The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-30 00:00:00

THE LATE EXPLOSION IN CIIIYA.

REPORTED LOSS OF 800 LIVES.

The rrankow Times, in speaking of this explosion, which
took place on the morning of the 11th of December, says
that it was composed of three distinct discharges, and from
the direction of the report no doubt was left in the minds of
the hearers that the powder magazines at Wuchang had ex-
ploded. A rush was immediately made for the locality of the
magazines, when its site as well as a considerable area
around was seen to be covered with one undistinguishable
mass of blackened and smouldering ruin, whilst as far as
the eye could see there was not a house or temple but
showed signs of having been severely shaken from roof to
basement. The streets were scarcely passable for the heaps
of cldbris scattered about, and of every house there merely
retrained the broken and disjointed framework, tottering
threateningly over a heap of tiles, rafters, floors, furniture,
&c., mingled in one tangled mass below. Immediately
upon and about the site of the explosion there was of
course nothing left standing, but the numbers of charred
and mangled corpses lying about presented a sickening
spectacle. A curious feature in the extraordinary scene
was the number of bullocks standing about amongst the
d6bris, alive and perfectly quiet, but utterly denuded
of all hair, and in some cases of skin likewise. The
powder is ground in mills turned by bullocks, and doubt-
less several were in harness and at work at the time of the
explosion. The extraordinary part of the story, however,
remains yet to be told. The amount of gunpowder lying
in the Pao-,gan-keuh at the time of the explosion was
but trifling, for, as a rule, it is never kept there when
made, but forthwith removed to the magazine, called
Yung-gan-koo, which is distant some 300 yards from
the Pao-gan-keuh. On Wednesday this Yung-gan-koo
is reported to have had stored in it 170,000 cattier
of gunpowder, or about 100 tons foreign measure-
ment, and, curiously enough, although there was no
communication between the two establishments, and the
magazine was more carefully enclosed and isolated than the
manufactory, the explosion at the Pao-gan-keuh by some
means or other fired the Yung-gan-koo, and hence the third
and most violent of the discharges which we all heard.
The loss of life is put down by the Chinese at fully 800
souls, but it is to be hoped that this estimate is above the
mark. The origin of the accident, it is reported, has been
discovered by the mandarins. A number of workmen, it
appears, had been occupied with their usual employment
in the Pao-gan-keuh, and then retired to the room allotted
for smoking. One man, contrary to orders, returned to
work with his pipe alight, but concealed under his cotton
garment, and it was whilst he was shifting powder that his
pipe is reported to have burnt a hole through his robe, and
caught some loose powder lying about him.

The Hon. G. Denman, M.P., writes to the papers to
deny that he has given an opinion to the effect that by the
common law of England women possessing the necessary
property qualification are entitled to the suffrage. All
that he has stated is that the point is one to he