The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-16 00:00:00

! DREADFUL FIRE—SEVEN LIVES
. LOST.
; (From our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
I At a late hour last night, the vicinities of the
nories and Goodman's- fieldswere thrown into a most
painful state of excitement by the outbrealiof a dread-
ful fire, accompanied by fearful sacrifice of human
life, in Little Prescott-street, Goodman's-yard, Mine-
ries. The premises in which this deplorable event
.originated were situated at the west side of the street,
within a few yards of the Blackwall Railway. They
consisted of a dwelling-touse, four stories high, the
property of Mr. Cook, a soap -boiler, in Goodman's-
' fields, who let them out to numerous families, to the
number, it was reported, of no fewer than 25 indi-
viduals. The ground floor was tenanted by a green-
grocer, named Shackleton ; the first-floor front room
by a foreigner (a manuthcturer of Dutch drops) ;
the third floor by Mrs. Holland and her four
daughters ; and the remainder of the rooms by
other persons, the names of whom could not be
obtained. The discovery was made about a gust.-
ter past ten o'clock, and the first to raise an
alarm were some of the inhabitants, whose atten-
tion was attracted by the smoke and sparks issuing
from the room over the shop front, tenanted by the
Dutch-drop maker. They instantly commenced
knocking violently at the street-door, whilst others
endeavoured to arouse the inmates by throwing stones
at the windows; but for a length of time none of
them made their appearance. At last the front doer
was opened, and two females ruche' out in a state of
nudity. By this time police-constable Rutlege, 192,
of the H division, came up, in company with other
constables, when an attempt was made to force a pas-
sage up the staircase, but it was found impracticable,
in consequence of the smoke and heat, winch was in-
tense. A few minutes afterwards two females made
their appearance at the windows of the second floor,
in an abject state of suffering. It was evident that
the window was their only means of escape, and the
mob, which had now increased to nearly one hun-
dred persons, shouted out to them to hold on until
some ladders were
.brought, while others called for
them to jump out. The poor creatures got one of
their legs over the sill of the window, and after remain-
ing in that position for a second or two, one threw
herself out and fell with awful violence upon the
pavement, smashing, apparently, every bone in her
body, the height being upwards of thirty-five feet.
Directly afters arils the other precipitated herself in
a similar manner, but, fortunately, her fall was in a
slight way broken by alighting on the lead front of
the shop window ; before being picked up she was
proved to be dreadfully injured, and as soon as the
stretcher could be procured, she was forthwith con-
veyed to the London Hospital. The other unfortunate
sufferer proved to be dead. She was recognised to be
Julia Holland, and the other her sister ancy Hol-
land, young women, under the age of three-and-
twenty. In the interval the terrible element had
made rapid progress; it had extended up the stair
case to the rooms above, and shortly shot forth from
the roof, attracting an immense concourse of per-
sons to the spot. A body of the II division of
police had previously blocked up the different
avenues leading to the burning building, under
the direction of Mr. Pearse, the Superintendent, as-
sisted by Air. Inspector Norman, thereby affording
ample space for the operations of the firemen, who
speedily came up from the stations of the brigade in
Jeffrey-square, IVellclose-square, 'Watling-street, and
other parts of the City: Immediately the firemen
reached the scene, they used every effort to ascertain
whether any person remained on the premises, but
such was the consternation that prevailed that they
were utterly unable to obtain the slightest information
upon the subject. Mr. Braidwood, the superinten-
dent of the three, accompanied the Watling-street
station -engine, which, with the rest, were brought
into active operation, the supply of water being plen-
tiful. In consequence of the dilapidated state of the
premises, fears were apprehended that the flames
would communicate to houses that adjoined; but
ultimately, through the strenuous exertions of the
firemen, they succeeded in stopping their extension to
that in which it commenced; it was nearly gutted ere
the fire could be checked, which was not till 12 o'clock.
Shortly after the fire had been somewhat got un-
der, Mr. Braidwood directed some of his men to dis-
cover whether any person was missing, and shortly
they learned from a poor man named Proudfoot, who
tenanted a room on the second floor, that three of his
children were not to be found. He said he had saved
his wife and two children, but whether any one had
preserved the rest he was unable to say. The poor
creature was running about in all directions in quest
of them, and appeared almost distracted. Upon this
information, 3,1 r. Braidwood ordered two of his men
to ascend the scaling ladders which had been placed
against the walls of the premises, and, if the ruins
would permit, to search among them.

