The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-08 00:00:00

THE LATE MYSTERIOUS FIRES
IN WELLINGTON-STREET, STRAND.

Yesterday an inquiry of four hours' duration was held
by Mr. Bedford, the coroner, at the Bell, Exeter-street,
Strand, re: petting the origin of the fire which occurred
on Suuday morning last on the premises belonging to
Mr. M. J. Pitt, hatter and tchaeconist, carry lug on busi-
ness at No. 10, Wellington-street, North, Strand. The
inquiry excited considerable interest in the neighbour-
hood, from the fact of the present fire having been the
third that has broken out in the same shop since
November, 1845.
Mr. Joseph Burton, a clerk in the Phcenix Fire-office,
stated that on the 10th of last March Mr. Pitt effected
an insurance in that office for 5001. When he applied
to be insured he said that he had a brother insured in
the same office.. Witness was not then ark are that he
had had two fires previously. The premium charged
was double hazardous, because their was a flutemaker's
upstairs. 'Witness did not consider that hats of them-
selves were at all hazardous, but a hat manufactory de-
cidedly war.
William Cooper, police-constable F. 58, said that he
was on duty in 'favistock-street on Sunday morning last,
and at half past five, whilst passing Mr. Pitt's vrernises,
he discovered smoke issuing from the shop front. He
immediately raised an alarm, and in the course of a few
minutes he saw some one throw a fire-escape out of the
top window. The party was undressed.
Sergeant Montgomery, of the F division, said that on
hearing the alarm he went to the premises and ascended
the escape, and got in at the first floor. He met Mr. and
Mrs. Pitt, a boy, and another female. Ile ran down
stairs and saw fire burning in the hat shop. Mr. Pitt
followed, and he asked hire to open the street-door three
times before he did so. At last the door was opened,
and the fire was extinguished with buckets of water.
Charles Mills said that be was in the employ of
Messrs. Rudall and Rose, who occupied the first floor,
and that he slept in the house on the night of Saturday,
and was awoke by hearing a cry of fire raised. The
fire-escape had be en fixed about three weeks. lie could
not tell how the fire originated. He was not able to go
into Mr. Pitt's shop when he liked, as Mr. Pitt had for-
bidden him, on account of having missed a spoon some
time back.

Inspector Logan corroborated the evidence of Sergeant
Montgomery.
Mr. George Coll, the foreman of the London Engine
Establishment, said that he arrived at the house a little
after six o'clock on the morning in question. He ex-
- . mined the shop, and it occurred to him that a number
of hat boxes had been burned on the floor where the
fire had begun. The flooring was charred, and the
partition between the two shops was burned a great
deal. There was a hole in the floor which had been
caused by the draught coming through the cracks
in the wood. It bad drawn the fire in. It was not
burned underneath, and there certainly was no grease
round the hole. There was a small trap in the partition
of the two shops, which was open on this and the pre-
vious occasion. He had examined the place very mi-
nutely, but was unable to tell how the fire began. It did
not seem likely that it had been smouldering all night, as
there was nothing to resist it. Mr. Pitt was not insured
when the first fire occurred, but when the second took
place, he was insured in the Sun.
Mr. Superintendent Braidwood, who was present
during the whole of the inquiry, said that he had nothing
to add to the last witness's statement. He had not
examined the premises at the time of the fire. It was
the foreman's duty to do so, and report the result to
him, which had been done on the present occasion.
Mary Ann Bishop, a servant in the employ of Mr.
Pitt, proved that her master and mistress went to bed
at twenty minutes before one on Sunday morning. Wit-
ness slept in the kitchen. She was awoke by hearing
the bell ringing violently. She went up stairs, and saw
smoke coming from the hat shop ; she then ran to her
mistress's bedroom, and told her that the shop was on
fire. Mr. and Mrs. Pitt both appeared greatly alarmed.
She heard noise during the night.
Mr. M. J. Pitt was then called in. Ile said—l was
not out of my house during the night of Saturday last.
I went to bed between twelve and one on Sunday morn-
ing, and was aroused from my sleep by a cry of " Fire,"
and the ringing of my bell. I got out of bed, and found
that the place was on fire. The shop door was locked
before I went to bed, and the key taken up stairs with
me. As soon as I found there was a fire I threw the
escape out of window, so that there was a direct com-
munication for the firemen and police to enter.
The CORONER—Can you inform the jury how the fire
originated? Witness—l cannot; but lam sure it could
not have been accidental.
The CORONER—Then how was it? Witness—My im-
pression is that it must have been done maliciously by
some one; it is quite clear that three fires could not
have occurred in so short a time accidentally.
Several other witnesses were examined, and the
Learned Coroner summed up very succinctly, when the
jury returned a verdict—" That how and by what means
the fire occurred on the 4th of April there was not suf-
ficient evidence to prove."

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL.—The nineteenth anni-
versary festival of this charity will take place on some
day between the 23d May and the 14th June. Benja-
min Boud Cabbell, Esq., M.P., will preside on the
occasion.

