The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-02 00:00:00

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GAS EXPLOSION. r
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A terrific explosion of gas, ---n more serious in
its results than that which recently occurred at
Cemp Hill, took place on Thursday Deepening at the
residence of Mr. Win. Ruese!l, `Milton-place, Vic-
toria-road, Aston New Town, Birmingham. The
nouse forms one of a row, end in front has only me
seories. The entrance door opens into a passage or
Ilan, the first room on the lett being the parlour.
Beyond this is the beck sitting-room, out of which
is the staircase communicating with the tipper roams.
On the farther side of the ei:ting-room is a door
leading into the kitchen. Between Mr. Russell's
house and that of his neighbour's is, or rather was,
an entry which formed the division between the two
houses and the apptoech to the beck yard. The
landlord of the house is Mr. Betajamin Morgan, NI ha
lives in the same row ; and Mr. Russell, we are in-
formed, has only been his tenant a lee weeks.
and Mrs, Russell have been spending Christie-I,s
in London, and returned hctne on Weeincedey
night. I) ring their absence the house had been
left in eha ge of the servant, Sarah Morris, a young
woman 18 years of age. The house is lighted
with gas, and there are gas fittings in the front
and back sitting rooms, kitchen, and the bedrooms
on the first floor. On going to bed on Wednesday
night the gas was not turned off at the meter, and
Mr. and Mrs. Russell, who slept in the back bed•
room, kept a small light burning in their room all
night, Mrs. Russell being somewhat unwell. Mr.
Russell came down stairs on Thursday morning at
about 8 o'clock to procure a cup of tea for his wife.
The servant did not come down stairs until some
time afterwards, and lii.-Thissell; who was then at
the kitchen fire, scolded her for being late, and sent
her to unclose the pariour shutters. She took a
lighted candle with her, and she had no sooner
opened the parlour door than a terrific explosion
took place, which shattered the house from basement
to roof, forcing out the windows, and Wwing down
the walls as instantaneously as thoniti a magazine
had been exploded underneath. We have stated
that Mr. Russell was at the kitchen fire at the back
of the house. The outer wall of this kitchen was
levelled to the ground, leaving the outer room open
to the yard. What with the noise of the exp!esioP,
the crash of the falling walls, and the dust which
atose from the debris, Mr. Russell was fir a few
seconds completely peralysed. His first thought
was that the earthquake had returned with increased
force, and then the actual cause occurred to
bint—
that there had been an explosion of gas in the front
room. He hastened there to ascertain the full ex-
tent, and found the whole of the front of the house
a complete wreck. The lighted gas was streaming
from the broken pendant in the centre of the room,
the furniture was on fire, and the flames were play-
ing round the room, lapping the wails as though
seeking some place to fasten upon. Seeing this
danger, Mr. Russell immediately ran down stairs
to the meter and turned off the gas. He then re-
turned to the front to search for the servant. He
found her tying upon the flour of what hed been
the entry, where she had been blown by the
force of the explosion, and completely buried beneath
the bricks and rubbish of the fallen wall. The noise
of the explosion had, as might be supposed, created
almost a panic in the surrounding houses, and in a
very few moments there were plenty of persons on
the spot to render assistance. With the help of
some of the neighbours the bricks were removal,
and the girl was got out. She was rather severely
burned, and also bruised by the falling bricks. She
was immediately placed in a cab and taken to the
General Hospital. It should be stated that after
Mr. Russell had turned off the gas he brushed out
with his hands and coat sleeve the flames where
they had taken hold of the furniture and the paper
upon the walls. The explosive current took an
eccentric course, and was almost fantastic in its
work of destruction. The parlour window was, of
course, blown out, and thus opened a vent in one
direction. By far the greater portion of the ignited
gas streamed through the open door into the pas-
sage, traversing this, and then it rushed onwards
through the back sitting room into the kitchen,
sweeping everything before it. The furn;e tire in the
parlour was entirely destroyed, the covering of the
sofa and chairs being shrivslled up, and the wood-
work scorched and blistered. Singularly enough,
while the division wall between the parlour and the
passage is only bulged out, so as to require shoring
up and rebuilding, the wall on the other side of the
passage next the entry is levelled to the ground.
Another curious t ff:ct is that the fl tar of the par-
lour and ceiling are uninjured, not scorched, in fact,
and yet the boards of the front bed roam are forced
up, and the cellar ceiling down below is scattered
to pieces. The current had thus passed upwards
and downwards witheut effrcting the intermediate
objects which it encountered. Passing through
into the back sitting room, the damage is seen to
even greater extent than at the front. One of
the side walls of this room is blown out, the
doors are shattered into fragments, the window
is gone, and the paper is stripped from the
walls, and hangs in shreds. We have be-
fore stated that the outer wall of the kitchen
which leads out of the sitting room is blown
down. Had it not been that the kitchen door was
open, the current must have expended itself in
the sitting-room, and the result would most pro-
bably have been that the whole of the back of the
house would have been blown out. It is truly for-
tunate that this did not not happen, as Mrs. Russell,
who was in bed in the room above, would have had
but a very poor chance for her life. As it was, the
walls of her bed room are bulged out a couple of
inches, leaving a 'cog narrow crack close to the
cailiog. In short, the house is such a thorough
wreck as to be quite untenantable, and Mr. Russell
was compelled to get another residence and remove
his furniture at once. The cause of the explosion is
very obvious. The chandelier in the parlour is a
double one upon the ordinary water-slide principle.
One of the balance weights had fallen off, and was
found upon the floor in the morning. The effect of
this weight coming off suddenly would be that the
chandelier would drop with a jerk, and the gas
would be escaping all night. Mr. Russell did not
notice any smell of gas in the beck room when he
came down stairs, and yet the parlour must have
been thoroughly charged with it. The frequent
occurrence of explosions of this kind should act as a
caution to persons first of all to turn the gas off at
the meter before going to bed, and next to examine
periodically the condition of their chandeliers.
From inquiries made at the General Hospital on
Thursday night, the girl Sarah Morris, although
very severely burnt and otherwise injured, was said
to be progressing favourably.—Birminghao Daily
Post.

