The Sun.
London, England, 1824-08-03 00:00:00

DREADFUL ACCIDENT.

Between the hours of one and two o'clock
yesterday morning, the inhabitants of Old Compton-street,
Soho, were thrown into dreadful consternation by the sudden
falling of two houses, Nos. 44 and 45, the for Mer of which was
inhabited, and the latter occupied by Mr. Poole,- a very re-
spectable bookseller and stationer. The watchman who had just
finished calling the hour,- was going round his beat, as usual,
trying the fastenings, when he heard a treNendous crackalmost
behind him, and immediately after, the houses he had just pas.
sed, tumbled into the street, and presented a dreadful picture
of ruin. The • alarm was instantly given, the inhabitants
rose from their 'beds, some having licard the crash, and
others alarmed by the cries of the watchmen, rushed out
and supposing it to be an alarm of fire, loud cries for as-
sistance soon attracted general attention, and, they were found
to proceed from a man and woman standing et the back
attic of No. 45, which, together with the other apartments in the
rear of that house, had been sustained by a slight partition. The
parish fire-ladders were immediately procured, and with much
difficulty and not a little risk to the persons employed, both
were got down in safety. Every person was anxious to search
the ruins, under the impression that some of the inmates were
buried beneath them, and this laudable feeling prompted
several to work on, regardless of the still tottering fragments
of brickwcrk and loosened timber which momentarily threa-
tened their destruction. From the persons already rescued, it
was positively escertained that Mr. and Mrs. Poole were
in the house, and their bed-room being the front attic, no doubt
remained as to their having been involved in the falling fabric;
the search was therefore renewed with increased ardour, and
faint moans being heard, proved an additional spur to humanity ;
two bodies were at length drawn out from beneath an incon-
gruous mass of brick and mortar, broken timbers, shattered
furniture, bedding, &c. they proved to be the persons already
named, and both happily stewed signs of life, though every
faculty seemed swallowed up by terror. Mr. Poole's injuries
were trifling, but the lady had received some severe blows
on the head, the jaw-bone was dangerously broken at the
most critical part, the articulation or junction, the frontal
bone was crashed, though not fractured, and besides
some minor bodily injuries, one rib was broken.; both
were removed, as soon as a safe conveyance could be had, to
the Middlesex Hospital, where they were treated with all due
care. Mr. Poole remained insensible the whole of yesterday,
not from hurts, but from the excessive terror he still feels.—
They were both advanced in years, and from that circumstance
the physicians look to the lady's recovery with some doubt. The
accident is attributed to the following cause : The former occu-
pier of No. 44 having quitted the house, it was taken by Messrs.
Sewell arid Cross, of No. il, in the same street, silk mercers, for
re-
pair;rweanewfor
:es
the fresh
frontre works
o• was inserted,
ar
dtedn'tt:iinti:
whose reception the premises were undergoing a complete
porters; and it is imagined that the temporary stays were with-
iron pillars
of drawn
to support the immense weight thus placed
d a talideagruPee-
upon them ; and the party-wall pressing heavily on the front,
thurst it forward, and the whole fabric was thus tumbled into
ruins, pulling after it the greater part of the aljoining house,
the atancheons of the floors resting on the kmily-wall, which
was of considerable thickness. There was a tannly of six per-
sons occupying the second floor in Mr. Poole's house ; but they
had left town for a short excursion on Sunday morning, and
happily did not return that night, otherwise the calamity might
have been attended with still more disastrous consequences.