At One o'clock in the morning two bodies, namely,
those of children, were found by Carter and an-
other of the brigade among the rafters of the flooring,
on the second floor, shockingly burnt and disfigured.
These proved to be those of poor Proudfoot's chil-
dren. Shortly after another body of a child was
found on the same floor, apparently a girl of about
six years of age.
Two o'CLocK.—We regret to state that the fire-
men, in further searching the ruins, discovered three
other bodies—namely, that of an elderly female and
two children. At the present moment Mr. Braid-
wood and his men are lowering the mutilated remains
down the ladders in blankets, and conveying them to
a public-house on the opposite side'of the street. The
latter are supposed to be the mother and sisters of the
unfortunate creatures, Julia and Nancy Holland, who
threw themselves out of the window. It is impossib'.•
to identify them, nothing.remaining but their trunks,
burnt almost to a blackened cinder.

The sensation that exists in the neighbourhood is
immense, and the place is thronged with people.

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.
The scene of this truly melancholy disaster is
thronged by thousands of persons as the day advances,
and the utmost excitement prevails. From the con-
fusion incident to such an event, it was almost im-
possible to come at any thing like a succinct or trust-
worthy account of the origin of the fire, orsits con-
sequences, but the prevalent opinion amongst those who
have means offorminga true one is that evenmore per-
sons than what, was originally stated have lost their lives.
A number of labourers, under the direction of the
Fire Brigade, are excavating the ruins, and it is to be
feared that the report that all Proudfoot's children
were lost will be soon verified by the discovery of their
remains, as much of the rubbish at the back part of
the house in which Proudfoot's family resided, has
been cleared away. The two unrecognised bodies,
which were found in the ruins, have not
as yet been identified, but it is surmisedl they were
those of the sister and niece of the foreigner who
lodged in the second floor. It is now known that up-
wards of 30 individuals lodged on the premises, and
those who escaped are at present located amongst
their immediate neighbours, by whom they are treated
with that sympathy which their melancholy si-
tuation should excite. The poor girl (Holland)
who so miraculously escaped being dashed to pieces
when she precipitated herself from the window, still lies
in a state of insensibility in the hospital, and consider-
able doubts are entertained of her recovery. It was
stated that the premises were insured to the full
amount of their value, but the poor persons who were
lodgers have lost all their property, as, owing to the
sudden outburst of the flames, they were unable i
to save more than the clothes upon their backs.
From a source upon which we can rely, we are
enabled now to announce the melancholy fact, that
no leSs than mine individuals have lost their lives by
this dreadful fire. It originated in the room occupied
by the foreigner, who, with his wife, were fortunately
enabled to make their escape. When the fire first
• broke out Proudfoot rushed down the burning staircase
• with a child in his arms, and escaped through the hall
into .the street, after being severely burnt. His
wife.after some delay attempted to follow him, but the
stairs were then all in, flames ; and through the exer-
tions of Mr. Cock she was saved, by getting through
a back window, after being shockingly burnt about
the head and neck. Mrs. Holland and four daughters
resided in the attic. Of the melancholy fate of two
we have spoken already ; but the more painful
task remains of stating that the mother and
the two other girls, both remarkably fine young
women, after remaining at the window for several
minutes imploring that aid which no person could
afford, fell back into the burning mass and _
perished.
Upon the same floor resided a person named Sum-
mers, with his wife and three children, of whom two
of the children were unable to escape and were burnt
, to death.

INQUEST ON THE BODIES.
Yesterday afternoon Mr. Baker, the Coroner, held
an inquest at the Royal Standard, Little Prescott-
street, Goodman's-fields, on the bodies of Charlotte
Elizabeth Proudfoot, John Summers, Arthur Proud-
foot, Ellen, Julia, and Sarah Holland, and another,
who had perished in the conflagration which took
place that morning. •
After the Jury had viewed the bodies, which pre-
sented a shocking appearance, in many cases the fea-
tures not being distinguishable, John Holland was
called, and said that he was employed as porter in
the Minories, and had no doubt that one of the bodies
he viewed was that of his mother, Ann Holland, the
wife of Michael Holland, a musical instrument
maker, who resided at 17, Little Prescott-street.
Roger Shakleton, also residing at 17, Little Pres-
cott-street, identified one of the bodies as that of
Julia Holland. Last time he saw her alive
was, he thought, on Saturday last, and,
as she was not so much burnt as the
others, he had little difficulty in knowing her.
On the night of the fire witness was going to bed,
and heard a scuffling noise, which he thought was one
of the lodgers in the same house beating his wife,
and immediately afterwards the alarm was given.
The flames were seen from the street. Witness