On Saturday last, about twelve o'clock at night, a most
terrific explosion took place, from the bursting of one of the boilers of great St. George Mine. The havoc was so complete, that the boiler was literally torn in atoms; and some of the pieces' weighing from one half to three quarters of a ton, were thrown upwards of one hundred yards from the spot, and with such force, that on coming in contact with the ground, they were buried two or three feet deep. Not one particle of the boiler-house remained ; large pieces of timber were carried to an inconceivable distance; the doors and windows of the engine-house were smashed to pieces ; and altogether such a scene of devastation presented itself to the bystanders, as beggars desetiption. How satisfactorily to account for the accident, is quite out of the power of multi; as the only individual in whose power it was to impart infbrmation on the subject, was crushed to death in the engine-house, by a quantity of stone which fell from the wall contiguous to the boiler._ Falmouth Packet.
The Manchester Guardian mentions the discovery of a murder near that town, committed by a weaver on his own infant, aged six weeks, by pouring oil of vitriol down its throat whilst lying in the cradle. The murder was perpetrated on the 1st February ; and the story given out was that the child had been burnt to death in its cradle during the temporary absence of the mother. Mr. Ferrand, the Coroner, sent a young man as his deputy to hold the inquest : at which, it is said, the father was the only winless examined, and a verdict of " Accidentally burnt to death" was returned. An old woman, who had seen the body of the child, however, hinted her suspicions ; and in consequence of the rumours circulated, the body was exhumed and examined by a medical man, who said there was no mark of burning whatever externally, and that the child had died in consequence of having had oil of vitriol poured down its throat, of which evident traces were left on each side of its mouth. The Coroner, however, refused to hold a second inquest; and the Manchester Guardian intimates that the conduct of that functionary will form a subject of investigation, and be noticed in a manner be little expects. The father of the child, when he found that a further examination was to take place, absconded.
At Oldham, a master builder and his foreman have suffered severely from vitriol thrown in their faces. The only reason for this outrage
was, that the master did not choose to comply with the demands of his workmen, and, when they left his employment, engaged other hands to carry on his business.
It was mentioned in last week's Spectator, that the Bridge Hall paper. mills, near Bury, had been set on fire by an incendiary : we have since been informed that this is a mistake—the fire was quite accidental. We copied the statement from a provincial paper; and take the first opportunity of correcting it.
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