The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-31 00:00:00

DREADFUL _RAILROAD ACCIDENT lIY
CANADA.

(Prom the Rochester Union, March 13.)

Every person in the first passenger car, except
Owen Doyle, Jam"s B iron, of Stratford, and two
children between 8 and 9 years of age, perished.
The escape of these seems perfectly miraculous. One
of the children was thrown out of a window on to
the ice it knows not how. The other was dragged
out of a window, having been up to its neck in water
for some 15 minutes, in almost a senseless state.
They were a little boy and a little girl, brother and
sister. They can recollect nothing after the fearful
crash, and being thrown upon their heads. The,r
mother, father, and uncle perished, and Owen
Doyle, who saved himself, is their uncle. He saved
himself by forcing his way out of a window as the
wat .r was rushing in. He remembers swimming on
tl the ice, and then lost c otsciousness. James
Barton cannot tell how he got out of the window.
lie recollects but a wild scream, being dashed
aga nst the ceiling of the car. Half senseless and
half drowned, he made a last spring, for a window.
He was picked off a cake of ice a few minutes af,er-
wards senseless. The two children, marvellous to
say, are but slightly injured, and Doyle and Bar-
ton are but comparatively little hurt. Doyle had
his brother and sister-in-law, two cousins, and a
cousin's wife, and two nieces, all killed or drowned.
And what with his own injuries, the fearful excite-
ment of the scene he'had passed through, and the
loss of so many near and dear to him, the poor fel-
low wandered about almost bereft of his memory
and his senses. Barton's father was also lost ;
they were sitting together when the car was turned
upside down, and they were dashed against the top
of it.

The escape of Richardson, Mr. Urquhart of the
express, the mail conductor, and the baggage mas-
ter, was equally marvellous. When the locomotive
and tender went into the abyss literally, the bag
gage car swung round apparently as it was going
over, and broke loose from the tender. The conse-
quence was it struck ou the ice to the left of wilt re
the locomotive disappeared, and slid, so strong was
the ice, a short distance. it never overturned, and
its three inmates, though thrown among trunks
and all sorts of things, strange and happy to say,
escaped with but barely trifling bruises. The con-
ductor, hearing the smash of the bridge, and stand-
ing at the open door of the car, leaped out just at
the brink of the abyss. He escaped unhurt.
In the second car, the persons saved were the
conductor, Mr. Barrett, the deputy superintendent,
Mr. Muir, and Mr. Je.sop, an auditor. They were
on the platform of the last car, and jumped off when
they heard the concussion. Of those hurt in this
car, are Dr. Macklem and Mr. T. a Street,of the
Falls. The former is very much injured in the heAd,
and has a contusion in the side, but it is hoped not
seriously. Mr. Street's collar bone is broken, his
arm very b
, aclly hurt, and he is otherwise much
bralseo• Thcy are in the hands of the best surgeons
in the province, and strong hopes are entertained of
their recovery. M. Curtis, of Ingersoll. is dread-
fully injured in the spine,
a7l is expected to die
every moment. Mr. Bart,,,, jun.,erwise fearfully of Woo 'stock,
ha his back broken, and
hudrt. He is sinking rap:diy. otherwise
We regret to say, from intelligence received from
Dr. Widmer, who, notwithstanding
hisgreat age,
cheerfully went to the scene of the disaster that
however, but very weak Dr. Macklem is not rallying " Was expected;is perfectly conscious, and
apprehensions are felt of some internal injury, "
Mr. Street is rallying fast, and is considered out
of danger. Both he and Dr. Macklem were 'coil_
scious for many hours after they were extricated
from the ruined cars. Edward M`Feeley, passen-

ger from Toronto to Buffalo, WO 3 slightly nj ure .
C. Foster, passenger from Toronto to Snspen 4.0 u
Bridge, was also but slightly injured. John Hen-
derson, passenger from 'Toronto to New York, torts
slightly injured. Joseph Burns, passenger from
Waterton to Hamilton, hal his collar bone broken.
Ferdinand Bergner, passenger from Toronto to
Buffalo, very slightly hurt.

