The Express.
London, England, 1847-07-13 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORFOLK CIRCUIT.—BUCKINOIIiatt JULY 10.
CROWN OMIT. —Before Mr. Baron Aklenr.c.
_

THE AcCineiriiWiii;titiirOti.—ile;n7a;:siPossev was
indicted for the manslaughter of John Lambert Cliftim, at
Wolverton, on the sth of June. The prisoner, who is an in•
telligent-looking young man, was 'leo arraigned on the coro-
ner's inquisition for the manslaughter of six other persons.
Mr. O'Malley and Mr. Pewee appeared for the prosecution ;
and Mr. Prendergast for the defence. The charge against
the prisoner was, in substance, that the death of Mr.
Clifton was caused by the negligence of the prisoner. By
the examination, the following circumstances were elicited
On the night of June 5, the night mail train for Liverpool,
consisting, on the whole, of nineteen carriages, left Belton-
square at 54 minutes past 8, instead of 45 minutes past 8,
and proceeded towards Wolverton. At Tring it was still
behind its time, but between Tring and Wolverton the lost
time was made up. At a diatatme of about eleven hundred
yards on the London side of the Wolverton station there is a
stone bridge, called the Blue bridge. On a bank at the side
of this bridge there are two signal posts, twenty yards apart,
and a police constable in the service of the company is
always stationed there, when trains are expected. On the
line -beneath there is a " point," or mechanism regulated
by an iron handle, for bringing certain subsidiary rails,
called " sidings," into connection with the main line, and
diverting train, if neceosary, from the main line into one of
the aide lines at the station. The duty of the constable at the
bridge is to permit a passenger train, which only and always
has a white light in front, and lights in the carriages, to go
down the main line and not on to the sidings, and, if all as
right, to show signal lighta, namely, a white light turned to
the train and a green light to the station. If there is that
degree of danger which calla for caution, a green light is
turned to the train ' • and if the danger is such as to make it
necessary that the train be stopped, a red light is turned
towards it. A luggage train has always • green light in
front, and no lights in the carriages; and it is the duty of
the constable at the signal post to divert it on to the siding,
and in that operation he must hold the handle at the point,
and keep the mechanism at work until the whole of the
train has passed on to the aiding. When the train on the
night of the sth of June was about three-quarters of * mile
from Wolverton, p white light wa4diaPlaYetl at the ettuel

post ; at a distance of 240 yards the steam was let off, and at
a distance of about 100 yards the driver of the engine saw
the person at the signal post run down towards the handle
of the point, displaying • green light. He immediately
sounded the whistle and the breaks were put on; at the
the train turned on to the siding, and he then 7-
Jundek his
hard. Between the point at the bno
the station,hut nearer
Pe!de hold the breaks
whiled. violently Ill• notice to the
to the latter, there is en Tte'ldte,liate point, from which the
tuna of the person at ...Le bridge ought to be answered.
ntil it is answered from the intermediate point the green
light ought to tehmin displayed by the man at the bridge.
If a signal of danger is made, a red light ought to be shown
to the train ; if so answer is made the person at the bridge
would, so it appeared, in answer to the learned judge, be
+=provided with instructions how to act. On the night of
the sth of June the person who ought to have been at this
intermediate point was engaged at the other side of the line,
turning an engine into a siding, and Fouty's signal was not
answered at the intermediate point, but was acted on at the
station. After the mail train had got into the siding the
driver reversed the engine, but, partly from the impetus
given and partly from the slipperiness of the rails, caused by
the rain, the train proceeded, and drove against some coal-
waggens, which were placed en the siding. The effect was
to drive the carriages back on one another, and the fourth
carriage from the engine mounting up against the fifth, drove
it in, and forcing the ten passengers in the fifth carriage into
its last compartment,there crushed seven persons to death. The
accident having taken place, Inspector Smith went to speak
with the prisoner upon it, and found him about 150 yards on
the London side of the blue bridge. On being asked by Mr.
Smith why he had turned the train into the siding, the pri-
soner said that his watch had deceived him. He had been
sent to the spot where he was to stop another train--not a
passenger-train, and was quite sober. Mr. Smith told him
to consider himself in his custody. The prisoner then asked
whether any lives were lost, and on being told by Mr.
Smith that he did not know, !raid, Well, if no lives are
lest you may transport me as soon as you like ; send me out
of the country at once—that is just what I want." He
afterwards said that he bad not made any signal to
the guard, as it would have been of no use, and also
that he had thought that the train was a goods-trait,
fur the lights deceived him. On arriving at the eta-
! tion the prisoner's watch was compared with the station
clock, and found to be four minutes slower. In answer to
the learned judge, it was said by Mr. M'Connell, the super-
intendent of the locomotive department, that it was a ques-
tion whether the plan, adopted by other companies, of re-
versing the points, and preventing a train from getting on
to sidings without shifting, was, en the whole, safer than
that adopted by the North Western Railway Company. Mr.
Callon, the father, bad recognised the body of the deceased
as that of his son, and spoke to his name. In cross-examina-
tion it was elicited, that immediately after the accident the
prisoner put up a red light to warn off the York train, and
was a very careful man ; that the lights sometimes go out ;
that at the end of a goods' train there is a purple light on
either side; that at the end of this particular train there was a
Post-office carriage with a side light, the binder side of
which is crimson ; that the line in advancing to the blue
bridge from London describes a long curve, of which, how-
ever, the convex side only is visible from the signal-poet, and
not before it is within a distance of 200 yards ; and that the
train which had gone by from London last before the accident
had been a geode train.—For the defence it was contended that
while there was no evidence that the prisoner had actually
moved the points, it was probable that, es the last train pre-
viously bad been a goods-train, he had not moved them;
that the defendant had at first recognised the mail train, but
had subsequently confounded the Pest-office light with the
purple light of a goods-train ; that he had probably been
flurried by the delay in answering the signal ; that he had
acted with great presence of mind in keeping the points at
work after the train had gone on the sidings, and so pre-
venting one part of the train being on one set of rails while
the remeinder was on another; that he had put up the red
light to warn the York train ; that a good character for
sobriety and caution had been given to him; that more
breaks might have been put on ; and that there ought to
have been &second officer attbe blue-bridge signal post. —Mr.
Baron Alderson told the jury that the only question was
whether the prisoner had through carelessness and negli-
gence turned the train into the sidings. That he had turned
it into the sidings was clear from his own admission. Could
be then, except by care:essness end negligence, have done
so? Ile knew his duty; he had been exercised in it; and,
the distinction between the lights was sufficient to have ena-
bled him to make out what his duty was. The light diffused
round the train by the lamps in the carriages would alone
suffice to show that the train was not one for goods. It wee
evident that the prisoner expected a mail train, awl
that no goods-train was due at that time. The jury
returned a verdict of Guilty, and intimated their opinion
that the company were to blame for not keeping
two men at the posts. The learned judge then
expressed bin opinion that the prisoner had been most pro-
perly convicted ; and, though a good character had been
given him, that could not operate to avert a severe sentence
m such a case. The prisoner ought to have waited until his
signal was answered, and have distinguished between a
goods-train and a passenger train, and have exercised more
caution in changing the direction of a train which he bad at
first recognised as a mail train. If he had bad too much to
do, be ought to have refused the duties imposed on him. The
sentence of the court was, that he be imprisoned and kept to
hard labour for the term of two years.