Glasgow Courier. — 1846-01-24 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.  We regret to state that a fatal accident, by which one individual lost his life and another was much injured, occurred between 12 and 1 o'clock on Monday. On the arrival of the luggage train from Dover, at the bridge which crosses a river about a mile from Tonbridge, one of the abutments, owing, it is supposed, to the overflowing of the water and high wind which prevailed at the time, gave way, and as soon as the engine entered upon the bridge, one of the arches fell in, and the engine, tender, and two of the luggage waggons, together with the engine-driver and stoker were precipitated into the water. At the time the accident happened the train was proceeding at a moderate rate. The stoker is severely hurt, but not considered dangerously. Up to the time the latest intelligence was received, the engine, tender, and two luggage waggons remained in the water, and therefore the extent of injury and loss of property cannot at present be ascertained.  Suicide from Railway Losses.—On Tuesday an inquest was held before W. Carter, Esq., at the Cricketer's Tavern, near St. George's Church, Camberwell, on the body of Frederick Edward William Burrell, Esq., aged 38, late captain of the 55th foot, who destroyed himself in consequence of heavy losses in railway speculations. The deceased shot himself through the heart, whilst in bed. He had been very low and desponding for the last six months, in consequence of heavy losses in railway speculations, and had often exclaimed, while walking wildly about in the parlour, "I have had enough to make me shoot myself, but I would not for the world;" and at another time he said, "His whole life had been one of trouble to him; for, first his mother had deserted him, and then he had become embarrassed by losses in railway speculations." The jury returned a verdict that the deceased destroyed himself while in a state of temporary insanity. .A Letter Trap.—On Thursday evening last, a gentleman, of Gloucester, having put a newspaper into the hole of the box at the post-office, was surprised to find that it would not descend into the basket. He pushed, and pushed again, and still it stuck fast; and, therefore, he went round to the door to notify the circumstance. The post-office clerks, equally surprised as the applicant, naturally turned to the box itself for an explanation of it, when they discovered an "artful dodge," which, had it been successful, would have seriously damaged the credit of the establishment, by cheating a large number of persons of their letters and papers. A silk bag had been let down into the aperture—bullets being placed in each corner to distend it—and it was secured to the mouth of the aperture by hooks of wire. The bag was nearly full of letters and paperswhich had been dropped into the hole, and this was the reason that the paper through which the discovery was made would not descend. Probably the practice of this trick would account for many of the post-office losses. Unfortunately the trap was not left until the thief came to remove the bag and the spoil, end therefore he is quite uuknown.--Glouceeter Chronicle,