APPALLING ACCIDENT AT EDINBURGH.

Wellington Independent, Volume VI, Issue 1694, 24 January 1862, Page 3

APPALLING ACCIDENT AT EDINBURGH.

On the morning of Sunday, November ' 24, a tall building, of seven stories, in High-street, Edinburgh, a. district thickly populated by the working classes, suddenly fell, burying nearly the whole of the inmates in the ruins. The house was several centuries old, and the timbers were deoayed. The whole gave way at once, collapsing inwards, and leaving only a portion of the gables still standing. Twenty-two bodies have been taken out dead, and about 12 wounded. There were some extraordinary escapes. ; Operations were suspended during the nighf£ owing to the danger from the tottering gables, but it was expected that several other bodies would be discovered. The event has oaused the utmost excitement. and consternation in the city.

The catastrophe oreated au immense sensation in Edinburgh on* Sunday, and the terrible event was referred to in almost all the pulpits. Never before in the history of the city had there happened suoh prodigious loss of life from a domestic accident. The fall of a house has oo various' occasions taken place, and mm town where domestic structures have, so to speak, so long a life, the event has been matter of little wonder. But generally the case has been that of some crazy, condemned, and deserted building never officially examined or reported. in» secure, but, nevertheless, rotten to tbe core in all its timbers, fell in a momenta overwhelming its inmates in death.