The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-03 00:00:00

TE.RRITIC FIRE AT BRISTOL.

Since the memorable riots in 1831, no conflagra-
tion has occurred in Bristol equal in extent or fury
to a fire which occurred on Saturday, at the sugar
refinery of Messrs. Fridge and Tripp. These works
consisted of several large store and boiling houses,
with numerous smaller buildings attached, which
had been erected at various times in a somewhat
irregular manner, as the busir e .s required increased
accommodation. The older warehouses stood partly
at the stone bridge over the river Froom, at the
point where that stream was formerly connected
with the floating harbour. Another large and more
commodious block of premises was connected inter-
mediately, and a third and still more extensive
warehouse, ten stories in height, joined the latter.
The whole of the buildings were recently thrown
open on their north-eastern front by the covering
in of the Froom ; and the creation of a new street
called Rupert-street, in commemoration of a charge
made by Prince Rupert in the immediate locality
during the Civil War. The back portion of the
works extended to Host-street, a narrow thorough-
fare, containing a low and densely populated class
of houses, and a wooden bridge formed a connexion
between the Rupert-street works and another ex-
tensive range of warehouses running up the hill
towards Steep-street. At about half-past 11 on
Saturday morning an alarm was given that a fire
had broken out in one of the filtering houses in the
older portion of the works. These houses were
fitted with cylinders and other apparatus employed
in the process of refining sugar, and the origin of
the devastating calamity which ensued is said to be
that a carpenter, employed on some woodwork con-
nected with some of the cylinders, incautiously set
down a lamp near some felt packing. An ignition
took place, the flames instantly communicated with
the calcined charcoal in the:cylinders, and the work
of destruction commenced. There were on the
premises nearly a thousand tons of this highly
inflammable article, and the fire spread from
cylinder to cylinder and from floor to floor with
frightful rapidity. The engines of the police
force and the various fire offices, with
their brigades, were quickly in attendance,
and with an unlimited quantity of water (for
the ready supply of which much credit is due
to Mr. Bell, engineer of the Bristol Water Works
Company) endeavours were made to arrest the pro-
gress of the flames. These efforts were compara-
tively of no avail. By a little after one o'clock the
entire range of buildings, which were upwards of
200 feet in length, and in breadth varied from 30
to 100 feet, were raging with fire. Floor after
floor fell in with a tremendous crash, and volumes
of smoke and fire belched forth as if in defiance of
the attempts which were being made to subjugate
the flames. The warehouses of Pickford and Co.,
the well known carriers, which adjoin those of
Messrs. Fridge and Tripp, were considered in so
much peril that all the goods were removed. The
bakery of Mr. Merry, in Host-street, was three
times in flames, but was, after all, preserved. The
heat from the burning mass was so intense that it
was difficult for a spectator to stand within a hun-
dred yards of the scene of the conflagration ; and
the rain, which fell heavily about mid-day, steamed
off the apparel of the lookers on. The extensive
bedding manufactory of Messrs. Johnstone and Co.
situate on the opposite side of Rupert-street, had to
be kept saturated with water, and the streams
poured on the walls of these premises hissed off in
columns of steam, so excessive was the heat. The
fire had reached its highest point at about half-
past one o'clock, at which time the scene was grand
and appalling. The whole mass of buildings were
wrapped in flames, which shot forth from every
aperture and ascended high up into the air with a
fury that was magnificently terrible. At half-past
two, the block in which the fire originated fell
in, and in another hour one of the walls of the
most recent and extensive erections also gave way.
Then the fury of the fire was expended, but not
extinguished. Throughout the whole night and
all day yesterday the firemen endeavoured vainly
to put out the flames, and from the nature of the
stock it is expected hat some days will elapse be-
fore the fire is utterly extinct. Rupert-street has
been barricaded, to prevent injury to passers-by,
from the expected falling in of the remainder of
the walls. The loss of property is estimated at
about £lOO,OOO. There were upwards of 500 tons
of raw sugar stored on the premises, the whole of
which was burnt. Of charcoal the stock was about
1,000 tons, only 15 of which were saved. Messrs.
Fridge and Tripp are, it is understood, fully in-
sured. About 200 workmen will be thrown out of
employment by this untoward event.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

TRAFFIC RETURNS FOR THE WEEK.

