The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-03 00:00:00

TUE FIRE AND LOSS OF EIGHT LIVES

AT W.HITACHAPEL.

Yesterday evening Mr. William Baker, the coroner
for East Middlesex, and a jury of thirteen householders
of the parish of St. Mary, Whitechapel, assembled in
the large dining-room of the Whitechapel Workhouse,
Whitechapel-road, touching the respective deaths of
Mark Zeigler, aged 22, a hawker of jewellery ; Francis
Miller, aged 30, a tailor ; Christian Mishowsky, aged
40, a Hungarian refugee ; John Vick, aged 38, a com-
mission agent ; John Dunkleman, aged 37, a carpen-
ter ; Thomas Zerham, aged 30, a slipper-maker ; a Ger-
man named Lins, aged 20, a slipper-maker ; and a
male person unknown, apparently about 20 years of
age—the unfortunate persons who perished in the late
calamitous fire on the premises of Mr. Nicholas Bros-
sette, a beer-shop keeper and licensed lodging-house
keeper, of No. 1, Colchester-street, Leman-street, White-
chapel, on Saturday morning last.

The first witnesscalled was
Nicholas Brosette, the late proprietor of the house
where the recent catastrophe took place, who said—l

am a Frenchman, and my present residence is No. 5,
New-buildings, Cross-street, Southwark. - I kept a
licensed lodging-house at No. 1, Colchester-street,
Leman-street, Whitechapel. The premises- were duly

licensed under the late act of Parhanent. lam a baker
by trade, and sometimes lodged twenty, and occasionally
thirty. It was registered for forty individuals. I have
rented the house since August, 1853.
Coroner—Has not the house been on fire previously ?
Witness—Yes, twice before. The first was in the
summer of 1853, and the last in January, 1854. On the
first occasion the fire was caused by a man with a candle
—the second through the oven in the bakehouse in the
cellar. The furniture was insured for 4001. in the Sun

Fire office. There were eight rooms, the whole of which
were generally occupied by casual lodgers. I rented
the house yearly, and it was insured in the Royal Ex-
change•office for 2501. I value my property at 5001.
Thelast time I baked bread in the oven was on Friday

night last, and left off at 12 o'clock. The deceased John
Vick assisted me, and he was quite sober. " I have seen
all the bodies, and I can recognise the following—John
Vick, Francis Miller, John Dunkleman, Mark Zeigler,

and 'Christian Mishowsky ; but the body of Thomas
Zerham is so much burned that I cannot identify him.
I knew him when he was alive. The deceased Lins
and the other man I have seen I cannot recognise,

_. .
owing to the dreadful state the bodies are in. The man
Frost, who jumped out of window, I knew well, and he
was a cigar-maker.
Coroner—Has not there been an illicit still on the pre-
mises.

Witness—No. I went to bed at 12 o'clock on the
Friday night, and slept, with my wife and three chil-
dren, in the front room on the first f100r... I and my
family escaped by the fire escape. I had only time to
put on my trowsers. Wood, the escape man, rescued
my wife and children. I did not see Frost jump out of
the window, and I am not aware what time, or the place
where, the fire commenced, but the first I saw of tho
flames was when I awoke. The fire and smoke were
coming into my room from the staircase. No one
was allowed to sleep in the cellar or bakehouse.
Seven of the persons who are burned paid for their
lodging. The other two must have got in without pay-
ing for their beds. They must have come into the
house from the yard and gone upstairs unknown to me
or my wife. The house was entirely burnt down to the
basement. I placed some wood in the oven at twelve
o'clock, which was my usual custom. It was there the
morning after the fire.

