The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-31 00:00:00

EXPLOSION ON THE BRISTOL

RAILWAY.

John Stephens, who said—l have been employed as
a foreman under Mr. Brunel for nearly fifteen years,
but am at present a sub-contractor under Mr. Nowell.
The injured men worked for me. On Friday evening,
after work, I told James Jones, one of the men killed,
who had charge of the powder, to put it in the black-
smith's shop, and take it out again on Monday morn-
ing before the men came to work ; we have put it there
frequently before on Saturday nights, for safety ; on
Monday morning I went down to the blacksmith's shop
and had gone about thirty-four yards, when I heard the
explosion ; it did not appear to me louder than the re-
port of a fowling-piece. I turned and saw some-
thing like a bundle of burning rags coming
in the air towards me, and in about a second
after, a quantity of timber and stones fell around,
but nothing struck me ; at that instant I heard the
cries of the poor fellows who were hurt, and after-
wards found it was the body of Jones that had fallen
by my side ; there were nearly one hundred men at
the spot in five minutes, and we rendered all the
assistance in our power ; we found that two were
dead, and another died about two hours after. We
brought them ali here, and Mr. Raberts, the surgeon,
attended them immediately. The only way I can ac-
count for the accident is, that Jones must have gone
to work behind time, and that he was in the act of tak-
ing out the powder when it caught.
Two other witnesses were called, but nothing further
was elicited, all who were present in the shop having
been either killed or taken to the infirmary. The inquest
was then adjourned till Thursday week, when it was
hoped some of them would be sufficiently recovered to
attend. The names of those (lead are—Matthew
Stephens, 27, singlo man ; James Bennett, 29, wife
near her confinement ; and James Jones, 27, single.

AMERICAN MANUFACTURES.
We have bee❑ favoured by a house in this town with
the following. extract from a letter, received by a recent
packet from the United States, which we recommend to
the serious attention of our readers :

" The money market is becoming a little closer; but
we do not fear any other than a healthy action, which
will go to prevent orders to England on a large scale ;
and this we term a healthy action, as it gives room for
American calicoes for spring trade. You will notice,
from the paper annexed, that our exports amount to
very nearly as many dollars as tha imports. The im-
portant subject of fixing a tariff for a number of years
I will probably take up most of tau n time of our Congrtza
j the coming winter. There has not been much increase
of cotton mills during the last tour or five years. Every
piece of cloth that is made is printed at present ; and
no stocks on hand. Until there is an increase of fac-
tories for cloth, there cannot be an enlargement of
printing, as tha mills cannot leave heavy cloths for the
light, as there is no accumulation of any kind of goods.
On the whole, the cotton manufacture and the cotton
printing are in a flourishing state in the United States,
and arelooked upon favourably by both north and south."
'll, following is a copy of the paper referred to in the
preceding extract:—

Statement of Imports and Exports of Cotton Piece
Goods during the year ending September 30, 1840,
in the United States :

IMPORTS.
Dyed, printed, and coloured, amounting to $3,893,694
White
. • • • • • 917,101

$4,810,795

EXPORTS.
Foreign goods, dyed, printed, and coloured,
entitled to drawback . . • . $768,195
Do. do. not entitled to drawback 70,358
Foreign white goods, entitled to drawback 152,6.59
Do. -do. not entitled to drawback 30,779
American manufactured, prints and coloured 398,977
Do. do. grey and white . 2,923,257

g 4,346,253

Excess of imports over exports, only . . ,064,540
When we first received this com:nunication, we cou!d
not help suspecting some error in the statement as to
the value of cotton goods imported into the United
St rtes ; but,having since received the American Alma-
nac*. for 1842, which contains copies of the official ac-
counts of the revenue and commerce of the United
States, we find the figures arc perfectly correct ; and
it follows, that the exports of American cotton manu-
factures last year approached in value very nearly to
the foreign cotton manufactures retained for consump-
tion ; and, as these would no doubt include some Ger-
man, Swiss, and French goods, it is probable that the
value of British cottons imported scarcely exceeded
that of the American cottons exported—a fact for
which, we dare say, very few of our readers were prepared.
It is right, however, to state that, owing to circum-
stances which we need not pa' ticul trize, the import of
cotton goods in 1840 was greatly below the average of
former years ; and, in a 1 probability, the accounts for
the present and the coming year may give different re-
sults ; but, however this may be, the fact to which we
have just adverted is one that demands serious attention.

HORRIBLE BARBARITY.-- ARISTOCRATIC
AMUSEMENT.—A correspondent has supplied us with a
detailed account of one of the most atrocious outrages,
committed on a pour helpless creature by a party of
aristocrats, that we have ever heard of, and which re-
utiri',.d in the death of the miserable creature in clues-
our We
can scarcely believe that the circumstances
so circumstantially,
correspondent relates can be true ; yet he details
themgly,
t and authenticates them so
stron
his statemenatt . wei, fear there must be some foundation for
To
thec-licit information, therefore, on the
subject, we supply
officers—were lnaesigilzoeue
appears that a party of following leading statements :—lt
Looncl
gentlemen—most of then English
a visit at a gentleman's
house in the
County, when one evening of Philttsitro %%IT, King's
th
opium, and, in sport, proceededeytogparve t"theirost some
acdise horrible
cruelties upon a poor idiot boy who f
the house. They first extracted all
his()un an asylum about
teeth, and then be-
daubed him over with oil and
turpentme—set fire to his
clothes to make him run, when, horrible
to relate the
poor creature was burned to death"! Our C
orre-
spondent states that a sort of _u
,i e*,t, was held, but
tions were
that the greatest exer
matter up, and conceal the real facts of the case. We
refrain at present from going more into details, but
shall be happy to receive additional information on the
subject, properly authenticated, and which We shall re-
gard as strictly confidential. If the facts are as the,
have been stated to us, nothing shall be wanting on -,
our
part to bring the miscreants to justice.—Dublin
[We hope this will prove to be an exaggeration—if it be
not wholly an invention.]
HOUSE or LORDS.—(From a Correspondent.)
—By direction of the Earl of Lincoln, First Commis
stoner of Woods and Forests, workmen are busily en-
gaged in decorating the interior of the House of Lords.
The old dark-coloured block paper has been removed
from the walls, and they are now painted a light buff
colour, which greatly improves the appearance of the
}louse. The seats of Peers are ordered to be re-covered
with scarlet cloth, and the other alterations in progress
will add materially to the splendour of their Lordships'
house. It is generally thought that his Majesty the
King of Prussia, the King of the Belgians, and many dis-
tinguished foreigners, will he present at the opening of
the ensuing Session of Parliament on the 3d of Febru-
ary next.

DIED.—At Newton-Stewart, on the 20th inst ,
Mr. A. M'Dowall, well-know in Galloway, as " Will
Wander," the poet of Cree, the father of Dr. P. M.
M'Dow all, the great advocate of the " People's Charter."
--Ayr Observer.

THE INQUEST.— Tuesday, the inquest was held be-
fore the County Coroner, at the New Inn, Wickwar.
Oa proceeding to the stable a sickening sight pre-
sented itself. There lay the remains of the two
who were killed instantly. Jones was completely naked
except his boots ; one side of his face and the lower
part of his body had been blown away, which gave
rise to the belief that he had the barrel of pow-
der in his arm when it exploded. The head
of Stephens was a shapeless mass, and he was other-
wise much injured. Bennett's body lay in a back
kitchen, and was dreadfully injured. The first witness
called was