90 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



JULY. 



1. An official return of the pri- 

 soners of war at present in Great 

 Britain, laid before the House of 

 Commons, states the total number 

 of French prisoners at 52,6i9, 

 Danish, 1,868 — Grand total, 

 54,5 17. 



4. This morning, about seven 

 o'clock, one of Mr. Butt's powder 

 mill's, at Hounslow, blew up. 

 Two men employed in it, who 

 were at a short distance at the 

 time, were knocked down, but 

 not killed. Their bodies presented 

 a most shocking spectacle; they 

 were so changed and black, that 

 the}' could scarcely be known. A 

 surgeon was sent for, who advised 

 their beingconveyedto St. George's 

 Hospital, which was accordingly 

 done in the afternoon, in a caravan 

 used for conveying powder to 

 London. Tiieir groans and screams, 

 when they were moved, were ex- 

 tremely distressing. 



St. Vincent's. — The Wallibon 

 Quarter, on Sunday night last, 

 witnessed a scene of horror and 

 devastation, much more terrific 

 and destructive in its effects than 

 even the memorable night of the 

 awful eruption of the Morne 

 Souff'riere. Prodigious masses of 

 ignited substances which were 

 ejected from the mouth of the 

 Wallibon river, effectually stopped 

 the rolling of its waters ; and a vast 

 lake, in a constant state of effer- 

 vescence, had formed near its 

 source, which continued daily to 

 increase, till it covered about four 

 acres of land. On Sunday night 

 last, the diffusion of water, from 

 the fall of heavy rains, became so 

 great that the frightful reservoir 

 overflowed, and the prodigious 



flood burst through the barriers of 

 volcanic combustibles with irresisti- 

 ble fury ; and such was its destruc- 

 tive impetuosity, that it completely 

 inundated the adjacent valle}'; and 

 besides its ravages in bearing down 

 a number of negro houses, several 

 lives were lost, and others so 

 dreadfully scalded from the river 

 of liquid fire which overwhelmed 

 them, that their lives are despaired 

 of. The mountain, too, during 

 the dreadful scene, had a return of 

 one of its terrific fever fits ; its 

 roarings caused a general conster- 

 nation ; and on the following 

 night, about eleven o'clock, a most 

 violent concussion of the earth, 

 such as the oldest inhabitants never 

 ex[)erienced, was felt all over the 

 island. 



6. Plymouth. — This morning, 

 about nine o'clock, the inhabitants 

 of Plymouth were thrown irtto in- 

 describable terror. Mr. Hyne, 

 flour-raeichant, of Old-Town, Ply- 

 mouth, while silting at break- 

 fast with his wife and two children, 

 suddenly seized one of them, and 

 cut its throat; he then seized the 

 other, and on the interference of 

 his agonized wife, he fired a pistol 

 at her, when she fell ; and he 

 completely severed the windpipe 

 of the second child. He finished 

 the horrible business by blowing 

 his own brains out with a second 

 pistol. The consternation of the 

 neighbours on rushing into the 

 scene of blood, may be easily con- 

 ceived. Mrs. Hyne was found 

 living ; a ball had entered her 

 shoulder, and she had been stunned 

 for the moment by the report of 

 the pistol, which was held very 

 close, and which only missed its 

 intended effect by the agitation of 

 Mr. Hyne. The unfortunate and 



wretched 



