The Sun.
London, England, 1838-07-09 00:00:00

BOLTON.

On Wednesday afternoon last this town and neighbourhood
were visited by one of the most violent storms witnessed here
for many years. The rain fell in torrenv, accompanied by
violent peals of thunder, and, what was rather singular, the
rain was interspersed with hailstones as large as horsebeans.
The electric fluid killed a horse, belonging to Mr. Hargraves,
which was pasturing in a field on Bolton-moor. At Tu'rner-
bridge, a lad of about 14 years of age, named Noble, whilst
endeavouring to catch some timber, accidentally fell into the
river, and was carried away. Every foot-bridge, with one
exception, between Bolton and Birtonshaw, was carried away.
The neighbourhood of Little Bolton, Turton, Longworth, and
Sharpies, adjoining the river Edgley, a branch of the Irwe
lying north-west of Bolton, was visited by the storm in a
manner the most awful ever witnessed by the oldest inhabi-
tants. The rain fell in torrents, and in about two hours the
river was swollen to a height much beyond what had ever been
remembered. The damage done at the Egerton mill w ill not
much exceed 35/. ; that at Edgley mills may probably amount
to 80/. or 901.

FRIDAY EVENING.
THREE LIVES LOST BY LIGHTNING.
This evening, about half-past 8 o'clock, the electric fluid
struck the gable-end of the new part of the Royal George
factory, belonging to Messrs Ormerod and Hardcasile, which
was lately desroycd by fire. The whole came down and
buried three men in the ruins. The neighbours and all the
hands about the fectory rushed to the spot, and in a few mi•
nutes extricated the bodies, which' were most shockingly
mutilated. had the accident occurred in the daytime, when
bet xeen 30 and 40 men were at work, the consequences
would have been still more disastrous.
BURY AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
On Wednesday last the town and neighbourhood of
Bury was visited by a tremendous storm of thunder
and lightning, accompanied by such heavy showers of
rai:i and hail, that the brooks and rivers of the district
rose to the height of six or eight feet above their
usual level in the short space of thirty to forty minutes.
We are informed that at the mills at Dearden Clough great
damage.was sustained, as well as at Mr. Parkinson's mill at
Ewood-bridge. All the lawn and meadow land (upward of
50 acres) in front of the residence of Mr. John Grant, of
which the works of Mr. E. Hardman, of Bury,
the land, bras completely inundated, as well as a portion of
are situate, At Black Pits, the mills of Messrs. Turner and
Co. were so much damaged by the overflowing and rapid cur-
rent, that some time must elapse before they
can be put into
operation.
The heavy stone wall of the large Iceml-shed near
tl.e brook was washed completely down, and the looms and
machinery in it, and the lower rooms of the mill were im-
mersed in water, and much valuable property washed away,
but we are happy to say no lives were lost. In the neigh.-
bourhood of Rawtonstall large tracts of meadow and pasture
land were laid under water, and from the quantty of wreck
that has floatcd down the streams, it is feared that the damage
sustained has been very great. At Messrs. Walker and
Lomax's mills upwards of 300 squares of glass were broken
in the s •
kyl;ghts by the heavy hailstones.
PRESTON.

Thls town and neighbourhood were on Wednesday last
visited by another storm of thunder and lightning. The thun-
derWrednesday was first heard between eleven and twelve,
and it may
be said that there was, in fact, no intermission till
near five in the afternoon. The lightning was also exceed-
ingly vivid, and twice during the continuance of the storm
there was the awe-inspiring phenomenon of an almost Egyp-
tian darkness. At the time of the first darkness, near one
o'clock in the afternoon, the Chairman at the Quarter Sessions
was summing up to the jury, but his notes were rendered use-
s:bin:ln named
theyuimxhtr yen,eloededt,iNeol.
eel
bodzrn
ecoi t
tirizefngtanme7Atudsaolis
lsoreohysd:
slitre:ruhlymil
of them
wneatlhhinat
eltdhaitt
nice
ehrap
t;eehr
vdaetwiri
faraceeknsl
ndcsaleue3enesssrdsrlt
personst lf
v forcesroesek rs
pftal ra:b. oat:
ericsi
agee
are
aeldtpl
en
three children, estet isrol
aessiyoahtn
person
en, resided in Albert street, near the National
School. The poor man was by trade a hand-loom weaver,
although, we understand, he has for a short time been em-
ployed on the power-looms. The time when he was fatally
struck was between one and two o'clock, and his death appears
to have been instantaneous as an " eye-flash." He was at one
111'nent engaged in administering some humble nourishment
to his poor wife, who had been prematurely ccnfined in child-
d on the preceding night; and the next he lay stretched a
lifeless corpse to the agonized view of a widow and three fa-
therless children.
WOODFLUMPTON AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
On Wedreelay last this neighbourhood was again the scene
of
.a most tremendous viFitition of thunder, lightning, mid
rain. It Commenced about noon, and continued to utter its
mighty voice with unabated fury until seven in the evening.
The thunder was never heard louder, nor was the lightning
ever seen more vivid : the rain fell in torrents the whole p. -
r:od. The most astonishing circumstance which happened in
this neighbourhood is, that as the canal packet was on its way
to Lancaster (vi.en between Lea and Swillbrooke), the bridles
of the horses were so much burnt as to be rendered useless ;
but, strange to Sa V, the horses and rider escaped uninjured,
save being Very
much frightened.
YORKSHIRE—LOSS OF MANY LIVES.
;

