The Sun.
London, England, 1824-11-15 00:00:00

DREADFUL FIRE IN FLEET.STRENT.

At about three o'clock yesterday morning, he
most indescribable alarm and confusion prevailed amongst the
inhabitants of Fleet.street, occasioned by one of the largest and
thtSgeirs)fnw:f
most destructive fires that have occurred for some years beck:
—The watchman of St. Bride's parish, whose station is oit
da nt,
though
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his
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en some
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the south side of the street near Bride's-passage, opposite almost
other
the shop
(Atlowl r;111°O-Indi eerpwreamtciseshrrien'
came up, and set about alarming the inmate, of that and the
adjoining houses, by knocking at the dooriospringing tbrii
rattles, and calling aloud, " Fire ! fire !" whilst others hastened
for the engines. The first engine that made its appearance wits -
that belonging to the parish, which was brought by Geo. Smith
the engineer to the spot before the fire burst •'throtagiL &Mar;
with a deal of activity, forced open the door, by applying' *
pole-axe to the lock, and in an instant a vast body of fiatues
burst through the shutters, anti ascended with terrific fury.:...
At this time not more than seven persons were present, all of
whom exerted themselves by pulling up the pavement to pro-
cure water from the main, but their object, we regret to say,
failed, and it was full 25 minutes before any turncock was
to be found, when two made their appearance, and the water
was then put in requisition in very great quantities. During
this delay, the devouring element had gained such an alarm.,
ing ascendancy, that all attempts to rescue any of the stock in .
trade were found to be impracticable, as the flames bad
tered the first floor. The agony of the persons assembled may
be better imagined than we can describe, as none of the in-
mates were to be seen, and, strange to say, the occupiers
of the adjoining houses were also invisible, although the
uproar caused by the watchmen alarmed those of the oppo.,
site houses. The house of Mr. Bond, in less than twenty
minutes from the first alarm, presented one mass of fire,.
which, bursting through the roof, and the wind blowing a
heavy gale from the S.W., spread in one huge sheet ; and the
houses of Mr. Hill, the chyntist and druggest, and Mr. Mat-
tress, the hairdresser were included in the destructive
scene : the flames spread over to Carlile's house, at the cot's. .
ner of Bride-passage, the attics of which and the floor under.
neath were discovered to have caught fire. The Alliance,
Norwich Union, Guardian, West of England, Union, Beacon, •
Hand-in-Hand, and the Sun fire-engines by this time arrived,
and were stationed in front of the burning buildings, and were
soon put in motion ; but notwithstanding the combined efforts
of the firemen to check the devouring element, the adjoining
house to the left, Alessrs. Pitman and Ashfield, oilmen, at about
a quarter before 4 o'clock was numbered in the conflagration, as
was also Mr. Marriott's the furnishing ironmonger. The spec-
tacle was now awfully grand, the flames illuminating the hori,
eon for a considerable extent, and spreading their devastation
with incredible veloc:ty. Several attempts were made to save
part of the stock and furniture of the houses, but all proved in- ,
effectual, such were the disastrous effects of the flames. It was
thought that some of the families had perished and were buried
in the ruins, but some persons in a state of nudity were seen run-
ning along the tops of the adjoining houses, anti were rescued.
from. their impending danger. A lady was taken front an attic
window of one of the houses in the rear, and in a few moments •
after the roof MI in with a tremendous crush. She was con-
veyed into the church, where she was promptly attended, and
soon recovered from the fright she. had experienced. Such was
the intense heat of the ground and church-yard, that the persons
engaged in saving what part of their property they could, and
depositing it in the church, were obliged to make circuitous
routes to get to it. At half-past four, Mr. Marriot's extensive .
premises, which run back into Bride's-passage, were entirely •
in flames, and communicated to the houses of Mr. Smith, a
tailor, and Mr. Mercier, the printer of' the British Traveller
Evening Paper, which in a few seconds were on tire from top to
bottom. It was now thought expedient by the firemen to
turn their attention to the adjoining houses, and torrents of
water were thrown upon diem to check the further extension of
the fire. Fortunately a strong party-wall of the house of Mr.
Phene, the confectioner, saved his extensive premises; and the
court on the other side had a similar effect as regards Messrs.
Davenport and Co.'s China-warehouse. The confusion In the
Court was dreadful, as it was imagined, front the glare, that
half Fleet-street was on tire ; and persons were seen running
about in their night clothes in the greatest despair, and deposit-
ing their little property in the church. A curious circumstance
in the course of the confusion took place ; sonic of Carlisle's
family took refuge in the church, and placed also there for secu-
rity a quantity of his Deistical publications ; The .Ige of Rea-
son was one of them. At five o'clock the entire fronts of the
houses of Mr. Bond and Al r. Hill fell suddenly with a trernen-
dons crash, indeed, so sudden was the fall, that had the ruins.
fallen into the street, a number of persons would have been
buried underneath. The flames- were now partially damped,
but still wore a fearful aspect, and the firemen were obliged so
continue most unceasingly to exert themselves until sine o'clock,
when the fire was subdued, but the houses still were in several
places on fire, and the engines during the whole of yesterday
were in active requisition. No lives were lost.

