The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-12 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, WEDNESDAY.—The Queen and Prince
Albert, the Duke and. Duchess of Saxe Coburg and
Gotha, and the Duke Ernest of Wurtemberg, at-
tended by the Marchioness of Douro, Lord Charles
Wellesley, Sir Edward Bowater, and the Baron de
Alrensleben, arrived at seven minutes past four
o'clock at the Castle in the char-a-bane, from Claremont.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales,
Prince Alfrad, the Princess Royal, and the Princess
Alice, arrived from Claremont with their usual at-
tendants, in close carriages.
The Lord Steward arrived via town from Clare-
mont at six o'clock.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, Lady
Fanny Howard, and the Countess Wratislaw, joined
the royal circle at the Castle at dinner this evening.

Sir Robert Peel arrived in town yesterday after-
noon from his seat, Drayton Manor, Staffordshire.
The Earl of Haddington had an interview with th'a
Right Hon. Baronet. In the evening Sir Robert left
town for Windsor Castle, on a visit to her Majesty.
A deputation from the Newry and Enniskillen
Railway Company, consisting of Mr. Charles Jen-
nings, Mr. James Lyle, Mr. John Boyd, Mr. Hill
Irvine, and Mr. James Coombe, accompanied by the
Marquis of Downshire, the Hon. J. H. Knox, Sir
John Rennie, the engineer of the Company, and Mr.
Bryden, the Parliamentary agent, had an interview
with the Earl of Dalhousie on Tuesday, at the office
of the Board of Trade.

The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England had
a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, at the office in
Whitehall-place. There were present the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of
Llandaff, the Bishop of Ripon, and the Dean of West-
minster.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat
yesterday in the Council Chamber. The Lords pre-
sent were Lord Langdale, Master of the Rolls, Mr.
Baron Parke, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Corn-
wall, and the Judge of the Admiralty Court. Mr.
Turner, Queen's Counsel, was heard on an appeal from.
the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, " Pryce Jones
v. Francis Godrich."—Judgment was not given.
Mr. Charles Buller and Mr. Jackson were heard on
an appeal from Bengal, " Chowdry Deby Persad v.
Chowdry Dowlut Sini7b.—The c 1 r wn; aljourned,

FATAL ACCIDENT on the DO VEli

RAILWAY.
FURTHER PARTICULARS.

