The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-01-02 00:00:00

GENERAL MISCELLANY.

Charles Swain, the poet, has been appointed a Fellow
of the Royal Society.
COTHERSTONE.—Mr. Bowes's celebrated horse, Co-
therstone, has won, during the present year, the immense
sum of £13,790, in stakes alone.
MR. OASTLER.—On Friday week, the proprietor of
the theatre, Manchester-street, Huddersfield, gave the
proceeds of his performance to the " Oastler Liberation
Fund."
SHEEP KILLED.—On Saturday last, as the afternoon
train from Darlington to York was passing Poppleton
Bridge, twenty-five sheep, the property of Mr. Carr, of
Overton, were killed by the engine.
COLLIERS' WAGES.—A considerable number of the
principal coalmasters of North Staffordshire have agreed
to pay the advanced rate of wages, namely-4s. per day.
PERSONS ACCUSED OF MURDER.—There are at pre-
sent in the Nenagh gaol twenty persons accused of the
awful crime of murder; and three charged with con-
spiring to sacrifice life.
TURN-OUT OF HATTERS.—For some weeks back, the
hatters of Ashton, Mottram, Bredbury, Manchester, Gee
Cross, Stockport, Denton, and all the places for many
miles round have struck for an advance of wages.
THE LATE MURDER NEAR TAUNTON.—Mary Sealy
has been committed on a charge of wilfully murdering

Betty Sealy, the particulars of which appeared in our lasi
paper bu one.

A commercial gentleman was so. "facile" as to be al-
lured into a house of ill-fame, in Newcastle, a few days
since, when some drug was put into his wine, which
speedily induced sleep, and ere he awoke a sum of money
amounting to £3OO had been abstracted from his person.

FLOGGING V. BLISTERING IN THE ARMY.—Sir Charles
Napier states that from two regiments, in which flogging
had been tried in vain, intoxication was completely
banished by subjecting every drunken soldier to fever
treatment, that is, blistering, and bread and water diet.

UNOSTENTATIOUS BENEVOLENCE.—A Bank of Eng-
land note for £lOO was found on Friday morning in the
subscription-box erected in front of the Royal Flee Hos-
pital, Gray's-inn-road, London, in an envelope addressed
to the treasurer, and signed " A Passer By."
THE GREAT CHESS-MATCH.--It may be interesting to
our chess readers to learn that a return match has been
agreed on between Mr. Staunton and Mr. St. Arrant, and
that the play will probably commence about the end of
January.
A DIRECTOR OF A JOINT STOCK BANK NOT A
CHRISTIAN.—A western paper says, in an obituary no-
tice, that " he had also been for several years a director
of a bank, notwithstanding which he died a Christian,
universally respected."
EXTENSIVE BURGLARY.—On Friday last, the sum of
£4OO, in Bank of England and other notes, was stolen
from a trunk in the bedroom of the dwelling-house occu-
pied by Mr. J. Best, fibbmonger, Brighton, during his
absence at the fish market on the beach.
INCENDIARISM.—The last number of the Slamforri
Mercury gives the particulars of four incendiary fires,
which have taken place in Lincolnshirs; we fear almost
to unfold a southern provincial paper, these outrages have
now become so frequent and in many instances so
destructive.

Mr. OASTLER.—During the week, meetings have been
held in Stockport, Ashton, Preston, Stalybridge, and Tod.
morden, in aid of the funds now raising for the liberation
of this gentleman. We understand that the meetings
have been most numerous and enthusiastic, as well as sue-
ful.

PEDESTRIANISM.—Benjamin Riding, alias the Morn-
ing Star, who is walking the great feat of 1,500 miles in
1,500 successive hours, has now performed so much of
his task, and seems so much improved in health and con-
stitution, that the odds in betting are now in his favour.
On Monday morning at eight o'clock, he had completed
572 miles.

A DRAFT FROM THE OCEAN.—A lady writes to a
friend in Dumfries, that a draft sent by her brptber in
India came safely to hand through the Post-office, after
having been at the bottom of the sea in the Memnon,
although the seal was so completely wasted, along with
the paper adjoining, that the letter, in fact, was quite
open.
The stock of bullion held by the Bank of England
during the four weeks ending the 9th of De^,ember, is
stated to be £12,996,000, which shows an increase of
£971,000, as compared with the preceding month, and an
increase of £2,485,000, as compared with the correspond-
ing period last year.
CAPTAIN II osKEN.—The underwriters at Lloyd's,
through the directors of the Great Western Steam-ship
Company, have presented Captain Hosken, of the Great
Western, with the sum of £lOO, in testimony of their
high opinion of his nautical skill in having successfully
accomplished 64 passages to and from America.—Bristol
Mirror.

