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

station, and shouted to let him knOV that I was going
to "shunt." The. pointsman waved the fatiF as much
as to say "all right," and followed after me to Wilt the
points: I ran past the points, drew up, stopped the
train, and looked out for a signal from the pointsman to
come On receiving the signal I reversed the
engine, and as' Was backing the train, and had gone
back four or five waggons, I saw the mail coming. I
I said to my mate, "The mail is
,in;" but had hardly said
it befOre it struckthe train. t stopped my engine, after
getting a " bump" forward, aria went back with the
train. I left the engine as soon as I mind,. and ran
back to see what hzd been. done. The first thing I
saw was the "breaksinan" of my train, and he said that
the best thing would be to block the line. I ran back
to my engine as quickly as possible, detached it, and went
on to Mancetter crossing, which is about a'mile from the
place of the collision. Finding the signal: a white light,
I turned it on to " red " myself, in order to Meek the
down line. I then called up Hoddon, the gateman at
the crossing, and made him dress himself, and told him
not to, allow anything to pass on any consideration, as
there
was a collision lust below. I then returned to the
collision with the engine, where I found several persons
engaged in removinc, the
t bodies and clearing the line.
'By a Juror: I knOw he auxiliary signal, and when
I passed saw the white light there. Am certain that I
saw the white auxiliary light. I saw the other white
lights at the crossings as well.'
drover's carriage to bb at the e cattle train.
nledlftotfisheustomary for the
By the Coroner : When' I Stafford I had no
orders where to stop. Ilre look to thel stations to get
instructions to start. Moorcroft was the proper officer
to give instructions at Tamworth. not have
shunted at Polsworth because there are no signals there
to protect a shunting train.
By a Juror : It is a very heavy road from Tamworth
to Atherstone. If the rails had not been slippery
would have been a very tight run to get to Nuneaton
-
from Tamworth in twenty-five minutes.
Chas. Clark, examined, said : I left Stafford at twenty
minutes past twelve o'clock, and was fireman with the
last witness. At Tamworth we took in water and coke,
and stopped there about ten minutes. I saw the inspec-
tor while waiting there. The rails were slippery that
night, and I went to get sand; when I came back, the
engine was in motion for going on. I did not hear any-
thing which took place between the last witness and
Moorcroft. The rails were slippery for about a mile and
a half after leaving Tamworth. I was on the side of
the engine, and could not see whether the auxiliary
signal was lighted or not. All that I saw were white
ones. At the Atherstone station my mate shouted that
he was going to shunt, and whistled to the pointsman.
He described. the steps taken by the last witness, and the
collision which ensured. The van which contained the
deceased was the last but one in the train, the last being
the guard's break van. I was not hurt at the moment
of the collision.
The inquiry was then adjourned until Wednesday
next.

LATEST PARTICULARS.
The number of deaths resulting from the fatal acci-
dent at Atherstone has now been increased to ten.
Michael Vaughan, who received some very severe in-
juries, having died early on Saturday morning : he was
between sixty and seventy years of age, his skull and
rib's were fractured, and the lungs seriously injured.
The other sufferers, viz., Patrick Fay (drover), William
Hill (Post-office clerk), George Smith (Post-office
clerk), and James Bowker (Post-office clerk), though
very severely injured, still survive, and hopes are
entertained that they will ev'entually recover. Bowker,
one of the Post-office clerks, had bat just recovered
from the injuries received in a former collision, and
had but a few days since received from the Post-office
the amount of compensation which was awarded to
him. As will be seen from the report of the proceed-
ings at the inquest, the nature of the injuries received
must in the majority of cases have caused almost in-
stantaneous death, and some difficulty was experienced
in identifying several of the bodies, owing to the severe
wounds inflicted about the head. One of the drovers
could only be identified by . the clothes which he
wore. Although called drovers, the deceased were not
all really of that class of persons ; with the exception
of two, they were dealers and owners of cattle. They
Were principally. from Ireland, and the cattle which
were lean, were intended to be taken to Norwich Market
for sale to the feeders, The evidence already given at
the Wiliest shows that some most culpable negligence
must have taken place on the part of the station master,
the driver, Of the signal man. At the present state of
the inquiry it would not be right to express any
opinion upon this point. The driver of the mail train
swears most positively that he saw no " red " light
at the auxiliary signal station, that there was a white
light, which meant " all right," at the station, as he
approached it, and that he saw it changed to a red
one es he was running in, and when it was too late
to arrest the progress of the train. There is a sharp
curve both on going into and leaving Atherstone, and
the auxiliary light, about a quarter of a mile distant
from the main one, is intended to afford additional
security in working. this part of the line. Leaving the
station again there is a curve, so that the lights of the
cattle train which had passed through for the purpose
of shunting could not be seen by the approaching train
until close to it. If it be true that no red light was
shown at the auxiliary station—and the guard confirms
the evidence of the driver in this respect—then no fault
can be attributed to the driver of the mail train. No
evidence hag, however, yet been given on the part of
the person in charge of the signals at this point.
With respect to the driver of the cattle train,
there would also appear to be no blame, assuming that
his evidence is uncontradicted. He states that when at
Tamworth station he was told by the proper officer there
to go on as quickly as he could, and get out of the way
of the coming mail train, and that he had twenty-two
minutes to spare. The rails, however, were very slippery,
and finding that there was no chance of reaching.
Nuneaton, where he was to have shunted to let the mail
by, he found his only course would be to shunt at Ather-
stone, as the mail train was then within a few minutes of
its time. Had the red light been shown at the auxiliary
station, or seen by the driver of the mail, the cattle
train would have been protected, and had ample time to
get out of the way. No witness has yet been called to re-
but the evidence of the driver of the cattle train as to what
took place at Tamworth. It will be somewhat strange
if improper instructions given to the driver of the
cattle train should be found, combined with the neglect
of duty by the signalman at Atherstone, to be the cause
of this terrible accident. Had the cattle train not been
despatched from Tamworth, the failure to show the
auxiliary signal would not have involved any casualty ;
and if the train had been improperly sent on, but due
care taken with the signal, no injury could have arisen.
Some further light will, no doubt, be thrown, upon the
cause of the accident at the friture proceedings of the

