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20 August 1871 — Mayence | |
Sunday. 20th [August 1871]. We went after breakfast to see the Cathedral which is very handsome outside & very fine proportions but it has been much restored internally & the ceiling & walls have got hideous modern frescoes painted on them. After poking abt some time we got the porter to bring the keys & show us the cloisters wh are very curious with their open traceried windows & some very fine & curious old sculptured tombs. Eleven o’cl: mass was just beginning as we were leaving so I went home with Henry & we left Mrs Rate Mrs B. & Arthur who were going to say their prayers being Sunday & they said one church was as good as another to pray in. Henry & I sauntered thro’ the town & met the Normans, we went on & walked down to the river side & then to the hotel & had lunch & prepared to start. We walked to the station at 1. & had great difficulty in getting places as there was such a crowd– We could not get places in the carriage thro’ to Nuremberg & had to get into one of the others & change at Aschaffenburg. We got there at 3. & accordingly changed into a carriage in the middle of the train. I was very tired & had just got out my cushion & had dozed ¼ hour when I was awoke by a terrific noise & bang & on recovering my senses I found we had all been thrown against each other. I caught hold of Alice & tried to prevent her throwing herself out of the door near us—meanwhile Henry picked up Arthur who had been flung on the floor & opening the door his side he helped us down saying no “one is hurt”. We however soon found that Mrs Burr was hurt: going down the bank of the line she went in rather a stumbling manner & then the blood gushed from her nose. We quickly got my bag & gave her sherry & bathed her face with cold water & laid her on the grass & she soon got better. There was nothing to see externally but she seemed badly hurt. There were other people running abt with cut faces & hardly knowing what was the matter being ½ stunned. Henry soon got us some water & when Mrs B. was a little better we moved her into the shade of a wood & then sat for a couple of hours waiting for a train to come & fetch us. One at last came with help & Drs & we then heard that 2 people had been killed on the spot & five dangerously wounded. They were all the passengers in the through carriages into wh we had endeavoured to get at Mayence & we thanked God that we had escaped by what we had at first looked upon as a contretemps. The Post carriage & the first & 2nd carriages had been jammed nearly into the space of one & the engine was ½ buried in the debris & of three trucks full of coke wh had been forced up into a heap some 20 ft high. It was a fearful sight. But luckily the train had not left the rails. As soon as we heard a train had arrived on the Wurtzburg side of our train we all moved to the line & went & sat near a pointsmans house where there was a kind old woman who gave us vinegar for Mrs Burr’s face & also each a cup of coffee au lait wh was delicious to us as it was now 6 & we had not eaten since 12. We got places in the train in 2 coupés Hill, Mrs Rate & Mrs Burr in one—I, Henry & Arthur in another. We went very slowly & of course felt terrified at every little jerk but got to Wurtzburg at 10. We went to the Kron Prinz Hotel where we got very nice rooms & got soon to bed tho’ we did not sleep much. The accident had happened between Aschaffenburg & Laufach & I believe was caused by a coal & goods train being unable to get up a steep incline & rolling back & we cd not pull up in time to save ourselves. There was the village of quite near & the people came up with carriages & carts & took the badly wounded people to their houses. However as all this went on at the opposite side of the train to which we got out we saw nothing. Henry went round to help & told me he had seen a man’s leg amputated & other painful sights. | |
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