Newcastle and Gateshead were yesterday visited by a calamity equal
to some of the fearful horrors of war, and involving a logs of life and pro- perty not even yet estimated, The correspondent of the nines writing at noon on Friday, gives the following account. -
" A fire broke out this morning which has been the cause of fin immense sacrifice of property and lose of human life. About twenty minutes to one 'a fire was discovered to have burst out in the worsted -manufac- tory of Messrs. Wilson and Son, in Mitigate, Gateshead, which spread with inconceivable rapidity.; and, notwithstanding the prompt atten- dance of the police, firemen, and military, 'with the town and mili- tary engines, -the large building, in less than an hour, was one mass. of flames. Adjoining the manufactory was a bond warehouse, in which was atoned .a quantity -of sulphur, nitre, and it is said seven tone of gunpowder. So large a fire naturally attracted an immense number of spectators; and about three o'clock, when the whole range of Mr. Wilson's buildings was in flames, the inflammable material in the adjoining warehouse exploded, shaking the whole district within a radius of twenty miles, and scattered the burning mass of material in every direction. On the first shock, many people were buried amid- the items of rubbish 'which fell in the -neighbourhood of the fire ; and a company of Cameronians, who had broken into a large building used as a Wesleyan chapel in the Churchway, with -the view of operating with their engine on the 'fire beneath, were -covered up by the ruins of the old chapel, which also fell immediately after the explosion. A prodigious quantity of burning material was thrown across the Tyne, and scores of people upon New- castle Quayside were thrown down, and many of them -rendered insensible by the shook. The mass of burning embers -which flew from Gateshead set fire to the ships in the rives, and, passing over the quay, pitched upon the dense range of buildings used as Offices and warehouses by the New- castle merchants, which, in an incredibly short period, became one mass of flames. The scene that followed baffles all description ; the houses and buildings on both aides of the river were one sheet of fire. The `vapour from the burning sulphur came in dense masses across the river, causing scores of people to fall down insensible ; and in every di- rection the affrighted inhabitanta of the lanes and alleys bordering the Quayside, Newcastle, and in the lower part of Gateshead, might be seen flying in every direction as before an -earthquake. Expresses were sent off to Shields, Sunderland, Iferham, and other towns, to bring thence the fire-engines and fire-brigades. The 'powerful river engine was also brought up from Shields harbour ; and we are happy to state that by eight o'clock all fear of the 'fire extending beyond Mitigate, inGateshead, and-the Quayside, Newcastle, was removed. "It is impossible at this moment to give evenumere outline of the extent of the destruction. St. Mary's Church, Gateshead, is completely shattered; the windows are all smashed in ; the tombstones in the churchyard are broken; and many of the broken particles are forced into the roofs and against the sideii of the adjoining houses. Without an exception, the win- dows of the shops in the High Street, Gateshead, are destroyed; some thou- sands of panes of glass are broken; and in passing along on the railway the roofs of the houses present the appearance of a town that has been besieged by a powerful army. The Guildhall in Newcastle is much injured; not a whole pane of glass is left in it. 'The shops on the Sand Hill and Dean Street are also dosed through injuries cuitained ; and the offices of the Elec- tric Telegraph Company and the British Telegraph Company have had to be removed to the central railway station. I am also-sorry to state that some thousand quarters of wheat have been burnt in the warehouses on the-Quay- side; and that a Inge quantity of tar, which was landed yesterday on the quay, is also burnt.'
The Northern Examiner gives a more-detailed cleftription of the pro- gress of the flames.
• "The fire continued to prelim towards the river,-and it now 'attacked the last warehouse of the black. This was considered to be a 'double fire- proof', structure. It was lined throughout with iron sheeting, and sup- ported on metal pillars and'floors. The brick-work parted from the sheeting and crumbled away, and nothing remained but the red-hot skeleton of the building. This was the centre of fatal attraction on which all eyes were bent ; and it was from this that the Ere sprung across the river, igniting Newcastle, and spreading wounds and -death snits passage. " As soon as the flames reached this compound, which was, in fact, nothing but a huge fulminating mixture, there occurred an explosion which no pen can describe, and which made Newcastle and Gateshead shake to their found- ation and their very suburbs. The High Levelltridgeshook like a piece of thin wire and the surface of the river was suddenly agitated as if by a storm. The shook was felt in every street. The front doors of many persons' dwell- ings were-violently opened, and the shutters of the -shops, ,partieularly to- wards the quay, were shaken from their fastertings and strewed about the
pavement. Every family was suddenly housed, and their various members rushed together into the Streets to inquire the cause of their sudden and un- explained terror." No fewer than forty-three places of business were destroyed on Quay- side, Newcastle. The latest intelligence is conveyed by the electric telegraph; and dated from Newcastle at eight o'clock last night.
Gesreasa. Posy-oreics, October 1854.—The French mail-packets which have hitherto left Marseilles for Constantinople on the 1st, Ilth, and 21st of each month, will, in future, be despatched on the 2d, 12th, and 22d of the month ; se that letters, &e., intended to be conveyed by those packets will be in time if posted in Lonndon one day later than at present. Mails for the British forces in Turkey and the Black Sea will, in future, be forwarded from this office on the evenings-of the 3d, 9th, 13th, 19th, 23d, and 29th of every month ; but when the month has thirty-one day; the mail will not be made up until the 30th.
CRYSTAL PALACE.—Admissions for six days ending 6th October, in- cluding season-tiokets, 32,195. Anirnmense mass of people is assembled near the scene of the conflagra- tion. Order is kept by the police and military. The destruction of human life is fearful. The bodies of twenty persons have been dug out of the ruins. In Gateshead there are about fifty persons, many of than dangerously wounded, in the Infirmary ; forty-seven more had their wounds dressed there, and had been removed to their homes. The surgeons in Gateshead have also attended one hundred persons, all more or less hurt. Several soldiers are in a dangerous condition at the Barracks. The following bodies have been identified,—Mr. Pattison, Town-Councillor; Ensign Poyter, [or Payn- terJ Corporal Armstrong, and a private of the Cameronians ; Mr. Charles Bertram, a Borough Justice ; Mr. Davison junior, miller ; Police-constable Scott; Mr. Hamilton, hairdresser ; Charles Drake, foreman with Mr. Bence, builder ; Charles Drake, son of the above ; Mr. Willis, skinner ; and two women of Gateshead. There are many more missing, who no doubt are buried in the ruins.
" The Newcastle Corporation met this afternoon, and appointed a com- mittee with full power to provide relief and lodgings for the destitute, scores of whom are encamped in the streets; they also personally subscribed 615/. for the same object. A public meeting is to be held on Monday. The Gateshead Council have also originated measures of' relief. The destruction of property is estimated at not less than 1,000,0001. sterling. The Quay- side merchants are arranging with Mr. Grainger to provide them offices near the Central Exchange. Some of the streets in which cholera was so fatal last year are destroyed. The Gateshead Town-Council have telegraphed the Home Secretary to send down a Commissioner to assist the authorities in investigating the oauses of the frightful calamity."
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