The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-22 00:00:00

FRIGHTFUL DEATH OF A LADY.

On Wednesday afternoon Mr. C. St. Clair Bed-
ford, coroner for Westminster, and a highly repeat-
able jury assembled at the mansion of Sir E. C.
W. Macnaghten, No. 42, Upper Brook-street,
Grosvenor-square, to investigate the frightful cir-
cumstances attending the death of Miss Mary Mac-
thiehbeodjyti:Tw'hich lay in an adjoin-
having been sworn,
pnraogeheteedne,dagtoedvi2esw.
Mg room. It presented a horrid spectacle, the
head, face, neck, and arms being almost literally
charred, so that no feature could be distinguished.
The deceased had evidently been a tall, finely-
framed young woman. On the return of the jury,
Sir Edward Charles Workman Macnaghten was
examined. He was deeply affected, and deposed
that the deceased was his eldest daughter. About
half-past ten o'clock on Monday morning last he
heard loud screams, and, proceeding to where the
sounds came from, found deceased at the bottom of
the stairs in the hall, enveloped in flames. The
fire was eitinauished by the butler, and deceased
intro taken ino adjoining room and placed upon
a couch, then in a senseless state. She shortly
after recovered her consciousness, and told him
(witness) that she knew she shquld not recover,
that She wished to die, and expressed surpriPe
that she did not feel more pain. In explain-
ing how the burning had occurred, she said'
that she was in the drawing-room engaged
in writing, and that while so engaged she felt
an extraordinary degree of warmth about her
feet, which at first she conceived to be merely
fancy, but on looking down she perceived that she
bad trodden upon a lucifer match, which had set
fire to the lower part of her dress. The carpet was
found to have been burnt through around the spot
where the Match had been ignited. The match bad
no dottbt fallen out of a box containing others,
The Attendance of medical gentlemen was imme-
diately obtained, but) notwithstanding the most
unremitting exertions the &ceased expired about
,
ten hones after the accident. Wa!ter Wall, butler
to Sir Edmund, Stated that at the time
ention ed
he was in the pantry, when he heard loud screams,
and found deceased as his master bad described.
The flames in Willeh she was enveloped were at
least three feet above her head. He endeavoured
to extingiulsh them with his hands, but without
success, And lie then Pushed and procured a baize
tll4O-;COtvr, which he fittig Over her, and thus suc-
ceeded iti Lii4ingdishing the flames. Mr.Jsaac
Baker Brown, surgeons described the injuries of
deceased, observing that the body 'was burnt from
the soles of the feet to the crown of the head, All
that could be done for her was to alleviate the pain
by administering opium. The death was caused
by the severe and frightful burning. The
coroner trusted that the verdict the jury would
give might have the effect of inducing more care in
the use of lucifer matches. The jury returned a ver-
dict to the effect that deceased died from burns
received on Monday, the 18th inst., in consequence
of her clothes having caught fire by the accidental
ignition of a lucifer match.

FATAL ACCIDENT IN THE BETHNAL-GREEN-ROAD.—
Yesterday afternoon, as a little boy of seven years old
was running after a cab in the Bethnal-grEen.road, he
was knocked down by a cart, the wheels passing over
his head and body. Ha was taken to the London Hqs-
pital, but was quite dead before he arrived there.