The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-08 00:00:00

The Belvedere Catastrophe.

Fragments of the mutilated and mangled remains
of persons who perished in the explosion of Satura
day continue to be picked up among the ruins.
Several of these relics, blackened and charred, have
been found since the inquest was opened at Belve-
dere on Tuesday, and taken to a shed behind the
hotel there. They appear to be beyond identifica-
tion, it, indeed, that were desirable under circum•
stances so revolting. It is now certain that 11 per-
sons in all perished in the catastrophe. Of these
the bodies of five have been found and identified,
and six are missing—namely, the four bargemen,
and two men named York and Wright, labourers
employed about the magazine of Messrs. Hall. The
death of the young Italian, Angelo, who received
mortal injuries in the crowd at the Erith railway
station on Sunday night, adds another to the Lum-
ber. The case of the Yorks is very lamentable.
Father and son (a boy of 13) were killed in the
explosion ; a younger boy of six or eight, now an
orphan, lies in a precarious condition at Belvedere ;
and the mother and a little girl, the latter of whom
is nearly recovered, are in Guy's Hospital. The
bodies of George Rayner, the storekeeper, and of
the lad York were buried on Thursday in one grave
in the little cemetery attached to the parish church
of Erith, hard by the scene of the calamity.
The considerate kindness of Captain Mgiallop,
of Belvedere, in taking the poor little orphan
boy York, suffering from compression of the
brain, into his house, and providing him with
medical attendance and all the comforts of a home,
is the theme of praise throughout the neighbour..
hood. Grimes, the master of a Trinity ballast lighter,
who was seriously injured by the explosion, remains
at the Yacht Tavern in Erith in a condition which
precludes his removal. He had - a narrow escape.
He was passing the spot in the lighter at the time
of the explosion, with two other men named Bruce
and Clarke. He was steering at the moment, and
his two mates were in the hold of the lighter. The
effeet of the first explosion was to sweep him clear
off the barge to a considerable distance, and as he
fell in the water fragments of timber and bricks
were hurledupon hint from the shore by the second
and still more appalling one, some of which struck
him upon the hip, inflicting a dangerous wound.
The shock prostrated his companions in the hold of
the lighter, and for some minutes they were unable
to render him any assistance. Being a strong man
and an expert swimmer he made for the lighter,
disabled though he was, but made vain attempts to
catch hold of it, and was on the point of drowning
when one James Williams, who had been fishing in
a little boat just opposite the magazines at the time
of the explosion, went to his rescue, though he
himself was hurt, and with the aid of Bruce and
Clarke put him on board his own lighter. Williams
is the man who had his right whisker blown off, and
it may interest Mr Carttar, the Coroner, to know
that he lives at 9, Queen-street, Greenwich, and
may possibly be able to throw some light on the
matter. A waterman named Gray, at Erith, who
was on the steamboat pier there at the time of the
explosion, has made a statement which goes to con-
firm the general belief that it originated in lane of
the barges. The pier at Erith projects far into the
river, and commanded a view of the powder maga-
zines, which were about two miles distant. On
hearing the first explosion he says he looked in the
direction of the magazines, and saw a great flash of
light between the water, which was IoN at the time,
and the embankment. This, he adds, was followed
instantaneously by the second and more astound.
ing explosion, and then by a third. Two brothers
named Jonee, who are reported to have taken away
a quantity of gunpowder in a barge from one of the
two barges which lay off the jetty on the evening
preceding the explosion, are expected to be forth-
coming at the adjourned inquest on Tuesday:
Yesterday again about 100 navvies, in the service
of Mr. Webster, the contractor at the outfall sewage
works at Crossness-point, were at work backing
up the embankment with solid clay at the place
where the breach was made by the explosion.
From day to day there have been high tides, and
often strong winds blowing in that direction, but
the work so promptly begun by the navvies, and
followed up by the Sappers and Miners from the
garrison at Woolwich after the catastrophe, has
never in the least yielded from the first, and pro-
bably when it is finished the breakwater will be
stronger at that particular point than all the res

of the embankment, which has lasted for ages. Had
the attempt to repair the breach failed in the first
instance the subjacent country for miles would
have been deluged with about seven feet of water,
and engineering skill would have been taxed for
months in the attempt to recover it. Some ame-
nities have been exchanged between Major-General
Warde, the Commandant of the garrison at Wool-
wich, and Mr Lewis Moore, an engineer connected
with the Tnames embankment, residing at Erith,
in reference to the manner in which the embank-
ment was reinstated. Mr Moore, it will be recol-
lected, was among the first who proceeded to the
spot after the explosion, and having at once per-
ceived and appreciated the emergency arising from
the peril of inundation, he 'despatched messengers
both to the garrison at Woolwich and to Crossness
Point, which had the effect of bringing first the
navvies, and then the Sappers and Miners and the
Royal Artillery, with General Warde at their head,
upon the scene, with what glorious result is now well
known. Mr Moore states, in a letter to the Gene-
ral, that the assistance rendered by him and by his
officers and men during the trying crisis had saved
from inundation an immense tract of country extend-
ing from Gravesend to Battersea. He has no hesitas
tion, he says, in asserting that, having himself been
present from half an hour after the accident, but
for that assistance, with the aid rendered by the
400 men in the employ of Mr Webster at the Main
Drainage works at Crossness, nothing could have
prevented a disaster exceeding in magnitude that
of the Dagenham li,:ach or Middle Level inunda-
tion. He took the responsibility on himself as an
engineer in communicating, with the garrison,
knowing that one tide flowing through the breach
would wash down a great part of the river wall
and render it irreparable for years. Gen. Warde
writes in reply to the effect that it was very for-
tunate Mr Moore was on the spot and capable of
realising the very critical state of things. He adds
that he has forwarded his letter to the Horse
Guards, and he thanks him, on the part of the
troops, for giving them the credit they deserved.
An inquest has been held by Mr. Serjeant Payne,
the coroner for the city of London, on the body of
Angelo Morandi, who died at Guy's Hospital from
the injuries he received at the Erith station of the
North Kent Railway on Sunday evening. The de-
ceased was 21 years of age, and a cabinetmaker by
trade. With thousands more, he went.to the scene
of the explosion on Sunday, and about 8 o'clock i❑
the evening was one of an enormous crowd of people
waiting at the Erith station to be taken back to
London. In a rush which was made to a train on
its arrival he fell or was pushed under the wheels.
On being taken up he said, " I'm a dead man." He
was conveyed to Gay's Hospital, where he arrived
half an hour after midnight, having bled profusely
in the interim. He was found to have sustained a

compound fracture in the right thigh and other
injuries; he was cold and almost pulselesa. He ob-
jected to amputation, which would have afforded the
only chance of life, saying ho would rather die than
lose his leg, and he expired in three quarters of
an hour afterwards. His account was that be was
pushed under the train by the crowd, It came out
in evidence that from 700 to 1,000 people bad as-
sembled on the platform at the time, that the com
pang's servants were wholly unequal to restrain the

crowd; that numbers had got upon tho platform
ever the railings for a quarter of a mile on each side
of the station; and that many slipped down an em-
bankment 50 feet deep. When the train was coming
into the station it became necessary to telegraph to
stop it 400 yards down the line, on account of the

people who were being pushed upon the rails by
the pressure. The jury returned a verdict that the

death was accidental.

The Lord Chancellor will receive the judges and
the Queen's counsel at the noble and learned lord's resi-
dence in Upper Hyde-park-gardens, on Wednesday, the 2d
proximo, being the first day of Michaelmas Term, The
Lord Mayor elect, with the Recorder and civic authorities,
attend before the judges