THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume I, Issue 38, 31 October 1868, Page 6

THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Our readers will find an account of the awful accident which happened, to the Irish Mail between Abergele and Llandulas stations in our home letter. A correspondent of the "London Standard " gives the following graphic account of the calamity : —

Nothing unusual occurred until we reached the turn or sAvecp upon the road between Abergele and Llandulas. 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, anxious to time exactly the arrival of the train at Llandulas. 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 summersault in the carriage. I at 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. I crept out of the window, and there saw a sight which can never be foi'gotten. The Chester train, consisting of two first-class carriages, a composite carriage, a second-class, and a luggage van, which 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 j the violence of the concussion 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, but all exploded, as it were, together. There was fire everywhere — nothing but fire. The engine, the "carriage, 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 train. Few in the London portion of the train could see beyond 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 life, 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 our ears from out of the flaming fire. The air became insufferably hot. "We were breathing an atmosphere heated to 150 degrees. "We felt our impotency most when we stood for a moment unemployed. - Then we thought the fire would reach the London portion of the train. Our first care was to lift tlie 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 debris was disturbed and moved away, we saw what the fire had done. Amongst the broken timbers and hot iron work there lay skeletons — smoking skeletons — all that was left of men and women and children. They moved horribly along with the wreck. The guard — a brave and undaunted man — said to me :—": — " In this carriage, Sir, I put; "Lord" Farnhani ''and a lady with two young girls. I must have heard his last words at Chester, Sir. i I would recognise him among a thousand." All that was left of Lord Furnhain cannot be . described. The flesh had been burned off his thighs, his face was a blackened _skull, not a particle of clothing remained. "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 pair of scissors, a thimble, a locket' or two, and some half-melted ornamgnts^ — all that was left of the v noble and the young. ' ZTho compartment in which Lord Farnham sat had not been torn to pieces like the rest. t But who could describe .the appalling* scene in the' ruiiis *of the other ; carriages ! I liare served in the Rdyal Wavy, and seen death in many a-'&hape, 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 life. » Immediately ,on the first shock, the Duchess of Abercorn and Lord G-eorge Hamilton, with whom Lord Mayo had 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 a farmer's cottage near.- I must bear my most grateful testimony to the feeling shown by the "Welsh peasantry, and. to their genuine hospitality. They made us tea and some <j)ne procured x little: > brandy. But water,, water, was the cry of tlie

wounded and ininjiired. At last some was drawn from the engine itself, and foul as it was, a draught was precipus. v While all the living were extricated^ those of the passengerswho were unhurt, ' and many of the peasants, formed a line down to the sea-^-about two hundred yards-^-and -buckets and cans of sea water were handed from the one to the other in quick sueces- . sion, and poured on the smouldering wreck, w hat remained of the fire was soon extinguished now. The oil had burned itself out rapidly, and all that it touched. Then came, the sickeninff. but the necessary- work of gathering the fragments. As well as we could, we placed the component parts of each together in coflins procured from Chester. Identification of the bodies is utterly impossible. Among the debris may be found some treasured articles which will tell a wife or child that the husband and: father can return no more, but that is all.