The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-16 00:00:00

ME SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1870.

has happened, it appears to be next to impossible
that frightful consequences like those which
have so recently been witnessed in throe several
directions here, in England, could come to pass by
means of readily avoidable collisions..

Within an interval of three weeks, between Zatur-
day, the 26th of November, and Monday, the 12th of
December, three really appalling accidents have
occurred upon English railways. Upon the former
of those two dates seven passengers were killed right
off at Harrow. Upon the last-mentioned date four-
teen were destroyed at Barnsley. Intermediately,
between these two calamitous occurrences—namely,
on Tuesday the 6th inst.—five other persons
were hurried to the grave, as in the twink-
ling of an eye, at _ Brockley Whins. Nearly
thirty deaths in less than a fortnight !—to say nothing
of the terrible amount of suffering and lifelong
anguish inflicted on other victims by means of severe
shocks or frightful mutilations. It is curious, and not
only curious but suggestive, to add that in
.every
instance the catastrophe resulted from two trains
coming into collision—here a train for goods, here a
train for passengers ; here a whirling express, here
a dawdling train of empty carriages. A coupling
chain had broken in one case, involving
a delay— pending which there arrived the
express train then due. In regard to another
of these catastrophes, it would appear that in
some mysterious, or at any rate as yet wholly unex-
plained way, several trucks which had been shunted
out of harm's way, at a siding, got loose and, being
on an incline, ran with a rapidly accelerating speed on
to the main line, where they dashed into a passenger
train then just moving away from the station at
Barnsley. Obviously in the former instance, that is
in the casualty of the snapped coupling chain at
Harrow, the course would have been to signal in-
stantly along the line• so as to have prevented the
possibility of the onward advance of the express
until the empty waggons had been cleared
_ ont of the way. Quite as obviously in

;he other instance a movable barrier ought

to have -prevented the trucks, put away on a
steep siding, from getting, by any possibility, on to
the main line, by reason of the simple action of the

law of gravitation. Due precaution in each case was
manifestly not taken by those upon whom devolved
the heavy load of responsibility.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

be made by themselves direct to the British Govern-
meat, but the President and Secretary of State being
referred tc, declare that if they attempt such a pro-
ceeding they will be prosecuted for a misdemeanour
under the Act of Congress, 1799. The
President also says that the underwriters, who
hold the greater part of the claims,
having paid the insurance to the original losers, are
not entitled to cementation, having been paid by
their insurance premiums. ilir, neverdy Johnson
very strongly eombats both these Objections es
.being
founded neither in justice nor law. The under-
writers, he'estimates, have lost 12,049,000 dollars, and
he therefore advises them to withhold their claims
from the State Department, and seek satisfaction
11 from Great Britain.