The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-04 00:00:00

DREADFUL ACCIDENT.

(From the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette.)

On Sunday evening a female member of the Ply-
mouth Brethren, Eliza Hawker, of Treble's paper
mills, Exwick, addressed a crowd of from 120 to
150 persons from the ruins of the shop formerly
occupied by Abraham Harding, grocer, at the end
of Jesu-street, leading into the Square, at Ottery
St. Mary, Devonshire. Opposite were the ruins of
the house occupied, previous to the fire which occur-
red in the same village some time since, by Mr. Win-
dow, saddler, consisting of a portion of a wall 6ft.
in length and 10ft. in height, and a chimney 15ft.
high behind it. At half-past seven the congrega-
tion from the neighbouring chapel augmented the
crowd. There was no indication of approaching
danger, and the people were quietly listening to
the preacher. Presently a noise as of something
giving way was heard, and instantly the chimney
tottered over and fell on the wall, and before the
crowl had time to escape the mass of brick-
work was on them. The scene was most heart-
rending. In place of the one voice which had been
heard just before, the cries and shrieks of a hundred
voices rent the air ; the road was covered with the
rubbish, among which lay the mangled bodies of
those on whom it had fallen. The groans of the
injured and dying mingled with the lamentations of
their friends, whom the news of the disaster soon
brought to the spot. The unfortunate sufferers
were soon extricated, and conveyed to public-houses
and to their own homes, where those in whom life
was not extinct were attended by Dr. Whitby,
Messrs. Edwards and Davy, surgeons, Ottery, and
Dr. Jerrard, Honiton. The names of the dead
are :—John Gillam, a boy, six years of age, son of
Mr. Gillam, watchmaker ; Emma Rowe, single
woman,' 20, daughter of a thatcher ; Jane Lang,
23, wife of James Lang, carpenter and machinist ;
Mary Ann Bishop, widow of a miller (she buried
her husband last week) ; Elizabeth Davis, a young
woman, dressmaker, residing with her grandfather,
a mason ; and Elizabeth Kellow, 16, living with
her mother, a widow, who keeps a small
dairy. Emma Hake, 16, daughter of John Hake,
of the Lamb and Flag Inn, and James Lang, the
husband of the woman Lang who was killed, are so
seriously injured that they are not expected to re-
cover. Other seriously injured persons are :
Elizabeth Rounsevill, 20, daughter of Samuel
Rounsevill, labourer ; Fanny Temple, 20 ; Eliza-
beth Green, daughter of James Green, shoemaker ;
George Pyle, 8, son of Mr. Pyle, of the Volunteer
Inn ; Gillam, a young woman of 17, sister to the
boy Gillam who was killed ; Biddy Jeffrey, 18,
daughter of W. Jeffrey, of the Five Bells Inn ;
Lutley, a pensioner from the Marines, working
as a labourer, and his wife, each aged about 50 ; and
Robert Chamson, 24, mason. W. Churchill, 23,
labourer, had his toe smashed; Baker, 50, gardener
to Sir John Coleridge, had his leg broken, and is
now an inmate of the Devon and Exeter Hospital.
Besides these, at least a dozen persons were more
or less severely, bruised. Lovell, a labourer, had
his clothes torn in pieces, but escaped with slight
bruises ; and many other persons escaped with com-
paratively slight injuries. A strong wind was blow-
ing at the time of the accident, and it is believed that
the foundation of the chimney had been sapped by
water which had collected around it since the
great fire.