THE LATE COACH ACCIDENT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 531, 21 June 1872, Page 2

THE LATE COACH ACCIDENT.

'.V's. r \ 'v,. On Thursday, the 1 3th inst, about 9 o’clock the most serious accident tnat has been our duty to chronicle, occurred on the road between Clyde and Cromwell, whereby the Mail-coach, together with Mr. Henry, the proprietor, aud one passenger, Mr. William Barlow, were precipitated into the river Molyneux,. ah almost perpendicular* incline of ov«; - ,120 Jteet in depth ; the spot where the^pcident/occurred is about five miles front Clyde, and the road most ciicuitous, forming in the distance of about 150 yards the letter S. Jt appears that on reaching the last turn, one of the horses shied.at a heap of stones on the hill side, and before it could be stopped stepped over the bank, dragging with it the other horse, the tcoacli, and its living freight. Mr. Henry says his first consciousness was to find himself in the water buoyed up by his great coat, the coach being .close to him floating in t' eddy of the river, making for t'ae b kind looking round him he espied his. passenger and the horses some distance up the bank, but had barely time to get under cover of a rock when they rolled into the river : he then made his way up the bank and returned back to Elliots’s Half Way Hotel and informed them of the disaster. Mr. Barlow perfectly unconscious, extricated himselj from his perilous position, and in the course of some hours made the residence of William Adams («e Champagne Bill,) where he was found on ihe following morning by the Police who had been searching for him the whole of the night. One of the horses was also discovered on the opposite bank of the river alive, and since then the other has been found dead near the Dunstan Hospital, a distance of nearly seven miles from the scene of the accident. Of the six bags of the mail, two were found on the spot, another on the following stonday was picked up below the Teviot, the remainder must be in the river with the coach. A great deal has been written by us at various times on the dangerous state of this road, and we have pointed out the necessity for a something|to be done tojrender the most dangerous parts of it more secure, this accident; which; by fhe interposition of a divine Providence has not been attended with fatal results, will, we hope, have its effect,, and that something approaching a common sensd system will hereafter be adopted in the expenditure of money on the road; and that we shall not have occasion to refer again to the present method. It is not only the plan adopted of repairing that wc object to, hut to the class of labor employed, there are plenty of strong able-bodied men at all times available, and we think they should he employed in preference to men, incapacitated by age and other causes from such work. We do not blame any one in particular, but say. if a billet is wanted for some decrepid old man, do not give him one as a road repairer. The system of repairing the roads by contract has been repeatedly advocated by us, we again bring forward the lea, feeling assured that by the system of tender and contract only will the roads of the Province ever be made passable. —o — ANOTHER ACCIDENT. Occurred on the same line yesterday, by which the driver of the vehicle, James M’Grath, received severe injuries. The road being too bad for wheeled traffic, the mail on Wednesday was conveyed from tho Roaring Meg on horseback, and it was while returning, and when near Edwards’s Ferry, the horse on which M’Grath was riding fell, and inflicted the injuries while struggling to rise.