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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 8, Issue 408, 3 September 1866, Page 3

Ayrrux. Tiee in Dublin.—Loss of Sis Lives. Tho following is from the Dublin eorrespondent of the Times: —So occurrence in Dublin for many years has produced a feeling of indignation so deep and 'wide-spread as the burning alive of six human beings in Westmoreland-sfreet on Thursday evening. Ho spectacle, not even tho sight of ship freighted with emigrants, near the shore, in calm weather, with well-manned lifeboats at hand, but failing to render effective assistance or to prevent the fatal catastrophe could produce a more painful sensation than the vast multitude of excited spectators experienced on that awful occasion. Tho corporation has a steamengine designed to extinguish conflagrations with the greatest rapidity. It was exhibited some years ago in the square of the university, in presence of the lord-lieutenant and a great crowd of citizens, when its working excited general admiration. The corporation has also a fire brigade consisting of athletic young men, clothed in uniform, and protected by fire-proof helmets, and commanded by a captain. The brigade has at its command two immense fire-escapes, one of which is placed near the Bank of Ireland and Trinity College, and tho other in Sackville-strect, neither of these stations being more than three minutes’ walk from the burning houses, while the Liffey, with its inexhaustible supply of water, is within a few rods. Such was the provision made by our city authorities to prevent the less of life by fire, and if anything were wanting to produce a general fcelim* of security and unlimited confidence in these appliances for the public safety it would be the fact that the fire brigade and its machinery have been repeatedly paraded through (lie street in civic processions. Sow let us see what happened about nine o’clock on Thursday evening. The corner house of Westmoreland-stveet, adjoining Astonquay, and just at Oarlisle-bridge, has been recently rebuilt, and is occupied by the Ballast Board. The next house, numbered 19 and 20, was occupied by Mr Delaney, a respectable merchant tailor. There were two front shops, one of which was let to a hatter named ‘Williams, and both having very large plate-glass windows. A solicitor end's photographer occupied apartments on the drawing room floor. The only persons in the house at tho time of tho fire were Mrs Delaney and her three daughters, aged 21, 20, and 12 years, a servant maid, and a gentleman named Sirahau, aged 24, son of Mr Strahan, proprietor of a large furniture warehouse in Henry-street. He was a fine young man, and is said to have been engaged to Miss Delaney. Mr Delaney had gone out to take a walk with his son, who is 16 or 18 years of age, little imagining that he would never again see a single member of the happy family which he had left behind him, probably conversing joyfully and hopefully about their plans for the future. A gentleman who was passing through Westmorelandstreet about twenty or twenty-five minutes to nine o’clock states that he found the shutters of the hatter’s house down and the interior a perfect furnace. The fire seemed then to be confined to the back shop, though rapidly tending frontward*.

Just then the plate glass was either'broken intentionally by some one' anxious to~extinguish the fire, or it was 1 shattered bythe intensity of the beat. The consequepce was that the current of air gave, tremendous force to the flames, which ur - 7 » Beiz i n g upon the windows .of Mr Delaney’s shop, mounting upwards to the drawing-room, penetrating in its devouring course to all parts of the building, and with terrific rapidity.bursting through floor after floor. Another gentleman states that when passing over Carlisle's 9 at twenty minutes to nine o'clock he saw the smoke issuing from both shops, and presently the plate-glass windows fell to pieces with a loud crash, and the flumes lighted up the sign-boards and seized the next floor windows. At this time the attention of those who now crowded the streets was attracted to the top windows at the ri<*ht-hand side, next to the Ballast (Mice. There they beheld five agonised and terror-stricken people—a mother, her three young daughters, and a young man. The latter seemed calm and collected, soothing his companions, and pointing to the approaching fireescape. The writer says that, —“.Fervent prayers went up from all present as the firemen put the machine to the wall, and the poor creatures above became calm, and seemed to think deliverance certain. But, oh ! how shall I describe the shriek of utter despair which came from that window when the frail and worthless play-toy which inno- - cent citizens call a fire-escape bent like a willow, collapsed, and fell to the ground. That shriek I shall remember while life lasts. A fire-man