At the late Smithfield Show, in London, Mr. Skirving,
of this town, exhibited forty roots of an improved variety
of Swedish Turnip, which averaged twenty pounds per
root, or eight,hundred pounds the forty. These roots, we
hitve learned, were grown on Mr. Skirving's farm, at
Walton, with guano manure, at the rate of 5 cwt. the
statute acre.

EXTRAORDINARY TIDES.—On Friday morning last,
the very unusual circumstance happened, of the high
water tide on Sunderland bar being 17 ft. 9 in.—that is,
about 4 ft. 6 in. greater depth than usual when it is, as it
was on that day, a neap tide. The succeeding low tide
presented the corresponding phenomenon of about fdur
feet lower than usual.—Sunderland paper.
The Duke of Manchester has adopted the allotment
system on his Huntingdonshire estates, and last week his
grace's agent, with the Rev. J. Hughes, let a field of
twelve acres, in small allotments, to upwards of seventy
labourers at Meonbury. His grace has built a boys' school
at Kimbolton, and appointed a master, fur the advantage
of the labouring population.
-

-
PEDESTRIANISM.—Mrs. Harrison, the pedestrian, who
is engaged in walking 1000 miles in 1000 successive hours,
upon the Leeds and Whitehall road, Wortley, from the
house of Mr. James Wilkinson, the Dragon Inn, still
continues her Herculean (or rather Omphalean) task,
and though she has suffered much dining the week from
sore feet. we may add she is again rallying and determined
to conquer.

SALE OF A WIFE.—On Saturday last, a brute in human
shape, from West Hallam, named Hart, sold his wife in
Nottingham Market-place, for Is., to a fellow named
Smith, with whom the woman had been living for several
yaars. A rope was tied round the woman's waist, and on
the bargain being completed, and the money paid, it was
given to the purchaser, who carried off his prize. All
parties seemed satisfied.—Nottingham Journal.
GAGGING THE PRESS.—The London Standard states
that they have ascertained for a fact that it is one of the
arrangements of the League to supply funds for actions
against the members of the press opposed to its designs ;
and the editor of the Manchester Courier states that at
no very distant day he will be in a position to prove, in
his own person, the truth of what the Standard announ-
ces.

MANCHESTER MORALITY.—It is a fact worthy of notice
that on Wednesday night week there was not a single pri-
soner at the Police-office, King-street, Manchester, on
any charge whatever. Mr. Superintendent Sawley states
that to his knowledge such a circumstance has not occur-
red within the last fourteen years ; and for anything
known to the contrary, perhaps not for the last twenty
years.
THE LONGEST DAY AND THE SHORTEST DAY.—
On the morning of the longest day in the present year
many ponds of water in the eastern part of the kingdom
were covered with ice ; on the morning of the shortest
day the thermometer stood at 50, or nearly 24 degrees
higher, and primroses are now in full blossom in many
places. The Rev. Dr. Godfrey, Grosvenor-place, has
crocuses in an advanced state.—Bath Journal.
THE DUKE DE BORDEAUX.—It is confidently stated,
than an intimation has been conveyed to the Duke de
Bordeaux, that holding of levees for the reception of so
many persons, subjects of an, allied power, and his con-
tinued residence in this country, are not agreeable to the
British government. This intimation has, it is added,
changed the plans of the Duke de Bordeaux, and his early
appartma From this country is anticipated.7--Bera/d.
DROLL SPORTING.—On the 15th instant, whilst a pack
of hounds were in Stockton, a fox run over the Stockton
and Diirlipgton Railway, and took shelter in a coqduit.
Presently, about fifty persons drew up, and several dogs
were put into the hole, hut the fox bit them, and they re-
turned. At last .a workman on the railway put in his arm
and brought him out, and took him away alive, to the
amusement of those present.
DEATH OF A FAMILY.—A poor man, Angus Macmil-
lan, residing Manish, island of Harris, died about
three weeks since of fever, caught, it is said, by an infec-
tion communicated by a sailor'i jacket, purchased from
the crew of a foreign vessel. His two children, a young
woman 24 years of age, and a young man 16, were both
taken ill after the decease of the father, and died within
a few hours of each other, on the 21st ult.—Edinburgh
Journal.
Arr ATTACK BY 11 ATS.—On Monday, as Samue
Brierley, servant to Messrs. Reyner, of Ashton, was en.
gaged in removing a quantity of dung from behind the
stable, be was attacked by a large number of rats, which,
having no means of escape, made at him simultaneously.
Being active, be succeeded in destroying 12 of the number
by means of the fork which he had in his hand. 1 t was
with great difficulty that he got away unhurt. —Black burn
Standard.

