The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-08-13 00:00:00

SERIOUS RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

On Monday afternoon a collision of a serious nature
occurred at Blackburn Station, and caused the lo,ss
of four lives, with serious injuries to several other
passengers, as well as to three railway servants.
The 2.25 Lancashire and Yorkshire Midland ex-
press from Manchester to Edinburgh and Glasgow
through Hellifield ran into a stationary Liver-
pool train. The engines and three carriages in each
train were broken up. The van of the Manchester train
was completely smashed, hut the guard escaped with
a few bruises and a slightly fractured leg. The pas-
sengers injured were got out in less than half an hour,
and 17 were sent to the infirmary. Mr. Charles
Lomax Tiplady, an accountant, of Blackburn, and
Mrs. Hargreaves, of the "Commercial" Inn, Dar-
wen, died at the station Victorian° G. D. Ysaai,
Brondesbury - villas, Kilburn, and Mrs. Swift,
Buller-street, Bradford, died at the infirmary. The
injittred were John Lathom, Liverpool; James
Morrow, Bradford ; John Swift, Bradford; John
Leach, Ann Leach, and James Leach, Bradford; Joseph
arnett and Mrs. Ferguson, Aspatria ; Mrs. Mitchell,
Accrington ; Miss Cardiff and Mary Eashall, South-
port; Deborah and Elizabeth Sharpies, Oswald-
twistle ; Mr. West, Great Northern Railway Com-
pany, Leeds; James Bedford, Burnley ; Mrs: Hay-
tbornthwaite, 5, Victoria-place, Liverpool; R. T.
Durant, firm of Durant and Son, Royal Exchange,
Manchester; Jane Stinger, Appleby, near Penrith ;
and James Wilson France, 13, Young-place, Bolton.
The injuries received by the last four are par-
ticularly serious. The driver of the Manchester engine
escaped with broken arm and a few bruises, but his
fireman was badly hurt. The driver of the stationary
engine was carried to the infirmary with fractured
leg. The traffic on the line was completely stopped,
and gangs of men were engaged up to a late hour in
removing the debris. The cause of the accident was
not ascertained at the time, but it was attributed to
a want of brake power in the Manchester express.
The driver did apply the brake, but the train only
slackened its speed very little.

Another account says :—" The Liverpool express
arrived punctually, and an engine immediately backed
up to the rear of that train for the purpose of shunting
a Pullman carriage to attach to the Sheffield express,
which was shortly expected. The engine had just
been coupled to this carriage when the Manchester
express dashed into the engine and caused a wreck of
the most appalling description. The two engines locked
into each other and the crash sent forth a most deafen-
ing noise, which rent the air. Two of the carriages of
the Manchester express were completely telescoped,
end detris was piled up in a heap and scattered in all
directions. A sickening sight immediately presented
itself, and the screams of injured passengers mingled
with the roar of steam and the cracking of wood. All
possible assistance was speedily rendered, and several
medical men soon appeared on the scene. The pas-
sengers were extricated from the debris as speedily as
possible and removed into the waiting-rooms where
their injuries were attended to. The second and third
carriages of the Manchester express were telescoped,
the end of the third into the rear end of the second,
and they had risen to a great height. The fore part
of the second carriage was
,down on the ground, and
the passengers of these two carriages were very much
injured.
"The Liverpool train consisted of eight carriages,
including a van, a first and a second-class carriage,
two thirds, and two composite carriages; and the
Manchester train consisted of -five ordinary and one
composite carriage. Mr. Charles Lomax Tillady,
accountant, of Blackburn, who had taken a second-
class ticket for Haelingden, had just entered the
train when the collision took place. He was so
seriously hurt, that although he was at once
taken out, he did not speak afterwards. He
was removed to the " Star and Garter" Hotel,
opposite the station, and expired in the course of about
half an hour. Mrs. Hargreaves, of the " Commercial
Inn," Over Darwen, was in the same train, and she
sustained fatal injuries. A man named Roberts was
the only other person in the compartment with Mr.
Tiplady, who sat opposite to him, and he escaped with
very slight injuries. The unfortunate gentleman
named Ysasi expired just ac he was being conveyed
into the Infirmary, and Mrs. Swift died shortly after
admission."

The coroner's inquest on the bodies of those killed
at the above railway collision was opened on Tuesday
afternoon, when evidence of identification was taken
as to the four persons lying dead, after which the
inquest was adjourned until Tuesday next.