ABSTRACT
The worst railway accident ever reported from Ireland occurred on the 12th inst., on the Great Northern line. An excursion had been arranged on that day for the Sunday-school children of Armagh, and at 9.30 a train of fifteen carriages left the station, laden with a thousand boys and girls, and their teachers and friends. It was soon perceived that the engine was not strong enough for its work, and about two miles from the town, near the top of a steep incline, the train came to a standstill. According to the officials, the couplings broke; according to all independent witnesses, the driver and guard uncoupled the last seven carriages, “propping” that section with a stone or two under the wheels. The section with the engine then moved on, and the section left behind, jarred by the jerk, knocked aside the stones and rolled back towards Armagh down the incline. Gathering speed from its own weight, it dashed on at forty miles an hour, and crashed into a slowly moving train just come out of Armagh. Two of the carriages were telescoped, and eighty children and grown-up persons were killed, sixty more being seriously injured. The scene was so indescribably shocking, that a carman named Hughes, who came up to assist, died of horror at the sight. Assistance of every kind was immediately procured, the neighbourhood turning out for miles; but nothing could be done except for the wounded, and the whole town is plunged in grief and mourning. The officials appear to be gravely to blame: first, for allowing the train to be over-packed—an average of twenty-two to a compartment—secondly, for supplying insufficient draught-power; and thirdly, for carelessness, if that part of the story is correct, in leaving the last section of the train to run back. Their culpable failure has cost perhaps a hundred innocent lives and an untold amount of domestic misery, and may cost a fine on the shareholders which will spoil the dividend for a year.