DISCOVERY OF DEAD BODlES.—Yesterday morning
the body of a gentleman was found floating in the Thames,
off Limehouse-hole. He is apparently forty-six years of
age, dressed in black; a half .sovereign and one shilling
in silver were found on his person. The body now lies
at the Cherry Tree public-house, Bombay-street, Lime •
house, for an inquest.
BLOOMSBURY DISPENSARY.—Last night the annual
general meeting of the governors of this charitable in-
stitution, established in the year 1805, was held at the
Dispensary, 62, Great Russell-street, Bloomsbury, when
the chair was occupied by Mr. Griffith. The minutes of
the last quarterly meeting. having been read and con-
firmed, Mr. Soames, the secretary, brought forward the
financial statement, from which it appeared that the
total amount of recepts during the past year was
838/. 17s. 4d., whilst the expenditure amounted to
6921. 6s. 4d., thus leaving a balance in the hands of the
treasurer of 146/. 1 is. The total amount of stock stand-
ing in the names of the trustees was 7,1831. 3s. 2d. Three
per Cent.. Consols. The next business was the appoint-
ment of medical committee. Since the last general
annual meeting there bad been admitted into the insti-
tution, under the care of Dr. Rowland, 2,066 patients
under Mr. Cooper, 831—making a total of 2,599 ; of
whom were cured and relieved, 2,366, whilst 63 had died
and 470 remained under cure. 481 patients had been
visited at their• own habitations. The medical report
was then read at length, and approved, after which a
gratuity of one hundred guineas was respectively
awarded to Dr. Rowland and Mr. Cooper, the medical
officers, for the care and attention shown by them to-
wards patients ; and some further business having been
dispatched, the usual courtesy was paid to the chairman,
and the meeting separated.
ESCAPE OF A CONVlCT.—Yesterday information of
the escape of a man named William Durant, from the
House of Correction at Kingston-on• Thames was exten-
sively circulated throughout the police-force. He was
convicted at the recent Surrey Assizes of a burglary, at
the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and sen-
tenced to ten years' transportation.

OVER-FED LEECHES.---The police have just made
it seizure of 6.000 leeches at the shop of a dealer in the
Passage de Venise, for being what are called yorgies.
Leeches are sold by size, and in order to make them large
certain dealers allow them to suck the blood of animals.
They thus obtain a larger pi ice than they otherwise
would ; but the leeches, when; gorged, bite either very
feebly or not at all.—Galignant.
LOLA MONTEZ.—The following letter, says Galig-
nani of Monday, has reached us from Munich ; we do
not answer for its authenticity:—" In consequence of
the numerous reports circulated in various papers re-
garding myself and family, utterly void of foundation or
truth, 1 beg of you, through the medium of your widely
circulated journal, to insert the following:—l was born
at Seville, in the year 1823. My father was a Spanish
officer in the service of Don Carlos; my mother, a lady
of Irish extraction, born at the Havannah, and married
for the second time to an Irish gentleman, which I sup-
pose is the cause of my beingcalled Irish, and sometimes
English, " Betsy Watson," "Mrs. James," &c., &c. I
beg leave to say that my name is Maria Dolores Porris
Montes, and I never have changed that name. As for
my theatrical qualifications, I never had the presump-
tion to think I had any; circumstances obliged me at a
more advanced age than usual, in consequence of the
misfortune of my family, to adopt the stage as a profes-
fswui
havingoi
tlnul —rgei
vwmebhaeti
chc,
oihi
as
gpiernloasi feuenrns
tasii
teiouohnnr
ma 111
iyshheraadevvseepi
dtanhevoneawerhei
honour
nue
o,nTuoa
rurnuntdosc
teiirdnne
gtmef
notahridnai
:et vg4yeoci rnu. ,
Lola Mentez. Munich, March 31."
DEATH OF WILLIAM MORRIS READE, ESQ.—At
Rosinara, Kilmoganny, William Morris Reade, Esq.,
once (for a while) M.P. for this city. He caught fever
by over-exertion, whilst endeavouring to bring the mur-
derers of Mr. Prim into the power of the law.—Water-
ford Chronicle.

A royal ordonnance was signed on the Ist, approv-
ing the contract for the fusion of the Creil and Saint
Quentin Northern Railroads.

TRADE WITH TITSCANY.—A communication has
been received by the Commissioners of Customs from
I.lr Trevelyan, one of the secretaries to the Lords Com-
missioners of her Majesty's Treasury, stating that,the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs having signified
to the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for
Trade that the Tuscan Government has issued a 'notifi-
cation admitting all British and lonian vessels into the
ports of Tuscany upon the footing of national vessels,
without awaiting the ratification of the commercial
treaty in course of negotiation ; the Lords of the Com-
mittee have recommended that corresponding privileges
should be conceded to all the vessels of Tuscany which
may touch at the British ports, and that the Lords of the
Treasury therefore desire that the Commissioners will
take the necessary steps for giving effect to the recom-
mendation of the Board of Trade. In pursuance of this
order of their Lordships, the Commissioners have issued
the necessary instructions to the principal officers of the
Customs revenue throughout the United Kingdom to
carry the same forthwith into effect.
A MAN KILLED ON THE TAW VALLEY RAIL-
WAY.—On Thursday morning last, John Mitchell, a
labourer, was with one of the waggons on that part of
the railway which is near Penhill, and, as another
waggon was coming against him, his duty was to un-
hook the horses and turn off, which he neglected to do
in time; consequently he was caught between the two
waggons, and crushed to death. The deceased was 28
years old, and has left a ,widow and child to deplore
the melancholy event.
PRESENT FROM THE KING OF PRUSSIA. TO THE
PRINCE OF WALES.—It is stated in a Berlin letter; that
M. A. de Humboldt has been charged by the King to
convey to London the magnificent shield which his Ma.
jesty has caused to be executed for his royal godson, the
FFinee of Wales.,