_
Samuel Wood, 5, Milton-street, Cripplegate, the fire-
escape conductor, was next examined and said—l was
called by a young man on Saturday morning last about
twenty minutes past three o'clock. I proceeded from
Whitechapel Church to the house in question, and found
every part of the house filled with flames. I placed the
machine against the building, and heard groans. I
ascended the ladder and saw several persons at the first-
floor window. I rescued Mr. Brossett, his wife, and
three children. I then made an attempt to enter the
window on the second floor, but could not in conse-
puence of the great mass of flames and smoke issuing
from the lower and upper parts of the house. I can-
not account for the cause of the fire, but my impression
is that it originated in the lower portion of the premises.
Mr. William Culverhouse, of No. 10, Osborn-place,
Brick-lane, Whitechapel, said—l am one of the trustees
of the parish. I was passing the end of Colchester-
street, on the afternoon of Saturday last, about 4
o'clock, when I saw Mr. Patrick, one of the late
churchwardens. He called my attention to the ruins,
and informed me that there were seven persons sup-
posed to be buried in the rubbish. It was then
about twelve hours after the fire had been extin-
guished, and no steps whatever had been taken by the
firemen or the parish authorities for the finding
of the bodies. If there had been any person alive under
the ruins no attempt was made to rescue him. I appealed
to Mr. Oliver, the district surveyor, but nothing was
done until I and Mr. Patrick procured a gang of
labourers, who we set to work at our own individual ex-
pense. I and the men dug 18 hours altogether, and
found the first body about twelve o'clock on Saturday
night, another about one, and the remaining six about
five o'clock. They were much burnt, and some were
more so than others. lam of opinion that there is great
blame somewhere, and my impression for such a delay is
that the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the parish
officers.
Elias Davis, of 2, Palmer-street, Spitalfields, a general
dealer, proved the identity of Mark Zeigler, who was a
Jew, in the habit of hawking articles about the street.
Inspector Price, the lodging-house superintendent, said
the house wtich had been burnt down had been duly
licensed and examined by him in the usual manner accord-
ing to the act of Parliament. The place was registered
for 40 lodgers, and the rooms used for the purpose gene-
rally held about nine persons, chiefly foreigners from
Germany. The house was always kept clean, and in
conformity with law.
The Coroner here asked if Mr. Fogo, the foreman of
the fire brigade was present, as he should like to take
that officer's evidence before proceeding any further
in the case.
Mr. Webb, the summoning officer, said Mr. Fogo
had not been summoned, for there had not been time to
collect the necessary testimony in such an important
inquiry.
The Coroner, thereupon, adjourned the investigation
until Thursday afternoon, giving the constable orders to
get the gentlemen from the Sun Fire Office, and all the
evidence he could together by the time mentioned.
The proceedings then closed.
Orders were given for the burial of the eight unfortu-
nate sufferers.

LARGE ARRIVAL OF MERCHANT SEAMEN IN THE PORT
OF LONDON.—Within the last two or three days, since
the wind has got round to the westward, between two
and three thousand sailors have arrived in the port of
London, by the large homeward-bound fleet which was
recently reported coming up the channel. Most of the
men are English, and have been long voyages. Their
arrival has been most acceptable to the traders of the
east-end of London and the outward bound ships. for
since the great demand of Government for men, and the
uncommon dearth of sailors, there •has been little trade
doing ; while the rate of wages has gone up prodigi-
ously, more than 51. per month being paid. The fleet
of homeward-bounders which has lately reached the
Thames comprises vessels from all parts of the globe,
laden with the most valuable cargoes. Among them
are ten from Australia, each having a quantity of gold
on board ; twenty from China, Singapore, Madras, Cal-
cutta, &c. ; as many more from the Mauritius, Ceylon,
Cape of Good Hope, &c. ; two or three dozen from the
West Indies, South America, United States, &c. ; while
the Mediterranean Fruit and Channel Islands trades
have contributed a large proportion of the arrivals. To
this list must be added a considerable fleet from the
ports in the north of Europe ; the whole giving employ-
ment to many thousand labourers in the docks on both
sides of the Thames ; and, indeed, much activity to every
branch of trade connected with the port. A large num-
ber of the crews, on leaving their ships, proceeded to
the Sailors' Homes ; but many continue to locate them-
selves in the lodgingliouses about Ito,teliff-highway and
Shadwell.

