The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-24 00:00:00

DREADFUL CONFLAGRATION

DEATH OF MR. BRAIDWOOD.
The metropolis on Saturday evening was visited by
one of the most terrific conflagrations that has pro-
bably occurred since the great fire of London.. Cer-
tainly, for the amount of property destroyed, no-
thing like it has been experienced during the last
half century, the loss being moderately estimated
at more than half a million.

The scene of the catastrophe was on the water-
side portion of Tooley-street, nearest London-
bridge, a locality which has been singularly unfor-
tunate during the last 25 years, some of the largest
fires having occurred there. The outbreak took
place. in the extensive range of premises known as
Cotton's wharf and the bonded warehouses belong-
ing to Messrs. Scovell. They had an extensive river
frontage, and the whole space on the land side ex-
tending to Tooley-street was covered with eight or
nine warehouses six stories in height, some of which
had formerly been used as Ordnance stores, and the
whole occupying, as we were informed, about three
acres. These buildings were filled with valuable
merchandise of every description. There were some
thousands of chests of tea and bales of silk stored
in the upper floors, while in the lower was an im-
mense stock of Russian tallow and tar, oils, bales
of cotton, hops, and grain. Evry portion of the
establishment might be said to have been loaded
with goods, and of the whole of this property not a
vestige remains but the bare walls and an immense
chasm of fire, which at dusk last evening still lighted
up the Pool and the east end of the city. To be
added to this very serious loss is the destruction of
the whole of the western range of Alderman Hum-
phery's warehouses flanking the new dock, known
as Hay's wharf, the burning of four warehouses and
a quay, comprising Chamberlain's-wharf, adjacent
to St. Olave's Church, besides very many other
buildings in Tooley-street. The saddest loss of all,
however, was the deplorable accident which befel
Mr. James Braidwood, the director of the London
Fire Brigade, who, it will be seen by the subjoined
details, perished at an early stage of the fire.
The first intelligence of the outbreak of the fire
reached the head-quarters of the Brigade in
Watling-street at ten minutes to five o'clock,
and all the available force and engines belong-
ing to the establishment were at once despatched
to the spot. On arriving at the western avenue
in Tooley-street, leading to Cotton's wharf, a dense
body of smoke was observed issuing from the loop-
hole doors, on the first story of one of the centre
bonded warehouses abutting on the wharf, and in
a line with other warehouses stretching to Tooley-
street. .This centre building had only been recently
erected, and its construction gave rise to some dis-
pute between the insurance company and Messrs.
Scovell, which, we are informed, had only been
arranged a few days since. On inquiry it was
elicited from the foreman of the wharf that the
business of the day was about to be closed when
an alarm was raised that smoke was issuing from
the hemp and jute stowed on the first floor. Several
of the labourers entered the place with buckets full
of water in the hope of extinguishing the fire, but
the smoke was so dense and suffocating that they
were compelled to retreat. One man crawled upon
his hands and knees, and succeeded in getting a
view of the seat of the fire, which, it is stated, was
confined to a very small space, and which, probably,
the man could readily have suppressed had not the
smoke nearly stifled him and compelled him to
retire. On the arrival of the brigade their atten-
tion was drawn to smoke also coming out of the
windows of the warehouses which adjoined.
This fact excited some surprise, as it was known
that strong party-walls divided the buildings, and
it was then ascertained that the workpeople had
made the'fatal mistake of not closing the iron doors
which communicated with the several floors
throughout the range. Mr. Braidwood at once
predicted that the fire would become one of great
magnitude. Although no flame could be seen, the
smoke was becoming denser and denser, rendering
any approach to the floors quite impracticable. The
chief of the brigade at once proceeded to station his
force in the best available positions to combat with
the conflagration. The two powerful steam float-
ing engines were brought off the wharf, and two
lengths of hose were fixed to each of them, and led
on to the quay, and brought to bear on both sides
of the building on fire. A large number of land
engines had taken up a position in Tooley-street
and were prepared for action, but, the firemen being
unable to obtain a supply of water from the mains,
most of them stood idle for quite an hour before
water was obtainable from the plugs. At nearly
all the large fires which have occurred in this loca-
lity there has been the same inadequate supply of
water, and to which may be attributed, in some
degree, the extent to which those conflagrations
reached. As soon as it was perceived that the
waterside range was threatened, :the vessels which
-were lying at the wharf and which were not
aground were hauled out into the stream. Shortly
before six o'clock the fire began bursting forth vi ith
awfulfury, and the whole of the main building
from the basement to the roof became enveloped in
fire. The flames then made rapid work of it, and
progressed towards the line of warehouses facing
the river and to the lofty buildings which adjoined
on the Tooley-street side. Mr. Braid wood surveyed
the course of the fire with his usual coolness, and
posted his men where the best command could be
had over the fire. About half-past seven o'clock he
entered the gateway leading to the wharf nearest
St. Olave's Church, and proceeded down the avenue,
-where four of his men were supporting and direct-
lag two branches from the floating engine. By
this time the warehouse in which the fire com-
menced was gutted, but the enormous stock of tal-
low which had been stowed in the lower floors
caused the flames to rise to a considerable height,
and, if anything, they raged more furiously when
water -was scattered over them. The adjacent
buildings also contained a large quantity of tallow
and oil, which ran down through the loopholes in a
stream to the vaults as the warehouses ignited. At
intervals there were loud reports, as if from the ex-
plosion of combustibles, but at the time this did
not excite any particular alarm, as the foreman of
the wharf' had assured the firemen that those ware-
houses contained no explosive material, though he
li
admitted that there was a large stock of saltpetre
in another part of the wharf. The Police, who by
this time had got command of the thoroughfares
leading to the wharf, had cleared this western
gateway or avenue, and with the exception of the
firemen there were only a few persons standing by.
_ _

Mr. Braidwood, who had visited the men several

times previously, seeing their distressed state,
was engaged in giving them some refresh-
ment when, all of a sudden, a terrific explosion
occurred. In an instant it was seen that
the whole of the frontage of the second warehouse
was coming down, falling outwards into the avenue.
Mr. Henderson, the foreman of the Southern dis-
trict of the brigade, who was standing within a few
paces of Mr. Braidwood, shouted for all to run. The
men dropped their branches. Two, with Mr. Hen-
derson, escaped by the front gateway, and the others
ran in the opposite direction on to the wharf, where
they jumped into the river. Mr. Braidwood made
an effort to follow Mr. Henderson, but was struck
down by the upper part of the wall, and buried
beneath some tons of brickwork. His death must'
have been instantaneous. Several of his men rushed
to extricate him, hopeless as the task was, but, an-
other explosion happening, they were compelled to
fly. The sad fate of their chief had a most depress-
ing effect upon all, and, to add to their trouble, the
conflagration now assumed a most awful aseen-
a,ney- It was said that there were three men
standing by at tie time, and it was feared that they
had perished, We are in a position, however, to
state that Mr. Braid wood is the only member of the
fire brigade who has fallen, all the men having
answered to the roll. A gentleman named Scott,,
however, is supposed to have perished with him.
The exertions of the brigade were quite powerless
to cheek the progress of le flumes. It is scarcely
possible to describe the consternation which pre-
vailed. From the rapid explosions which followed it
was thought that there must have been a large stock
of saltpetre in every one of the warehouses. The con-
msions shook the neighbourhood, and scattered
clouds of burning fragments over the panic-stricken
district. Although the sun had not set, and the