The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1863-08-18 00:00:00

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

If ooroners and jurors always performed their
duty as fearlessly as those engaged on the inves-
tigation of the Lynn Railway Accident have re-
cently due, the number of such catastrophes
would soon be seosibly diminished. The evidence
elduced at the inquest showed bow frequently
both horses and cattle crosseJ the fences. A
clergyman saw a heifer on the line the night be-
fore the accident, and another on the very morn-
ing atter it. A gnotier had two of hie heifers on
about two months 'go. 1110 beasts had been seen

to take the fences, sad to take them with the P
greatest ease. "Th. °stile walk over the ditch
(now it is dry) and tenets all it it were a daisy."
said a shepherd. "law a bullock," said soother
witness, "pot its feet over the fence and g 0 on
the middle of the rails as quickly as I now tell
you." Complaints had been made of these
trespasses, and the attention of the Company
called to them. The rep .rt of Capt. Tyler, the
Government Inspector, bore chiefly on another
feature of the accident—the condition of the
third-class carriages, two of these, in which the
passengers were seated who met with their
deaths, being completely stove in and broken to
fragment*. The conclusion drawn by Capt. Tyler
from his examination of these carnsges, was as
follows :—The experience of railway accidents
has amply shown that the most perilous cases
I are constantly unattended with loss of life, when
either from the strength of the carriages, or their
position, the bodies of the carriages are not
broken up, and that, on the other hand, it is
I when the bodies of carriages give way that the
loss of life and serious injuriea are caused to the
passengers riding in them. The poorer classes
of passengers are more liable to suffer in such
cases, for two reasons—first, because they ride
in carriages of weaker oonstructiou ; and,
secondly, because those carriages are not well
padded. It is true that carriages are built to
run upon rails, and are not intended to come
into collision with one another; but they may
be called upon to resist extraordinary strains at
any moment, and when this test is brought to
bear upon a trait., the difference of strength In
the carriages is frequently one of life or death
to the passengers who ride in them." This
accident which caused the lose of six lives.
is evidently attributable to a complication
of causes. If the road had been properly fenced
the bullock, by which the train was upset,
could not have strayed on it, and there would
have been no accident. Though the road was
not properly fenced, and a bullock had strayed
upon it, yet there would have been no accident
if the first excursion train had not had another
following at its heels, so that the driver, when
he saw the bullock on the line, had not time to
give warning of the danger, the other train being
so close upon him. Again, though the road was
unfenced, the bullock on it, and no warning given
by the driver of the first train, the accident
might not have happened, or would not have
happened with consequences so fatal, if the third-
clams carriages of the Groat Eastern Company had
been less slightly built. And to wind up with
reference to a primary cause, there would have
been no accident, if a few showers of rain had
happened to fall, and fill the ditches of the low
oonntry. The evidence of the jury on the bodies
of five of the unfortunate passengers was that of
accidental death, caused by a bullock straying on
the line through gross negligence of the authori-
ties of the Great Eastern Railway and their
officers,—lst, by not putting their fences in a
state of safety; 2nd, by not putting the
bullock off the line when the accident
occurred; 3rd, by the disgraceful state of
the carriages used for the conveyance of the
tinfortunate persons. They also consider the
Government Inspector deserving of censure for
passing a line so inadequately fenced. Ihe jury
who sat on the other body that we. unfortu-
nately killed returned a similar verdict, with
the exception that they exonerated the Govern-
ment Inspector of all blame. A heavy penalty
will, no doubt, be demanded for the parsimony
and gross negligence in the management of the
Lynn railway, and it will be well for future
travellers that there be shown no disposition to
shrink from enforcing it. . _ _

