The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-15 00:00:00

THE BOMBAY AND MAURITIUS MAILS,

(RIJTER'S EXPRESS.)
- SotrrHAmPToN, Jan. 15.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-
ship Tanjore, Capt. Brooks, with the above mails,
has arrived. She brings 11 passengers, 40 packages
specie, value not stated, also a general cargo, in-
cluding .1,400 bales raw silk, value £120,000
sterling.

The Tanjore left Gibraltar on the 9th, and expe-
rienced heavy weather throughout the passage.
The steamer Sydney Hall left Gibraltar on the
3d for Lisbon and London; she was obliged to quit
Mogadore through stress of weather, having lost all
her anchors, leaving ship's papers, &c., behind.
The French screw frigate Zenobia arrived at the
Rock on the Ist ; she saluted the garrison with 21
guns, which compliment was returned from the
battery. Her Majesty's screw corvette Racoon
saluted the French Admiral's flag with 13 guns,
which was returned from the Zenobia ; the Zenobia
also saluted the French Consul with 9 guns.
The Spanish screw frigate Almanza, 50 guns,.
left Cadiz on the 6th to reinforce the squadron of
Admiral Pareja in the Pacific ; and the screw sloop
Consuelo for Monte Video, to protect the interests
of Spanish subjects.
Exchanges at Gibraltar were quoted oii‘ London,
90 days' date, 49f ; Marseilles, eight days' sight,
sf. 14c. to 15c. ; Madrid, par; Cadiz, 31 to dis. ;
Seville, Malaga, Barcelona, and Valencia, par.
Premium on sf. pieces 1 to 1i per cent.

Fatal Accident on the London, Chatham,

and Dover Railway.

The disasters of the late snow storm have culmi-
nated in a sad accident on the above railway. One
of the bridges spanning a running stream in the
vicinity of Beckenham gave way yesterdaymorning
at an early hour, and precipitated a goods train into
an obscure stream, where the engine and tender,
with 13 trucks, lie buried in one conglomerate mass
at the moment of writing. The midnight train from
Victoria and Blackfriars to Chatham and the early
goods train following had passed over the bridge in
question safely, but the later goods train due at
Beckenham junction shortly before 4 o'clock yester-
day morning was that to which the accident occur-
red. After passing the Penge stadon, the London,
Chatham, and Dover Railway traverses a district
which is hero and there intersected by brooks tribu-
tary to the Ravensbourne river. These brooks are
for the most part crossed by fiat iron girder bridges,
and one of these, within about a couple of hundred
yards of the Beckenham junction, was the unfortu-
nate scene of the disaster: The train to which the
accident occurred left Blackfriars station at half-past
1 o'clock yesterday morning, and after the usual
stoppages at Herne-hill and other stations to pick
up trucks was approaching the Beckenham junction
at five minutes to 4 o'clock, when, without any pre-
vious warning of danger, the engine and tender, with
13 of the foremost trucks, were precipitated into a
stream known as the Rusher-brook, ordinarily a
mere ditch, but swollen by the late flood into a small
river. The engine fell on its right side, and by a
most fortunate accident the driver was thrown into
an adjoining meadow, where he sustained only tem-
porary injuries. The stoker, who was most probably
attending to his brake, was less fortunate, and, fall-
ing with the engine, was buried under it, and his
body had not been extricated at 6 o'clock last even-
ing. The guard, who was travelling in a tender
immediately behind the engine, suffered severe con-
tusions, but a projecting girder saved his life, and he
escaped through one of the windows of his van.
The crash was heard by the Beckenham junction
signalmen, and at the earliest moment messengers
were despatched for assistance, all traffic up and
down the line being stopped. The means at hand
were quite ineffectual, but before 7 o'clock Mr.
Mills, resident engineer of the line, and Mr. Mart-
ley, locomotive superintendent, were upon the spot.
A cursory examination showed that the foundations
of the bridge had been seriously affected by the late
floods, and that the portion of the structure carrying
the down line of rails had given way either imme-
diately before or at the moment the last goods train
was in the act of passing over it. The engine-
driver, who was on the spot, and sufficiently col-
lected to give his version of the disaster, stated that
just before the accident he was going on " as coin-
forthm.- 0. --.aa bc," and that the next moment he
found himseir I,lln,
Mr. Mills, after surveying the state of the bridge,
at once decided that the first thing to be accom-
plished was to secure in a perfectly safe condition
the remaining line of metals, so that the traffic of
the railway might not be interrupted, the outside
down rail alone having been destroyed
by the accident. To this end the exertions of a
large body of labourers were devoted during the
whole of yesterday, and when our reporters left
the spot there appeared to be reasonable hope
that this result would be accomplished before mid-
night. The ordinary traffic of the railway yester-
day was earried on by trains on either side of the
bridge, the passengers alighting north or south of
the scene of the accident and walking over the par-
tially destroyed bridge, no through train having
passed either above or below the Beckenham junc-
tion. The accident is attributed to the swollen state
of the tributary stream passing beneath the bridge.
In ordinary weather this stream merely carries off
the drainage of the fishponds of Mr. Hoare, the
banker, and Mr. Fortescue, residents in the neigh-
bourhood, but the recentheavy snow storm and rapid
thaw have converted an ordinary rivulet into a rush-
ing river, the force of which, it is feared, has weak-
ened the foundations of the bridge, and hence the
disaster. It is proper to state that the foreman
of the permanent way for the district examined this
bridge on Saturday afternoon, when everything ap-
peared to be safe.

The Cattle Plague.