The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-04 00:00:00

VIOLENT THUNDERSTORM.

On Saturday night London and its env
lrohnicsiwere
visited by a very heavy thunderstorm,
regret to say, was productive of a good dealw
ofi'dwa-
e
da-
mage, and more especially by causing t •es either
by the lightning or from the rain causing
penetrating
buildings in which unsladied lime was stored. The
first fire, which is alleged to be from the former
cause, broke out about a quarter-past ten,on Saturday
night on the premises of Mr. Shelton linen-
draper and silk-mercer, liowinsn's_aaaa: tasi's,a. a,
St.liary-street, Whitechapel, were foetid to be on
fire. This fire was also caused by the storm. The
rain descended in such torrents, broke through the
partition of a shed in the yard, and falling upon
about a dozen bags of unslacked lime, caused the
whole to become ignited, and the fire could not be
extinguished until the lime was destroyed and the
building charred.
About a quarter of an hour later, the firemen
were called to another fire at the St. Thomas's
Board of Works, situate in St. Thomas's-street,
Borough. This fire was also caused by the storm.
Mr. Braidwood, in his official report, describes the
origin of the fire from the rain being forced upon
two loads of lime, which immediately slacked it,
when the whole burst forth in a general conflagra-
tion. The fire was not subdued until the two car-
goes of lime and the timber building standing in
the middle of the street were destroyed.
About half-past twelve o'clock the same morning
another fire, resulting from the same storm, oc-
curred at the Board of Works, Camberwell, situate
in Earl's-road, Old Kent-road. About 100 bags of
lime were destroyed, and the roof of the shed-
building burned.
At the same time another fire took place in the
premises of Mr. S. Cripps, situate in Swan-mead,
Bermondsey New-road. The premises were used as
a size and gelatine factory, and at the time of the dis-
aster there were about 40 or 50 sacks of lime in the
different compartments of the works. The rain
coming down in such tremendous showers forced
the windows through, and the water coming in
contact with the lime ignited it, and at the same in-
stant set the weather boarding in flames Forty.
sacks of lime were destroyed, and the weather
boarding of the ground floor destroyed.
The most extensive fire of any that occurred
during and owing to the fury of the storm hap-
pened about four o'clock yesterday morning in the
premises belonging to Mr. West, a leather-dresser,
situate in Upper Russell-street, Bermondsey. The
property covered a large space of ground, and com-
prised many buildings, one was three floors high,
used ass drying house, and another about 100 feet
long and 20 feet deep. This fire is also officially
returned by Mr. Braidwood as having been caused
by the rain entering the building and slacking the
lime used for the business. The three-story build-
ing was burnt out, and the hundred feet building
about one-fourth destroyed.
Whilst the storm was at its height the electric
fluid, or else the immense weight of rain that was
descending at the time, forced from the Roman
Catholic Cathedral, in St. George's-fields, South-
wark, one of the beautifully carved figures repre-
senting an Angel standing on the roof of the con-
vent. The massive weight of stone-work fell within
a few feet of Sergeant Thompson, of the L division
of police, and alighted upon the stone flags beneath
and actually splintered one of them. Had it struck
the officer, his death, in all probability, would have
been instant inecus.
The rain that fell during the raging of the storm
was so heavy that the gratings of many of the
principal streets in London were found to be too
small to allow the water to run into the sewers,
and many thoroughfares were for hours ankle deep
with water. The water, as it rolled from the hilly
country places into the Thames, caused the river to
swell to an alarming extent, but no mateiral damage
appears to have been done to the shipping or small
craft moored in the Thames.
The violence of the storm was most severely felt
in the various parks, where brancb'es were torn off
stately trees, and the shrubs in th'e ornamental gar-
dens severely damaged,many be',ng literally washed
out of the earth. In Hyde-park not fewer than 14
sheep were struck by fele lightning and killed.l
The animals had taken refuge under one of the
trees, which was stru:,:le by the electric current, and
the sheep killed. 'The market-gardens along the
side of the Rosales, as far as New-cross, Hateham,
Bermondsey, and Battersea, were completely
a similar visita-
s wamind, and whakolnefob\pevidi.losi
jo).oefii,sttayraebsovib,
tt IhCalsest notru destruction
Last night, at nine o'clock,period.
the lightning was
• vivid, and there I again very
proba-
bility of another storm conanencing.
seemed every seirdl3l::sbdleestroyed.

THE LATE EARL GREY AND TIIE EARL 01"
DERB V.—Thc; precedent set by William IV. in making
Earl Greya supernumerary member of the Order of the
(tarter has
been followed by her Majesty in the case of
Lord Derby; but in the latter instance the special statute,
or decree, of the sovereign, by which the ex-premier's ad-
mission to the order was made valid, recites at considerable
length the services of the earl to the crown, and expresses
her Majesty's appreciation of them in a manner the highest
degree complimentary. Thus the sped ;I statute contains
within itself the reason of the temporary abrogation of the
ordinary laws of the Order. This has been done much
more fully than was the case in the previous instance of
Lord Grey,—Court Journal.
Later accounts from Perugia confirm the state-
ment that nine weilion and children ware victims to ty,7,
Papal soldiers in iiferent houses, and that the erueltto
Were aggravated by the horrors of lieentiousiaess.