Yesterday afternoon, at about a quarter before five o'clock, the
in- habitants of Great Saffron Hill were suddenly alarmed by a dreadful noise in the street ; and, on running out of doors to ascertain what had happened, found that two houses, Nos. 13 and 14, had fallen in with a tremendous crash, burying in the ruins the members of various families, about ten in number. A poor woman, who had been confined only a few days, and who occupied a lower back-room in No. 13, which por- tion of the building only miraculously escaped destruction, was, in a few minutes, through the exertions of those assembled together, with her infant, rescued from apparently inevitable death, as the walls by which the apartment was surrounded were in a most decayed and totter- ing condition. At this period an immense number of persons had con- gregated, and it was with the utmost difficulty that the ground was sufficiently cleared to enable the workmen to search for the unfortunate creatures who were missing, the screams of whom on the buildings giving way were piercing and heartrending in the extreme. A strong body of the G division of the Police was soon on the spot, headed by Superintendent Dixon, when in an incredibly short space of time the crowd was sufficiently removed from the dreadful scene, to enable the workmen to pursue their labours without interruption. At the immi- nent risk of his life, Policemen M'Cartby, assisted by a gentleman named Hanbury, of Pulteney Street, Pentonville, rushed into the nuns, and in ten minutes after the fall of the buildings, succeeded in dragging out a fine boy, six years old, who, providentially, had not re- ceived the slightest injury. After the lapse of a considerable time, a poor woman named Lunnun, mother of the child saved, who occupied a ittom on the second floor of No. 14, and was about thirty-five years of age, was dragged from beneath an immense mass of timber and rubbish, still breathing, but so dreadfully mutilated as to leave scarcely any fea- ture discernible; the poor creature was instantly conveyed to (as we were informed) St. Bartholomew's Hospital, but on her road thither breathed her last. The body was then brought back, and curried to a neighbouring public-house, where it awaits the Coroner's Inquest. Two• children were afterwards taken out of the ruins with scarcely any signs of life, and removed to the hospital. A lodger at No. 13, a few minutes before the accident took place, was frightened by the cracking of some part of the building, and ran terrified into the street, with the intention of alarming the neighbours, but had no sooner made her escape by the front door than the whole gave way, before she had time to relate her fears for the safety of the numerous inmates, the friends and parents of many of whom were absent from home, pursuing their calling of fruit-selling, &c., at Bartholomew fair. Had the occurrence taken place at any other period, it is more than probable that a great number of human lives would have been sacrificed, as No. l4 was in- habited by nine or ten different families, all of them very poor : the other house was not so numerously tenanted. It is said that as early as eleven o'clock in the morning an opposite neighbour, who was some- what alarmed by hearing a noise, as if the stack of chimnies had given. way, informed the inmates of the circumstance, at the same time re- commending them by every means in his power to leave the premises, if they had any regard for their lives. The timely warning was, how- ever, unheeded, and thus several, it is much to be feared, have met with a shocking death. At the period when our reporter left the spot, the workmen, whose numbers had increased, and who were indefatigable in their exertions, had not been fortunate enough to meet with a reward for their labours, in the satisfaction of finding the bodies of any more of the poor creatures, who, after the length of time which had elapsed from the hour when the accident took place, it was not reasonable to imagine would be dug out with any signs of life. It is said that the in- fant child of one of the lodgers, which was in its cradle, was among those who could not be found. At ten o'clock no more bodies had been discovered. It is a lamentable fact that the houses have been for a long while past considered to be in a dangerous condition, and that the neighbouring inhabitants have long dreaded the deplorable event which has at length occurred.
A great crowd is still congregated near the spot, and the workmen are pursuing their labours with all possible alacrity. Too much
praise cannot be bestowed on the extraordinary exertions made at the melancholy scene. It is a miraculous circumstance, that in a place so densely populated as Saffron Hill, the lives of one or more casual passers-by should not have been sacrificed, considering that the build- ings almost instantaneously fell in an immense mass into the street, completely covering the road.
Quarter past 10.
It has been ascertained that a child is the only one now missing, and the workmen have discontinued their labours for the night.—Times.
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