The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-27 00:00:00

see any person taken from under the ruins. When I first
discovered the fire, I got what assistance I could, and en-
deavoured to put it out, hut could not do so. The lock was
obliged to be broken off the yard-door before we could get
in. There were traces of fire from the bench up the partition
of the engine-house, which was of wood to the roof. I could
not perceive any trace of fire from the stove to the bench in
the engine-house, The bench could not have taken fire from
the stove.

Michael Martin, a labourer, said—The deceased, John
Martin, was my son. On Friday morning last, about four
o'clock, I awakened from the reflection of the air, and judged
there was a fire somewhere. I got up, and went in the di-
rection of the light, and found some buildings a fire in
Formby-street. I left the deceased in the house. I got em
ployed at one of the,fire-engines.. About seven o'clock,
same mornine., the deceased came to iris and said he was
looking for a job, and then left me. About eight o'clock his
breakfast was brought down by a little boy, to whom .I said
I thought deceased was in Neptune-street. The boy went
there and soon after returned, and said lie could not find him.
Immediately afterwards I heard he had been killed and taken
to the Northern Hospital, where I went and saw him. He
was not dead. His head was terribly crushed and he died
soon after.

James Peen Harris, surgeon of the Northern Hospital,
said—On Friday morning last, the deceased John Martin and
Luke Smith were brought there in a dreadful state. Smith
had a fracture of the vertebrae and dislocation of four or five
of the ribs of the left side, with laceration of the right arm,
and an extensive wound on the right knee, besides being se-
verely burnt more or less over the whole body. He died from
the injuries in about two hours. Martin had a fracture of
the right leg, extensiue lacerated wounds and injury of the
scalp, and severely burnt over the whole trunk of the body.
He died also in about two hours.

John Coglan said--I am an Engineer, and in the employ
of Mr. Peniston, who had a yard in Crompton-street. I
had charge of the steam engine then, which was used for
grinding bones. It was part of my duty to light the fire,
and lock up the place at night. On Thursday night last, a
few minutes before 10 o'clock, I locked the yard up, having
previously drawn the red coals from the furnace, and filled
the bars up with slack, so as to have a 'small fire ready for
use in the morning, which has been the custom for the last
four months. The stove was surrounded with a brick wall.
The smoke is conveyed through a flue which runs under the
yard. The stove door I left open and three spades were put
in the fire hole which were found in a perfect state the fol-
lowing day. The floor of the engine house is flagged. There
was a small bench in the engine house on which my tools
were placed. On Friday morning, I was called. up about 3
o'clock and informed that the plac was on fire. I went then
directly and found the sheds in the yard and several other
buildings all in flames. I do not know where the fire origi-
nated. Every thing was safe when I locked the yard up.
The inquest was adjourned to make, further enquiries into
the origin of the fire.

There can be little doubt but the verdict, in all these cases,
will be " Accidental death."
It was stated by the police-officer, who was a witness on
the inquest, that the two deceased who were taken out of the
ruins alive were dreadfully burnt before they could be extri-
cated,—Martin in particular, not so much from the flames
as from the almost red-hot bricks, amidst which they were
partly buried. They were in a state of roasting and cried
out, in their agony, for water to be thrown upon them.
When Martin was taken out, pieces of his flesh came away
from his person with his burnt clothes, and his whole body
presented an appalling spectacle. Both of these unfortunate
men were, on Sunday, buried at the cemetery of St. An-
thony's Chapel, and the funeral was attended by many thou-
sands of spectators. No inquest has yet been held on the
few bones of •another sufferer in the same shed (or ware-
house),—but an investigation will probably take place on
some of the other remains being found.