The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-19 00:00:00

JUNE 191 AA,

THE LATE RAILWAY ACCIDENT.
(From the Preston Pilot.)
We have given in another part of the paper a long
account of the very lamentable accident on the railway,
at Wolverton, on Saturday evening last ; but as
there were two of the passengers who most miraculously
escaped that belong to this immediate district (and who
were in the carriage in which the seven persons were who
were killed), we have been enabled to obtain a few par-
ticulars, which will probably be interesting to many of
our readers, inasmuch as they refer to a gentleman (Mr.
Henry Smith, of Fleetwood) who was one of the suf-
ferers, and who is so well known and so highly respected
in this neighbourhood. The gentleman who has furnished
us with the particulars is Mr. J. Pearson (son of Mr.
Pearson, of Spring-cottage), a student at Cambridge,
and who was returning to his friends in Preston to spend
the vacation. In the department of the carriage in
which he sat he thinks there were three killed, but in the
confusion and bustle which prevailed, and he himself
having been so miraculously preserved, he scarcely knew
what he was doing. Mr. Pearson states that about a
minute or two before the accident occurred, Mr. Smith,
who sat opposite to him, and who was reading a book,
asked him "if he could read in a railway carriage ?"
At that moment there was a slight undulation in
the motion of the carriage, and Mr. Smith laid
the book across his knee at the same time saying,
" This is very like running off the line," and was in the
act of putting down the window when the crash took
place, and he became one of the victi us of the negli-
gence of the company's servant. Mr. Pearson him-
self got bruised, and had the sole of his boot partly
taken off, as well as his stocking cut, and his foot
injured ; he was much stunned, and must have lain
some time before he came to himself ; but when he
did, he found that he was clear of the carriage, though
how he had become so he had not the most distant
recollection. After wandering about for some time,
he went to the place where the dead bodies of those
who had suffered had been placed, and recognized
the gentleman he had been talking to imme-
diately preceding the accident. As is known,
the luggage got all into confusion, and Mr. Pearson
waited till the next mail train to bring his with him, and
on his arriving at home he found, stowed away in his
luggage, the very book which the gentleman was reading,
and which he again recognised. This was a volume
having a label on the side, " Fleetwood Reading So-
ciety," and on the inside label Mr. Smith's name is the
next to whom the book had to be sent, and it appeared to
have been forwarded to him on the 12th of May. We
wonder that some inquiry was not made by Mr. Pearson,
after finding this book, whethere there was not a gentle-
man of the name of Smith at Fleetwood, particularly
after it was known that one of that name was among
the killed. As it was, the first intimation that his
friends had was through the report in the London
morning papers of Tuesday, where it was stated that
one of the bodies had not been owned, nor had he any
memorandum about him to show from where he
came; but that his linen was marked " Henry Smith,"
and gave some other particulars as to his watch-
chain, &c. It being known that Mr. Smith was in
London, and intended coming down, it became almost
certain that he was one of the sufferers, and in con-
sequence his brother-in-law, Mr. Thomas Langton
Birley, and Mr. S. Burridge, who is in the office of H.
Smith and Co., of Fleetwood, went up by Wednesday
morning's mail train, and, on reaching Wolverton, found
that their worst fears were realised, Mr. Smith having,
indeed, been killed. His remains were brought down by
the London express train (which reaches here about
half-past eleven o'clock at night) on Thursday, and
were immediately conveyed on to Kirkham, where
, they will be deposited in the burial ground of
the parish church to-morrow morning. Mr. Smith
was most extensively known as an active agent of
the Belfast steam-boats at Fleetwood ; and his loss,
both as a public man and as a private friend, will be
keenly felt, as well on the other side of the Channel
as at Fleetwood, where be has now resided for some
years. Mainly owing to his activity and enterprise the
line of Irish steamers from Fleetwood has been esta-
blished, and brought to the perfection to which it has
now arrived ; and the only regret is that he has not
longer lived to enjoy the fruits of his untiring diligence
and industry. Not one who knew him but will say,
" We could well have spared a better man."
We have been favoured with the following particulars
of this melancholy and fatal occurrence by Mr. George
Eastham, of Walton-le-Dale, near this town, who was
also one of the passengers in the train to which the
accident happened. He says, that on Saturday evening
last he booked at the terminus of the London and
Birmingham Railway, in London, for Preston, by
a second-class carriage in the mail train. The carriage
in which he was seated was the fifth from the tender,
including the two vans, and he was in the last com-
partment but one, and with his back to the engine.
There were 19 carriages in the train. There were two
gentlemen on his right hand, one on his left, and three
others opposite to him. In the course of conversation it
appeared that the gentleman on his left was only going as
far as Wolverton, and that being desirous of obtain-
ing a little sleep, he had closed his eyes, and requested
Mr. Eastham to waken him on their arrival in Birming-
ham. There is no doubt but that this gentleman was M. r.
Cooper, of Wolverhampton, who was killed. Nothing
unusual occurred until about a quarter to 11 o'clock,
when there was a sudden and most severe shock. Mr.
Eastham's first impression was that one of the tunnels,
of which our readers are doubtless aware there are seve-
ral on this line, had fallen through, and this idea was
somewhat strengthened from its being excessively dark,
so that it was quite impossible to see what was going on.
The shock was almost immediately followed by the crash
of the carriage, the roof was broken outwards, and sepa-
rated from the sides, the sides were smashed in, and at
this moment the bottom of the carriage also broke
up, and the gentlemen who were on the same seat with
Mr. Eastham fell through. He, however, retained his seat
for a few seconds longer, but then fell also on the top of
those who were gone down, and be also became com-
pletely jammed in the broken pieces of the carriage, and
although the screams and groans from those beneath
were truly horrible, yet from his own position he was
utterly unable to lend the slightest aid. He remained
thus for about twenty minutes, when from another
slight motion of the train he was enabled to extricate
himself. While he was fixed in the carriage the groans
from those unfortunate gentlemen who had fallen
gradually ceased as they one after another expired,
until the last cry was heard and the last perished.
On finding himself once more out of danger, Mr. East-
ham had time to notice what a merciful escape he had
had—two carriages completely destroyed, and no less
than seven persons hurried at once into eternity. At the
time of the accident he had a travelling cap on his
head, and was holding his hat in his hand, but both
these were lost. The sole of his left boot was torn
off ; the trousers, on both knees, split up ; his ankles
slightly sprained, and the skin scarred on his knees.
Both the gentlemen on his right hand, and the
one one on his left, were among the killed ; out of
the seven in that compartment only three escaped.
There was a delay of about an hour and a-half at
the Wolverton station, and the train being then re-
formed, he and part of the passengers came forward ;
part stayed at Wolverton, and part determined to go
back to town. Very slow speed was maintained as far
as Birmingham. Mr. Eastham left his luggage at Wol-
verton, and it was forwarded to him a day or two after.