The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1861-09-10 00:00:00

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LONDON RAILWAY.

GIMAT LOSS or Lien.
On Mou.lay night. shortly before half-past "even
o'clock. an accident of • terrible character occurred on
the ilamispameamt Junction hoe of the North London
Railway, in the neighbourhood of Kentish Town. The
circuit...tenets of this shucking event may be thus
titaiCtil :—A railway benevolent association, founded for
the lato-m-0f afford ine relief to the compauy's servants,
gives an annual excursion in aid ef its funds, and the
event Imo the year sac fixed to take 011 Monday ata 'spot on
the liainimmdsmat Junction Bailers'', and aonsequently the
*hole of the stations from Bow were crowded during
the tor. tioon by members of the WOCi•iiI011 and their
friends, anxious to tithe part in the day's enjoyment at
Kew, to which place it was proposed the ascension
alioeld be made. The trains continued to start front an
early hour, until a little peat one o'clock, by which
time upwards of 7,000 people had left the various
stations. Tim trains arrived in due course at their
destination, and, after speeding the day in the de-
lightful neighbourhood of New, the excursiorists com-
menced to return to their homes. The first train left
Kew with • laige number of passengers at about fire
iniuutcs to omven o'clock. The train consisted of 24 or
26 carriages, and was drawn by a tank engine. It
proceeded safely along the line till it reached a point
about iniilway between Camden and Kentiah Town
stations, when time fearful occurrence took place, the
particulars of which we now recnrd. At. spot within
400 or WO yards of the latter station is • very hgb
embankment, come 45 from the level of the field
beneath. The spot im, known as Gospelmoak-fleld, and
ii appmeelmed by Gordon-house-lane from the main
rood. At the bottom of this lane is a in:salve viaduct
of greet expanse, and at least 40 feet high. It would
mesa from as examination of the line made afterwards
that a few yards distant down the rails from this bridge
is • ' , and at the moment when the excursion
train had left the Kentish Town Station A trsin coin'
poised of some 24 treat, all heavily laden with ballast,
was being billilli4hl aortas from the up on to the down
line. The result was, that the engine of the Kew train
dashed into the central ballast trucks, scattering that
train and throwing the foremost portion .of the
passenger train doe n time enibmantent into the field
below. The scene was • terrible oae. The cries and
shrieks of the paasengers were of the most fearful
diameter, and it was soon perceived that the engine
had left the metals, aad after traversing the permanent
way for a short distance turned towards the enhenit-
went, down which it was precipitated, sod finally
rested, wheels upwards in the air ; the funnel was
knocked off, and the top portion of the locosuotive
was firmly filed in the earth, showing the violence with
which it turned over. The engine, in ita descent, had
drawn four of the carriages over e ith it, and they
were found resting upon each other, forming a pile
reaching almost to the annitnit of the embankment,
•Itile a fifth carriage, which had struck the masonry
of the viaduct. had been timid partially across the line
and hung one end over the side of the embankment.
As may Ito readily imagined the carriages were much
broken, and the pea/wagers suffered in • frightful
degree. For • num nothing could be effected to release
the unfortunate inmates of the earriagea inas-
much as the Mitsui from the engine quite obscured
the spot, and the weight of the uppermost vehicles
rendered moistener to the occupants of the lower onea •
ing;tsr of impossibility. The treitienmious crash caused
by the engine, and carriages being dashed down the
einhanknwat attracted a number of people to rush At
ouce to the spot, anml every effort was made to rescue
the unfortunate sufferers who were buried in the broken
csrriagems. Tho first person was a poor woman, who was
removed from the undermost carriage and carried into
the field, where it was found that she was frightfully
mutilated, and quite dead. The next was a gentlemanly.
dressed person who had his head literally swathed in,
and he was also dead.
Wheo the news of the accident became known the
greatest excitement prevailed, not only in the district,
but at every station on the line, as it was clear that this
was the first of the return excursion trains, and that
souse 6000 or 6600 inure people were behind. Of course
the line was blocked, and it was impossible for the other
trains to be ran through. The greatedi anxiety, there-
fore, prevailed, as it was not till near midnight that
any of the other excursionists could proceed towards
their homes.
