The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-18 00:00:00

Our ygdon CarnspoOent.

- -
[We deem it right to state that we do not at all
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

The Americans who come over here from their
own colossal land, where everything is on a huge
scale—mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas—are corn-
t.elled to admit that vast as is their country with its
streams 3,000 miles in length, they have no river with
such surroundings as the Thames. New York, their
Empire City, is about one-third the size of London.
Ho what the Americans may, therefore, in the way
of invention, extension, cOnstruction, or engineering,
it will take a very longtime for them to Come up to a
place of the size of London, even if London all that
while stood still, which it does not. Statistics show
that it increases at a rata of between 0,000 and
50,000 every year. So that for some time to come the
picture of Macaulay's New Zealander sketching the
ruins of St. Paul's from one of the broken arches of
London Bridge, is not likely to be realised. "By the
waters of Babylon we sat down and wept" will not be
applicable to the Thames.

• 0 could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
II), great example, as it is my theme !
Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
Strong without rage; without o'erflowing, full."
Such was a poetic description by a very ardent admirer
of the Thames, which at Westminster Bridge, the
spectator looking eastward, presents such a scene as no
other city in the world can parallel. The splendid
pile of the Houses of Parliament are hard by, while in
front the winding stream slowly makes its way between
a densely packed mass of buildings, crowned on the
northern bank by the dome of St. Paul's, whose bells
at eventide often ring out upon the busy community
around them, as though to tell the toilers of a world
far-off removed from the turmoil and the strife—" a
land beyond terrestrial dream."
The reference to the growth oflondon is a reminder
of the approaching Census, whenMe population of the
eapital is expected to reach three millions and a half,
even if it does not exceed that enormous number. The
question ha..s sometimes been raised whether a de-
cennial census satisfactorily meets the requirements of
the community in these days. Things have very
materially altered since the first census was taken in
1801, now nearly eighty years ago. A decade now
seems a long time to wait for official information
respecting the living and moving existence of the
people. Yet there is little doubt that a quinquennial
census, such as that which is taken in the
United States, does not possess the interest of a de-
cennial counting of the people, such as that which
is made in these islands. In America the cities
area° anxious as to their growth that their progress
is reckoned twice QS often as our own. Cincinnati
wants to know whetlaer it has beaten St. Louis, and
Chicago desires to ascertain the rate at which the
people have increased in numbers upon the shores of
Lake Michigan. But the, interest in Cincinnati, St.
Louis, and Chicago, or even in New York and Phila-
delphia at the end of five years, cannot be so great as
that in Liverpool and Glasgow, Manchester, Birming-
ham, and Leeds at the-end of ten. Sheffield will then
be able to tell whether the inhabitants of that bustling
town are entitled to a third member of Parliament;
and Bristol's curiosity will be satisfied as to the posi-
tion in the scale of Progress occupied by that great
and important port.

The "numbering of the people" is indeed mm re-
garded as an essential means of ascertaining informa-
tion vital to the solution of many of the problems which
Itl:j3 associated with the existence of our national life.
The knowledge which is gained relating to the public
health, and the numbers of victims annua/ly swept
away by malignant diseases preventible in their cha-
racter, is of the utmost consequence in aiding medical
science to successfully wrestle with these maladies.
Again, there is the representation of the people, and
the proportion borne by members to population, the
shifting of that population from country to town,
the gradual disappearance of some places, and the
rapid rise of others. All these are matters which it
is of interest for the great body of the community to
know. And so it comes to pass that in order to make
the enumeration complete, preparations for the Census
have to be made months beforehand. About 35,000
persons were employed in 1871 to do the work. The
living population in the crowded town and in the secluded
hamlet, in barns and in outhouses, those who slept in
fields or under hedgerows, in ships, boats, and barge's,
those who scarcely ever venture off our rivers or
canals—all passed under the calculation of the enu-
merator. As experience teaches wisdom, so the
knowledge of procedure gathered at each succeeding
census is made use of, and the approaching one will
therefore be the completest ever made. In many a
household the decennial delivery of the Census paper
awakens mingled emotions. The mounting ages of the
`ather and mother, and the inevitable changes in every
none which ten years must bring about, cannot but
be suggestive of the irresistible march of Time, and of
the truth of Edmund Burke's saying :—" What
shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!"

