The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-26 00:00:00

THE BREA.DFUL RAILWAY CATAS-
-TROPIIE IN MISSOURI:

FURTHER PARTICULARS.
(From the St. Louis Republican, Sept. 7.)

From Mr. A. M. Hager, baggage-master on the
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway, we learn very
locomotive
interesting additional particulars
,of the terrible
comotiveni
catastropheT at little Platte Bridge, on that road on
the California
agnhdt
tleansdt.er, Theone
freighttrain ecaornsliosateddedofwtihthe
large quantity
r, oa mail,fase
exnpgraeers sbc
matter,oaga
cgha egse
mails and two
85 to 100 children o board, baggageear
There w ander containinge fwroa from
n many of them being
ladies and .
The train reached the bridge where the awful
disaster occurred at fifteen minutes after 11 o'clock
p.m., running at the customary rate of speed.
There was nothing unusual about the appearance of
the bridge, and therefore not the least danger was
apprehended. It was a very substantial work of
the Howe patent, having a span of 169 feet—the
largest on the road, except that which crosses
Grand River. At Platte River the grade is about
35 feet above the bottom—a frightful chasm into
which to precipitate a mass of humanity.
Before narrating incidents of the accident, it may
be here stated that the torch of the incendiary had
been applied underneath the bridge, burning the
timbers below the track. After the fire had pro.
gressed a certain degree, or sufficient to weaken
the bridge, so that it could sustain little more than
its own weight, the flames had been extinguished,
thus making the work a mere shell and a trap of
death. Upon this feeble span the train, lighted
only by a calcium blaze upon the front of the
engine, and such brightness as the stars emitted,
plunged into the jaws of destruction.
Scarcely had the locomotive measured its length
upon the bridge when the structure gave way with
a tremendous crash, opening for forty or fifty yards
an abyss of darkness and desolation. The engine
turned completely over, landing in the bottom of
the river, and half burying itself in the quicksand,
the water in the stream being about a foot and a
half in depth. The freight car followed, thunder-
ing upon the upturned wheels of the engine. Then
came the baggage car, which dropped with crush-
ing weight upon the freight car, flattening the
latter completely out, and tearing it to splinters.
In some way the baggage car retained its position,
standing nearly or quite level, bound west. The
top of the baggage car was thus left about 20 feet
below the summit of the abutments. Rapidly the
two passenger coaches rushed into the chasm, de-
scending at an inclination of about 45 degrees, amid
the shattering of the cars and the piteous shrieks
of the terrified passengers.
All the seats were torn up and shoved in front,
carrying men, women, and children in 'a promia-
cons heap down the declivity, and burying them
among the crushed timbers, or throwing them out
of the cars through the broken sides. Jagged pieces
of flooring impaled some ; some were mangled
by maclinery-tearing through' the timbers.; several
were caught between planks pressing together like
a vice ; others were struck by parts of the roof as it
came down with mighty force ; still others were cut
with pieces of glass, while wounds and blood and
agony prevailed allover the frightful scene. Shrieks
of pain were mingled with cries of terror, and prayers
with oaths of despair. In this way the two last cars •
of the train went down, pitching the passengers
into the wreck, or throwing them into the water.
An agonising catastrope like this cannot be de-
scribed. But few on, board escaped without severe
injury. Only three 'persons—Mr. J. W. Parker,
superintendent of the United States Express; Mr.
Vfaus, mail agent ; and Mr. Hager—were able to
afford assistance to the suffering, the remainder of
those who were not killed outright being so dis-
abled as to be helpless. Besides these three there
was not ene who had not some serious injury.
After doing all that it was possible to accomplish
for those requiring immediate attendance, Mr.
Hager, at midnight, left the wreck to go to St.
Joseph, a distance of nine miles, for medical and
other assistance. Mr. Hager walked five miles of
the way, when he found a hand car, upon which he •
proceeded the remainder of the journey. Two hun-
dred yards west of the bridge he discovered a heavy
oak railroad tie strongly strapped across the track,
and two miles further on he found the trestlework

over a small stream on fire, which, however, had not

yet been so badly burned that trains could not pass
over it, or could not be easily extinguished.
Arrived at St. Joseph, Mr. Hager proceeded at
once to the express and post-Offices, and saon the
alarm was spread throughout the city. Although
it was one o'clock at night, 75 men, including all
the physicians in the neighbourhood, had quickly
volunteered their services to go to the relief of the
sufferers. A locomotive was promptly fired up, and
at half-past 3 o'clock the train, comprising three flat
cars and a passenger coach, was at the scene of the
accident with blankets, sheets, and every other
article that might be of use. The wounded had all

