The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-03-10 00:00:00

THE LATE GALES.

During the violent storm of wind and rain op Tuesday last a
most melancholy accident occurred at Nuttall Mills-, near Bury,
the. property of blessrs. W.. Grant and Brothers, • Since the
Nuttall Hall estate came into the possession of these enterptis-
Ogitentlemen the spinning and manufacturing establisllnient
at Naftali has been very considerably enlarged. Several years
ago a new mill was erected at the northern end of the old one,
and a short space left between the gables of the. twa erections
Which, shortly afterwards, was built up, and a steam boiler, (for
the purpose of heating the two mills,) was placed in-the lower
story. A few mouths ago the boiler was taken out, and 'a foun-
dation laid fur the erection of a powerful steam engine to be used
ip turning the spinning and weaving machinery during the
prevalence of dryiweather. The rooms above this were appro-
priated to mechanics' shops, ltimberroorns, &e., and in the attic,
over the fifth story, the warps from the 'dressing machines were
twisted in before being taken to the loom. The rooms were of
a triangular furm and the wall next the river 'appeared ta be
about thirty feet long, built of stone and carried up to the same
height as the two adjoining lofty mills, without the stone work
being tied up with the walls of either of the mills. In the wall at
the basement story, a gateway of from ten to twelve l'eet, through
‘yhich the boiler had been taken, by which the solid part of the
base was diminished, the concentrated force of the wind, rushing
Up the deep glade, through which the river runs, struck against
this wall, and the heat arising from the boiler having probably
destroyed the adhesion property of • the mortar, the whole fell;
without a moment's warning, with a tremendous mash', and the
floors of. the whole five stories, .the attic, and their contents,
together with the roof, lay in a confused heap of ruins, burying
three human beings in the shapeless mass; who had been em-
ployed in the attic. Three nf the dressers had only left the attic
a moment before it fell, and one of the mechanics; named John
Grant, had only left the lower rooms a few minutes previous to
the dreadful catastrophy. The wall; as before observed, not
being tied in, the gables of the two mills remained almost unin-
jured, and as soon as possible every exertion was made tOfeseue
the stifle rers. James Duckworth, who had been only a few weeks
.employed as a twister in, scarce recovering froni the effects of
a former severe accident, was taken out first, much cut about the
neck and head, and bruised on the left leg, and in about au,
hod! the labourers came to the body of a little girl, named
Hamer, eleven' years of age, and, after labouring hard 'for the
space of four hours, they succeeded in taking out the body of her
brother, twelve years of age, both quite dead. They were the
oldest of a family of eight children, and had not been in the
room more than ten minutes previous to the accident. The,
children were nearer the exterior wall than Duckworth, and
when the floor gave way they both cast an imploring and terrific
lodk at Duckworth, and both perished while the agonizing scream
for help was on their lips. The little girl was found with-its
healds still grasped in its hand, and the boy was fotindiii the
water, collected at the bottom of the excavation made fur the
engine. An inquest was held on the bodies on Thursday—Ver-
dict "accidental death."—Duckworth is fast recovering.—
Bolton Chronicle%

