The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY MORNING, J LINE 22, 1870.

TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT AT

NEWARK.

On Monday night, at 9 o'clock, an excursion train.left
King's Cross- with passengers returning to Yorkshire.
At 1 o'clock yesterday morning, as it was approaching
Newark, a goods train coming in the opposite direc-
tion ran off the rails, and crossed over to the down
line, where it met the passenger train. A fearful
collision ensued. Fourteen passengers are killed ; the
number of the injured is not yet known. Both lines
of rails are blocked up ; but the Great Northern
traffic is continued by means of the loop line. The
majority of the persons injured belong to Leeds.
The guard of the goods train narrowly escaped by
jumping from his van on to the embankment.
The cause of the goods train running off the line
and on to the next was the breaking of an axle of

one waggon.
A. telegram from Doncaster says:—" Thirty7five
persons from Doncaster were in the returning. excur-
sion. The driver and stoker wore Doncaster men.
The former, Thomas Hurst, is dead ; and he leaves
a young family. His mate is not expected to recover.
Several Doncaster tradesmen are injured."

A report from Leeds states that the sufferers by the
accident are numerous, but not all of them are seriously
hurt. A Mrs. Hadfield has both legs taken off. A silver-
smith named Smith is very much hurt. An actress from the
Theatre Royal, Leeds, is said to be among the killed.
Mr. Wilson, a music-seller, was two hours under the
dsbris, but not much the worse. Of a party of Leeds
gentlemen playing whist in a first-class carriage one revoked.
A young gentleman named Freeman took his place, and
in five minutes the collision occurred, the revoker taking
Freeman's seat was killed, but Freeman was saved. The
train, due in Leeds at five minutes past four, arrived at
eight with fifty passengers, all painfully excited or hurt.
About forty more reached Leeds at a later hour. The
services of the surgeons have been in great request, but at
present no more deaths are thought likely.
The following official notification has been forwarded
to us from the Secretary of the Great Northern Railway

Company :
" Sir,—lt is with the deepest regret that I have to inform
you of a very serious accident, which happened on the Great
Northern Railway,near Newark, early yesterday morning.
The brief particulars furnished by telegraph are as follows.
A Manchester goods train left Retford station for London
at about one o'clock this morning, and when passing about
a mile south of Newark one of the axles of a wagon
belonging to another cempany broke close to
the wheel, that waggon and others were thrown off the up
line on to the down line which was completely blocked.
At this moment a return excursion train from London to
Yorkshire was passing the spot and ran into the
waggons which were thrown on to the down line.
A disastrous collision thus occurred, in which, I grieve to
say, thirteen passengers and the driver are reported as
having been killed, or so seriously injured that they died
shortly afterwards, and several others are reported as
much hurt. lam instructed by my directors to send this
to you at once, and to furnish detailed particulars so
soon as they can be obtained from the spot.—l am, Sir,
your obedient servant,

" HENRY OAKLEY, Secretary."

