EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT.
A most extraordinary accident occurred at the new passage pier of the South Wales Union Eailway,. at the mouth of the^ißi^eri Severn.:: -By the last train from Bristol there were among the passengers two seafaring; men, named Bates and Diamond, who had booked to Cardiff. The line on reaching New Passage at ;the Severn side runs out nearly a quarter of a mile on a high pier, over.; the river..; There is a corresponding pier on . the Monmouthshire side, ■. and l. "pending the completion of the Severn ' Tunnel the passengers are taken across the two miles bf water by a steamer. "Owing rto the gr<?at rise arid fall ofthe tide in the Severn, the pier is 40ft or 50ft. above low water mark and the track' is protected by a stout barrier, the top rail of which is only'"2^ft. from the metals, and 12in. above the footboards of the carriage as they pass down the pier. When the train arrived midway it was stopped for the engine to be detached and shunted to the rear to push the carriages to the pierhead. Bates and Diamond, believing in the darkness of the' night that they had arrived there, and mistaking the top-rail for tfye , footboard of their carriage they leaped off, clearing the balustrade and falling a sheer depth of 40 feet. Diamond went crashing down on some marl, the tide being low, and, with his neck and limbs broken, death was instantaneous; but Bates, falling on the mud, was conscious when picked up, though he had a broken leg and arm, and -was suffering from 1 internal injuries. The body of Diamond was carried to an hotel, and Bates was conveyed by train lo Bristol, and thence to the General Hospital, where he remains in a precarious state.
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Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3814, 19 March 1881, Page 4
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300EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT. Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3814, 19 March 1881, Page 4
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