A singular and destructive accident occurred at Manchester last Saturday
; the following particulars of which have appeared in the papers.
" The Commissioners of Police have been, for two or three years past, ap- plying the funds at their command to the opening of a magnificent thoroughfare from the Exchange to communicate with the new road to Bury. To do this it was necessary to erect an immense stone wall on the banks of the river Irwell, the average height of which was 50 feet. About 120 yards of this had been completed. Exactly opposite were the works of Messrs. Collier and Co., extrusive wool-combing machine makers. These explanations are necessary to give the reader a clear conception of the extraordinary devastation produced by the accident which occurred on Saturday. This immense wall, 200 feet in length, of the average height above stated, fell a little after eight o'clock, in the morning in one connected mass, into the river Irwell. The consequences are almost incredible,—viz. the total destruction of the works of Messrs. Collier and Co. on the opposite bank of the river. The immense mass of brick and stone work falling entire, and with its broad side into the river, made so great a swell in the water that the waves were driven violently against the works and levelled them with the ground. Some lives, it is feared, have been lost ; and had the accident happened much sooner or later than it did, upwards of fifty workmen would have been on the premises, when the loss of life would have been much more serious. Fortunately, however, it occurred at an hour when the men were absent at breakfast. The loss will be great, but it is expected that Messrs. Collier will be indemnified by the town."
A dreadful explosion occurred on Thursday week, at the Downs Pit, near Hetton, about eight miles from Sunderland. Sixteen men and boys have fallen victims, and five others have been brought to bank, dreadfully scorched, with scarcely any probability of their surviving. Upwards of one hundred persons were employed in the pit at the time it occurred ; but, owing to the accident being confined to one of the workings, the number of the victims was less than might have been expected. It is impossible to give an adequate description of the con- sternation that spread like lightning through the dwellings of the neigh- bouring population on hearing the melancholy tidings. —Sunderland Herald.
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