The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-10 00:00:00

EXPLOSION O 1 RALF A TON 01

POWDER.

On Wednesday last nine or ten hundred weight
of gunpowder left the Penzance Terminus of the
Weat Cornwall Railway for the granite quarries of
Lamorna, five miles west of Penzance. The casks
were placed on one of the stone-waggons used for
the transport of granite—a flat bed of thick, iron-
bound planks, resting on two sets of strong wheels,
and drawn by four horses. All went well until the
load reached the descent which leads to the quarry
—a steep and rugged path. Here the driver j umped
off the waggon and took one of his shaft-horses by
the head, at the same time applying his nave. drag.
In an instant the whole of the powder exploded
with a report distinctly heard in Penzance and for
miles around. Gentlemen who were trout-fishing
near saw a column of fire spurt upwards, and
thought they distinguished two reports, but this
double sound may have been reverberation. The
effect of the explosion was wonderful—the escapes
miraculous. The man was thrown violently forward
—his clothes on fire, his back, legs, and arms burnt,
and even his face scorched. The bed of the waggon
was torn to matchwood, but the wheels and axles
were unhurt. The road was blackened for yards,
us if tarred; furze were blasted; hugo stones driven
about. The grey horse the driver was leading fell
dead—the strength of the explosion showing itself
by the protruding entrails. Its neighbour shaft-
horse was badly scorched, mainly about the hind
legs and belly, but even its mane, face, and eyes
affected. The explosion reacned the two fore-
horses ; and their hind quarters, ckie generally,
and tails and manes were scorched. The driver
and three horses returned to Penzance, and man
and shaft-horse are in a precarious state. The
cause of the accident is a matter of surmise. The
man never smokes, and this last of his numerous
casualties is a melancholy instance of the way in
which ill-luck seems relentlessly to pursue some
men. William Thomas is a remarkably steady,
sober, and careful man; yet one accident broke his
ancle, another both his legs, a third cost him an
eye, and, to say nothing of minor mishaps, he now
lies in agony from this last and terrible one. The
poor horses, when we saw them the day after
the accident, started at times in their stalls as if the
explosion was again upon them, and the shock t
the man's nerves must be fearful.—Cornish
Telegraph.

THE COURT AT BALMORAL.—On Sunday last
neither her Majesty nor any of the Royal Family attended
divine service at Crathie Church. The Ouches of Atholl,
Lady Augusta Bruce, the Hon. Mrs. Biddulph, the Duke
of Argyll, Colonel Biddulph, Major Cowell, and Dr
Robertson were present, but did not occupy
M the
pßoyalai
pew. The Rev. r. Anderson preached from Matthew,
28th chapter, 20th verse. The pulpit and
the
principal
seats of the church ars still draped in black.—Edinburgh
Courant.
HER MAJESTY S THEATRF.—A debut thatexcites
much interest in musical circles is announced for
this
evening. Madame Guerrabella makes her first appearance
inltalian opera in England, in her part of Elvira in Bellini's
4, I Puritani." The Dublin journals have lately been full
of enthusiastic praises of Madame Guerrabella's singing
and acting in English opera—more particularly in Balfe's
"Puritan's Daughter,"

DEATH OF A CENTENARIAN.— Mrs. Tracy, of
Knocka, over whose head no less than 112 winters had
passed, was interred on Friday, in the churchyard of Prom,
near Templemore. She possessed a strong constitution,
and was hale and hearty—sound in body and mind—up to
within a fortnight of her death. —./V enagh Guardian.
The Journal die Havre, after remarking that
the first quarter of the lune rousse had passed off favour-
ably in that part of the country, states that soon after the
beginning of the second quarter a change occurred, that
town having been visited with a violent thunderstom, fol-
lowed by heavy rain, with strong gales of wind, and a Con-
siderably lower temperature.