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Daily Richmond Whig
Richmond, Virginia
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Two trains collided in Clayton tunnel near Brighton on the London and Brighton Railway due to signal confusion, causing a crash that killed 25 people and injured 100, with severe mutilations and scaldings reported.
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The English papers are filled with details of the terrible railroad accident on the London and Brighton Railway. It seems that two trains, a Brighton excursion and the London Parliamentary, came into collision in the Clayton tunnel, near Brighton. One was backing out the other entering, the signalmen at either end having confounded their signals. Within a very short distance of the mouth of the tunnel a fearful crash ensued, the second train backing having come into violent collision with the other train, which was rushing forward—
The shrieks and cries are described as being most fearful and heart-rending, the darkness tending to heighten the terror of those who were uninjured, and leaving them powerless to aid the wounded. The engine of the Parliamentary train had smashed the last carriage in the excursion train, which had mixed compartments for luggage at one end, passenger seats in the middle, and a guard's brake at the other end.
The locomotive had been pitched over the last carriage to the back of the last carriage but one and shivered it into fragments. This carriage comprised four compartments, each containing ten persons. The passengers were scattered and mutilated in all directions, several were scalded with the boiling water from the engine, and their yells of agony were pitiable in the extreme. All assistance was as speedily as possible procured from Brighton, and upon the fragments of the carriages being removed, twenty-two persons were found to be dead.—
The engine had literally sunk upon the second carriage, and the bodies of several of the sufferers were underneath. They had either been smashed or scalded to death. One woman had both her legs cut off just above the knees, and she was quite black in the face. Another woman had her scalp taken off, and both her arms broken. One man had his face crushed in such a manner as to force his eyeballs from his head. As soon as possible the wounded, the dying and the dead were conveyed to Brighton. The latest official accounts estimate the killed at 25, and the wounded at 100—some of the latter are not expected to recover.
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Foreign News Details
Primary Location
Clayton Tunnel Near Brighton
Outcome
25 killed, 100 wounded, some not expected to recover; severe injuries including mutilations, scaldings, legs cut off, scalp removed, arms broken, face crushed
Event Details
Two trains—a Brighton excursion train and the London Parliamentary train—collided in Clayton tunnel near Brighton on the London and Brighton Railway. One train was backing out while the other was entering, due to signalmen confounding their signals. The crash caused the Parliamentary train's engine to smash the excursion train's last carriage, pitching it onto another carriage and shattering it. Passengers were scattered, mutilated, and scalded by boiling water; assistance came from Brighton, revealing 22 dead initially, later estimated at 25 dead and 100 wounded.