The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-11-29 00:00:00

FIRE AT HERTFORD.

The inhabitants of this town were at midnight on
Sunday last alarmed from their beds by the terrifying cry
of Fire !" - Most of- them, -among whom were a large
portion of the more respectable and affluent, including
the mayor (James Gilbertson, Esq.) were instantly on
the spot. It was in a private dwelling-house opposite the
Bull Inn, and adjoining the premises of a house-painter,
which occasioned considerable apprehension, from the
first appearance of the flames being near a large stock of
oils and other inflammable articles, a thin plastered wall
only dividing them from a cistern full of turpentine.
To add to the terror of the scene, the inmates of the
house were in a perilous state ; they consisted of a young
man and woman, who had not retired to rest ; a young
lad who was in bed, in whose room the fire originated,
as is concluded from the candle having been placed near
some wearing apparel, to which it communicated the
flame; also a youth about seventeen, and a lodger, a
cripple. The two first, on their being alarmed from the
outside, rushed out ; the lad in bed was rescued at
the sacrifice of considerably scorching the face of the
praiseworthy individual who effected it; the cripple and
the youth, who with difficulty escaped suffocation, the
bed being enveloped in smoke, made their way to the
parapet, not being able, from the violence of the flames,
to pass through the lower part of the house, where they
were crying and imploring most piteously to be saved
from the devouring element, with which they were ex-
pected to he surrounded every moment, the smoke issu-
ing in volumes around them from the crevices of the ti-
ling. The distressed and horror-stricken feelings of
their neighbours may be faintly conceived—a description
cannot be expected. In this dreadful dilemma a ladder-
was obtained ; it was too short ; the sufferers could not
reach the top by several feet; in this exigency an ath-
letic by-stander added to the length by having,the bot-
tom round placed upon his chest, arid thus standing un-
der it, supported by others, the cripple managed to.
place himself upon it, and was thus safely brought to the.
ground, and afterwards his partner, in jeopardy, who was
so excessively affected by fear that his restoration was
for some time douhtft,ll; the landlord of the Maidenhead
inn, who was on the spot, had him promptly conveyed
to his house, where the landlady, a most humane wo-
man, put him to bed, and administered all. that kindness
and humanity could -suggest, •and • happily effected his.
reeovery. The fire-engines were promptly on the spot ;
but difficulty arose in procuring from the water-pipes a
ready supply; but.. the extraordinary and Avpll,di rected.
energies of the assembled neighbourhood overcame all

difficulties; the supply of water by pails was one conti-
nued stream to the engines, and by judiciously making
a division between the burning property and that adjoin-
ing, the fears of the inhabitants were at length abated
for the safety of the greater part of town, which, but for
most extraordinary exertions, must inevitably have been
the case, from the central situation of the house on fire
among a number of old buildings. Fortunately, the da-
mage is confined to the destruction of the furniture and
every vestige of wearing apparel of the inhabitants.
The house, the property of a Mr. England, a respecta-
ble wire-weaver of the town, is insured in the County
Fire-office. There was one melancholy instance of apa-
thy and disregard the-distress of the neighbourhood ex-
hibited in this distressful scene. The Bull Inn, large
premises op,,osite, possessing a ready supply of water,
and from whence a ladder might have been much more
readily obtained than the short one from the greater dis-
tance, by which the cripple and the youth were saved,
was kept closed, notwithstanding urgent requests were
made to have the gates of the yard opened; and the
landlord and his family kept within all the time. When
time allowed, the indignation of the, incensed neigh-
bours exhibited itself in loud execrations, —Hertford
paper.