Her Msjesty the-Queen embarked at Wool-
wich for the Continent on Monday, and on Wed-
nesday she was met by her venerable uncle, the
King of the Belgians, at Lacken. No little
dissatisfaction has been expressed in this country
at the regulations issued by the authorities at
Woolwich on the occasion of the Queen's leaving
that place. These regulations were published in
the Times of Monday. and have during the week
been read and commented on throughout the
country. A more obnoxious or despotic ukase
could not have been issued by the Czar of Russia
or the &trams of Persia. Since the days of
Aladdin, when the Princess Badroulbadour went
to the bath, and the Sultan sent criers through
the streets threatening death to all who appeared
at their windows while the Princess was passing,
such a proclamation has not been heard of. The
orders issued were, that any one attempting to
, loiter on the ronte—in the arsenal,—any one
seen on the wharf or the piers, any one seen at
the window, was to be immediately removed
'from the arsenal And any servant of govern-
usoui socu al a la tad,•W, Willie her Majesty was
passing, •as to be dismissed the service. Ac-
cording to the proverb, • cat may look at • king,
but according to this edict • freeborn English-
man is prohibited looking at his chief magistrate
under pain of arrest ! It is said thitt alien the
Queen became acquainted with the circumstance
she expressed great displeasure and annoyance
at the over-officiousness of those who bad per-
petreted an act so foreign to her character and
dis9osition.
We regret to find that the statistics from the
distressed districts in Lancashire bare once more
become unfavourable. The Timm of Thursday
says :
The last reports from Lancashire are of a most
ominous complexion, •nil suggest conclusions for which
the public will be hardly prepared. In the very heifht
of summer, and while • bountiful barest is making
large demands upon the labour markirt, the tile of im• I
provement ha. sullenly turned, and the distress in the I
manufacturing districts is once more increasing. For I
nearly eight months, it had been uninterruptedly on I
the decline. At Midsummer, the recipients of charity
were nut 256,000. and the expenditure had been
diminished in • still greater ratio The progress con-
tinued till the 18th of July, but then it ceased. The
Dent report showed a transfer of the balance from one
side of the sheet to the other. On the 25th of July,
there appeared -not a decrease, but an increase in the
number of paupers; and on the lid of August the
addition was not only continued, but very seriously ex-
tended The increase was but 280 in the first week of
the change ;in the second it was 1 290 If that is to
be the rate of retraFerioan we shall soon get back to
the statistics of the winter.
A few days itg6 the Chief Justice of England
laid it down that drunkenness was an aggravation
of offence. The occasion was a charge of unskil-
ful treatment by a midwife, and Sir A. Cockburn
directed the jury that if they believed the cause
to be drunkenner, that fact aggravated the
effende. And thoroughly sound is the reasoning,
for the wilful act of getting drunk worked the
incapacity causing injury. A Sussex Bench of
Magistrates, however, look npon drunkenness in
• different light. A drunken fellow named
James Finigan got into • railway carriage,
and shortly afterwards indecently assaulted
a married woman. The huaband inter-
fered. threatening him with chastisement
if be did not desist. Upon this the ruffian pulled
out a clasp knife, and made • (bush at the
husband, and a desperate struggle followed for
about ten minutes. Fortunately there was a
passenger in the carriage, who assisted the
husband, and between the two the ruffian was
overpowered, given into custody, and taken be-
fore Messrs. Scott and Warren, at Brighton, frr
examination, and the charge of outrage was
fully proved. For the defence drunkenness was
pleaded, and the mas•er of the prisoner was
brought forward to give the man a good character.
Mr. Scott, in passing sentence, dilated on the
enormity of the offence, and said that it had been
• questou with the magistrates if they ought
not to commit him for trial • hut taking into
consideration his previous good character, and
ths far that ks ler drunk, and did not injure
any one, they had determined to treat the offence
summarily, and sentenced him to two months'
imprisonment with hard labour. One of the
considerations which induced the Brighton
magistrates to peas so light a sentence for this
wanton and savage offence, were good character.
In cues of doubt, evidence as to character
is of value, but when there is positive proof
of the most vile conduct, previous good
character only proves that good has pared
into bad, or that be bad hitherto been a success-
ful hypocrite. The second reason assigned for
mitigation of punishment was drunkenness.
Here, then, are directions for all who may be
desirous of committing gross outrages at the
small et cost Let them get drunk, and lenient
treatment will be the result. The third cir-
cumstance in Finigan's favour was that he
had not injured any one. He had, to be
sure, drawn a knife against a husband protecting
his wife against indecent result ; he had been
for ten minutes struggling violently with the
husband and another passenger, and being
overcome, and forcibly prevented doing
mischief with the knife, receives the benefit
of such prevention. Surely the force of noodleism
can no farther go! We trust that the absurd
adjudication dote not require the plea of
drunkenness.

DORCHESTER.— Pinar" Cot si B.tuoi••,
Alpha —Toe ....ph- of now whist cmol r mere
univereally good. and Ws. were effosted at from Oh. to
48.. ler cmarkr ; old oboes very dell at late raw ;
fomtro was pleated at loom tense. No quotable champ
I. the matte is barley nr oat..
II Ostnrsy's Vim To Dowses's"- —Dear
braider Hedhitter,—Psople as laves in '6 country silos
likes to goo dos" to '• ass gide Tor • bollerday, an
them as alias lisle by sr aid" likes to take a tip

