DISASTROUS RAILWAY ACCIDENT
NEAR MANCHESTER
On Saturday morning a most serious collision occurred on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, near the Agecroft Colliery, and about a mile above the Pendleton station, involving the death of four persons, and injury to many others, besides considerable destruction of the rolling stock of the Company. It appeared that at about twenty minutes to twelve a coal train left what is known as the Agecroft siding, the outlet to which is almost immediately opposite the signal box, when it was run into by the Blackburn express, which left Victoria Station at 11.30. By the force of the collision the buffers of the express engine were torn off, and the front part of the engine otherwise damaged. A horse box, which was next to the tender, was only partially broke, and a corpse which it contained was forwarded by a later train. The two carriages next to the horse box - a third class and a composite - were smashed to pieces, the debris covering the line for a considerable space. The engine of the coal train was turned completely round and the buffers and planks and one side of the plating torn off, rendering it a total wreck. The body of the tender was detached from the wheels, and thrown over on its side, while two of the trucks were battered in by the buffers of those immediately in front of them. Those passengers of the express who were not injured rendered what assistance they were able to their more unfortunate fellow passengers. Among the debris were found the dead bodies of two men, a woman with her ribs broken, her skull fractured, and her head and face frightfully mutilated, and two other men, one of whom was in a dying condition, while the other was severely injured in the lower part of the body. Jeremiah Yates, the driver of the express, who was not seriously hurt, was taken to his own house. The stoker escaped with a slight injury. The driver of the coal train, John Saxton*, saved himself by jumping off his engine, while the fireman, William Copley, was found lying on the footplate of the engine, but the injures he had sustained were but slight. A number of other passengers by the express were also more or less bruised and shake. Almost immediately after the occurence medical aid was rendered to the sufferers by Dr. Davies, Mr Somers, and Dr. Ingle. A number of Salford and Pendleton police under Captain Torrens, some members of the County Constabulary and a large staff of the Company's servants, with whom were Mr. E. Grundy, the district superintendent, Mr. H. Johnson of the locomotive department, and other officials, assisted the sufferers and directed the work of clearing the line. The bodies of the dead were removed to the Kings Arms, Charlestown, where they have been identified as those of William Hilton, of the firm of Wooton and Hilton, plumbers, Margaret-street, North Road Preston and Thomas Holmes, of 21 New Butler street, Oldham Road, Manchester, an employe in a mill at Bolton. The latter had his son, a lad of eight or nine, in the carriage with him, but he was not hurt. The deceased are middle-aged men. The injured woman and one of the men were removed to the Salford Dispensary. The man died almost immediately after his admission, and up to a late hour on Sunday night had not been identified. He is apparently about 55 or 60 years of age, stout built and tall, with light brown hair and beard, dressed in a shooting coat, black trousers and waistcoat, blue worsted stockings, and has a belt of red flannel round his waist. In his pockets were found the half of a railway ticket from Manchester to Bolton 9s 1d in money, and a portion of a hand-bill relating to a sparrow shooting match at Abbey Hey Gardens, Gorton, in March last. Upon the back of it were the words "Mr. J. Windward, shooting. Bolton," together with a postage stamp and the Manchester and Gorton postmarks of March 5th. The woman was enabled to give her name and address as Emma Crossley, 38 years of age. of Bradford Road, factor operative, employed at Messrs. Johnson's silk mill. Manchester. She lingered in great agony until four o'clock when she died. Another man, who gave the name of James Cummings of 21, Clarendon-street, Hulme, boot and shoe maker, was removed to a farmhouse near the scene of the accident belonging to Mr. J. Nall, where he still remains in a precarious condition. He has sustained a severe punctured wound in the lower part of the body, and is attended by Drs. Davies and Ingle. He states that he was travelling to Wigan when the accident occurred. In addition to those who died after the admission the following persons were attended at the Salford Dispensary :- William Copley, 19, fireman, Liverpool-street, Salford, scalp wound; Abraham Rose guard of the express, Blackburn, scalp wound; and Richard Hodgkins, Blackburn, wound of eyebrow -The following were attended by Dr. Davies, of Pendleton:- Mary Harris, Oldham, John W. Turner, 20 Boever street, Egerton-street, Oldham; George Hughes, Crystal Terrace, Chorlton Road, Hulme; Margaret Coates and John T. Coates, a child of four and John Cooper, Whit Lane, Pendleton. All these suffering from cuts and contusions. An infant with Mrs Coates was not injured. A number of other persons were also more or less injured, but they have proceeded on their respective journeys and their names have not been ascertained. - The sufferers having been attended to, the work of clearing the line was commenced; and, not withstanding the most strenuous exertions on the part of those engaged, the line was not in a condition for the resumption of traffic until between nine and ten o'clock at night. In the meantime trains arriving with passengers for Manchester, were stopped within a short distance of the scene of the accident, and the passengers, walking round to the Pendleton side, were conveyed in other trains to their destinations. A portion of the traffic was also diverted over the London and North-Western Railway Company's lines. - During the afternoon some thousands of persons visited the scene of the accident, and it required all the efforts of the police to keep them off the line. In the course of Sunday, men were still engaged in the work of repairing the rails and removing the shattered engine of the coal train, and numbers of people visited the place.
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a longer article including details of the inquest can be found in the Manchester Times Aug 10 1872
*surname here given as Saxon
An open verdict was returned but attention seemed to focus on the pointsman Henry Harrison.
The unidentified dead man was John Winward age 54.
