A PASSENGER BURNED TO  DEATH.

An appalling accident to a Pullman car was reported on Monday.  While the
Scotch Express which left St. Pancras at 9-15 on Saturday evening was  traveling
towards Leeds, the conductor whose name is  DONALDSON, of one of  the two
Pullman Cars, that were bound for Edinburgh - the the Glasgow car being  
immediately behind it - discovered to his horror that the rear most portion of  the car
was on fire.

 Rushing up to the centre of the vehicle he called to the passengers -  four
gentlemen, who were all in their sleeping berths - that the car was on  fire.
Then lowering a window he attempted to arrest the attention of the engine  
driver by means of the communication cord; but whether he succeeded in doing so  
seems to be the least very doubtful. As far as can at present be ascertained
the  train did not slacken speed at that point. In the meantime, three or four  
gentlemen passengers were rushing frantically about the car in their  
nightdresses, having been apparently been cut off by the rapidly spreading  flames
from the berths which they had occupied.

 The fire, fanned by the currents of air which found access through  several
apertures, made its way from the hinder compartment, where it had  originally
broken out, towards the opposite end of the car, consuming everything  in its
progress. Meanwhile, happily a signalman, perceiving flames and smoke,  wired
to the man on duty at the next box to stop and examine the train. When the  
driver had proceeded a few hundred yards further, and before he reached the  
point where he was to have been stopped by the signalman, he discovered that  
something was wrong, and applied the Westinghouse continous brake, and quickly  
brought the train to a standstill within a short distance of Hunslet, the
ticket  collecting station for Leeds.

By this time the Edinburgh sleeping car was one mass of flame almost from  
end to end. DONALDSON, the conductor, and three of the passengers, the latter  
still in their nightshirts, leaped from the car, one of them gaining egress  
through a window, as he could not open the door. An alarm was immediately  
raised, and, attracted partly by the glare of the flames a number of railway  
servants and police-constables were quickly on the spot.

Buckets of water were thrown upon the burning car, which was detached from  
the rest of the train. The flames, however, had got too firm a hold of all
parts  of the car, but the latter was found to be too high. At this stage, or
shortly  before, the conductor of the car suddenly appears to have remembered that
one of  the four gentlemen traveling in the coach - who was believed to be a
Dr. ARTHUR  - had not been seen since the car took fire. DONALDSON called the
attention of  the railway officials and the police to this distressing fact,
and all energies  of those present were directed for a search for the missing
gentleman. He was  believed to be near the end of the car which first took
fire. The flames,  however, prevented the explorers from gaining access to the in
terior of the  vehicle  at this part until it had been drawn to a point of the
line  opposite to Messrs. NICHOLSON’s chemical works, where a number of men
were at  work. Here a private jet belonging to the firm was obtained, and there
being a  plentiful supply of water the flames were quickly extinguished. Not,
however,  until the car was a complete wreck, and had been burning for
probably half an  hour.

Then it was that the remains of the fourth gentleman were found in a  
sleeping berth, all of the furnishings of which had been destroyed, and the  woodwork
almost totally burned away. The flesh was found to have been literally  
burned to a cinder, and the bones of the legs were broken and calcined. The head  
alone had partially escaped, it having been apparently protected by some
object.  A portion of the hair was burned away, but otherwise the features were only
 scorched. The teeth were firmly clenched, and the expression of the
countenance  was most horrible to behold. The right arm - the flesh of which was
almost  completely burned away - was raised as if the unfortunate victim had been
in the  act of warding off some falling object when he met his terrible fate.

After some delay the wreck of the carriage was detached and the train was  
again made up and proceeded on its journey northwards. The body of the deceased  
gentleman was taken possession of by the police and conveyed to the public  
mortuary. In his possession were found a gold and silver watch, gold guard, and
 other articles of jewellery, as well as £15 in gold and silver.

THE DECEASED DR.  ARTHUR.

 The gentleman who met his death was Dr. John ARTHUR, son of the Rev.  Mr.
ARTHUR, Free Church Minister of Banchory - Devenick, Aberdeenshire, and who  had
been several years in Ceylon. He left the island about five weeks ago, and 
reached London a week last Monday. One of his brothers who recently began 
practice as a doctor at Cults, within the parish of  Banchory - Devenick,  by on
the north side of the Dee, received a telegram requesting him to meet Dr.  John
(the deceased) at the Aberdeen Railway Station on the arrival of the train 
from London about half past twelve o’clock, but prior to his going there Mr. 
BOYLE, the station master, had received a message from Leeds intimating that a 
Dr. ARTHUR, with a ticket to Aberdeen, had been fatally burned in the Pullman
 car, and requesting him to make inquiries. These inquiries soon resulted in
the  belief that the deceased must be Dr. John Findlay ARTHUR.

 No words can adequately give an idea of the shock sustained by his  brother
when the intelligence was communicated to him, or to the father and  mother
and the other members of the family at Banchory - Devenick. It happened  that
the Communion was being observed there on Sunday, and the Rev. Hugh 
FITZPATRICK, of Free Greyfriars, Aberdeen, who was assisting the Rev. Mr.  ARTHUR, did
everything in his power to offer such consolation as was possible in  the
circumstances. Dr. John Findlay ARTHUR was about thirty-three years of age  and
unmarried.

THE BURNED TRAIN.

 The mystery of the cause of the accident for the most part remains 
unexplained. The train stopped at Normanton for about ten minutes, and during  its
stay a composite carriage was attached for Glasgow, containing passengers 
chiefly for Kilmarnock and Dumfries. At that time all seemed well - nothing  outward
to indicate fire, and the passenger cord was in good working order.  After
leaving this station the journey was being made under the usual conditions  -
still no flame or smoke being visible. It was just when they had got eight 
miles and a half from Leeds that the guard experienced a smell of burning, and  at
first thought that it was caused by the friction of the wheels. He looked out
 and, observing that there was something wrong, pulled the cord, put on the
air  brake, and the train was pulled up as quickly as possible.

It was then seen that a terrible catastrophe had occurred. The guard ran 
forward to the burning car and soon had it uncoupled and put into a railway lye. 
There is only one explanation of the cause of the accident as yet hinted at.
It  is alleged that one of the gentlemen in the car had a light on the table
near  his bed, and that this may have set fire to the curtains.

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The Central News learns on inquiry at St. Pancras that the Railway  officials
have no doubt but that the burning of the Pullman car Enterprise on  Sunday
morning was due to the deceased man smoking in his berth. The ashes of  the
cigar, or the cigar itself, it is conjectured, fell  on the coverlit,  the thick
curtains around the berth preventing the smoke from escaping and being  seen
until the flames burst forth.

The deceased it is believed, was suffocated by the smoke or stupefied, 
otherwise he would have been able to give an alarm. The heating stove of the car 
is at the other end of the car from where the fire broke out, and this portion 
was in no wise burned. An official inquiry was held at Leeds on Monday, and 
officials from London and Derby, as well as the conductor DONALDSON were 
there.

 The inquest was opened Tuesday, continued on Wednesday, and adjourned  till
Tuesday next.

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