The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-08 00:00:00

A Madman in a Railway Carriage.

In one of the third-class compartments of the express
leaving King's-cross Station at 9 15 p.m. on Thursday
night, a tall and strongly-built man, dressed as a sailor,and
having a wild and haggard look, took his seat about three
minutes before the train started. He was accompanied to
the carriage by a woman, whom he afterwards referred to
as his wife, and by a man, apparently a cabdriver, of both
of whom he took leave when the train was about to start.
It had scarcely done so when, on putting! his hand to his
pocket, he called out that ho had been robbed of his purse,
containing £l7, and at once began to shout and gesticulate
in a manner which greatly alarmed his fellow-travellers,
four in number in the same compartment. He continued to
roar and swear with increasing violence for some time,
and then made an attempt to throw himself out of the win-
dow. He threw his arms and part of his body out of the
window, and had just succeeded in placing one of his legs
out when the other occupants of the carriage, who had been
endeavouring to keep him back, succeeded in dragging him
from the window. Being foiled in this attempt, he turned
round upon those who had been instrumental in keep'ng
him back. After a long and severe struggle, which, not-
withstanding the speed the train was running at, was heard
in the adjoining compartments, the sailor was overcome by
the united exertions of the party, and was held down in a
prostrate position by two of their number. Though thus
secured, he still continued to struggle and shout vehemently,
and it was not till sometime afterwards, when they managed
to bind his hands and strap him to the seat, that the pas-
sengers in the compartment felt themselves secure. This
train, it may be explained, makes the journey from London
to Peterborough, a distance little short of SO miles, with-
out a single stoppage; and as the scene we have been de-
scribing began immediately after the train left London the
expectation of having to pass the time usually occupied
between the two stations (one hour 50 minutes) with such a
companion must have been far from agreeable. While the
struggle was going on, and oven for some time afterwards,
almost frantic attempts were made to get the train stopped.
The attention of those in the adjoining compartment was
readily gained by waving handkerchiefs out of the
window, and by and by a full explanation of the circum-
stances was communicated through the aperture in which
the lamp that lights both compartments aro placed. A
request to communicate with the guard was made
from one carriage to another for a short distance,
but it was found impossible to continuo it, and as
the occupants of the compartments beyond the one
nearest the scene of the disturbance could learn nothing as
to its nature, a vague feeling of alarm seized them, and all
the way along to P:lterborough a succession of shouts of
" Stop the train," mixed with the frarr is screams of female
passengers, was kept up. On the arrival of the train at Peter-
borough the man was released by his captors and placed on
theplatforna. No sooner was he there than he rushed
with a renewed outburst of fury on those who had
taken the chief part in restraining his violence, and as he
kept vociferating that they had robbed him of his money, it
was some time before the railway officials could be got to
interfere—indeed, it seemed likely that for some time he
would be allowed to go in the train. As remonstrances were
made from all quarters to the stationmaster to take the fel-
low into custody, he at length agreed, after being furnished
with the name and addresses of the other occupants of the
carriage, to hand him over to the police. The general im-
pressmn of those who witnessed the sailor's fury seems to be
that he was labouring under a violent attack of delirium
tremens, and he had every appearance of having been
drinking hard for same days, Had there been only one or
even two occupants of the compartment besides himself,
there seems every reason to believe that a much more deadly
struggle would have ensued, as he displayed great strength.
One of the persons who was present gives the following ac-
count of what took place :—" I was a passenger with four
other gentlemen by the 9 15 train on Thursday evening
from King's-cross to Edinburgh. Just before starting the
guard pushed into our carriage a man, apparently a sailor,
who seemed to be somewhat intoxicated, and was unable to
sit steadily. We had not proceeded far on our journey when
he became very excited, and after fumbling in his pockets
about a minute he declared we had robbed him of all his
money, and that he was ruined. Thereafter, jumping from
his seat, ho began to rush about the carriage, uttering the
while the ;nest frightful yells and imprecations. Thinking
he was making up a story in order to obtain some money
from us, we at first took no notice of him ; but on his becom-
ing more violent we tried to pacify him in every way we
could think of, but without avail. lie dashed up and down
the carriage, striking out right and left, and it became but
too evident that ho was suffering from an attack of cdeliriumtremens. As the situation was fast becoming alarming, and
all our efforts to stop the train were unavailing, we were
obliged to resost to force. The disturber of our peace was a
strong powerful fellow, and it repired the united efforts
of four of us to secure him. It may give some idea of the
difficulty of our task to state that at one plorgent be threw

