The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-03 00:00:00

7.).‘,1 IL I l'A Y CCIDEN T

Early on Saturday morning a snot:lung accident hap-
r.med near Caersws, a small stating on the Cambrian
Railway. After passing Newtown this railway, making
straight for' Llanidloes, crosses the devious course of the
Severn at three points. For some days past the floods
have been gathering from the hilly country west of this
portion of the line, where the Severn takes its rise, and on
Friday the river was full to overflowing, many of the low-
lying fields in the vicinity being under water. About sit
o'clock in the morning the mail train from Shrewsbury
left Weshpool on its journey south. The train consisted
of half.a dozen cattle trucks, a couple of luggage
vane, two passenger carriages, and two guards' vans. It
forten.itely happened that, from the early hour of the
morning at which this train runs, there were no passengers
in the carriages, the only persons in the train being the
engine-driver, the stoker, a goods' guard, a passenger
guard, and the cattle drover-. When a few minutes after
seven o'clock the train reached Caersws, it was still darn
and raining in torrents, with the wind blowing very high.
On approaching the river the driver slackened speed and
proceeded at a cautious pace ; but no sooner had the full
weight of the engine rested on the bridge than the structure
swayed to and fro and finally fell in with a loud crash, the,
engine and tender clisappearitg beneath the water. Two
cattle trucks which led the train followed the tender, and
next came a van loaded with flour ; but, in falling over,
the rear coupling-chain of the van broke, and the van,i
.
standing for a moment upright on the immersed trucks,
proved an obstacle sufficient to stop the slowly advancing
train, which stood still with a truck partly hanging
over the brink of the river. As soon as they ha.;
recovered from the shock occasioned by the sudden
stoppage of the train, the guards and drivers who
were in the rear ran up to the broken bridge to ascertain
the fate of the driver and stoker. At first they could see
nothing of them, but as daylight came on they were able,
to distinguish the form of the driver, apparently standing.
upright in the water, with his head so near the top that
the current occasionally left portions of the face visible
above the surface. On further investigation it appeared
that in falling through the gap in the bridge the engine
had rolled over on its side, crushing the stoker into the,
bed of the river, while the tender, falling upon the;
engine. had fixed the driver in the peculiar position de-
scribed, just as he was in the act of jumping. The
four men left unhurt were of course helpless in the face'
of such a disaster ; and while the passenger guard re-.
mained in charge of the mails, the other guard volun-
teered to run back to Moat-lane Junction to telegraph
to Oswestry for assistance. This he did, but it was ten
o'clock before an engine arrived on the scene of the acci-i
dent, and the two poor fellows in the river being long past
all human aid, the attention of the officials was dirveted
towards forwarding the mails. A conveyance having been
obtained, the bags were sent round by the highway to Poet-
dolgoch Station, but here another calamity made itself
known. The break-down of the bridge at Caersws having
suggested to the officials of the railway the possibility of
the other bridges being insecure, the Pontdolgoch bridge,
which, unlike those at Caersws and Scafel, is constructed
of iron girders, was examined, and it was discovered that
its massive stone foundations had already yielded to
the force of the water. The mails were accordingly carried
further clown the line, where they were met by a special
engine, and forwarded to their destination. To complete
the misfortunes of the day, it shortly afterwards transpired
that the first of the three bridges—Scafel—was also being
gradually swept away, and it became necessary to stop at
Seafel all trains proceeding south, and at Pontdolgoch all_
trains proceeding north, thus isolating that portion of the
line where the accident had occurred, and greatly adding
to the difficulty of raising Cie engine, tender, and trucks
from the bed of the river.

DEATH OF MR. WILLIAII RATIIBONE, OV LIVER,
rooL.—Mr. William Rathbone, whose name has for more
than half a century been intimately associated with the
commercial and political history of Liverpool, died at
Greenbank, near Liverpool, at eight a.m. on Saturday
last, at the ripe age of 81. Mr. Rathbone was one of the
genuine " merchant princes" of Liverpool, and in politics
he was for upwards of fifty years one of the most ener-
getic members of the Liberal party. He was mayor in
1836, and for many years he took a prominent position in
the government of the town. He was descended from a
Quaker family, but in early life he joined the Unitarian
body. Mr. Rathbone leaves three sons, all of whom follow
in his footsteps, both in business and politics.