(FURTHER PARTICULARS.)
The above fire was said to have been occasioned by the its.
Cautious dropping of a spark from a candlein the closing of
Mr. Bond's shop, behind the counter, which, communicating
with the gas, which it is thought was not properly turned of, •
produced a destruction of property to nearly the amount of 1.
100,000/. The family of Air. Bond were out of town, and
only two persons slept in the house, who escaped when the
house was almost entirely in flames ; they got out of the up.
stairs window over the roofs of the other houses ; oneof them,
a female, suffered dreadfully from alarm. The families of Mr.
Mattress and Mr. Ashfield did not experience any injury. Mr.
Hill, the chymist, was also from home ; part of the shop of his
house was partitioned, and appropriated as an office for the pub-
lication of the Sunday Monitor newspaper. Mr. Mattress was
unable to save any thing. It was thought at one period that the
church would have fallen a sacrifice to the devouring element.
The Rector and Church w ardene,Messra. 111 oxall and ill' Do well,
were present during the whole of the time, and humanely
soothed and promptly rendered assistance to the sufferers.
The houses of' Messrs. Pitman and Ashfleld, Mr. Hill, and
Att. Mattress, caught fire nearly at the same time, and burnt
downwards, so that the families hail plenty of time to escape
and save part of their furniture. The family of Mr. Smith
consisted of nine persona—himself, wife, mother, and six
children ; he had scarcely time to save the latter, who slept in
the attic, and was obliged to rush through the flames with
two of them. He placed them in the court, and ran hack to
save his mother, and on his return, missed his youngest child,
a girl about four years of age, who, he was informed, had
run the house. The agonized father fled again into
thei backiotis in
house, which was entirely in Haines, and found the poet
child crying in a corner of the kitchen. As he ascended the
crackling stairs with his daughter, part of the house fell, and
lie was nearly suffocated in making his way out ; he, however,
succeeded, and during the whole of yesterday. was very unwell
from the effects of the exertion. Ile, we are sorry to say, is not
insured, and his loss is very great indeed. The other sufferers
are partially insured in the Hand-in-Hand, West of England,
' Atlas, and Sun, companies. The walls of some of the home.
Awllelorciaerre, sMufrettaerenrs. P:'—itotn
were standing yesterday, but in a threatening and dangerous
manner. In the course of the day part of the ruins of Mr. Bona's
house fell into the street, but no accident occurred. The fol.
lotiers.
I%,offarritheotterAsoinr.s
' and Ashileld, Mr. Smith, Mr. Brady, and several• other per.
Bond,win 3art
' sons who were lodgers in the houses. There were upwards of
er.tillieinn,anA
20 engines in attendance, and the greatest credit is due to the
firemen for their spirited exertions,

• ANOTIItn FIRE.—It is not a little remarkable that at the
same hour, and in the vicinity of the above, another conliagra ,
tion took place, which for some time wore an alarming aspect.
This latter one occurred in the back part of Ehn and Co. 'e far
warehouse, No. 18, Uough-square. the immediate etterularietV
of two engines, which were considered as superfluous At tho
tire thin raging in Fleet-street, succeeded in suppressing the
flames, pot, however, before Et considerable quantity of valuable,
furs were destroyed.

-Saturday the body of an elderly man, ur,-
known, was found drowned near Vauxhall,-bridge by a water-
man; who immediately conveyed it to the Roebuck public -house,
at Millbank, for a Coronees, Inquest. The unfortunate de.
ceased seems to be between fifty and sixty years of age, of short
stature, and bald-headed, which appears to be severe!), bruised.
lie was dressed in a suit of black, and had on a pair of Wel-
lingten boots.