THE RAPE AND ATTEMPTED MURDER AT DERBY.—
At the Derbyshire assizes, yesterday week, John Winfield
Grocock, aged 17, who it will be remembered voluntarily
surrendered himself into the custody of a policeman at
Derby, was tried and convicted before Mr. Baron Parke,
of having on the 26th of August last, at Edgbaston,
feloniously assaulted Eliza Ann Allwood, with intent to
murder,
maim, or disfigure her or do her some grievous
bodily harm. He was sentenced to be transported for
life.

•••-••
DEATH FROM WITCHCRAFT.—On Friday an inquest
was held at Keston, Kent, on view cf the body of Miss
Charlotte Chapman, a very handsome girl, the daughter
of Mr. Henry Chapman, schoolmaster, of that place. The
father of the young lady said, that he believed it had been
purely her own act during ufit of temporary derangement.
She was invariably treated most affectionately by all at
home. Since her death he had been told by the family
that about 15 months ago she went with a party to Green-
wich, and was induced, against her will, to have her for-
tune told, and that the party told her " she would dot die
a natural death." The jury returned a verdict that de-
ceased committed suicide during a fit of temporary
insanity,

Jan. 2, 18'4

THE MILDNESS OF THE SEASON.—A. Wardleworth
of Prestwich, gathered from the open fields a dish of fine
grown mushrooms, some of them three inches in diameter,
on the 20th inst.—Mr. Crompton and party had a dish
of large mushrooms served up to dinner on Tuesday last,
at Horridge End, Derbyshire, which had been gathered
in the open field, near the Crown Inn, New Mills. The
following were the sizes :—No. 1, 284 circumference,
stalk 6 inches do. ; 2, 19 ; 3, 18 ; 4, 164 ; 5, 15 inches do.
SOMNAMBULISM.—On Friday night, a young man aged
20, a sapper and miner, employed at brompton, near Lon-
don, got out of bed and opened his room-door, when he
must have gone to the window in his sleep, and having
raised the sash, and placing himself on the sill, about
three feet from the flooring, he precipitated himself into
the yard, a depth of between thirty and forty feet. Four
of his teeth were knocked out of his head, and were
picked up next morning on the pavement amongst the
blood. He was very severely hurt.
MURDER NEAR WOLVERH AMPTON.—Four men, of the
names of Samuel Fellows, Robert Purslow, John Perry,
arid Daniel Webb, were committed to Stafford gaol on
Tuesday last, upon the coroner's warrant, charged with
the wilful murder of Mary Jane Wild, aged 18, they
having thrown her down a pit, situated between Wolver-
hampton and Bilston, in consequence of her refusal to
comply with a base proposal made by the above prisoners.
She was taken out of the pit, but lived only a short while,
the injuries sustained causing death.
DIABOLICAL.--A correspondent of the London Stan-
dard, who gives his name privately to the editor, states,
that he was present at the free-trade meeting at Manches-
ter on Thursday last, and heard the expresion used by
Mr. " What! firing hay-ricks! Why, they'll soon be
burning bishop-ricks." One cannot well understand the
meaning of " burning a bishoprick," but the feeling of
hostility to the establishment and its ministers is very
apparent from the manner the expression was received,
" the meeting loudly cheering it amidat the waving of
hats."

