The Express.
London, England, 1865-07-27 00:00:00

JONES V. JONSEI.

Dr. Swabey for the petitioner.
She was the wife of a ahopman in the emploomeet of a
batter at Newport ; end she was married to him in DIM.
He lived with her some years. and there were gee children.
In 181;1 he told his wife to shift for bersef, end left thi
country. Proof of adultery having been given,
The court made a decree nisi, with coats.

repairs at Staplehuret, and that be had directed
the removal of some of the rails, sad while the bee
was in this imperfect condition this • estimate train
from Folkestone come up, arid in consequence of the state
of the line the train mu toppled over a bridge, into a
Gook beneath, mad a large number of pratome were
seriously injured, end eight or nice lost their lives. It
was nut secee.sary for bile to ray that upon such an asci-
dealt occurring it became the duty of the company to int--
tote the most rigid inquiry as to the cause of it, and the
result they arrived at was that the melancholy occurreum
was entirely to be attributed to the neglect of the prisooer
liege. The ems, notwithstanding Re very serious
eltaracter, appeared to him .to be .in reality a
very simple cos, They were. all aware that
there were upon the South Eastern Medlway
certain trains every day that' were galled tidal
trains, and the hour at which they started from Folkestone
depended upon the tide awl the time of the arrival of the
boat ; and the time was chaeged almost every day. It WY
°bikini under these circumstances , that it was the ditty of
every person connected with the railway, or who had any
thing to do with the repairs of the 'line, to take oars that
thereehould be no obstruction or impediment at any period
when a train was expected to come up, and to
make himself perfectly well acquainted with the
time at which a train might be expected. With
this object a variety of rules had bees framed
by the company, giving the fullest information as to
the arrival of the trains, and it appeared to him
that these rules and regulations were amply sufficient for
the purpose of preventing any accident, and that it was
entirely owing ei the prisoner having neglected to conform
to thee. regulations that this melancholy accident had
taken place ; and if be should establish this fact to their
satisfaction, it would be their duty to convict the prisoner
of the ammo of which be was accused. It appeared that
on the day in question the tidal train loft Folhestone about
half-past 2 o'clock, and was due at Heedeorm which was
the previous station to titaplehurst, at 3.15 p.m., and it
was doe at the spot when the accident happened at 3.19 ;
and it /warned that at this period, owing to the
stets of the tide, the time would be the urns
ea the Bth and 9th of June for the arrival of
the train, but on the following day the train would
not have arrived until 5.20 p.m. A book in which were
the times of the starting and arrival of the trains was given
to every person who had anything to do with the working
of tholine, in which not only the days of the month but the
days of the week were distinctly stated. This book was
given to the prisoner Bungs, and it was found in his pos.
1101111i01) when he was apprehended, and he believed there
would be no doubt that the amident arose from the pre
'goer having carelessly looked at this book, and seeing that
the tidal train lied lamed on the previous day at 3.15, be had
looked to the following column without looking st the date
or day of the 'Death, and imagined that the train would
not arrive until 5.20, and, acting upon this impression, he
ordered the work to be commenced, and so caused the
melancholy accident. The learned serjeant then read the
nth to which he had referred, awl said that as an
additional precaution for the safety of the public
this rule direct d that before any of the rails were re-
moved, or the line rendered unsafe, it was the duty of
the person engaged in such a week to seed • man up the
lute wish • signet to a distance of one thousand yards,
and that he should also place fog, or detonating signal.,
as they were termed, on the way, at
of two hundred and fifty yards. Them were probably
all the precautions that could possibly be taken for the
Prevention of accident and be should show that the prisoner
had neglected to cemply with any of them. He did not
think that the slightest doubt would trim as to the cause of
the accident or the is which it occurree, and also
that it arose from the primate having mistake's the hour at
which the tidal train would arrive, and that he expected it
would not arrive note! 5.20. He lionght it was dce to the
prisoner to state that he did not appear to have made any
attempt at concealment, and that he expressed the utmost
sorrow for the accident; bat when the number
of liven that might be endangered by neglect
of this kind was taken into consideration, and the terrible
consequence.; that must Deriessarily occur from any neglect
of duty on the pert of the persons connected with a railway,
he was sore that the jury would not allow any feeling of
sympathy to operate upon their judgment, and that if they
believed that the prissier was proved to have neglected
