The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-31 00:00:00

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.

Owing to the confusion and excitement that prevailed
during the raging of this disastrous fire, it was impossible
to collect anything like strict particulars as to the cause of
the fire or where it commenced. A report was current at
the time that the disaster had been occasioned by an escape
of gas from the grand chandelier hanging over the centre
of the pit. This upon careful inquiries turns out to be
incorrect.

It appears from the statements made by the master car-
penter, Mr. Yokes, who has been 11 years connected with
the theatre, and also Mr. Stephen Smith, the treasurer,
that the fire was not occasioned by an escape of gas. Mr.
Hinkley, the gas engineer, was standing at the back of
the boxes talking to the treasurer, when all of a sudden
Mr. Smith noticed the people in the pit rising and attempt-
ing to leave. Upon looking up to the well hole over
the chandelier he noticed sparks falling, when he said to
Mr. Hinkley, " Good heaven, what is the matter, run and
turn off the gas of the great chandelier." Mr. Hinkley
immediately ran down and crossed, by means of his pass-
key, the stage, ascended to the property-rooms, and also
got to within four feet of the carpenter's shop, which run
over the room of the pit. He then saw an immense
quantity of shavings in a regular blaze, and the flames
were beating round the workshops with the greatest fury.
Ho could then see that all attempts to save the theatre
would prOve fruitless, and he escaped, but how ho did so
ho could not tell, beyond the fact that he laid hold of the
rope ladder, which was a very dangerous expedient.
It should hero be stated that Messrs. Shepherd and
Anderson had the' scenery for a new nautical piece pro-
ducing, to be entitled " The Mariner's Compass," in which
some elaborate scenery was being prepared to rreprestent,
shipi, and to show an awful storm at Margate. That
cause
shavings, caused by the vast accumulation, was. the cam.r.
of the catastrophe, little doubt is now entertallle. a
Mather, the waster carpenter, was always considered

very careful man, and, of course, it was impossible in pre-
paring scenery of such magnitude to keep the flooring of
the workshops properly swept ; if such could. have
been done there is no doubt but the theatre
woald have been perfectly safe. Mr. Yokes, the
master tailor, stated that he was in the house on the
first attempt of the audience to leave, when he noticed
sparks of fire falling through the well-hole of the chande-
lier, which left no doubt in his mind that the fire was
raging in the carpenters' workshops. At that time the
scene of the comic business of the Pantomime was going
on, and the carpenters and scene shifters were just getting
ready the fiutle, entitled the "Retreat of the Forest of
Fancy." At this time M. Chapino's juvenile troupe of
females were dressed ready to take part in the last scene.
Upon the alarm being given Mr. Yokes managed to rush

with the children in their stage_ dresses and wreaths round
their heads into' the street; and he passed' them over to
his own house on the opposite side of the road, where,
to his credit and humanity he supplied them with
tea and gpld meat. Four children, belonging to
Mr. Osment, the landlord .of the Flowers of the
Forest Tavern, and on the north side of the theatre,
he also took away to his own house, and treated them in
the same way as ha did the Chinese troupe. One very
unfortunate circumstance connected with this gentleman
is that he kept in the wardrobe of the theatre the well-
known Yokel- specimen of cording, 'Which was greatly ad-
mired by the late Prince Consort and the Quedn, and
obtained the prize medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The specimen alone cost him £lOO in its preparation, and

independent of that loss he has been deprived of other pro-
perties valued at the lowest at £2OO. Mr. Stephen
Smith, the treasurer, who leased the box saloon
has also lost the whole of the valuable mirrors, the splen-
didly appointed chandeliers, and the whole of the stock of
brandies, wines, and even the takings of the night-- Un-
fortunately this gentleman was only insured for £loo, a
sum far below his actual loss. Messrs. Wade and Patching,
who kept the pit saloons, have also lost the whole of their
property, including Stock in trade, the rich fittings, and
other effects, and, unfortunately, they were not insured for
a single penny. Tho treasury of the theatre, although
between heavy brick walls of
.great thiclatess, has
been entirely destroyed, and the books, checks, and. ofher
documents have been consumed, but fortunately the money
taken at the front of the house the previous night had been
placed by Mr. Stephen Smith in one of the Patent Reliance
fire-frikf safes, and the contents are peifectly sale, but
cannot be reached until the side walls aro shored up.
The moment the flames reached the stage, and before any
members of the corps dramatique became actually aware of
the existence of the fire, Rowena, the clown, Mr. T. Evans,

