The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-03 00:00:00

remained on the line uninjured after the collision,
and none of the men in charge of it appeared to have
been injured. Trains coming from Kew usually stop
at the Kentish-town station, it being the next to
Camden-road, and at the latter passengers have to
change carriages for the North London line. In
this instance the excursion train did not do so.
That the men on the ballast train distinctly state ;
and it seems impossible it could have stopped there,
for had it done so, the driver must have seen the bal-
last trucks. Indeed, at the scene of the accident
the matter was not disputed ; for, on some one
remarking that it was a wonder why the passenger
train had not pulled up at Kentish-town, one of the
officials remarked " It was an excursion, and had no
right to stop there." In reply to an inquiry as to
whether he was right in shunting at that particular
moment, one of the men in charge said there was
nothing to tell them the up train was coming, and
added, " There are no papers for those excursions."
If it be a fact that there are no time-tables for ex-
cursion trains at a point where shunting has been
going on several times in the day for some weeks
past, there must have been gross negligence on some
one's part, more especially if the passenger train
was to pass the Kentish-town station without pulling
up. Under such circumstances, and considering that
the line is so much curved from Hampstead to
Camden-town, the only wonder is that such an un-
,pardenably faulty arrangement had not sooner re-
sulted in a catastrophe like the present. The train
the return journey of which has brought desolation
and sorrow to so many homes consisted of 13 or 14
carriages besides the breakvan which followed the
engine. It is stated that the excursionists were
officers and friends of officials in the employment of
the North London Company; but such was the con-
sternation to which the fearful occurrence gave rise
that it was with considerable difficulty any particu-
lars were gathered more than those which the
ground itself presented to the spectators' view. At
about a quarter past 8 a down train arrived from
London. The engine came to a stand, of course, and
the look of terrified amazement with which its occu-
pants viewed the scene was indescribable. At that
hour there were some thousands of people collected
in the fields and up the embankment at each side of
the bridge. Two or three of the smashed carriages
formed one monster fire that shot up its flames to an
immense height. The wounded lay here and there,
writhing in agony. Men were engaged in dragging
corpses from under wheels and axle-trees, and out
of carriages that had been crushed like pasteboard.
Gentlemen and ladies carried water-cans, bottles,
and other vessels, and were constantly
giving those drinks which the mangled so greedily
asked for. Many ladies ran about with linen for
the :doctors to bandage the wounded; and them-
selves assisted in the kind office. The policeman
with their lanterns kept a path for those who were
carrying the injured to the cabs, vans, and carts,
which were now drawn up in a line to the byroad
leading out of Kentish-town ; and from all sides
men, women, and children were running with lamps
and lighted candles to what, without the slightest
exaggeration, may be termed a field of slaughter.
The driver of the ballast train said that the excur-
sion train appeared to him to have been coming at
a rate of about 60 miles an hour ; but the probabi-
lity is that he was deceived in this. To those who
saw it from the windows of the houses and from the
field it did not appear to be coming at such speed,
though its pace was rapid.
Any list of killed and wounded which was pro-
cured last night must necessarily be imperfect, but
on inquiry at the hospitals the following list was
obtained of the persons who had been admitted :
To the Royal Free Hospital, Gray's-inn-lane, Mrs.
Emma English, aged 40, wife of James English, re-
siding at 24, John-street, Clerkenwell, dead. The
injuries which this lady had received were fracture
of the spine, laceration of the left foot, and several
severe scalp wounds. She died in three-quarters of
an hour after her admission to the hospital. James
English, aged 41, her husband, has received scalp
wounds and several contusions, which are not likely
to prove fatal. Sarah Cox, aged 43, No. 1, Iceland-
road, Old Ford, has received fracture of the ribs,
scalp wounds, and general contusions. A child, six
months old, with bruises on the head, name not
known. The patients taken to the hospital were
promptly attended to by Mr. Alexander Marsden,
the house surgeon.
Tr, +U. MirlAchasa, Mu:llNi.. I.nro
Greenwood, one 12, the other eight years, and a lad
aged about 18, name unknown, brought in dead.
A man named Terry, living in the Liverpool-road,
collar-bone fractured. A woman named Philpott,
nasal bone fractured, and other injuries.
In University College Hospital, Gower-street, Miss
Stacey, West India-yard, Bow; and Mary Sellis
(addresses not known), dead. Three others dead,
not yet identified. Elizabeth Ward, 91, Upper-
street, Islington ; George Hewitt, Cornhill-road,
Bow ; Olive Hewitt; Sarah Essex, the Point,
Stratford; Mary Ann Mathews, 3, Colt-street, Old
Ford ; John Parley, Catholic Chapel, Moorfields;
Joseph Cocks, 7, John-street-north, Shacklewell ;
Mrs. Drake, Mrs. Hemmings, Annie Ward, Mrs.
Jane Green wood, wife of a station master ; Mrs.
Holt, Henry Stacey, John Stacey, George Henry
Bolton, the stoker, Old Ford, Bow; W. Woodley,
Iceland-road ; George Woodley, father of the above;
Edward Essex, Stratford New Town ; Isaac
Coxall, Old Ford, Essex; Mr. Cox, Bow; William
Stewart, Leighton Buzzard; Joseph Bridges, 2,
Richmond-terrace, Campbell-road, Bow; Mr. Rush-
brook, Hawkscourt ; two men and a boy unknown,
one woman unknown, and an infant unknown, all
more or less injured. In St. Pancras workhouse, an
old woman, name unknown, dead.
It was generally stated that several of the
wounded had been conveyed to the Great Northern
Hospital, but on inquiry at that institution we
ascertained that such was not the fact. The above
list gives a total of 10 dead and 33 wounded in the
hospitals ; but it was stated that there were at least
three dead who had not been taken to any public
institution. These, with the 10 in hospital, would
give 13 dead. It is impossible yet to say how many
were wounded. The driver of the excursion was
named Scott, and, judging from the anxiety ex-
pressed about him, he must have been a favourite
with the servants of the company.
Miss Stacey, who is among the dead, died after
amputation of the left leg. Her right leg was frac-
tured in addition to the other injuries which she
had received.

At a late hour last night it was stated that Scott,
the driver of the excursion, was not dead, although
the injuries which he had sustained were very se-
vere. We were unable to sscertain which of the
accounts in reference to this man was the correct
one.

Long after midnight thous Inds of people were
still on the ground, and the various hospitals and
the stations on the line were surrounded by anxious
crowds inquiring after relatives and friends.