The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-09-12 00:00:00

THE ACCIDENT TO THE IRISH MAIL.

After a protracted inquiry Into the cause of this melancholy
mildest, on Friday evening last, the Assessor pi acceded to
won up the evidence. Ile commenced by congratulating
the jury upon the completion of an inquiry which had
occupied their close attent' for eight days, during which
In less than seventy esnutinetlotig of xi mimes it iii been
Made. Ile trusted that the verdict which they would now
be called 'upon to deliver would be such as a ould give satin-
action to themselves MA to the puolic, who, by means of
the full reports which had, day by day, appeined in the
press, had in one se ISO been witnesses of the case. The
mitastrophe that had nailed theta together alOl ferhaps the
Most opt% dlieg that had ever liappciod the history of
railways in this country. In a womea. zy three bunion
beings who hail left Chester at noun, well and happy, a ore
by s ii d'rille death, removed from e.irth, and it had fallen
to their lot to'consiller all the circumstances which lei up
to the disaster, and if they found that there had been on the
pat .1 any person or persons, neglect of duty, it would
further be their duty, in virtue of the oath they had taken,
to visit upon the parties the penalties assigned by the law.
Ile would remind theni at the outset that their verdict
wouhl be taken first upon the body it Charles Cripps, whose
Maly hail been satisfactorily identified by his widow ;
con,lly, upon the body of Edward Oaten, whose brother,
Thos. Outon, had recognised his remains ; thirdly, upon the
body of James Priestly Edwards, which had been recognised
by Ins uncle, Sir IL Edwards ; and lastly upon the thirty
bodies which remained, ant with reference to which it
would lie •tl e duty of the jury to return a verdict as of
pewmus unknown " Iti respect to these bodies, however,
he must tell them that there had been evidence given ti hich
showed that certain lemons were passengers by the iridt
th,t they joined it at Chester, that from that place to
ti-, point Cl the accident, the train did not stop, and that
the, certain persons were not amongst the survivors of the
areident. Further, there bad been found in Many eases
relics of the tier s mat proprrty of these passengers amongst
the d•tris m the consumed carriages, and these had linen
Idemitled by time friends of the several deceased. The
flounce of these thirty deceased asked the jury, more as a
tuvour than a matter 44 tight, to append to the verdict a
at dement to the effect that evidence had been laid I efore
them showing that these thirty tarsons travelled in that
tram, and that their bod ies were amongst the reinains of the
dead. It w, aid be tully in their power to hiceetie to this
requ,st, and he ((he Lamed assessor, would recommend
then% to make the necessary addenda.
The (yarned Assessor, Hs a preface to his !summing up of
the eVidetee',--hext proceeded to state and explain the law
Which tided the inquiry, supplementing his remarks by
rtaiiillg the untomlog op of Mr. Justice Coleridge a hen
charging a jury unpaidi lied to try a charge of manslaughter
upon the railway. He then proceeded to review the evidence
It great length, very clearly pointing out that if the Meeks-
men and the stationtaastcr had observed the instruct lens of
the rompavy upon the arrival of the luggage train at Until-
Miles-and at once shunted it up the siding, the accident
would tiot have hsppened, but the homobservance of this
rtd, did not directly lead up to the collision of the goods
train with the mail. If due precautions had been ohserved
In the shunting after the tail end of the train 113.1 been left
Msni the line the inMsifi lenin WOUld haVe been wifely in the
aiding—not IIS specified by the company's rules ten minutes
before the mail was due, but certainly In time to have pre-
vented this great oulandly. It wonld be tor a jury to say
Whetlar those due precautions hail been observed by the
te--;ksineti. If it was their opinion that they Mut tot, and
the deaths of tins° 33 persons resulted, it would be their
ditty, however painful to their feelings, to return a verdict
ef manslaughter against Richard Williams or Robert Jones,
or both. If, on the other hand, they thought that there had
beell NO lack of earn or caution on the mat of any peram in
charge id the trains, they would return a verdict that those
peoons were killed by mi,elventure.

