The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-09-02 00:00:00

ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

AN ALPINE ACCIDENT.—kr. Whymper, father of the
Alpine climber, kindly supplies us (Atheneum) with •
few particulars respecting his accident on the Matter-
horn. It appears that previous to the accident the
mountaineer had made two attempts, with guides, to
ascend, and had fixed his tent at an elevation of nearly
12,090 feet. It was in one of his trial excursions from
this point, to try and flud some higher ledge on which
to sleep, that the accident befel him. Up to this
height the ground was pretty familiar to him, as be had
traversed it no less than eight times. We may now
use his own graphic words :—" I found a sleeping-plane
about 300 feet highero and came quickly down. In
passing the tent I left everything behind that I could,
including my axe. The Cul was passed in safety; but
on turning a corner of the precipice, to my right, I
found that two days' sun had nearly destroyed some
steps in the ice which I had cut the day before. The
position was awkward; a long slope of ice, as smooth
as glass, led away below me: a precipice literally per-
pendicular rose above; the route lay along the junction
of the two on the top edge of the slope. Time forbade
my returning for the axe, so I commenced with my left
hazed to dig the steps afresh with the point of my
baton, holding to &cranny with my right. I had nearly
finished, when, on stepping downwards, my foot slipped.
Down I went like lightning; in • moment my baton
was dashed from my hand, and my knapsack brought
my head down fires; some rocks peeped out 20 feet
down, and into these I fell. It was now, not sliding,
but flying absolutely head over heels. I fell 195 feet
in five or air bounds—striking my head four times.
The last bound must have been fully 60 feet; it took
me right across the golly, into some jagged rocks. I
clutched at them with all my might, and after sliding
a little further, happily stopped myself. Had !fallen
10 feet lower, I should have shot over a precipice of
at least 800 feet." Mr. Whyrnper's. wounds, though
numerous, were auperficial. The application of snow
partly stopped the bleeding. Mr. Whymper is of
opinion that the Matterhorn is inaccessible to 'rnere
arms and legs. Professor Tyndall took a ladder, but
even with this aid it was found impossible to oonquer
the last precipices.
SAVED BY CEINOLI2II.—One day lately • lady
named Williamson, belonging to Coventry, was ramb-
ling with some friends among the ruins of Kenilworth
Castle, when she fell over a precipice into the gardens
adjacent to the highest accessible portion of the ruins,
from • height of about 50 feet. As she descended her
dress, which was extended by crinoline, caught in the
ivy which grows so luxuriantly upon the walls of
Kenilworth, thereby breaking to a considerable extent
the force of the collision, and on being taken up she was
found to have sustained but little external injury. She
was of course much bruised and shaken' and it will be
some time before she recovers from the severe shock
she has received.

