CHRONICLE. 



\97 



sers successively appointed to 

 her, and upwards of 30 men. 



28. Calamity at Chirk, in Wales. 

 — [Extract of a letter.] — " It is 

 not without strong feelings of re- 

 gret, that I communicate an ac- 

 count of tlie destruction of the 

 extensive collieries at Chirk, in 

 Denbigiishire. On Saturday even- 

 ing, the 28th ult. owing, as it is 

 supposed, to inattention in the 

 servants of the EUesmere Canal 

 Company, the stop-gates, pings, 

 &c. for regulating the quantity of 

 water on that part of the canal 

 which is embanked up to Chirk 

 aqueduct, were neglected : the 

 fatal consequence was, that the 

 embankment being overpowered 

 by the great weight of super- 

 fluous water, gave way, and fall- 

 ing down a piecipice, completely 

 dammed up the river Ceriog, 

 which Hows below it, and o\er 

 which the canal is continued by 

 an aqucdu.'^'t. The water being 

 thus impeded, quickly found its 

 way in another dii-eciion, and in 

 half an hour e\ cry pit belonging 

 to the colliery was filled uith 

 water, earth, gravel, &.c. Tlie 

 machineiy was torn in pieces by 

 the tremendous force of the cur- 

 rent, and xery considerable dam- 

 age done to the surrounding coun- 

 try. Had it not been for the ju- 

 dicious and tiiuely interference of 

 i\Ir. Ed. Davies, engineer to the 

 Chirk colliery, in stopping the 

 ^^■ickets or stop-gates of the canal, 

 the whole of its water, increased 

 by the overflowing of the Dee 

 river, which is received by a 

 feeder into the canal, must iiave 

 swept away Chirk mills, and 

 every thing in the valley, into 

 one general destruction. Most 

 providentially this was the only 

 niglit in which, for several years 



past, the workmen were absen 

 from the pits ! They had been 

 allowed a little time to collect 

 Christmas bounties, &c> and thus 

 this dreadful calamity is not ag- 

 giavated by the loss of so many 

 valuable lives as must have been 

 otherwise inevitably sacriliced. 

 All the hoises employed in the 

 works were instantly drowned, 

 'J'he immediate loss to the pro- 

 [jrietors of the works is immense, 

 and the destruction of so valuable 

 a colliery, which lias for a long 

 series of years produced fuel for 

 the country and employment for 

 its poor, is, as" a public calamity, 

 ii retrievable." 



29. An Inquest was held at Bols- 

 over, Derbyshire, before George 

 Gosling, gent. Coroner for the 

 Hundred of Scarsdale, on tiie body 

 of Sarah Wild the elder, who fe- 

 loniously poisoned herself, and 

 William Wild, George Wild, and 

 Sarah Wild, three of her infant 

 children. 



T!)omas 'Whitehead, of Bolsover 

 aforesaid, being examined upon 

 oath, stated, that about the latter 

 end of November last, the de- 

 ceased, Sarah A\'ild the eldei", 

 came to his shop, and asked to 

 })urchase two-pennyworth of cor- 

 rosive sublimate, and he sold to 

 her a quarter of an ounce ; and 

 after he had delivered tlie same to 

 her, the deceased then went into 

 his house and held a conversation 

 with him and his wife, and stayed 

 for at least an hour, and then 

 v\ cut *away. Witness said that 

 the deceased came again in about 

 a week after, and purchased from 

 him another quarter of an ounce 

 of tlie same sublimate, which \\r 

 .sold to her. Witness said, that 

 at the time he sold the deceased 

 the aforesaid sublimate, and from 



I he 



