The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-01-04
From the London Watchmdn, Dec.
THE LATE FIRE AT THE TOWER.

On Friday, considerable interest was manifested by
he authorities Of the Tower, particularly those
of the ordnance department. in consequence of the
workmen and sotiery employed IA clearing the ruins
having arrived at that portion of the armoy where the
train Of artillery was situate, and which in addition
to many huge pieces Of ordnance, the emblems of
glorious victories Of bygone days contained other
very curious and interesting relics Of great anti
guilty
Since the fire. hopes have been generally enter
Iained that least, all the large peices of ordnance
alluded to, would have sustained, from their massive
construction, little or no injury from the heat or i'm
mense piles OF rubbish under which they have foi
now nearly month, been buried in this even the
ordnance authorities themselves have been wofuy
mistaken.
The first pieces Of ordnance of any note got out of
the ruins Friday were two twenty five FOUNDER
brass cannon, taken from the walls of Vigo by Lord
Gotham, in the year 1904. They found to be
much bent in some parts fused, and the breech, on
which were carved the skins of lions and the efigy
OF St. Barbara TO whom they dedicated is in
OF then entely destroyed The next arrived al, and
cleared Of the rubbish by the workmon, was a sixty
eight FOUNDER brass gun, weighing upward of five
tons, and which is said to have been used on the
deck of the ship of war "Great Harry" and which
bore date 1852 This splendid gun is npletely de-
stroyed the metal having run in some paris into
Said mass and in others it is completely boken In
the of the day others also got Of the
ruins by the workmen under the superintendent of
Mr. s ,ey, the keeper of the ordnance stores who
kindly favored the reporter with the nature of the re-
lies end t'e amount of injury they have respectively
sustained, which will in some measure, convey
adequate idea of the magnitude of the lie, and the
intense heat they have been subject to.
A 36-pounder brass cannon, - feet in length, of
the time of Henry VII, and of the date 1856, was
found to be broken in pieces, and the metal here and
there much fused A l2-pounder brass cannon, IL
feet inches long, belonging to the Emperor Charles
". and bearing date 1909, fused considerably. A fiat
gun of brass, of three bores, of the time of Henry
WILL possessing receptacle chambers from which the
charge was fred the breech broken, and the rest
completely fused An octagon-shaped brass cannon
of the same date is similarly injured and brass
cannon which possessed seven boresy of the time of
Henry VIII, has only remaining about foot of the
metal, the remainder having entirely run amongst the
fire and disappeared, 20-poundcr brass cannon of
the time of Edward VI, 1913, the breech broken off
and much fused. A highly onamented English can
non, made for Henry Prince of Wales and son of
James L. and bearing date 1908, is completely broken
in half and much run and its fellow, similar piece
of ordnance Of % pounds cabre, made for Charles
Prince of Wales 1921, is wholly destroyed the
tai of which it composed having run all over the
place, and removable with great difficulty. The
cannon made of iron hopping, and used at the battle
of Cressy by Edward the Black Prince, and which
was also for 200 years under water near Splthead is
broken all to pieces and this latter circumstance may
be accounted for by the fact that they only sup
ported at either end, and the weight of the roof and
walls falling in snapped them asunder
Among other articles got out of the ruins on Fri
day, quantity of the remains of large foreign
coins, all of which, with one exception, were com
pete dross The coin which has escaped bore on
one side head and the inscription :" John Dapste"
and on the reverse the following -" Born 1861 died
l742." This was a coin of the kingdom of Portugal.
There also two Egyptian figures and China va
got out, and although yitrfed by the heat their
form was still perfect These conveyed to the
Ordnance office and it is stated that the authorities
intend to have species Of bazaar held in the White
Tower in the course of the ensuing week for the sale
of relics to the public; each relic having its fixed
price on it, The room is to be adorned with arms,
breast-plaes helmets, Sc, which have been burned,
forming various devices; and also Of the suits
of armor saved from the grand staircase the night
of the fire.