The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-03 00:00:00

Frightful Accident at Dundee.

EDINBURGH, Monday Night.

A frightful accident is reported from Dundee to-
night. An exhibition of gymnastic performances
was to have taken place in a large hall there under
a Dissenting place of worship, to which the entrance
is by a descending staircase of 13 steps. A large
crowd had assembled outside to obtain admittance,
and pressed against the door. One half of it was
opened ; the other half was forced in by the crowd,
and those who stood in front were thrown headlong
to the bottom of the stairs, where they fell over
each other. Those further back continued to pour
in, only to increase the mass of prostrate bodies
within the building. Above half an hour elapsed
before the space could be cleared, and then ten men
and nine women were taken out dead. A great
many others were seriously injured.

SNIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This day.

-~-

LONDON, Jan. 3.—Wind this day at noon—North-West ;
moderate breeze and hazy.

BRISTOL, Jan. 2.—Wind N.E.—Arrived—Gettysburg,
from Bangor ; Albion, from Callao ; Venus, from Deme-

rara.
lIOLYHEAD, Jan. 2.—Wind S.E•—Put back—Dolora,
for Bilboa.
FALMOUTH, Jan. 2.—Arrived—Wanderer, from Bermuda;
Gearemy Belly, from Bermuda.
PORTSMOUTH, Jan. 2.—Wind N.E.—Arrived—Prince
Albert, from Jamaica. •
SWANSEA, Jan. 2.—Wind N.E.—Sailed—Kenilworth, for
Singapore.
PLYMOUTH, Jan. 2.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—lndiana,
from Kurrachee ; Donna Maria, from Cuba ; John, from
London for Trinidad.
SOUTHAMPTON, Jan. 2.—Sailed—Seine, steamer, for the
West Indies.

(BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)
• GRAVESEND, Tuesday Morning.
Arrived, Jan. 2—Napoleon, from Gravelines.
Arrived, Jan. 3—Little Reaper, from St. Michael's.
DEAL, TUESDAY Morning.
Put back—Maldon, for the Clyde.

Liverpool Cotton Market—This Day.

The market opened quiet. Sales, 5,000 bales.

A PARAGRAPH FOR SMOKERS.—It may not be
generally known that the greater portion of the
Havannah cigars imported to this country, and also largo
importations for the French Government, are now brought
to Southampton by the Royal Mail Company's steamers.
The Seine, which arrived at that port on Saturday morn-
ing, brought 882 cases of cigars from the Havannah, of
which number 530 cases were for the French Government.
Most of the cases for France contain 10,000 cigars each.

•
AMONG THE NAILERS.—" Hales Owen," says
Mr. J. E. White, reporting to the Royal Commis-
sion on the Employments of Children and Young Persons
the evidence collected by him, assistant-commissioner, on
the metal manufactures of the Birmingham district, " Hales
Owen is the only town on the direct road from Birmingham
to Stouxbridge. The principal employment of the place is
the:wrought-nail manufacture, carried on in small forges ad..
joining the homes of the greater part of the cottagers, and
to a great extent by women and children. While I was in
a cottage where I found a boy with a bare foot bandaged
up, lamed by a burn, a sound of many voices singing
swelled gradually near, and the boy, limping on his stick
to the door, cried, Oh, mother ! there's the nailers com-
ing ;' and there passed by a crowd of several hundred
men, women, and children, singing a hymn, of which two
lines, contrasting strangely with their look and errand,