the harlequin, Mr. Beckenham, the pantaloon, and Mr.
Vivian, who performed the part of the sprite, and a comic
policeman, rushed out of the theatre in their stage dresses,
and, mingling in the crowd, had a most motley appear-
ance. How the columbines got out is at the present a
mystery, but they were all saved, as they have since been
seen, but they were unable to tell how or by what means
they got out of the theatre.

Mr. Smith, the treasurer, informed our reporter that
when the curtain rose the previous night there were not more
than 40 persons in the house, and, although Monday, owing
to the inclement state of the weather, the house was what
is called, in theatrical parlance, a very "indifferent" one
and as is the usual case after the transformation scene:
many persons who take no interest in what is termed the
comic business had left the house, so that
when the panic took place there were not more
than about 1,000 persons in the establishment.
Considering that not more than that number was present
at the time it seems not a little 'remarkable that the
audience should have escaped as well as they did. Com-
paratively speaking, very few were injured, and those only
by bruises by being forced against the walls and wickets
in their endeavours to escape all at once. These persons
were attended to by Dr. Donovan, but none of the cases
are of a serious character. How it was that the extensive
premises belonging to Mr. Harris, known as the Eques-
trian Tavern, and those of Mr. Osment, the Flower
of the Forest Tavern, both adjoining the theatre,
escaped destruction may be ascribed principally to the ser-
vices rendered by the land steam engines. Had it not been
for the services rendered by those steamers, and the plenti-
ful supplies of water furnished by the Lambeth and South-
wark Companies, nothing could have prevented each of
those buildings from sharing in the general wreck. At an
early hour Mr. Hodgman, one of the partners in Shand
and Mason's land steamers' factory, was in attendance look-
ing after the steam apparatus, and Captain Hodge was also
in attendance with the Prince of Wales land steamer, with
engines from every part of London under the personal
direction of Captain Shaw, the Chief of the Brigade.
So great was the crowd in the course of a few minutes,
that Captain Harris, ono of the Commissioners of Police,
and Superintendents Webb and Branford, M division, with
over 100 constables and inspectors;took up their positions,
and formed a large space for the firemen to pursue their
dangerous avocations. Upon the top of Mr. Harris's pre-
mises was a tremendous coat of royal arms, and as the
three Royal Society's escapes were being raised in front of
that establishment, and Mr. Charles Whyte, of the County
Fire Office, was passing under, the ponderous mass c.f or-
namental work fell with a tremendous crash within a foot
of Mr. White and the escape conductors. Fortunately, no
one was injured by the occurrence. The Surrey and Hat-
cham Volunteer Brigade rendered great assistance. It is
satisfactory to state hat Messrs. Shepherd and Anderson,
the lessees, were insured, but not beyond £2,000, which is
far below the actual loss. Both these gentlemen had left
the theatre, and had gone home, when a tradesman in the
neighbourhood took a cab and proceeded to Mr. Shepherd's
private residence, and when the door was opened by the
servant he was told that Mr. Shepherd had gone to bed.
Without any ceremony he rushed up to his bedroom, and
informed him that the theatre was on fire, and he then pro-
ceeded to Mr. Anderson's address and informed him of the
same fact. At one o'clock to day the firemen were still at
work, throwing water upon the still smouldering ruins.
The official report describes the theatre, wardrobes, and
scenery as being entirely burnt out. The building belonged
to Colonel West, and was insured in the Phoenix and other
fire offices, and the lessees were insured in the Phoenix.

The Lord Provost of Edinburgh had an interview
with the Right Hon. W. Cowper, M.P., at the office of her
Majesty's Works and Public Buildings, Whitehall-place,
yesterday.

