The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-04 00:00:00

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and operations of the
necessary, as many ma
thought proper were wi
of their confederates to
of the informers will, of
several important parti
but it is not intended to produce at the trial the
person who gave the information which in the first
instance led to the arrests. This information was
precise and true, as the result proved ; but there
are certain difficulties, chiefly arising from the
circumstances under which it was obtained, that
prevent the author of it from being put into the
witness box. The intimate knowledge which the
authorities have now obtained of the extent to
which the prisoners are respectively involved is
not less remarkable than the source from which
it Was derived. Carolan is one of the persons
whom every lodge seems to have considered
it necessary to enrol among the members, be-
cause of the acquaintance he was supposed
to possess with the law, and the best way of evading
it. The goods' were, no doubt, got up under the
direction of such gentlemen, so 'that they might
appear at first sight as innocent as possible ; .but
though the articles of merchandise have vanished,
and are nowhere to be found, the reputed author
and now informer knows their contents, and-has
not only embodied them in an information, but has
added several important particulars respecting the
transaction of business at meetings where the other
prisoners were present, including the one so sud-
denly interrupted by the entrance of the police.
The case of the informer, John Kelly, lately a clerk
in the office of the Messrs. Garrott, solicitors, is an
illustration of how little is required to get up a howl
in certain newspapers against the Government.
This is the young man on whom so much sympathy
was lavished at the time of his arrest. The most
pathetic descriptions were given of his being
dragged, in the middle of the night of the 12th of
December, out of his bed, while he was labouring
under 'consumption, and lodged within the cold
;3ifalls of a prison, for what his co-religionists gene-
*.kaily looked upon at most as a venial offence. One
rumour after another was circulated of his rapidly
declining health, mid a—fear was ex-pre-a-Sea thaf he
must soon fall a martyr to the hard-hearted cruelty
and persecution of the Government. Mr. flea ap-
plied to have him admitted to bail, on the ground
that he could not survive longer. imprisonment.
How Mr. Tracy must have enjoyed this ludicrous
exhibitiy,n of newspaper commiseration when he
knew-Ali "at, at the very moment when it was
dencereatest, the object of it was quietly giving evi-
rs
by
both, of
. thetl% 1:
which may yet transport not only his brother
conspirators
oli of Phoenix
Club, but
hisotrb.tiie e
prisoners. Very little doubt can now be enter-
tained of the result of a public trial, for Carolan
and Kelly, the latter of whom was not present at
the lodge at the time of the arrest, prove the same
facts, though tke greatest care has been taken
that they should not have any communication
with one another. The result of the preliminary
investigation is that Hughes, a poulterer, who was
arrested in his own house on the night f-Sunday,
the 12th of December, has been admitted to bail,
to appear and take his trial at the assizes • and
that of the 15 prisoners arrested in Mrs. M'Key's
house, 14 have been returned for trial, and bail
refused. Carolan, the approver, is the 15th ar-
rested in the lodge, and Kelly, the other approver,
completes the number."

FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT AT THE POLY-
TECHNIC INSTITUTION.

