3-008-429 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Fall of three houses in Amherst-road, Hackney, [London], 1862. 'On the morning of Wednesday week, between the hours of ten and eleven o'clock, the inhabitants of Hackney were thrown into great excitement in consequence of the fall of three new houses, attended with loss of life and serious injury to several persons. In the Amherst-road, close to the viaduct of the North London Railway, where it crosses the Hackney-road, are a number of new buildings, three-stories high, built by Mr. Amos, which were being finished in the interior by carpenters, plasterers, and other artisans, at the above hour, when three of the houses fell in, and the weight of brickwork and mortar carried in their descent the floors of the different rooms, until the whole was upon the ground floor. The cries of the poor creatures buried in the ruins were most distressing. Several of the workmen in the neighbourhood commenced removing the debris and extricating the sufferers. Three were found to be dead, and the survivors, most of whom were seriously injured, were conveyed to the German Hospital'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.