Despatches were received at the Colonial-office
from the Governors of the West India Islands and Van-
couver's Island.

The Hon. Maria Clara, Dowager Lady Lechmere,
died on Sunday last at Great Malvern, in her 78th year.
THE COTTON SUPPLY FOR 1865.—0ur estimate
of the probable supply and consumption of cotton
during the year just commenced appears to be regarded by
those qualified to judge to be as correct as such conjectural
calculations ever can be. On two points only have we re-
ceived criticisms which appear to suggest so slight modifi-
cation of the anticipations we expressed. 1. We are re-
minded that a considerable proportion of the increased
supply which welhave obtained from the three Indian
Presidencies since 1860 is owing not altogether, nor per-
haps principally, to increased production, but in a very
considerable measure to the diversion to our markets of
the large quantities which used to be exported to China,
but which during the last four years have been attracted
hither by our high prices. For example, the real in-
crease of exports from Bombay has not been from
508,000 to 1,043,000 bales, but only from 710,000 bales to
1,043,000; and a similar remark may be made with even
greater force in reference to the Madras and Bengal ex-
ports. It is probable, therefore, that the augmented growth
in India may not be as large as has been believed, and that
our calculation of the supply thence may be a little over
sanguine. 2. It is thought by some competent observers
that we have over-estimated the dispersion of the factory
population by
_migration and permanent absorption into
new occupations. The most careful inquiries have, we are
informed, only been able to trace the disappearance from
the cotton districts of about 40,000 persons ; and this num-
ber includes young children as well as actual factory hands.
Still, we incline to doubt whether the residual numbers
could work up more than 40,000 bales a week of such cotton
as now constitutes the average of our imports.—Econornist.

THE ENGLISH STYLE OF DELIVERY.—A casearis-
ing out of the charges lately•made against the Rev.
John Sharp, minister of the quoad sacra parish church, New
Pitsligo, and which are being investigated by the Presby-
tery of Door, came before the Sheriff Court, Buchan, on
Thursday. Mr. Sharp prosecuted Mr. David Sturroek,
parish schoolmaster and session-clerk, New Pitsligo, ou the
following grounds :—That ho (Mr. Still-rock) had drawn up
and sent to the clerk of the Presbytery a statement to the
effect that on a Sunday, November 13, Mr. Sharp behaved
himself in a manner unbecomingand unseemly for a clergy-
man ; that at a meeting of the Presbytery at New Pitsligo
on the 14th of December he voluntarily emitted a state-
ment in the following, or wordsof similar import :—" That
on the aforesaid Sunday Mr. Sharp came to the pulpit
with a hasty and hurried stop, his face being red and
his eyes inflamed, and that he was under the influence
_
of drink or had been drinking ; that on said occasion Tr.
N
eno
Sharp placed peculiar emphasis on certain 13 vd
. s
Eh
reading, a chapter in the Book of ProverlAtBPon
wry faces
lish style in delivering the sermon, and.apbeen drawn up
iu the pulpit. These statements
to hold an with an intent to damage his
co b
Presbyterya character
a clergyman, and having led th
in-
vestigation into his conduet,_eccat'ing
l him Consi(leral)le Ines
his feelings and reptl_
tation, the libel conelu
and trouble, and seriondesl.dv
for, £l2
tl'ned for the defender thatbeen alleged hi;;
matters of " I,dam. It
‘it adno atge s was main-
statement s were false or untrue, and that having drawn up
thethe srteagtueerne et notf
tastime
rs session-clerk, h
k,
tandes e
weregivens evidence at
pri-
vilege." On the part of Mr. Sharp it was pleaded that
though it was not said the statements were untrue, they
were distinctly specified as prejudicial, and it wcx natu-
rally to be inferred they were false. The point of privi-
lege was denied, and a case in the Free Church referred to,
where it was held that in no circumstances was a person
"privileged" in giving evidence against. his clergyman.
The case was then adjourned for a week.—Btichan
Observer.