip of the Avenue, and
a gangof men, perhaps fifty or sixty in number, assaulted
the inhabitants, and insisted upon money and drink. It
terminated in n brutal attack on the premises—the windows
were broken, and many of the slates torn down. The
lives of the men were saved, by the presence of mind of
the females, who actually locked them up in a back room,
or they would have been murdered ! The party then pro-
ceeded to a garden, which they robbed.
A remarkable accident happened lately tonne of the eons
of a respectable trade/nail in Stamford. Walking in- the!
meadows on the banks of the Welland, he approached a
person who was angling in the river, and he stood for a
few gerin(ln to look on ; the angler drew out his line, and
pave it the usual swing, with the intention of placing the
float in a new situation, when, by an extraordinary acci-
dent, the hook struck the youth who was looking on, and
actually fastened together both the lids of one of his eyes,
so as completely to close them. It was feared that the
barb had also penetrated the orb of the eye, but it was
found practicable to extricate the hook by a simple cut of
the eyelids, and that the eye itself was not at all injured.
It is supposed that the youth involuntary winked as the
line was whirled by the angler, and that at that in-
stant the hook entered and fastened together the two eye-
lids.