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

GREAT FIRE AT ESHER.

On Friday night an alarming fire broke out in
are called the Royal Paper Mills, at Esher, Surrey
fire was first discovered at 10 o'clock on Friday
by one of the stokers employed in the works, na
Blake, who proceeded to the second floor of the
warehouse and found what he imagined to be a few
smouldering. With the aid of a can of water he thoi
he had succeeded in putting the fire out, but in the co
of a few minutes afterwards a body of flame came thrc
the flooring of the warehouse above, which clearly i
cated that that storey was also on fire ; he gave an al
and then run off towards the town for the engi
Having proceeded about half-wsy, he met an officer
despatched him to call the engines, and returne
assist at the mill. Although he had been absent
a few minutes, when he came back he was just in
to seo the roof of the building fall in, and then the
assumed such an aspect as to threaten every part o
extensive property with destruction. The persona
charge of the mills made an attempt to get some of
manufactured paper out of the warehouse ; but t'
efforts were comparatively useless, and the flames rug
forth in such bodies as to ignite almost simultaneoi

that
Ine
light
'lied

rag
rags
tight
rse

only
ime
fire
1 the

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 from 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 !text
arrived, closely followed by another from Teddingiton
and one from Twickenham, when those in charge of Ithe
machines tried all they possibly could to preserve ithe
centre of the building, which contained much valuible
property, and had nearly 100 windows on the four sides.
For some time it was hoped that their efforts woulc. be
successful, but the wind, which was blowing strongly
from the south-west, drove the flames into on of
the floors, and the consequences soon became ap-
parent: Mr. Spicer, the magistrate, on finding hat
the fire ' was progressing, sent his engine to the
t
spot, which was also set to work, the hose 134ir%
directed to the tallest building, to cut off, if pos-
sible, any further extension of the fire, but the flanhes,
in spite of the, exertions of all present, continued' to
spread. The engines from Kingston and Richmond /text
arrived and the whole force was admirably directed by
Mr. Selfe, the agent of the West of England Firelnimr-
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. Ifot-
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, were enveloped in flames, and as the fire
broke through the roof and rushed out of at least ].50
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
the shortly afterwards
mill came down,
ti
before 4 o'clock the roof the middle building fell with a
crash'oor after resembling
floor
of
t h
aclap
sameof partthunder
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, °Ube-
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
were 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-namedjsome 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 the 'rags, has, however, been 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 the' 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 nothing snore was heard of deceased, until his
body was 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 cart, 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
concerning deceased's . death, upon which there is but
one impressiOr—that he hag 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 over the right eye.— Observer. I

MONEY MARKET

AND

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

CITY, TWO O'CLOCK.

This being a holiday in the City, the public places
of resort are closed, as well as the Stock Exchange.
The railway meetings announced are the follow-
ing :

Company. Date. Place.
Dundee and Arbroath Dec. 28, Dundee.
Lake Constance and Basle Dec. 27, St. Gall.
The amount of railway " calls" for January is as
follows :

Date due. Call. Shares.
*Antwerp and Rotterdam s£l 0 50,000
Cornwall
Dublin and Drogheda, Pref. £25 1 2 10 18,500
East Lanc. New 4 per cent. stock 1 1 0 unkn
*Frankfort, Wiesbaden, and Cologne 10 2 0 80,000
Gt. North of Scotland, let Pref 2 2 0 60,000
*Hamilton and Toronto Shares l4 5 0 40,000
Limerick and Ennis 1 3 3 18,900
London, Tilbury, and Southend l6 1 10 60,000
"Paris and Orleans Bonds, 1852 1 4 0 600,000
*Royal Danish
*St. Andrew's and Quebec, Class A 6 2 0 80,000
*Western of France, 401. Bonds, July,
1853
York, New., and Ber., G.N.E. Pur 1 110 unkn.
*Zealand

£1,456,156

* The proportion called by foreign companies is
1,186,250/., but the holdings of English proprietors are
not known.

MARKET NE WS-(HIS DAY.)

[This being almost a close holiday in the metropolis, the
only markets held today were the following :—]

SMITHFIELD.
Last week's imports of foreign stock into London last
week were seasonably good, the total supply having
amounted to 5,165 head. During the corresponding
period of 1852, we received 2,711 ; in 1851, 3,094 ; in
1850, 1,325; in 1849, 781 ; in 1848, 892; and in 1847,
2,013 head.

IMPORTS INTO LONDON LAST WEEK. '
•
From Beasts. Sheep. Lambs. Calves. Pigs
Rotterdam— 127 ... 854 42
Ostend — ... 404 149
Harlingen 736 ... 2,720 ...
Antwerp
Gluckstadt l3

- ..•

Total ... 876 ... 4,058 ... 226 5
The yearly comparison of weekly imports is as under :
Beasts. Sheep. Lambs. Calves. Pigs.
1852 304 2,157 ... 250 ...
1851 4Ol 2,343 332 18
1850 lB4 ... 945 ... 186 ...
[849 396 ... 224 ... ... 161
1843 6l ... 823 10

The supply of foreign stock on offer in to-day's market
was seasonably good, but in very middling condition.
Fresh up from our own grazing districts, the receipts of
beasts were small. For a holiday market, the attendance
of buyers was tolerably good. The few prime Scots, &c.,
moved off steadily, and in some instances prices were the
turn in favour of the salesmen. In other breeds of beasts
only a limited businesi was transacted on former terms.
The fresh arrivals were 400 short horns from Lincoln-
shire, and 160 Scots from Scotland.

We were very scantily supplied with all breed of sheep.
Downs commanded a steady, though by no means active
,inquiry, at full currencies. Otherwise, the mutton trade
was in a sluggish state, on former terms.
Prime small calves moved off steadily, at full prices. In-
ferior calves sold at Friday's decline.
The pork trade was firm. In prices no change took
place.

Per Sibs to sink the °fa's.

s. d. s. d.l
Interior Beasts.... 3 2 to 3 4.
Second quality.... 3 6 3 10
Prime large oxen 4 0 4 6
Prime Scots, &c. 4 8 4 10
Inferior Sheep ...3 0 3 4
Second quality ...3 6 4 4
Prime case.-wiled. 4 6! 4 10

s. d. s. d.
Prime Southdown 5 0 5 -2
Large crse. calves 3 6 4 2
Prime small d 0... 4 6 '5 0
Large hogs 3 4 4 0
Small porkers 4 2 (410
Suckliugcalves ..22 0 gs 0
Quarter old pigs 21 0 g 6 0

FOREIGN STJFTItT.-
8ea5t5......... . 104
....•....... •• 98

f the supplies and prices of fat
Smithfield Cattle Market, on
d this day, Monday, Dec. 26,
ink the offals.
Dec. 27, 1852.1Dec.26,1853