The accident happened on that part of the line known as
the Wooden Viaduct, which runs over Blue Anchor-fields,
'Bermondsey, about three-quarters of a mile from the termi-
nus above named, to the original line of the Croydon Rail-
way, between New-cross and that of the Greenwich line.
The viaduct is formed of massive fir timber, having upwards
of two hundred arches, each with a span of full twenty feet,
and supported by piles driven into the earth; the whole, as
will be seen hereafter, was of great solidity.
It appeared that the ill-fated train left the Bricklayers'
Arms station for Dover at twenty minutes after twelve
o'clock, the engine being driven by Robert Buckley, an ex-
perienced driver in the employ of the Company, attended
by a fireman or stoker, named Aaron Wilkinson. It con-
sisted of eleven luggage waggons, a break, and a second-class
carnage, in which was deposited the packages for the fo-
-reign mail, under- the charge of an officer of the General
Post-office. There were in the break waggon the Com-
pany's guards, .as well as the servants belonging to the
carriers—in all five or six persons. This carriage was the
last on the train, and fortunately escaped uninjured. The
whOleof the others, excepting the second-class carriage,
were .more or less shattered by the force of the concussion.
The engine, which is comparatively a new one, and of inure
than ordinary power we understand, on qaitting the station
proceeded along the line towards the viaduct, to use the ex-
pression of those who were present at the time, " as easily as
if she had nothing behind her." It is the practice pursued
by the engineers to have another locomotive engine in readi-
ness, to assist in driving all trains over the viaduct, which is
rather upon the incline. As the train advanced towards that
spot another engine followed in the rear, and, it is stated,
had just reached the break, when a terrific explosion Oc-
curred, which was thus described by one of the guards to the
Directors of the line, who met yesterday :—The first thing that
occurred, he said, was a smart explosion, which, the next
instant, was followed by another explosion of far greater
force than the preceding one, and which, with a subsequent
tremendous crash, almost stunned him. The concussion
threw him forward, and the carriage in which he was was
so violently shaken that he thought it was falling to pieces.
He immediately jumped up, and got off the carriage to see
what had happened, but could perceive nothing in conse-
quence of a cloud of steam, and large pieces of burning
coke descending in a shower in every direction. For a
moment or so he was completely bewildered, it being too
apparent that some fearful accident had occurred. As soon,
however, as the steam and smoke had in some measure
cleared away, he discovered the line to be completely blocked
up with the waggons, which were spread across the two lines
of rails, and piled many of them upon one another. He, with
the rest of the guards, called to the engine-driver, and also
his companion, the stoker, but receiving no answer, they
climbed over the pile of waggons in the direction in which
they expected to find the engine, a work not accomplished
without considerable difficulty, for they found that some of
the waggons were shattered, and that, to all appearance, the
viaduct had broken in. On arriving at the other end of the
train, they discovered that the engine had burst, and had
gone over the viaduct, and was partially buried in the earth
beneath, whilst the tender was hanging over the side of the
viaduct, torn and folded up, as if it had been made of mere
pasteboard, its carriage having fallen to the ground about
twenty yards from where the engine lay. It was evident
that the explosion inust have been heard for a considerable
distance, as numerous persons were to be seen hurrying to-
wards the spot, but to obtain efficient aid, the pilot engine,-
which was to have propelled the train from the rear, was
dispatched back to the station. In the meanwhile search was
made for the engine-driver and the stoker, and shortly the for-
mer' Robert Buckley, was found lying some 20 or 30 yards
up the line where the engine went off, with one of the large
waggons partly resting upon his body. From the dangerous
position of the waggons, some time elapsed before it could be
ascertained whether he was alive or dead. However, upon
reaching him he was found to be dead, and even then the
body could not be extricated fir upwards of an hour and a half.
The stoker was found in the rear of the train, lying on the
opposite rails, bleeding profusely, and apparently dead, with
the whole of his jacket, except the cuffs, blown off his back.
Immediately upon the arrival of assistance from the station,
Mr. George, the secretary, who came with the engines, had
the poor fellow wrapped in blankets, placed in a second-class
carriage and conveyed to the station, and from thence taken
by a cab to Guy's Hospital, where it was found that he was
still living.
As soon as possible the line was cleared of all obstructions,
so that the regular traffic might not be impeded, and at an
early hour the Directors, who had assembled on the spot,
with Mr. Cubitt, the locomotive engineer, and Mr. Gregory,
of the Croydon line, considered it necessary to forward im-
mediate intelligence of what had happened to Colonel I'asley,
the Inspector-General of Railroads, and who arrived soon after
nine o'clock, when a strict examination was gone into, the
result of which is as follows :
The bursting of the locomotive being the supposed cause
of the accident, their first object was to examine the engine,
as it lay imbedded in the earth. After getting off the viaduct
it had pitched head foremost into the earth, a depth of four
feet, and then turned over. They found the fire box was
'blown out, as well as the whole of the fire bars ; and the
inner casing, between which and the outer casing the steam
generated, was also torn away. The next point was to
examine what effect the explosion had had upon the viaduct,
and the probable cause of her getting off the same. They
found, upon inquiry, that there had been two explosions;
the first apparently took place about eighty feet from the
spot where the engine was lying. The fire bars at the bottom
of the fire box had been blown completely through the
viaduct into arch No. 134, making a hole three or four feet
square. The second explosion (the most severe of the two),
not only blew the fire box through the arch No. 133, butsuch
was the force of the steam, to use the phrase of our informant,
that the engine jumped," and descended partly on thp