LONDON LETTER.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1467, 29 October 1878, Page 3

LONDON LETTER.

<£, [?EOM OUE OWN COEREBrONDENT.] Concluded. The first of these disasters was the wreck of an excursion train on the London, Chatham and Dover railway. This train, was a special fast one to bring back to town those who had been spending their holiday at Margate and Ramsgate, and had a heavy load of passengers. It was going well and regularly, although perhaps at a little greater speed than is common on that line, until it reached Sittingbpgrne, where there are many sidings arid quite a network of crossing metals. Hero two of the railway men had for about half-an-hour been having something like a game of monster dominoes in shunting a lot of trucks from place to place. Just as they were effecting their last move along came the express and in another minute six of the passengers were corpses, while about forty others were injured. The whole blame seems to rest on the two men who were shunting the trucks, and they seem to have acted \ytth remarkable insouciance even for railway men. The only thing that can be said fc<r them in extenuation is that the company was to blame in not having provided at such a place u proper system of signal and points, flags were lying

in the engineer’s office for re-arranging the Sittingbourne station with interlocking signals and lovers, but the Chatham and Dover Company i s not’one of the richest Corporations, and so the work was not hurried. As the shunters acted in complete independence of the man in the signal box, the driver of the excursion train found even the home signal at Sittingbourne station directing h : m to pass, although when he had not time to pull up, he could see a row of trucks being shunted on to the lino before him. Of course the two men whoso work caused this accident had to bear all the blame during the proceedings at the coroner’s inquest, and the jury have sent them for trial on a charge of manslaughter, but that is not likely to end in their conviction, for the Judges have clear perceptions of criminal responsibility, and will not hastily convict men for a fault to which the niggardly carelessness of their employers largely contributed. But a disaster of a much worse type happened last week on the Thames in the broad roach of water just below what used to bo the Royal Dockyard at Woolwich. Every day during August and September many hundreds of people who have not either the time, or perhaps the money, to make a longer holiday, take a river trip to Gravesend, Southend, or Sheen ess. I need scarcely tell some of your readers that Roshervillo Gardens, near Gravesend, “the place to spend a happy day,” as it is popularly known from its advertisement is much frequented by families who indulge in these usually pleasant trips Last Tuesday week there must have been at the very least three thousand souls afloat on the steamers that ply to the mouth of the Thames. One of these was the Princess Alice, a large boat built with handsome saloons on its decks, and she is believed to have had about eight hundred persons, men, women, and children, on board. She left Gravesend about six o’clock, and as she had to steam against (.he tide her progress was rather slow, so that when she sighted Woolwich it was getting near to eight o’clock, and as wo were just at the change of the moon it was quite dark. Everybody on board was merry, one of the hands was playing the air of a popular song, when the captain, and a good many of the passengers who were on the fore dock, perceived the sudden and rapid approach of a large iron screw collier called the By well Castle. This vessel had no cargo, and was going down the river with the tide. She was very much larger than the Princess Alice. The danger was only seen when it was too late to avert some collision ; but a fatal mistake in steering the smaller steamer caused the most awful catastrophe that was ever witnessed on the Thames. The helm of the Princess Alice was ported, and she was driven right across the bows of the By well Castle. The bows of the latter, like two sharply converging iron walls, drove right through the centre of the steamer, which in about five minutes foundered in the middle of the stream. A few of the passengers managed to save themselves. A great many more were saved by the boats that were attracted to the spot by the terrific shrieks of those who were battling with the water for their lives, and some escaped, God alone knows how. It is believed that about 150 were saved, but it is known that nearly 650 were drowned. Eor a week the river has been like a floating cemetery. The place where this collision happened is but a little way below the outfall of the whole drainage of London, and the river there is largely tainted with sewage. How foul the stream must bo there may be judged from the fact that most of the bodies recovered after three days’ immersion were so decomposed and changed that identification was only possible by means of the dress or trinkets, &c. Many scores of columns of this paper could bo filled with the wonderful stories narrated by the fraction who survived this fearful scene. Never since the worst time of the cholera have there been so many burials in London as during the last week. In some cases whole families have been swept away ; in others there is but a solitary survivor. The tragic nature of the whole of the circumstances has produced an intense feeling of sympathy in the public mind. As the funeral processions pass along Iho streets people stand cn the pavements bareheaded and with tears springing to their eyes. Thousands of pounds have been literally flung into the treasury of the Mansion House for the relief of the thousands of sufferers, and a marvellous number of kind hearted people have offered either to adopt the orphans or to provide for their maintenance.

This very morning has brought news of a third disaster. This time the scene of the fatality is jthe rising district of South Wales. One of the largest concerns in that country belongs to the Ebbw Yale Coal and Iron Company, in whose pit at Abercarno about 370 men and boys were working yesterday morning, when an explosion took place. All the people near at hand at once rushed to the pit mouth, and a few of those possessing at once both courage and experience descended the shafts. They were enabled to save some eighty of the workers, but further progress was stoppod by the foul air and gas, and it was almost at the same time found that the coal in the pit was on fire. As the men who remained in the mine were working over about three miles of narrow ways, no doubt is entertained that they have been killed either by explosion or by suffocation. Up to the time I write nothing is known of the cause of this disaster, and from my experience of similar catastrosphes many days, if not weeks, must elapse before anything is found beyond the corpses of the victims. I ought not to close this letter without wril ing a few lines about a very remarkable confession which has just been made by a convict in one of our London prisons. The convict in question was Mr A. W. Gray, who was one of the cashiers at the Bank of Mena, in the Isle of Man. Early in the summer it was found that the bank premises had been entered in a very singular manner, which showed an intimate acquaintance with their most secret workings, and a large sura of money w r as missing. Gray wag arrested, and after three very long and tedious inquiries pursued after the antiquated custom of the Isle of Man, was convicted and sentenced to penal servitude. He was theu handed over to the English authorities, and, as the first step in hie punishment, was brought to the Millbank prison. Up to this time he had in the most positive manner asserted his innocence, but a few days of convict life seem to have brought him to his senses and filled him with the hope of obtaining a remission of a part of his term. Accordingly he expressed a wish to see the barrister who had defended him on his trial. Application was made to the Home Secretary, and as Mr Cross is a man of common sense, he set aside all routine redAapeism, and allowed the convict to see his lawyer, to whom he at once made a confession, which was reduced to writing. In this he acknowledged having committed the robbery alone and unaided—it had been at one time thought that he was assisted by two men with whom he was familiar - —-and told the police where they would find the money, not a coin of which had up to that time bean discovered. They searched tho places indicated, the garden of Gray’s own house and tho garden of the residence of a lady to whom he was engaged to be married, and they found nearly every sovereign of the eight thousand pounds he had stolen. I don’t yet know what may be the effect of this confession and restitution, but it is not improbable that after some little time has elapsed, and the local excitement has had time to cool, that the announcement may be made that the Queen —meaning thereby tho Home Secretary—ha* shortened Gray’s sentence to one of two years’ imprisonment, which would spare him tho terrors of the Portland quarries.