The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-03 00:00:00

DREADFUL FIRE,

PORTSMOUTH, Friday.—A fire broke out in a
house in College-street, Portsea, this morning,
which caused the destruction of the house and the
loss of seven lives. A Mr. Palmer, a cattle dealer,
residing in Portsea, was passing through College-
street towards his home, when he saw that a house
and shop, occupied by a boot and shoe maker named
Dennett Keene was on fire, apparently in the shop.
He immediately gave an alarm, and the Dockyard
engine, with a body of nearly 50 of the Dockyard
(metropolitan) police, under Mr. Superintendent
Guy, was almost immediately in front of the house.
The flames by this time were bursting through the
upper windows, and it was evident the house was
on fire throughout from floor to roof. A wo-
man, who rented the second floor from Keene,
dropped her child to the people in the street below
from her window, and escaped herself in the same
way. Keene himself also made his escape in a si-
milar manner, but his wife and six children
were known to be inside the burning Wise.
For twenty minutes the powerful engine of the
Dockyard police stood in front of the fire useless for
want of water, none being obtainable from the
water company's mains. A publican living a few
doors off suddenly remembered that he had a large
unused cellar under his hose, which from the defec-
tive state of the town drainage was generally full of
water. The cellar flap was wrenched off at once
by a policeman's crowbar, and the cellar was found,
fortunately, to have in it a considerable depth of
water. The suction house was at once passed down,
in company with that of the borough police engine,
which had also arrived, and both engines began to
play upon the fire. The fire, however, was not sub-
dued until the roof and flooring had all fallen in,
and everything but the bare walls was destroyed.
The fire did not extend, however, to the adjoining
houses, which is attributed as much to the strength
and substance of the party walls as to the action of
the engines. Keene himself states that he, his wife,
and two friends were sitting in the sitting-room at
the back of the shop celebrating the new year.
Their six children were asleep in the top rooms (the
house is a three storied one), and their lodger and
her child were in the middle room over the shop.
They suddenly heard a crackling noise in the shop,
and on opening the door found it full of flames.
The two friends rushed out of the back-door and
escaped over a wall. Keene and his wife rushed
upstairs to save their children, calling to their
lodger as they went by her room. From this point
nothing can be learnt beyond that no fire was at
first found in ascending the stairs by Keene and his
wife, but the smoke was rising in dense masses
from below, and rendered it, Keene says, impos-
sible to breathe, so that he was compelled to
make his escape while he had breath and strength
left. The woman pertinaciously stand by the
chance of recovering her children, and perished
with them. It is the opinion of Mr. Superin-
tendent Guy that Mrs. Keene and her children
must have been partially suffocated and insensible
from the smoke before the fire reached them. It is
also certain that they must all have
been dead by
the time the police engine first arrived, so that had
there been, as there ought, an ample supply of water
in the mains, it would have been useless for saving
life. The charred bodies have all been recovered
from,the ruins, and await an inquest by the borough
coroner.

Destruction of the Sunnyside Works,

Salford.

On Thursday, at midnight, a fire broke out in the
bleaching and finishing works of Mr, Henry Stat-
ham, late Messrs. Thorpe and Statham, Sunnyside
'Works, Ordsal-lane, Salford. These works are
very extensive ; they comprise a four-story mill,
measuring in length about 180 feet and two-story
finishing, pressing, and packing rooms. The mill
runs down to the bank of the Irwell, and is hugged
on both sides by large mills. We are informed
that no work had been in operation during the day,
which, being New Year's-day, is customarily a holi-
day. On the appearance of the fire a messenger
was despatched to the Salford Town-hall for the fire-
engine, and before its arrival a large number of
men voluntarily entered the burning building, and
the houses in the neighbourhood were stored with the
goods that were saved. The mill was an old one, and
was filled with a very valuable stock, business hav-
ing been exceedingly good and all the hands being
in constant employment. The fire made rapid pro-
gress, and before the arrival of the fire brigade had
obtained a complete mastery of the building. The
floors burnt through in rapid succession, a loud re-
port marking the moment that each story gave way.
The roof seemed to be burnt through in sections, and
as each portion fell pillars of fire and smoke shot up
into the heavens to great heights, illuminating the
district by the fierceness of their glow, and people in
streets a considerable distance off shrank before the
intensity of the hot breezes that were borne on the
wind. The Salford Fire Brigade, under Mr. Super-
intendent Atherton, worked heroically. The men
scrambled up the roofs of the adjacent building,
and, standing upright on the stone window-sills of
rooms in an adjoining mill which had caught fire,
directed jets of water upon the flames. Masses of
burning ruins fell into the midst of groups of fire-
men who from the ground were directing streams
of water upon the interior of the building, and great
apprehensions were at one time excited for the
safety of some men who had penetrated into the en-
gine-room, and who, with flames on every hand
stood with great coolness playing on the burning
mass. A large quantity of burning ruins fell while
the men stood in the position described, and com-
pletely obscured them for a moment from sight, hut
when the smoke cleared away they were seen
to be standing in the same position, and apparently
unhurt. The mill, which was burnt up to the wall
of Mr. Statham's, was occupied by Mr. Billington,
and was used for the manufacture of smallwares.
One end caught fire, but the damage will be, com-
paratively speaking, slight. There was a large
police force on the ground to keep the crowd in
order, and, as there were many officious drunken
men, the police had plenty of work. The total da-
mage is upwards of £20,000, but the building and
contents also, we believe, are insured.