The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-28 00:00:00

TIM SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 28, 1864.

A Young Girl Burnt to Death.

One of the most frightful accidents which we have
had to record for some time occurred last Tuesday
night, or rather on Wednesday morning, in Church-
gate,street, in this town (Bury St. Edmunds), A
girl named Elizabeth Clarry, about 16 or 17 years
of age, lived as servant with Mr Southgate, hair-
dresser, in the street already mentioned. Mrs
Southgate, who was suffering from ill health, went
a short time ago to the seaside, and the girl was left
to do the household work and take care of a little
girl about five years of age. The young woman
unfortunately appears to have been rather careless
as regards fire, and she was frequently cautioned by
her master to be careful. about putting out candles
and the like. On Tuesday she told Mr Southgate
that she wanted some candles, and he told her not
to mind purchasing them that day, when she replied
" The mistress is coming home, and what shall we
do if we have no candles ?" At half-past 10 o'clock
that night Mr Southgate retired to rest, and he states
that directly he got into bed he fell asleep. Abcut
half-past 12 in the morning he was awoke by a noise,
and perceived a smell of fire. He was nearly over-
powered with smoke, and, it appears, completely
lost his self-possession, for instead of ascertaining
where the fire was, or what was the cause of it, he
nnlocked the front door, rushed out of the house and
across to the Queen's Head, and told Mr Gallant,
the landlord, that his house was on fire. Mr
Cutting, brother-in•law of Mr. Gallant, who was on
a visit at the Queen's Head, saw Mr. Southgate
running in the house, in his night shirt, crying
out "Fire !" Mr. Cutting asked him where the
fire was, and he replied that it was in his house.
Mr. Cutting immediately rushed into the passage,
and was proceeding upstairs when he was forced
back by the smoke. He went outside again, and
again returned and tried to force his way upstairs.
He had succeeded in getting about two steps up,
when he saw the servant girl coming down the
stairs all in flames—" a moving pillar of fire."
She knocked the man down id the passage and
rushed out of the house, and across the road to-
wards the Queen's Head. Mr. Gallant said that
he could not tell who she was, or what she was—
she seemed blazing like a log of wood—and he cried
out, horror struok, " Good God I who are you ?" She
only screamed, and attempted to pass him in order
to get into his house, and he, not from inhu-
manity, but dreading the consequences if she
was suffered to go into his house in such a state,
turned her into the middle of the road. He tried
to thrown her down, and for that purpose seized her
by the arms, but when he touched them the skin
peeled off. She made back towards Mr Southgate's
house, but was prevented from entering by Mr Gal-
lant, who was afraid that she would set the whole
place on fire, Mr Cutting took off his coat and
wrapped it round the shrieking girl, and, assisted
by Mr Gallant, he succeeded in forcing her upon
the ground, where she lay till some water was
brought and thrown over her, and the fire was com-
pletely extinguished. The poor thing was nearly
naked, the remnants of her clothing being reduced
to tinder, with the exception of her boots and stock-
ings and a portion of her stays. Her only cry was,
" Oh dear," and she spoke of Mr Southgate's child,
which slept in the same room with her. Mr
Cutting asked her about the child, but she gave
him no intelligible answer—she only kept scream-
ing. He then, with a bravery that cannot be
too highly commended, made his way into Mr.
Southgate's house, and upstairs into the room where
the accident 3ccurred. He found the dressing-table
and the bed in which the girl usually slept burning,
and, crawling through the room on his hands and
knees, between the table and the bed, in a corner of
the room, he found a little girl lying in a crib and
crying piteously. Mr. Cutting took the child out
of the crib, put her under his arm, and crawled back
to the door again. In the meantime the poor girl
Clarry had been taken into the tap-room of the
Queen's Head. Mr. Cutting's wife cut the remain-
ing portion of the sufferer's stays off, and it was
found that she was fearfully burnt, especially about
the lower part of the body. Such simple rtmedies
as suggested themselves to the minds of those pre-
-B,.ut were applied. Mr. Kilner was sent for by
Mr_ Gallant, and with his assistant was quickly
on the spot. Upon his arrival he found the
girl wrapped in a blanket, with no clothes

on, and literally scorched from head to

foot. He immediately had her conveyed to the hos-
pital—in which establishment her mother is em-
ployed as a nurse—but a few hours after her admis-
sion death terminated her sufferings. It would seem
from what has been stated by the child, that the girl
was sitting at the foot of the bed with the caudle and
candlestick on her knees, and some stockings in her
hand, which he was either mending or about to mend.
Suddenly the candle fell out of the candlestick upon
her dress, and in a moment she was in flames. An
inquest was held on Wednesday evening last at the
hospital, and a verdict of accidental death returned.
—Bury and Norwich Post.