APPALING ACCIDENT TO THE IRISH MAIL TRAIN.

Southland Times, Issue 1051, 4 November 1868, Page 3

APPALING ACCIDENT TO THE IRISH MAIL TRAIN.

A gentleman who travelled by the Holy head train gives the following graphic i account of the scene : — Nothing unusual occurred until we reached the turn or sweep upon the road between Abergele and Llanddulas. Opposite to me was sitting a London gentleman reading a newspaper. I had my watch in my left: hand, and ' Bradshaw's Guide ' in my right, ansious to time exactly the arrival of the train at Llanddulas. Suddenly, without the slightest notice, I was hurled from my seat upon, my opposite companion. Stunned for a second by the shock, I quickly recovered. My companion, inquiring whether I was hurt, assured me that I had turned a somersault in the carriage. lat once put my head out of the window on the right hand, or locked side, of the carriage. Looking first' to the rear of the line, I saw all was clear. Three or four- pale and anxious faces appeared at the windows, and hands were nervously, busy, trying in vain to ; turn the handles of the doors. X crept out of

the window, and there I saw a sight frhich <}an never be forgotten. Th« Chester train, consisting of two first-class carriages, a composite carriage, a secondclass carriage, and a luggage-van, whioh had been attached in front of our train/ : at Chester, had run into 'a goods train with casks and cans of petroleum. I ? examined the barrels subsequently and, found they were strongly made and well hooped. With the violence of the ► tCpn? cussion. some of the barrels were thrown upon the embankment on the right, others on the rising ground to the left, and others rolled under the carriages, T but all exploded, as, it were, together. s There was fire everywhere? — nothing but fire. The engine, the carriages, and the luggage- van were enveloped in fire — bright dazzling fire. It ; seemed !.„. as if hell had opened;: or \ :.a volcano had burst out .upon the the train. Few in the London portion of the train couldi ace beyondl the mail-' ? van directly in our front. All beyond, as I say, was an arch of roaring, panting, / hissing fire. On the moment we rushed \ to the mail-van and extricated one of the officials sorely wounded, the other, named Woodroffe, was hurt, but bravely kept his guard upon the mails. In a few seconds we had all the letters and even the newspapers out, and then it suddenly, broke upon us that there were carriages ... _ and passengers within _that wall of fire. There were brave men who volunteered to rush through the flames and save Jifo if it could be saved, but the attempt was hopeless. Not a cry for help, not a sound, except the hissing of the fire and ;^ the cracking of the woodwork, reached from out of the flaming circle. The air became insufferably hot. We were breathing an atmosphere heated to 150 degrees. We felt our impotency moat/ when we stood for'amoment.unemployed.. "■ Then we thought the fire would reach / the London portion of the train. Our first care was to lift the ladies from the windows, and to place the wounded on the bank. Next, our portion of the train was pushed backwards from the fire, but fragments of the shattered and burning, carriages adhered. As the debriil wasßi disturbed and moved away, we saw what the fire had done. Amongst • the broken > timbers and hot ironwork there hj\ skeletons — smoking skeletons— all that was left of men and women and childrehV They moved horribly along with thW wreck. The guard — a brave and'; undaunted man — said to me, "In tlnV carriage, sir, I put Lord Farnham and a lady . with two young girls. I must have heard his laßt words at Chester, sir, I_ would recognise him among a thousand." We picked up> near the remains, Lord !Farnham!s watch ; it had been a presentation from his tenantry. Of the ladies there remained / charred, undistinguishable fragments, amongst which were picked up and , treasured a scissors, a thimble, a locket or two, and some half-melted ornaments,; this was all that remained of the noble and the young. The compartment in which Lord Earnham sat thad not been torn to pieces like the rest. But who could describe the appaling scene in the ruins of the other : carriages !; I I have served in the royal navy, and seen death in many a shape, but never in so awful and shocking a form as now. ; They- who/ saw that scene must see it again in feverish dreams, and the dread remembrance of it can die out only with a liie. Immediately on: the first shock - the Duchess of Abercorn and Lord^ffeorge Hamilton, with whom Lord Mayo ;,hrid a conversation at Chester, were extricated from their carriage. Their suite gathered round them, and bore their loved mistress up the embankment, and then to afarmer's cottage near. I must bear my most grate-^ ful testimony to the feeling shown" b/ the Welsh peasantry, and to their genuine.,, hospitality. But water, water was the ; cry of the wounded and uninjured. At. last some was drawn from the engine itself, and, foul as it was, a draught was precious. When all the living were extricated, those of the passengers who were unhurt and many of the peasants formed a line down to the sea, about 200 yards j and * buckets and cans of sea water were handed from one to another in quick succession and poured on the smouldering wreck. What remained of /the fire was soon extinguished now. The oil had I burned itself out rapidly and all that it „. touched; Then came the sickening .but the necessary work of gathering the fragments. As well as we could we placed the component parts of each together in coffins procured from Chester. ' Identification of the bodies is utterly impossible, Among the debris may be found some tieasured articles, which.wilL,tell a wife or child that, the husband, and father can return no more. The cool courage and confidence exhibited by all the lady passengers in the train was most remarkable. There were no cries, no, c complaints, no fain'tings, even on the part of those . whom, jtignity ; . hadi not taught self-possession. They saw the danger, and with firmness prepared (to escape from it or bear it. Their first task on being liberated from the train was to comfort and help, the wounded. ... It is a curious circumstance, noted at : a time when incidents otherwise ■ trivial are noted, that when the guard's watch was picked up from beneath him, it was found to have stopped at half-past 2. The watch must have continued going long . after the pulse of its owner had ceased to beat. Immediately on the embarkation of the surviving passengers on board the mail steamer, they knelt down on the deck and returned a thanksgiving to God who had rescued them from, the midst of the fire. One of their number addressed - to them a few brief but touching words, and for the hour' all ranks and creeds' joined together in giving gratitudesincere gratitude, indeed — to the Providence which saved thenv£/_