The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-26 00:00:00

GREAT FIRE AT ESHER.

On Friday night an alarming fire broke out in what
are called the Royal Paper Mills, at Esher, Surrey. The
fire was first discovered at 10 o'clock on Friday night
by one of the stokers employed in the works, named
Blake, who proceeded to the second floor of the rag
warehouse and found what he imagined to be a few rags
smouldering. With the aid of a can of water he thought
he had succeeded in putting tie fire out, but in the course
of a few minutes afterwards a body of flame came through
the flooring of the warehouse above, which clearly indi-
cated that that storey was also on fire ; ho gave an alarm
and then run off towards the town for the engines.
Having proceeded about half-way, he met an officer and
despatched him to call the engines, and returned to
assist at the mill. Although he had been absent only
a few minutes, when he carte back he was just in time
to see the roof of the building fall in, and then the fire
assumed such an aspect as to threaten every part of the
extensive property with destruction. The persons in
charge of the mills made an attempt to get some of the
manufactured paper out of the warehouse ; but their
efforts were comparatively useless, and the flames rushed
forth in such bodies as to ignite almost simultaneously
the whole of the rag stores in the front premises. From
this point the flames extended to the machine-house, in
which eight powerful engines were at work. The fire at
this moment presented an awful appearance ; the flames
issuing Porn the windows and curling around the pile
of buildings forming the centre of the mill. The engine
from Esher parish arrived and was set to work, but the
water which it discharged produced no effect on such a
body of fire. The engine from Claremont Palace next
arrived, closely followed by another from Teddington
and one from Twickenham, when those in charge of the
machines tried all they possibly could to preserve the
centre of the building, which contained much valuable
property and had nearly 100 windows on the four sides.
For some time it was hoped that their efforts would be
successful, but the wind, which was blowing strongly
from the south-west, drove the flames into one of
the floors, and the consequences soon became ap-
parent. Mr. Spicer, the magistrate, on finding that
the fire was progressing, sent his engine to the
spot, which was also set to work, the hose being
directed to the tallest building, to cut off, if pos-
sible, an 7 further extension of the fire, but the flames,
in spite of the exertions of all present, continued to
spread. rue engines from Kingston and Richmond next
arrived and the whole force was admirably directed by
Mr. Selfe, the agent of the West of England Fire Insur-
ance Company. That officer had the engines distributed
round the blazing pile, and they were efficiently worked
from the mill-streams which were full of water. Not-
withstanding, however, before three o'clock on Satur-
day morning every part of the centre building and the
left wing, together with the machine-house stretching
over the water, wero enveloped in flames, and as the fire
broke through the roof and rushed out of at least 150
windows, it produced a terrific spectacle. The persons
working at the engines kept to their posts, and many
thousand gallons of water were momentarily scattered
over the fire, but without the least success, and a little
before 4 o'clock the roof the middle building fell with a
crash resembling a clap of thunder ; shortly afterwards
floor after floor of the same part of the mill came down,
and then the fire rose to an extraordinary height. Great
as the fire now was it soon became larger ; for the ma-
chine-house, being composed principally of timber, on be-
coming fully ignited, sent forth a tremendous sheet of
fire, which set in flames the chemical houses, and at
the same time the roof and floors of the left wing
(130 feet long) fell in. The flames at this period
wore drifted across the mill-stream almost to the edge
of the South-Western Railway, which caused the
engine-drivers to stop on proceeding either up or down
the line with the Christmas luggage and other trains.
Finding that those parts of the mill on fire must of
necessity be consumed, the engineers directed the full
force of water against the boiling houses and the large
steam engine house, by which means they happily pre-
vented the fire destroying those departments or injuring
the steeping-houses. In the last-named,isome tons of
rags were in the coppers, but they have all been saved.
A raghouse at the rear has likewise been saved, and so
has the pulphouse, in which eight pulp machines were
at work. The devilling-house, with the powerful ma-
chinery for tearing tha rags, has, however, boon de-
stroyed. By the disaster upwards of 250 persons will
be thrown out of employment. The origin of the ca-
lamity is 'unknown. The place where the fire broke
out was inspected about an hour before, when it seemed
perfectly safe, and no smell of anything burning could
at that time be detected. The buildings were all in-
sured in the County Office, and the contents in several
other offices.

SUSPECTED MURDER AT EAST ACTON.-The body of
a boy was discovered in East Acton, on Tuesday, under
circumstances which led to a very strong suspicion that
a murder had been committed. After muck difficulty, the
police have succeeded in identifying the body, It appears
that a man named George Meddows, a horsehair curler,
residing in Clerkenwell, whose son, aged 14 years, had
been missing for the last eight weeks, having read in the
police Hue and Cry a description of tho body found at
Acton, immediately hastened thither, and identified it
as that of his missing son. According to the father's
statement, the deceased, accompanied by another boy,
named George Jackson, left the warehouse, where they
were employed on the night that he was missed, to go
home and prepare his (the father's) tea. While they were
proceeding homewards with that view, they were ac-
costed in Old-street by a man in a cart, who asked
either of them to accompany him for the purpose of
holding his horse while he made a call a few doors
down. Deceased accepted the invitation, and jumped
into the cart. The other youth was following him,
when the man said, " Oh, no, one is sufficient," and
then, turning the horse's head, drove rapidly towards
Shoreditch, and was quickly out of sight. From that
time ncthing more was heard of deceased, until his
body wss found in the manner described. According to
the statement of the boy Jackson, the man who took
away deceased was a tall, stout man, with a full face,
and dressed in a fustian coat. He could not describe
the can, but the horse he stated to be of a dark
colour. As regards the unfortunate victim, his father,
who has a large family, says that he was the best of boys,
and exceedingly regular in his habits and hours. It is
painful to consider the many rumours that are circulated
concerting deceased's death, upon which there is but
one impression—that he has been the victim of brutal
treatment and savage murder. The police are strongly
of opinion that, after having been kept and starved in
some filthy den, he was ultimately got rid of by a blow
which was discernible ovor the right eye.— Observer.