thin 'e ocluntry turstitioes. f 'poise as how Ibe party
at h Ilke the rest o' my Yeller creeteri in thick 'ere
respeck, an no I ha' cuts'il hop
to Dargestee to look
"stmt.& bit, woe ze• to elizelf seal 3 Ms) he " h°w
I shell be able to pici up • acra.ji or two for a *ample
vo- !ha Weymouth Corpration to oopy. .44:1 lb. a ben
lookun 'bout a bit tor to zee what I could prams up an'
hold up as • epeciment vor imitation, when the very
font thing in catch't my eye was thick 'ere clock tower
as 'CO is a buililen. Hance, zee I. that be • port'
spesirnent o' arkiteokter. wher did'n got that ETOUI
wonder, why. nubdy cant zest the vase on It vro.o hardly
now"' Well. mister Hedhitter. I wait 'long past
it drea or rout times, but not aioeun nubdy a worken
titer I ax't the reason. me was told as how 'e Cor-
pration was a consideren what 'en should do, an'
as how 'en didn't know as how 'termild be best
to
why them be onoommoY'rn
n isigrgeh u bad as Weymuth.
hl7tehiictk asere'twashe or to permed Oh. no! Then
ini Corpration be it,
Hadn't 'en got no eyes when the plan was
laid a core 'en is the Counselt room, to Pro as how
'twouldn't answer 44 'twee. Why, a old Doman like I
'ad a keo•d better. Any leetle cl.ild ag go,. to •
hinfaut rebool could • tell'd they, if 'en bed • led 'en,
as how if a clock was put down lower than the lumpea
yer zee it over the tope o' them 'Cr. homer
Ilfben I was • little ft.l I remembers we need to ha'
'ooden cloak. as lined out "reeks,." army hoar, en al
seems )04 cm all the world to I show Hoer be as good
many cocknoe in 'e Dargeater corpration. Duren the
time as I was a meditates 'hoot thick no clock town,
who 'lambi I see but my vem oil vriend, II s. thee.
I slant tell yer the a 5..., but she afrel to I, " Mn'. t ;randy.
what do yer think shoot the atoopidity o' our cortirro
, Mon r " Think on 'en," sea I, " Why them be as like
own al Weymouth a. is two pees." " At," sea she,
"that tower be erected as a morniment o' folly to cam.
inemontte their vicktry over Meister J. T. Ea-me."
"What him as cells cattle an farniter an all that 'ere
sort o' thing I ma." "The very sawn." see abr. An
then she See'd I the biatory o' the whole aratr. 'I may
be, Meister Hedhitter, as bow you've never heer'il
notbink 'boat that avail'; or if Ter he,e, 'bar. Tv,
ha vo•got it, an et jest yer war the in.
formation o' yer readers. Well, in the very fast
place, thee did n't lue to be hardly no markets here vor
a zellen o' cattle. Then Meister Enser took up to 'ellen
by auction, and be beat the market all to 'vita Next
he wanted the vale field vor his vortnitly sale, every in-
tervenen Wortley as wasn't' market days. Thick are
application the Corpration 'oodn't grant Then Meister
Pnzor bays • bit o' ground an' builds un sheds an'
mike, everythinF nice and ocisivortable rue his mile
yard, an arter bed a done that, 'en wanted to tax 'en
Yoe 'ellen o' cheep. It doant cost they notbink roe
what he sold titer, and so 'en wants to pick the
meet off Meister Enmer's beam an' not pay • mingle
varden woe Hoer dinner. They say it be Carpet'.
ton rights, an' as bow it be Hoer duty to ensures
the rigiS car the bemmit o' the tows. Bet 'en can.
If 'en like., leery toll on the cora as be sold in
,a 1 market home. Why don't 'en look after that woe the
benevit o' the town ! I c.n tell yer. 'en know. as how
vree trade be the orders' the day an as how 'twooliln't
do. Bat why have wee trade in sore more than in
mattes. I I shall ha' a word or two to soy 'bout that
when I cam. op yet ROO. In the mean time, however,
I oncht to till yer as how, 'Moue, the Darve-ter Cor-
peen.. be an tbe world like thee Waimea% brethren,
tbe similarity arises vrom deferent canoes. In Wey-
mouth it aroma crow the wrong headeineas o' the brows
interest, while in Dargeater at proceeds from
too attentively to a paid • araint. I reroute, Meister
Mediator, your humble serving, —lila. OW/MT.
Monday next has been fixed by the maristratin ea
the day for holding the annual general hamming meeting
for the borough.
On Sundae nett sermons will be preached in All
Sainte Church, in beh.ll of the Society for the Propaga-
tion of the (impel in For.ign Parts.
CRICKET MATCHES. —OO Tlltlldlyithis day) a cricket
match wPI take slam between the inestam Park and
Dorchester Cricket Clubs. on the ground of tbe forum,.
• On the Monday following • match will also rake place on
the same ground between the Wareham and Kingston
Park Clans.

-tilt-iOT—A. TO CROP IN DORSI?. —Mr. William rope,
in writing to the Gardener's Caron:de on this pubject,
lairs :—Since I gent in my r..prirt on the !appearance
of the crops we hays experienced some heavy allowera,
and the potato crop is now, I regret to say, considerably
affected, the old disease having made sudden and
intensive ravages. The lierve4 is now being carried
on with sigma.. and promisee to prove the best we have
known for oeveral years past. There is, however, an
enamel and mildewing quantity of weld oat, growing
with the awn cpme. In this neighbourhood their
presence la uften attributed to deep tliugliing.
RIPLL COMPPTITI.OI. —The annual prise shooting
between the members of the 3rd D.ILV will tyke tlane
at the butts, 11.4 len Cattle, in thv first week in Sep-
temlier. Several handsome prises have ben primited,
and no doubt others will be forthcoming, On this
ocoaiion the ehallenge medals will be ounceted Ca.

THS WIATHSIL —The reeding of the thermometer
at Dorchester for the oast week Ls m