The Sun. — 1851-11-29 (London, England)

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE SOUTH-COAST  FORD, Nov. 28.—An awful accident occurred on the South-Coast Railway last night, in consequence of the neglect of an engine-driver to attend to a danger signal. The last train from London leaves London-bridge station at seven o'clock, and on its arrival at Brighton passengers for Shoreham, Arundel, Chichester, and Pealsmouth are dispatched by a branch train leaving Brighton at 9.50. Last night this train was sent off at the precise time, the greatest regularity .being obsetved on the Brighton and South-Coast Railway. goods train leaves Portsmouth at 7.30 daily; this train also started at the accustomed time. These trains arrive at the bridge over the river Arun about the same time; and, inasmuch as the bridge, which, as most of our readers are aware, is moveable, so as to allow of the passage of brigs of considerable tonnage from Littlehampton-harbour up to Arundel, and is consequently of light construction, is a -single line, the greatest care is necessary with regard to the signals. " First come, first served," is the principle acted upon. Either train being discerned by the signal-man has the " all right " signal displayed for its guidance; and at the same time the red, or "stop" signal, is exhibited on the other line. These regulations being duly observed, accidents would be impossible. It seems that at 10.15 last night the up goods train was first discerned, and consequently the " all right " signal was displayed, the " stop " signal being at the same moment given to the down passenger train. The goods train was an unusually long one, consisting of nearly forty trucks. The engine and tender and the first part of the train crossed the bridge, and had diverged from the single line on the " up " rails, the remaining portion of the train being partly on the bridge, and partly on the western side of the river, when the passenger train (its driver paying no attention to the " stop" signal) came up, and, of course, precisely at the point of junction, dashed against the goods train. The consequence to the goods train was, that three carriages were shattered to splinters and thrown off the up line. This was the only casualty, so far as the goods train was concerned ; but the results to the passengers' train was more serious. The engine, tender, luggagebox, and two second-class carriages were thrown off the down rails and toppled over the embankment, here about twelve feet high. Fortunately there were only four passengers in the train; three having arrived from London, and the remaining one having booked at Brighton. Two of these entirely escaped injury, and the other two were but slightly bruised, but the stoker, Martin, of Portsmouth, was seriously, and, it is believed, fatally injured, his skull being broken and his brains driven in. The driver, John Pemberton, of Portsmouth, seems to have escaped injury from the concussion; but seeing the serious consequence of his negligence, he at once determined on suicide. Jumping on the engine from which he had been thrown, he seized his jack knife and out his throat; and, this attempt not being effectual, he threw himself into the river. Burgess, the guard of the passenger train, had a miraculous escape. He was in the break carriage which went down the embankment. It was crushed to pieces, but the guard escaped with a few slight bruises. He crawled out of a smashed window just as Pemberton jumped into the water. Quick as thought be divested himself of his jacket, plunged into the river, and, with assistance, dragged him out. Mr. Stedman, of Littlebampton, surgeon, was quickly on the spot, and as soon as information reached Brighton, Mr. W. Verrall and Mr. J. Lawrence, jun.. surgeons at Brighton, joined him. The requisite attention was paid to both Pemberton and Martin by the medical gentlemen, by whose direction they were both removed to the hospital at Chichester. It was expected that Pemberton would recover, but not the slightest chance remains for the stoker, Martin. The account giTen by Pemberton of the cause of the accident is this:—He said that after lea vir g the Arundel station, be looked into the fire-box, and that the glare blinded him so that ve hen he looked up he could scarcely see anything. The first thing he did see was a red light waved to and fro, the next, the light of the appros cling train. He acknowledged also that he only was in fault, and that he entirely lost his presence of mind. Before he was removed to the Chichester Hospital he declared his determination to commit suicide; and in consequence he is under the close surveillance of two men.  As quickly as possible information of the disaster was conveyed to Brighton; and, at three o'clock in the morning, Captai❑ Mackenzie Shaw (superintendent of the railway there) went down to the spot; and at six o'clock the passage was sufficiently cleared to allow the goods train to leave. No obstruction occurred to the passage of either the up or down trains which followed.  On reaching the spot this morning, our reporter found Mr. Tiling (chairman of the directors of the railway), Captain Shaw, Mr. Craven (superintr ndent of the locomotive department), with Mr. Saddler (foreman of the fitting department), Mr. Smith (superintendent of the carriage department), Mr. Yates (inspector of the ways and works), and Mr. Greaves (contractor fur the maintenance of the permanent way on this part of the line), all engaged in superintendtendiDg the efforts of 50 or 60 workmen in clearing the line. Already one of the broken carriages had been conveyed up a temporary inclined plane to the rails and removed; another was brought up in our reporter's presence; and the engine which, although much broken, is said to be capable of repair, was undergoing the lifting process.  It was most fortunate that the bridge was not open for the passage of a ship. Had this been the case, and the signal been neglected, the train would have gone plump into the river. We understand that the Admiralty originally objected to a double line bridge, on account of the time which it was thought the extra weight would cause to be consumed in removing the viaduct obstruction to the navigation of the Arun; but this, the second accident which has occurred on the spot, both which would have been avoided by a double line bridge, will probably lead to the application of such a remedy for such accidents.  Strange to say, only three of the rails of the permanent way were displaced by the accident. FIVE o'CLocK.—An inhabitant of Chicestor, just arrived here, states that the stoker Martin was dying when ha left the city. Prin.l.,e Edward of Saxe-Weimar and his bride were passengers by the previous train on their way to Goodwood, where they spend the honeymoon.