The Sun.
London, England, 1851-06-09 00:00:00

ACCIDENT ON THE EAST LAN-

CASHIRE RAILWAY.
LIVERPOOL, SATURDAY.—The following arc the par-
ticulars of the melancholy accident, briefly mentioned in
The Sun of Saturday :
It appears that a few miles from Ormskirk a number
of men have been for some time employed on tome
earthworks of the company, but in charge of the con-
tractor. In order to remove the earth away a great
number of trucks are obliged to bo used. Yesterday
afternoon a train, consisting of several trucks, was pro-
ceeding along the line at an exceedingly moderate pace,
and when between Buracough and Rufford several ot the
ballast waggons were literally dashed to atoms, and the
parties who were in charge of the train were all more or
leas hurt. A man named Richard Kirby was forced
out of one of the trucks, and falling between that and
the next was fearfully cut and mangled,. When he was
extricated life was found to be quite extinct. Another
man, supposed to be named George Franklin, who was
in the same truck as the unfortunate deceased, was
also terribly cut and wounded, and it is feared he can-
not survive many hours. A number of other men,
although much hurt, are, it is expected, not fatally in-
jured. The line, it is needless to state, fur some time
became blocked up, and from the fact of two trains
being nearly due (one on the up line, and the other
on the down), it was at ono time feared that bad
as the occurrence had proved, it had not reached its
worst. Messengers were, however, sent in each direction
to signal the approaching trains from proceeding any
further until the lines were cleared. Fortunately the
trains were stopped in sufficient time to prevent any
further sacrifice of life; but had the accident happened
in the night, it is impossible to tell where the mischief
would have ended. After some time the trucks were
got off the line, when an examination was made with a
view of ascertaining the cause of the casualty. Very
few minutes were required to le:irn that, f„r ou inspect-
ing the axle of the truck in which the pour fellow was
who has been killed, it was Lund to have broken near
the centre. When that took place the truck was doubt-
less thrown upon its side over the rails; and the speed
with which the train was proceeding, although moderate,
was sufficient to cause the weight of the waggons behind
to smash those in front. A fracture of some consider-
able extent must have been in the axle for some time,
which is clearly perceptible from the rusty state it was
in. That it should have lasted so long without parting
is a matter of astonishment to all who have seen it; and
the officials of the line are of opinion that those in charge
ot the ballast trains bad not sufficiently examined the
axle, otherwise they must have detected the imperfec-
tion. The axle is now doubled up similar to a piece of
eammon lead pipe when subjected to a little pressure.
The mutilated remains of the deceased have been take n
to the Railway Inn, where they w ill remain until viewed
by the coroner's jury. The unfoia mau has le ft a
widow end three or four children t tally unprovided for.

BlBLES.—AcCording to a return issued yesterday,
the number of Bibles printed by the Queen's printer from I
January 1, 1841, to December 31, 1850, was 1,157,000; and'
the number of Testaments 752,000. The drawback of paper-
duty on these amounted to 7,723/. Bs. At the Oxford
University press there were printed in 1848, 261,500 Bibles,
and 262,000 Testaments; in 1849, 308,500 Bibles and
253,500 Testaments; and in 1850, 305,750 Bibles, and
235,000 Testaments. The drawback of paper-duty on these
amounted for each of the above years respectively to 2,299/.
14s. 11d., 2,596/. ss. 6d., and 2,745/. 18s. 2d. At the Cam-
bridge University press the number of Bibles printed during
the same years was 76,50 J for the first, and 31,000 for the
two last; and of Testaraeuts, 94,000, 75,000, and 35,000 re-
spectively.