The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-14 00:00:00

MELANCHOLY CATASTROPHE
ON THE GREAT FRENCH NORTHERN RAIL-
ROAD.
We lay before our readers the following details of this me-
lancholy affair, as published in the Paris journals of Friday
capital up to post hour on Saturday.
andand Saturday,
was
fo
found
d nwhichece s hadsar y becomet
o borrow
"
known
fromi in
Valenciennes the
French
following on the 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 Rceux,
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. Yesterday there were nine carriages lying on
the embankment where they had 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 mile, 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 lied assem-
bled at the stations. When
p the report of the accident had
pread there was a concert of imprecations against the coin-
any. 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
t was added that in many parts of the line it was easy to
ee that the earth had sunk, and the directors were bitterly
eproached 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
rder the troops at Arras, Douai, and Valenciennes, to enter
he different stations to prevent serious disturbance. Car-
riages had been sent for to Douai, but there were none there,
those belonging to Belgium. When it was known that linen,
el ?en ro,t i
oannd
tiseuz
aiems i cea. 1
giennsetrraulm e nGt se nhe
raad also b
lOudinot
tn
asnedn t
hisfo r, ttie
wife
were in the train, but quite at the end, iil their private car-
riage, and they experienced no injury. It is said that one
of their men servants was precipitated into the water, and
saved himself by swimming, M. Lestiboudois, the Deputy
for Lille, was in one of the submerged waggons, but he
saver, himself by swimming, and had only his wrist put out
of joint."
The Epoque states, from information received on Thurs-
day, that the number of persons killed was sixteen. The
Gazette des Tribunaux gives the following account of the
accident :
" At a quarter past two the train had passed Arras, and
was approaching the station at Rceux. At this place the
road is over an embankment about seven metres (22 feet
English) in height, and is in the midst of the peat grounds
which abound in this part of the country. On each side of
the road are deep marshes, full of stagnant water. The loco-
motives, followed by their tenders and waggons, passed
'freely over, but all at once a sudden shifting of the
rail thresse'sthe baggage waggon off the line. The first
carriage was upset, and remained suspended over the
bank; the other carriages struck against it, and were falling
'one after the other into the water, but one of the chains that
connected the carriages broke, and the remainder of the train
remained on the road. Some of the waggons thrown off the
road disappeared in the water; others that were upset nearer
the bank were half in the water with their wheels in
the air. Amongst the passengers who escaped, all who were
not paralysed with fright hastened to the assistance of
the persons who had fallen into the water. Admirable
traits of courage and devotedness are recounted. M.
Lestiboudois, the Deputy! for Lille, who was in one
of the last carriages of the train, plunged into the
water six times at the peril of his lite, and brought out
one of the passengers who was on the point of perishing. A
man in the service of the company, named Carre, at the sight
of the danger jumped into the water and swam away to avoid
the carriages, which were falling into it; but en hearing the
cries of the sufferers lie returned, and plunging several times
saved five lives. The number of persons killed or drowned
is not yet known, but we are assured that three of the rail-
road carriages, and a messageries diligence called Les Picardes,
had completely disappeared in the water."
The Debuts says :—" The private carriages of the Princess
de Ligne, wife of the Belgian Ambassador, of Madame la
Marechalle Lauristan, and of General Oudinot, which were
immediately behind the locomotives, were completely pre-
served. The water on the peat ground, where the carriages
were thrown over, is several feet in depth, and this caused
the death of some persons by drowning. The Minister of
Public Works immediately sent off to Fampoux M. Frissard,
inspector of ponte-et-chaussees, and charged with the direc-
tion of the Northern Railroad."
The Patric of Friday evening states that the number of
carriages forced off the rail by the shock was thirteen, and
that eight of them and a luggage waggon wore precipated
into the water, which is of considerable depth at this spot,
the extraction of the peat having been carried down very
low. "At the date of the last account (says this journal)
the Laffitte diligence was still at the bottom with its passen-
gers. The number of dead known was fourteen—viz., the Aide-
de-camp of General Oudinot, Madame Demeldes, of Armen-
tieres; Marie Flamand, ot Bouchain ; Mademoiselle Leguay,
of Fampoux ; Dr. Lecomte, of Isselle ; Bourgeois and De-
guen, soldiers; Tabery and Picard, two boys, one taken up
at Arras, the other at Creil ; a person named Lefevre, of
Roceincourt ; a nun and a child, whose names are unknown,
and two persons whose bodies had been seen in the water, but
had not been taken out." In a subsequent article the Palm
says that it is assured by a person who was in the train,
that the number of killed exceeds thirty-five, amongst
whom were two of the conductors. A correspondent
writes :—" The Procureur-General and the First President
of the Cour Royale of Douai proceeded on Thursday to the
scene of the accident, and commenced a rigid investigation
into the circumstances. The portion ot the road having been
made by the state, the only just complaint that can be
brought against the railroad company, is for not having
examined with greater care an embankment made over
ground of such little solidity." In an account given by the
Independance of Brussels of Thursday, we read :
" More than three hours elapsed before assistance arrived.
The peasants of the environs locked on with astonishment,
and the wounded passengers could hardly obtain water to
wash their wounds. A sad scene presented itself to the spec-
tators. Young females who lead been in their holiday
dresses were taken out bleeding and covered with mud.
Some victims had their heads separated from their bodies ;
pnlfaescse''' to his wife that he was
others, with broken limbs, were lying by the sides of the
road. An aide-de-camp of General Oudinot was on the edge
of the pond, his loins and three ribs broken, and praying for
death. An Englishman, who was travelling with his family,
but notwithstanding his
shuaffderainn
gasrieb rlowkoeunl
di nntohtreceo
wounded. At the end of the train were nine private car-
riages, in which were the Princess de Ligne and her four
children, the two daughters of the Polish General Skrzvnecki,
in the Belgian service, and a Russian lady. The three last
immediately opened their trunks and placed all their linen at
th , service of the wounded, at the same time giving to them
their personal aid."
The Northern Railroad Company have published the fol-
lowing report from the sub-inspector who accompanied the
train, dated Fampoux, July 10, five ..e..m.:—
" As you have seen, by my short letter of yesterday, the
train ran off the rails on the Bth, at five minutes past three,
at a distance of eight kilometres (two leagues) from Arras,
when going at a very moderate rate, as acknowledged by
several passengers, whose names I have. 0f23 carriages, 13
were precipitated into a deep peat pit, having eight feet of I
water. Although the first locomotive did not go off the ;
rail, and the second so little that the fourgon (baggage'
waggon) No. 1,002, which followed, remained on the rails, f
the running off commenced with the two next carriages.'
These two waggons were first detached from the train, and
fell into flee water, where they now lie crushed by the three I
diligences which followed them. The weight of these dili- I
gences seems to have dragged the other carriages off the rails.
There are, therefore, piled up, and wholly or partially de-
stroyed, eight carriages: The fifteen carriages at the tail of
the train, and the fourgon at the head after the locomotives,
escaped the accident. We have now to deplore thirteen
known deaths. The following are the names that we have,
been able to obtain. (Here the report gives the same list
as the Patrie, omitting the aide-de-camp of General.
Oudinot) : —Wounded Madame Picard, of Montalaire,
the shoulder broken, and severe contusions on the head;'
Madame Braine, wife of a notary at Arras, contusions;
the Aide-de-camp of General Oudillon (since deed). M..
Deguay, chef d'escadron, seriously wounded; an Englishman'
and his wife, at the Mite! de Flandre, at Douai, the husband
in the arm, the wife contusions; M. Grapinet, a lace-dealer
r of Paris; another Englishman, at the Hotel de Flandre, at
Douai. The Cour Royale of Douai has taken up the affair.
An examining counseller and M. liesche have interrogated
me; he is partly convinced, as far as we can judge, that the
company is perfectly innocent of this unhappy event. In
addition to the two conductors killed, we have no person in
the employment injured. The rest behaved perfectly well,
and one of them named Hoeg, saved eight persons by swim-
ming. I have also to praise the excellent cooperation of
M. Haillot. We had in this unfortunate train the PrincesS
de Ligne and her four children; the Marquise de Lauristan;
Marshal Salagne (Portuguese); M. Lestiboudois, Deputy;
and General Oudinot, miraculously saved, for his carriage
was crushed under the diligence, and his aid-de-camp has
duce died of his wounds. We do net appear to have had
more than four or five persons severely. wounded. Eighteen
carriages have been already dispatched to Arras and Douai ;
these have not suffered, but the others are in a deplorable
,
state." °'`a .„
Another report to the company, from Douai, dated July
10, says :
"The accident which has just occurred is, in fact, exceed-
ing grave, though not so much so as we feared from what
we heard on the way. The train went off the rails at Fam-
pnux, near the station of Remise. The second waggon went
off the rails, no one knows why; the others, to the member
of 13 or 14, followed it, and fell down a high embankment
into the bed of an old peat bog, where there were ten feet of
water. The others remained above. The chain of the
second waggon which had gone off the rails, no doubt in
the rail ; the first remained on the way. There have been
_ .
breaking, slightly drew the second locomotive of the train off

