The Press. — London, England, 1854-08-26 00:00:00

AuousT 26, 1854 ness of shipbrokers and emigration-agents at 86, Gracechurch-street, who was charged with violating the 44th section of the act. The charge was preferred on behalf of the emigration commissioners, and arose from the fact that the Messrs. Newcombe had adver tised a vessel named the Jane Green to sail for Melbourne, and entered into contract with a great number of passengers for their conveyance to that port. The section of the act in question provided that whenever such contracts were not fulfilled, or that a period of sixteen days elapsed after the day named therein and the vessel had not sailed, the passenger could claim back whatever money he had paid, with damages in addition at the discretion of a magistrate,but not to exceed 101. and could also demand subsistence -money during the period of detention. The departure of the Jane Green had it seems been delayed for several weeks, although there were nearly 143 emigrants already on board, most of whom had paid 201. a-piece passage-money, and some more. The special complaint now urged against the defen dant was on behalf of a man named Harding, who had paid 801. for himself and family, had given up business in London, and gone on board the Jane Green some weeks previously, having nowhere else to go, but was in great distress through the delay in sailing, and the absence of any provision for his subsistence. A multitude of others were in a similar plight. For the defence it was alleged by Mr. Parry, the counsel, that the Messrs. Newcombe had no inten tion of defrauding the passengers. They had honestly intended to send out the vessel on the appointed day, but, having fallen into embarrassments, the provision-merchants had declined fulfilling their contracts, and the necessary stores could not be procured. The firm were now, indeed, bankrupt, and the defendant held a protection from arrest on civil process signed by Commissioner Fonblanque. Alderman Humphery, who presided when the charge was heard at the Mansion-house, observed that the act accompanied the provision of the 44th section with penal consequences in case of non compliance. He ordered the defendant accordingly to refund the 801. received from Harding, and pay 101. damages and 2s. costs, and in default committed him to prison, without hard labour, for three months. Two ACTIONS were tried at the Liverpool Assizes on Monday against the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company for damages on account of injuries sustained by the respective plaintiffs through acci dents on the line. One plaintiff was a German jeweller, Who travelled the country with watches, &c., and was severely hurt by a collision on the railway in December last. The defendants paid 750/. into court, but the jury awarded the plaintiff as much more, making a total of 1,5001. The second com plaint was that of a Mr. Gibson, a civil engineer, who met . with an accident on March 3rd, 1853, by the carriage he was in running off the line. 5001. was paid into court on his account. The jury gave him in all 850/. gjaihnts aab (effaces. FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT. A frightful accident occurred on Monday morning near the Croydon station of the Brighton and Dover Railway, by which two persons lost their lives and many others suffered very serious injuries. The catastrophe was, indeed, one of unusual magnitude, even among the records of railroad calamities. It appears that the first excursion train for the season had left Dover in the morning, consisting of twenty four carriages, filled with passengers who intended to spend the day at the Crystal Palace. Being an excursion train, its intended progress was made known to the officials on the line, though the precise time of its arrival at Croydon had not, unfortunately, been properly understood; for, on its approach, a ballast-engine, which had turned from a siding where its ballast-trucks were placed, was in the act of taking water on the same line of rails. The Croydon station, on the south side, is approached by a sharp curve, and the consequence was, that though Barnett, the driver of the excursion train, had sounded his whistle for some distance, the driver of the truck engine could not perceive that he was approaching on the same line of rails. On making the discovery lie turned on his steam without delay, but so rapid was the passenger-train coming on that about mid way between the station and the Windmill-bridge it ran into the ballast-engine with such force as to smash the buffers and bind part to atoms. The effect of the collision was to urge on the ballast engine at a fearful rate, but fortunately its driver was enabled to keep it on the rails even in its dis abled state, and therefore it escaped further injury. The case was unfortunately very different with the excursion train. The concussion was so great as to force the engine against the line •of ballast-trucks, heavily laden with gravel, on the adjoining rails ; and the scene that followed was of the most awful description. Four second-class carriages and one first-class were smashed to pieces, and among their wins were at least forty or fifty human beings. To SECOND SATURDAY AFTERNOON. