Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1861-11-29 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

DIABOLICAL OUTRAGE BY TRADES UNIONISTS, AT SHEFFIELD. On Saturday morning another of those awful outrages for which Sheffield has become unenviably notorious was committed; and there is great probability that the attempt will result in the death of one of the victims. It appears that for some time past the fender grinders employed at Green-lane Works, by Ald. H. E. Hoole (ex-Mayor), have been on strike. One or two men have gone in to work, and for this they have incurred the deadly enmity of the turn-outs. Threats and cajolery, and even personal violence, have been ineffectually resorted to; and there is not much doubt that the outrage we have to record proceeded from the same source. One of the " knobsticks " who have gone in to work is named Wastnidge, and he was the victim selected. The house in which Wastnidge resides is one of a row of cottages opposite the gates of the Cannon brewery, in Acorn-street. Shortly_ after one o'clock the person who resides next door to Wastnidge heard heavy footsteps in the street, and the next moment a crash as of breaking glass. While she and her husband were getting up to ascertain the cause, an explosion which seemed to shake the house to its foundation took place. The man (who is employed at the brewery), hastily dressed himself and ran into the street, and a number of the neighbours who had been awakened by the explosion were also out of their houses in a few moments. They were joined immediately by William Thompson, who forced open the door of the house, and made his way upstairs, whilst the others fetched a ladder to rescue the inmates, inasmuch as they saw escape from the garret was almost cut off by the flames. In the chamber a large tin bottle filled with powder, and connected with a slow match, had been thrown, and in this chamber an old woman named Rourke, a lodger, was sleeping. Her screams and the noise of the broken glass aroused Wastnidge and his wife and child, who were sleeping in the garret. Mrs Wastnidge got a light and ran down into the chamber. She saw the bottle on the floor, with the fusee smoking, and instead of throwing it_back througb the window, she lifted it up, and was examining it, when the explosion took place. She escaped by a miracle being killed upon the spot, but her night dress was set on fire, and she received dreadful injuries upon the face, arms, and abdomen. She ran up stairs, and in her ptogress, of course, fanned the flames. Mrs Rourke was very seriously injured, and she ran down into the cellar. The bed-clothes in the garret were ignited by contact with Mrs Wastnidge's night-dress, and for a few minutes the death of the whole family seemed inevitable. The neigljbours in the street, however, placed a ladder against the garret window, and Mrs Wastnidge attempted to descend. The poor creature was almost blinded by the injuries on her face, and in " feeling " for the head of the ladder, after she had got out upon the sill of the window, she fell. Fortunately, the ladder broke her fall, or otherwise she must have been killed upon 'the spot. She was at once assisted by the neighbours. Wastoidge followed, carrying his young child (a boy) in his arms, but after descending a few steps, he was almost suffocated by the smoke pouring through the chamber uindows, and he fell. His child was caught in the apron of a man standing at the foot of the ladder, and was not hurt, and Wastnidge rolled down the ladder, which materially broke the force of the fall. The old woman had by this time been fetched from the cellar, and the four sufferers were put in a cab and taken to the Infirmary, where they received every care and attention from the officers of that invaluable institution. The miscreants who committed the outrage failed in accomplishing what was no doubt their object—the murder of Wastnidge; the chief sufferer was his wife, a fine young woman of about twenty-two. The injuries which she received by burning are such as to leave the result in very great doubt.