The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-30 00:00:00

ACCIDENT IN TOOLEYS7REE7.

Last night a loud rumbling noise was heard in
Tooley-street proceeding from premises in course of
re-construction there which were destroyed by the
great fire on the 22d of June, 1861, when Mr. Braid-
wood, the superintendent of the Fire Brigade, was
killed. In the course of a few minutes many of the
inhabitants, with a body of the M division of police,
under Mr. Inspector Beckerson, hastened to the
spot, and upon entering Cotton's depot (Scovell's
wharf) they found that three of the arches just com-
pleted, or nearly so, each 417 ft long, and abutting
upon the waterside, had one after the other given
way. Three men, who were at work at the- time.
nearly under them, were completely buried amid
some tons weight of bricks and mortar. Mr. Oliver,
who was superintending the erection ,of the works,
at once suainaoned all bands to his assistance, and
one mau was taken out alive, but so much injured
that it became necessary to remove him to Guy's
Hospital. His name was James Miall, ofl6, Prince's-
street, Deptford. Owing, however, to the prompt
surgical assistance he received, he was in a condition
to be removed to his residence during the evening.
Two other unfortunate men, named respectively
Robert Hawten, of 36, Snow's-fields, Bermondsey,
and Thomas Howard, of the Curtain-road, Shore-
ditch, were found to be completely imbedded in the
ruins, and a considerable time elapsed before they
could be got out, and then both were found. to
be dead. The appearance of the bodies clearly in-
dicated that death must have been instantaneous.
Several surgeons quickly attended, but, of course,
could render no beneficial assistance. The bodies
were at once removed to the dead house in Weavers-
lane, Tooley-street, to await the coroner's inquest.
The cause of the accident is not precisely known,
but from the examination made by the district sur-
veyor he ascertained that men had been engaged
driving piles into the river during the day, and the
inference was that the vibration caused upon the
shore of the river had so shaken the foundations of
the arches as to make them give way, and in conse-
quence he gave orders that no more piles were to be
driven in last night.

MARVELLOUS ESCAPE FR OM A RAIL-
WAY CATASTROPHE.

HEREFORD, WEDNESDAY.
Yesterday an excursion train from Merthyr and
the hills to London was for a moment placed in the
most imminent peril. It appears that between the
Crumlin station and the magnificent viaduct that
crosses the Western Valleys line from Newport to
Ebbw Vale, at a height of nearly 300 feet, an engine
was engaged in shunting some trucks on the line,
when an excursion train containing about 500 per-
sons was seen advancing at full speed. A collision,
attended with the most fearful consequences, seemed
inevitable. To avert what seemed to be an impend-
ing death of a whole hecatomb of lives (for had they
been hurled over the structure every soul must have
been dashed to atoms) was a resultalmosttoomgitrhatia-
fying to be hoped for. Happily, however,
emergency,consetan
ebothos Lame
--
gprineserdrcieveorfs,mwinitdheaquuanlitteo the
d an
d n
tion, reversed their engines, and although the peril
that at one time threatened this
mass of
dhuman
y
beings could not be wholly escaped, he speed
.thof the
contending trains was
so diminished that e
collision which followed no lives were lost. Great
damage, however, resulted to the engines, and a
buffer of that drawing the excursion train was
broken short off. The excursionists were generally
severely shaken ; some received contusions, and, as
maybe well imagined, all were dreadfully frightened
—from which they can scarcely have recovered yet.
The screams of the females, and of many of the other
sex, at the prospect of the death that appeared to
await them, were fearfully heartrending.
The greatest credit is due to the heroic devotion of
the engine-drivers, who, regardless of their own
fate, stuck to their breaks, and thus reduced what
in the future seemed to promise the catastrophe of
the century to a comparatively trifling affair.

MUNIFICENCE OF 1. J. AGAR ROBARTES, ESQ.,
M.P.—Tb.is'gentleman has just handed £l5O to the Na-
tional Lifeboat Institution, in aid of the cost of the Porth-
leven lifeboat establishment. Ile has also promised to give
£5 ss. a-year in aid of the future maintenance of the sta-
station. Mr. Robartes had previously contributed in aid
of the lifeboat establishments at Fowey, Penzance, Lizard,
New Quay, and St. Ives. The officer of the Coastguard
and others state that if the Porthleven lifeboat had been on
t
her station during the heavy gales of last week she
butni alsog
at least have not only saved a shipwreeked.ecereesw
the crew
their vessel, which in its absence went tor
having been fortunately saved by the
has cape
opal et apparatus,
nded altogether
The National Lifeboat Institution,nishiifboat establishments. To-
nearly £4,000 on its
Cot—the Duchy of Cornwall has hitherto
wards this large an2onn- B
ut we do earnestly trust
tg on arethat dangerous coast the
that a. 'deb"
that now liberally every year to keep them in a state
only contributed shout XlOO.
Duchy will help
of efficiency