The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-12-16 00:00:00

DREADFUL FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE.

At a late hour on Wednesday night the vicinities of the
Minories and Goodman's-fields were thrown into a most
painful state of excitement by the outbreak of a dreadful fire,
accompanied by fearful sacrifice ofhuman life, in Little Pres-
cott-street, Goodman's-yard, Minories. The premises in
which this deplorable event originated were situate at the
west side of the street, within a few yards of the Blackwell
Railway. They consisted of a dwelling-house, four stories
high, the property of Mr. Cook, a soap-boiler, in Goodman's-
fields, who lets them out to numerous families, to the num-
ber, it was reported, of no fewer than 25 individuals. The
ground-floor was tenanted by a greengrocer, named Shackle-
ton •, the first-floor front room by a foreigner (a manufacturer
of Dutch drops) ; the third floor by Mrs. Holland and her
four daughters ; and the remainder of the rooms by other
persons, the names of whom could not be obtained. The
discovery was made at about a quarter past 10 o'clock; and
the parties instantly commenced knocking violently at the
street-door, whilst others endeavoured to arouse the inmates
by throwing stones at the windows, but for a length of time
none of them made their appearance. At last the front-door
was opened, and two females :ruslubd out across the street
in a state of nudity. By this time police constables came up
when an attempt was made to force a passage up the stair-
case, but it was found impracticable, in consequence of the
smoke and heat, which were intense. A few minutes after-
wards two females made their appearance at the windows of
the second floor, in an abject state of suffering. It was evi-
dent the window was their only means of escape, and the
mob, which had now increased to nearly 100 persons,
shouted out to them to hold on until some ladders were
baought, while others called to them to jump oct. One poor
creature got one of her legs over the sills of the window, and
after remaining in that position a second or two, threw her-
self out, and tell with awful violence upon the pavement,
smashing, apparently, every bone in her body, the height
being upwards of thirty-five feet. Directly afterwards
the other precipitated herself in a similar manner; but, for-
tunately, her fall was in a slight way broken by alightina• on
the lead front of the shop window : before being picked' up
she was proved to be dreadfully injured, and as soon as the
stretcher could be procured, she was forthwith conveyed to
London Hospital. The otherunfortunate sufferer proved to
be dead. She was recognised to be Julia Holland, and the
other, her sister, Nancy Holland, young women, under the
age of three and twenty. In the interval, the terrible ele-
ment had made rapid progress ; it had extended up the stair-
case to the rooms above, and shortly shot forth from the
roof, attracting an immense concourse of persons to the spot.
A body of the H division of police had previously blocked
up the different avenues leading to the burning building,
thereby afforrdjug ample space for the operations of the fire-
men, who speedily came up from the stations of the brigade
in Jeffery-square, Wellclose-square, Watling-street, and
other parts of the city.
Shortly after the fire had been somewhat got under, Mr.
Braidwood directed several of his men to discover whether
any person was missing, and shortly after they learned from
a poor man, named Proudfoot, who tenanted a room on the
second floor, that three of his children were not to be found.
He said he had saved his wife and two children, but whether
any one had preserved the rest he was unable to say. The
poorlman was running about in all directions in quest of them
and appeared almost distracted. Upon this information Mr.
Braidwood directed several of his men to ascend the scaling
ladders, which had been placed against the wall of the pre-
mises, and if the ruins would permit, to search among them.
At 1 o'clock in the morning, the bodies of two children
were found by Carter, and another of the brigade, among
the rafters of the flooring, on the second-floor, shockingly
burnt and disfigured. These proved to be poor Proudfoot's
children. Shortly after another body of a child was found
on the same floor, apparently a girl of about six years.