The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-27 00:00:00

THE STORM OF LAST NIGHT.

A fierce storm of wind and rain broke over the metro-
polis last night about 12 o'clock, and continued with
unabated violence until late this morning, committing
considerable devastation to house property and gardens
in the suburbs, and doing great injury to the craft in
the Thames. The wind whistled and howled so fear-
fully, and the rain bespattered the windows with so much
vengeance, that it may be doubted whether any but the
soundest of sleepers reposed in the arms of the affrighted
Morpheus for many moments consecutively. We learn
from our Irish news that a terrific storm visited Dublin
on Christmas-day ; and it would seem as if the disturbed
elements had travelled across St. George's Channel in
order to give the sister city an equally warm reception
at this festive period. No information of any disasters
at sea has yet reached Lloyd's, but great apprehensions
are entertained for the safety of several vessels. During
the hurricane, considerable alarm and anxiety prevailed
in the neighbourhood of St. Pancras-road, near Agar-
Town, in consequence of a report that several persons
had lost their lives by the fall of some stacks of chim-
nies. About half-past one o'clock this morning a loud
crash was heard, which was instantly followed by the
frightful screams of children. Several of the neighbours
rushed out of their houses, when, on proceeding to the
house No. 7, Spanish-buildings, St. Pancras-road, the
inmates were earnestly imploring assistance. Two men
of the names of Cooper tried to burst open the street
door, but they were unable, when it was found that the
roof had been forced in by the falling of a stack of chim-
nies, with which the room under it was filled. While
preparing ladders, it was discovered that the house ad-
joining, No. 8, had met with a similar calamity. In a
room of No. 7 a man of the name of Marchmont, his
wife and four children, were in bed at the time of the
occurrence, and in the other house resided a man and his
wife of the name of Robinson, with two children, who
were also in bed. Fortunately, before the roofs of either
reached the floor the whole of them were out of bed.
Some of Marchmont's children got under the bed, and
the others rushed into other parts of the room. Three
policemen of the S Division by this time arrived. Great
exertions were made to extricate the sufferers, which
was eventually done by taking them out of the windows,
and which was fortunately done without any very serious
injury being sustained by any one ; but the most of their
furniture is destroyed.

FRIGHTFUL OCCURRENCE IN THE CITY.
This morning, shortly before three o'clock, an alarming
accident took place at No. 12, Baker's-buildings, Liver-
pool-street, Bishopsgate-street, City, whereby an aged
female, named Sarah Holliday, lost her life, and her hus-
band, William Holliday, was very seriously injured by
the falling of a stack of chimneys into their bedroom.
It appears that the deceased was seventy-five years of
age, and her husband was a whip-thong maker. They
occupied a room on the second floor back, and after
supper, on Sunday night, they retired to rest as usual.
The deceased had been much alarmed at the heavy storm
during the night ; and about a quarter to three o'clock
this morning, a stack of chimneys, eight feet high, fell
with a fearful crash on the roof of their sleeping apart-
ment, forcing in the rafters, tiling, and brickwork, bury-
ing the aged couple beneath the ponderous mass of rub-
bish. The noise at the time resembled the discharge of a
heavy piece of ordnance, which caused the persons in the
lower rooms and the adjoining houses to rush into the street
in their night clothes in a state of the utmost alarm and
terror. City police constables Fisher 672, and Plumley 612,
were on duty near the scene of the disaster, and they lost
no time in going upstairs with the lodgers to release the
deceased and her aged husband, but they were unable
to open the door, as the room was filled with bricks,
rafters, and other materials. The men then broke the
panels of the door, and knocked down a portion of the
side wall, and after considerable trouble and labour,
dragged out the female apparently lifeless. She was
very seriously disfigured about the head, and her body
was much crushed. The husband was, however, heard,
and called on the officers to relieve him, and in a few
minutes he was extricated. They were seen by a sur-
geon, and, subsequently, the female was conveyed by
the police in a cab to the accident ward of St. Bartholo-
mew's Hospital, where Mr. Callendar the house surgeon,
pronounced life to be quite extinct from external and
internal violence. The poor old man was kindly allowed
shelter in the room of a neighbour, but although not much
injured about the head has received considerable violence
about the lower extremities, and is suffering from a severe
shock to the system. The medical attendant appears to
be doubtful of his recovery. Mr. W. Payne, the City.
Coroner, will hold an inquest on the body of the de-
ceased female to-morrow (Tuesday) evening at the hos-
pital.

This morning, at 6 o'clock, another stack of chim-
neys were blown down and fell through a skylight into
the counting-house of Mr. Hancock, merchant, of No.
6, Crosby-square, Bishopsgate-street, crushing the desks
and chairs to atoms; but, fortunately, at that early hour
of the morning none of the clerks had arrived, or other-
wise, several lives must have been sacrificed. About
two cart-loads of ruhbish were brought out of the office
at noon, to-day, which had fallen down.

A stack of chimneys fell down this morning about 5
o'clock, in Artwright-street, Rosemary-lane, St. Botolph,
Aldgate, but no person was injured, although several
houses were much damaged.

In the course of the night, one of the large elm trees
at Gwyder House, Whitehall, was blown down, and in its
fall, destroyed a great portion of the iron railing in front
of the building. Several workmen were employed during
the morning in cutting up the tree and removing
it from off the pavement. Had any one been
passing at the time, he must have inevitably been killed.
In Westminster-road, opposite Bethlehem Hospital, seve-
ral large trees were also snapped close by the roots
through the violence of the hurricane.
One of the old lath and plaster houses on the south
side of Holywell-street, which, it will be remembered,
are built with projecting roofs, has also suffered severely
from the storm. The wind seems to have caught the
lower part of the projection in full force, and the effect
is that the whole 'of the upper story has been driven
completely in. ,So serious is the damage'. done, that
workmen are now engaged in removing the remains, so
as to prevent any fear of further accident. The premises
were in the occupation of a publisher, but we have not
learned of any damage to life or limb.