The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-05 00:00:00

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE LONDON, CHAT-

IL.AM. AND DOVER RAILWAY.

SITTINGBOURNE, JAN. 4.

A fatal accident occurred on the London, Chat-
ham, and Dover Railway this morning, at a short dis-
tance from this town, whereby one passenger lost
his life, and the head guard of the train and several
other passengers were more or less injured. The
train to which the accident happened was the 9 55
express from Victoria station, which is due at Sit-
tingbourne at 11 27. The express was, however,
five minutes late at starting, and by the time it
reached the spot where the accident occurred was
half an hour behind its time. After leaving the
Rainham station there is a sharp curve in the line
just before arriving at the junction of the Sheerness
and Sittingbourne line with the London, Chatham,
and Dover, and it was at this point that the acci-
dent took place. The train was composed of a
guard's break van, two third, two first, and two
second class carriages, another guard's van being
the last. After the train had arrived within about
a mile of this station the tire of one of the wheels
of the first guard's van, next the engine, flew off;
this immediately threw the break-van off the line,
dragging with it a third-class, and also a first-
class carriage following. The third-class carriage
was the one which received the greatest injury, but
fortunately it had only three occupants, one of
whom, a warrant-officer naaaedPatterson, who was
on his way to Sheerness, received the greatest in-
juries, his body being mangled in a truly frightful
manner. On the instant of the carriage in which
the deceased was a passenger being thrown off the
line the unfortunate man was dragged for about
100 yards beneath the carriage, whereby both
his legs were cut off and his body otherwise
frightfully mutilated. Two of the carriages were
turned completely over on the space between the
up and down lines of metals, and the body of the
unfortunate passenger was so firmly wedged
beneath the third-class carriage that it was fully
an hour before the wreck of the carriage could
be cleared and the sufferer extricated. When re-
leased he was still alive and sensible, but suffering
the most excruciating agonies. The unfortunate
man was immediately removed to the Railway
Hotel, adjoining the station, where he was
promptly attended by several of the surgeons of
the town, including Dr. Morris, Mr. Ray, and Mr.
Sutton, but he expired about three hours after the
occurrence. The body of the deceased remains at
the Railway Hotel to await a coroner's inquest ;
but, although an intimation of the occurrence has
been forwarded to his friends at Woolwich, the
body, up to a into hour this evening, had not been
identified by any of the relatives of the deceased.
The remaining passengers in the train appear to
have met with remarkable escapes. Richardson,
the guard in the first van, although very much
bruised and shaken, is not dangerously injured, and
the two other passengers, both women, who were
in the same carriage as the deceased, escaped with
only a few bruises. A gentleman who occupied a
seat in the first-class carriage thrown off the line
had likewise a miraculous escape, nearly the entire
front of the compartment in which he was sitting
being smashed to splinters. Most of the passen-
gers who were only slightly injured were enabled
to resume their journey during the day.
Immediately after the accident Mr. Barnard, the
station-master at Sittingbourne, had a number of
men employed clearing the down line, and during
'the evening the whole was clear, and the ordinary
traffic resumed. This is the first fatal accident
which has occurred on the London, Chatham, and
Dover line since its opening.

COUNTRY MAIMETS.