The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-04 00:00:00

FATAL EXPLOSION

DARTFORD, WEDNESDAY Ishour.--During the last
twenty-four hours this town and the surrounding dis-
trict have been most painfully excited in consequence of
an explosion, involving the destruction of the lives of
seven human beings, having occurred in a rocket factory,
situate on Joyce's-green, some 300 or 400 yards from
Dartford.

It seems that a few weeks since a gentleman named
Callow had taken up his abode in a large farmhouse,
occupied some time since by Mr. Wigman, one of the
contractors of the North Kent Railway. Shortly after
Mr. Callow came into possession of the premises he
commenced manufacturing blasting-rockets or fusees, in
a timber building on the estate. The building in ques-
tion, from the ruins which remain on the ground, appears
to have been something like forty feet long, and certainly
not more than thirty feet wide, and was covered in with
a thatched roof. On Tuesday evening eight persons
were at work therein, independently of several others
whose business only occasionally call them there.
Shortly after four o'clock the whole town, and, indeed,
every inhabitant living 'withiri a circle of five or six
miles, was dreadfully alarmed by a report far surpassing
in violence a discharge of artillery. The building used
for the manufactory was levelled with the ground.
Head, legs, hands, and feet were found scattered over
the ground. The body of a man named Haggard was
found with the whole of the clothing consumed, portions
of the flesh stripped, and the brains protruding. The
remains of as many tta five persons were soon collected
together, and two of the :unfortunate workpeople were
picked up alive. One had both his arms broken, and
the other had hie legs and thighs fractured, the eyes
blown out, and the lower portion of the trunk also badly
injured. One was named James Goldsmith, and the
other was a woman, supposed to be named Brown.
The poor man lingered only for an hour and a half.
The unfortunate woman only lived half an hour.
From the inquiry made this afternoon by Mr. Webb,
the coroner's officer, it appears that at the time of the
fatal explosion there were either in or about the factory
ten persons, and the following is a correct list of them :
Frederick Haggard, a carpenter, not hurt.
William Harrison, from London, a miner and head
foreman, dead.
Thomas Nash, also from London, foreman over the
" fillers," dead.
Christopher Haggard, foreman over the women;
whose business was to insert the rockets or fuzees into
the gutta percha tubes, killed.
Joseph Loft, late of London, a filler, dead.
James Goldsmith, a pincher off of the gutta percha
tubing, dead.
Miss Sarah Kempton, otherwise Mrs. Goodeve, killed.
Mrs. Brown, killed.

George Weller, a carpenter, severely injured by the
explosion.
John Poole, the varnish-maker, who was standing at
the side of the fireplace, uninjured.
Alfred Smallbone, one of the clerks, whe had just left
the factory, not hurt.

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attributed to the carelessness of one of the female suf-
ferers, who, he states, was married on Sunday last; and,
Tuesday being her birthday, she promised the men half-
a-gallon of beer if they would allow her to fill one of the
cases. They acceded to her request, and, while filling
the tube, ho imagined that she must have driven the
charge in too- tight, for it exploded while the case
was in her hand, and hence the catastrophe. In the
hand of this unfortunate creature, notwithstanding
that the body is blown into several portions, is
to be
seen, firmly clenched, ono of the rockets, to which is
attached three or four inches of gutts peroha. Mr.
Webb, who was in the factory not more than five minutes
before the disaster happened, states, that while ho was
present he neither heard nor saw anything like what
that person had stated. While he was in the place the
various hands were at their several occupations, and, as
he was leaving, ho noticed one of the men with a pot of
bailing glue in his hand, and ho had barely time to
place the liquid on the table when the explosion hap-
pened.
Although an active search was made during Tuesday
evening, the whole of the mangled remains of the unfor-
tunate sufferers could not be found, and it was not until
this day at noon that some of the missing portions were
collected. Two men went over the ground with a large
basket, and succeeded in gathering together a number of
hands, a woman's trunk with the bowels blown out, and
several fingers. These were carefully collected together,
removed to the union-house, and placed at the side of the
other bodies.

Up to balf-psat seven o'clock this evening (Wednes-
day) the coroner's warrant for summoning a jury had
not arrived; it is therefore probable that the inquest will
not be held until Friday, the coroner no doubt wishing
to give as much time as possible for finding the missing
portions of the other bodies.