(CENTRAL PRESS TELEGRAM.)
The accident near Newark on the Great Northern
Railway yesterday morning occurred in the following
manner :—An axle of an up goods train broke the disen-
gaged wheel, ran under the following truck, lifting it off
the rails, and the remainder of the train, consisting of
about six waggons, ran on to the up line. At the same
moment the excursion train, consisting of about 25
carriages, came along on the down line at the rate, it is
supposed,. of about twenty-five miles an hour.
The effect of the collision was to turn the en-
gine completely round, and it now lies facing the
tender instead of looking north, the direction in
which it was running. The sides of the carriages next to the
goods waggons were stripped off the whole length of the
train, not one carriage escaping. The first five or six car-
riages were crushed into one another ; in some cases the
tops had been stripped off and thrown into the adjoining
field. The engine of the goods train, the carriage that
caused the mischief, and all in front of that carriage, and
the van and the trucks at the tail of the goods train, were
heaped one upon another, and both lines were blooked.
In a moment the neighbourhood was strewn with the
dead, dying, and wounded, in all directions. In most
cases death was instantaneous. The driver of the passenger
train was found completely doubled-up, with his
head nearly severed from his body. The stoker was
also killed on the spot. The fifteen dead bodies
were taken to the Newark Hospital, .and are
now lying in one of the wards ; ten persons who were
severely injured were also removed to the same building,
One of whom has since died, and three others are not
expected to recover. Four injured passengers are also
lying at the Ram Hotel, and one at the Clinton Hotel.
No sooner was the accident known than the ladies of
Newark visited the wounded, and provided them with
every comfort except that repose which is so necessary
for the invalid. This it was impossible to obtain, as all
through yesterday sorrowful visitors were arriving to
seek their missing friends, and it was impossible to deny
them admittance. If a battle had been fought in the
neighbourhood the town could not have been more occu-
pied in its attention to the wounded, and hardly more
excited by the event.
Several of the injured passengers were sent to Retford
by yesterday's morning's train. The number of persons se-
riously injured is about 20, and of these five are in a
dangerous state. The most prompt and energetic mea-
sures were adopted by the railway authorities both to
provide as far as possible for the wants of the passengers,
and also to get the line cleared. The morning sun of the
longest day in the year rose upon a scene which will never
be forgotten by those who had the misfortune to witness
it. Large fires had been lighted, the broken parts of the
carriages supplying the fuel, and the mingled light and
the sun fell upon 15 bruised and ghastly corpses, and a
larger number of persons who, though alive, were writh-
ing and groaning with pain. In a remarkably short
time the dead and several of the wounded
were removed, It was not an easy matter
for the bruised and shaken passengers to dispose of them-
selves, but all of them after a time found accommodation
in the hotel, at Newark, which were readily prepared for
their reception.
The inquest was opened yesterday afternoon, but the jury-
men, after viewing the bodies and the scene of the disas-
ter, adjourned until this morning. To the above account
it should be added that the accident occurred just as the
down train was reaching a bridge ; against this some of the
carriages struck, thus adding to the complication.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

At the time of the accident (1.25 a.m.) three men were
on duty at the Newark Station--the noise of the collision
did not reach them, but their attention was first awakened
by the cries of the wounded. In an incredibly short time
the whole population of Newark was aroused, and crowds
of persons assembled at the scene of the disaster, many of
them able and willing to render assistance. The com-
pany's servants, many of whom live at Newark, were
prompt in their attendance, and worked with that judgment
and energy for which a good training had preparedthem. It
was, however, more than two hours before the wounded were
liberated from the broken carriages. During this terrible
period the sufferers generally bore their fate with fortitude.
It was a tedious one. A husband, crushed under one of
the carriages, lay for an hour and a half by the side of
his wife, who was killed on the spot. A woman with both
of her legs broken was a still longer time in the midst of
the debris, with her dead husband and injured baby; after
her removal she died, and the baby was left an orphan.
But few of the passengers escaped entirely unhurt. I
was answered by a byestander " that there were not ten
out of the whole lot who did not bear the marks of the
accident." This is probably an exaggeration, but as every
carriage was more or less shattered, and the train was
brought to a sudden stop, the passengers had but little
chance of escape. It is not often that hatters' shops are
besieged with clamorous applicants at three or four
o'clock in the morning, but this was the case at Newark
yesterday, for there was scarcely a passenger wearing a hat
at the time of the accident who could put it on after-
wards. One of the lady passengers, her bonnet lost, her
face severely cut, and her dress abundantly torn, was
assiduous in her attention to the wounded. For two
hours her ministrations continued, she was in and out,
creeping under carriages, or kneeling in the mud, to ad-
minister a spoonful of brandy to a fainting person. She
was evidently an experienced nurse. One of the last per-
sons to be rescued was a man lying in the moisture,
occasioned by a small stream running alongside the
line. lielwas buried under the the carriages apparently
unconscious, and supposed to be dead. As he was about
to be removed, he raised his head and said, " I a m not
much hurt," got up, and walked away.
I will not give the details of my visit to the hospitals
where the dead and wounded are lying. It is a satisfac-