The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-08 00:00:00

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The frost broke up with a treme:
Saturday night. The snow was ac(
rapid thaw, and turned to rain to\
The mailpacket due at 7 5 yesterday morning did
not arrive till 3 p.m. She had no mails from any
place except Holyhead, the train from London
having been snowed up on the line. The steamer
which should have been in at six o'clock yesterday
evening did not arrive till 9 p.m., and was again,
without the London mails, for the same reason.
The gale came mainly from the south-east, a bad
point for shipping on this coast. I learn fromthe
Kingstown correspondent of the Daily T=.tysess that
numerous vessels were seen running for Dublin,
many with bare poles, and some with, masts a..(1
spars carried away. At Bray at midnight, in the
height of the gale, a large French brigantine camo
ashore near the strand, the sea breaking over the
deck every moment. The captain and crew managed
to escape. Another vessel, the Catherine Porter, of
Chester, struck on the Kish bank, and was wrecked.
The master and two men were drowned. Two of
the crew were saved at Wicklow by the lightship's
crew, who behaved with great gallantry. The ves-
sel has since been driven ashore.
The English line of railway near Bangor and Rhyl
had been snowed up by a heavy drift to the depth
of 15 feet, which completely prevented the further
progress of mails and passengers by the Saturday
night down limited Irish mail from London till the
road was cleared. The Leinster, on this being ascer-
tained at Holyhead, left at 11 a.m., without mails
or passengers, in order to carry out the Kingstown,
passengers in the evening at 715 p.m. The
naught, which left Kingstown on Saturday evensng
in the gale for Holyhead, experienced the heaviest
passage ever remembered by her commander., Capt.
Tindell. She was 6 hours and 20 minutes (int, and a
heavy sea striking her carried away the binnacle
head on her quarter deck. Owing to the block up
near Rhyl the Ulster mail steamer did not leave
Holyhead last evening till a late hour, arriving tat
Kingstown about 8.30 p.m. The telegraphic rJom-
munication on the English line has been injured by
the snowstorm. The outgoing American milli was in
the snowed-up train. Arrangements have been made
on the Great Southern line to send it on early this
morning by special train to Queenstown to meet the
Cunard steamer outward bound. The English and
Irish mail and passenger traffic has never hitherto
been so deranged as by the present stormy weather.
It is still blowing a gale from the same point
while I write, so that it is doubtful whether the
Holyhead mail will be able to start at the usual
hour this morning.
An explosion of Fenian munitions of war yester-
day took place accidentally in Essex-street. It ap-
pears, as far as the facts have at present transpired,
that on Friday evening a stranger called at the house
No. 8, Essex-street, and inquired for lodgings. A
man named Edward Connolly occupied the drawing
room floor, and, as the stranger said he required
nothing but a bed, agreed to let him a small closet
adjoining the drawing room. The man minutely in-
spected the room, and expressed himself satisfied with
the accommodation it afforded. He then went away,
and shortly afterwards returned with a small box,
which he carefully placed on a table, saying he would
shortly return. lie again left the house, but has not
since been heard of. Yesterday Connolly being dis-
engaged, and having his curiosity aroused by the
non-appearance of his tenant resolved to ascertain the
contents of the parcel. Accordingly he proceeded with
great care to open the box and examine the contents
iu such a careful manner that were the owner to re-
turn he might not discover that his goods had been
disturbed. The first articles be met with were two
round bottles carefully corked and covered on the
top with chamois leather. He placed the bottles on
a table at the window, and proceeded to further in-
vestigate the contents of the box. A large paper
parcel next presented itself, and on being touched by
Connolly exploded with such terrific force as to
knock down the side wallsandpartition of the room,
and blow the windows completely out of the house.
Connolly received serious injuries about the head
and hands. Inspector Armstrong, of the A division,
who happened to be in the neighbourhood at tho
time, heard the explosion, and immediately hastened
to Essex-street. On his way thither he meta police
constable, who informed him that a house was on
fire. The inspector desired the constable to alarm
the Fire Brigade, and proceeded himself to the loca-
lity indicated. On arriving in Essex-street he found
the air strongly impregnated with gunpowder, and
saw a large crowd assembled around the house No.
8. His suspicions then became aroused, and, suspect-
ing that some Fenian arsenal had exploded, he des-
patched a messenger for the detective officers. The
inspector next entered the house, and, having heard
what had occurred, proceeded to the drawing-room.
He discovered Connolly lying on the floor writhing
in agony, while the apartment itself was in a perfect
state of ruin. From the force of the concussion con-

sequent upon the explosion, the windows in the

houses 39 and 40, on the opposite side of the street,
were all broken, and it was stated that the persons
in the house No. 8 were either all knocked down
or violently thrown against the walls. Fortunately
the two bottles (supposed to contain Greek fire)
which Connolly had removed from the box re-

inained uninjured on the table; but next Connolly,
lying on the floor, the inspector discovered a
large parcel, which he at first considered were
candles ; but which eventually proved to be a par-
cel of ball-cartridges. The package was on fire,

and the cartridges had actually ignited when the
inspector's attention was attracted to them. They
were immediately quenched, and taken charge of

_ ...
by the police, as were also the bottles. Connolly
was then removed to the hospital, and Capt. Ingram

having arrived in the interim with the fire-engines,
and finding that his services were not required, left
some of the brigade men. with Inspector Armstrong
to clear the house of the ruins. This object having
_ _

been effected, the premises were taken charge of by

the police.

•
Up to the present the owner of the box

has not been discovered, neither has it been ascer-
tained what material actually caused the explosion.

Connolly, who was removed to Mercer's Hospital,
will, it is considered, if ho recovers, be deprived of

the use of his sight.

Dr. F. R. Cruise, writing in the British Medical
Journal, gives details of the recent outbreak of
cholera in Mountjoy Prison. They will serve to cor-

rect various erroneous statements that have been
made on the subject. There has been no new case

since Dec. 27. The attack commenced on Sunday,
Dec. 23, the health of the establishment having been

previously quite satisfactory. The epidemic -lasted
five days, during which time nine cases of cholera,
with collapse, occurred, and four terminated fatally.
The inhabitants of the prison are convicts, together
with about 140 untried prisoners, now confined un-
der the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act. Most of the
cases of cholera occurred among the convicts. The
outbreak was immediately notified to the Govern-
ment, and the most active sanitary measures were at
once put into force, under the direction of the medi-
.

cal officer of the prison, Dr. R. APDonnell. To the
promptitude and energy with which these measures
were carried out may fairly be attributed the rapid
subjection of the attack. Perhaps the most interest-
ing point in connexion with this particular visitation
is the difficulty in tracing its origin. No case of

cholera has taken place atnong the officers of the esta-
blishment or their families. The prisoners in the vari-
ous divisions of the prison do not communicate with
each other, nor with the same officers ; neverthe-
less, cases arose simultaneously in these division;7.

The water supply is derived from the reservoirs of
the north side of the city. It is received in a supply

bank, from which it is pumped by a steam engine to
cisterns on the top of the building. This supply
bank is pumped empty every 24 hours. From its
situation it is absolutely secure from all risk of
contamination from sewage, &c. The adjoining
Female Convict Prison is supplied from the same
tank. But no case of cholera occurred in the Female
Prison.

The food recently supplied has, on exarni-

nation, been reported of unexceptionable quality.
The different divisions of the prison are not ou the
same diet, neither is the food for them cooked in
the same vessels. Nevertheless the disease appeared
in all the divisions. The disease could not be
ascribed to atmospheric influences, for the prison is
one of the healthiest situations iu Dublin.