In the face of the results of the harvests the position
of the Corn Markets has lately commanded much
attention. Last year's poor yield, both in this country
and in France, provided a market for American pro-
duce which, in the immediate future, will not be
available to the same extent. Already the weekly
shipments of American wheat to Europe are falling
off, and as prices in New York are not moving down-
wards in proportion to the decline on this side, our
supplies from across the Atlantic must continue to
dwindle. The valuable report sent in to the Royal
Agricultural Commission by Messrs. Pell and Read
showed clearly enough that the farmers in the Western
states can with difficulty deliver wheat at the nearest
railway depot at 18s. per qr., and that the freight
and dharges thence to Liverpool amount to 295. 9d.
per qr. Assuming, therefore, that the first cost is
correetly estimated, a reduction in the rates of carriage
must take place if the American wheat trade is to
montinue.

The incidents of the campaign in Afghanistan have
once more shown the English people what British
troops can accomplish in the face of physical diffi-
culties. The march of General Roberts from Cabul
to CFidahar has already taken its place amongst the
most famous of those recorded in the history of war-
fare. It must be remembered that the rate at which
a column can move depends not only upon the condition'
of the troops composing it, but also upon the state of
the road it has to traverse, the condition of the
weather, and the numerical strength of the force.
The smaller a body of troops is, the more quickly it
can march. All nations aflow about the same average
rate for marching, namely, from two miles and three
quarters to three miles an hour for infantry, four miles
for field artillery, and five miles for cavalry and
horse artillery. The Prussians, on the day of Waterloo,
eould accomplish only about a mile and a quarter in
an hour owing to the bad state of the roads; at
Magenta, Canrobert's corps were five hours in doing
nine miles; and at Sadowa, an Austrian corps took
fourteen hours to accomplish twelve miles. But in
the mountainous region of Afghanistan a march of
more than 300 miles was made at an average rate of
seventeen miles a day; and British troops may well
be proud of such an extraordinary achievement.
The recent storms in France seem to have been as
widespread as they were destructiye. At Lyons they
were almost tropical in their violence, and their course
was marked by hundreds of broken trees and thousands
of broken windows. A circus was turned inside out, and
the roof of an elephant's house in a menagerie is described
as having been blown away like a feather. A theatre
and the museum of anatomy were partially destroyed.
At Riom the sitting of the Assize court had to be
suspended on account of the darkness. At Thiers—a
place irresistibly suggestive of the distinguished
statesman of that name—hail fell for twenty-minutes,
and at the neighbouring village of Barbarin three
bous-es were set on fire by lightning. From Rochfort,
from Meules in Culvados, and from Douai, similar
stories of devastation have been received. The district
most severely visited of all, however, seems to have
been that including the central departments of Haute-
Marne, Youne, Nibvre, and Lune. Here several
instances of loss of life were recorded, besides houses
damaged by lightning and carried away by inunda-
tion.

The Greeks are a grateful people; they do net forget
any one, living or dead, who has done, or whom they
believe to have done, anything in the cause of Greek
independence. The name of Lord Byron is one of
those which is most cherished amongst them. Poet as
he was, he brought a thoroughly practical spirit to the
help of the cause to which he had devoted himself—a
cause whose weak side always lay in the personal and
local jealousies of particular leaders and districts.
The influence of a man like Byron, who rose
above all minor differences, and whose position
led all to look up to him, gave strength to the cause
to which he devoted himself, and his early death,
was a heavy blow to Greece. In his Greek
career Byron was an example, and ranked as one
of the worthies of the nineteenth century. Born in
the same year as Sir Robert Peel, the eminent states-
man-1788—he was cut off at thirty-six; the career of
jr Robert himself being 'prematurely closed through
a fatal accident at the age of sixty-two. Long after
the poet's death the statesman was accustomed to tell
stories of their schooldays at Eton together, which
showed the impetuous character of Byron's nature.
Byron, according to Sir Robert, was "always in
scrapes,"and the news was not surprising to those
who remembered how, when the cause of Greek
independence was apparently hopeless, and long before
the battle of Navarino, he threw his sword into the
scale on the side of the Greeks, and perished before
he had reached his prime.

Tourists about to visit the United States will
welcome the practical carrying out of the proposal to
form a new Park on either side of the Niagara Falls,
more especially after the accounts which returning
excursionists give of the features that have hitherto
marked the American side. These include small inns,
mills, carpenters' shops, stables, bazaars, ice-houses,
laundries with clothes hanging out to dry, bath-
houses, large glaring white hotels, and an indescrib-
able assortment of miscellaneous rookeries, the fences
which divide the numerous tenements, and patent
medicine signs, adding an element of ruin and confusion
to the impression ef solid ugliness given by the better
class of buildings. Goat Island, with its primeval
forest, which has been hitherto preserved from desecra-
tion, is threatened with the same fate. There is a
fear that it will be sold to the highest bidder ; and if
so a few years will see it converted into a race course
or covered with factories. It is satisfactory to know
that the Legislature of the State of New York is
meditating action which is to remedy past and to pre-
vent future damage.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE LONDO N
AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.

