The Express.
London, England, 1860-11-23 00:00:00

THE ACCIDENT ON THE mum VALLEY

RAILWAY.

THOWIDAL

=he wasseralslisg et the jury this morning,
=messes, of 14olvertos, lasousetive travelling
impel**. proehmsd aphs. abewingths akar, between tbe
at
006 411 urea ath the swam at cad star Atherstoos
stioth veld— Ths mail signal on lig up line ma, I
think, be mesa far tbrse•quartsrs of • I have looted
far it at a pester dielmace, but ham net boss OM is
I relay As the light, sad not to the igyintair When
velliag es • fast tram the auxiliary ath are;
men &boot the mane time. The bin
ths point where the eoliths Mak piss Is Mi '
aid at arimac• from the asslimay to Um main
afprl 111 pore. It the airier, of the mall train had sass
when he was threesparters of a mils MI
thin wth sathcient time to stop the train, even if it we.
gobs at this late of 46 mike ate hour. It is more dam& to
stop whim the mils aro slipper The limited mall was wet
a Navy Vain, and it meld have bees stopped in thrth
quarters of a mile. It is twitter of opinion wbatharllss
thanes' carriage was placed the safest place in the train.
Ny. the jury—What IM your opinion
Witness—lt is not in my province to give an opinion.
Coroner—You have an 011100 ; you must Caren it.
Wituess—lf I am bound t give my opinion, I should say
it is not the safest place to pat the &were auviags. It is,
I think, the mama of the North Wasters Company to put
the drovers' amsge in such a position • but I think the
0111111 OW would be one carnage removed from the tinder.
I should pot cauridar ft usoassary to a .as betimes ems
cattle and the drove& I 't With it

I.74l47theitessa wb r e enema at
not ap it mine. through the station, and I don't think the
porter at Athentate =odd toil whether such was the case
at alit. I don't think, too, the same witness could tell the
speed at which the amine was going, within 10 milts,
as it weed through the station. I consider Barker
to be a most experienced and careful driver. Bo much
depth& upon circumstance* that it is difficult for one
to say bow long the cattle train ought to hare
been coming from Tamworth to Atherstone, but Ntngg the
eireumatthoes as related, I think if the journey had
accomplished in 28, 29, or 30 reignites, the driver would
have dose his work satisfactorily aid well. If
.every cir-
thritstaace had bees in his favour, the driver might have
done the distance in 22 or 23 initit;tea. I believe the engine
attached to the cattle Main was equal to the work glees ft.
Jury—Suppaang the limited mail was travelling at the
rate of dl miles an hour, what in your judgment is the
smalleit specie in which it could be stopped?
Witter—Takinsl.7ll. to be in the condition as de-
scribed—slightly • I Wilk the train could have
been palled up in pads.
Cormisr—But if the rails were quite dry, how long?
Witacts—Then, it ought to have been done in 710 yards,
or perhaps slightly wider but it *odd have taken every pos-
sible Mort Assuming theatatement of the driver—that he
Ant saw isdkations of huger at 400 yards distance, was
true, and that be was travelling at the rile of 40 mike an
hour, the cellist°, took place in 26 seconds, and it would
have been impossible to stop the train in that time. I
have exionised the engine of the limited mail since the
accident, end, from the position of the break nut, I am
satiated when the tender was upset the break was hard es. I
lam enovlnced means had been employed to stop the mail
train. Matta could have increseed his speed very slightly,
even hai he known that a train wee behind him so
4111711kr. Wernm—l totally disagree with the witness who
lays the aria appal elm be even for a distance of. two miles.
I bare Misted lbw graaket &tame at which the weal an be
sm. smd I lad that etatemeet to be inoorrect. I could*.
it woad I* Tory good sunning for the cattle train
to so ism Tansworth to Nuneaton in 40 minutes. It would
take er low Wants. more to get on to the siding.
Ti. Wthdes might very amity have been absorbed to
alip* les 'der tea minutes ought to have been allowed
for I think the delay caused by slipplial
sh Athanteme lest likely to have cowed a
thsa train had shunted at Nut:baton. I think the
drives erareieed • wise discretion in shunting at Athar-
Mose.
By rry—l know Matta, the driver of the cattle
train, not so well as Barber. He has been a driver
since last ;he was pre *noualy • stoker. lie is well
aoqualated with the neighbourhood, and I consider him a
verygeed careful sisa, sad quite fit to have been entrusted
wt As train. I think his conduct after the aced.
diet teamed that he was a very efficient workman.
By Mr. Chattier—l should think the average speed of a
°LWe trtishaladiAll sthfildePe, would not be mote than
14 et IS ea loam
IT Mr. Wanes—lt is the duty of any offieer to mark
a driver for not whistling if it was his dot whistle ; bat
I think Berber was justified in not whist • ,an e
appeared all right until the (Infer • was enddsallLl
exhibited, when he directed all his attention, asT ara
duty, to his MOLD. I do not think drivers should hare
&wreath in fellowine the rules ; but Ido not blame a
man for using • little discretion if he knows everything is
all tight. Ido act think it necessary to alarm a neighbour-
hood by opening a shrill whistle if everything is all right.
The whistle would of course indicate the approach of the
train at Athentone, bat Ido not think the man to blame
under the circumstances.

