An accident occurred on the Shropshire Union
Railway, on the 29th ult., from the negligence of a
fireman. At Shrewsbury station, a man lighted a fire
in a locomotive which was presently to be used; without
shutting off the steam or throwing the machinery out
of gear, he left the engine untended in a shed. When
the steam got up, the locomotive slowly left the shed,
and moved down the rails upon which a train for
Stafford was then proceeding. The engine gradually
increased its speed, till on descending an incline near
Wellington it is supposed that it went at the rate of
seventy miles an hour. Three miles farther on, at
Donnington, the Stafford train had stopped. The
runaway engine dashed into it, and the two hindmost
carriages were smashed to pieces. Thirteen persons
were hurt, three of them so badly that they could not
be removed from the place. A coroner's inquest has
found a verdict of "manslaughter" against Joseph
Thompson, the man who had negligently left the
engine untended in the shed.

While the new Corn Exchange at Liverpool was
crowded with people about noon on the 8th inst., Mr.
Forbes Mackenzie and Mr. Charles Turner, the
Protectionist candidates, being present to canvass the
electors, the floor gave way, and the crowd fell with the
ruins into the cellarage beneath,—a depth of ten or
twelve feet. But though the people were rudely
jammed together, and the sample-stands fell upon them,
none of those who had been on the floor were killed,
though some were wounded and made insensible.
Unfortunately, two labouring men were beneath the
floor eating their dinners; one was taken out dead, and
the other died soon after. An inquest was held on their
bodies, and the jury found a verdict of "accidental
death," qualified by censure. They found that Philip
Code, the clerk of the works, was "highly blameable"
for allowing the centres to be removed without the
express permission of the architect, especially as the
architect had declared the step would be dangerous till
the whole building was completed; and they were of
opinion that "the Corn Exchange Committee was not
entirely free from blame." They also asserted generally,
their opinion "that it is a practice much to be censured
that public bodies take the lowest tenders for work,
without regard to the means of the parties to carry that
work to completion."

Mr. George Thompson, an iron and coal master at
Minera, near Wrexham, has been Killed on the branch
railway which traverses his estate. Mr. Thompson,
eighty-three years old, was crossing the rails on a pony,
when a train dashed up and struck the pony. Mr
Thompson died after six hours of unconsciousness.

A Fatal Accident took place at Oxford on the 7th.
A few minutes after the ceremonial of opening the
baths and wash-houses had been concluded, and before
several of the gentlemen had left the building, a
rumbling noise was heard, which was succeeded by a heavy
crash. It was discovered that the hot and cold water
cisterns had fallen, and that the tall shaft and walls
adjoining were thrown down, presenting a desolate heap
of ruins upon the very spot where, but a few minutes
before, the founders and supporters of the undertaking
were congratulating themselves on the successful
termination of their labours. A boy named Burchell, and
Wordsworth, a stoker, lost their lives. The stoker's
wife, who was with him partaking of dinner, was very
much bruised. A boy, named Hosier, had his thigh
broken; and two little girls sustained considerable
injury.

A Fatal Railway Accident occurred on the
Manchester, Sheffield, and Licolnshire line on the 8th, near
the Woodhouse junction. The engine of the goods
train was thrown off the rails, and sustained considerable
damage. The passenger carriage, and several of the
ballast waggons, were crushed to pieces, and two men
who were sitting in one of the compartments of the
carriage, unaware of the danger, were killed on the
spot. Their names are Waller and Walker, married
men, residing at Brigg.

Another Railway Accident, also fatal, occurred on
the 11th, on the Aylesbury branch of the North-western
Railway. As a passenger train was approaching the
junction with the North-western main line at
Cheddington, the engine left the rails, broke from its tender,
clashed through a hedge, and fell over on its side in a
field. The driver retained his place till the locomotive
turned over: he was only stunned. The tender,
break-van, and two foremost carriages, left the rails on the
opposite side. George Allen, the guard, was thrown
off by the sudden stoppage, and he died in a few minutes.
The carriages were somewhat damaged, but the
passengers suffered only from fright and bruises. The
branch consists of a single line of rails: it is a dead
level, and perfectly straight. A coroner's jury was held,
when it was proved that the speed of the engine was
regular and proper; and that if the disaster was
attributable to anything but pure and unaccountable
accident, the inferior order of the line might have had
some bad influence. However, Captain Galton, government
inspector, said that "the line appeared to him
generally in good order." It was made when light
engines were used, and heavy engines are not used on
it to this time. The engine is supposed to have jumped
at some uneven joint in the rails. The jury deliberated
for more than an hour, and returned the following
verdict:—

"We find that the deceased, George Allen, came by his death
by accidental circumstances, in consequence of the engine of the
train of which he was the guard jumping off the line of the
Aylesbury Railway. The jury think, that owing to the clay
sub-soil the rails and sleepers require constant attention and
care; and that it appears from the evidence that there is not
in places sufficient ballast above the clay; that the bearings
are too far apart, the jury considering that there should be
another sleeper under each rail. That no satisfactory reason
appearing in the evidence for the engine getting off the rails,
the jury are unable to come to any other conclusion than that
there was some defect connected with the rails or the sleepers
in the neighbourhood of the accident."

The great printing establishment of Messrs. Clowes,
in Duke Street, Stamford Street, suffered severely by a
Fire on the 10th. A little before two o'clock, while
most of the workmen were at dinner, it was discovered
that the warehouse called the "chapel "—a building
formerly used by a Unitarian congregation—was in
flames. Engines were soon obtained; and every effort
was made to stay the progress of the fire; but from the
inflammable nature of the stock the fire spread to
another warehouse, the two upper floors of which, with
the whole of the "chapel," were destroyed. The loss
of property is very great. About two hundred tons of
type have been melted; twenty thousand reams of
paper, and a vast quantity of printed books consumed.
Among the books consumed, was the whole edition of
the new octavo Illustrated Great Exhibition Catalogue,
Catalogues in other sizes, Knight's Illustrated Shakspeare,
and many other completed works. The origin of
the fire is unknown, as no lights or fires were allowed in
the "chapel:" it is supposed that some one had carelessly
thrown down a match after lighting a pipe or cigar. The
fire was at first believed to have destroyed £50,000
worth of property, but it has since appeared that the
loss will not exceed £4000 or £5000.

An Explosion in Bunker's Hill Colliery, Bilston, has
caused the loss of five lives, and seventeen other men
have been badly hurt. On Sunday the 13th, a man
went down to feed the horses, and negligently left open
an air-door, which stopped the ventilation; when the
workmen entered with candles on Monday morning
the accumulated gas exploded. A skip was descending
full of workmen at the time, and all but one were blown
out of it by the explosion. The disaster was increased
by the explosion of two casks of gunpowder.

During a Thunder-Storm, which lately passed over
Ipswich, a young woman named Stevens was struck by
the electric fluid. She had retired to rest, and noticed
nothing during the storm, beyond being greatly heated;
but upon rising on the following morning she discovered
that the whole of her hair on the right side and part on
the back of the head had been burnt off by the lightning,
the other portion being much singed. The left side was
uninjured. The hair removed is about a foot long.

Captain Colby has been Killed by a Tiger in India.
He went out tiger-shooting at the foot of the hills on
which the Muree depot is situated; and having come
upon a large male tiger, fired at and wounded him, as
he supposed, mortally. Upon this he drew near with