The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-04 00:00:00

LiTAL GUNPOW-DER EXPLOSION.

An alarming explosion of gunpowder took place
at Norwich on Saturday evening in the shop of
Mr. R. Marrison, gunsmith, &c., Orford-place, Or-
ford bill. It appears that on Saturday Mr. Mar-
rison, who has been a resident in Norwich for many
years, placed behind the counter of his shop 401 b.
of gunpowder and a quantity of fireworks and ball
cartridges. He has not been in the habit of keep-
ing such a quantity of powder in his shop, but
Saturday being market-day at Norwich brings with
it a larger demand for." villanous saltpetre" than
any other period of the week. Everything pro-
ceeded as usual during the day, and shortly before
7 p.m. Mr. Marrison went out to speak to Mr.
Franklin, the occupier of the adjoining premises,
leaving in his own shop a 3 outh about 12 years of
age, named Harrison. He had not been absent
more than three minutes when a terrible explosion
took place, the whole 401 b. of powder having by
some means at present unexplained become ignited.
The results of the explosion were most serious, the
shop and house of Mr. Marrison being reduced to
a complete wreck, and the stock of guns, &e., to a
mass of almost useless rubbish. The shop of Mr.
Franklin, who has carried on business as a photo-
grapher, printseller, &c., was almost as seriously
injured, the windows being blown out and the stock
rendered valueless. The next shop, occupied by Mr.
Boston, a pawnbroker, did not wholly escape, the
party wall being slightly injured, and a great quan-
tity of glass broken. The same remark applies to
the Napier Tavern, on the other side of Mr Marri-
son's shop, while the premises directly opposite occu-
pied by Mr. Kemp, a saddler, suffered mostseverely,
the shop front being blown in, and the damage
extending to a bac parlour, while singularly
enough, one of the canisters which exploded came
down one of the chimneys. The windows of the
Bell Hotel, close by, were also broken to some
extent. Of course, amid so much demolition of
immediately
pro-
perty the human beings in the shattered buildings
did not remain unhurt. The house in which the
afterwards explosion took t
u placebe
u n wasfire
butdiscoveredh
t e
Norwich Fire
Brigade, under the direction of Mr. Hitchman, the
supply of water being obtained fro
chief constable, were promptly on the spot, and a
good m the
hydrants in the street, the flames were subdued in
As soon as this result
awbaosuutbat
aqi un ae rdt earn ofa eat vhe o
suera.
reh was commenced for
the boy Harrison, who was miming, and after about
an hour his body
was found in the debris at the
rear of the shop. The poor lad was quite dead and
his clothing was burnt off his charred and dis-
figured remains.
Mr. Marrison himself, who, as
before stated, was in
the shop of Mr. Franklin at
the time the accident d occurre , was for some time
buried 'with his neighbour beneath a mass of rub-
bish, and the nervous system of both sustained, of
course, a severe shock, Mr. Franklin especially
appearing completely stupified when extricated.
A married sister of Franklin's, Mrs. Dady, was at
the moment when the accident happened in a room
over his shop, extending partly over Marrison's pre-
mises sthe ceiling of this apai tment was blown away
the room gutted, and the unfortunate woman much
injured, being fearfully burnt about the arms and
upper part of her body. She was removed to Norfolk
and Norwich Hospital, where she remained up to
yesterday in a critical condition, although hopes
are entertained of her recovery. The poor woman
had her two children in the house. with her, and
one being quite an infant was in bed. Both these
children were gallantly rescued by a sailor named
Robert Crabtree, who with heroic courage forced
his way up to them and threw both down into the
street, where they were safely caught by some of
the bystanders. Mrs. ]Vlarrison was in the parlour
at the rear of her husband's shop, with Miss
Woodward, a visitor; but both were extricated
from the ruins without being seriously hurt,
althoughss Woodward was slightly burnt. The
ruined
houses were shored up under the direction
3li
Barry, city surveyor, so as to prevent the
of Al
r. Barry,
falling out, and they continued an object
of interest to large crowds on Sunday and Tester_
day. The origin of the disaster remains an unex-
plained mystery, the only person who could have
thrown any light upon it having perished. The
damage done amounts to many hundreds of pounds,
but Mr. Marrison, the principal sufferer, was
insured.