himself half out of thelwindow in his endeavours to break
from us, while the next moment one of our party was ex-
posed to a similar danger by being forced against the other
window in endeavouring to hold him. At length we suc-
ceeded in tying his arms behind his back with a strap which
one of us providentially had. Even when he was bound,
his struggles wore so violent that it took two of us to hold
him down on the seat, and we were subsequently compelled
to tie his legs tightly together with our handkerchiefs. As
the man continued very violent and we feared he might
break the strap, which was not very strong, we still endea-
voured to alarm the guard—but though we succeeded in
gaining the attention of the passengers in the carriage next
to ours, we were unable to make the guard hear, or attract
his attention by our signals. We imagined we succeeded
in alarming the officials at one of the stations we passed, as
the danger signals were shown along the line, which caused
the driver to slacken his speed, and we began to hope for a
speedy deliverance; but in a few seconds we passed the
lights, and the speed was increased again, without the train
being brought to a stop ; and we were forced to go on to
Peterborough, where the train made its stoppage about 11
o'clock, having spent on hour-and• a-half in unavailing at-
tempts to alarm the guard. On arriving at the station,
neither porter, guard, nor station-master could be found for
some minutes, though by this time nearly all the passen-
gers in the train were aware of the position of affairs, and
were around our carriage. When at last the station-master
made his appearance, the man, who in the meantime had
contrived to get his hands loose, had the impudence to
turn round and accuse us of having robbed him of Ll 7 ster-
ling. He was, however, at last removed from the carriage,
and we proceeded on our journey. I trust the circumstances
of the case will be sufficient excuse for troubling you at such
length, and that our dangerous journey may strengthen the
demand now being made for proper communication between
passengers and guard. One of our party expressed a wish that
we had been honoured with the presence of a director of the
company, to whom some of our experience might have been
useful. I am inclined to think no one can fully appreciate
the danger of the present system till he make such a jour-
ney as we took last night.—Scotsman.

Horrible Deaths in a Cesspool.—Three Lives

Lost,

GRAVESEND, Saturday Evening.
Early this morning a most shocking occurrence took place
, in a poor and low locality near West-street, in this town,
which resulted in the dreadful death of a sergeant of police
and two labourers, producing a melancholy feeling through-
out the borough. An inquest was held on the bodies of
the sufferers this afternoon at the Town-hall before Mr.
Hilder, the coroner, and from the evidence adduced we
gather the following details :
Shortly before 12 o'clock last night two nightmen named
Edmund Terry, 42, and Thomas Hinckley, 46, were en-
gaged in emptying the cesspool of a water closet, which was
used by a number of poor families who occupy a range of
miserable wooden erections in Passenger-court, running
out of West-street, near the old church. They continued
removing the soil up to half. past two in the morning, when
Hinckley went down the hole by means of a short ladder,
in order to bucket up the filth. He had not been down more
than a minute or so before he was overcome by the noxious
gases emitted from the eoil as it was being disturbed from
the bottom of the cesspool, and fell off the ladder. Terry
then remarked to the son of Hinckley, a lad who was as-
sisting in the unpleasant work, that something had hap-
pened to his father. The lad wished to go down to the aid
of his father, but Terry, having more experience, prevented
him, and at once descended the ladder, and on getting within
a few feet of the bottom, he, like his unhappy companion,
fell off, apparently dead, from inhaling the poisonous air,
The lad Hinckley immediately ran to the borough police
station at the Town Hall for assistance, and Sergeant
Coomber, a very steady and careful officer, at once returned
with the youth to the spot. By the time several of the
neighbours had collected round the mouth of the hole, and
by means of lights it could be seen that the bottom of the
pit was filled with a kind of dense vapour, which threw up
a horrid stench. Sergeant Coomber immediately set to work
in the most heroic manner to rescue the two men who were
lying in the soil. Having obtained a long ladder Coomber
fixed it down the hole. A man named West first volunteered
to go down, but Coomber said he would go, and he at once
proceeded on his fatal descent. He had not gone down more
than six or seven steps, his head being level with the top of
the hole, when he also was overcome by the noxious allu-
via, and fell off the ladder to the bottom of the hole. As
may bo imagined the greatest terror seized upon the small
throng who had collected round the closet, and messengers
were sent to the police-station for further aid. Strict orders
were given to prevent any more persons attempting to de-
scend the hole, and Sergeant White, thechief of the borough
police, directed that one of the third size fire annihilators
attached to the fire brigade depot of the force should be dis-
cha►ged into the cesspool with a view of dispersing the foul
air. This was effectually accomplished by Mr W. F. White
the police clerk, and the most prompt means were taken to
get up the bodies, but some time necessarily elapsed before
they could be brought to the surface. Of Terry only his
legs could be seen, his head and body being embedded in the
soil. Dr. Sanders was soon in attendance, but his services
were of little avail—the death of the deceased men having
occurred almost instantly on the poor creatures coming in
contact with the impure air. As before stated, the water-
closet, which is situated in the middle of the court, is com-
mon to all the poor inhabitants living in the place, and
considering the stench which arose from the foul spot, it is
Somewhat surprising that the locality has been free from
some epidemic. The agent for the houses stated that
the cesspool was emptied about nine months ago. Like
many other places on the banks of the river and on
the coast—some of the most favourite watering-places
Gravesend has no system of underground drainage. It
seemed that the deceased men had lights to assist them in
clearing the hole, but what precautions were taken to
ascertain the state of the air at the bottom of the pit was not
satisfactorily ascertained.
The Coroner having summed up the evidence,
The Jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death in the
three cases.
The Mayor and Mr W. Fletcher, a magistrate, spoke of
the prompt and effectual assistance rendered by the police.
The deceased Sergeant Coomber had been some time in the
borough police force, and was much respected. He had
served in the Crimea, and wore a Crimean and Turkish
medal. He has left a widow and two children.