JUry.
At the conclusion of the inquiry on Saturday, the
Coroner gave his warrant for the burial of the bodies.
Those of the deceased who came from Ireland will be
forwarded t their friends by the London and North
Western Railway. •

GRAND Psun RAILWAY ComrANY OF CANADA.—
Traffic for the week ending October 27th, 1860, and
Corresponding week in 1859 :
Passengers, &c. Merchandise, &c.
Total Miles
Date. No. Amount. Tons Amo sterlin open
1860 15041 £5318 3 153401E11141 unt. g.
5 2 E 16459 8 8 970
1889 1132 4503 8 4 12937 7924 17 7 12428 511 880

Increase £4031 2 9 90
-Bunt:maul' IN BIRKENHEAD.-At the Birkenhead
Police-court, on Friday, a number of persons named
Thoinas O'Brien, Dennis Lawler, Jane Lynch, and Ann
Wignall were brought before the magistrates (Messrs.
Brian, Darbyshire, and Case) charged with breaking
into and being. concerned in the robbery of the house of
Mr. Steers, Grange-lane, Birkenhead. The robbery
from this house was committed on Wednesday, the ith
instant. There was also a further charge against the
prisoners of breaking into and robbing the house of Mr.
Samuel Whitfield, Kensington, in this town. The
female prisoners appeared to have acted as receivers of
the stolen property in both cases. From Mr. Steers'
house there was stolen a silver cream jug and an over-
coat. The prisoners ransacke the house well before
taking leave of it, and though they could not find many
valuables to carry off, they got j;lenty of bread and
cheese and whiskey. The day,after,the robbery, the jug
was pledged at Mr. Grundy's pawnshop, in Richmond-
row. From Mr. Whitfield's house a pair of boots were
taken, which were found upon the feet of offe of the
prisoners when apprehended. To Detectives todson
and Scott, and to Mr. Grundy, the pawnbroker, the
detection of the thieves is due. Lawler was discharged,.
and the others were all committed for trial to the
assizes.
MURDER AND SUICIDE.—There is no large city in
the Union where the crime of murder is less frequently
committed than in Boston, and whenever a bloody deed
resulting in the death of one human being at the hands
of another occurs, the community is startled, and the
matter becomes subject for long-continued and eager
public discussion. At noonday, not only in broad
daylight, but in the vicinity of one of the principal
avenues of the city—where thousands pass and repass
at all hours of the day—the life of a young
woman, as well as that of a male companion was,
attempted by one who almost succeeded in terminating
his own feverish existence. The bare facts of the
case, as at first revealed, are as follow :—Miss Fanny
may, of prepossessing appearance, and about seventeen
years of age, met her former employer and the hus-
band of her cousin, Mr. Joseph Hernandez, at the
store of Reynolds, Mollendy, & Co., No. 43, Hanover-
street, having engaged to meet him there, as we are
informed, to look over with him some disputed accounts
between him and a Mr. Pratt, of whom he had bought
goods. Miss May was employed by Hernandez to take
charge of his business, and, as is said, was supposed
to know something about the accounts. The bills and
other papers were scattered over the desk at which Miss
May was sitting, and Mr. Hernandez appeared to be
engaged with her in lookißg them over. Some time
was occupied in this way, and nothing unusual attracted
the attention of the other persons in the store, until
Mr. Hernandez, without a particle of warning, drew a
six-barrelled revolver, .and, aiming at Miss May's head,
fired it. The screams of the woman and the
discharge of the ,pistol were heard in the adjotn-
ing store, which is kept by Messrs. Wilson, Fairbank,
and Co., and Mr. Wilson at once went in to ascer-
tain the trouble. Miss May, who was sitting in a
chair when Hernandez first fired, threw herself into
the arms of her brother-in-law, Mr. C. H. Hall. A
second ball was then fired at Mr. Hall, who had a narrow
escape, the ball passing over and in close proximity to
his head, and lodging in the wall. Hernandez, finding
that he had failed in his attempt, suddenly turned the
pistol round, aiming at his abdomen, and fired. After-
wards he swallowed a dose of arsenic, and, calmly divest-
ing himself of his coat and vest, lay down upon a
box, remarking to some one who desired him to go
to a carriage which had been procured to carry him
home, "Let me die in peace." He was eventually
conveyed to his home, No. 32, Leverett-street, in a
dying condition. Miss May was taken to her home in
Aliston-street, in a. carriage, by Mr. Wilson, when it
was soon ascertained that she had fortunately escaped
all serious injury. The ball, after striking the forehead,
glanced off without inflicting any wound of a serious
character. In his pocket was found a letter, in
which he expressed the wish that Fanny and himself
should be buried tozether. This shows that his
intention was to kill-her and then himself. The
parties had been quite intimate, notwithstanding the
man was the possessor of a wife and two children. The
wife of Hernandez states that she some time since
discovered the infatuation of her husband for Miss May,
and informed him of it, at the same time stating that
she forgave him. His wife in wired of him whether
he killed himself on account of Lanny,l or on account of
his business. In reply he stated that it was on account
of hia:bnaiuess. While he was sensible, he asked for a
minister to be sent for.—Boston (U.S) Post,