The Express.
London, England, 1850-12-24 00:00:00

THE LATE FATAL SEWER ACCIDENT.

In itemidahoe with the edicntroment of last week
the inquest is this 611011 MS renused et 2 o'clock yesterday
altersoos, shi.ly far the pupae of seeertataiag the rent
efitbe ierpriry whisk bed beau loatitutad by the weals-
idiom of sower, as the Olitlatt, Mr. &Mud, was ialeraud
111 ahe revises aittlag.
Ile. Parry, the barriner, otlemded for Messrs. Neoplasm
send Thirst, sad Ulan the pressediage sommessed he .b.
Mud that, although the ease was eatirely cum of steident,
the gestiseesa wheat he represtated had already done all
aid they Mil be espeeted te de is rafetesee to It, and they
MN NNW lialbers le thek original lowed= ef meld-
Ise lb the ellieWs end eighths.
1 401•idi0al II a ir a • iir is MI in aseseq•sant of the saw
I enema el the legteil if the siebleilehoen' Ilr. Freak Yew
Ise. *Mt &id aseloser, herttne eamed that it had balsam%
'to the law statiesee's to be espied. trident*, willing
waking fer it, Mr. Forster, who drew it up, was sumfiersa,
Agar ellethag that he was a civil sad Asian( esthete, ha
eshesed te the plans which bad been previously la,d before
the met, sad pointed oat ne relative podia's of the
math Me *aid be had inspected the works several times
Mole the amides?. The part el the sewer betimes the desk
, eil width the aseldeat occurred aid Parliament.squal We.
Amdahl by two small engines and a hand-pump, and la
IMAM to bastes the *peeing of Pasliamenustnet to the
OAK Its •11 drefat and sewer. in Paliamentetrest
IMMO imeleved, and the hum drainage takes ism
ais sew sewer, the osasequace Lem( that these
ewe Mobies sad the pump had more work to do. One
d tie doled %MA being worked oat, and the low
elf MOM Illesemelemei dee other. Ile. Ethespireys bad ia-
Orme Met doe to big anxiety to forward the work he
speed with Ms pietas, and their farrow that a small
heath, sltheld lee driven between the two blocked op sad.
el the .sear for the purpose of couneeting the water logged
part of Or ewer, the portion between the dock and Par is-
' =summer% with the engine at Percy-wharf. The operation
'of the leseeng was carried forward without his (witness's)
knurled" and, aster as he could learn, without the know-
ledge el soy officer of the otriamission. It was *eldest to
hint grim on lospecti, that the earth between. the small
heading OM the bottom of the dock broke la with the
weight er)he tidal water when the tide was is, what ha t
come late tho sewer sad ehaather being a Waste
of tough clay and wad. (A trainee of the with
sod of the dock was here prodosed ) Year feet'
of such soil wee net suerient to carry toe Net of
water. It was not impervious to water. If ha had known
1 that that, or anything like It, was the nature of tha earth he
would not have ventured to drive • drift through. The
drift was, he believed, wry slowly timbered, and the mss
I had taken gnat prnautioss. It was set improper to teasel
I with a small quantity of water &ben, if tie objets was ha
portant. Ile ought to ewe that this Eurasian was no pert
of the osatrath—sothleg for whisk Haters. Elasaphreys and
Thirst would be paid—nut both that sewer and the other sae
were intended to be famed by as open cutting. This was
an expedient to get rid oldie water. Having inspected the
works he was of °piston that it was the weight of the alai
water that caused the accident. it wee possible that the
excavators had gone higher in some plows than they sboeltl
have done, eo se to thin the crust. To. making of this tuis
nil, though not indispensable, would certainly expedite the
work: it was the easiest way of getting rid of the water
in that portion of the sewer. Thera was no means of
previously asoirmining the asters of the earth, exespt by
dtgigiau down. The weight of 10 feet of water was 6 lbs.
to the square inch, or 724 lbs. to the square foot. If he had
sot seen the earth, be would have paused before driving a
drift with 10 feet of water over; and he would not have
driven one under that duck unless the bed were exceedingly
strong marl, or some such earth as did not occur, so far as
he bedsits, in the City of London.
The Coroner, in addressing the jury, said it appeared
to his that Mr. Forster's evidence, with respect to the
bottom of the dock, was of great importance. The jury
would have to say whether then pose men met their death
by inhadves•ars or through the gross culpable negligence of
gay party. If they considered that there hail been greu
culpable negligence they would have to say by igtom,_and
that would be a most difficult question to deterenin.. They
must neve become perlectly satisfied as to the immediate
cause of death, and equally so that Mean. Wheeler sad
Perrott had thentrivi a no hesitation in entering the drift.
la oinclastoe, he would observe that thin was a medium
tonne open to them—they might say that there had hoot a
want of precaution, but that on whose part it was there had
been no sufficient evidence to show.
The jury then retired. After en absence of about three.
quarter. of an hour they returned, when the foremen
delivered their written verdict as follows :—" Accidental
death by drowsing : and the jury cannot separate without
ex/mosaics their opinion that great negligence is attributable
to Messrs. Humphreys and Thirst, and their fore men,blerisre.
Wheeler and Perron, in not ennsuling the engineer mop
',cud with tha Victoria sewer."
The Coroner—Tour verdict is " Accidental death." If
yna mesa there was some neglect which calmed the lives of
these pries to be 'satiated, that amounts to manslaughter.
The Foreman—No, ee don't go quits eo far as that; but
we could not e,p without procoancing tee opinion we
have done.
TM' terminated the icirairy.

COLLIERY ACCIDENT.-LOSS OF