The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-30 00:00:00

ANOTHER FIRE IN THE CITY.

At two o'clock yesterday morning the vicinity of the
City was again the scene of another devastating fire,
making the third that has happened since Monday last.
It orignated from some as yet unexplained cause, on the
premises in the occupation of a Mr. Burgin, upholsterer
and cabinet-maker, No. 26, Great Winchester-street,
London-wall, a building of some antiquity, a relic of
house architeeture long before the great fire in 1666.
No person appears to have slept on the premises ; they
were used as a kind of warehouse for upholstery, some
of the upper floors being made into workshops. When
closed on the previous night by Mr. Burgin the lights
were properly extinguished, and the place was compara-
tively safe ; and so they continued till about two
o'clock yesterday morning, when the policeman on
duty in the neighbourhood, on passing the door, ob-
served a glare of light at the back of the warehouse-
room, and in a second or so saw that the place was on
fire. Immediately alarming the occupants of the
adjoining houses he proceeded to despatch his brother
constables, who came to his assistance after hear-
ing the springing of the rattle, to, the brigade stations in
Whitecross-street, Watling-street, and Jeffery-square,
with information of its outbreak. The engines of those
stations, with a full corps of engineers and firemen,
quickly reached the spot, but in the meantime the fire
had gained prodigious strength and power, arising from
the circumstance of the extraordinary quantity of timber
in the building. Its appearance when the firemen ar-
rived was truly terrific. Not only was the whole front-
age of Mr. Burgin's premises in one vivid sheet of flame,
but it reached completely across the street, and fired the
houses on the opposite side, numbering 11, 12, and 13,
which were all burning fiercely, and a most direful con-
flagration was apprehended. Very fortunately the fire-
men obtained an almost instantaneous supply of water,
and getting their engines into full play, the whole of their
engines were directed towards preserving the row of
houses opposite to that of Mr. Burgin, which was past
saving. After considerable difficulty the men accomplished
their task. They then conveyed their hose into the houses
Nos. 25 and 27, the former occupied by Mr. Skee, general
merchant, and the latter by Mr. Bowling, boarding -
house keeper. The roofs of each building had taken fire,
and the flames were'descending rapidly into the interior,
but the men soon succeeded in checking the fire from
proceeding further, although the main body of it, in Mr
Burgin's premises, continued raging for upwards of an
hour. When subdued all that remained of the premises
were the walls ; the interior was entirely consumed, and
the roof and floors had fallen in. An intense frost pre-
vailed at the time, so great, indeed, that the firemen
were coated with ice, and icicles were hanging from
their helmets, an occurrence that has not been expe-
rienced since the night when the Old Royal Exchange
was burnt down, in January, 1838.
Mr. Braidwood, the superintendent of the brigade
who was present at the fire, has made the following re-
port to the different insurance companies on the cha
ratter of the property destroyed and damaged :—The
premises No. 26, Great Winchester-street, London.
wall, tenanted by Mr. Burgin, upholsterer, for the most
part destroyed ; cause of fire unknown ; insured in the
Royal Exchange office. No. 27, in the same street, oc-
cupied by Mr. Bowling, boarding-house keeper, roof
and upper part of the premises damaged by fire, and the
contents by water ; insured in the Phoenix office. No.
25, occupied by Mr. Skee, general merchant, similarly
damaged ; insured in the Atlas office. Three houses on
the opposite side of the street, fronts much scorched, &c.

Another fire broke out about the same time as the
above did, in the neighbourhood of Chapel-street, West-
minster, which destroyed part of the house occupied by
Mr. Baker before it could be got under.

THE TURKISH QUESTION.---A requisition is in course
of signature for presentation to the churchwardens of
St. Pancras, calling upon them to convene a public
meeting to protest against the supineness of the Govern-
ment upon the Turkish question, and to urge more
active measures against the aggressions of Russia.
A CHRISTMAS " GHOST" STORY.—On Sunday even-
ing, about half-past nine o'clock, the pedestrians near
Everton-crescent were startled by hearing strange
sounds proceeding from the chapel of the Rev. J.
Kelly, at the corner of Field-street. At first the
noise was only indistinct, and passers-by stopped and
wondered, but, intent on their own pleasure, went
their way and thought no more about it. Not so,
however, a number of curiosity-hunters, who hung about
the chapel-yard. They followed the sounds round and
round the edifice, indulging in a variety of strange
conjectures, and speculating as to what they could
be, one or two of the more experienced hazarding
the remark that they had " seen something" flash
across one of the windows. At length the noise ceased
altogether, and although this fact was more remarkable,
still the coldness of the night drove the ghost-hunters
away, one old woman alone retaining her post, positive
th ,t there "must be something" in it. Her patience
was also giving way, and she was in the act of moving
from the spot when a loud rumbling noise was heard, fol-
lowed by a tremendous knocking at one of the doors, and
immediately succeeded by loud shrieks and cries for help,
which caused the old lady to shudder. Still she kept her
presence of mind, and induced a young man to climb
wow the railings, and make inquiries as sto whence the
untimely sounds proceeded, for she was now certain
that no ghost ever made such a noise before. The
young man soon ascertained that the " spirit-rapper"
was a little girl, who had been sent to chapel by
her parents, where the effects of the Christmas cheer she
had partaken of at dinner had caused her to indulge in
a quiet nap. On the congregation dispersing she did
not awake, and being so very little (only four years old)
she had been overlooked by the chapel-keeper in his
rounds, and locked in. Her screems on being dis-
covered were fearful, and it was no easy matter to pacify
her. At length the chapel-keeper was found, the doors
opened, and the unwilling prisoner released, when she
flew, rather than ran, home, none the worse for her im-
prisonment, though dreadfully frightened. The strange
noises which first attracted the notice of pedestrians in
the street were caused by the child wandering about the
chapel in search of a place of exit, in the course of which
she several times stumbled against the pew-doors.—
Liverpool Timm