HELSTON-On• Thursday, the 26th ult; the afternoon was
very windy, -with constant rain. Before; or about sunset, the
weather broke; with a shift of the wind from west towards the
north, and it • seemed as though it would• clear up. However,
there were frequent, showers with squalls 'of wind. 'A -little
after 9 o'clock,-during one of those squalls, a very heavy hail
storm came on; the chief voilence of which fell .upon. the outer
part of Meneage-street; and there it was such -as has been
scarcely witnessed by the oldest of the inhabitants; it was truly
• appalling. It would. appear that the large hail-stones did not
fall thick, as in cases of ordinary showers of hail, fur at its com-
.niencenient the noise they made when falling' against the
windows resembled distant single blows given by a hammer on
wood, or with. the linger joints, on a table top, with a mo-
mentary space, but in rapid and irregular succession. Such an
uncommon noise from such an unusual cause was of itself
most awfully, alarming; but in ,the midst, the vivid lightning
flashed tremendously,—presently the distant thunder was heard
in a loud and rumbling peal. The lightning's glare was
awfully rapid .and luminous,—the thunder peals grew louder
and louder; but in a few minutes all was hushed into silence
—the combined storm of wind and hail, thunder and lightning
subsided, and afforded the sufferers to rook around and see
the wreck that was made. Mr. Thomas Richards, builder, has
within a few years past built several neat little houses, within
the space extending from his own dwelling to the top of the
White-hill, which are chiefly .occupied by the working class. In
these houses 130 panes were broken. The window of a bed-
room, in which lay an infirm old woman, was so beat in, and
the noise so terrific, as required her retnovalfrom her bed into
another room. Others were obliged to remove from the front
to the back bed-rooms, and do as well as they could for the night,
and most were obliged to secure their windows with carpets, or
blankets,. as they could. 'The windows of Nansloe house, and
Nansloe cottage, (near Helston) occupied by Vyvyan Robin-
son, Esq., and Dr. Wise, suffered severely, and which will cost
several pounds to repair. Some of the bail-stones which had
found their way into the rooms were examined, and reported to
be as large as nutmegs. The storm did not extend-far south of
Helston, but we have heard of damage done to the windows of
some small farm houses erected within the enclosure of Helston
Downs.— The Cornubian.

During the whole of Monday and Tuesday it blew a tremertd-
.ous hurricane, the effects of which have been severely felt on
the river Thames, though fortunately we have not yet heard of
the loss of a single life. During the night three tiers of
shipping off Rotherhithe Platform broke loose from their moor-
ings by the violence of the gale, and drifted down the river, to
the no small consternation of the sailors and lightermen. The
confusion for some time was dreadful, and the worst conse-
quences were dreaded by the crews. The tiers were driven
athwart the shipping off, Prince's-stairs, and owing to the
activity of the sailors the apprehended mischief was in some
measure prevented. Several brigs, however, were.more or less
damaged; two lost their bowsprits, and another had her top-
gallant-mast carried away. The loss of other spars was consi-
derable. Two corn-barges, taking in grain from one of the '
strips, were driven on shoreright opposite King's-stairs, Rother-
'lithe, and as they were in a sinking state it was found necessary
t 4 get the corn out before high water. At the Tower and Iron-
gate-stairs a great number of waterrnen's boats and wherries
have been stove-in and sunk by the barges which got adrift
running among. them, and many of the poor fellows hate been
ruined. Nearly, all the tiers in the Upper and Lower Pools
gpt adrift. Dining the. night, some were entangled with each
other in the middle of the stream, and blocked up the chan-
nel for some time, and a few got on slime, with considerable
injury to, their bottoms in several instances. On Tuesday
morning a lug, tilled with goods' was driven with great violence
against one,pf the yarches of London-hridge, and received so
much damage "that she went down •off -Bermondsey. During
the whole of Tuesday the river was one scene of confusion, and
the boats and lighters became almost unmanageable in the
stream, and were every minute running foul of each other. The
Thames ,pelice rendered very: great assistance, 'and were the
means of preventing, many serious accidents. The river was
like a sea, and the ebb-tide ran so strong that many scullermen,
in attempting to make one plying-place, were compelled to
desist, and were driven by the gale to another. Some alarm
was felt respecting the steamers ; a few were two or three hours
later than usual, but all have arrived in safety. Among others,
the large Scotch,,steam-ship Royal William, from Edinburgh,
with goods and passengers, came up the river on Tuesday after-
noon, and was safely moored at three o'clock at St. Katharine's-
Wharf. She encountered very rough weather on her passage,
which she rode, or rather steamed, out in 'safety. '1 he next
arrivals from the coast are expected to be very disastrous. A
number of ships, on their way to London, have been obliged to
put in at Dover, Ramsgate Margate, and other places.—London
paper.