[Oct. 



CHRONICLE. 



9\ 



found his brother had bled to 

 death . 



OCTOBER. 



3. About 20 minutes before se- 

 ven in the morning, the corning- 

 house of the gunpowder works 

 belonging to John Hall, Esq. at 

 Ore, near Faversham, containing 

 about 12 barrels of powder, blew 

 up with a tremendous explosion, 

 levelling instantly every part of 

 the building to its foundation, 

 and spreading the massy timbers 

 in every direction. At the moment 

 of the explosion there were three 

 men employed therein, whose bo- 

 dies were literally blown to pieces, 

 the scattered fragments of their 

 limbs being found at considerable 

 distances from the spot. Their 

 names were — Thomas Wanstall, 

 aged 18 years; John Robinson, 

 45 ; and James Philpot, 24 ; the 

 latter has left a wife and child to 

 l/ewail his fate. In this, as in all 

 former instances of a like nature, 

 no cause can be assigned for the 

 lamentable event, other than the 

 nature of the process in the corn- 

 ing-house, certainly the most 

 dangerous in the manufactory ; 

 but in this instance it is the more 

 remarkable, from the machinery 

 having been put in motion by 

 water flowing with a regular cur- 

 rent. Had the accident happened 

 10 or 12 minutes sooner, its con- 

 sequences would have been more 

 fatal, as Mr. Johnson, the over- 

 seer of the works, and five other 

 persons, were in attendance at the 

 building, removing 10 barrels of 

 powder. The house and mill of 

 Mr. Ashenden, at Ore, received a 

 ecverc shock from the concussion 



of the explosion, and had most of 

 the windows broken ; the windows 

 of several other houses at Oie were 

 also partially broken ; and the ef- 

 fect was extended to Faveisham 

 (although a mile distant)^ where 

 the windows of several houses 

 were similarly injured. The sound 

 of the explosion was heard in the 

 direction of the wind, which was 

 easterly, for nearly 10 miles. 



4. Disturbances at Worcester. — 

 This city has been the scene of a 

 dangerous riot. On the 7th of 

 August a meeting of freemen of 

 Worcester took place at the Hop- 

 pole Inn, to consider the best 

 means of removing certain enr 

 croachments alleged to have been 

 made on Pitchcroft, on which 

 ground the freemen have a limited 

 right to depasture cattle, &c. A 

 committee was appointed to inves- 

 tigate the subject : on the 25th of 

 August the committee announced 

 that they had unanimously resolv- 

 ed to serve notices on all persons 

 who had encroachments on Pitch- 

 croft, to remove them on or before 

 the 29th of September ; but sub- 

 sequently considering that the re- 

 moval of the whole of them would 

 be attended with great loss to a 

 charity which derived a consider- 

 able income from them, they 

 deemed it most desirable to direct 

 the removal of those buildings and 

 fences only which appeared most 

 obnoxious, and which the parties 

 interested agreed to remove be- 

 fore the 29th of September. Not- 

 withstanding, howevc)-, all these 

 endeavours to prevent any breach 

 of the jniblic peace, the expecta- 

 tions of the committee were dis- 

 appointed. 



On the morning of IMonday last, 

 between eight and nine o'clock, 



numbers 