Joseph Paling, pointaman at Tamworth, deposed to his
conversation with the driver of the cattle train in reference
to his getting to NUDOI4OII. He believed there was plenty
of time to get there before the arrival of the mail.
Wiesess was cross-mamined by Matte, the driver, and in
reply to question said—You were on the engine when I
spoke to you, and I am sure you said you could get on to
Nuneaton, and that I pulled out my watch and told you
what time it was. _ _

Jabm ]Latta, be' re-sworo, said—l will swear it wu 35
minuteariSe when I left the station by the Tamworth
clock. • never asked me whether I could get to Nun-
eaton. I no conversation with him at all as I was
leaving, and Atherstone was never mentioned to me at
Tamworth. The only conversation I had with Paling was
respecting the egad. Witness having repeated his evidence
ais to the slippery state of the rails, sald—l know the sig-
nals, and 1 don't think they can be seen for more than
three-quarters of a mile. The auxiliary can be seen first,
about a quarter of a mile before the main signal is seen. I
daisy that either of the signals can be seen for a distance of
two miles.

- Henry Meakin re-called.
Coroner—You stated padeedey that you had seen the
Enna signal for two miles, do you still adhere to that
statement!
Witness—l sat sorry to say I made a mistake ; I meant
one mile or more, instead of two miles or more.
Cormier—When did you dinovor your error?
Withers—UM night, when I re.conaidered it.
By Mr. Warran—l was wrong in what I stated yesterday.
William Tickler—l have been a driver in the employ of
tirlizzany for six mouths and fireman for six months
y. Before that I was seven years fireman on the
earth Eastern. I joined the Liverpool mail at Stafford at
12.50 on Friday morons last. I stopped at Lichfield at
1.30 and shunted for the limited mail to pass. After that
I went on to Tamworth, where I arrived about 2 o'clock.
We took in water sad oiled the engine, and left maim is
about six or seven minutes, and upon getting to Atherstooe
we were of course stopped, the accident haying previously
occurred. The inclines between Starred and Atha/stone
were vary slippery. The main signal at Athenians can be
seen for about- half a mile, and the auxiliary three -quieten.
When I passed the auxiliary signal there was no light in it.
That was at 2.19, as near as possible—about nine minutes
after the accident. I was looking for the auxiliary signal.
When I first sew the main signal we were travelling at the
rate of fib mils an hour, sad we pulled up in about half a
mile. I had to rehire to Unearth, and oa my way bade I
stood at the auxiliary signal for nearly two boors, sad
dunog the whole of that time there was no light in it. I
am quite certain of that.
Thomas Cole, inspector of police on the railway, wee
mat called, and dammed to having seen the auxiliary signal
lamed on red, and also the main signal. He was certain
the auxiliary signal woe alight. It wee his special duty to
look after signals at ell times.
By Mr. Warren—lt is the custom to put the Biped lights
out in the morning when it is light enough to see without,
and take the lamps to be trimmed. I &el think the
auxiliary, when lighted, could be tuned in such a way that
the light would be totally obscured. Tickler is wrong when
be says the auxiliary was not alight.
George Tebbutt, incline breeksman at Tarnworth. CORO-
borated ILA witness's evidence as to the auxiliary signal
being lighted at the time referred to.
The jury then adjourned for ao hour, and upon their
assembiincgg,~
Mr. Robinson it °uoed that he had made en error in
his evidence, and that instead of the distance between the
main and the auxiliary signals being 366 yard, it was 4341
rude.
William Hart, guard of the tram driven by Tinkle?,
deposed that upon reaching Atherstom be sew the main
sepal turned= red, but he did not mane the auxiliary stall.

Thomas Watson, the lawman of like same train, gave
similar evidence se to the main signal, but swore he saw the
auxiliary signal, and that there was no light at all In it. Re
made a remark to hie mate to the effect that the light wee
oat, and the light am still out w►en he went hog to
Teroworth.

Edward (lorgrose, station-master at Atlieretont. rid hit
knew the signal' were lighted at a quarter poet 4 to the
afternoon, and nothing was reported to him about the Ughte
going out..
Kinnard Evans produced the lamp used in the auxiliary
mined, and said he took it dews on Friday morning between
11 and 12 o'clock. The oil was not exhausted, but the light
had gone out because the oil could not penetrate through
the wick. A quantity of oil wan left in the lamp, bat wit-
new could not say what proportion it bore to the whole thU
was put into it—perhaps about muthircL It was not an
unusual circumstance for lamps to go out after
certain burnuzia
time. Witness knew of two °minions—frostyla