Star.
London, England, 1825-01-20 00:00:00

THE FATAL ACCIDENT AT MIDDLETON.'
INQUEST ON THE EDDY OF RICHARD FOSTER. •
This Inquest was held Friday evening at the house of
Samuel Richardson, the sign of the Locomotive Steam
Engine, at Hunsletcarr.
'llamas Caley examined—He said he was a miner,
and was employed in Mr. Brandling's pits at Middleton;
knew Richard Foster, who lived at Hunslettcarr ; was
married and had three children ; the deceased was
employed at the Middleton Pits since he was a boy.
The misfortune took place on Wednesday night ; wit-
ness went into the pit at noon on that day, and remained
. there-till half-past nine at ; Foster was also there.
Witness supposes there might be upwards of forty men
And boys working in the pir, aim would have finished
their labour by about eleven at night. At about a
quarter before seven o'clock he heard a sudden rushing,
and then a noise like the loud repart of a cannon, his
light went out ; it seemed as if there was a great crush-
ing; he had one of Sir H. Davy's lamps, which was
guarded, and it was not exposed at all on that day.
All the
.persons e:nployed in the pit had patent safety
lamps. On hearing the noise he became alarmed, and
ran towards the shaft of the pit ; on his way he ran over
a man laid down, it was John Liversedge, who is now
in the Infirmary ; he was rolling about ; witness told
hinite come forward, but the man never spoke. Witness
saw no flame, but when going to the shaft, he overtook
William Fox, and James Wood, and the latter told him
that all was in a flame below. Witness and J. Butter-
field went back to search for Liversedge;
.they found
him in the same place, with his leg broken in pieces,
but he was still alive. Twelve escaped with very little
injury ; four are at the Infirmary, and two are ill at
home; twenty-three have died in .consequence of the
accident. Witness was not present when Foster was
taken nut, but believes he was alive. He thought, when
he heard the report, that it was the explosion of the
damp; he felt assured it was fire-damp, for he smelt the
sulphur. He supposed the accident occurred in conse-
quence of carelessness on the part of some person in
having the light of their lamps exposed, when the
lamps required trimming, they were directed to remove
them into a proper situation for the, purpose ; the pit
in which this accident happened was, in his opiniop,
safer than some others. He had no doubt.that Foster
died from the effect of fire-damp. When the lamps
have their tops on, he considers them safe ; sometimes
the wire-gauze will become red hot, and when that is
the case, the workmen should remove elsewhere; they.
are never to work in such dangerous places, by order
of the bottom stewards ; it is not required of them. The
overseers make a point of examining the pits.
Joshua Parkin stated, he was a miner at Middleton
Pits, and was at work on Wednesday night, when • the
fire-damp went off suddenly at a quarter 'before seven.
o'clock ; there was no previous alarm'-given ; it was as
sudden as the- crack of a gun ; it blew him over ; he
ley kill about a quarter of a minute, and it came again;
he then got up, wrapped his shirt round his face, and
setoff running as fast as possible to the shaft of the pit;
when be had proceeded about three hundred yards, he
found a smell of fire-damp, or sulphur ; le succeeded
in reaching the shaft, and saw no one in his way. The
deceased was wor king in the pit at the time of the ex-
plosion, and was taken out about ten o'clock the same
night; he 34ty him, but did not hear'-him speak. Wit-
ness cannot tell hew the accident happened, nor does he,
think any one can. Witness believes the accident mutt
have arisen from neglect on.the pert of some man.
No other witnesses were examined, and the Coroner
(ROBERT BARR, Esq.) proceeded to sum up the evidence
to the Jury,, who delivered the following verdict—
" That Richard Foster came to his death inconsequence
of an explosion of fire-damp."

Mr. HENRY HUNT, with a party of Ladies, last night
appeared inthe dress circle of Drury-lane 'Theatre,
near the stage; and in a private box, in line with the.
second tier, sat Mr. KaAN, who, with his friends, re-
mained during the Opera. Mr. KICAN took that side of
the bos•which placed him in full view of the audience
during the whole evening. He appeared to be full of
spirits, joining,ln the !herd inent of the Opera, and then
taking a full view of the company in the house.
A luile respectakle-looking man, of the age of eighty.
six, who has been a regular reader of our paper for the
last twenty-five years, si.now in the seventy-fourth year
11 his service to one mercantile concern in this town.
He has seen* out three sets of masters, and now enjoys a
handsome weekly pension from the fourth, in return for
which be regularly attends the warehouse, and does
what he can. During this period he has seen Manchester
increase from about 15,600 inhabitants to upward of
lso.ooo.—lllenchesler Gazette.

fhe Speaker ONSLOW, hearing a Gentleman who
lived in habits of intimacy with GAaßtou'describe
his powers on the stage, expressed his regret 'That the
gravity of the situation he held did not permit him too
ojorthe.pleasure of seeing him act. " But surely,",
ccintinvied. he, 66 when you are with him st Hampton
you might firevail'on-hini to come over to Ember Cour,
and dine with me; and their, perhaps, as you say he is-a
good-natured man, hewould oblige me with a ii.eiimen
of one of his characters." The friend undertook the ne--
gociation, and GA Inticic readily acceded. ()MOW was
profuse in his acknowledgments,' and after dinner,
GARRICK giving him his choice of what he should re-
cite, the dagger scene in Macbeth was fixed on, and
ONSLOW might have been thought gratified had he not,
in the middle of it, turned round to his friend, and in a
.low tone of voice said, " Were you at the last Turn-
pike Meeting ?"
At the Norwich County Sessions; a true bill was
found against the Rev. Jas. Maxwell, Rector of Thorpe
nest Norwich, for violently assaulting and ill-treating
Charlotte, the wife of Mr. William Browne Chamber-
lain, a Lieutenant in the Navy, residing in Thorpe, on
Saturday, the 30th of October last. The indictment
was removed into the Court of King's Bench, by a writ
of certiorari, and therefore the trial is• postponed until
. •
the Assizes.
Sir THOMAS PA iIICYNp the possessor of Bunney Hall,
in the early part of the last century, was remarkable
for his love of wrestling, in which he excelled. A short
time before his death, which happened in the year
1741, at the age of 78, he published a treatise upon
wrestling, in one part of which, speaking of the excel-
lence of the art, he says, " I receive no limberlams, no
darling sucking-bottles, who must not rise at Midsum-
mer till eleven of .the clock, till the fire has aired their
room and clothes :of their colliquative sweats, raised by
high sauces and spicy forced-meats, where the cook does
the office of the 9tornach, with the emetic tea-table set
out_with bread and butter for breakfast. I'll scarce
admit a sheep-eater : none but beif-eaters down
with ine."—Ackerniana's Repository.

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