FATAL RAVAGES OP A WATER-SPODT.--A letter
from Madrid, of the 20th, in the Menages. de
Bagonne, says :—" A frightful catastrophe occurred
the day before yesterday on the Madrid and Alicant
Railway, a water-spout having burst in the neighbour-
hood of 'Villarobledo, by which portion of the line
was destroyed at the moment that the train was arriv-
ing. The locomotive and several of the waggons were
precipitated into the excavations caused by the
disaster, some nine or ten feet deep. The number of
persona injured amounts to more than fifty ; four have
already expired. Several passengers have disappeared,
having been, it is supposed, carried off by the water.
A GRAVE CRARGE.—The weliknown editor of the
Gauges di Verona, Forego, has been arrested on the
charge of having committed the murder of Signora Spel-
ladle di Colloredo in whose will he Is designated es soleheir. The poor lady was found burned in her bed. The
public voice loudly accused Perego, and the authorities
were obliged to take charge of him.
FALL PROM DOVER HIDGEITS.—OiI Saturday after-
noon • private soldier of the 59th Regiment, now on
duty at the Western Heights Barracks, who was in
custody for his mid-day intemppmnoe, managed to slip
the vigilance of his guards, and -outpacing them, disen-
cumbered himself of his shoes, and made for • point of
the cliff opposite the new Palmerston Bridge, where the
frequently shelving banks afford a practicable but at all
times dangerous descent. Whether the man NW eat
of from this point by one of the sentries, or those, he
bad escaped from were pressing him toe hard is not
certain, but, in fell sight of the people on the piers and
j romenades, the poor fellow's body was seen rolling from
point to point of the jutting chalk cliffs, until at last it
fell with • dull sound at the base of the rock in the Paris
Yard, the area of which is occupied as a boiler, shed,
kc., by the Imperial Mail Packet managers. Several
men immediately ran to his assistance, and in a few
moments soldiers arrived from the Grand Shaft Guard
with a stretcher, upon which the man was conveyed to
the military hospital at Archcliff Fort. On the way be
rallied from the stunning effects of a fall nearly 180
feet in depth, and, although much bruised, no fatal
results are anticipated.
FEARPOL SCENE AT A FIRE.- 4. fire broke out on
Friday at Blakeridge Mill, Batley belonging to Messrs.
J. and J. Taylor, woollen manu.'acturers and did
damage estimated at £15,000. The conflagration com-
menced while all the operatives were at work in the
factory, and spread with :suck rapidity that those em-
ployed in the upper rooms were unable to escape
except through the windows. Before either ropes or
ladders could be made available, several workpeople—
males and females.- to avoid the fierceness of the flames,
were compelled to suspend themselves from the
window frames outside the building, and in this
perilous positien hung on in agony and desperation
until their scorched 'fingers eould no longer retain their
grasp. They then one after another fell to the ground,
some sustaining frightful injuries—two young women
being, it is believed, fatally hurt, and three others
rendered incapable of motion. One man vu also
reported to be missing; and another, from his heroic
conduct on beliall of the feinale operatives, narrowly
maned • terrible death. The entire factory—a large
and handaeme stone structure—was speedily reduced to
ruins, notwithstanding the efforts of every available
agent to arrest the progress of the conflagration. It is
supposed the fire originated in what is celled the
"plucking room," by the machinery coming in contact
with some metallic substance, the friction igniting the
inflammable material.
COLLISION ON THE MIDLAND RAILWAY. —Between
11 and 12 o'clock on Thursday night a terrible accident
occurred on the Midland Railway, at Market Her-
borough, by which two passengers were killed and 25
Injured. Two excursion trains left London that night,
one for Burton and the other for Manton. The trains
were of considerable length and heavily laden; the one
for Manton had nearly a thousand passengers. To pass
through the station at Market Harborough the Midland
trains runs for nearly half a mile on the London and
North-Western line. On arriving at the junction at
Market Harborough the Burton train, which started
first from London, stopped to take in water. Daring
this stoppage the Manton train came up and dashed
into the other, smashing three of the last carriages to
pieces. Owing to the darkness of the night, it was im-
possible at first to realise the extent of the disaster;
but the shrieks and groans of the wounded proved that
the resukts must have been very serious. In a very
short time a large number of people assembled and
rendered all possible aid to the passengers. Without
delay search was made for the injured, and the broken
fragments of the carriagcs were piled up and made a
fire of for the purpose of giving light to those engaged
in clearing the line, for the station was but poorly
lighted. It was then that the extent of the catastrophe
was found out. Offe poor man named Stinson,
s labourer, more generally known as • carrier,
at Whitwick, was discovered lying under a carriage in
a fearfully mutilated state, and was quite dead; it was
over an hour and a.half before the body could be
extricated, when it was removed to the nearest hotel.
Messrs. Heygate, Francis, and Ody, surgeons, of Market
Harborough, together with Dr. Lancaster, Mr. Bolton,
Mr. Jaakson, and Mr. Denton, of Leicester, who were
sent for, rendered every assistance to the wounded.
One young man, named Sherwin, of Market Bosworth,
had one of his arms so seriously maimed that it was
found necessary to have it amputated a little below the
elbow, which operation was performed by Dr. Lancaster.
About six others had received fractured arms, legs, and
breasts, and at the present time remain at Harborongh
in a very dangerous condition. 25 persons in all were
severely injured. Another of the wounded has died
since, and others are not expected to recover. Fortu-
nately, the Manton train WU not travelling at any con-
siderable speed when the accident «sourced, or the con-
sequences most have been much more serious. The
engine was thrown off the line by the shock, and it was
nearly 4 o'clock on Friday morning before the Manton
passengers were enabled to proceed on their journey.
With regard to the came of the occident it is not yet
known who is to blame—the signalman at the junction
or the driver of the Manton train. The former states
that the signals were properly adjusted to atop an
approaching train, while the latter maintains that
such was not the fact.