The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-11-19 00:00:00

PURTIItR PARTICULARS.

FEAR N:14( FATAL, ACCTD.EN ON
THE TRFN't YALLEV RAILWAY.

. .
INQUEST ON T lIE BODIES OP THE DECEASED.
ATILERSTONE, Saturday t:icenirig.
The inquest was opened at the Town-hall, Athei‘
aton. on Saturday; by Mr. Carter, the coroner for the
division of tbe county in which the accident occurred,
and siiteen highly respectable residents of the town.
Mr: Bracebridge;. of Crimean notoriety, was chosen
forenian of the Ind'.
Mr. Cawkwell, general manager; Mr. .M'Connel,
superintendent of the locomotive department; Mr.
Greew, district superintendent; Mr. Ormandi, saperin-
fendent of cattle traffic ; and Mr. Cleather, solicitor
(frond are office of gr. Carter, London) to the company,
were present on behalf of the London and North
Western Company. Mr. Dudley Baxter, barrister, of
Atherstone, attended to represent the friends of some of
the deceased ; and Mr. Overall, solicitor, of Leamington,
was present on behalf of John Macdonald.
The jury having been sworn, proceeded to view the
bodies. Nine of them were laid in a row in a shed at
the back of the Queen's Head Inn, a short distance
front the locality where the accident occurred. The ap-
pearairee which they presented was a most distressing
one ; several of the deceased were much cut about the
head and face. Their deaths; in almost every case, must
have been instantaneous, and resulted from severe frac-
tures of the skull. The whole of the bodies- of the dro-
vers were identified by a person of the name of Hem-
broke, residing at Holyhead, at whose hOuse they were
all staying, previous to leaving with the cattle which
they Itad in charge. The body of the stoker was iden-
tified by the dtiter of the mail train.
The following is a list of the names of the deceased :
John: ThompSon, drover. Edtd. Macdonald, drover.
sleorgi lienshaw, drover. Joseph Tallant, drover.
Michael Vaughan; drover. Sohn Tallant, drover.
James Hickey, droleef. Andrew Derby, drover.
John Macdonald, drover. James Cheery, fireman.

The first witness called was James H' coke; of Old
Station, Holyhead. He said it was his business to' sup-
ply fodder for cattle from Ireland. He identified the
whole of the bodies with the exception of James Cheery,
fireman. Two of the deceased were, he said, cattle-
drivers or care-takers; the others were cattle owners.
Edward Barber, examined, said—l am an engine-
driver, in the employ of the London and Northwestern
Railway. Have been in their employ for nine years.
I left Stafford on Friday morning, at twenty-three
minutes past one, with the limited mail train. That
was my right time for leaving. I know the deceased,
James Cheery ; lie vas my fireman. When we arrived
in sight of Tamworth the signal was a red one—to stop—
and the train was stopped in consequence of that signal.
At Atherstone there are a main and auxiliary The
auxiliary signal can be seen at 500 or 600 yards away, and
is about 400 yards distant from the main signal. The
signal was turned on white, to draw in to the station. This
was blefoit' re came up to the middle main signal. The
train drew tip af flit' station in consequence of that white
signal. The train was dopped at the proper place to
stop at. It is usual for the "ii
stop mail " to stop at
Tamworth. We took in water at TaniwOrth, and stopped
there about three minutes. We received the.,signal from
the guard to "go on." I had no communication with
any one at the Tamworth station. Never spoke to any
one there, and no one spoke to me. Before we arrived
at the station at Tamworth, the Liverpool goods train
.^.3S shunted. We left Tamworth at 1 58. That is, I
believe one minute before time, according to the time
table,

Mr. Green' e#lained that the time bill allowed three
minutes for the purpose of taking in water, but if the
work could be done before that time the train was
usually started.
__ • _

Examination resumed : We went on from Tamworth
towards Atherstone, and received no signal until approach-
ing that station. When coming round the first curve I
saw the signal put at " all right."
*as- there any light at the auxiliary station ?---There
was no lighf tiscre as we came up. I saw the red light
turned on when aVottt thirty or forty yards distant. I
saw it turned on.

Are you sure there was no ligtt then ?—I am quite
sure. There was a white light upon tTfs station, which
means " all right." As we tame I saw the policeman.
or some orie at the station put up the red sigtiali
,also wave his hand and his lamp. _

The Coroner: Was there a white light at the auxiliary ?
—None at all.

