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Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 20, 30 March 1870, Page 7

A fatal accident has occured at the Gate Pa to oue of the armed constabulary of the n irae of Burrows. It is thus described by a correspondent of the Auckland Herald: —" After pitching camp, the duties of the day were over, and the men strolled about till nearly dusk, when land another, walking bvekwards and forwards on the road, and almost close to the redoubt, wore startled by a loud explosion about thirty yards from us, followed by what at. the moment appeared io inc to be fireworks known as Roman candles : three going up nearly vertically, and a fourth describing an arc towards the gully on the right-hand side of the road. Almost immediately after, I heard the remark, ' Somebody is hurt,' and at once proceeded to the site of the explosion, where three or four persons were standing round the postrate form of Burrows, who was lviri» on his back in a pool of blood, with arms extended. A second glance showed half one side of the poor fellow's he id blown away, and a lirge qumtity of brains scattered in the dust, together with a broken piece of skull about the size of my hand. The poor fellow had in the course of his ramble found an nnexploded 112-pounder Armstrong shell, from which he extracted a quantity of powder, and then, with an ineautioltshess that savored of infatuation, laid a twin to the interior of the shell, which instantly exploded with a fatal result. Several other persons standing near had a very narrow escape, and one or two, experienced in such explosions, immediately threw themselves down on the ground. One of the minor celebrities of the world, li General Tom Thumb," othorwi.se Mr Charles Stratton, is starring it in Melbourne, where he is accompanied by his wife, Mrs Lavinia S.' Stratton, her sister, Miss and "Commodore" Nutt. In fact, the troupe constitutes the actors in that curious scene enacted at Grace Church, New York, on the 10th February, 1863, when the " General"— himself the most celebrated dwarf living—espoused his wife, a lady of corresponding size. At the date of her marriage, she was 22 years, and measured 32 inches in height, and weighed 291bs. All New York crowded to witness the spectacle, the effect of which was heightened by the presence, as bridesmaid and groomsman, of Miss Warren, the bride's sistSr—then 17 years old, 24 inches high, and weighing 191bs, —and of Commodore Nutt (George Washington Morrison), then 19 years old, standing 29 inches in high boots, and weighing 21libs. Since their arrival in Melbourne, the appearance of General Tom Thumb's carriage, drawn | by small ponies, and driven "by tho Commodore's eldest brother, himself of very [flaiall si»y baa created much excitement*