ITER MAJESTY AND THE ROYAL KITCEIEN.—On the
afternoon of Christmas-day, her Majesty and his Royal
Highness Prince Albert very unexpectedly paid a visit to
the royal kitchen at Windsor Castle, for the purpose of
inspecting several splendid joints of beef previously to
their being cooked, the produce of beasts fattened upon
the farm of the Prince Consort in Windsor Great Park.
Several Cochin China pullets, turkeys, and other poultry
intended for the royal table, were also inspected by the
Queen and the Prince, and greatly admired.
THE REV. DR. WOLFF'S MISSION TO BOKHARA.--•
Letters from Trebizond to the 29th of November an-
nounce the safe arrival there, on the 27th, of this venture-
some traveller from Constantinople. On the 28th he gave
a discourse at the British Consulate (where he was most
hospitably housed by the consul, Mr. F. I. Stevens,) de-
tailing his former, and explaining the object of his present
journey to Bokhara, and on the 29th he preached a ser-
mon to the European residents and families of the Ame-
rican missionaries. He would proceed on his mission
early in December.

A YOUNG ORGANIST.—At Eldad Chapel, Stonehouse,
on Stinday morning, the Rev. John Hawker arrested the
attention of his congregation by announcing that his or-
ganist and choir had, on the previous evening, unexpect-
edly informed him that they would attend no more. At
his advanced age, he added, the rest usually afforded by
psalmody was needed, and, therefore, if his congregation
would sing, his child (though only nine years old) should
attempt to lead on the organ. The child immediately en-
gaged in the service and gave every satisfaction.—Devon-
port Telegraph.
ANOTHER MURDER IN TIPPERARY.—On the 26th
ult., as John Ardill, a poor Protestant man, was returning
from his work, at Rodeen-house, when crossing a field,
nithin a hundred yards of his own dwelling, he was at-
tacked by a number of men (unknown for the present),
and his skull smashed by blows of some blunt instrument.
He was one of the best conducted men in the parish, and
has left a wife and six orphan daughters, who have
nothing but beggary and starvation now before them.
This is the sixth murder attempted, and the third actually
perpetrated in one confined district, within a period of
six weeks, and the victim in each instance has been a
Protestant !—Dublin Packet.

THE OASTLER LIBERATION MEETING.—When Mr.
Brooks appeared on the platform to rebut Mr. Ferrand,
he opened the ball by clapping himself down on Mr.
Ferrand's knee. " Elloh," quoth the honourable gentle-
man, "it strikes me Mr. Alderman Brooks that you've
got into the wrong place." "Aye, aye," says Mr. Brooks,
" 1 didn't know as I was sitting on your knee sir, I can't
see very well," (the leeches and gruel must be repeated!)
" but I beg your pardon." Again, when Mr. Brooks
left the meeting, he was literally groaned out. Standing
at the front of the platform, he bowed profoundly to the
meeting after each groan, and eventually vanished amidst
a storm of popular displeasure, followed quickly by three
terrible groans for the League.—Manchester Courier.
SINGULAR CONFLICT.—A s entleman in Northallerton
has had for sonic time in his possession a tame lion, which
has always been considered perfectly harmless. A few
nights since he broke his chain, and while perambulating
the town, came in contact with a ferocious bull-mastiff,
the property of a late knight of the cleaver. A battle in-
stantly commenced, when the roaring of the lion and the
howling of the dog called forth a large party of all sorts,
and, as customary, backers on both sides. " Well done,
lion ;" " Hey at him Simple," the name of the dog. For
-some time the victory was doubtful, but at length the dog,
by a singular manoeuvre, threw the lion on his back, and
commenced a furious grasp at the poor animal's throat,
and would soon have despatched him had he not been res-
cued by the bystanders.—Yorkshirernan.
THE LEICESTER BANK.—In the Birmingham district
Bankruptcy Court on Thursday, Mr. Commissioner
Balguy refused the certificate of Mr. Phillips, one of the
partners in the above unfortunate concern. The Com-
missioner said, that " on reviewing the proceedings, he
found that, with a nominal capital of £20,000 only, Mr.
Phillips permitted five parties—speculators and adventu-
rers many of them—to get into debt to the concern to the
amount of £300,000, or thereabouts. Now he asked,
whose money it was that Mr. Phillips advanced to these
persons ? He mentioned the name of Mr. Phillips par-
ticularly, because there could be no question that he was
sole manager of the bank. One of the parties whom he
permitted to get into debt to the bank to the extent of
£109,000 was described as a little hosier, who had been
employed as such by Mr. Mitchell himself, and whom
that gentleman said he would not have trusted to the ex-
tent of £lOO. He asked whether this was not most im-
provident and reckless conduct on the part of the bank-
rupt ?"
THE LEAGUE AND EARL GREY.—A correspondent of
the Stockport Advertiser has the following :—Earl Grey
is being hurried to his grave by the League. No sooner
is he sick than the calculation is made—Earl Grey can do
no more for the free traders; he is likely to die; Lord
Howick will be called to the upper house ; a vacancy will
occur at Sunderland ; ergo, the sooner the game is begun
the better. No thought of gratitude—no care for decency
—no feeling for the sick to death—but hey for Sunderland!'
Havoc is cried, and upon the devoted town is let loose all
the engines of sedition. The officials of the postoffice are
made the first means of spreading the political venom;
and many thousands of copies of The League convey to
the electors of that borough the fact, that if electioneering
cajolery, political intrigue, and unblushing effrontery have
power to do it, a league candidate is to sit in the Commons
House of Parliament, in place of Lord Howick—although
the price paid for the first start shall be the hastening the
last hour of Earl Grey. Colonel Thompson, it is stated,
is to come forward for the borough in the event of the
elevation of Lord Howick.

