The Press.
London, England, 1858-08-28 00:00:00

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.

The train became divided in consequence of the
breaking of a centre coupling chain in the acres.
At the same time the two side chains of the same
carriage broke away from the buffer planks.
It is a matter for serious reflection and ranee
investigation, that when the train which comprised
the wliole forty-five carriages together was makiig
for Worcester in the morning, drawn with great
difficulty by two engines, a coupling chain of uine or
other of the carriages broke twice. On one of these
occasions an accident-would have happened similar
to that which nuillappily occurred at night on the
return journey, if it had not fortunately happened
that, instead of an incline being ascended as was the
case at night, an incline was being descended; far
when the chain broke anrther train was following on
the same line of rails only 200 or 300 yards behind.
Singularly enough the first breakage in the morning
took place at one or other of • the stations between
which there happened the calamity of the night. In
regard to the precautions that had been used to
connect the carriages together before the first
breakage we cannot report definitely ; but in relation
to the second breakage, we write upon the authority
of the Rev. E. C. Perry, the chaplain to Messrs
Bagnall, ironinitsters, at Capponflelds, near Bilson,
in saying that the two carriages at which the separa-
tion took place were connected together only by the
centre coupling chain, the two side chains nut having
been useJ. Mr. Perry was in one of the two
carriages at which this disjoining happened, and,
upon getting out to investigate the MUM of it,
directed the attention of the workmen to that fact.
This rev. gentleman haul with him Mrs. Perry, and
200 scholars belonging to Messrs. Bagnall's schools.
From the above stated facts it is evident that this
excursion-train broke in two, during to and fro
journey together, three times, and that the third
breakage led to the killing or wounding of shoat
seventy persons. And we have it from Mr. Adcock,
the secretary of the line, that it was because he
conceivi.d forty-five carriages too many fin one trim,
and had heard of one of the morning breakages, that
in the evening he gave orders for the train to be
divided. Twenty nine carriages, however, seemed °
t
be too great a load for one of the engines•
would seem to have tugged the twenty-nine to Stour'
bridge, where a second was coupled to the first. To
these, however, the labour was so great—M car
words, the train was so heavy—that in candling car
ascent between Brettel.lane and Round Oak streaks
of light were produced from the contact between ale
engines' wheels and this rails upon which they were
grinding. 800
The station-master at Brettel-lane (Mr. E. _
was the first person away from the spot to recel7
One
information of what had happened. Almost home'a,
diately after the train of sixteen carriages .hm
passed his station be was startled by healing tr°
down the line, from the direction in which both 1t
and the train of twenty-nine carriages had gonei:
loci sonorous rep withort as though of a distant thane
clap. With an ejaculation of surprise, mingled ,4
horror, as the true cause of the noise flashed acrut
his brain, be called the attention of his men to
circumstance, and at once determined upon his

arrangements. The remembrance of the breakage
near his station in the morning left no doubt on his
mind that the same thing had again happened, and
that the part that bad broken away had been run
into by the succeeding train. Unhappily, this
conclusion proved to
hisbe only too correet. There
were three men at. disposal. One he sent
towards Worcester with a danger signal to stop any-
thing in that direction, and the other two he took
down with him towards the place of slaughter. Hart
scarcely needed the guard of the second train to
assure him that his fears were well grounded. This
guard was coming up the line to do that which Hart
had done before he left his station—stop all down
trains. Hart told him that this had been effected,
and desired him to perform the same office in the
opposite direction. By the time Hart bad reached
the shattered carriages the line was strewed with the
injured, the dying, and the dead. The passengers
who were able had alighted, and their frantic cries,
mingled with the groans and shrieks of the sufferers
as they lay writhing in helpless agony and beyond
the possibility of immediate identification, were
appalling. Among the passengers was Mr. T. T.
Chillingworth, of the Sydenham works, West Brom
wich, civil engineer. Mr. Chillingworth at once
offered his services to superintend the removal of
the shattered carriages, the disabled engine, and the
conveyance of the uninjured excursionists into the
first part of the train. The servants were directed,
and the volunteers who were busied in this work
consented to act under Mr. Chillingworth's instruc-
tions, and the line was nearly cleared when, at 0.50,
an hour and three-quarters after the accident, Mr.
Sheriff, general manager; Mr. Adcock, secretary;
Mr. Lindsay, assistant engineer ; the two surgeons of
the company ; a body of workmen, bringing a carnage
denominated the " lifeboat," because of the adapted-
nen of its contents to such an emergency, came
down by a special train from Worcester. The first
surgeon on the spot was Mr. Wall, an assistant
to Mr. Norris, of Brierly-hill. The name of this
young man deserves to be placed on prominent
record. Arriving at the spot about five minutes after
the accident, he saw the shocking magnitude of the
work that lay before him. Without ceremony, he
threw off his coat and worked, unaided by any one
else of his protession, for more than half an hour.
.The other principal persons who were there speak
in terms of the highest admiration of the skill and
self-possession of Mr. Wall during this dreadful half-
hour.

When it is known that, by the time the detached
carriages arrived upon the advancing train, the steam
of that train was entirely shut off, and the train had
begun almost to retrograde, it will occasion almost
surprise that the injuries should have been of so
horrible a nature. It is a fact, however, that so
fearful was the velocity at which the carriages ran
back, that the break the guard applied before he
jumped off was, through the friction, burning with a
flame that lit up the line. The concussion was so
great that the engine of the advancing train was
disabled, and the heavy axletree and wheels of one
of the trucks became bent as though they had been
so much lead. Previously to the collision the engine-
driver, stoker, and guard of the advancing train
had all jumped off. The shock was scarcely per
ceived by the passengers in that train, and those in
the carriages that were destroyed were so unconscious
ot'their awful position that bodily anguish and death
seized them while they joked each other that they
were "having extra riding for their money, and were
being taken back to sleep in Worcester."

THE INQUEST.
On Wednesday morning Mr. T. M. Phillips,
coroner for the district, and the jury, of which the
I;cv. J. Bailey was foreman, opened an inquiry into
the circumstances attending the deaths of the twelve
un,ortunate pe►sons who lost their lives by this col-
lision.

The inquiry was opened at the Whimsey Inn,
Chapel-hill, but was afterwards adjourned, for supe-
rior accommodation, to the Bell Inn. The matter
excited considerable sensation throughout the whole
of the neighbourhood.
The Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Rail-
way Company was represented by Mr. King, of the
firm of Collis, Bernard, and King, solicitors, of Stour-
bridge; Mr. Adcock, the secretary; Mr. Wilson, the
engineer; and Mr. Wood, from the office of Mr. A.
C. Sheriff, the general manager of the line.
Mr. Barbary, solicitor, appeared on behalf of the
friends of the deceased, Francis Wills and Henry
Marshall; and Mr. Round, of Tipton, appeared for
the Skeldon family.
The CORONER, in opening the proceedings, asked
if any of the jury were interested in the line of rail-
way on which the accident took place—the Oxford,
Worcester, and Wolverhampton ?
The jury (sixteen in number) severally replied in
the negative, and were accordingly sworn. They
then proceeded to view the bodies at the various
houses where they had been taken. Some of the
unfortunate sufferers presented frightful appearances
—indeed, so mutilated were they in some instances,
thati dentification was impossible.