The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-11-22 00:00:00

SERIOUS FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE.

OLDHAM, Nov. 15.—0 n Sunday night, about seven o'clock,
a fire was discovered in the large cottnn spinning and weaving
mill belonging to Messrs. Milne, Travis, and Milne, situate at
Shaw, in Crompton, near Oldham. The flames were first seen
by a female named tiVolfenden, resident near the factory, where
they issued from the window of a room on the north side of the
fifth story; an alarm of fire was instantly spread, and vast
crowds of people repaired to the place. Unfortunately the fire
had attained great magnitude when first seen. The•excellent
fire-engine of the firm placed at 'Ansley Brook, and the one in
Shaw, were quickly in requisition ; but the destructive element,
assisted by a strong wind, extended with such rapidity from one
part of the building to another, that the exertions of the fire-
men were of little avail, except in rescuing the adjoining mill,
belonging to the same gentleinen, from destruction. Several
persons, including many females, attempted to save property,
in the lower stories, during the progress of the fire, on the north
side, and in the upper stories. Unhappily a man named Wil-
liam Winterbottoni, aged about twenty-two years, lost his life
in endeavouring to rescue property. While in that part of the
factory which he presumed would be safe, he was suddenly en-
circled by fire, and with great difficulty he escaped to a window
in the second story, from which he was removed upon a ladder,
but he was so shockingly burnt, that he expired at five o'clock
on-Monday morning, in great agony. He has left a wife and
one child. The flames extended into each room with such ra-
pidity, partly through an enclosed "boxed off" passage, that
four of the floors felt at once, with a most horrid and astounding
crash, which created a rush amongst the crowd. Two children
were casually pushed in the pit at the back of the mill, but they
were ultimately rescued, and are recovering. The amount of
property saved was but small. By eleven o'clock the interior
of the mill was entirely destroyed, and nothing but the four
outside walls left standing. The room in which the fire was
first seen contained both raw cotton and machinery, and was
partitioned-off Tor -cotton cleaning. It is not known how this
lamentable accident arose, but there is no reason for supposing
it to have been the act of an incendiary. Above twenty bales
of cotton were in the factory. By this serious catastrophe two
hundred and fifty work-people are at present thrown out of em-
ployment. The, milt was six stories high, and twelve windows
in length. The property is insured in the Manchester, Guar-
dian, Phoenix, and Royal Exchange fire-offices, but we under-
stand to little more than half the amount of the loss. A fire
happened in the same mill some years ago, but it was one of no
great consequence. During the fire on Sunday night, a man
named Bates, who is a local preacher among the Wesleyan
Methodists, was rather seriously hurt, by falling from a ladder
three stories high, and a woman's leg was broken by the fall of
a cotton bag. Fortunately the steam-engine was nut much in-
jured.