The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-01-31 00:00:00

TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

On Tuesday morning a fearfnl accident, by which 15
persons were, instantaneously killed, four or five dan-
proudly iojare 4, and about 12 severely wounded,
oecurred on the Glasgow and Edinburgh line of the
North British Railway near B i'ness Junction. Au
early morning train from Edinburgh to the North came ,
into violent culliaion with a mineral train which hod en-
tered the up line from a siding leading from the Monk-
land etem. Tole occurre i immediately underneath a
massive etonebridee, the half of which war carried away.
A great part of the mineral train was smashed, but the
eogmernen escaped utihert. Theengine of the passenger
train was crushed and broken to pieces. The driver was
arca Rally scalded and cut, and died instantaneously.
The fireman, however, escaped with comparatively
trifling Injuries. The lint carriage was a third, claut,
and was broken to gnome. It contained a large number
of passengers, and all of them were killed on the spot.
Following it warn eecond-el Ise carriage, several of the
passengers inn which met with immediate death, and
, others with severe injuriee. The third passenger cer-
riage was much damaged, but the occupants were not
s-verely hurt. A van containing two horses, which
war planed in front of the first teird-class carriage, was
completely broken up. One valuable horse was burnt
to death, and a second was falsity injured and had to
be shot. It is eotnewhat curlew that the demaee
to the permanent way is compara•ively slight, the
explanation being that the paesenger train expended
all its force on the mineral train, and the locomotive,
rising, war caught by the strong stone bridge. The
accident occurred at 7.23 in the morning. The train
had been up to time. The signals were set at
" danger" against the illfated train, and the morning
was quiti clear. One explanation of the cause of
the accident, therefore, enema to be that the driver
had not attended to tie si; na's. At any rate,
according to the story of the fireman, he was not
aware of the existence of any ohstruction on the line
until warned by the officials on the Belnees Junction
platform, which immediately &lulu the bridge.
and the fireman adds that for several minutes previously
he had been engaged breaking coals which were ou
the tender. lii the work he was occupied until the
driver shouted to him to apply the brakes, and before
the applicetion was completed the fatal reach occurred.
A few minutes before the accident the early morning
train from Edinburgh to Glasgow had paesed, and line
aaid that the c inductors of the mineral train, who wire
waiting to shunt it, uatetoelt the Glatgow for the North
eraffi, and c included that there would, consequently,
be no danger,
In the coulee) of the day the b Ake of the killed
were itieutltied by relativee and removed. Most of the
injured were token to the Royal Infirmary, Edin-
b irgh, but some were not she to be removed, and
they have been aecommodated in houses lathe v.ll go
and are being attended by kcal doctors. One of the
patent', a young body, is not expected to recover, said
secoed lies in an almost equally dangerous condition,
se that it is not unlikely thet the already large bet of
fatal cases may be yet immense L It may be men.
timed that tee North Btitish Railway Company are
at present introducing the block aystcni on the
EAubergh and Glasgow line, and that at the time of
the accident the neceaaary preparations were being
made foe its is ab iihment at Ido'nees Junction. Bait
tht t systcne been in operatioa it in believed that ench
, an accident would net have occurred.
- -

The following are the names of t'lle dead, to far as
tiny have been i-lettlied :—Francis Hastie, Corn-
market, Leith ; John Roes, oupmised to be from
Lcndon Singer. a man apparently a tailor, holding a
t•cket fur Aberdeen; Andrew Dixon, 7, Brighton-
street, Edinburgh ; John CaillllB. 98, Fountain
bridge, Edo bareh—an insurance ticket was found
upon him for £200; Robert Allan, driver of the
passenger train, who resided in Edinburgh ; Wil-
lis= Trott •r, 2, Victoria-terrace, E I,brirgh ;
Gilbett Robertson, merchant, 30, Q iality-sereet, Leith;
G. Geddes, Abucnirder, BantLaiire ; and James Leslie,
Edinburgh. Three women were also taken out dead,
and three children, none of whom have been identified.
Two id the women were about 30 years of age; one, a
married woman. bad a paper in her purse, bearing the
name of John IL gg. The chi.dren were a girl aged
I about 8, dressed in winsey frock and yellow pinafore ;
and a boy, 4 year dressed in Stewart tartan.
Among those most severely injured were Mrs.
Lindsay, Ahrit terrace, Aberdeen, whose legs were
both fractured, aid Mrs. Lydia Wilson, Chwch-street,
Cron arty, who was similaely injured. The latter
had both 1 amputate I, and a fatal result is feared
In the case of both ladies. The following were eon-
yeyed to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh :—John
Law, prison warder, Edinburgh, who was accompany-
ing a prisoner to the General Prison. Perth,
suffering from a lacerated wound on the knee and
bruised on the back. lean, Ashenhein, picture
frame maker, Gifford-park. E•linburgio, broken riSs,
cut on the bead, and bridged on the back;
Alexander Forbes, a native of Aberdeen, employed
in the Edinburgh Police Force, who was on his way to
Inverness for in week's holiday, broken leg and
broken arm; William Smith, precentor, Caputh
Dankeld, scalp wound; and Antonio ?dentine, carver
and gilder, Leith-walk, badly sprained ankle and
bruised about the face. Among others injured were
John Ritchie, confectioner, Kliuhnrgh, who was con-
veyed to his home: Mrs. Still, 36, Victoria-street
West, Aberdeen, fracture of collar bone; Simpson,
slightly bruised ; James Gray, cut on the forehead ;
Francis Murphy, cut on the bead; and Margaret
Melee, bruise on the heal.
Toe line was cleared for traffic about midday.

The tolowlr g flictal letter relative to the accident has
been tent to the papers for publicitton :
" I have the painful duty to announce that a most
disastrous accident happened to-day on the North
British Railway at Manuel Junction, neat Linlithgow,
on the Eelinbur4h and Glasgow line, about twenty
miles from Edinburgh. Fifteen persons, including
the engine-driver, lost their lives, and twelve or thirteen
alms sustained Injuries more or lee', severe. Toe
eirtu•netan tea are brh fly as follows : —Two passenger
trains start from Edinburgh daily at 630 aod 6 35
a.m, respectively, in continuation of the London ex-
press. which reach. Edinhur; hatCo '5 &ro. Toe-former la
destin.ol for Glasgow. the I.tter for the North of S.:ot-
tani!, via Labert awl Perth. Both treks departed from
Edinburgh this morning about their proper time. At
Manuel Junction a branch railway from Bo'ness
the main line on the ninth side of it. A mineral train
arrived at this junction shortly before the main line
teams were due to pass, and had occasion to cries
the rine to depoeit a number f mineral wagi one in
the ehiings whioh lie t the south side of the lad-
way. The mineral train waited on the branch rail-
way for the purpose of allowing the passenger train
to pass, and the moment the Glasgow train had passed
the men iv charge of the mireral train brought it
ont upon the main line, r °risibly mistaking the Glasgow
for tie North train, which shortly aft:Twat& came up,
and with great violence ran into the mineral waggena.
the weight of the evidence as regards the signals is
that they were duly exhibited and stood at • danger '
is the face of the appriaching passenger train, and
that the engine-driver rwho woo killed in the so +lent)
failed to °leer": them. The engine dr,ver bore an
irreproachable character, and had been In the service
of the company in that capacity tor upwarde of 20
years—T am,
" SAMUEL L. Masoth
North British Ballway, E linhurgb, Jan. 27."

"CONTEMPT or COTTET."—Neglecting to at.
tend • Levee.—Pumh,