Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-10-18

Railg Siraiaiall.
Frightful Explosion at Birmingham- Eigh
teen persons Killed, and many Wound

Frightfal Explosion at Birmingham -Eigh
teen persons Killed, and many Wound
ed.
Yesterday terrific explosion occurred at the
percussion cap manufactory Of Messrs. Pursall
and Phillips. situated in Whitai street, Birining-
ham. which was attended by an enormous loss Of
life
II appears that the firm having had large or.
ders on hand, one of them from the Turkish gov
ernment being Gr 100000 of caps. hnd con.
siderable number Of persous employed in an ex-
tcnsiye range of shopping at the buck of their
premises. 1t is supposed that there could not
have been less than eighty persons. tho majority
uf them being women and girls, at work yesterday
morning when the accident occurred Nothing
is at present certainly known regarding ts origin;
it is supposed that it took place in m apartment
whore the caps aro "primcd" with the detonating
powder, and where there were five females en-
pioyed.
This room was situated in the third story Of the
shopping; Immediately beneath was tho work.
house, where large number of women and girls
were engaged; aud in immediate contguty were
others employed in various operations connected
with the manufacture. They were all busly Mt
work, when, in an instant, a terrific explosion
took place.
Windows. wills and roofs were hurled into tho
mir, and tho unfortunate workpeaple scattered in
nll directions, or buried under the ponderous
masses Of material which lately formed tho bull
dings. Scarcely had the wreck subsidized into n
chaotic heap, before fire added to the horror of tho
scene, the timbers of tho building having become
ignited by the intensity of the explosion.
The persons engaged in the front pnrt of tho
building, who were comparatively uninlured,
rushed to the windows aud were rescued from
their perilous position by tho multitude who had
been attracted to the spot by the noise oi the ex-
plosion. y fearful spectacle then presented itself
tn, thas hnI al.
through tho burning building.
Eight or ten girls were seen half buried in tho
ruins, chiefly with their heads downward; whilst
others, whose legs were crushed under the debris
stretched out their arms, Jiiinusly imploring for
assistance; and cries we're heard from those whose
position could not be seen, One elderly woman
sat on a beam unable TO cxtricate hcr-ef NJ nnoth
piece Of timber lay across her legs. An oiIurt
was made to rescue her; but the burning building
was falling in all directions, md she Ind tn bo
1ettto horrible tntc. Scarcely hal shn been left
when part of the ronf fell in with n terrific crash
aud she and some girls in her vicinity were i'm.
mediately crushed to death.
An alarm had been before conveyed to the fro
engine stations aud the brigades were speedily at
work. 1t wns an hour or two, however. before
the fire had been got under, and was impossible to
institute search for the poor people who were
known to be amongst the ruins. The result was.
up to o'clock last night, no fewer than Il bodies
had been recovered. All were 20 shockiucly mu-
tilared and disfgarel that identity was i'm
possible except in II few cases. Most of them
were the bodies Of girls from 10 to - wears OF
age
Seventeen, who were more or less injured. were
taken to tie Goucral Hospital and one man died
in IL cab us he was being conveyed there. About
one half OF these patients were nhle to leave the
hospital in the course of Tie Afternoon; but five
remain in the in.t.tuii6 in n very precarious
state.
We may add, that this Is the tlid explosion in
nrrcussiun cap manufactures which has taken
place in as many months Manchester dn4r2jaa,
S,JR. 28