The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-21 00:00:00

Frightful Catastrophe at Brighton.

We remember many alarming accidents that have oc-
curred by falls from our cliffs,ibut the one that took place on
Tuesday afternoon was of a most extraordinary character.
We did not see it, but from the way in which it has been
described to us by several persons who were eye-witnesses of
the accident, it must have been most alarming, and the
escapes of certain individuals miraculous. We take the
following extract, in the first place, from the police-book :
"P. C. Allehureh reports that two horses, attached to a
carriage, ran away from the Clarence-mews, at Kemp Town,
at 3.30 p.m., went down Eaton-place, and across the road
to the cliff, over which they fell, killing both horses, and
breaking the carriage to pieces. No one was injured, the
coachman not being on his box, and no one inside the
vehicle. The carriage and horses belonging to Mr. Humbold,
who resides at No. 5, Percival-terrace." The Clarence-
mews is situated nearly opposite St. Mark's Church,
at Kemp Town, and, from the inquiries we have made, we
learn that the coachman had harnessed the horses to a
vehicle termed a waggonette, in the yard, and had just put
on his greatcoat and gloves, and was in every way prepared
to take the family out for a drive. As ho was buckling the
reins the horses plunged and plunged again, and he en-
deavoured with all his might to restrain them, but they
continued to plunge. He held on as long as he could, but
finding that they were overpowering him, he was compelled
to let go his hold to save his life, and away the animals
bolted at a furious rate, through a field known as Cubitt's
field, and their course was directed along St. Ueorge's-road,
but running the carriage against some posts, they turned
and ran down Eaton-place with great impetuosity, crossing
the road to the Esplanade. and passing between an iron pil-
lar, where water is supplied to the water carts, and a seat,
they broke the rails and went headlong over the cliff. There
is a terrace walk, about 15 feet in height from the beach,
from the Chain-pier to Kemp town, and, in their descent,
in bounding upon this embankment, an eye-witness states
that they threw a complete somersault on to another
causeway below, where some children were in the habit of
playing at marbles; but, fortunately, those very children
who had been playing only a short time before at this very
spot, were at the moment playing under some ba,hing
machines, almost close to the causeway, and both they and
the machines were uninjured. We are informed that it was
a most marvellous escape. It is scarcely necessary to say
that, after falling a distance of 70 feet, almost every bone in
the animals' bodies was broken, and that they were dead
almost instantaneously. Mr. Harvey, of 1, Hanover-place
who formerly had the Hanover Cricket Ground, was riding
on horseback, and had almost crossed the horses in their
path from Eaton-place to the Esplanade, but fortunately
pulled up in time to save his life. It was very lucky tha
no one was crossing the road at the time. It was singular
how the horses could have escaped running against either
the water pillar or the seat, for when measured there were
but a few inches between the pillar and the seat more than
the width of the carriage. We are intormed that the horses
had run away t Rice before. We have also heard that they
were two valuable animals, and that the estimated loss to
the owner is between £2OO and £3OO.—Brighton Gazette.