The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-12-17 00:00:00

THE INQUEST.

On Meads.), the inquest on the bodies of William West,
.Toseph H. Newman, Alexander Vicary, Gerrit Ament, and
E. W. Saunders, killed in the railway collision, was opened
by Dr. Danford Thomas, coroner for the district, in the court
adjoining the mortuary chapel, Holloway-road.
The Coroner, in opening the inquiry, said that when they
had first identified the bodies and taken some evidence they
would adjourn, probably until the inquiry which was being
prosecuted on behalf of the Government was completed,
when the jury would be better able to understand the facts
of the case. Colonel Yolland would probably complete his
inquiry in a week, and after duly considering the evidence
would be able to give them his conclusions as to the cause
of the occurrence and whether blame attached to any
ono.

The bodies having been identified, Mr. Charles Lavy,
district engineer on the southern division of the Great
Northern Railway, was the next witness. He said that on
Saturday morning he heard of the accident near the
Canonbury Junction, and at once proceeded to the
ground, where he arrived at hall-past nine. He saw
there had been a collision between three passeager
trains. He took observations of the position of the
trains, and the plan he now handed in was a true copy. A
train had passed through the tunnel and appeared to have
drawn up at the south end of it near the Junction signal.
cothlleidteudn"nevath tahe then
fist
in l. il
tThhei
secondßtr a in
about 23 yards from the south end inside the tunnel. The
rear brake van and carriage of the first train were much
wtraasinpa had "collided"
broken. The brake van was quite crushed up. The engine
first
t a ptohinatt
of the second train was partly off the line. He found that
the third train had " collided " with the second at a point
about 150 yards from the south end of the tunnel, and that
the brake van of the second train and the carriage next to
it were completly crushed up as well as about three com-
partment of the next preceding carriages. The engine of the
third train was reared up in front as high as the crown of the
tunnel, and the funnel knocked off. He saw three bodies
taken away. Witness then explained to the jury in detail,
as shown on the plan he had handed in, the positions of the
signals, stating that the parts in the tunnel had been
partly thrown out of gear by the accident, but that so far
as the frame was concerned the signals were quite in
order. They worked on the positive block system. The
radius of the curve on the Canonbury branch line was 111
chains, and the length of the curve was 414 yards. Prac-
tically, there was down hill three parts of the way and
then a short level until they intersected the North London
line. The signal inside the tunnel WM a disc signal It
was under the control of the Canonbury Junction box. It
was a "repeater," and the signals inside and outside the
tunnel would both be worked by the same machine. There
was also a signal showing a red lamp worked from the
Canonbury Junction.

Dr. H. 'Fraser Stokes said he was sent for shortly after
nine o'clock on Saturday morning, and was told there had
been a collision. He saw all the bodies brought up one by
one. Two had been dead for some time. There was no
external injury on Mr. Saunders sufficient to account for
death. He had only a fracture of the right thigh. There-
fore witness supposed there was some internal injury suffi-
cient to cause death.
The Coroner then said he thought they should call no
more witnesses at present. Colonel Yolland would be able
to give very important evidence on a future occasion. The
evidence in the matter was very conflicting, and would re-
quire to be thought over and sifted. He would therefore
propase that they should adjourn the inquiry to some future
time, which he suggested should be the Wednesday after
Christmas at half-past ten o'clock.

The inquiry was accordingly adjourned to Wednesday, the
28th inst., and it was agreed that the jury should visit the
scene of the collision on Friday at twelve o'clock.