The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, is:

BRIGHTON RAILWAY.

AMERICA

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR—In a Report from Mr. Robert Stephenson, the
engineer, condemnatory of Rennie's Brighton line, as sane
tinned by Parliament, in the September Railway Maga-
zine, few can fail to be struck with the smallness of com-
parative excellence he ASSUMES even for his more W( stern
Line.
As to one point of the aforesaid assumption, small as
such is, the real state of the case must diminish it still
more, if not turn the scales, and leave Rennie's to have a
prepcinderanee of population, and to a greater certainty, pro-
vided that Line commences at Croydon.
Has Mr Stephenson forgotten that the passengers from
Dover in such case, and intermediate passengers between
Dover and Earlswood Common, would, on their way to
town and back, use the said 10 miles from Earlswood Common
to Croydon ? Moreover, that travellers from Dover to
Brighton would find it much more expeditious and econo-
mical to proceed—firstly, by the South-Eastern Railway to
Earlswood Common, and thence .by the Brighton Railway
to Brighton, and return by the same route ; that inde-
pendent also of the greater traffic from London to Brighton,
owing to the greater proximity, wherefore, convenience per-
sonal, and PURSE AND ALL, to the majority ,Of the start
from London-bridge over that from Nine Elms ? Has Mr.
Stephenson any doubt that Croydon, with a population of
10,000, equals that of Leatherhead and Dorking, and
another small place or two UNITED ? Has he env doubts
that all those other places on or NEAR his Line, which he
has enumerated, are certainly equalled by those remaining
un-mentioned for Rennie's Line, but which exist, never-
theless, with equal certainty, if not on the Line, nearly .so,
or near enough for the inhabitants' to use it—viz., Reigate,
East Grinstead, Ditebling, besides Cuckfield and Crawley,
which many small places he HAS named, and Lewes. and
Newhaven, that without the contemplated branches would
use the main trunk, Shoreham as well ?

FURTHER PARTICULARS.
MEASURES TO BE SUBMITTED TO CONGRESS.
Upon this subject the New YO..k Morning Courier of
the 17th ult. contains these remarks.:—
" As the period approaches when Congress is to assem-
ble, the anxiety of the public to know what measures are
to he recommended by the executive very naturally in-
creases. To arrive at anything like a correct supposition
in this matter, it is necessary to look at the position of' the
party,: as it has justly been called, and the prospect of
their actin.- in harmony in carrying out what are evidently
the views of the administration. We do not ourselves be-
lieve that 11Ir. Van Buren will recommend the adoption of
any course ; but, as in the ease of the. Safety Fond Law
in this state, he will submit to the consideration of'Congress
projects which have received the sanction of tried patriots ;'
and then, if these projects are adopted, lie will claim them
as his own, while, if rejected, or if they become unpopular,
he will wash ids hands of all responsibility, and instruct his
presses to.declaire that he never- committed himself in re-
lation to any of them."
FRIGHTFUL RAILROAD ACCIDENT.—The following par-
ticulars of a railroad accident,. which occurred in Eastern
Virginia on the Ist of Augnst last, on the Portsmouth and
Roanoke railroad, are taken from the Norfolk Herald.
It appears that the regular d lily train left Portsmouth on
Friday fnorning at eight o'clock, with thirteen passengers,
and other cars, and nearly 200 passengers, the greater por-
‘tion of whom composed a party of pleasure from the coun-
ties of Southampton, Isle of Wight, and Nansemond, who
had come down the previous day, and been on a steam-
boat excursion to Old Point Comfort, &c., and were re-
' turning to theicbornes. The train having made the usual
stop at Suffolk, bad proceeded on to Smith's Bridge, a
high embankment over Goodwin's Landing, a mile and a
half beyond. Here there is a gradual rise in the road, and
at the termination of the embankment the road makes a
curve. But before we proceed further, we should state that
there was a lumber train then on its way down, with 15
cars heavily laden with staves, which must necessarily pass
the passenger train at one of the turn.outs above Suffolk.
When the locomotive of the pasen-ger eaii'.lied reached
the curve, and while the whole train was on the embankment
(which at that place is at a greater elevation than at any
other on the whole line, being 35 feet high), the lumber
train suddenly appeared in sight, sweeping down the curve.
The engineer of the passenger train promptly stopped
the locomotive ; but he of the lumber train was either un
able (owing to its being on a descent) to stop his, or did not
see the danger in time, for his engine drove furiously on
against that of the passenger train, forcing it back upon the
first car, which was driven against the second, the second
against the third, and the two latter were crushed to pieces
in the dreadful cbncussion. The greatest havoc, however,
was in the-second car, the first having been lifted from the
rails and propelled over it, raking as it were, fore and aft,
and crushing to death or horribly maiming the passengers
who remained within it. We must leave it to the ima-
gination of the reader to depict the petrifying horrors of
that. awful monient, and of the scene which ensued! Many
who were young and active leaped from the cars and rolled
down the embankment, at the hazard of life or limb. A
gentleman who was casually seated next to a young lady in
the second ear, saw the coming death, and warned his fel-
low passengers of it—he could do no more—and sprang
down the embankment. As soon as he was upon his feet
he looked up—it was all over, and she who had sat beside
him within the passing moment, lay a mangled corpse upon
the seat which he had left.