Miles Opened. Receipts.
Railways. e______,...____, I ,_____....._-,
1859. 1858. 1859. 1858.
..-
£ £
Ballymena and Portrush... 35 35 - -
Bedale and Leyburn lO 40 89 91
Belfast and Ballymena GI e,5 1,333 1,213
Belfast and County Down 2O 17 629 324
Birkd., Lane., & Ches. Junc 32 32 3,198 2,672
Blyth and Tyne 2O 13 1,805 1,610
Bristol and Exeter llB 117 6,019 5,999
Caledonian
Ches.&Holyhead(withMold) 944 -
Cockermouth & Workington S* II 200 247
Cork and Bandon 2O 20 307 308
Cork, Blackrock, At Passage 6l 61 184 227
Deeside l7 17 221 215
Dublin & Belfast Junction 56 56 1,265 1,168
Dublin and Drogheda 6- 03 1,553 1,485
Dub. & Wicklow (in.Kingst ) 401 401 1,565 1,541
Dundalk and Enniskillen
Dundee and Arbroath l7l 174 . 527 555
Dundee, Perth, & Aber. Jun. 31 31 943 1,045
East Anglian 675 671 908 1,0031
E.Counties,Nrik.,&E.Union 489 489 23,771 26,656
East Kent l9l _ 345 -
E.Lancashire(in.Blackburn) 111 105 7,101 6,025
Edinburgh and Glasgow
Edinburgh,Perth,& Dundee 78 78 3,246 3,362
Forth & Clyde Junction
Furness
Glasgow & South-Western. 1&34 1834 7,200 6,972
Great Northern 283 283' 21,452 23,177
Great No-th of Scotland
466
9t.Southn. & Westn.(lrind ) 229 At 7,090 7,885
treat Western 466 31,034 28,068
lull and Holderness
tnverness & Aberdeen Juno 57 15 684 -
Irish South-Eastern 254 251 258 312
Killarney Junction
Lancaster and Carlisle (in.
Kendal and Windermere) 100 1001 6,025 6OA
Lanc. & Yrks.(in.lilackburn) 289 2891 25,929 24686
Limerick and Foynes 24' 24 143 123
Llanelly 465 485
London & North-Western
London and Blackwall 5• 51 1,472 1,377
London & South-Western
Lond. Brighton, &S. Coast 202 183 16,382 13,609
L'derry and Enniskillen
Lond., Tilbury, & Southend 42 40 1,076 1,067
Itlan.,Sheffield,& Lincolnsh. 173 173 t 11,571 9,940
Manch. S.Jun.&Altrincham 9 9 1,191 844
Mary port and Carlisle
621484 621484
351 ,480112 32, 817491
Midland
Midland Gt.Westn. of Irind. 177 177 3,601 3,80'2
Monkland 52 52 1,480 1,411
44 2;292 2,417
Monmouthsh. Rail. & Canal 44
Newcastle and Carlisle 7B 78 3,012 2,948
Newport,Aberg.,& Hereford 50 43 51:314758 k1i.3241
North British (in. Dalkeith) 149 149
North Devon 35 35 423 419
North-Eastern 7364 720 WP 34,091
9 9 2,510 2,353
North London
• North Staffordshire 233 233 7,314 6,030
North-Western 464 464 - -
N. Yorkshire and Cleveland 10k _ -
Oxford, Wore., & Wolver 94 94 4,424 4101,
Peebles lB 18 n 2„ „95, 215
St. Helen'S Canal & Railway 30 30 ',n,:), 1,710
Scottish Central
Scottish North-Eastern ll5 115 3,240 3,345
Shrewsbury & Birmingham 291 294 I,FOB 1,584
Shrewsbury and Chester ... 48 48 2,860 2,733
Shrewsbury & Hereford ... 51 51 1,440 1,296
Shropshire Union 29 29 951 924
South Devon 57 571 2,581 2,5,6
South-Eastern 3Ol 304: 19,749 16,691
South Wales l7l 1711 5,567 6,596
S. Yorkshire and River Dun 108 108 2,423 2,474
Stockton and Darlington
1 Taff Vale 54 54 4,209 4,141
Ulster 52 36 1,548 1,326
Ulverstone and Lancaster
i. Vale of Neath 254 255 1,483 1,809
Warrington and Stockport. 12 12 -
-
Waterford and Kilkenny 3l 31
367 361
Waterford and Limerick ... 77 77 948 1,131
West Cornwall 271 275 609 683
W.HartlepoolHarbr.&Rail 39 39 3,129 3,290
Whitehaven Junction l2 12 505 410
Whitehaven & Furness Jun 35 35 615 500
p W'haven,CleatorokEgrmnt. 7 7 398 306
FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.
Antwerp and Rotterdam.,, 52 52 762 915
Austrian
p 828 673 29,511 25,726
Belgian Eastern Junction 261 261 257 323
Buffalo and Lake Huron
Detroit and Milwaukie lB5l 140 2,073 1,531
1081 1084
833, ,3094:
;9485
12(964717
Dutch Rhenish
a Grand Trunk of Canada 879 849 . 10,.,91 9,515
• Great Indian Peninsula l3O
' Great Luxembourg 38884 ' -15 '
2,1 1,150
122
Great Western of Canada 345 28,3
n Lembardo-Venetian 285 285 - -
i Lyons and Geneva 142 107 4,270 3,968
284 224 9,491 5,829
Madrid, Saragossa &Alicant
;h Maria Antonia 2l 21 222 248
'
574. 41,330 40 521
44 i
Northern of France
44 ll 8(x
Norwegian Trunk .......
66°7
PPaaririss' aLnYd°onrßle&aniks.. ied.i.te...r.n : 9.ya841 788583718 6477:512577 441:6%
Paris and Strasburg
69 44,338 41,22:
- -
Royal Danish
1,293 1,434
Sambre and Meuse .
'M Southern of France ..••••••
7775 773 14,987435 11,1
West Flanders
W. and N.W. of France 716 598 34,429 31,331

