The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-04 00:00:00

Strand Theatre.

The very successful burlesque of "Esmeralda, or
the Sensation Goat," was revived at this theatre on
Saturday with the greatest success. Miss Ada Swan-
borough, Miss F. Hughes, and Miss Eliza Holt sus-
tain the principal parts in excellent style. Of course
much new matter—jokes, jests, and songs—has been
introduced, the effect of which is to greatly increase
the fun in this very whimsical production. The
scenery and dress are of the most splendid descrip-
tion, and, taken with that fact, Esmeralda is per-
haps one of the best burlesques ever produced. A
long and prosperous run is certainly destined for the
revival. The house was crowded on Saturday even-
ing with a brilliant and fashionable audience.

FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.—From a parliamentary re-
turn just issued it appears that since the passing of tho Act
18th and 19th Viet., 389 societies have deposited their rules
with the registrar of friendly societies in England, under
sec. 41; and of this number 3G3 have been established for
one or more of the purposes mentioned in sec. 9. The re-
gistrar gives extracts from the rules of several of these
societies.

CORONER'S INQUEST.
This morning, at a quarter to 10 o'clock, Mr. W.
J. Payne, the deputy coroner for London and South-
wark, reassembled for the purpose of further in-

quiring into the circumstances attending the lament-
able deaths of Mrs. Mary Anne Toomey, aged 27

years ; Michael Toomey, aged 10 ; and Elizabeth
Toomey, aged 3 years. It will be remembered that
the three unfortunate persons perished in the fire,

which occurred in the premises tenanted by a Mr.
French, a grocer and general dealer at No. 19,
White-street, Borough, on Monday week.
The inquiry, on the first occasion, created great

interest, but upon the present, the excitement was
considerably greater, the former inquiry having been
adjourned in consequence of the coroner having re-
ceived a letter to the effect that a certain party he
could prove had wilfully set fire to the building.

The coroner said if that could be proved, the party,
whoever he was, would be guilty of murder, seeing
that three innocent and unfortunate human beings
had perished in consequence of the fire. At his re-

quest several of the firemen of the Metropolitan Bri-
gade, and Mr. Hamlyn, superintendent of the dis-

trict, were in attendance to watch the case on behalf

of the Brigade, Mr. Inspector Havard, and Mr.
Sampson Low attended on behalf of the Royal
Society for the protection of Life from Fire, and
Inspector Wisc was in attendance to watch the case
on behalf of the police authorities.
Several of the parochial officers of St. George's
parish were likewise present to ascertain whether
the conductor of the fire escape had done his duty

upon such a trying emergency, especially as the
escape was stationed within 200 yards of the scene
of the calamity. That question was soon set at rest,
for upon the conductor hearing cries of " fire," he at

once unshackled his escape, when Mr. Toomey came to
him in his shirt only, and told him that the house
he lodged in was on fire, and for " God's sake, if
not for his, make haste and save his wife and
family." That the conductor could not be blamed in

wasting time will be seen below ; that he immedi-
ately proceeded to the spot, but just in time to see
the poor woman and one of her children fall upon
the stone flags in front of the house. The premises
then, from the base to the roof, looked like a blazing
furnace. Had there been a dozen persons in the
house they must have perished, as did one of Mr.
Toomey's children—almost burnt to a cinder.
The various rumours about the origin of the fire
caused the neighbours to muster strongly.
The learned coroner having alluded to the reason
of adjourning the inquiry, and the jury having
answered to their names, the following additional
evidence was taken :

Mr. French, the occupier of the premises, stated
that he had made a mistake about the hour, or he
should have been present on the former occasion.
The coroner and jury were of opinion that the

letter which had been sent to the court was of seri-
ous importance, and proposed that they should in
the first instance examine the following witness,
Mr. Toomey, when the Coroner said that Ellen
Toomey had since died, and the same jury could

inquire into her death.
Mr. Toomey said the deceased was aged eight
months, and with the others were burnt in the fire.
When he went out of the house he did not see any
one sitting on a box, but he saw a box thrown out of
the window, and it fell on his child's head, and was
the cause of his infant's death. The box fell on to
the pavement. He did not see the lid fly open.
Ele did not see who it was who threw the box out,
but it came from Mr. French's room.