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. THE WAR. Telegraphic despatches from Constantinople of the 15th have been received via Trieste. They state that the projected expedition to the Russian territory had not taken place to that date. The Vienna papers of 3 esterday (Friday) publish advices dated Con stantinople, Aug. 17th, in which it is told that all the remaining English and French transports and fiat-bottomed boats had left the Bosphorus on the 13th for Varna. Twelve thousand Turkish and two thousand French soldiers bad left in ships of the allied fleets, it was believed, for Varna, although there were reports that they would be conveyed direct to the enemy's coast. The 20th was then named as the probable day for the departure of the expedi tionary force. The fire at Varna broke out on the 10th, and destroyed many houses and magazines. It was attributed to incendiaries, and several Greeks have been arrested on suspicion. Two of them wero recognised as Russian agents. The cholera was on the decline; but the first battalion of Rifles, the 20th Regiment, and the Bard Regiment, all of which are in the Bosphorus, have lost men from the pest. Officers from nearly every regiment in the service have gone home invalided. At Bomarsund, we are told, the French troops bad suffered severely from cholera, and were expected to embark again immediately. It was believed that the fortress would be blown up and abandoned. From a Stockholm despatch of the 23rd we hear that some negotiations were pending for the occupation of the Aland Isles by a force of 20,000 Swedish troops ; failing which, Bomarsund was to be blown up before the Ist of September. A Vienna despatch dated yesterday reports that Prince Gortachakoff is said to have received intima tion from St. Petersburg that no direct answer will be . given to the last propositions forwarded by Austria, but that she will be asked what her intentions really are. The Austrian armaments were proceeding on a greater scale than ever. Two English gentlemen, correspondents of two London journals, together with a German companion of their travels, were arrested on the Bith by the Turkish authorities at Bucharest. Tbey had just arrived from Giurgevo, and were apprehended by some Wallachian soldiers without any warrant from an English consul or upon any assignable pretence. The event bad created much sensation at Bucharest, where it was circulated that they were Russian spies. The affair would, of course, lead to further proceedings. The King of Portugal, attended by his brother, the Duke of Oporto, and suite, received the entire corps diplomatique at 'Vienna on the morning of the 21st, at the Imperial Burg Palace, to take leave previous to his Majesty's departure for Ischl. The attendance at the reception was very brilliant, comprising the representatives of every European nation, excepting Russia. Count O'Sullivan, the Belgian Ambassador, took the lead on this interesting occasion, by virtue of the seniority in rank to which his longest residepce in Vienna entitled him. Advices from Trebizonde to the -Ith state that the small Turkish army at Tschuruk-Su was in an efficient state, but that at Kars in great disorder. It was not believed by the Europeans at Constanti nople that the Russian general would be able to improve his recent advantages, owing to the in creasing insecurity of his rear, even the capital of the Russian transcaucasian possessions being daily threatened. It was related that a band of Lesghian warriors had descended upon a small Russian settle ment in the neighbourhood of Tiflis, and carried off the wife and children of the Russian general Read. Lord Howden, the British envoy in Spain, had a dinner party at iladrid on the 'kith, at which three of the ministers--Senors Pacheco, Collado, and Lujan—were present; together with Senors Gon zalez Bravo, Olea (alcalde of Madrid), General J. Concha, the Marquis of Perales, an Senor B. A. Gaminde. Ralph Anthony Thickneese, Esq., one of the members for 'Wigan, died on Tuesday last at Harrogate. The hon. gentleman went to church on Sunday in good health, and whilst there was seized with a pain in the chest, which was attrib?ted to rheumatism. He survived only till Tuesday. It is early yet to speak of a successor in the representation, but it is believed that Mr. Powell will be solicited to become a candidate by the Conserva tives of the borough, while Mr. Wood, son-in-law .of Mr. Hindley, M.P. for Ashton-under-Lyne, is spoken of by the Liberal party. • I THE PRESS. any person who saw the place at the time, or shortly after, the escape of a single person of that number amounts almost to a miracle. The ponderous engine, with its large tender, was turned