The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-13 00:00:00

MELANCHOLY CATASTROPHE
ON THE GREAT FRENCH NORTHERN RAIL-
ROAD.
We jay before our readers the following details of this me-
lancholy affair, as published in the Paris journals of Friday
and Saturday, or which had become known in the French
capital up to post hour on Saturday. •
The National of Friday gives the following on tilt, autho-
rity of a person who was at the scene of the accident, and
gathered his information from persons who witnessed it :
" The train consisted of twenty-four carriages, and was
drawn by two locomotives. At five minutes past three the
train was in front of the village of Fampoux and near Wens,
where there is an embankment near a deep lake over a peat
bog. At this point the rails were either disjoined or dis-
placed, or broken. The first locomotive, however, got over
them, but the second entered the sand without going com-
pletely off the rails. The violence of the shock, from this
sudden stoppage, was such that the chain which united the
carriages to each other was snapped like glass, not precisely
close to the locomotive, but at the fifth or sixth carriage. The
carriages thus detached were thrown into the marsh. The
first was literally broken to pieces, others were upset and
submerged. Y esterday the&yere nine• carriages lying on
the embankment where they h7td,stopped after the first im-
pulsion had ceased. Nobody can know exactly the number
of passengers killed or drowned. The-water is very deep at
this spot. The company admits that 11 dead bodies have been
removed. The person from whom we had our information,
heard on the spot, that up to yesterday it was ascertained
that there were 17 killed. The Liberal of Douai states
the number to be 20. As to the number of wounded,
one account gives 15. At Douai and Arras, however,
it was said that 50 persons had been wounded, which is
not impossible, as 15 carriages ran off the rails, and we may
suppose that most of the passengers in them received more
or less injury. It is impossible to conceive the alarm and
anxiety that were felt at the different stations towards Bel-
gium at the non-arrival of the train. The delay was the
subject of general conversation of the crowd who had assem-
sled at the stations. When the report of the accident had
spread there was a concert of imprecations against the com-
pany. It was said that they. were not provided with materiel,
that their personnel was without experience, and that the
whole service had been carried- on in a shameful manner.
It was added that in many parts of the line it was easy to
see_that the earth had sunk, and the directors were bitterly
reproached for having opened the line without having taken
proper precautions for the safety of the public- So great,
indeed, was the indignation, that it was found necessary to
order the troops at Arras, Douai, and Valenciennes, to enter
the different stations to prevent serious disturbance. Car-
riages had been sent for to Douai, but there were none there,
and it was found necessary to borrow from Valenciennes
those belonging to Belgium. When it was known that linen,
lint, and surgical instruments had also been sent for, the
emotion became general. General Oudinot and his wife
were in the train, but quite at the end, in their private car-
riage, and they experienced no injury. It is said that one
of their men servants was precipitated into the water, and
laved himself by swimming. M. Lestiboudois, the Deputy
'Or Lille, was in one of the submerged waggons, but he
iavec: himself by swimming, and had only his wrist put out
of joint."