M c.

B cc oh yt
BUCKS COUNTY ELECTION.—The polling took
Slough,
place yesterday ac; the several districts into which
the e t ui
en
Bisrilzoßwudekivinidgehda—mv:Nz.,ewApyorlet,shpuaryg,neirersham,
and High Wycombe, The proceedings altogether were of
the quietest character possible, and the occasion was un-
attended by the excitement which is usually expected at an
election, as will be seen by the total number piled ; Lot
half the constituency voted, and the remaining section—
those who did not vote—is composed almost exclusively of
the liberal party. Dr. Lee come forward entirely uusup-
ported by the liberals of the country, and even in his twa
behalf has made no effort whatever to secure his return
Hip reason for offering himself, as was stated in one of his
addresses,was merely to give the Liberal electors an opper•
tuuity of voting. He declined to be at the expense of bring-
ing the voters to the poll, and neglected the ordinary aids
even of legal agents, check decks, &c. This he calls purity
of election. On the other hand the Tories have lett no menns
untried to bring in every stray vote on their side, anti en-
deavoured by every means at their command to swell the
majority of their candidate. As we have before stated, Dr.
Lee did not receive the support of a third part of the Liberal
electors. '1 he result of the contest roust not, therefore, be
taken as a fair criterion of the strength of parties in the
county. HA a man been brought forward who would have
received the support of the party, the result would no douba'rs
t
have been different. At the close of the poll the nunil
were—Harvey, ',311; Lee, 312.
A GERMAN PROVERB says that to know our-
selves is to know much; to know God is to know all
things.
The third ordinary general meeting of the share-
holders of the Alliance Batik of London and Livei-
pool is to take place at the London Tavern ou Jun.
22, and in addition to the declaration of a dividend
and other matters it is inlet; kd to take porter to
change its name to that o "The Ailia::ce
Limited."