The neiglibourhood- of Stainb:Teri,h, Dodworth and Silk-
stone was oa ednesday visited by 'a
tremendous hail.vorrr,
which did conriderable damage in the gardens, as well as to a
great riurnb.r of windows ; the rain fell in torrents, and the
vales from D..dwol th to Worsbreugh Dale were flooded to sueli
an extent as has not been witnessed for several yens, and several
cattle were taken down by the stream. In the valley of the south-
west side of Dodworth the water rose to such a height that it
reached the entrance of a coal-pit, in the bill side,
belonging

to Mr. R. Clarke, called the Moor-side Pit; the water rushed
in so that in a short time the pit was filled ; a number of col-
liers were at work in the pit, and many of them perished in
the water; it is ssated that 27 persons have been taken out
dead. Since the above was in type, we have received a con-
firmatory account, with the names of the 27 unfortun:le per
sons mho have fallen victims, and who are all from 10 to 18
years of age; 11 of Com are females. The damage done to
the windows alone at Wentworth Castle is estimated at 500/.
We further learn that at Wentworth Castle the destruction i
truly lamentable ; all the glass of the green and hot house,:
is wholly destroyed, as well as their valuable contents; the
pineries, frames, flowers, shrubs, &c., are all swept away, and
4,000 yards of walling laid prostrate. Another correspondent
says, the hail-stones measured four inches and a half round.
The water swept away timber trees, walls, bridges, and a
a quantity of furniture from the houses; coals, tubs, pigs, and
clothes from the hedges; and ten beasts from Air. Jahn
Archer, of Saville-ball, near Barnsley; it has done about 3001.
of damage in Silkstone to different individuals, and the ro ids
are all blown up in a dreadful manner ; the entire village
presented the appearance of a complete sheet of water,
from one end to the other; it was impassable for a few hours.
A private letter from Rochdale, dated in the afternoon of
Wednesday, states that the storm raged there to a fearful ex-
tent ; mills and houses were washed down, and property de-
stroyed by the flood to the extent of about 6001. The storm
at Edinfield is stated in a letter we have seen to have lasted
about six hours, commencing about noon.
We subjoin an account of the calamity at Silkstone, as pub-
lished in a Leeds paper :
SILKSTONE— TWPNTV- SIX CHILDREN
DROWNED:

On Wednesday last the southern part of Yorkshire an,
part of the county of Lancaster were visited by a terrific storm
of thunder and hail, which not only did very damage by the
breaking of glass and the destruction 'ef trees in the gar-
dens, but, by suddenly swelling the streams to an almost
unprecedented height, has caused immense damage to pro-
perty, and also a far greater loss of life than we remember on
any similar occasion. The following particulars are sent by
our Barnsley Correspondent :—" I have this week to give you
the most disastrous account of loss ef life and property that
ever fell to my lot to record. On Wednesday afternoon a most
violent thunder-storm took place in this part, when large
pieces of ice fell, which had not dissolved on Thursday, and
which broke nearly all the glass in the gardens of Mr. F. V.
Wentworth, Wentworth castle, doing damage to the amount
of 500/. The sudden rush of water caused one of Messrs.
Field, Cooper, and Co.'s coal-pits to be nine yards deep, as
well as washed a great part of their railway up. The flood
has done a great deal of damage along the valley from Little
Houghton at Silkstone. Windows have been broken in nearly
all the houses from Round-green to Silkstone by the large
pieces of ice. Such a flood has not been known since 1807 at
Silkstone, where the houses were from four to five feet deep
in water. In many gardens not only the crop, but even the
soil also had been carried away. Large trees were rooted up
and taken down the stream. But by far the moat dreadful
part of the account is, that 26 lives have been lost. I obtained
the following particulars on the spot :—As the water was seen
to be running down the shaft of a coal-pit belonging to Mr.
R. C. Clarke, at Silkstone, the person in authority at the top
sent a man into the pit to order all to put out their lights and
come out as soon as possible. Consequently all made the best
of their way to the pit bottom, expecting to be drawn out im-
mediately; but, lamentable to relate, on account of so much
water having fallen, the steam-engine could scarcely keep the
steam up, and they could not be drawn out. About 40 of
the smaller children then set off to the day-hole, the horizon-
tal shaft by which persons may walk in or out of the pit,
without going up or down the perpendicular shaft. Having
got through a trap door, that is set a few yards up the day-
hole boardgate, and about 10 or 12 yards below what is called
" a slit," driven in a top bed of coal, full of dirt, they were
making the lo:st of their way up the road, when the water
burst into the day-hole, met the children, and forced '26 of
them back to the door, where they were afterwards found,
all quite dead, within the space of 11 or 12 yards between
the doors of the slit-14 of the largest children escaped by
getting into the old slit ends. Ile sufferers are fiorn the

age of 7 years to 17. It was the most heartrending sight
that could be witnessed, to see the carts with the bodies in
them going through Silkstone, leaving a corpse or two at
nearly every door—the women in a state of distraction, tear'ts.;
the hair from the;r heads.