The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-12 00:00:00

TERRIBLE NAPHTHA EXPLOSION.

Telegrams from Birmingham state that a fearful explosion
recurred on Wednesday afternoon at the naphtha works of
hie srs. Demath and Co., Oldbury. It appears that the re-
tort in which the extracting process was going on. exploded,
and sot fire to a large number of barrels, all of which
were filled with naphtha. The fire thus caused could not
be extinguished. All efforts made to put it out proved
utterly vain. Two of the men who were employed at
the works, and whose names were Blew ent and Picke-

rill, were burnt to cinders, and four other men, named

Forrester, Bastible, Rollason, and Tomlinson, were se-
verely injured. So serious are the injuries sustained by
Forrester that be is reported to bo dying. Tho Birmingham
papers give the following additional details of the disaster
On examinatio❑ it was discovered that one of the boilers
or retorts used in the distilling process, situated at the
lower end of the yard, near the canal, had burst,
from its contents having, in some way or other,
at present inexplicable, become ignited. About

three o'clock the charred remains of the man Element
were found amongst the debris. The fire, while awful
in its nature, was magnificent to behold. Stream,
of tar, hissing and blazing, were running about
the place, and one of the streams found its way
to the canal, and set two or three boats on fire
The sides of the boats were much damaged. When
the fire was got under, the remains of the unfortunate man
Pickerill, were diszovered near the remnant of the exploded
retort. He was employed to wheel slack from the boats intc
the works. A young man named Forrester (son of the maim-
ger) was seriously burned by the tar. He jumped into the
:anal, and managed to reach a public-house near to the place
irons whence he was shortly afterwards removed to his house.
A man named Rollason, a fitter employed at the works, wee
also severely injured. The bones and other remains of Elo•
ment were removed in a hamper to the Oldbury police station,
and Pickerell's remains were allowed to remain at the
works. Drs. Brown, Halyard, Sainsbury, and Cooper were
promptly on the scene of the disaster, and rendered all the
aid in their power to the sufferers. Several of the people
living mar the premises removed their furniture into an ad-
joining field when the fire was at its highest pitch, as they
considered their houses in danger. The cause of this sad oc-
currence is at present unknown, but there is reason to believe
that the boiler or retort which exploded leaked in some way
and the contents, on being exposed to the heat of the fire
ignited. The man Element was married. Late last nigLt the
young man Forrester died. Tho fire was quite extin-
guished by five o'clock, but the whole place is reduced to a
state of complete ruin, and it was estimated that about
£2,000 worth of finished material. was destroyed. The place
was not insured.

The Sheffield Town Council on Wednesday adopted e
petition to Parliament in favour of a national compulsory
system of education.

The London correspondent of the Leeds Mercur3
states that there is ono circumstance in connection with the
return of Mr. James for Taunton which deserves to be noticed
He will, it is rumoured, be a loser to the amount of nearly
£lO,OOO by his success in the petition against Mr. Sergeant
Cox's return. At the time of the general election ho was
retained in an extrao)dinary number of election petitiot
cases, and received, in accordance with the praciice which
has been estab!ished in the petition courts, very higt
briefs. It was in the first instance understood that counsel
who were also members of Parliament were not deterred
by that f.ict from appearing in election cases ; but the
Attorney-General, to whom an appeal was made upon the
subject, has decided against this view, and Mr. James must,
therefore, return all his election petition briefs which have
not been tried.
Madame Rachel's effects, at her house in Mad-
dox-street, were submitted to general inspection on Thurs-
day morning, and aro to be sold by public auction in
tho course of a few days. The drawing-rooms
_ . .

and principal apartments aro said to "present splendour
and magnificence difficult to describe." There is a pair
of massive candelabra, formerly belonging to the Emperor
of the French, and a magnificent pair of incense burners,
formerly the property of the King of Delhi. Dis-
. .

persed throughout the house are numerous works
of art, and the extensive collection of articles of vertu, many
of them being presentations from Madame Rachel's " dis-

tinguished patronesses." Admission by catalogues was
strictly enforced, and a shilling each was charged for them.

Mr. Justice Smith had before him at Exeter on
Wodnesdny a charge of arson. Thomas Martin was the accused
and he pleaded guilty to setting fire to a corn stack. Or
'Doing called on to receive judgment the prisoner said :

" All I havo to say is this-1 am a man under a
curse, tho worst curso that can happen to a man.

lam possessed of the devil, and that is cause of my
committing the crime for which I stand here. I knew I
should have to do it three years before it happened. I know
also that I have to commit a murder, and I call ou
avery person present to witness, when at a future day I am
orought up for murder, that I gave all the warning that I
could. I have only done this now to put off committing
murder fora while." lie was sentenced to penal servitnde
for seven years.

WORKHOUSE MASTERS.—The workhouse m as-

ters in Kent have just had a gathering to form an asso-
ciation of their members. The meeting was held at
.Nlaidstone, and was numerously attended, a deputation
being also present from London. Mr. William Lance, of
Cranbrook, having been voted to the chair, the deputa-
tion explained the object of the Workhouse Masters' Asso-
ciation of London—namely, the discussion of poor-law
legislation and other matters affecting poor-law officers,
for the protection and mutual aid of its members by the
appointment of a solicitor to the association, and to obtain
more uniformity of discipline and arrangements in work-
houses, now so diversified. In the course of the discussion
that ensued it was stated that the deputation had an inter-
view with the Poor-law inspectors of the metropolitan dis-
trict, and that they strongly approved the association;

that they would be pleased to receive any suggestions from
the masters' association; that it would have been beneficial
to workhouse management hail it been established sooner;
and that if at any time the association expressed a wish for
an inspector to attend any of their meetings for discussion,
one of them would do so. The formation of a benevolent
foul, the simplification of the book-keeping, and the
improvement of the system of superannuation were also
mentioned as objects of the association. With respect to
poor-law legislation, it was considered that the interest of
the ratepayers ought not to he entirely lost sight of, a
large proportion of whom when sick could not afford to
have the comforts provided for inmates of workhouses. All
the masters present signified their intention of joining the
association, and it was decided to hold a meeting at °an•
terbury in the first week in June.