At the spot itself the 'scene was one of a truly awful
character. The line and viaduct, nearly fifty (eft front
the level, were crowded with human beings. and their
dark outlines were plainly visible from the stare of
numberleas fires, which had been lighted at different
Points. Below this, and ranging down the whole OUP
bankment, were similar precautions, while atthebottom
in the fiehle, were cotgregateml swum 15.000 or 20,000
people, and it was only by the exertions of the police
that the vast crowd could be kept back in order to allow
the workmen to carry on their painful task of removing
time debris and liberating the unfortunate sufferers. On
either side of the viainat also were some hundreds al
people congregated; and altogether the scene was one
which will not be easily forgotten by those who witnessed
it.
The driver of the passenger train was an old servant
of the company, named John Scott. and it was reported
.t first that he lend been killed with the fireman when
the engine went off the line and down the embankment.
On inquiry however, it was ascertained that Scott main
heed. although his left thigh bone and right arm were
(metered, and he is otherwise injured.
With regard to the can-.e of the ambient, the queation
is as to whether the signal was properly given to the
driver of the New train that the line was blocked by the
shunting of the ballast brain; and the state in which
Scutt, time driver at present is, renders it Impouible for
. him to make any statement as to whether be could see
the signal, which was said to be "down." and by which
be should have stopped his train. However, a full
investigation of the whole matter will be made.
More than a dozen persons hive been killed and at
least 70 others wounded.
Between fifty and sixty persons were conveyed in
vans, cabs, and other vehicle. to various hospitals, many
of which were in such • precarious state as to preclude
the possibility of their recovery.
A wore distrecing scene than was witnessed at the
UiOver-dIY Collette Hospital soon after the accident no
language could describe. Persons who had sustained
the most frightful injuries were brought in vane, in
carts, in cabs, indeed by every sort of conveyance which
was at all available for the purpose. Their shrieking'
and groaning" were fearful. Many prayed that they
might not be removed from the eatables in which
they were brought to the hospital, but might be left to
die. This was the case with the stoker of the engine
who, although must f.ightfully scalded, was perfectly
sensible, aid i seemed to be aware that the
tread sentence of death had been too surely
pseud upon him. One little boy about 2 years
old was brought to the hospital with his entrails gushing
out th neigh abort ul wound he bad received. The surgeons
who were in attendance at the hospital did all they
could fur the sufferers, and the assistance of other
medical gentlemen in the neighbourhood was at once
willingly rendered. The streets round the hospital were
covered with hay and straw saturated with blood. It
had been thrown from the vans in which the injured
persons had been brought ibare. At the Great
Northern Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital in Gray's-
inn-lane, end Middlesex Hospital, to all of which num-
bers of the sufferers were taken, the same distressing
and harrowing scenes occurred.
Vise having afforded the opportunity of collecting
the dotage eouneeted with this catastrophe, following
so rapidly as it has done upon the heels of the corms-
=.
railway admit, at lirichtoo, the results have
suiertained to be Man dmasermus than was at
first anticipated. Although some thirteen or fourteen
only at this moment of human beings are numbered
with the dead, the frightful injuries unstained by many
of the surviving sufferers are of that character, it is
feared to be mere than probable, that the number
terminating fatemly will be doubled ; indeed, there
were many cases mentioned where it was feared the
nefortunete patients could scarcely live to see (lie
morning light.
Passing from this portion of the subject to the
equally melancholy one of the scene of the accident
itself and its probable cause, it may be mentioned that
not only did thousand* of spectators remain on the
apot during the greater portion of Monday night, wit-
nessing the efforts of the workmen on the line, but
many hundreds ondinued rivetted to the spot till
, morning's dawn. This circumstance reniiered it name-
' vary also for the police, under Inspector Fidge, of the
SO:vision. to remain on duty. As morning approached
• must paiuful rumour prevailed ; in the hist place
that the pointanian had been cat to pieces, and a
second one that his body eas under the engine, which
still lay units side on the bottom of the embankment,
winch floes the summit, where it left the metal., is
0,,.r efty jet I. Euautitioo, s,re tussle tinder tic
engine sufficiently to test this point, which satisfactorily
primed time useth was net the case.
.ijabgagialnqatript loin been instituted throughout
elts-iiny cllo-treertitipisenissl a boz , tb•
efforts have berg OA, kis" that they
more than doabi• forty Or ffer Ish have been