The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-08-22 00:00:00

TWENTY-THREE PERSONS
BURNED TO DEATII.

The most extztordinary and fatal accident
ever known on an English railway occurred at
mid-day on Thursday, on the Chester and Holy-
head line near Llaudulas, about a mile and a
half from Arbergele.
The Irish Limited Mail, leaving London at
7.15 a.m., passed Abergele (Pensaru Station) in
safety at about one o'clock.
A goods train had passed about half an hour
before.

Beyond Llandulas a portion of the goods'
train to Holyhead seems to have become de-
tached, and ran back down the incline, ineetio,v,
the Mail train, which was *Mfg about forty miles
an hour. There is a carve near the spot.
'the driver of the mail, Arthur Thompson, of
Stafford, seeing that the eollisioa was inevitable,
jumped off, and escaped slightly burnt. The
stoker, Joseph Holmes, of Stafford, remained on
the engine.
At the back of the goods train was a wagon
laden with petroleum oil.
When the collision °conned the petroleum
exploded with terrible effect.

The engine, tender, and three first-class car-
riages were smashed up together, and burnt with
the flames of the petroleum.
Twenty-three passengers were all burnt so
badly that none can be recognised.
A watch has been found, with an inscription
showing that it belonged to Lord Farnhatu, who
was supposed to be accompanied by his wife and

two dalighters.
The Duchess of Abercorn and Lord George
Hamilton were ha the train, but escaped unhurt.
Locomotives, cranes, and workmen were sent
from Chester and Crewe as soon as the news
reached those places..
The line was cleared about half-past five.
The wires having been broken, prevented mes-
sages for assistance going early.
Twenty-three bodies have been brought to
Peusarn Station, and placed in coffins, sent from
Chester. The bodies were taken on to Obergde,
_ . .

- and are deposited in the church. -
Niunbers of passengers who are burnt ore dis-
tributed about Pausarn, Abergele, and places
near.

Their names cannot be ascertained at this late
hoar.

It is feared that none of the bodies of the
killed will be recognisable by their friends—
they are FM fearfully charred.
Four surgeons from Abergele and Rhyl are
waiting upon sufferers by direction of the rail-
way company. The body of the stoker was
picked up under the broken engine. Thompson,
the driver, is lying at a cottage near the scene
of the accident, and is able to give some account
of what he saw.
The Duchess Aliereorn and Lord George
Hamilton proceeded to Ireland.

The causes of the ft &Went are variously stated,
and the rumours must therefore he taken with
reserve, until the arrival of detailed informa-
tion. _

According to one statement a goods train was
despatched only half an hour previously to the
departure of the mail, and was being shunted at
Abergele, in order to allow the mail to pass.
Before the shunting could be completed, the
mail dashed up, at the rate of fifty miles an
hour, and the terrible calamity above described
o,curred in less tittle, probably, than it takes to
write these lines.

Another rumour is that the couplings of the
goods train broke. and the trucks which did the
miwhief remained on the line.

Whatever may prove to have been the cause,
the main fact is unhappily too true—that the
mail train came into collision with a 'lumbar of
goods' trucks laden with that terrible irdbmina-
ble agent paraffin oil, and that the most horrible
of all deaths—death by fire—was the consequent
fate of several of the unfortunate passengers by
the mail.

Up to a late hour on Thursday night, the
line remained blocked, great damage having
been done to it.

CHESTER, THURSDAY NIGHT.
Lord Farnham's death is confirmed. He
was burnt to a cinder.

More deaths have taken place, but the pre-
cise numbet :is not known. Many of the bodies
are-fearfully burnt and mangled. Twenty-six
coffins have been sent from Chester.

Lord Farnhom, who was the seventh Baron,
was a Representative Peer of Ireland (1839),
K.P., a DL., for the county of Cavan; repre-
sented the county of Cavan in seven successive
Parliaments, from 1824 to 1838. His lordship
is 13th in descent from King Henry VII. through
the noble families of Brandon, Duke of Suffolk;
Grey, Duke of Suffolk; Seymour, Duke of So-
merset; Boyle,. Earl of Cork and Burlington;
Boyle, Earl of Shannon; and Butler, Earl o'
Carrick eldest son of Henry, 6th Baron, and
Lady Lune Butler, eldest daughter of tho sec-
ond Earl of Carrick- ; born 1799; succeeded
, his father 19th Oct.. 138; married :ird Decem-
I her, 1828, to the Hon. Anna Frances Esther
Stapleton, youngest daughter of 22nd Lord Le
Despencer. He leaves four brothers and two
sisters to lament his melancholy death.

LATEST PARTICULARS.
LONDON, Friday, 2.30 p.m.

No official account has been made public.
One hundred and eleven of the passengers have
arrived in Dublin. No authentic list can conse-
quently be yet given.
In two minutes after the collision the whole of
the carriages were in flames.
The catastrophe was so sudden that not a
single cry for help was heard by the guards.
Kingston pier was thronged last night when
the steamer arrived with those who had escaped ;
and the Duchess of Abercorn and the Vice-regal
party were enthusiastically received.
Great excitement prevails in Ireland.

ANNUAL MEETING of the STOUR
BRIDGE AND KIDDERMINSTER
BANKING COMPANY.

The thirty-fourth annual general meeting of
the proprietary of this bank was held at the
Bank. High-street, Stombridge, on Monday
afternoon. Mr. Joseph Pitman was in the
chair.

It was unanimously resolved that the report
be received and approved, with the exception of