Don't you ever see the white light there ? Yes, al-
Ways,
There Was none this time ? None at all. When we
saw the red light Janies Cheery, the deceased firemen
who was with rue, immediately pulled up the break. I
reversed the engine, held the reversing lever in one
band, and the regulator in the other. As• soon as I
turned the corner I saw the three red lights of the train
in the station, two side lamps and the tails lamp. The
distance of the train when I first saw it was so short
that there was no time to pull up. I held the revers-
ing lever in my hand till the train struck. When
I saw the red light turned on I was not 100 yards
from the Cattle train. When we came into collision the
engine struck the waggon an one side, and turned over.
I went over with it, and fell with it upon the embank-
ment. She went over the guard's break-van, and over
the next, in which the drovers were. When the engine
fell over I fell with it, and found myself under the tire-
hole door, among the coals, under some broken waggons,
and dead and dying cattle. At the time we struck we
were going about 30 miles an hour. When I first saw
the signal, wo wern-going at 45 or 46 miles an hour. It
is not usual to slacken on approaching stations unless a
signal is given, or unless the road is out of order.
Were you told at Tamworth of this cattle train being
before you at all.
Was this cattle train a special one ?—lt was. We
are most generally told at Tamworth when there is a
train that has gone on before its,
Charles Henry Garlick, guard of the Scotch mail
train was next called. In his evidence he said : I have
been a little over four years in the employ of the London
and North-Western Railway. On Friday morning I
was in charge of the limited mail train, which I joined
at Preston. We left Preston at 11.14 p.m. Everything
went an all right till we approached Tamworth, when
the auxiliary signal showed "red," but it dropped to
"white," and we then went into the station. We
waited there while the engine took water, and we got
in the mail bags, and then having received the signal
from the inspector we left the station. Moorcroft
was the person who gave the signal; he is the platform
inspector at the station. He made no communication to
me of any train being in advance of us, neither did any
other person. After leaving Tamworth everything went
on well, and we were going at the usual speed, until we
approached the station. Coming round the curve I saw
a red light, and a man waving a light with his hand.
I put my hand to the break, and placed my foot against
the lower part of it; but before I could bring it well to
bear upon the wheels, the train went slap into the other.
I was thrown with my head against the side, and the
break van mounted up into the air.
_ _ _

Did you see any light at the auxiliary signal?—None
whatever. If the signal had been there I must have
seen it. I saw nothing but the main signal and the
policeman's hand lamp. I saw the main signal just be-
fore coming to the, curve. I was sitting in the best
position to see the auxiliary light, and was looking for
it, as Atherstone is a place I am very particular about,
on account of the curve going into the station, (The
witness was considerably affected when giving his evi-
dence, especially that part of it which referred to his
remarkable escape.) In the course of his further exami-
nation he said—l can remember nothing more that took
place after the collision, until I was taken out of the
van. I then assisted in carrying two of the drovers
away from the place, and saw a gold watch and chain
taken from one of the men and given to some one who was
standing by. ,
It was intimated by the coroner that the police had
charge of all the property found on the deceased, and
that orders had been given to have a strict search made
in the clothes of the men, as it was their custom to have
the money sewn up in their trowsers.
The witness further said that he had no conversation
at Tamworth with any one, except the mail time-keeper
in the train; and he remarked that they were keeping
excellent time, and had done so all the way down. He
was not told that.there was any cattle train in advance.
John Watts, examined, said : I was driver of the
cattle train on Friday last. I have been four months
in the employ of the London and North Western Com-
pany as an engine driver, and as an extra engine driver
since the 29th of March, when I was registered. I
Was driver of the cattle train which left Stafford at
eighteen minutes past twelve on Friday morning. The
train consisted of twenty-six carriages conveying cattle
and horses, one guard's break,' a drover's carriage, and
three waggon loads of goods. The goods were next to
the engine and the cattle next to the goods— From
what I have seen since the collision I suppose the drover's
van, was next to the cattle, and then the guard's break.
The fireman with me was Charles Clark ; he has been
with me for the hist four months, with the exception of
one night. After leaving Stafford, the first place at which
we stopped was Tamworth. We arrived there at
1 25. The "all right" signals were shown. We
stopped about ten minutes at the Tamworth station to
take in coke, to run into sidings, detach engine, and
attach it again to the train. We left Tamworth at
thirty-hie minutes past one. I saw Moorcroft, the
inspector, at the station. He spoke, to um about going
on. I said to him "What are we to do ?" meaning
whether to go or not. He said "Yes, get out of the
road." By that I understood we were to go on, and
get out of the way of the train. I did not understand
him to mean that I was to "shunt." I have driven
similar cattle trains before. I said to Moorcroft, "My
mate has gone to, get a shovelful' of sand. Wait till he
comes back, and then I will go on. It is a venrye sa
pert' night, but I will do my best to get on." - ,
I was to go on to Nuneaton, and shunt there for tne
" limited mail" train. He did not say: anything about
stopping at Atherstone.
Some discussiOn took place at this stage as to the
vopriety of ordering all witnesses to leave therr hotoniis,
mt it was decided that there was no necessity for

I had been slipping
step.
Exiimine.tien resumed—Mooreroft was the proper
officer to
give instructions for starting. I told him that
a good deal from Stafford, and that
the road was very slippery. I asked him when
-two
the
Mail was due. 'He said, Oh, you've twenty
Minutes ; there is plenty of time, and you have only
fourteen miles to run." I started the tran. I had
brought one shovelful of sand, and my maie another,
and put it on the engine as it was starting. It
was not half a minute after he told me to go that I
started. Oa getting near Atherstone, and finding that
the mail was nearly due, I run into Atherstone to
shunt. My engine slipped a little for the first mile
and a half—not particularly much for slippermbyankment
weather.
When she ffot on the higher part on the e
the engine stuck to the railsl and got t
ago on ver
elve.y wellminutes
,_until.
I arrived at Atherstone. . was au tw
getting to Polsworth ; that is about three miles from
Tamworth. With a train like that which I had in
charge, and with the rails in good order, the engine
could make the run in about twenty-four or twenty-
five minutes. It was five minutes past two when I 'got.
into Atherstone. I stopped at Atherstone to shunt for
the limited mail, which I found was so nearly due, as I
should not have had time to get to Nuneaton. As I vto
drawing through the station I shouted to the policeman
at the gates, "I will shunt for the mail train to pass." I
could not hear any reply. I blew.My.whistle to call the
attention of the nointsman at the other end of the