The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-09-07 00:00:00

THE BITFFERERS.

The Times of Wednesday says :—" There was an affecting
scene at Sittingbourne Station yesterday at the departure of
the 1.20 p.m. train. Several of those injured went up by it,
and the body of the lad Knevitt, whom his father heard crying
and asking to have the heavy weight lifted off him while
they both lay pinned down among the ruins of the carriages,
' was also conveyed by this train. Mrs Bates, the poor boy's
aunt, who was in the same carriage at the time of the
collision, and her daughter, a little girl, travelled yester-
day in the same train to Victoria. The child appeared to
have borne the shock better than her elders. Mr. Knevitt
•remains at present at the ' Fountain ' Hotel. Mr. and Mrs.
Whitehead and their servant, a slight and fair girl named
Fanny Bradley, went up to Dulwich. Mrs. Whitehead has
both her wrists in splints and has sustained serious injury
to her foot. Her husband has suffered from the shock and
from a disfiguring blow on the forehead and nose. Miss
Davis, accompanied by her brother and by Miss Lawrence,
also went to Dulwich. Dr. Sutcliffe, on the part of the
London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, accompanied the in.
'ands to town. Dr. and Mrs. Fisher and the Rev. W. 11 Dyson,
the vicar of Sittinoourne, with other ladles and gentlemen by
whom the unfortunate victims of the accident have been
tended and cared for saw them off. Special carriages, with
couches, were incorporated with the train in the centre of it,
these arrangements being made under the personal super-
. vision of the assistant manager, Mr. Mortimer Harris who had
• been at the station all day. The company has, as it was indeed
Morally bound to do, been liberal In its provision of special
trains and carriages for the sufferers and their friends.
The honesty of the breakdown gangs has been shown by the
recovery from the ruins of the carriages (now entirely
Cleared away) of watches, money, and many valuable objects
belonging to the passengers. Middleton, Mr. Horton's ser-
vant, who still lies in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Chatham
Is being provided at the company's expense with an invalid
couch of expensive construction which will, it is hoped, give
him relief. A statement which has had some circulation,
to the effect that Mr. J. E. Brown, of Oxford, whose wife
perished in the collision, has not been heard of since,
is true in the sense that Mr. Brown has not
replied by telegraph to the telegrams of the company's
officers, But Mr. Eaton, a college servant, attended on
Monday on his behalf to ictentify the body of Mrs. Brown
The removal of the persons mentioned is sufficient to show
that their condition is favourable; and as to the others the
reports are also favourable. One of the Sisters of Mercy,
who was staying apart from the rest, has now been able to
"spar •removal, and has joined the lady superior. The body
of 'Mr. George Corbett, of the Rome Office, which viae
claimed by his atelanother and a gputlemitia from BrOad-
stairo, was edit by the 5.45 thin on Thely th his sitter in
Lollon.

Now, you may make any statement as to this occurrence
or not, as you please. Would you wish to tell the jury what
occurred 7—Yes, air.
Now, you may object to answer anything, if you like.
What happened I—When we arrived here, we put the train
back into the Sheerness siding by order of the signalman.
The engine was uncoupled and sent across the road into the
up siding. J held the points that led into No. lon the isp
siding. I also held the points for them to come out again.
I held the points by order of the head guard. We went
across the road on to the down main line. Four trucks
were uncoupled—l don't know by whom. They were
knocked back clear of the points which led into the Sheer-
ness siding. They were knocked back on the down main
line. We then went into the down siding and left some
trucks there, arid came and picked these four up on
the down line and put those on another down siding:
These we sent back on the train in the Sheerness siding.
I was told by the bead guard, Jacob Moden, to uncouple
some trucks from the train. I did so. The head guard sent
the driver on to the down main line with the 12 trucks which
remained attached to the engine. I rode up on the behind
truck, and the head guard rode up on the truck near to the
engine. When we got over the points, the head guard gave
the driver a signal to stop, and he got down and uncoupled
seven trucks. As he was getting up from the trucks 1
thought I heard him say, "Pull the points over," and I did
so. They were the points leading over the main up line. I
thought the points I pulled were the points which led to the
down siding. The head guard gave the driver the signal to
get the trucks back.
Was it before or after you pulled the lever that the guard
gave the driver the signal to push back?—l don't remember
He signalled by moving his arm. I think I had hold of the
points when he waved him back. I did not notice any-
thing else until I looked round and saw the signalman with
a red flag, and then it was too late to stop the trucks. I
discovered then that the trucks were on the wrong road.
We tried to couple the trucks on again, but could not suc-
ceed. The head guard tried to couple the trucks. I was call-
ing, or trying to call, the driver back. There was not time
to recouple the trucks. The trucks just came to a staadstill
as the collision occurred. I entered the employ of the com-
pany on June 3rd last. I had no previous railway experience
whatever. Previously to that I worked on the Faversham
gunpowder mills as a labourer. Since June 3 I was employed
in shunting in Herne hill sorting sidings for eight weeks. I
had been guard for five weeks, working from Stewart's•lane
to Blackfriars, and from Blackfriars to Herne-hill. This was
not my first trip down. I had been as far as Faversham with
trains five times as under guard. I am 20 years of age.
While I was holding the points I did not gear any one call
out to me until it was too late.
Colonel Rich: Until you saw the red flagf—Exactly.
JACOB MODEL the head guard, was then recalled, and
answered several questions put to him by Colonel Rich, Her
Majesty's Inspector.
Colonel Rich then addressed the Court at consider-
able length, and said—"iThe accident seems to have
happened from a mistake on the part of at least two of
the servants of the company, as it appears to me. The
head guard of the goods train in signalling to the
driver to shunt back this train, from which he had de-
tached seven waggons, before he saw that the road
was in a proper state for those waggons to run in
a proper direction, made the first mistake. I do
not think myself that he intended to hold these
points, because the points for these waggons to go
into the goods yard were fifty yards further
on. He also seems to have started these waggons
when the whole of them were ahead of him. He
called the driver to push them back when he had to
run a long way to these points, and he had nothing
like a reasonable time to go there. If he had given
himself time to reach the points, then he could have
interfered with the man who held the wrong points.
This man, though a very young man, seem to have
been the whole time he has been in the service of the
company employed in these operations. I know the
Herne-hill yards to be very busy, and at Stewart's-
lane Clark must also have seen a good deal of shunt-
ing. He must have been thought fit to do shunting
by his own senior guard and the foreman porter,
for they allowed him to hold other points which
were similarly situated with regard to the main
line. When the waggons were called back, he does
not deny that he knew where they were to go, and he
acknowledges his mistake in catching the wrong lever.
I have often, in my 17 years' experience, seen men
who have been 20 years in the service of companies,
and the best men make the same mistake." Her
Majesty's Inspector dwelt with special emphasis on
the point that with signals interlocked with points,
according to the system now enforced at all new
stations, this accident could not have occurred.
Machinery, which has not the intelligence to commit
mistakes, is found more trustworthy for purposes like
this than human agency. The company had, it ap-
pears, Vans before it for applying interlocking signals
to Sitttngbourne station. The delay in the adoption
of these will now be bitterly regretted.
After some observations had been made by the
coroner, the jury returned a verdict that the catas-
trophe was caused by the culpable negligence of
Moden and Clarke, the guards of the goods train,
who were committed to Maidstone Gaol to take their
trial at the next sessions of the Central Criminal
Court on the charge of manslaughter.