Star.
London, England, 1822-11-14 00:00:00

SHOCKING ACCIDENT.

. Tuesday afternoon, the neighbourhood of Mary.la-
Bonne was thrown into the greatest state of alarm, in
consequence of an explosion taking place at the house
of Mr. Hall, a gunsmith, in Upper Manla-Bonne-
street. It appeared; that Mr. Hall is a maker of the
priming for percussion guns, and carried on such
1 business in the upper part of his house in the above
street, and two youths, of the age of ten and twelve,
were engaged in preparing such composition. Mr.
Hall being from horns, had left the two youths and
hit son at work in making the priming, which is
composed of potash, charcoal, and sulphur. Mr. Hall,
jun. went down stairs from the workshop, and was
in the act of returning when the explosion took place.
On his return into the room, he found the before-
mentioned boys lying on the floor, in a mass of blood ;
every pane of glass, and part of Ise sashes, had been
blown out ; the explosion, at this time, had extended
itself round the room, tearing down the stone fire-
place, and actually taking the doors off the hinges;
the force of it was so great, that the whole of the
ceiling of the room underneath fell, and part of the
windows on th estaircase was blown out. On examin-
ing the boys, one was found to be dead, and the other
injured in so dreadful a manner, that in the e'vening
he also died. There had been about five ounces of
the priming in the room, and it is supposed that one
of the boys was showing the other the quantity he bad
made that day, when, the spark of the candle acci-
dentally falling on it, instantly caused it to blow up,
there being at the time two ounces in another part
I of the room.

A Coroner's Inquest sat on the bodies yesterday
evening, in the Surgery of Middlesex Hospital, before
Mr. Sriataazo.—The first witness was Mr. Hall, who
stated that the two boys; who were brothers, were in
his employ : that he was absent the whole of Tuesday,
and on his return at six in the evening, found a crowd
around his door, and was informed on going in of the
awful catastrophe. The boys had been employed in
the composition of percussion powder into cakes.—
This kind of gunpowder is equally as inflammable as
common gunpowder with a spark. They had been
two years in this branch of the business. The powder
is intended to go off by a blow, or a spark. The
room where they worked was not at any time locked
against the boys or the workmen, but the boys were
not generally allowed to be in the room only when
the men were there the boys always left off work at
dusk ; the day's work was given out.in the morning,
and then taken. He employs two girls, one his
daughter, and they are only aged 15 and 16. He
believes it a common practice in the trade to employ
children at such work. He is, however, of opinion
that less caution had been used than generally is.
Collinson HaU, jun. stated, he resided with his fa-
ther in Upper Mary-la-bonne-street ; was in the work-
room about 20 minutes before the accident. There
was about eight ounces of inflammable matter in the
room. Finding a candle, he had a right to suppose
one or both of them must have taken it there. The
candle was on a table, and appeared not at all affected
by the explosion. The deceased boys were lying only
a short distance from the table ; they were nearly
together, and he is of opinion that they were both
looking at it when it went off : he cannot say how
it became ignited ; they had informed him that the
work was finished, and it was put away: he told
them to put it in a drawer. One of the deceased
boys was out on an errand, the other boy was at his
tea in the kitchen. He might have taken a candle
without the witness's knowledge. They all went
down to tea at a quarter past five o'clock : heard the
explosion about 20 minutes after he left the room ;
but cannot state how it occurred, only by conjecture.
He went up immediately, but could not enter the
room for the smoke. He brought one of them down
stalls. They were both alive ; the youngest deceased
was a very lively boy, and from the dreadful inju-
ries, kc. his body displayed, the witness believes he
got out the powder.
The servant girl proved that the youngest boy came
up stairs without his candle, and she left a candle she
had with him. She then quitted the room, and im-
mediately after she heard the explosion. They work
at that part of the business which is not dangerous
by candle-light.
The CORONER then, adclressiag the Jury, remarked
that the melancholy death of the boys was caused by
accident, and none could have the slightest hesitation
in saying that a great•cleal of incaution was displayed
in admitting such children to perform such work.
He considered such conduct as highly culpable.
Mr. Thomas Wood, house-surgeon of Middlesex
Hospital, was then called. He stated they were
brought into the Hospital a little before six ; they
were dreadfully burnt ; their deaths were caused by
the accident. Alexander lived one hour, and John
about two hours. No questions were asked them.
They were ordered to be kept quiet. But faint hopes
were entertained of their recovery : at first it was
thought the youngest would live.
The Jury then retired to view the bodies, which
presented a most shocking spectacle. On the return
of the Jury,
The CORONER again addressed the Jury, and said,
he earnestly hoped that from this awful circumstance
I no parents would ever employ children for the future
in so dangerous a business.
The Foreman observed that he wished to retire with
the Jury for ten minutes. The Jury accordingly re-
tired, and, on returning, the Foreman said that they
had decided on their verdict, which was, " That the
deceaseds' deaths were caused by the explosion of ful-
minating gunpowder."—Deodand 51.
The CORONER immediately observed that they, he
was afraid, could not levy any deodand—there was
nothing to levy on : the gunpowder was all exploded,
and, by law, they could not levy on anything but
that which caused the death of the party.
The Foreman said they only wished it ass caution;
but, on the law being clearly laid down, they gave
their verdict, leaving out the deodand.

There was, on Monday, a large sale of saltpetre,
consisting of 1,000 tons of the Hon. East India Com-
pany's, and 600 tons belonging to the private trade.
—The extraordinary accounts from Verona has an
effect on the value of this article, not inferior to that
which it had on the Spanish Bonds, for it went off
extremely brisk, and the prices advanced from 225.
to 265, per cwt. being an improvement of full six-
teen per cent.