went up a few steps and tried to adjust the “ escape," but the fire burst out then in all its fury, drove him off the ladder, shot up the side of the house like a likhtning flash, and seemed to strike the victims in the very face, I saw them reel backward, heard them utter a stifled shriek, and then disappear. Many who had arrived subsequently thought they had escaped by the roof, but no one who saw them at the time I speak of dared to hope so. Sorry should I be to take from the honor due to any bravo man who tries to save the life, of a fellow-creature from a horrible death, and if I do so I shall be glad to be set right, but I must say that I often saw far more effort made to save a horse from a similar death than was put forth for these poor human beings. The fire-engines were not at work till the house was a furnace ; the fire-escapes were miserable and cruel failures, and all working them seemed to give up the viotims to their fate after very little effort. In a very short time the top floor gave way, and the shrieking victims disappeared never to be seen again. When I went to the place at 12 o’clock on Ihursday night people hoped that they might have escaped by the roof of one of the adjoining houses. They could easily have done so, for the window at which they stood is only a few feet from the top of the parapet. Mr Strahan might have got out there, and pulled up the ladies, and passed them on to the roof of the Ballast Office, where they would have been quite safe ; or, with the aid of ropes, blankets, or some contrivance of the kind, they might have been drawn into that building by the adjoining windows. But everybody seemed to rely, and very naturally, upon the fire brigade and their grand machines until it was, alas! too late. Scarcely anything now remains of the building but the outer walls. The fire has been extinguished, and men have been at work ever since clearing out the debris; but up to Saturday, when I visited the ruin, not a trace had been discovered of the sis human beings who perished except a small bone which I found, and which seemed to belong to the little girl. It’s stated that .the first engine, from Sackville-street, broke and became quite unmanageable, but the other, which had ladders yoked, reaching, seemingly, to the proper height, remained till any attempt at rescue was hopeless, reared against the front of jtbe Imperial office, where the persons were engaged throwing out bedding and furniture whila their fellow-beings were despairingly shrieking for aid within a few yards’ distance.” The feeling against the fire brigade is so strong that they aro said to have been hooted by the mob whila removing their machines. Nearly all the Dublin papers vehemently denounce the Corporation for allowing their officers to let their fire-escapes get out of order, aud rendering it possible for such a calamity to occur because of their utter inefficiency. Since the above was written the remains of sufferers have been found, aud an inquest was to be opened yesterday. An Incident in the date Financial Stobm. —One incident of the panic deserves record, to the honor of all concerned. It is said that when one of these great employers of labor, the suspension of whose large operations is one of the most regretted events of the crisis, was first known to be in jeopardy, a brother contractor—whose name may bo easily surmised,. for it has become throughout Europe a household word for probity and straightforward conduct, as well as for enterprise and energy—called on him, accompanied by three other members of the same calling. Tho first had in his pocket two hundred thousand pounds j the other three one hundred thousand pounds each. Tho half-million was freely placed at the disposal of the tottering firm, on tue condition that its use would be sufficient to ensure its stability, and with a frankness and courage as honorable as the generosity of the offer, was at once declined. If this account be true, and it is stated on no slight authority, it is hard to say to which party it does most credit—to those who, on so noble a scale, did as they would be done by or to those who could decline assistance to such a gigantic amount, lest it should not be fully adequate to supply the wants of credit arrangements suddenly and violently overthrown. Honor to tho builders of England who contain in their ranks men capable of such an offer, and of such a refusal! Amid all the confusion ana genaral selfishness of a financial panic, an incident such as this shines like a gleam of sunshine through the storm. —Builder. Kindes is the looking-glass than the wine-glass, for the former reveals our defects to ourselves only, the latter to our friends. Who were tha first astrologers P The stars! Because they studded the heavens. A Tissue oe Lies. —A forged bank note.— Punch. Bow to Destiny. One of these days he may be polite and return your bow.