lteftrring to tlie oil, which lett to the saddest feature in
the di-,ter, the missessor said it was now clearly proved
that It was tetteexplo,ive in its character, not More
Itillaut-
Th:ti,le than spirits, and therefore not more dangerous of
outlying by railway companies. The evidence of Mrs. Dickens
hi refemil to at great let txt h, and whils be gave her credit
far truthfulness. and the belief hi her own mied that what
alt st•ded bad really happened. he had a difficulty in be-
n Li, ra Ale had it, it been mistaken as to the position of
from which she was, as site alleges, spttken to by
• ,',•.wllt, eteedille. he might -tay, upon the very twe-
et it t tie val fli till refused to be saved. The evi. teem
• ral of thtt nAent by the mail went to show that
tl :.re in front ,•: .t. carriages immediately upon the cii-
liii was too mt.. for a woman to stand near Bed live.
T t•ientitle evnbece showed that the dense smoke thrown
o y tne burning oil would have the effect of nuntediatt.ly
IV • ating all who were enveloped in It, and he was sure the
• NoUld he glad to have their own hopes—that the vie.
t f this terrible disaster had nut had their ,ufferings pro.
ii .1 to the extent indicated by Mrs. Dickens story—
°. ' wed by an expresEion of ejsiiiot, 05 the part of the

• :11 rowed to the quest to of locking the doors of the ear-
n uhich had is:en cousiderably deluded, the production
01 • .• locks KIVtA (1.01:i !Ile tire showed that out of titirteen
itt !ily had I looli locidsl. This he thought uas a fact
• it, in Justice to the railway company, ought to be ackuow-
le

:Is• court was then cleared in order that the jury might
or insider their verdict, :did after some explanatory remarks
Iron, the Coroner, the jury, after a consultation of four
no. retui Ilea the followsog VP:X.IIIOE
W e now imously Mid a verdict of manslaughter against
llkliard Williams. the senior hreaksman, and Robert Jones,
the junior break-iiirri, for the death of Charles Cripps,
Jvseph Priestly Edwards, and Edward °Men, awl thirty
Otis r persons unknown ; and we further find that some evi-
dr lice has been given before ins from which we are satistied
tfl it the following persons
.here follows the list of names
w. re passengers in the train, and were killed in the ace intent ;
aid that the above-named parsons were kilted on the Xinth of
At'.nist hi ti e railway accident which took plaee between
Al n•re rile awl Ilannldulas stations and we are of opinion the
i.ersoes rainy in; their death by suffocation.
• We cannot refrain from strongly censuriog the conduct
of tine Ltamblulas statiomniaster for gross dereliction of
I:KIS an the foal-observance of a rule of the company No. 6,
pu, Ito which requires that all goods trains must be
shnitted at statin nos or sidings at least ten minutes before a
pas-roger train in due.
s.

••t e regret to find how carelessly several of the company's
rti's s are enforces! ny those having the supervision of the
working of the company.
•• sir recommend that a longer time should be given to
•pick-up ' trains to go through the process of shunting, or
to ,hunt, for a passenger train to pa-s. especially on :in
incline such as that at Llandslulas That. during the process
Of shunting, points shouhl be open into a oiling behind the
bt.,11: Nall, thereby preventing runaway trucks from travel-
/11,4 down inclines 0111101111
" We are 'an islied that the doors of the carriages were not
ked 011 the platform Adt of the 11,1 i down mail en the
di-y in
" The jury prefer not giving an opinion on the evidence of
ally particular NittleFs. _

We fully endorse all the observations made by the
7e,or AV ith respect to the coroner.
he jury cannot separate without tendering their deepest
23 oq.Alty aMt the relativci and friends of the sufferers by
21. is f right ful catastrophe."
hey also expre.sed limits to the police-officers for the
ist,i,tatiee rendered II urbio the inquiry.

arcm,ed men sun., mlered, and Were admitted to bail—
II £OO and to 0 sureties in c5O each, on each of
tiodings contained in the verdict.

I :.itori the jury reatsen,l dim:: on Friaay night to
Ott: iktr the formalities re.tuired, the C.llowing
• .enilix was umde by them, to their verdict, and
was announced to the coroner by Mr. Watts,
do foreman
We, the jurors in tlik most important, and, we may say,
int ii dial case, which, we are very thankful, is a very ex-
ec: tidnal .me, cannot part after the completion of our
bliours without expressing to the comner lair thanks under
at I lire difficulties that he has had to enctounter, which might
re-dly have overwhelmed more experienced men We have
Intewn the coroner for the last twenty years, and his ability
ar6 integrity is it well knot, , and in the {invent Moony
bit rtsi_ht, great 1.,1 I carance, jud tirient, and determination
• I.een most eleatly shown, and he really deserves the
tl :mks tithe public as well as the fury. We also beg to re-
ef d our opinion that the medical gentlemen employed for
th post-mortem examination dhplayed great profe,sinnal
at iii under the ab,e tiirection of our coroner." Signed by
tht foreman and all the jury.

Abergeie, on Saturday, a summons for manslaughter
wat- ea.:nth-II by the macistiates, on the application of 31r.
l! wards %%oosi, against the IJanddulas station-niaster, and
sheiiar summonses were also afterwards applicd for against
it, two israkesmen.