The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-10 00:00:00

AN AWFUL RISK.

I A slide occurred on the railroad which winds
along the gorge between Lewiston and Suspension-
bridge (Niagara Fails), on Friday evening last,
under circumstances which cause one to realize how
constant and imminent are the perils of travel by
rail, even under the most favourable circuasstauces.
This road, for most of the distance, is on the very
brink of the gorge, in some places hundreds of feet
above the river ; sometimes inserted into the per-
pendicular ledge, with large masses of rocks sus-
pended fearfully over the track. At a point about
midway between the Falls and Lewiston where the
track lies about 200 feet above the river, and where
tie descent is nearly perpendicular, nearly 70 feet
of the roadbed slid off. The cob-house, perpendi-
cular wall, no broader at the base than at the top,
which was relied upon to make things safe, began
to give way (as the track master assured me) nearly
or quite a week before. The giving out of the whole
structure had been looked upon as certain fOr some
time, and yet cars filled with passengers continued
to be drawn at least twice a.day. Such reckless-
ness is without a parallel in railway management.
A gentleman, who was too late for the train, started
to walk that evening over the. track from Lewis-
ton to Suspension-bridge. It was he who first
discovered the slide, but be came within a hair's
breadth of going down the chasm himself. Not
dreaming of anything of the sort, be walked
to the very brink before he discovered, by the dim
light of the moon, the feadful state of the case.
Another step and it would have been the last of
him. Fortunately, he caught a glimpse of the
"yawning gulf. His retrograde movement was both
a
timely and rapid. The slide bad probably taken
plat©im
shorted 't'itmdeY onthe passing
sinthge over of the train
rocks were then
tumbling and crashing into the abyss, and the
b
before,
gentleman felt sensibly the earth giving way under
his feet as he sprang back. No mortal can tell how
near total destruction and total annihilation that
train of cars came. Its own weight and motion
doubtless started the avalanche. Its speed—an
instant of time—a finger's weight--may have been
all that stood between eternity and every soul on
board. But the train did pass, the pleasure-seek-
ing passengers all unconscious of the danger they
had escaped. And yet for days previous the trains
had been exposed to this danger, and an officer in
charge of the road assured me that• he knew it.
When informed at the office at Suspension-bridge
that a slide had occurred they knew precisely where
to locate it, and said t, ey had been expecting it for
a week, nod still had been sending out trains each
way twice a-day all the while. Words cannot ex-
press the culpability of those in immediate autho-
rity. A presentation by the grand jury of Niagara
County will probably attempt it. —New York Times,
June 24.

The report and the flash were almost simul-
taneous. The engine driver and stoker felt them-
selves wrapped round in a sheet of blue flame—the
stoker experiencing a shock on the back of the head,
which for a time rendered him insensible. Every
person in the train felt the shock, those who were
nearest to the door on the off side more so than the
rest, the lightning having the appearance of run-
ning along the rail on that side. One of the pas-
sengers, Mr. B. Hicklin, in the commission of the
ream) for the borough of Wolverhampton, was
struck upon the right arm and knocked to the op-
posite side of the carriage in which he was riding.
The guard, H. Rixam, was standing up in the train
at the time, apply.ieg the brake. He ap-
pears to have sustained the greatest shock. In
an instant his whole system was paralysed.
On arriving at the station, however, at Deepti.dds,
he was enabled to stigger out of his van, with the
intention of attending to his duties. The station-
master there found him reeling as though drunk,
SHOCKING OCCURRENCE.—On Thersday a bullock,
with his hand to It's head, and held him up,
which had become separated from a drove near the
If he had not done so, Rixam would certainly
have fallen off the platform upon the line. The terminuswid
furthroughof the Greatth Northern Railway, rumhed in
adjacentlad streets. In passing
station-master helped him back into his van, and the Brill' Somers town, knocked down
put a porter with him to take charge of the train. and seriously injured, . towne
'wtohe a 7
furious
animal coati
On arriving at Wolverhampton, the guard was ' its mad - - nun
sisted into the inspector's office, and some brandy and boys towards Clarendon-square, and thence,
turn-
and water administered to him. After a while he ing short for Charlton-street, an elderlyce;uman
was enabled with some difficulty to proceed home. intercepted his progress, but a moment had scarcely
At Wolverhampton, also, Mr. Hicklin appeared to elapsed when he caught her by the throat on his horn, and
be suffering considerably from the shock which he tossed her to a considerable height. The unfortunate
had experienced, and complained of the benumbed woman falling heavily on the back of her head, sustained
such severe injuries that sheremoved ' was in a very pre-
sensation in his arm.
state to the hospital. The wound in the throat
It is dreadful to contemplate the shocking results carious
sl extensive,
the
dfears are entertained for her life. After
that would have followed both driver and stoker . chase beast was secured and taken to the New
becoming incapacitated under fuch circumstances, aCattle
Market.