were—

" ' And not a wave of trouble roll
" Across my peaceful breast.'
They were coming from the villages near Dudley to hold
a meeting in Hales Owen, to see if they could get out'
the nailers who were working against' them there, their
strike having already lasted eleven weeks. It's heart-
breaking work' said the woman. Among the many chil-
dren in the crowd were two little boys, apparently six
years old or not much more, dragged along by the hand by
a woman, propably their mother, footsore and lame from
their march. To see such infants made to take part in a
strike, and march miles to swell a meeting to spread it, was
a sight which gave but a poor idea of the consideration they
were likely to meet with in their work at home A
nailer at Hales Owen said to me, ' The parents carry them
on into the night as long as their strength lasts when the
work is wanted quick—it's no use beyond, but, as far as
they can, they are partly obligated to work. I should not
like my little boy there, now five, to begin before nine, and
he shan't if I can help it, but if I am any ways obligated he
must. He is but a little mossel, and if I were to get that
little creature to work I should have to get a scaffold for
him to stand on to reach, and with that it would be like
murder-work, as you may say. It don't agree with children
at first, the work being always hot. In summer the little
ones, being afore the fire all the time, sweat so till it runs down
theirfaces like anything. Then they fre more WWI the lemm-
ing and sweativaro---fretiyouderfnlly-111.1i tt L nesite. Mid
so myself 'when a little one, and even *len a big ono (grown
person) frets, he's bound to bo warm -and sweat. Then the
young ones often burn themselves, perhaps a time or two
in a week. Four years ago, my boy, then 10, got two pieces
of the iron in at file top of his trousers, and before they
could be got out they dropped and cached his leg, burning
two wounds as big as a crown-piece, and the scars are there
now and always will be. He played nine weeks for that,
and cost me a Sovereign for doctoring, besides losing his
work. The young ones should not work so long as they do.
My son there, now 14, has to work hard from 6 a.m. to 8
p.m. to make 84d. to 9d. It's many hours to be stiving up
in a hot shop.' The son looked delicate. He can read; his
sister aged 17, who works as a nailor, can read but little.
I got these answers from a lad of 13, a nailer, in the same
town Heard about Jesus Christ at the Church school,
but it's so long since that I've forgot about Him. Do not
know whether He did miracles or wonderful things, or how
He was killed, and have not heard of Noah and the flood.
Jesus made the world in six days. The Queen has a name
it is Prince.' A resident magistrate stated to As a
class, the nailers are more ignorant than the miners. They
are not wanting in intelligence, but are rough and untaught.
Large numbers of adults cannot read, and few can write.
The children begin nailing very young. I have seen some
at work apparently of not above 7, others 8, and many at
10. The parents work late at the end of the week, but I do
not think, as a rule, the children work so late, because they
could not stand it, and their work is of little value.'"
A company has recently been formed in New
York, styled " The American and British West India
Cotton Company," which has leased for a term of years
2,000 acres of land on Long Island, one of the group of
Bahamas.—New York Paper.
THE BOTTLE CONJUROR.—The following copy of
the original advertisement of this celebrated hoax
taken from the Daily Advertiser of Wednesday, January 11,
1749, may not be without interest at the present moment,
when the performances of the Davenport Brothers are ex-
citing so much interest and controversy :—" At the New
Theatre in the Hay-Market, on Monday next, the 16th
inst., is to be seen a person who performs the several most
surprising Things following, viz., First, he takes a com-
mon Walking Cane from any of the Spectators, and thereon
plays the Musick of every instrument now in use, and
likewise sings to surprising Perfection. Secondly, he
presents you with a common Wine Bottle, which any of
the Spectators may first examine ; the bottle is placed on
a Table in the,Middle of the Stage, and he, without any
Equivocation, goes into it in the sight of all the Spectators
and Sings in it. During his Stay in the Bottle any Person
may handle it, and see plainly that it does not exceed a
common Tavernßottle. Those on the Stage or in the Boxes
may come in masked Habits, if agreeable to them, and the
Performer, if desired, will inform them who they are.
Stage, 7s. 6d. ; boxes, ss. ; pit, 3s. ; gallery, 2s. Tickets
to be had at the Theatre. To begin a half an Hour after
Six o'Clock. The performance continues about two Hours
and k half. Note. If any Gentlemen or Ladies (after
the above Performance), either single or in Company, in
or out of Mask, is desirous of seeing a Representation of
any deceased Person, such as Husband or Wife, Sister or
Brother, or any intimate Friend of either Sex (upon mak-
ing a Gratuity to the Performer) shall be gratified by seeing
and conversing with them for some Minutes as if alive;
likewise, if desired, he will tell you your most secret
Thoughts in your past Life, and give you a full View of
Persons who have injured you, whether dead or alive.
For those Gentlemen and Ladies who are desirous of see-
ing this last Part, there is a private Room provided. These
Performances have been seen by most of the crown'd Heads
of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and never appeared publick
any where at once, but will wait on any at their Houses,
and perform as above for five Pounds each time.—Notes

and Queries.
LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.—A prebendal stall and a
minor canonry in the cathedral church of Lincoln have be-
come vacant by the death of the Rev. George Davenport
Whitehead, M.A., fotmerly of Queen's College, Oxford.
By Mr. Whitehead's death the rectory of Hainton, near
Wragby, has become vacant. It is worth £260 a year, and
is in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln.
THE AMERICAN BLOCKADE.—Advices by the
Canada report that the Banshee had arrived at Nassau,
from Wilmington, with 1,270 bales of cotton ; and the
Colonel Lamb at Wilmington, from Nassau.
The quotation of gold a t Paris is about 3 per mine pm., and
the short exchange on London is 25.20 per LI sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
as. 101 d. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
about 2-I.Gth spec cent. dearer in Paris than in London.
By advic; s from Hamburg the price of gold is 425 per mark
and the short exchange on London is 13.41 per .£1
standard gold at the English Mint price is, therefore, about
i-loth per cent. dearer in London than in Hamburg.
The (course of exchange at New York on London for bills at
60 days' sight is abut 263 per cent., and the premium on
gold is 141 per cent. At these rates there is a small profit
on the importation of go:d from the United States.