On Saturday night, amid a deluge of rain, another
terrible railway accident occurred, The scene of this
catastrophe was near the Queen's-road Station on the
London and South-Western Railway, known as the
Nine Elms Local Junction. The train which met
with the accident was that leaving the new Cyprus
Station, Waterloo, at 10.1 p.m. for Hampton-court and
other stations. Owing to the immense downpour of
rain on Saturday night, there were only a few pas-
sengers in the train, which precisely at the time
appointed for departure drew away towards Vaux-
hall, at which station it arrived safely. The train
consisted of an engine (the Firefly), tender and guard's
van and several carriages, principally third class, one
of the latter following the engine. At seven minutes
past ten o'clock, when it had got about 500 yards
past the Vauxhall Station, the rain came down in
torrents, and in passing the up points near the New-
road bridge the Firefly came into violent collision
with a goods engine, wbich was waiting to be shunted
into the Nine Elms engine-yard. At the time the train
was travelling at a moderate speed, or the loss of life
would have been serious. Immediately after
the collisiou the engine ploughed along the
line for a distance of over 110 ft., inclining to the
north, and bringing itself into the 6ft. way. The
third-class carriage which followed mounted on the top
of the Firefly. Several other coaches were smashed to
atoms and reduced to matchwood. Samuel Taylor,
the driver of the passenger engine, fortunately
escaped with his life, but was severely injured.
The fireman, however, was scalded about his hands
and breast, and was removed to the hospital in a
dying condition by the police and railway officials.
Intelligence of the disaster was forwarded at once
to the Waterloo Station. Several medical and sur-
gical gentlemen from the neighbourhood of Wands-
worth, Clapham Junction, and Queen's-road were soon
in attendance, and did all in their power to relieve the
sufferings of the dying and wounded who were strewn
beneath the fragments of the coaches. In the third car-
riage from the engine a man was found in an insensible
condition, and from amid the ruins of the first carriage
five men were extricated, among whom were Sergeant-
Major Atkinson and Private James Mears, let Surrey
Artillery Volunteers, who were returning home to Clap-
ham Junction from gun practice at Woolwich. The
former is seriously injured, but no bones are broken. The
police from Clapham Junction and the officials and
residents worked with a good will amid the drenching
rain, and by eleven o'clock the whole of the injured
were extricated from beneath the carriages. It was
then ascertained that four of them was in a dying
state, and five others were dangerously wounded. A
large break-down gang was seon on the spot with an
engine capable of lifting a weight of over 10 tons.
Jacks and other powerful lifts were soon got to work,
but the line was not cleared until 8.45 on Sunday
morning, when trail* was resumed on the down
line.

The following is a list of the killed Lee, of
Saville Lodge, Surbiton ; Mr. Geo. Dale, High-street,
Kingston; Henry Arnott, fireman of the Hampton
Court train; Mr. Roberts, 1, Copse-villa, St. John's-
hill, Wandsworth ; Mr. John Ramsay, of 7, Champion.
terrace, St. Anne's, Wandsworth, who died in his own
home.

The undermentioned severely injured persons were
taken to St. Thomas's Hospital :—William Henry
Morris, aged 20, clerk, Clapham; injuries: compound
fracture of right leg; dangerous; leg since ampu-
tated ; George Harvey, aged 25, Wimbledon, shock to
system and contusions; Joseph Thomas Cooper, aged
34, packer, Clapham, severe injury to head; Ser-
geant Major Atkinson, Surrey Artillery Volunteers,
aged 39, Wandsworth, injuries to legs, cut face, and
shock. _ _

---
Several persons were surgically attended at the
Hospital, and were afterwards allowed to proceed to
their homes. .

Sergeant-Major Atkin' n, lying in St. Thomas's
Hospital, states :
"I purchased a ticket for the ten p.m. train from
Waterloo Station on Saturday night, being on my way home
to Wandsworth from Woolwich. I took my seat in a third-
class carriage; it was next to the tender I think. We got
on pretty well till we left Vauxhall, when shortly afterwards,
while the train was going very fast, all of a sudden there
was like a dreadful clap of thunder; everything appeared to
be smashing up. I was thrown to the floor, and the
next minute that was broken up under me, and I
fell through and was dragged along. I don't know
how far. When the train stopped I was not able
to get up, but I rolled out on to the other track, and
got hold of a bit of stick, with which I strove to get away
from the terrible place. I saw a gentleman take out his
watch and say it was then seven minutes past ten o'clock,
and that his watch had just stopped. After I got into the
carriage four others came in. A soldier belonging to the
Surreys had his gun twisted just like a bit of wire. It was
an awful sight—everything was smashed up, and the poor
people roaring for help. I was not able to stand up. My legs
and back and my head are very much bruised. I have a
wife and two children."