ONE DEAD AND SIX SERIOUSLY INJURED.
Last evening, one of those terrible catastrophes
that become all the more melancholy in their cha-
racteristics owing to their occurrence at such a fes-
tive period as the present, happened at that popular
place of amusement, the Polytechnic Institution,
about 1,000 persons having been attracted to the
entertainments of the evening by the new phantas-
magoria representations and dissolving views of
Don Quixote. The audience were dispersing in a
delighted mood about a quarter to eleven o'clock,
and the main body had passed safely out of the
building, when the melancholy catastrophe occurred
—the right hand circular staircase, which was
thronged with the last portion of the audience,
giving way, with a tremendous crash, amid a terrific
cloud of dust and dirt, and precipitating itself with
some fourteen or fifteen people on it to an under cir-
cular or duplicate staircase of similar construction,
leading to the well-known lower theatre, amid the
convulsive cries and shrieks of the poor sufferers,
who were hurled from a height of some 30 feet one
upon another, to the basement of the hall below,
where they presented an =distinguishable mass of
human beinip,-tovered with stone and masses of
broken debris. The spectacle, it is hardly necessary
to say, was saddening in the extreme, fire females
(whose names it was impossible to obtain owing to
the confusion that existed and the lateness of the
hour) being extricated with much difficulty from the
superincumbeut mass of fallen material, and one
child (a girl) of about eight years of age, not yet
identified. On being reeased by the officers of the
establishment and the police who were called in to
assist, they were immediately conveyed in cabs to
the Middlesex Hospital, where we were informed,
by Mr. Shaw, under whose superintendence they
were placed, that of the females, two—mother and
daughter—had suffered from fractured arms and
contusions, but not of a very dangerous character ;
that the third had a broken jaw and other contusions,
and the two others had suffered fracture of the skull
with contusions, both lying in a dangerous and as
we understood critical condition. There was also
in one of the wards a boy with a scalp wound, but
not considered dangerous. Every attention is being
paid to the sufferers at the Middlesex Hospital,
and Mr. Longbottom, the manager, Mr. Hughes,
Mr. Wynne, Mr. King, and her directors of
the establishment, were unremitting until an early
hour this morning, in attending. _to the wounded,
and in inquiring into the calamitous cause of the
catastrophe. This, accordidg to the account of Mr.
Cousins, the money receiver, and other officers near
the spot, would appear to have arisen from the cir-
cumstance of a number of foolish persons—the last
amongst those who had to go out—pressing too
closely on the progress of those who were making
their way down the upper stairs, which failed,
under the undue pressure put upon them, to sustain
the sudden impetus and strain, and which resulted
in the lamentaale catastrophe, although for the
last 20 years the same stairs, most substantially
constructed by the architect of the building (Mr.
Thompson), have stood their ground, de die in diem,
under the accumulated weight of hundreds of visi-
tors. Nevertheless, it must be mentioned that the
staircases, which have two spiral flights from a
centre, having been worn away by the continued
traffic of ycar.6, had been recently cased over with
an iron lattice work on the surface from top to bot-
tom, with the supposed object of strengthening
them ; and there cannot be much doubt, from an
inspection of the material, that the masons in inter-
weaving this iron lattice work all over the steps
(which gives them the appearance of a tesselated
pavement), have inconsiderately cut too deep into
the stone, in order to fix in the iron and incorporate
it with the steps, and that it is to this excessive in-
cision, which was intended to have a stiffening and
strengthening effect, but which the sad result proves
had only a destructive and debilitating one—that
this sad calamity has been occasioned, more parti-
cularly as the contractor had not the cleverness or
common sense to connect his iron lattice work with
the sides of the building, which would then itself
have formed an iron staircase, in combination with
the stone. The occurrence is the more remarkable
when it is mentioned th at on Monday (Boxing-day)
no fewer than 5,000 passed in and out of the Poly-
technic, over these same flight of steps, without acci-
dent, though it mustnot be forgotten that this very
circumstance would hive a tendency to try, if not to
weaken their structural strength and capability.
The establishment will, of course, have to be closed
for some time, until the staircases altogether (the
left one only on entering having fallen in)
with
reconstructed or renewed; and this, together wat a
all other matters, will be fully considered
special meeting of the directors, which Will
be held
kj ins, medical
to-day. Mr. Stewart and Mr. ie,
gentlemen in the neighbourhood, hastened
3.
immedi-
ately to the spot, and rendered all necessary sur-
gical assistance.
TUESDAY Mousasro, Two O'CLOCK.
On inquiry at the Middlesex Hospital, We were
informed that the girl of eight years had died, and
that the-two females before-mentioned were still in
a critical condition. An inquest will be held
to-day.

LATEST PARTICULARS.—(THIS DAY.)
A minute examination of the spot where the
above lamentable accident occurred took place this
and the opinion of the directors and
others that the catastrophe was caused by the
breakingi°lleliisnrc'
away of the top stair was confirmed.
There seems to be some very exaggerated accounts
prevalent with respect to the number of persons
injured, but we can confidently state that nine or
ten persons, after having their injuries dressed at
the Middlesex Hospital, preoeeded to their homes.
At the present time there remains at the hospital
the following persons :

Emma Pike, aged 11 years, 50, Newlgtui-causewav—
laceration of leg, and fractures of both thighs; since dead.
Sarah Copping, 35, Chapel-street, Grosvenor-square—
scalp wound, depression of skull, cot eassion of the brain.
Catherine Woodrow, aged 22, Foley-street severe
wound in face.

Fanny Hood, 84, New-road, Chelsea—compound frac-
ture of lower jaw, and concussion of the brain.
Mary Howard and Ann Howard, mother and daughter,
6, North-street, Fitzroy-square—both fractures of left arm.