As for places wrritiN ten miles of town, they are much
on a par, and if Stephenson's had a communication to
within five miles of town for that COMPANY'S Line, whilst
Rennie's cannot approach nearer than ten miles, Stephenson's
CosupanY would have had a sufficient set-off to any supe-
rior quantity of traffic so near town, by the greater expense
of constructing a Line in a Metropolitan vicinity.
Respecting Epsom Races, lot it be recollected that the
direct Line would afford great accommodation, and al-
though unequal to the other in its set down, sucx as
united with the greater convenience of its starting point,
would place them altogether pretty much on a par ; for by
the direct Line passengers would be set down a couple of
miles South of Croydon, at the foot of the Banstead
Dowl s, from whence a mutually profitable interchange of
kind offices between the deposited persons, and a posting
and coaching establiament, or such provision in the Com-
pany's hands for the races only, might be insured ; and any
one knowing the country would admit the accession of
agreeableness to the trip for Londoners generally by a
jaunt of six or eight miles over those fine Downs, which,
with the previous twelve by Railway, might all be accom-
plished within the hour and a quarter. Then, again, there
arc Reigate Races, and Reigate is but a mile from Earls-
wood Common, and is besides a place to which people fre-
quently come over night for the Epsom Races, which are
but eight miles distant there also.
The direct line, therefore, though receiving little profit from
their two-mile passengers to Epsom Races, would still afford
the public, in conjunction with the Greenwich and Croydon
Railway:, considerable accommodation on those days, and,
doubtless, bring vast numbers from Brigl.ton to the same
point, of whose fare, for the forty miles or so, they would
be the ONLY recipients.
On the other points, there has been enough previously
published to make any thing Mr. Stephenson has advanced
(which is in the article alluded to BUT little), innocuous.
I remain, Sir, your obedient Servant,
A CONSTANT READER.
London, Sept. 2, 1337.

