The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-22 00:00:00

THE HUDSON RIVER ACCIDENT.

The American papers furnish some particulars of the
fearful accident on the Hudson River Railroad, when
many of the passengers were burned. The disaster is one
of the most appalling ever chronicled even in the railroad
accidents of America. On the night of the 6th of February,
a freight train laden with petroleum oil, was proceeding
from the village of New Hamburg, pn the Hudson River
Railroad, when just as it entered on the bridge to the
south of the village, the axle of one of the cars broke, and
the car was overturned on the left hand line, up which the
Pacific passenger train from New York was then rushing
at express speed. There was no time to signal, and the
locomotive of the passenger express ran into the over-
turned freight car, which it smashed to pieces. The oil
instantly blazed up and enveloped everything in fire
and smoke. The flames spread so rapidly that
the beams and pillars of the drawbridge, and till the
freight cars but three were saturated with the burning
oil. A vast column of fire, surmounted by a dense cloud
of smoke, shot up from the tangled mass of cars and the
burning bridge, and lit up the frozen river and the snow-
covered hills for miles. The agonised cries of distress and
wild alarm, and the shrieks of the dying rose upon the night
air, and smote upon the hearts of the few spectators, who
were compelled to witness without being able to rende.i
the slightest assistance, the appalling calamity. The in-
flammable liquid was rolling in every direction, and the
cars of the express train were soon on fire. A new horror
was then added to the scene by the fall of the bridge which
was weakened by the intense heat, and suddenly gave way,
precipitating an express car and a sleeping car into the
river. The petroleum spread out on the ice a sheet of fire,
enveloping the bridge and piers, and surrounding two
icebound schooners, which lay within a few feet of the
drawbridge at the north side, and these craft were only
saved by the powerful play of water kept up by a
steam fire-engine 'called the " William Gardiner,"
from the adjacent village of Wappinger's Falls.
Nothing could be done to rescue those who had
gone down into the dark current, and when morning
dawned those unfortunate persons were entombed beneath
a solid mass of ice. The work of recovering the bodies was
a most arduous one, as the carriages were covered by the
ice and debris of the bridge, and immense beams
of timber still on fire. Many of the bodies
were so disfigured as to prevent identification.
There is an uncertainty as to the number of those who
were lost in the fatal scene. They have been variously
estimated at from forty or fifty to seventy. Great blame
has been attached to the railway company for allowing an
express train and an oil train to pass over a wooden
bridge, that was known to be in a frail condition,
at . the same time. There were many chances
against a collision, but the arrangements in question
were decidedly faulty, and the structure of the bridge is
proved to have been unequal for an exceptional pressure.
Hopes are expressed that the Legislature will interfere to
prevent the recurrence qf a similar calamity to this Hud-
son disaster, which has cast a gloom over the length and
breadth of the State.

The honcur of knighthood is to be conferred on
Mr. Boxall, R. A., on his retirement from his post at the
Royal Academy.
CRYSTAL PA LA CE.—One Shilling Day, Tuesday,
21st February, 1871.—Admission by season tickets,
2,069 ; ditto on payment, 1,126 ; total visitors, 3,195.
HAYMARKET THEATRE. eir Royal Highnesses
the Princess Louise and Prince Arthur, accompanied by
Prince Christian, and attended by a brilliant suite, visited
this theatre last evening, to witness the performance of
" The Palace of Truth."
It is reported that a parish priest in the county
Limerick, up to Wednesday last, has netted the sum of
£2OO for marriage fees this Shrovetide. " This fact,"
says the Limerick Chronicle," is most significant of the
prosperity of the agricultural class in this county."
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