Another survivor states that all the passengers who were
killed were in the third-class carriage which directly followed
the engine. This carriage was completely smashed, and
when search came to be ffiade live persons were found to be
buried beneath the debris. Strenuous efforts were made by
the officials to extricate these unfortunate victims.

But for. the presence of mind displayed by a
Chatham and Dover dr;ver the accident would have
been much more serious. This man, George Stacey,
had just finished work at the works of the London,
Chatham, and Dover Railway, adjoining the scene of
the disaster, and was one of the first on the spot to
render assistance. While engaged in the task of
rescuing the injured, he heard the rattle of an ap-
proaching train, and, with commendable promptitude,
took a tail lamp from the end of the wrecked train.
With this he ran up the line, and was fortunately
seen by the driver of the oncoming train in time to
enable him to pull up within a very few yards of the
scene of the accident.

A most melancholy scene took place on Monday
afternoon at the Lambeth Mortuary, when Mr.
Edward Roberts, of Colchester, identified the body of
Walter Percival Roberts, 25 years of age, as his son.
The deceased was an independent gentlbman, residing
at New Wandsworth. At the time of the identifica-
tion the body was lying in a shell. The countenance
bore a very placid appearance. Beneath the left ear
there was a large indentation and a line extending to
the eye. The right femur was fractured jist above the
knee-joint, and the left leg, extending from the ankle-
joint to the patella, was fearfully lacerated. The un-
fortunate gentleman had also received internal in-
juries which must of themselves have caused instan-
taneous death. He was found buried beneath the
rubbish of a third-class carriage, with a heavy foot-
board crushing on the riglit thigh-bone.

During Sunday and Monday anxious inquiries .were
made at St. Thomas's Hospital by friends of missing
persons who it had been thought possible were in the
ill fated train, but who it turned out had not really
been among its passengers. One lady, almost distracted
with grief, was allowed on account of her importunity
to g 0 into the sick ward in search of her husband, but
while engaged in her sad investigation a friend arrived
to tell her that the missing gentleman had returned
home, having been detained at a distance from town
on Saturday night, and thus prevented from returning
as he had intended by the ten p.m. Hampton Court
tvain from Waterloo, to which the accident occurred.
This incident was typical of many.

Taylor and Wooldridge, the driver and guard of
the Hampton Court passenger train, were reported on
Tuesday to be still in a somewhat precarious condition.
The five injured passengers lying at St. Thomas's
Hospital were, however, progressing satisfactorily.

Major Marindin R.E• 7 of the railway department
of the Board of Trade,.' commenced his Official inquiry
into the accident on Tuesday afternoon at the ter-
minus of the South-Western Railway Company, and
took important evidence, including that of the
signalman on duty at the time of the collision. Mr.
Carter, coroner for East Surrey, also opened the
inquest on four of the five persons who lost
their lives by the accident. The evidence ad-
duced had reference solely to the identification
of the bodies, for whose interment the coroner gave
his certificate. Among the witnesses , examined was
the young wife of Arnott, the fireman of the ill-fated
.train. She was evidently; as might be supposed,
deeply affected by the loss in such tragic circum-
stances of the husband to whom she had only
been two months married. The deceased, Mr.
Lee, was a clergyman of the .Church of Eng-
land He was doing duty for a month at
Park Chapel, Chelsea, during the alrence of the
incumbent, the Rev. John Bennett. He conducted
the usual Saturday evening prayer meeting in the
chapel an hour or two before he was killed, and was
to have officiated at the eleven o'clock service on Sun-
day morning. As he did not appear on the scene at
the appointed time the congregation waited until
twelve o'clock in. the hope that he had been simply
detained. A layman then conducted a short impro-
vised service, none present realising the awful fate of
the absent pastor.

The Times of Wednesday had the following obituary
notice :—" On the 12th inst., caused through injuries re-
ceived in a railway accident, the Rev. John Irwin Lee,
Vicar of Thetford, Norwich, and of Savile Lodge, Surbiton-
hill, deeply regrettel"