The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-26 00:00:00

DREADFUL ACCIDENT ON THE

HULL AND SELBY RAILWAY.

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We regret to say that one of the most dreadful accidents
that has ever happened on this line occurred on Sunday
evening last. The mail train left the Hull station at 6 P.M.,
for London, Leing drawn by two engines, the " Kingston "
and "York," and having eight passenger carriages and five
waggons laden with fish attached. The train had proceeded
to within about a mile and a half of Hessle, the first station,
where from some unexplained cause the second engine, the
" York," sprang off the rails, and dashed into the passenger
carriages attached to the "Kingston," forcing seven of them
off the rail with terrific violence, and smashing them to atoms.
The greater number of passengers were of course thrown out;
one, Mr. James Brown, of Hessle, tin plate worker, was
killed on the spot; another, of the name of James Waring'
of Dewsbury, was so dreadfully injured that he died at the
Coburg Hotel, at Hessle whither he was taken on the follow-
ing, evening. and eight others are now lying at various
ions in ll..ssle, suffering from the fearful injuries they
have sustained. One of the carriages fortunately es-
caped the catastrophe which betel the others, but it is
impossible adequately to describe the fear and conster-
nation which the passengers experienced at wit-
nessing the awful wreck around them. Such of the other
passengers as escaped, or were only slightly injured, werek
c nveyed back to Hull by an engine with a carriage, which
was dispatched for the purpose, and the mail was forwarded
to London, by a special train from Hull, a few licurs after
wards. On Tuesday last an inquest on the two bodies was
holden at the Granby Inn, in Ilessle, before Mr. Conyers,
one of ti!, county coroners, and a respectable jury, when
the evidence was fully gone into, but very little light
was thrown upon the origin of the accident. Our re-
porter, however, visited the actual spot where it hap-
pened ; and although the line had been repaired, atm
everything possible had been done to remove all trace
of the disaster, it appeased extremely probable, from his
inspection, that some of the sleepers had given Iva.y
from the helvy pressure upon them, thereby displacing
the rails from their original position, and, consequently!
causing the engine to swerve from the line. As a propt
that this was the probable cause of the accident, we may
mention that several of the sleepers in the immediate
vicinity where the accident happened had been raised, and
were found to be broken. The engineer (Sharp), Mr. John
Spicer, of Hessle, and several other witnesses, underwent a
long examination, but nothing was elicited from their testi-
mony calculated to throw any further light upon the subject:
The jury were, therefore, necessitated to return a verdict of
accidental death, but expressed themselves perfectly satisfied
that no blame attached to any particular party.
The following are the names of seine of the persons who
received injuries from this unfortunate casualty, so far as we
have been enabled to ascertain :—John Brown:I-Jessie, dead;
George Waring, dead; Mr. Wood, from Wales, now lying at
the Coburg, with a broken arm ; Mrs. Batty, from Leeds,
lying at the same place, suffering severely from internal in-
juries; Miss II:alma Martin, of Barton, confined to the house
with a sprained ancle. It is only due to the company to
state that the sufferers received the most prompt and kind
attention after the accident, and we have reason to believe
that the funeral expenses of the deceased individuals were
defrayed by the directors.
From inquiries which we have made, we understand that
this is only the second severe accident which has taken place
since the line was opened.