The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-01 00:00:00

A RAILWAY TRAIN ON FIRE.

An alarming fire broke out yesterday morning in
seven o'clock train from Glasgow, on the Edinburgh and
Glasgow line. When the train had arrived about a mile
from the Castlecary station, dense smoke was observed
to rise from a cattle-box, filled with household furniture,
which, together with a luggage van, was hooked on be-
tween the engine and the open carriages containing pas-
sengers. It at once became evident that embers from
the grating of the engine had caught upon the furniture,
which was only covered by a sheet of coarse tarpaulin.
One of the passengers informs us, that so defective was
the grating, that he observed large pieces of red cinders
blowing out upon the cattle-box. The passengers in the
open carriages became alarmed, and the engineer was
loudly hailed from all parts of the train. The guard
raised his flag and the passengers their hats and um-
brellas ; but whether these were imperceptible to the
engineer, on account of the dense columns of smoke
which were now rising from the burning van, or whether
he imagined that the best course to adopt was to make
all haste to arrive at Castlecary, where plenty of water
could be got to extinguish the flames, it is certain, at
least, that the train was not stopped until it arrived at
that station. The fire soon reached a second van, in
which the passengers' luggage was stowed, and a burn-
ing fragment of the cattle-box was blown into one of the
open carriages, to the great alarm and danger of the
passengers in it. One of the passengers, though not in
the carriage nearest the fire, leaped out, and was very
much bruised about the face. Luckily, the distance to
Castlecary was very short, as the train arrived at that
station before the fire had fully reached the passengers.
It was found, however, that the first van was completely
destroyed, together with the furniture it contained, to
the amount, it is said, of 1502 or 2001.—Edinburgh
Wit,ess.

TERRIFIC RAILWAY ACCIDENT.
GLOUCESTER, SUNDAY MORNING.-A most terrific
accident occurred yesterday evening, about ten o'clock,
on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, near the
Deffbrd station, which is situated within 33 miles of Bir-
mingham and 20 of Gloucester, by which Joseph Ward,
a fireman, lost his life, several persons were injured and
resided, two carriages burnt, and two fire-engines very
nearly destroyed. From the impossibility of extracting
information from the men employed at the station, the
cause of the accident is not satisfactorily stated, but the
following rests upon pretty good authority.
A luggage train, in the charge of Joseph Ward, en-
ginc-driver, left Gloucester at nine o'clock for Birming-
ham, and it is said that on arriving at Defford he ran
into a heavy truck which had most culpably been left
in his way. The shock was so great as not only
to throw the truck on the opposite rails, but to cause
the tender to project above the engine, and fall
upon it. Poor Ward was pressed against the engine
rails by the tender, and twenty minutes elapsed ere
he was extricated, and not till life was extinct. He
was conscious for a good many minutes of the effort
which was making to save him. The truck, as already
noticed, which caused the first accident, was thrown on
the opposite rails, and whilst in that position a train
from Birmingham came dashing on. The driver jumped
off and escaped, but the carriages were projected above
each other, two of them caught fire, some of the passen-
gers were scalded, and all more or less injured. About
three o'clock this morning three of the Company's ser-
vants arrived ; one of them was conveyed to the in-
firmary, but the others went home. A gentleman who
left Birmingham this morning by the 1 A.M. mail train,
states that when the passengers left the station nobody
seemed to have heard of the accident. As they ad-
vanced, however, the pace slackened until it became a
walk. This led to an inquiry, and the passengers were
told that an accident had occurred. On nearing the
fatal spot, the passengers were asked to leave the car-
riages and walk across a field and regain the rails at
another point. Our informant, however, went back, and
saw waggon piled upon waggon, and one of them with
the bottom burnt out and still on fire ; the tender was
also iying upon the luggage engine. The passengers
had all been removed by this time. Another acceunt is
that the accident was occasioned by the meeting of the
trains.

TIIE GAME LAWS IN WILTS -It is a remarkable
fact that there is not, at the present time, one individual con-
fined in either of the prisons in this county for offences
against the game-laws, nor has there been one of this descrip-
tion of offenders in confinement for six weeks past, although
the county abounds with preserves and coursing grounds as
much, probably, as any shire in the kingilom, and although
there are petty sessions held weekly in about twenty places
within the county.
The favourable change of weather since our last
f nublication has enab:ed. the farmers to cut a large
breadth but comparatively little has yet 13, en housed.
A few more fine days will remove all apprehensions of scarcity,
although the yield is not so abundant as at one time antici-
pated, nor will the condition of the grain be first-rate.—Kent