The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-10 00:00:00

FROM A PASSENGER.

When we crossed the channel for England in
the afternoon, nothing could be more beautiful
than the scene on board the passage-boat. All
seemed happy and delighted, and although I have
performed the journey on many occasions, I don't
think I ever had a more delightful trip, as the sun
shone out brilliantly the whole of the time we were
afloat, and the sea was without a ripple. We
entered the train in waiting at Folkestone, and in
a few minutes we were on our road to the metro-
polis. Just as the train arrived at Staplehurst,
and while I was reading the severe comments
made in one of the morning papers on the railway
accident at Shrewsbury, I and my fellow passengers
were startled by a deep and heavy sounding noise ;
then followed two terrible jolts or bumps, and,
in an instant afterwards, from bright sun-
shine all became darkness, and, to me,
chaos. In a second or two I found myself
enveloped in moisture, and then, in the ter-
rible din, I became conscious that an accident
had happened to the train in which I was a pas-
senger. I found myself afterwards up to my knees
in water, in the middle of a heap of broken carriages,
amidst which the whole of the party I had seen but
a short time ago on board the steamer were lying.
The carriages, with one exception, I now
discovered had been thrown from the bridge over
which the trains pass at Staplehurst into
the water below, and death and destruction
reigned around. The remains of the shattered
carriages were projecting wheels upwards from the
water, and the screams of the sufferers were heart-
rending. Immediately I could relieve myself from
the perilous position, I, with some other gentlemen
who fortunately escaped with a few bruises and a
plunge in the water, endeavoured to extricate some
of our less fortunate fellow-passengers. We suc-
ceeded after great difficulty in getting a female from
the muddfbed of the river, all but dead, and as we were
assisting another sufferer, Mr. Charles Dickens, the
world-renowned novelist, who was a passenger,
came upon the scene. He, it appeared, had occu-
pied a seat in the only carriage that did not go over
the bridge, although the chance that it did not do
so was the slightest in the world. This carriage,
which was the first from the engine, had held
firm by the coupling iron to the tender, and thus
it was prevented sharing the fate of the others,
although it literally hung half upon the line, half
down bank, and high above the terrible confusion
below. Mr. Dickens was most energetic in the
assistance he rendered to his fellow passengers. I
heard this gentleman call for brandy for some of the
wounded persons, but unfortunately none was at hand,
it being with the luggage, or else in the possession
of those who were struggling In the river. As
brandy was not to be had, Mr. Dickens took off his
hat, and having filled it with water, I saw him
running about with it and doing his
best to revive and comfort every poor crea-
ture he met who had sustained serious
injury. Another gentleman, who I afterwards dis-
covered to be Mr. Samuel Reed, a gentleman con-
nected with the Illustrated London News, acted in
a praiseworthy manner, for although he had a
narrow escape from a terrible death, he with great
nerve assisted in extricating those imploring help
from beneath the carriages. One lady whom I
had particularly noticed on board the steamer as
being a very fine and handsome person I saw
taken from the water, she had been actually crushed
to death, and, as she was laid on the bank, her
husband, who had been previously frantically
running about exclaiming "My wife, my wife,"
came up, and when he discovered that the
mangled and disfigured corpse was that of
her he was in search of, he sat down by the
side of the body, a figure of utter despair. I can-
not dwell upon the terrible scene. It is too much
for human nature. Nine or ten persons had been
killed, and God knows how many wounded."

A telegram kas been received to-day (12 o'clock)
from Staplehurst, stating that no further deaths
than those announced had become known. The
persons whose injuries precluded their removal are
all progressing in the most favourable manner.