THE CHARGE OF FORGING A WlLL,—Messrs. Bar-
ber and Fletcher were brought up and re-examined on
Thursday, at the Mansion-house, on the charge of having
forged a will, and thus secured the fraudulent transfer of
stock. They were again remanded to the 9th of January,
bail being again refused. The prosecuting counsel said
that there was another charge against both the prisoners
for forging and uttering the will of Mary Hunt, of Bris-
tol, and the parties entitled had never received that mo-
ney. It found its way to the Commissioners for the
Reduction of the National Debt, in consequence of
one of the partners of Messrs. Grote and Co. having
died. This partner had received the dividends till the
year 1830, but then died, and in consequence of which the
dividends had since been unclaimed. At the expiration
of ten years, therefore, the sum of £1,210, standing in
the name of Mary Hunt, was transferred to the Commis-
sioners for the Reduction of the National Debt; and he
rrulrl_prorinrp_n hnnle_ rnn tia ini rur t liat_amar
dividends, which was found at Fletcher's house ; an
against the name of Mary Hunt, the exact amount of her
stock waswould
oi r
markedr
prove
that thetht Mr. Barberofandwriring
got lf;
te
ofa
and he
will, purporting to be the will of Mary Hunt, by which
he obtained the sum of £1,210, which had been standing
in her name. She died in 1806 ; but Barber represented
that she died in 1829; and therefore an officer suggested
that the interval must be accounted for. The accumu-
lated dividends of £5OO were also received. The notes
paid on this account were changed into gold, and at the
same time a sum of gold, exactly half of the £l7OO, was
paidinto the Westminster Bank by Fletcher himself.

RECOVERY OF STOLEN HORSES.-At the present
Yorkshire gaol delivery, a man pleaded guilty of stealing
a bay gelding, the property of Robert Williamson, on the
27th of September last. It appeared that the prisoner
sold the Horse in Howden fair to Mr. Francis Ladkin,
horse dealer, who resides at Lutterworth, in the county
of Leicester. By him it was sold, at the Nottingham fair,
on the 2d or 3d of October, for £22, to Mr. Richard
Peach, farmer, of Ireton Wood House, near Belper.
After the plea of the prisoner had been taken, Mr. Wil-
kins, who appeared for the prosecution, applied to the
court that the horse might be restored to Mr. William-
son, Mr. Peach being quite willing to give up the pos-
session of the animal on hearing the opinion of the learned
judge-(Mr. Justice Maple) who presided. His lordship
expressed an opinion that the horse must be restored to
Mr. Williamson, the original owner, and at the same
time referred to the law upon the subject, in Blackstone's
Commentaries. It it as follows :—" There is one species
of personal chattels in which the property is not easily
altered by sale without the express consent of the owner,
and these are horses. A purchaser gains no property in
a horse that has been stolen unless it be bought at a fair
or market overt (or open market), according to the direc-
tion of the statutes of 2 P. and M., c. 7, and 31 Elizabeth,
c. 12, by which it is enacted that the horse shall be
openly exposed in the time of such fair or market for one
whole hour together, between ten in the morning and
sunset, in the public place used for such sales, and not in
any private yard or stable; and afterwards brought by
both vendor and vendee to the book-keeper of such fair,
that toll be paid, if any be due, and if not, one penny to
the book-keeper, who shall enter down the price, colour,
and marks of the horse, with the names, additions, and
abode of the vendee and vendor, the latter being properly
attested." We understand that afterwards Mr. Ladkin
returned half of the amount he had received for the horse
to Mr. Peach.


