From St. Louis

ST. LOUIS, March 6.

A serious accident occurred on the Pacific Railroad yesterday afternoon, one mile from Merrimac Station.  An extra train which left this city with soldiers, horses, etc., collided with the regular freight train from the West.  The locomotives of both trains were smashed and a number of cars destroyed.  Several soldiers were severely injured and a number of horses killed.

A general order, issued this evening states that surveyors and other custom house officers and agents in this department as well as those on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, are expected to respect the permits issued by the surveyor of either of the ports on the Ohio river, and bearing his official signature and seal.  Military officers commanding ports where there are no custom house officers for those acting in concert with such officers, will in like manner respect the permits.  Sealed baggage, while the seals remain unbroken, will also be respected.  Goods, wares, or merchandise in transit, thus covered by permits and baggage thus sealed are to be allowed to go forward to their places of destination unless there is good and satisfactory reasons for their detention, and information is obtained from reliable sources.  Until other orders the transportation of this department is not open to munitions of war, unless special regulations with the military authorities, for the time being, be established, in the resumed commerce of the Tennessee and Cumberland.  By Command of Gen. Halleck.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, March 8, 1862, p. 1