14 victims, two of whom are conductors; nine persons whose
names are known; two whom it has been impossible as yet
to extricate from the interior of a diligence; Guerin, and a
child since dead from its hurts. The greater number were
drowned in a carriage which was submerged. Some were
crushed, and amongst the rest a conductor who had been at
Massagran. The other passengers escaped by breaking the
glass of the doors. A great number were so much disturbed
in mind that they got out on the bog side, but the most of
them saved themselves or were saved by others. A conduc-
tor named Hocq saved seven or eight persons. The men in
tile employment of the company displayed much in-
telligence. M. Haillot and M. Hovelt directed everything;
the latter did not quit his train. The circulation has not
been interrupted. The Cour Royale of Douai has taken the
matter up, and since yesterday persons have been employed
in inquiring judicially into the matter. The magistrates
who have commenced the investigation have as yet dis-
covered nothing to involve the responsibility of the company.
M. Buache and Barrault are on the spot directing the work-
men with the greatest zeal ; they cannot say anything as to
the cause of the accident."—(The other reports relate the
same facts).
A Douai journal states that M. de Lagrenee, who returned
lately from his embassy in China, was in the train, but
escaped injury. The Princess Czartorisky is also said to have
been a passenger. The Courrier Francais, of Friday, in a

stop press, dated one in
the morning, Liyes an account
another accident on this'ioid, and at the ulna spot, Thurs.

day. It says : , _
' We stop the press to communicate to the public the fol -
lowing facts, the full authenticity of which we guarantee