ALARMING AND DESTRUCTIVE FIRES.-
n" AT DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY AND
MELANCHOLY LOSS OF LIFE.

After a cessation for seve, ui months of those calamities
by fire with which the town was so lamentably and
alarmingly visited during the last winter, we had, in com-
mon with others, begun to felicitate ourselves, that, from
greater caution, together with the atsence of accident,
and the abhorrence expressed of incendiarism, (if such
.7,n reality existed,) we should pass the present season with-
out having the painful duty to record new losses and
disasters is our—in this respect—unen, iable, locality. But
in this expectation we have unhappily been disappointed
—having now to notice the occurrence of no fewer than
four conflagrations since our last publication—one of
them extensive, and attended with deplorable loss of life
to an amount not yet, perhaps, fully determinable; ano-
ther of a great part of a valuable cargo ; another of a house
and shop ; and a fourth of minor amount, but leaving ap-
pearances tending to excite some suspicions of the most
culpable negligence, if not, indeed, of foul play. What
is still more remarkable, all these fires broke out within
21 consecutive hours, and consequently Nl' the fire-police
to continuous and fatiguing exertions, and excited much
alarm in the public mind. We take them in the order of
their occurrence, although the third was by much the
most calamitous :

FIRE ON BOARD SHfP AT THE WATERLOO DOCK.
On Wednesday, about two o'clock, a fire was discovered
on board the Meg of Meldon, then lying in the Waterloo
Dock. She arrived on Saturday week, from Calcutta,
with a valuable cargo of saltpetre, hemp, rice, &c. Her
owner is Mr. Sinclair. who, it is said, is not insured ; her
cargo, which was fully covered, was consigned to the
house of Messrs. Sands, Turner, and Co. The fire seems
to have originated, from some cause or other not ascer-
tained, but most probably from spontaneous combustion,
in the fore hold, and in contiguity to the foremast. She
lay at the time in the centre of the dock, surrounded by
vessels on every side, and, in order to prevent additional
damage, was immediately towed into the lock, where ex-
ertions were used to extinguish the flames, which did not,
at any period, burst forth in the ordinary manner, but
smouldered amongst the cargo immediately under the
deck—and sent forth dense volumes of smoke. Eight
engines continued to play into the hold until about five
o'clock, and the superintendent of the fire department
had hopes, to the last, of overcoming it, and saving the ship
little injured and a considerable portion, at least, of the
cargo ; but as the smoke still continued, and apprehen-
sions were entertained that the saltpetre would ignite, it
was resolved to scuttle the vessel—which was done by some
carpenters in a boat, who cut holes near her bows. She
had previously settled down nearly two feet, from the
quantity of water poured into her hold by the engines.
In about an hour after being scuttled the fire was got
under. The damage to the vessel and cargo has been
roughly estimated at from £lO,OOO to £15,000.

FIRE IN IRONMONGER-LANE.

On Wednesday evening, about half-past six o'clock, a
fire was discovered in a large warehouse in Ironmonger-
lane, and, but for the timely discovery of the flames, there
is little doubt that the premises, which were filled with
colonial produce, oil, &c., would, but for the prompt at-
tendance of the fire-engines, have been consumed, as well
as, in all probability, many of the adjacent high commer-
cial buildings. As it was, comparatively little damage
was done. A number of men had been working all day
in the cellars, in which from 150 to 200 casks of olive oil
were stored. A quantity of bungs, and pieces of canvas
used with them, were heaped together, and it appeared
that a naked candle, fixed in a stick, had been used, arid,
improperly, or intentionally, left without being quite ex-
tinguished, had set fire to these combustibles. A ware-
houseman, named Pierpoint, belonging to a neighbouring
concern, first observed the smuke issuing from the loop-
holes of the staircase, and other parts of the building above
—the spiral stair having formed a flue by which it was
draughted upwards. Six engines, with water-carts, were
brought from the fire at the Waterloo Dock. Mr. Hewitt
had to break open all the room doors before he ascertained,
from the thickness of the smoke, the spot where the fire
was, and soon succeeded in subduing it. Some of the
casks were partially burnt, and had a few minutes more
elapsed, the whole would have been in a blaze.

TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF BRANCKER'S SUGAR-REFINING

WAREHOUSE.

