, 1870-11-21
CALAMITY IN EGYPT.

IcEk1ofo Explosion of GUN Cotton
Loss of FRftT Lives.
Alexandria tocG n, correspend<nee af he London
On Sunday l,st at abont 4 o,c,oct :, ~.
morning, the inhabitants Of this town wars
Awakened BY ahock, which everybody At once
declared to be the shock OF an earthuuake, but
which was really the effect OF the axpIosiou
o. magazine. in which had bean stored 4 mum
ocf oi caecs filed with gun cotton that had
on,y lxtely arrived from Trieste. The Austrian
mahuisctu1ers hEd warned the autho1itie, here
mat thla cotton wonld have TO be turned
daily, as It was liable to spontaneous ipnition .
but this, in all likelihood, WIS soon forrotten'
and the result is the misfortune I hara to
W. W1,ts a. about: The magazine wss situated IN
D5ck- {1he Cocks Hill J : cslcareous ~ Ioch
where Asood IN olden times : theatre. ana
WINCH until lately waa covered With Ar.h
mus but where Europeans and Syrisns
having discovered tho salnbritY Of the spot.
naa oalll houses and villas with gardens. a
ed or moro Or loss injured, as the huge atonss
with which The magazine had been bnilt hsd
been sent with : lateral forcA aeainat fhe
houses, and bombarded them, in some caaas
completely destroying them, in other csses
eolEg through several valls and doing little
1aa;5s. aai%. me house Of Ar. Wilson, an English
feadent, was completely deetroyed, yot
though the ROOMS xere filled with stonee, Be
AND his family were not inju1ed-a wonderful
escape indeed. Beyond The destruction Of
the houses in the immediate quarter, no
greater mischief was done to property than
tho breaking Of windows In neatly Ill the
nousea Situated within = quarter Of 4 mile
from the rnacaxsnc, bat the loss OF life occs-
sloned ty the accident, arising from The care
lessness, Is very great. It il true that The
omna! account gives the number Is afty, it ia
tsue that moet Of them were "only ARABIA y
but than beaeye tho number is fe1y Tar below
ne tlne one, and also be1icye that the lives
OF these only Arabe" wers valuable, But
20 one you'd be likely to think 80 who exw the
he buried bodies. It Was : horrible tieht.
They take from tho eide Of heap some Of the
stones and rubbish, and put it On the ton of
me very same heap they are working 1t, until
Lney Uncover some part Of body. TheY
then set hold Of it a best they can, and null.
ehont.ng It the same time in their horrible
the body Of q woman, which, having been ling
compressed by tho stones, expsuds in nach
part u It comes forth then they exnnae
zEother body-1s II = man or I woman nv-
standots cannot tell. for the head Is not there.
The work went On in the forenoon. In the after
noon nothing WA done. Next morning az
pected 10 find: Ill events, these places Cleared
where it ~ae likely that bodies were sin lyinr.
but no, | only found about 600 soldiers en-.
ployed IN filling up gap made By the explo-
sion wheze the mas azsne stood, carrying The
stones and raking the e1zth down viii }hoir
hands, while tho A1abe. who were still in
search OF relatives, were also digging In the
same manner, where yesterday morning had
stood their poor dwellings, Tho excitement
government for storing such Al explosive
material in the midst OF \ ckiy-populated
quarter.