THE MAIL.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 482, 27 July 1871, Page 3

THE MAIL.

THE EXPLOSION IN THE CHAMP DE MAES.

SOME PARTICULARS— SICKENING SCENES. The Paris correspondent of tho London limes, under dato of May 18th, gives the following particulars of the cartridge factory explosion in tho Champ de Mars : —I did not get on to the ground on which the manufactory Lad stood until it was nearly cleared of all the man?V% blackened bodies, or rather scattered per' /. of bodies, with which it was found tliie. / covered; but eye-witnesses tell me that the sight was such as it would be impossible to describe withotit sickening your readers. I must leave them to imagine to themselves the aspect of a place upon which more than a hundred bodies, blackened by fire and torn to pieces, limb from limb, had been literally showered down from a great height in the air. I myself saw—or otherwise I confess I should have scarcely believed it—half a body taken down from the roof of one of the tallest houses in the neighborhood, up to which it must have been thrown all the way from theground. But, what struck me most, and what is a less sickening subject to dwell on, was the marvellous completeness with which the manufactory had not merely been destroyed, but so annihilated that scarcely a trace of it could be seen. One looked about wonderingly in vain trying to discover where it had stood. A few charred beams, a pool or two of moll en lead, again congealed, endless skeletons of cartridge-hose-, and bore and there heaps of ashes were all that was left of it. Still more remarkable, perhaps, was the widespread extent of the destruction. As wo walked down a street, nearly half a mile from the manufactory, wc found that scarcely a single window had escaped. The street was thickly paved with broken glass. Nearer, but still several hundred yards off, the roofs of some of the less strongly-built houses had fallen in, and in others huge cracks showed where even the solid masonry of the walls had given way. A row of houses, within, perhaps a hundred yards of the manufactory, has been completely gulled, as far os one can judge from the outside. It was not permitted to enter them, as they were so injured there was no knowing at what moment they might not fall; but, looking through the windows, one could see that scarcely an article of furniture had been left whole. Each room was a litter of ruins, much like rooms I have seen alter a shell has burst in t hem. Yet, Strang to say, some of tho people in these houses escaped with life. I heard one woman describing how she was dressing -when the shock came, and how, though at first thrown on her fice, she was abie to get up at once and rush downBtairs. There on the ground in front of the bouse she lound some of the bedding that had been thrown out of the window, and was able to cover herself with this until some kind neighbor lent her a petticoat. In her case the ludicrous rather predominated over the terrible ; but I witnessed many heart-rending scenes, as residents who had happened to be absent when the explosion occurred came up in breathless anxiety to get tidings of their relations or friends.

HORRORS OF THE CAPTURE OF

PARIS,

From the correspondence and foreign papers received, it anpears that the telegraphic dispatches—horrible indeed as were their details —did not sufficiently pourtray the reign of terror through which the city passed. Tho red days of '08 were more than excelled in terror, for to the prodigal effusion of blood by tho infuriated Versaillists was added the spectacle of the burning of Paris by the defeated and retreating Communists., Wo extract a few of the most vivid scenes as described by eye witnesses, but no history so terrible as this has been related before during the century. A Paris correspondent, writes on Mny 24th to the London Times : —

At dark I climbed upon the top of tho Hotel Catham, and a sight, such, I trust, us I I never may see again, met my view. The southwest of Paris was a sheet of flame. I began to fear that Mie menaces which we hud scoffed at as idie threats were about to become a terrible reality. From A nteuil to Montrougc the heavens were lit by a series of conflagrations, which died away in sulphurous smoke, only to burst forth again with a loud report, and spread still further westward. We were at a loss to conceive what couid be on fire Passy seemed smouldering slowly, the real fire being more in the direction of Luxembourgh. It shot up in showers of sparks, revealing a dark ma3S of dome that loomed black against the sky. This we took to be the Pantheon, and rejoiced in tho fact that the river lay between us and the advancing blade of flame. The smoke spread slowly but surely, and some one announced that the Pantheon had caught fire. We saw light shining through the roof, and presently an immense jet of flamo shot straight up into the sky, revealing a form which was at once recognised as the central pavilion of tho Tuilerits. A cry of horror burst from the lips of the people who had assembled on°the roof at the discovery of the terrible truth, and we gazed fascinated as the flames licked rapidly the mass of buildings, shooting up from time to time in long, forked tongues, accompanied by heavy white clouds of naptha-smelling smoke. Although at so great a distance from the scene of operations, we could hear the roar and the clatter of shivering slates and rafters, while we were so well lit up in our position on the roof that tho bullets began to whistle iv our direction— probably from the linesmen on the Opera House, who took us for members of the Commune, celebrating our hideous victory. Shells whizzed past us, rattling down in tho neighoring streets, and we began to feel our situation procarious. By this time tho great pavilion was a mere skeleton of golden light, cut by curved ribs of black, and crowned by a square gallery. It reminded mo somewhat of St. Peter's when illuminate —Sf. Peter's, of course, appearing as a toy in contrast. I continued to stare, scarce daring to believe my eyes, when suddenly there was a vivid light; the pavilion Lad sunk in with a crash, and a stream of sparks flew straight into the heavens, literally with, the starr". Steadily the fire advanced, with a certainty that indicated the presence of petroleum in largo quantities, and, at last, that the ereat collection of the Louvre was to be sacrificed. Fortunately, the pictures of the Italian school are hidden away, but who shall replace the antiquo statues, the Venus of Milo, the Poly by mania, that are destined to be destroyed by the diabolical spite of themadmen •who have been a terror to us for so long. The sight, and the reflections which it engendered, were so awful as to Wind us to the presence of other conflagrations that were springing up along tit t^no. A huge red bar, like a giant furnace^dicated that a large portion of the Quartier St. Germain was being destroyed, while a light in the Palais Royale, and another in the Luxembourg, suggested the idea that all Paris was, indeed, to be destroyed. MASSACRE OF PRISONERS. A writer in the Times thus rofers to the prisoners murdered: A gentleman, whose-word is beyond dispute, told me that he witnessed from an upper window, the storming of the barricade on the boulevard Maleshorbes, and that he saw with his own eyes the rebels lifting the butts of their muskets in token of surrender, which, caused the linesmen to advance across the barricade. No sooner did they approach within a few paces, than the muskets were suddenly reversed, and a plunging fire Jjvid some fifty of them writhing in a heap.