The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-08 00:00:00

The Explosion at Chilworth Powder

On Saturday evening, at six o'clock, an inquest on u
bodies of John Farnfield and Charles Mansell, the unfor m
wM
tunate men who were killed by the late explosion,
opened by Mr C. J. Woods, coroner for the Western

sion, Surrey, at the Percy Arms:lnn.
The room in which the inquiry was conducted aAfforded
ample evidence of the violence of the explosion. ll
windows were so completely demolished as to leave it quite
open to the elements, and the wind swept through it trout
end to end, In other parts of the house the ceiling-5 were
cracked and the walls riven as if by the shock of an earth-
quake, and outside huge beams, charred and blackened,
which had been hurled from the exploded mill a distance of
a quarter of a mile were lying about, mementoes of the
sudden and tragical disaster.
The Coroner made a few preliminary observations,
Alter which the Jury proceeded to view the bodies and
the scene of the explosion. On their return the following
evidence was taken :
James William Upfold, foreman of Mr Sharp's g li°"
powder works, deposed that he knew the deceased Per;
sons, who were in the same employ. The last time Ellett
11 e saw them alive was about ten minutes Past eleve
-- o'clocklethedoor
of the press-house talking to him. A 8 on Friday morning, when they were both stanhadinig
at t
them he turned round and went into the press-house.
They had both been engaged in the press-house from sever'
o'clock on Friday morning, and witness had no occasion ?
visit the building in his capacity as foreman. It was 11:
duty to inspect the workmen on the premises, and for
usually went round between seven and eight o'clock,
D 11,
that purpose, The hour for commencing work in the 3.1
on
was seven o'clock, and there was no general wig! ti
of the men prior to their commencing work, tisitiler
t
were there any written or printed rules for the regulation sir
the establishment. The men were compelled to ohaegeitbfe o r
ordinary dress and put on a dress specially adapts", re
working in the mills, before any of them were allo0"0
ea
enter any portion of the works, and a small building
,cts
the " wash-up house," was used for the purpose•
was no person, however, employed to see that this rely e
I'-risle
tion was carried out at the moment the men entere-
premises. There wore no other regulations besides thus "-ce
mentioned, except general instructions as to the obsell°:
of carefulness, and in relation to washing when them e,,tih-ets
the premises, which, however, was not compulsorYthe
-
were no other persons besides the deceased employed 1°
Iv
press-house on Friday, and after he left them witrleEALtt
ceeded to his own house, about a quarter of a nille"T ie
and had just got inside when the explosion took place' „1:0-
caused him to return immediately, when he found the Pr" re
house had exploded and disappeared and the two Weil vr:it,
not to be seen. He immediately set a party of men t° Vod
and the body of Farnfield was shortly discovered about et
yards up the meadow, and that of Mansell in a ditch
80 yards below the press-house. Farnfield was ranch ` of
tared and both arms were off. There was not a Particieed
clothing upon either of the bodies. If the men had ellsiteit
their ordinary clothing it would have been left in the 11,: tect
up house, but this had been destroyed, and all the Dee
it contained, One shoo belonging to Farnfield has
the wort.
been found. Mansell had been employed upon
for the past two years, and Farnfield almost from ill;
fancy. The machinery in the press-room was new't eevePa
the hydraulic press, which had been in work about e door of
years. When witness saw the deceased men at the
the press-house they had their working dresses on.
At this stage of the proceedings the inquiry Wag add
for a few days.