Yet only three met with instant death ! That the num.
her was not greater under such perilous circumstances, is,
indeed, wondeildl, and, strange as it may seem, the first car,
and the passengers in it, escaped uninjured!
Five minutes would have sufficed. to have brought the
lumber train to the Suffolk turn-out ; had the passage cars,
therefore, been detained only that brief space, nothing would
hare happened—nay, a single minute, either later or earlier,
would doubless have prevented the collision : for it would
have allowed sufficient time for either train to have cleared
the curve, .so that each could have been apprised in time of
the other'sapproach. It is worthy of remark, too, that at
po other point on the road could such an accident have oc-
curred, unless, indeed, through the intention or neglect of
one of the engineers. •
Those killed were Miss Elizabeth .11 I‘Clenny, daughter
of Mr. Jona" M'Clenny, of Nansemond, Miss Margaret
Roberts, daughter of David Roberts, Esq., of Isle of Wight
and Miss Jemima Ely, daughter of Mrs. Maitha Ely, of the
same county, who was herself dreadfully hurt.
Among those who were dangerously wounded, were Mrs.
Ely, Mr. Wiley Watkins, his wife, infant child, and maid
servant, William Daughtry, Miss Martha and Miss Eliza
Holland, Mrs. Meredith Watkins, Miss M'Clenny the
vounger,.. Mrs. Storey, Mr. Rees Phelps, and Mr. James
'M.. Holland:::
The accident. occurred withiri•loo yardeof.the residence
of Mr. Richard Goodwin, where the dead and wounded
were carried. From this kind and hospitable family, as
well as from the ladies of Suffolk, the unfortunate suf-
ferers received every attention that could be bestowed.
Mr. Goodwin's house presented the appearance of an hos-
pital. Es cry room was filled with beds containing the in-
jured, whose cries and groans were heard afar off. Under
the large shed of his turpentine f..ctory lay the bodies of
the deceased young ladies, surrounded by their mourning
relatives and friends. Two of these young ladies were very
soon to have entered the married state. The accepted of
one of them was by her side, when the death-blow came
upon her, and he could have escaped unhurt, by leaping
from the car, which he said he refused to do, unless he
could have saved her. He remained in his seat, therefore,
and received such injury as he will probably never recover
from.. The young gentleman to whom the other was co-
g:Ted came to the scene a few hours after the accident oc-
curred, and by. the expressions of his grief too well told the
wounds of.his heart. •
The Directors of the Company, upon hearing of the dis-
aster, procekded with an engine forthwith to the house of
Mr. Goodwin; accompanied by Drs. Schoolfield, Butt,
Watts, and Collins, of Portsmouth, and Dr. Williamson,
surgeon of the U.S. Naval Hospital, who promptly volun-
teered his valuable assistance on the occasion, and reachia
there about dark. Immediate and indefatigable attention,
however, had been given to the wounds of the sufferers, in
the interim, by Drs. Webb, Rddick, and Cohoons, of Suf-
folk, and Dr. Purdie, of Smithfield.
ANOTHER FATAL ACCIDENT.—When the Directors and
physicians left the engine, it returned to Suffolk for vtood
and water, propelling before it the coach in which they had
come up. The night was dark, and a heavy rain falling, so
that no look-out could be kept on the road. When within
100 yards of the watering-place, the coach and engine
passed over Mr. James Woodward and Mr. Richard
Oliver, two citizens of the neighbourhood, who were
walking on the track, and so mangled them that the former
died almost immediately, and the latter is so badly injured
that he cannot possibly recover. This accident was wholly
unavoidable—the engineer could not see through the dark-
'. uess (having.a large passenger coach before Lim) that the
unfortunate- men were in his way, and they, .by the same
-cause, together with the pattering of a heavy shower of
rain filling at the time, were rendered unconscious of *the
approach of the train, until they were struck down.
The day's disasters arc as follows :=Four killed, 13
severely wounded, 25 or 30 slightly,
An inqu-est was held on the three deceased'young ladies;
and another on Mr. Woodward, whose verdicts are sub-
joined.
From all that we can learn, there is not a shadow of
cause to justify complaint against the agent and engineer
of the passenger train. The whole blame rests on the
agent of the lumber train, whose duty it was to have de-
tained it at the, turn-out abo‘e Suffolk, until the pasiengor
cars, passing -at their regular hour, had. gone by. But he
is in the hands of the law, and there let us leave him.
VERDICTS OF THE INQUESTS.

Young Hyson, 66,034 ; Hyson, 14,278 ; Gunpow-
der, 7,288 chests ; Imperial, 6,175 ; Skin and
Twankay. 25.1`49. Green„ „, 11A,90
Black Bohea, 1,700 ; Suuchong, 21,022 ; Poit-
chong, 3,866 ; Pckoe and Orange Pckoe, 783.
Total Black

27,37

" We, the Jury, are of the opinion that the deceased
came to their death on the Portsmouth and Roanoke Rail-
road, neap Goodwin's-landing, in the county of Nansemond,
between the hours of nine and ten o'clock A.M., on Friday,
the 11th of August, 1837, by the violent concussion of the
lumber-train coming in-contact with the regular train, which
concussion was occasioned by the wilful mistnanagernent
and gross negligence of the c.iptain and engineer of the
lumber-train,' Gordens Etheridge and Williams, by running
down a rapid descent on a curve of the slid road with great
velocity, at a time when they might reasonably have ex-
pected to meet the regular train."
" We, of the Inquest, find that the deceased came to
his death accidentally on the Portsmouth and Roanoke
Railroad, on Friday night, during a_ heavy rain, by a car
and engine running over his body ; that we entirely exone-
rate Mr. Culpepper, who had charge of the engine ,from
any and all charge of blame, of negligence, or mismanage-
ment on his part whatsoever."
CANTON, APRIL B.—Tile ship Splendid, which vessel
brings you this, is now under immediate despatch hence di-
rect for New York, laden with a general cargo of teas,
adapted for your market, a few silks, and sundries, in con-
formity to the Custom-house Report of-her cargo, which
please find enclused herewith. I subjoin, for your informa-
tion and guidance, the total amount of the exports of teas
from China to the United States, this season; up to this
date, including the cargo of the ship. Splendid, viz.:—
Chests.

(irand Totol „ .„
i 5 Vrey pr9b4bly Hine Tai (itiPsbui