TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR LEICESTER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 514, 21 December 1881, Page 1

TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR LEICESTER.

A shocking accident befell the Bur- /Fj ton and Leicester express, on the Mid-.' " land railway, at Desford, near Leices- J; ter, on October 22. At the siding-;aima coal train was shunting, and, the points being open,the express came dashing ahead, the signals being clear; and before the driver saw the mistake that had been made by the pointsman an awful collision occurred, and the ..passenger. train was wrecked. The train; run-,M ning at about 50 miles ari hour, thet force of the collision was very great, and three lady passengers were thrown’ with such violence that their necks were broken, and they were killed ( on,, the spot. The engine and tender were/ raised in the air, riding over six waggons, dashing: them to pieces, and .1. finally rolling over their side; -the-" driver and the fireman were thrown pit the ground, and discovered with ing water flowing oyer them, the flesh coming off their hones. Two, r very„ o j strongly-built bogey carriages; oh;the, front part of the train were telescopedinto one another, and piled in a heap of ruins. The front van was dashed to 1 • ; atoms, only the wheels being left The..,, guard’s van of the goods train shared the same fate, and the guard had a,v/ wonderful escape. ,The guard of the passenger train was cut and wounded,; and was found Covered with milk cans; '

Among the killed were Mrs Whetstbrie, De Montfort Square, Leicester; Miss Wainwright, friend of the above, whd*. was on a visit from Yorkshire,I Mrs Orton Coalville. The injured include?a77 Evirlby, farmer, broken ;leg: and fractured skull; Mr Ford Whit-Lhil wick; broken leg; Mr Kirby, contusion ’' on the head; and old lady, natue.'unknown, both legs broken. John Whitfield, .driver of the' train, : badly' jscalded';^ 1 and internally injured; also 1 tlie of the . train, terribly injured;, Barratt, guard; cut and '.bruised ; Mr j,. Coalville, contused head; . The. signals man has been suspended, i - 'ih-j-. .’