The Express.
London, England, 1863-02-17 00:00:00

EDWARDS V. THIS 1011,11 ETA

: ILILWAT oo:PAAT•

This was as action brought by Shoplift:tiff by his sat
friend, his father, to recover computation dames@ far
injury sustained through tits alleged Negligence al tin de-
fendant.? servants... .

Mr. Ribtonmad Mr. Mr. Ed. Bailey wire counsel for the Ai••
tiff • Mr. Serjeant Pigott and Mr. Henry James far the de.

The aiutiff's case was that when travelling withhie wife
sod child from Burulem to Leek, the train got off the line
in the Harecastio TunneL The &Ed was mach frighteued,
and screened violently, and the mother, to provost injury
to the child from the cerillatice or ro® of the cerriegee,
pressed it lightly to her bosom. The ohild, when taken from
the carnage and conveyed to a surgeon's, wee ineensible,
and remained so for 12 hours. The child bad since become
an idiot, which it was alleged was the result of the accident.
The defendants denied It was as accident over
which they had no coo and were not liable. The child,
it was further alleged, wee weak, and was coostitutiornally
predisposed to the disease from which be now suffered, aad
that any injury resalting from the accident was too remote
to be the subject of
Evidence was thisdnai= celled for the defence. The
saline driver was called. He stated that he had been an
engine driver for 17 years, 14 of which he bad driven
through the Harecastle tunneL The express speed was 36
miles an boor. At the time of the accident be was driving
at the rate of 26 or 30 miles an hour, and had slackened
speed before entering the tunnel. He could not account for
the train leaving the line. The engine and tender did not
leave the line. If late at one station they were not allowed
to "fetch up" lost time. This was the first accident that
had happened to him in this tunneL
Other amide s°, we. called to show that the permanent
way was in • perfect date. The engine was only injured in
• manner likely to malt from getting off the line.
To prove the normal state of the child Mr. Brady, a =-
goon, was called. He attended the child some time blare
the accident from an ordinary fit of convulsion from over-
eating. He only saw the child once. A fit from
was neither an ordinary nor an extraordinary=l
things. He could not swear that it showed • predisposition
to disease.

Evidence was also called to prove that the mother said,
after the accident, that the child had bad aet befogs, and
that be was of •
awsalciloonatitotioo.
The station-mairter . Arnold) deposed that the mother
told him after the : • t that the child bad had eta before.
Dusts; the list tan years there bad been thine similar acci-
dents in the Harecastle TunneL Ia ate of them a plata.
Jaya was killed. but it was his own fault. There is a canal
under the Woad.

Mr. Ribto;—Don't you know that the roof of the cam/
over which the line is laid is 70 years old ! (Laughter.)
Mr. Justice Blackburn—How oan he! (The wituees looked
about 40 years of age.) Doss he look like an old niaa mon
thee 70 yean of age f (Laughter.)
Mr. itibtosi—Well. Whip. not. And I bad better not
purses that part of the sees. (Laughter.)
Yr. Alfred EMMA mimeos, Upper Berkeley-street. Hyde-
park, district surgeon for Maryisbone, maw the child in
January, 1862. At that time it was recovering from fits.
He had no recollection that thents attributed the fits
to the accident. He maw the childpareagain in June last. The
child's state arose from coestitutiooal causes. The child

was delicate, and there was • want of tone in the systenT.
It was impossible that the iejury could hare resulted from
the mother's musing the chikl to her bosom to protect it
from the shaking and rocking of the carriers. A child's
heed was very pliable, and • child had been known to fall
on the heed from • window 20 feet high without anything
serious resulting from it.
The jury, after having been locked up, found • verdict
for the defendants, on the ground that there was no negli-
gence, but trusted that they would compensate the child,