emerged from the wreck, and were lying on the
banks and upon a sandbar in the river.
While the physicians moved around among the
injured, attended by squads of the citizens of at.
Joseph, such as were not thus engaged went to
work to remove the dead bodies from the cars and
the river. Seventeen dead bodies were recovered,,
and it is believed that this number embraced all
killed up to that time. Two were so badly wounded
that it was not expected they would survive till
morning, while many others were dangerously
wounded, and would have to be well taken care of

to recover. Many who will escape with their lives
will be severely maimed and crippled.
Mr. Hagar, our informant; did not remain
to witness the embarkation of the wounded

for St. Joseph, but wasdespaichelte'
Brook-
field, which is eastward of the bridge,
for another train to go to the wreck. When he left,
the names of the wounded were being taken down,
and also of such of the dead as had papers or other
articles about them by which they could be
identified.

Mr. Hager took a horse and rode to Osburn,
where he found a hand;car, upon which he pro-
ceeded farther. Between Osburn and Stewartsville,
on Smith's branch, or 15 miles east of Platte River,
he found that another bridge had been burned. All
that part, from the abutment on the west end to
the hank, some 35 feet, had been totally destroyed,
the fire having been set after the train had passed
which met the disaster at Platte River. So it was

useless to go for the train at Brookfield, because it
could not pass west until the bridge over Smith's
branch could be repaired.

LIFE IN PARIS,

The Court of Assizes of the Seine on Saturday
tried a young man named Thevenin, a book-
keeper, for robbery and embezzlement, to the
prejudice df his employer, M. Bruneau, a
dealer in trimmings, residing in the Rue de la
Fidelite, at Paris. The court was crowded to bear
this trial, as it was known that M. Bruneau had
• discovered an adulterous intercourse between the
accused and Madame Bruneau, and that the latter
would be examined as a witness. It appeared from
the evidence that Thevenin entered M. Bruneau's
establishment in 1858, highly recommended as a
good man of business and a skilful accountant, at a
salary of 1,8001., which was afterwards increased.
M. Bruneau, in November last, went to Lyons, and
during his absence the business was managed by
Lyons he received an anonymous ietter informing
Madame Bruneau and the prisoner. While at
him of his wife's misconduct with Thevenin. He
returned suddenly, and took measures for proving
the fact of the adultery, but without success. M.
Bruneau was nevertheless convinced that he had
been correctly informed, and as his clerk had deceived
him in one respect he beg
eamnptl oo
ydeodu ba tr he irss
ofind et
ol i teyxian.
dmisincocheirseadc,cothuento-bb
joeockts,oafn,
others. He accordingly
dwghricehatwirarsegtoulcaornitcieeaslweeror:
bezzlementsamounting to about 20,000 f. On searrjh.
ing the
prisonet's" lodgings many articles were found
belonging to Bruneau, especially a gold tassel be-
longing to the uniform of an officer of the National
Guard, which had been taken from his iron ches't
by the aid of false keys. There were also several
love-letters and a lock of hair marked " MrArie
Brune—," which left no doubt as to the priso.c.er's
relations with Madame Bruneau. The ev'hdeince
given on the trial was very contradictory, ar,et one
of the prisoner's witnesses made a deposition. so dif-
ferent from what he had given before the examining
magistrate that he was ordered into custody by the
court on a charge of perjury. Madame, Brunelle
in giving her evidence admitted her p,nifty rela-
tions with the accused. The prisoner, in his de-
fence, declared that he had deposited 9,000 francs
in the hands of Bruneau without taking any
mention
receipt fonthe sum, thinking it sufficient
i i ~, it had
Lachaud addressed
the deposit entered in the
ml.ediagaecrh.
of any such sum could be found inwtitltiane:Dhso_asnclap,
deposedthe
that ee
been
to prisoner
rn r,udtebelyarßedruthneaat,ath, e
Olotajefcon.
of the prisoner, and nn,
that the embezzlements had been committed by a
hour. , did
--'''
tphreedceoceusrstoirnodf
finish his speech till a late .
r itshoenne 1 •
demandedt ob e set
tahtaltibTehrteyi
The jury then rt..
at two o'ePeic in the morning returned
tired, and
intocourt with a verdict of not guilty. The Court
ordered efTenhceevenin.
urt
Or
shouldß r u -
ne
be condemned to restore the sums due liberty, M.
to his client,
and the Court, after hearing m
LecedeotuhnesePl
M. Lachaud for Theve-
nin, condemned the latter to pay Bruneau the sum
of 13,000 f. as damages,
with all the costs incurred ,
by making that demand.
Before the Court rose the
President
ordered the release of the witness who had
beep arrested