-386
1,809

1,131
683
3,290
410
600
306

915
25,726
_ -

938
1,531
2,841
9,515
1,699
1,150
11,987

3,968
5,829
248
40,521
803
61,607
44,682
41,227

1,436
11,663

'832
31,335

The precise amount of specie that will be taken
by the out-going steamer on Wednesday for the East is
£367,072, of which £2,000 is for Alexandria, £lOO for Aden,
£1,065 for Ceylon, £330,453 for India, including a Govern-
ment remittance of £323,000 to Calcutta, and £133,454 for
China. £12,258 is in gold and £354,814 silver.
SHOCKING OUTRAGE IN WESTMEATH.—DUB-
LIN, Monday.—On Saturday Mr. Jessop, of Tyrrelspass,
County FS estmeath, was fired at, and was so grievously
wounded that he is not expected to survive. The deed was
witnessed by several persons, none of whom made any at-
tempt to stay the hand of, or arrest, the assassin. The
cause was the taking, by Jessop, of a farm, the former
tenant of which was murdered.
CHARGE OF INDECENT ASSAULT AGAINsTA
ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST.—Yesterday, at the Lambeth
Police-court, the Rev. Nicholas Bissof, of St. George's
Roman Catholic Cathedral, who has been twice before the
magistrate on a charg of indecently assaulting a boy named
William Harris while in a crowd, appeared before Mr.
Elliott, in discharge of his recognisances, for final exami-
nation. The youth Harris, not having been found by the
police, did not appear in court against the defendant, who
I was consequently discharged,