over on its right side, and every passenger in the train ex perienced a great shock, some, of course, according to their position, of a more serious character than the others. Upon removing the shattered fragments several passengers were found severely or fatally injured. James Grammer, a gardener, in the employ ment of Mr. Wyles, at East Peckham, in Kent, had both thighs crushed, and died in a few minutes after extrication. The Rev. Mr. Willis, a clergyman of the Church of England, was injured in the spine, and on being removed to St. Thomas's Hospital ex pired there in less than an hour. Two women, named Caroline Harris and Ann Saunders, were removed to the same hospital, where they both underwent amputation, and are said to be going on favourably. Many of the wounded were re moved by their friends without leaving any account of the injuries they had received. The traffic on the line was interrupted for several hours before the rails could be cleared of the wreck. The engine drivers and stokers of both engines escaped perfectly unhurt, but they were all taken into custody. Li quifies into the cause of the catastrophe were com menced simultaneously by the local magistrates and by a coroner's jury at Croydon on the following day. By the former, after a few questions had been asked, the four prisoners were remanded, and bail refused for their liberation, the further proceedings being adjourned to Friday (yesterday). Th• coroner's jury were empannelled merely to identify the body of the deceased man Grammer, and take some formal evidence, after which the investigation was postponed until Wednesday next. Another in quest was opened in London on the body of the Rev. Mr. Willis on Thursday, but also adjourned after collecting some evidence. THE greater portion of the workhouse at King's Lynn fell with a tremendous and fatal crash during divine service on Sunday morning last. The building, which dated from about the fourteenth century, consisted of a central tower rising to the height of about eighty feet, and surmounted by a cupola and two wings about twenty feet lower. Originally it was a chapel connected with one of the old monasteries, and denominated St. James's Chapel. At the time of the Reformation it became an hospital, and finally, many years back, was converted into a workhouse, and some modern buildings were added in the rear. It was one of the most conspicuous objects in the town, possessed of many attractions in an archaeo logical point of view. Though supported by enor mous buttresses, apparently of vast strength, fears had been for some time felt with regard to its sta bility. On Saturday an examination of the building had taken place, at which it was resolved to call in an architect to make a further inspection. During the night some of the inmates are said to have heard a crackling noise repeatedly occurring. In the morning the clock stopped, and an old man wbo saw the pieces of mortar falling went out into the yard, and persuaded the other inmates to follow him. At this time the girls were at church, and the boys sitting in front of the building, whilst the women were in the modern part of the building. Mr. Nel son, the governor, attended by Mr. Andrews, cicck maker, went up to the clock tower to see what was swiss, and while they were there the fall took place. They were carried down among an immense mass of material, with several old men, who were extricated comparatively uninjured, with one exception, a man named Chancey, whose skull was completely smashed. Mr. Nelson was dug out much injured, but it is hoped that he will recover. Mr. Andrews was buried in the rubbish, and his lifeless body was not extricated for many hours. Had the fall taken place during the night the loss of life must have been very serious. As it was, the fatality would have proved far greater, except for the circumstance of the Rev. S. Bransley, the chairman of the board of guardians, having caused the most dangerous part of the build ing to be cleared of its inmates that morning. A MOST TERRIFIC ExpLosioN took place on Tues day last at Lund-hill Colliery, Hemingfield, about five miles south of Barnsley, and half a mile from the South Yorkshire Railway. On Monday, in con sequence of some repairs in the machinery, the miners did not work ; but next morning they descended as usual, and at 6.10 a terrific explosion of firedamp took place, which alarmed the whole neighbourhood for a mile round. The first thing noticed after the shock of the explosion was the body of a bricklayer named William Davey flying in the air, at a height of ninety feet, and subsequently fall ing upon a wall elevated eighteen feet from the sur face of the ground for the purpose of increasing the height of the pit mouth : from this he was taken quite dead. Three more workmen, named William Mozley, James Batty, and Matthew Pollard, were found quite dead in the pit when it was cleared and examined. Some others were much injured by the explosion. - EDITION. 80: