The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-31 00:00:00

A TRAIN ON FIRE.

A serious accident occurred last Tuesday night
between Chalons and Epernay, on the Strasburg
Railway. The train No. 24 was returning to Paris,
when the waggon containing the baggage took fire,
unknown to the servants, a short distance from
Jalon le-Virmes. The engineer, unconscious of
what had lutappeuecl, was hastening the speed of
the locomotive, when the fire, fanned by the
wind, ex:I:el-00i its ravage, increased in inten-
sity, and shortly atterwaisis the flames, rising in
a whirlwind, covered the waggon. The engineer
then blew the alarm whistle, and the conductors
lost no time in tightening the breaks, so as to
stop the train as quickly as possible. Unfortu-
nately, at the sight of the flumes the travellers
who were in the carriages nearest to the
baggage-waggons, and particularly the women
and children, raised piercing cries, and created
a panic which it is easy to comprehend. A
great number of travellers, without waiting
for the train to be stopped, forced open the
doors and jumped out on the road. Thanks, how-
ever, to the energy of the railway servants, the
train was stopped, and the burning waggon sepa-
rated from the others. The fire was then extin-
guished without much difficulty. During this time
all possible attention was given to the wounded,
amounting to eight or n;ne. Four of the travellers,
two women and two children, were killed. It is
believed that one is Madame Boulichoff, a cousin
of Prince Balabine, an attache to the Russian Em-
bassy. It was found necessary to leave some of the
wounded at Epernay, as they were unable to con-
tinue their journey to Paris. The railway directors
sent surgeons from Paris by an express train to
dress their wounds. After the " fire was extin-
guished the train continued its course to Paris,
where it arrived one hour and 25 minutes behind
time. The directors of the railway company have
communicated the following particulars to the
Paris papers :
" The train No. 24 quitted Strasburg on the 28th
for Paris, and at the station of Oiry, the baggage-
waggon took fire. The carriage coming from Metz,
placed immediately behind that waggon, was almost
exclusively occupied by women and children. At
the sight of some sparks of fire the women, yield-
ing to a vory regrettable panic, opened the doors,
notwithstanding the earnest efforts of a traveller to
prevent them, and jumped to the ground, carrying
their children with them. The train being in mo-
tion, the consequences inevitable in such cases
ensued. We have to deplore the loss of two ladies
and two children killed by the fall. Eight other
persons are slightly wounded. This misfortune is
a fresh example of the danger arising from the
public not observing the railway regulations. If,
as those regulations command, the travellers had
not attempted to alight from the train while in
motion, but had waited for it to stop, which it did
in a few minutes afterwards, we should not have to
deplore any accident. The fire appears to have
been communicated to the interior of the baggage-
waggon by some combustible matter contained in
travelling trunks of which the contents were un-
kno wnas they were sealed and leaded at the Custom-
house of Forbach."