those precautions which the rules required him to OXPlteillil,
they would perform their duty to the public by returning a
verdict of guilty.
A number of transoms were then examined for the
prosecution, and their evidence in the main supported
the cam as it had been stated by the harried
counsel for the prosecution. A man named Wills, who was
employed as a iignalonan, stated that he went with a signal
up the line to a distance of 550 yards, for the purpose of
stopping an ape riiachieg trait) but in cross-amminatios
said that he did not do this ley the orders of the prisoner
Bone, but en his own amount. And be also stated that in
his opinion if the
.persons in charge of the "Mill bad paid
attentive to his sepal, or bad seen it, they might have,
stopped the train before it arrived at the spot when the acci-
dent happened. It also appeared that although the prisoner
Bongs was a sort of superior officer is the operation that
was going on, he was only paid a guinea • week, while those
to whom he gave the orders were paid thirty shillings per
week. A man named Crombie, who was omaged as the
driver of the inch* of the tidal train, but Who had been
disobargee sloes the seeded. admitted that he saw the
danger
signal, but he said that it was not more than a Imo-
r and fifty verde from the spot where the accident hap-
pened, and although he immediately gave a signal to
pat on the breaks, it was impoonble to bnng the
twain to a staudatill at that short . It
was elicited ;deo that when the tie' . sled the
Headcorn @Lathe the all-right signal • displayed,
irises.
and they pureed that station at the rate of :A/miles an
hour ; but it appeared that even at that pace if a signal had
bees given at a diadem:se of 1,000 yards filen the bridge the
train might have been stopped and the accident vented.
It also appease I that when the prisoner was by Mr.
Eborall, the minag.er of the railway, how th Meat hap-
pened, he replied, ' Why, to tell you the troth,
k, sir, I mis-
took the time, and looked at the Battu y train instead
of the Friday." The hook referred tom a the opening by
Serjeaut Ballantine was found in his pocket. Evident*
was also given that the prisoner had been formerly
maployed as a signsl-mac, and that be was
well aware that it was his duty to have sect a man with •
danger signal a distance of a thousand yards at any time
when he was engaged in repairing the line.
Mr. Ashcroft, the engineer of the line, said that he had
boon acquainted with the management of railways for 25
years, and that the work that was to be performed on this
occasion could have been completed in an hour, and the
line would have been perfectly side. He also expressed An
opinion that if the danger-flag had been exhibited at • dis-
tance of &id yards the engine-driver ought to
have seen it at a distance of a thousand yards further off.
if he had kept a good look out He also expressed
as opinion that at this distance the train might have been
stopped, but ho said this was a question that depended epee
the break power and the state of the line.
Mr. Ribtoo, at the close of the case for the prosecution,
submitted that there was no evidence for the jury to show
that any act of the prisoner mused the meloocholy accident
that had taken place, and that, according to the evideoce of
Mr. Ashcroft, nod some of the other witnesses, the accident
would not hay,r happened if the engine-driest bad dons his
duty and atteeded to the signal.
Baron Pigott said it was no answer to a charge like the
present to say that other persons than the one accused had
contributed to the eiral occunence. The principal point
, ageing the prisoner was that he had ordered the rails to be lid
I taken up at a time when he ought not to have done so, as-
cording to the time-table that WAS furnished to him, and
that this was the cause of the melancholy occurrence that
had taken place.
. Mr. Ribton, in the comae of a most able adhere to the
jury, said he could not deny that the railway eorcpaoy, by
the regulations they had made, appeared to have done all in
their power to endeavour to protect the public, but the ques-
tion was whether the prisoner had been guilty of a cri-
minal act which had rendered Lim amenable to •
..charge of manslaughter, and he should cookeid that all
that had been proved whist him was that he bad
by an accident made a mistake, and looked at the Satur-
day's time for the arrival of the train, Instead of Frieay's.
Re then proceeded to argue that it was clear from the em.
i : tisane, that if the signal-mats bad dime his duty is going the
distance of a thrusand yards, and if be had placed the fog
signals upon the lion. and the engine-coo bad kept a good
look-out, the accident would not have happened. The
learned counsel went on to soy thst the prisoner had a good
ground for complaining that be alone had been singled out
as a scapegoat elvtdeuce that had been given
with regard do ' t of the signal man and
AI
the eogiee.driver, e mid. as it appeared to him,
were quite as yed in the tranisction as the pri.
i toter. He licit proomede.l et colliderable length to argue
'that the accident tees just as mull to be attributed to the