The Express.
London, England, 1860-09-06 00:00:00

SIRANXIA.

Toe Reynolds
W anaylbsaa ; Downlna. —THE SPOILILD CHILD. The
Litille Warler.—The Srd A t of JaNr mionc. sin V. Yarnold.
•••••• A Lai lel A LIVE. Mr. and Mr. Cranford.

MON WATILD AT LONDON BILIDOL
Tits DAT —Nandi& I& Arisrsooa, Sd rid
To-Do•Do.—)iontia& ADdraoce, 61%. s7a.

LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPT. 6.

THE .tUtllllin Excuaiou Season rarely passes
over a ithout a hatch of serious railway acci-
dents. But we rarely have to record one
bi all respects so disastrous, accompanied with
such a sacrifice of life, and such extensive
injuries, as that which occurred near Helnahore,
about eighteen miles from Manchester, early on
Tuesday morning last. Ten persons were
killed on the spot ; while upwards of
fifty received injuries so serious, in the shape of
broken limbs, fractures simple or compound, con-
tusions, and dislocations, as to require immediate
medical attendance. The main facts of this ter-
rible calamity may be soon told. There was a fete
at the Bellevue Gardens, near Manchester, on
Monday, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Rail-
way Company provided three excursion trains to
convey the holiday-keepers from Colne and the
iutermetliate stations to .Manchester. The three
trains, each carrying about a thousand passengers,
returned from the Manchester station one after the
other about eleven o'cli-ek on Monday nigiit. The
first reached its destination iii safety, and the second
had accomplished the greater part of the journey
without anything occurring to excite suspicion or
alarm. The pace of a crowded excursion train is
generally slow, and this unfortunate train, con-
sisting of more than twenty carriages, and carry-
ing a thousand passengers, reached Helinshore
about a quarter to one on Tuesday miming. This
station is situated near the top of a steep incline,
extending some miles towards Manchester. Here
the great body of the carriages became detached
from the engine and a few immediately behind it,
by the sudden breaking of the coupling chains of
a carriage belonging to another company and bor-
rowed for the occasion. Accounts differ as to
whether the chain was broken by the rebound of
the buffer springs when the train stopped, or by
the sudden tug on the connecting links when the
engine began to move again. But in either case I
subsequent examination proves that the imme-
diate cause of the fracture, and therefore of
the accident, was the bad state of the chain,
the iron of the broken link being weak,
worn, and obviously defective. Being on 1
an incline, the detached carriages began at
once to roll backwards, at first slowly, but soon,
impelled by their own weight, with greater rapi-
dity. It would seem to be a simple and easy
matter to stop a lute of carriages when they first
begin to move in this way ; and had there wily
been a sufficient amount of break power in the train
it would have been so. Unfortunately, however,
the train was only provided with two breaks, of
which only one was available. According
to the edictal accounts both guards were out of
the train—iii other words, away from their poets—
when the carriages began to move. One jumped
in immediately, and applied his break ; but the
other, being engaged with the passengers who had
alighted, was unable to follow his example. The
single break was utterly useless, and the detached
train was soon rolling rapidly down the gradient
to meet the third excursion train, which, having
left Manchester soon after the second, and with
a lighter load, was close behind. The fatal colli-
sion took place about a quarter of a rink, from the
fielmsliore station. The driver of the third train,
on reaclung the curve of a cutting near that point,
saw the carriages approaching, and immediately
reversed the engine and applied the break. Bat
it was too late, and he had only just time to lay
duet' on the bed of the engine when the
crash came, covering engine and tender with
the w te. k of wreuched iron and splintered
wood. The three foremost carriages were thrown
into the air, and fell with their mangled occupants
011 th• embankment. " Fragments of the car-
•• nag•-c w ere scattered ill every direction, the roof
" of one being thrown over the engine of the
" third train. The iron work of the carriages
" was heitt like so lunch line wire, and the
" springs snapped like glass. The dead and the
** dyu.•g were beneath the the latter
" tuni„ling their agonising cries with those
" who were crushed and jammed between,
" the seats, under the wheels, and ill other
" equally dangerous positions." Fortunately it
was a moonlight night, and, watch fires being
speedily lighted along the line, no time was lust in
extricating those who still survived from the crush-
ing reins of the wreck. Many hours, however,
elapseit before all the dead were removed and the
inultitade of living sufferers n•lieved.
The !irst thing that strikes us in this terrible
catasto-:die is the simple nature of the accident,
and t'.- ease with which it might have been
avoi•le.! !loathe cammonest precautions against such
an °cr.!' rent.° levee taken. It is mouniful to think
that for culpable negligence this grievous hug
of life aiid injury of limb, with all the family deso-
Lition cued individual suffering it has produced,
might ki11..• been avoided. A little ordinary fore-
sig!it gad vigilance would have prevented the
a•eideut by which the carriages were detached, or