The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-17 00:00:00

Destruction of the Pimlico Steam Wheel

Works by Fire.

ESTIMATED DAMAGE, OVER £lOO,OOO.

The most extensive conflagration which has occurred for
many years past in the fashionable neighbourhood known as
Belgravia, broke cut yesterday (Funday) morning, and was
not entirely extinguished at a late hour last evening, and
there seemed every chance of the fire lasting all night.
The scene of this terrible misfortune, for such it may with
truth be termed, on account et the great many men who
will be thrown out of employment, and the vast amount of
property reduced to ruins, was a largo space of ground over
two acres. There was erected thereon some 25 years ago a
spacious brick and stone building, or more correctly speals;ng
a series of buildings, with a lofty shaft towering high above
the surrounding hence tops. This factory when fist opened
was used as a large bakery and brandy distillery. The con-
cern, however, turned out a perfect failure, end for some
time the premises remained untenanted, but at length
Messrs Smith Perfn y and Smith, took possession of the

[dint, which hos sTne3 then 'scan termed the Pirolie) Paten%
Steam Wheel- works. The properly hr.d a frontage and large
entrance gates in the main road named BclgraN%.-place, and
on one side ware the extensive building premises belonginr
to Messrs. Trollope and Sons, of Parliament-street, West-
minster, termed the BAgrave Works. How these extensive
premises di i not share the same fate as the Wheel-works, as
will be seen below, is a perfect mystery, unless it was owing
to the almost superhuman exertions of the firemen.

From information obtained of the manager of the Wheel
works, it appeared that on the ground and basement floors
were the coal depots, the boiler-house, and engine rooms.
Of the latter there are three, and the engines being charged,
a great deal of excitement prevailed at first last they should
explode and scatter destruction amongst human life in every
direction. Fortunately some of the hands employed at the
works, more courageous than others, rushed into the engine
rooms and relieved the safety valves, which allowed the
steam to blow off, anl consequently no explosion occurred.
The discovery of the fire was made by Police-constable
Harder, No. 263 of the B division, by noticing an unusual
body of black smoke hovering over the northern side of the
works. Feeling convinced that the place was on fire, and
there being only a watchman left in charge of the premises,
he went and aroused him, and opening the front gates a
fearful scene presented itself, for immense sheets of fitme
were rolling round the lower floors. The watchman at once
ran to ascertain what part of the premises was then on fire,
and being suddenly missed it was feared that he had
perished. Conductors Cotterill, Brooker, and Rowland ar-
rived with the Royal Society's escapes, and the men went
into a building in:which it was thought the man had en-
tered, and whilst searching for him the roof of the building
fell in a state of thorough ignition, so that they were
obliged to abandon their praiseworthy but dangerous at.
tempt. Fortunately the man had by some means succeeded
in leaving the room, and has since been seen alive and un-
injured.

Th,) first engine that artived was that from the Horse-
ferry-road brigade station, which was followed by Plummer,
the engineer of St. John the Evangelist, with the parish
engine. The powerful land steamer termed the Torrent,
from Hodges' Distil'ery, at Lambeth, next attended, under
the command of Lieut. Becker. Numerous manual power
engines of the London Brigade, and those of Shand, Mason,
and Co.'s land steamers, with the Princess Royal land
steamer, from Tooley-street, followed in rapid succession.
By the timo this powerful force arrived the fl Imes had