Henry August, passenger from Toronto, escaped'
from the first car. The escape of this person Was
most wonderful. Lie is a German ; and he and the
last named passenger were sitting together on the
reir seat of the first passenger car. The Moment
they heard the first concussion they g.,t up and
rushed together to the door ; the latter only reached
the platform. He jumped off just three feet from
the chasm. The other car rushed by hiM and was

We are called upon to record the particulars of
the most horrible railroad accident that has ever
occurred in this country, attended with the greatest
loss of life.
The accident took place at 7 o'clock last evening,
a little more than a mile from the city of Hamilton,
Canada West, and to a train from Toronto, which
left that city about 5 p.m. The particulars have
been gathered from gentlemen who left the scene of
the accident early this morning. The Toronto and
Hamilton Railroad intersects the Great Western
about a mile and a half west of Hamilton, and the
Toronto trains come down to the city on the track
of the Great Western Company. The train from
Toronto last evening consisted of a locomotive,
tender, baggage car, and two passenger coaches—the
latter containing about 93 persons. When this train
reached the junction just above Hamilton, it was
ascertained that the train from Detroit had not
gone down to Hamilton, as it was entitled to do
before the Toronto train. After waiting 20 minutes
the Toronto train came on.
Just before reaching the bridge over the Desjar-
dins Canal the train left the track, by a misplace-
ment of a switch or some other cause, and ran upon
the bridge. The force of the train knocked the
bridge down, and engine and cars and all plunged
into the canal, 30 or 40 feet below.
The catastrophe was sudden and awful, and the
work of deaths was instantaneous and complete.
The locomotive and tender were entirely suh-
merged, the baggage car partially so. The forward
passenger car turned bottom upwards, and sunk so
deep that the floor was hut a few inches above the
water. Every soul on, board this car perished—all
by drowning of course. The rear passenger car
rested upon an end, and was about half submerged.
Most of the passengers in the rear of this car es-
caped, the remainder were drowned.
Of the 93 passengers only 15 or 16 are accounted.
for. It is nearly certain that 80 pers.ms have pe-
ished by this calamity.
When the train ran off the track some person,
supposed to be the conductor, cried out " Jump,"
and he, the baggageman and brakeman did jump,
and were saved. We are also told that a female
with a child jumped from the train just as it plunged
into the chasm, struck upon the ice below, and was
soon after seen climbing up the bank. There were
but few ladies in the train, and this is said to be
the only one saved. •
Among those on board was S. Zimmerman, the
great railway king of Canada, and he perished. His
death will be a disastrous blow to the business in-
terests of the province.
G. B. Redfield, of this city, superintendent of
the Erie and Ontario Railway, R. G. Benedict, for-
merly of this city, Mr. Pierson, a contractor,
_were
on board, and are among the saved. Our informant
states that among the passengers were many promi-
nent citizens of Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara, and
other places.
A despatch this morning states that 72 bodies had
been taken from the-water during the night.
The train from Detroit, which should have
crossedjthe bridge before the Toronto train, was
nearly two hours behind time. When it arrived
the passengers were compelled to wait some hours
to get across the gap of the canal. Of course
trains cannot pass until a new bridge has been con-
structed.
The disaster created great consternation at Ha-
milton, and the citizens of that place flocked to the
scene of the accident to aid in removing the bodies
and assisting- the injured. The latter are indeei
few, while the former can be counted by scores.
There was a draw in the bridge to enable vessels
to go up the Desjardins Canal to Dundas. The
bridge appears to have been a frail structure, to be
thus easily destroyed.
We have just been told that Mr. Muir, superin-
tendent of the road, and the conductor, were stand-
ing on the rear platform of the train when the cars
left the track. The engineer gave the signal to brake
when the conductor cried out "Jump." Both he
and the superintendent jumped off and saved their
lives. The engineer was lost.
(From the Toronto Colonist, March 14.)
The contusion and excit ment at the scene of the
lamentable accident on the Great Western Railway
continued to be so intense throughout ye,terday
that it was extremely difficult to obtain any infor-
mation in a connected or reliable shap.-.: beyond that
supplied by our telegraphic reports, which will be
found below.
The telegraphic offices here were thronged with
anxious inquirers, arid busied with receiving and
sending messages from all parts of the provinces by
parties seeking inf a-m,tieu of friends who have
been travelling in the West. Some of those inqui-
ries were of the most heartrending character.
Up to a late hour last evening numbers of men
were employed in breaking up the cars, and work-
ing with hooks and grapples to recover the bodies of
the deceased from the water. Seven men and two
women still rema'ned unidentified, and it was in-
tended to bury them. Thousands of people were
congregated around the scene of the catastrophe,
and it was found necessary to employ the milli," to
keep the immediate locality clear to permit the
workmen to proceed with their labours. It is ex-
pected that the brigade will be repaired by Monday
night next. At present passengers are crossing on a
ratt.