Mr. Burrows recalled, said that, when his eldest
son came home, he showed him up to bed himself.
The other part of his family had gone to bed. None
of his children had gone down stairs with a light to
the water closet at the back of the house after they
had gone to bed. There was an iron gate at the
side of the house, which was not locked of a night.
Any one, if he knew the way, could enter, but he
never heard of any one having done so.
Conductor Wheatley recalled.—When he arrived
he saw some one who was dressed putting a box out
of the window. It was a good sized box, and was
just over the face of the shop, not quite three feet
from the ground. The first floor was then alight.
The first person he saw was a man, and he was
dressed. lie should not know him again as he was
in a stooping position. The shutters were all down,
and a laceman at the back said that he had pulled
them down. Some one came and broke open the
iron gate. There was a female sitting near the
fire with a shawl on.

By Mr. Rigby, solicitor.—lie arrived at the fire
three or four minutes after he was called, and was
accompanied by Mr. Toomey.
Edward Dening said that he lived in the first

floor back of the house destroyed by fire. His
daughter, eight years of age, slept in the same room
he did. He went home at 11 o'clock at night and
passed through the iron-grating. The gas was then
all out, and he did not smell fire. He was awoke
by a crackling of wood. He got out of bed, but
had the presence of mind not to open his door, as
he could hear. the fire burning outside. He made
his escape out of the window with his child, and
escaped upon the shed below. He bad lived in the
house about twelve months. He rented his room of
Mr. Leach. Mr. Leach, who was on the jury, was
not the one he alluded to ; it was the landlord's son.
I used to collect the rents.
The Coroner said that Mr. Leach ought to have
had better sense than to act as a juryman in the
case ; but it was explained that he was not the
landlord, and the matter dropped.
Edward Campbell said that he was au officer of
the London Salvage Corps, and he went on duty
at the time of the fire. He should say that the fire
began under the staircase. He had turned part of
the ruins over, but saw nothing to lead him to be-
lieve that the house had been wilfully set on fire.
It would depend entirely upon circumstances to dis-
cover whether the place had been wilfull3 fired.
The place was so much burnt that all the interior
was destroyed, and it was impossible to learn any-
thing as to the origin of the fire.
Mr. Burrows, recalled, said that there was a large
oven in the back parlour. He was sitting with him
in that room on the day of the first Reform Demon-
stration, and he then said that he did not make use
of the oven, but he thought that Mr. Leach, when
he kept the shop, used to make his sweetmeats in it.
Mary Roper, of No. 8, St. George's-square, at the
back of the premises in which the fire took place—
She paid Mr. French six shillings, but he would not
let her have anything on credit after that. There
was very little in the shop at the time except bread,
salt, and wood, but he had no butter or pickles in
the place. She wanted to have a few things on the
Saturday night, but he refused. She saw the shoe-
maker take six children out of the second floor, and
she had enough to do to save her own children.
Campbell, the officer of the salvage corps, re-
called, said that after his arrival he heard an explo-
sion, with a peculiar smell like small fire works.
Mr. Samuel Noble, of Harper-street, Old Kent-
road, said that he had let the premises to Mr.
Thomas Leach, a confectioner. He paid him rent
for the premises. There was rent due in February
last, but when he sent for it he refused to pril, be-
cause some repairs bad not been completed to a tank.
He had the ladder in the yard, but as the weather was
wet his men went to another job. He sent notice to Mr.
French to give up possession of the premises, and
that notice would have expired on Monday last, the
day of the fire. He asked Mr. Leach whether he
knew anything about the fire, and Mrs. Leech said
that their dog would not let them rest, and that she
got out of bed and looked into the yard, but saw
nothing, and got into bed again. The dog, how-
ever, continued to bark more violently, when Mr.
Leach got out of bed, and was putting on his clothes,
when he heard the bar of the shutters wrenched
violently. He got out and found the staircase on
fire like a furnace. The shop was also on fire. He
saw a man running away as if in the direction of
the fire-escape. He then saw Mr. French behin,
him, perfectly dressed. Mr. Leach said, " Oh," Inn
he went away at once. There had been no dispute
between him and Leach about 12s. he owed for rent.
The inquiry was still proceeding when we went
to press.