The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-15 00:00:00

THE TAMWORTH RAILWAY
ACCIDENT.
[CENTRAL PRESS TELEGRAM.]

The details of the accident which occurred yesterday at
Tamworth to the Irish mail train chew that the results
will not be so serious as at first reported. The train con-
sisted of the guard's break, two Post-office carriages,
three mixed first and second class carriages, and a luggage
van, and was on its journey to London. The Tamworth
station was passed at a speed of about twenty-five miles
an hour, and going at that rate the train ran off the
main line into a siding. The cause of the accident
is supposed to be the negligence of the pointsman Evans,
and he has been taken into custody. The train ran down
the embankment into the river Auctor, and the engine
and tender were deeply embedded. The engine driver
and stoker were killed. The body of the driver was im-
mediately recovered ; that of the stoker remained
in the water for four hours. The first carriage
consisted of the guards' break, two first and one
second-class compartments. Two Roman Catholic priests
were in one of the compartments ; one of them was killed,
the other ;,escaped with comparatively little injury. In
describing the accident, the rev. gentleman said he heard
a crash, and then felt the'carriages sinking as it were into
the ground. Both himself and his friend were thrown
into the river; his friend was; drowned, but heLhimself
being able to swim, succeeded in laying hold!of a piece of
wood, and, supporting himself thereby, succeeded in
getting safe out. The two next carriages were
those of the travelling post office. One was thrown on its
side, the other broken into splinters. Both clerks, as it
were, miraculously escaped, though one had a narrow
escape, being precipitated into a tank, and being in the
water twenty minutes. He was a good swimmer,
and kept himself afloat until he was rescued.
The other passenger carriages were broken, one of
-them into splinters, and the scene of the accident
is described as one of "fearful wreck." There were
twenty-seven passengers only in the train, and these were
mostly in the latter carriages, or the loss of life would
have been greater. This so far amounts to three only—
river, named Taylor ; the stoker, called Davis ; and the
Rev. Mr. Healey, a Roman Catholic priest, of Tower-
hill, London. But one account to hand says that a lady
and child are also feared to be missing, and
the reservoir near the river is being pumped dry in order
to discover if any still remains. Seven passengers are
injured, some seriously, but none, it is believed, fatally.
All were more or less shaken, but they do not require
medical assistance.

A telegram, conveying some additional facts, says that
the engine-driver discovered the pointsman's error and re-
versed the engine, but the impetus of the train was too
great to be thus checked. The obstruction at the end of
the siding proved nothing. A stone wall was
knocked down ; some carriages were smashed.
they and others fell into the river, and every one left the
line. Heavy American and inland mails were being con-
veyed to London. They were all precipitated into the
reservoir. Sixty-eight letter bags were taken out, and,
with injured passengers, were conveyed to London. The
pointsman explains that his watch having stopped he
believed the train which he saw coming was the goods
train which shunts at Tamworth for the mail to pass, and
he therefore sent it into the siding. His signal was, he
points out, at danger. The wife of the Chief Constable
of Northamptonshire and the post office clerks are
(besides the Roman Catholic priest already alluded to
among the injured.

OUR COTEIVIPORARIES—This Morning