A cautionary tale about gunpowder

An awful and almost unprecedented occurrence took place at Lissanoure Castle, near Ballymoney, county of Antrim. Mr. George Macartney, the proprietor of Lissanoure, previous to the reduction of the yeomanry force, was captain in that body, and was in the habit of storing large quantities of gunpowder in the castle, for the use of the small staff when called out to practice. Several barrels of gunpowder had been lying in the manse being most out of the way of danger, in a dark and narrow passage, leading from one wing of the castle to the other. In this passage (very little traversed at any time) some of the gunpowder had become damp, and was ordered by Mr. Macartney to be laid out to dry. Mr. Macartney, his child, and servant had quitted the room, leaving Mrs. Macartney alone therein. They had been absent but a few minutes, when they heard a dreadful explosion, -the powder had ignited, and had thrown down that portion of the building exposed to its destructive effects, burying Mrs. Macartney in the ruins. When she was extricated, life was found to be extinct. It is impossible to say how the accident originated; but it is supposed that the unfortunate lady had been sweeping about the fire, and that a spark from it had communicated with the powder. The ceilings of the rooms above, and the corresponding part of the roof, were up raised by the explosion, and the fragments scattered to a considerable distance. The walls of the old building have also been shaken, and the glass of almost every window was shattered to pieces by the violence of the concussion. Even the windows of the stables and offices, which are some perches distant from the castle, suffered equally from the effects of the explosion.