Ade fearful progress, for the whole of the engineering
works, iron stores, and pressing rooms, were enveloped in a
broad sheet of fire. The three engine.houses, the boilcr-
houses, the stock workshops, the spoke-rooms, the tire-
houses, and stock shops were all encircled with flame,
Owing to the proximity of Messrs. Trollope's works, strong
fears were entertained for their safety, and in order to pre-
serve them from destruction tho branches of several of the
engines were carried through those works, which enabled
the firemen to scatter the water from'the Grosvenor Canal
and also from the mains of the Chelsea Company in such
directions as to prevent the flames froes rolling over into
those premises. If they had once become ignited there is
no doubt but the confl rgration would have lapped round
nearly a deem lofty houses in the Belgrave-road.
By five o'clock the fire was at its height, and a grander or
more fearful sight at a fire has rarely been witnessed, for the
flames were mounting into the air high above the lofty fur-
nace shaft, illuminating not only the whole of the metropolis,
but bringing out in splendid relief the Houses of Parliament,
the venerable abbey at Westminster, Lambeth Palace, and
many other lofty edifices. This caused persons from all
quarters to rush to the scene of conflagration. Fortunately
Captain Harrison of the Commissioners of Police, with Mr
Superintendent Gibbs, and Inspectors Caplen, Humphries,
and Rolls, with a strong muster of the B division of police,
and a reserve, came up, and took possession cdf the thorough-
fares, and thereby kept a way clear for the firemen to pur-
sue their dangerous avocation, and at the same time kept
the populace off the reach of falling walls. All of a sudden
the heavy brick and stone walls parted asunder, which
allowed the roof to bend in the centre, and then the two fell
to the ground with a crash reserah'ing a discharge of ord.
wince, Nothing less than the downfall of the lofty shaft
could then be expected, for the roof, which was a flat one,
had broken away at tho side of the shaft, and the brickwork
on either side, which to some extent acted as stays, had in
many places bulged to a considerable extent ; ire fact, the
archways over the side windows were cracked by the intense
heat, and the brickwork in more than one place had dropped
to the ground. The land steamers wore kept at work with
the greatest vigour, as well as several others of manual
power; but still the work of devastation continued, and the
fire had actually entered the roof of the Victoria Railway
Station, and was doing great damage to the side wall
and the skylights. Fortunately the flames in that direction
were soon cut off; but the main body of fire continued to
rage in spite of the many thousand gallons of water that
were momentarily scattered upon the names ; and even at
six o'clock last evening the fire was far from being extin-
guished, although all fears of any further extension of
mischief was over. The only thing now to be apprehended is
lest the lofty furnace shaft should be shaken down by the
wind and fall. If such were to take place it is impossible to
tell what might be the consequences.
A very careful inquiry was made during the day for the
purpose of ascertaining, if possible, how the catastrophe
occurred. The result of the investigation was that the pro-
mises were for a long time past left in charge of the watch-
man, whose duty it was to go over the premises everynight
at 11 o'clock, to see whether they wore perfectly safe and
free from fire. He performed that duty at the usual hour en
Saturday night. and he states that then he saw,nothieg
wrong, and could not detect the sign of fire. Great as the
loss is, one very fortunate circumstance is connected with it
as the whole of the drawings of the models have been pre-
served in one of the patent defiance fire-proof safes, and some
thousand pounds worth of wheels and heavy iron presses
have been saved, as well as the spacious storehouse on the
eastern side of the yard, which was filled with wheels and
other property, but in spite of this the manager of the works
states that the damage done would exceed £100,(,.00, and his
opinion was that the firm was not insured for a single
shilling. This, it is hoped, may turn cut to be ineorrect.
One thing, however, is quite certain, that a vast number of
workmen will be thrown out of employment for a length •
ened time.

As late as 6 o'clock last night the Victoria station was
partly filled with smoke, and the vapour was rolling in
dense volumes completely over the houses in Windsor-ti r-
race, and the grounds of Messrs Elliot, the brewers, in
Castle-lano, Westminster.

ROYAL GALLERY OF ILLUSTRATION.—The pro-
duction of a new opera di camera by Macfarren, after the
great success of " Jes.3y Lea," is an event among the musi •
cal patrons of the Gallery of Illustration. Report speaks
well of " The Sergeant's Legacy," to be produced on Wed.
nc s lay next. Mr Oxentord has mitten the libretto. Miss
robertine Henderson makes her first appearance this sea-
son, with Mr Whiffin, Mr J. A. Shaw, and Miss Poole.
There is a promise of an occasional representation of 13alfe's
"Sleeping Queen."
THE CHANCELLOR CF THE EXCHFQUER'S SON
role CHESTER.—We understand that Mr William Henry
Gladstone. eldest son of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone,
Chancellor of the Exchequer, will be brought forward at
the next general election as a candidate for the representa-
tion of the city of Chester. It is believed that Mr W, 11.
Gladstone, who is a liberal, will obtain the support of the
Marquis of Westminster, whose influence in Chester is
paramount, as well as that of other Whig families. One of
the present members for Uhester is Earl Grosvenor, son of
the Marquis of Westminster, and Mr Gladstone will, of
course, be brought out in opposition to Capt. Ilumberston,
the Conservative member. Mr Gladstone was born in June,
1840, and is consequently in his 24th year. He has not yet
offered himself as a candidate for any other constituency.—
Liverpool Daily Courier,
THE NESS SALMON FISUINGS.—The period for
angling ends hers on Friday, and most other rivers
in the North close at the same time. The season has been
on the whole remarkably good, and the abundance of fish
in the Ness at present, waiting for the time when they are
to frequent the fords, amply fulfils the expectations formed
of the effect of withdrawing the stake nets in the estuary,
and bringing next fishing to a close some weeks earlier than
under Home Drummond's Act. No one whose experience
dates from the year 1828 has seen such an appearance of
fish in the Ness. They still continuo to take well, though
the river is exceedingly low and tho weather has been re-
markably bright. Lut there has been this peculiarity in
the angling season, that the fish seem to make at once fur
the upper reaches of the river, and are eby to take in all
the lower water. The same fact has been observed this
year in the Conon,— Inverness Courier.
ATTEMPTED MURDER.—At the village of East
Moor, near Wakefield, on Friday last, George Atkinson, a
collier employed at Methley, near Leeds, made an attempt
to murder his wife by cutting her throat with a razar. Fur -
tunately she made her es2:To before he completed his pur-
pose, The wound ho inflicted was only superficial. His
wife, to whom he had been married for 13 years, I( ft him
some time ago, and was living with a collier named John
Young, at East Moor, and it was at the house of the latter
that the attempt to murder was made, Atkinson is in Cll3.
tody.