On Thursday morning, about a quarter past eight
o'clock, several of the workmen employed in this exten-
sive establishment were alarmed by a slight smoke, which
appeared throughout the rooms fronting to Harrington-
street. The temperature within was always necessarily
high, and so maintained, at a medium of about 120 de-
grees, as far as possible, by means of a thermometer ; but,
contrary to a rumour that has gone abroad, no particular
change was felt by any of the inmates half an hour before
the fire. The men had to work almost in a state of nudity,
in the atmosphere required in the works. The extraor-
dinary rapidity of the flames, after they once bur&t forth
(which was almost immediately after the smoke was per-
ceived), was such, that it is wonderful, in the short time
available, and the obstacles that presented themselves,
that the subsequent accidents and sufferings, fearful as
they were, were not much more numerous and lament-
able.

The following sketch, though rough, will convey an idea
•of the extent and position of the premises, within which
there is a large open yard :

N.
Mathew-street.
V 4 .
_., c,
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Harrington-street, 128

t frontal

LORD-STREET.

From the above it will be seen, that the premises oc-
cupied an area, of an oblong square form, and of about
2,548 square yards, extending lengthways between Ala-
thew-street and liarrington-street. There were several
buildings, of various heights, from, generally, five to
eight stories; and the frontage to both streets presented
gable ends of the pediment form above, forming, though
lineale with the street, what might he called wings. It
may be here stated, in justice to the proprietor of the
works, that a large cistern stood at the top of the higher
warehouse, above the stove ; that pipes communicated
with it into every room; and there was also a powerful
forcing pump, which could be worked by tile steam-
engine on the, premises, so that on an ordinary occasion
any or several of the rooms could he flooded ; but such
was the instantaneous nature of the conflagration, and
the confusion and alarm that it occasioned, that these
resources became unavailable. The fire, it appears, corn-
inence4 In what is called the old stove house, where the
sugar is, in the final process, dried ; and its immediate
development probably arose from an explosion of the
accumulated gasses. The pan-room is in the second
story of the building in which the fire arose, facing ilar-
rineton-street, and the apparatus of the stove runs up
four stories in the same building, south of the chimney.
Some of the men were wont to go every morning into the
stove-rooms to remove the sugar that was baked. In do-
ing this, about 20 minutes past eight on Wednesday, they
found on going from one stove room to the other that the
old one was on fire. Volumes of smoke were issuing from
it. It being the breakfast hour, the greater part of the
bands were resting on the floors, and
were roused by the
-cry " Men, save your lives; the place is on fire." As
might naturally be expected, the men were thrown into a
state of great excitement, and their fears were increased,
when on looking out from the top, they saw the flames
and smoke bursting forth with intense fury. Those in
the lower parts of the buildings managed to escape with-
out much difficulty, but those who were situated at the
top of the premises were not so fortunate. They ran to
the staircase, but though some of them escaped in that
direction, others were repulsed by the density of the
smoke from below, and in their despair rushed to the win-
dows and called for aid. One poor fellow, Hugh Jones,
in descending by the stairs, was severely burned. A man
tamed James Henry went to Mr. Doyle, the custom-
house officer in charge of the building, which was bonded,
for the keys of the stove door—first ordering the hose to
be attached to the water-pipe to play into it if necessary :
but unfortunately before this was done, be opened the
door, and an explosion of gaseous matter instantly took
place, and drove them back. The engineer, with great
presence of mind, drew the plugs from the boilers, other-
wise the explosion would have been much greater. As it
was, the rooms and floors of the warehouse next the pas-
sage (marked on the plan) gave way. The custom-house
officer had a very narrow escape ; and at the instant be-
fore, he saw one of the men (Robert Woods) enter the
building, apparently to get his clothes, He has never
been seen since, and no doubt has unfortunately perished.
lie was a quiet, orderly, and much respected poor man.
Ott the opening of the old stove-door, the whole build-
ing seemed simultaneously to become ignited. Vast bo-
dies of dense, dark smoke issued from almost every win-
dow and aperture; and amidst it in several places were
seen the unfortunate workmen either running to and fro,
calling' in agony for help, swarming down wads and weer-
'Toutsc e
was or dropping from' higher roofs to lower ones. The
'tens so sudden and so appalling, that the few people
cllected were struck, as it were, helpless, and did not
therefore render all the assistance which, under the cir-