The CHAIRMAN (Deputy Peacock) informed the court
that the purchase of 200 acres of laud, which was de-
clared by able judges to be perfectly suitable to the pur-
poses of interment, had been completed. The City did
not (he said) require so large a space of ground, but that
part which was not necessary for the City's use would,
he had no doubt, be taken by the various parishes on
the line of the Eastern Counties about Ilford' where
the property lay. Already applications had been made
for the accommodation.
VALUATION OF HOUSES THROUGHOUT THE CITY.
Deputy Corney moved that the resolution passed on
the 11th of April last, for valuing the houses throughout
the City, be rescinded. He thought that a wholesale
valuing of the kind would lead to a great variety of im-
posts, and to great contusion, which would be avoided
by just doing nothing at all. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Christy seconded the motion, upon the ground
that it was rather too hard to put the citizens of Lon-
don to the expense of 2,5001., the cost of the survey,
when the general impression was that the wards them-
selves were the beat qualified to judge of the valuation.
Deputy P_ ewtress thought the idea of a new valua-
tion not adapted to the present time. Ho believed that
the existing plan of valuation was fair, and that, at all
events, the present was not the exact time for excite-
' ment upon the subject.
Deputy Harrison supported the original resolution.
He knew that the discrepancies were very great—that
some houses were rated infinitely beyond others ; that
the last revision, which had touched but a few wards,
proved the extraordinary inequality ; and that justice
could not be done to the great body of his fellow-citi-
zens without adopting the plan of a complete valuation.
Mr. T. H. Hall also supported the original resolu-
tion,, as did other members ; but Deputy Corney 'a mo-
tion to rescind it was carried.—Adjourned.

In the last return a rather high mortality was remarked
and the present shows that it continued to prevail last
week. In the week that ended on Saturday 1,211 deaths
were registered in London ; in the ten corresponding
weeks of the years 1844-53 the average number was 973,
which if raised in proportion to increase of population
becomes 1,070. The present return, therefore, exhibits
an increase of 141 above the estimated amount.
The mortality from scarlatina and typhus increases.
Last week the former numbered 64 deaths, and it is now
the most fatal in the epidemic class ; the corrected
average of this disease for corresponding weeks is 29.
Typhus was fatal to 56 persons, whilst the average is 41.
From small-pox there were 10 deaths ; from measles, 36;
from hooping-cough, 59 ; from diarrhoea,, 19 ; from in-
fluenza, 3 ; from purpura, 2 ; and from intermittent
fever, 1. An increase of patients in the London Fever
Hospital is reported by the registrar of the district in
which it is situated.
Fatal cases of carbuncle are numerous in this return.
Last week the births of 742 boys and 824 girls, in all
11,566 children, were registered in London. In the nine
corresponding weeks of the years 1845.53 the average
number was 1,487.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barn heter in the week was 29.944 in.
The we m daily readiur was above 30 in. on Monday,
Tuesday, and Wednesday. The reading rose to 30.32
in. by 9 h. p.m. on the 24th, and continued at about
this reading till 9h. a.m. on the 25th (Tuesday). The
mean temperature of the week was 43.0 deg., which is
5.8 deg. below the average of the same week in 38 years
The mean daily reading was below the average on every
day of the week. On the coldest days (Sunday, Mon-
day, and Tuesday) it was about 8 deg below it. On
these days the mean temperature was about. 40 deg. The
highest temperature occurred on Wednesday, and was
57.8 deg. ; the lowest on Tuesday, and was 28.3 deg. ;
showing a range of 29.5 deg. The mean dew-point
temperature was 37.2 deg. Between this and the mean
temperature of the air the difference was 5.8 deg. Th•
wind blew generally from the north ; from the north-
east at the beginning of the week, from the north-west
towards the end of it. The rain-fall of the week was
0.19 in., of which 0.13 in. fell on Thursday.

MORTALITY IN THE METROPOLIS.
NUMBER OF DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES REGISTERED
IN THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, APRIL 29.

Zymotic Diseases
Diseases of Uncertain Seat
Tubercular Diseases
Diseases of the Brain, Nerves and Senses
Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 4B
Diseases of the Lungs and other Organs of
Respiration
Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs
of Digestion
Diseases of the Kidneys, &c.
Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus, &c.
Diseases of the Joints, Bones, and Muscles
Diseases of the Skin, &c.
Malformations 6
Premature Birth and Debility 39
Atrophy
Old Age
Sudden
Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance 2B
Causes not specified

DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES
Population Deaths in corre- Deaths
Enumerated. sponding week in ths
1851. of 1853. Week.
West Districts
North Districts 490.396
Central Districts 393,256
East Districts 485,522
South Districts

Totals
Males
Females

1,182

1,211

603
608