The Sun.
London, England, 1828-12-02 00:00:00

RAIL ROAD ACCIDENT.

MinneeToN, Noy:.. 27.--During: the. course of
last summer, Messrs. AndreW and Wilde coal-
miners, of Hathershaw-Moor and 'deemed
it expedient to construct a rail-road front] their
works at the latter place to the Lodge, at Middle-
ton. The road was directed to a valley. called
Boarshaw Clough, where it was Jet unite .two rather
precipitous banks, and 'cross .a:shallow, but rapid
stream. At this place fpueepdlars of; stone-work
were erected for thee exterpoeeeof sntepoetinie, the,
beams whereon the raileepedeeves-eceihe edtitm4ecle
The first pillar was fieyarele:frerri
,the- eeSteriebenk,
the second pillar was 24- yards frorh 'tlie said hunk,
the third pillar was 34, yards' frbm the same place,
and the fourth pillar .54, re 'that betwixt the third
, and fourth pillars was a spteee'of VOyards, whilst the
depth from the surface of the road to the stteam be.
low was nine and a half yards;: an,(l from the fourth
pillar to the abutment en .the western side 'was another
space of 10 yards. On these rested beams
of pine 13 inches by 61,a'nd Move them-were laid
strong planks of the same- description of timber, to
which were attached the rails, whereon the wag.
gons were intended to run ; on each: side also were
hand-raile, for the security of those passing_it. The
pillars were each about . eight feet by six et their
base, and`four f(cet by three, at their, top, and the
timber-work was beim! together-, and strengthened
underneath by rods of iron an inch and 'a half in
diameter, screwed into blocks of cast metal, and
distended in the centre of each space by a piece of
iron adapted to the purpose, as the strings of a violin
are by the bridge. Many persons,' since the reetion
of this scaffolding, had, in-treading it, experienced
a considerable vibration, e.:-.pecially;betwixt the third
and fourth pillars, where the spa,ce-atia.47twentyyards;,
but, as it ha4l been erected, and approvral.Pf by, per-
sons who were considered competent to judge a its
secirity, there was uo prevalent apprehension of
danger, To-day, thtleibre, betwixt the hours of
one and two o'clock at 'Won, a horse, drawing
ten w aggons, each containing about six hundred
weight of coal, iipproached this bridge, The
son of one of the proprietors (Mr. Haigh, of
Chadderton) was the driver ; he.. came on
at the eastern end, and was followed by a young led
of the name of Raworth, who seated himself on the
first tvaggon, behind the horse ;.and. two ether young
fellows came after the last waggon. The }Teeth led
his horse boldly forward ‘nntii he cattle upon_ the
space betwixt the third and fourth pillars, when the
tioar was observed to shake. He' drove smartly
across, and having gained the fourth pillarecast his
eye back to see the effect of the full weight on its
centre. He heard a crack---felt it going beneath
him ; he then twilled past the heed of his horse,,
god, as he quitted it,. all went down beie:nd. Of
the two young fellows, who followed . the waggons,
one, John Johnsen, was taken out of the stream,
with his brain protruding .abowe his eye.; he has
since died; the-other, Robert Cheethene, received a
fracture. of the elbow joint; and Robert Haworth,
who sat next the horse, miraculously escaped with
luxation of the. wrist, and tralight bruise on the head.
Voting' Haight held fast by the railings, and came
down. unhurt; whilst 'the horse, a tine young bay,
worth 40 guineas, was flung upwards_by the sudden
jerk, head over heels, and fell dead at the foot of the
fourth pillar. ,
It appears that the other day the same driver and
horse had passed with.
six waggons of coal, after
which the youth was directed to 'bring ten; under
scaffolding , gay,
that weight the way, when the
horse, the waggons, and three yeuniemen, were pre-
cipitated a depth of nine yards. - ' The planners of
the structure were confident of its capeeee.
to bear
almost any weight ; and one of them proposed that
it should be called " the little Bangor,' in allusiou
to the great chain-bridge at Bangor-ferry. The
reliance was placed on the rods beneath the'
beams; they were an inch and a half in diameter,
and, passing into strong blocks of cast-iron, were
screwed up as tight es harp-strings; but on exami-
netion of the wreck it appeared that two of them
had broken off dose to the bolts whiCh had. held
them, the beams then gave way with a dxeadful
crash, and the whole spszee on which the horse and
waggons wee'e passing came down. It must have
bent like a willow twig before it broke, since the
-whole bridge, was dawn from its originel position
three quarters'of a yard. An inquest has been held
on the body of Johnsen, and a verdict of "Acct
dental death" returned. At the time the accident
oecurred, mast of the people in the cottages near
were at dinner ; had it taken place half au hour later,
robably the scaffold would have been crowded, in
which case the consequenee%
•must have been too
shoeßing to be contemplated„

. . .
We stated in our paper, a few weeks since,
that his Grace the Duke of Gordon bad made such ar-
rangements as would ens:4? bim to pay off the money bor-
rowed by his father, on his estates, from a number of
private gentlemen in the North, wizigik money is said to
amount in all to about 400,000/. We tune now to add,
i
that we have since heard it reported, and we 1141,7k1 no rea-
son to doubt the accuracy of ti.e report, that the tci:stecs
of the Earl of Fife have it in .cotlielPPlation.to•pay
oii
about 130,0001. which had been borroyed in a similar
manner. The quantity of money thus put into circula-
tion in the county of Elgin will have no precedent '4.t any
former period of its history.—Elgin Courier.
The following is an extract of a letter (I.= his
Miristy's Consul at New Orleaso, dated October 6, which
was re,i;eivel at Amadei on Saturday morning Jazt;:—
"This is is again visitod by the yellow fever. On its
first .appearaor.e the caves were f,ew and of a mild nature,
but within these fAw days past the .4!zease has increased
and become more .vin;4ent. We have only four British
vessels in port, one of which, the Agn6 and Ann; I am
sorry to say, has already buried seven o 1 her crew."---
Sussex Advertiser,