The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

DISTRESSING DEATH OF A LIVERPOOL
GENTLEMAN IN IRELAND.
INQUEST ON THE BODY.

In our paper of yesterday we gave the particulars of the
melancholy and fatal accident which befel Mr. Thomas
Naylor, of this town, commercial traveller to Messrs. Binks
and Co. whilst proceeding from the. Dunkitt Railway Sta-
ion to Waterford in a coach, on Monday evening last. Mr.
Naylor was inside the coach along with Mr. Nerwich, a
jeweller, of Dublin, and Mr. and Mrs. Barrow and their
son. The night was very dark, and the road was covered
with water to the depth of from four to five feet. Whilst
proceeding on their journey one of the wheels got off the
road, and upset the vehicle into the ditch, by which Mr.
Naylor and the driver were drowned, but the other parties
escaped by getting through' the window.
The following was the. evidence given at the inquest on
the body of Mr. Naylor, which was held at Waterford on
Tuesday evening :
Mr. Norwich, from Dublin, a jeweller, was the first
witness examined—He deposed that he left the station about
half-past eight o'clock. with one outside and five inside
passengers ; the night was very dark ; witness observed the
coach to move unusually slow, looked out, and saw a com-
plete sheet of water on both sides of the road; they were
coming from Donicitt to Waterford from Kilkenny; called
to the coachman to stop, who took no notice, but drove on;
about ten yards farther on they stopped.
A Juror—Did you think the coachman understood you
when you called on him to stop ?
Witness—l am sure he did; when the coach was upset
the deceased (Mr. Naylor) was next the coach door upper-
most ; a young man broke a pane of glass in the carriage
door, and got out first, then Mr. Barron got out ; after-
wards deponent, who also assisted Mrs. Barron to get out ;
they had nothing to hold on by when they got outside but
the rails of the carriage ; witness had a pole stretched to
him and escaped to land; Mrs. Barron was trying to get
out at this time, with assistance of deponent and her son,
but was unable by reason of weakness ; thinks Mr. Naylor
must have been dead before them; Mr. Naylor was at the
part of the coach through which deponent and the others
got out ; thinks if he had self-possession he could have got
out second, or even first ; when deponent got out he called
out lustily for aid; the horses were attached to the coach at
the time ' • on seeing the driver engaged in detaching them,
deponentbegged of him for " God's sake" not to take them
away, but the driver heeded him not ; never saw him after ;
his name was Cummins.

A juror—When you got out of the carriage was it into
water you got ? _ _

Yes ; there was water on the road, in the field, and each
side of road ; wherever you looked it was one waving
sheet of water ; after some time, say a few minutes, heard
shouting from the direction of Granny ; saw two men on the
road, who told them to remain quiet and they would save
them; the men cried out "is there a lady, or any female
that we can save ?" Mrs. Barron's son and I then tried to
get her out ; she clung to the hind wheel of the coach, and
deponent with difficulty prevailed on her to trust herself to
the men who came to their assistance, and she was saved.
A Juror—Could you observe the plantation from where
the coach was upset ?
Witness—l could distinguish nothing ; the water waved
and swelled and dashed as far as I could see ; the night was
exceedingly dark, and I could see nothing but water, or hear
nothing but the moaning blast.
Foreman—lf there were fences at each side of the road,
would such a guard protect the driver from such a catas-
trophe ?
Witness—lt is my opinion that it would.
Mr. Kerr deposed that a wall, which had served both for a
fence and land-mark, had 'been taken down, and that the ma-
terials had been used for repairing the road, and that the
wall had not been rebuilt, nor anything substituted in its
stead.

Timothy O'Connor, traveller, of Maryborough and Water-
ford, sworn—There is no fence or land-mark on either side
of the road where the accident happened ; deporwnt is in the
habit of travelling that way : on deponent's last journey
(about a month since) an impenetrable fog set in before they
came to Granny bridge ' • the coachman got down and led the
horses, and but for great caution, in the absence of anything
to mark their way, they would have been lost that night.
Laurence Doolan, a watchman, sworn—Has been five or
six years in his present occupation ; on Monday night he; was
on duty as watchman in the vicinity of Granny Bridge ;
could not stop on the low ground by reason of the rising
water, was obliged to take the high road above the bridge ;
was stationed there when he heard shouts from the direction
of Newrath ; it was then about nine o'clock ; made towards
the place where he heard the shouting; forced another per-
son named Connolly, whom he met, to go along with him;
when advanced about three perches in the water with which
the road was flooded encountered a man whom he knew to
be a clerk in Mr. Draper's (late Strang's) mill ; this person
told him that all on the coach were drowned ; deponent was
at this time up to his knees in water, on the road ; witness's
comrade went away shouting for assistance, while witness
ploughed his way to the overturned carriage; by the time
he reached it he was up to the arm-pits in water.
A Juror—Had the coach lamps ?
Witnes.—No

Witness—Had a stick. and was obliged literally to fee
his way to the drowning people ; deponent asked was
there a lady in danger, or any female ; was answered yes
said, send her out and I'll save her or die ; an old lady was
forced out ; she clung to the wheel for nearly ten minutes,
when witness prevailed on her to throw herself into the
water, and he brought her safe to the road. . .

By a Juror—The coach was off the road, and in water
three feet deeper than it was there; there was no fence to
the road, no protection, no line, no landmark, nothing in
fact to distinguish road from river field from fence, or marsh
from solid gr6und.
Foreman—ls there' a deep gripe at each side of the road?
Witness—There is, to a depth of three or four feet, and
not a wall to protect it.
Foreman—What was the person's name who broke the
glass and got out
,? Witness— I don't know.

- [Here Mr. Kerr, who we undersand is a gentleman con-
nected with the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Company,
and who appeared deeply interested in the proceedings came
forward and said, that such a road as that from Dunkitt to
granny and Newarth was unparalleled, and that there was
not in England or Ireland a track in such constant use with-
out better protection.
The Jury, after a consultation of about twenty minutes,
returned the following