The Express.
London, England, 1868-08-29 00:00:00

_
THE OREAT BAILIV-4X;4.0014ENT.

•
ASHOGELe.. FRIDAY.
This morning, on the mime of the jury • being called
•-•ye.
' lir. Littler, who appears on behalf of the Loniimv and
'.4forth Weston, Gnmponyy raid he wkihed to remark, with
rapped en tbe mjdence given by Mn'. Mekene last titght,
le should be able to' rthovi mo,t decisively that it wail
*hay without foundation, and--
lXr. Wood—l object to tbe learnedscounsol thing any
Sweli statement about the evidence of an inspOrtant

witee s.
Mr. I ittler- I shall be able to thaw, sir, by more than
lemi n testimony that what Mrs. Bickel?, has stated
could not possibly have occurred.
Mr. Wool applied for 81101110001,01 for tieveral witnesses.
'whit he said, *mild be able to eorreberate the testimony
-of Mrs. Dickens. After a brief istseval, Mr. .Wood
4.liiffilig again, said,--Mr. Coroner. *Ay Mk YOU t•SilP0‘0011i1
jetrt4l3loo of the ,not, to .neblieli the statensent
by r. 'Littler b l the other aide has beat heard
The AIOPAPOT—Ar. nod, has the ea: queer the power of
ecinhaffing the gentlemen of the press
If*. Wood sat Amen.
'Mann; witness, awed Was Mr. James Lond,,of Sleek-
burn. who aatisfeM•mPy identified articles of property
&cued in the difbets of the train which had belonged to
Lie brother, Mr. Towpand Lund.
Mr. Robert Parkineon, also of Blackburn, identified
• giog totem, of his brothers, who travelled
=tater in the 1,0411
Mr. Barton, solicitor, of Manchester, pre.ved that be
sect the Messrs. Parkinson and Mr. Lund in Cheater
station. They told him they were proceeding by the
Iri,h mail to Ireland, to spend a few days at Killarney.
W. Roberts, a labourer..living_ near Ilandulae, said—
Between 12 and 1 o'idook on Thursday the day of the
accident. I was at my Louse. I saw the int set of trucks,
with the break-van attached. going down the incline
towards Abergele. There was another est of troche
behind them. They were not a hundred yards behind. I
ran to try and put the break on, but wen not in time. This
witness then proceeded to describe the effect of the col-
lision in terms which do not differ from those of the
previous witnesses.
Mr. Unack Townsend, of Limerick, one of the wit-
eaves telegraphed for yesterday, said—l was a passenger
by the Irish mail from Cheater on Thursday. I took my
seat in the carriage behind the mail van. I eat
with my back towards the engine, . near the land
side of the railway. My snter-in-law sat next
to me. Just before the collision I was leaning
• over to ray brother drawing his attention to a ship
en the water. The collision took place at the moment,
and I was thrown against a lady who eat in the centre
seat of the compartment. The side of my faoe and head
was thrown against the partition between the two seats.
I then sat back in my seat, expecting that the train would
.go on. My iIOFOIOOIOII at the time was that the collision
was very insignificant. I looked out of the carriage win-
dow, and I saw, I think at the distance of four or flee
earriages in front, lire and smoke. The door was nn-
-1 looked, and we got out with the two ladies. At the time
of the collision I heard no report or explosion of any
. kind. I heard a grating noise, but not much. When I
looked out of the window I saw a number of heads out
of the windows in the front part of the train, but
I heard no cry or shriek. I heard some one say
What u it P" or, " What is the matter P" but that was
all. lam sure those voices tame from the front, We
put the ladies of our party in safety. I returned along
the south side of the train, and heard the guard of the
mail train cry for help. I remember taking hold of a
mail bag and dragging it along. The carriages in front
. of the first mail van were on fire. At this time lam cer-
tain there was not the slightest sound from these car-
riages. I made an endeavour to uncouple the carriages
behind the last mail van. The engine-driver his face
coven d with blood, came up and assisted me. We then
shoved the carriages back from the mail van. I next
found myself between the burning mail van and the one
which was not burnt. I was unable to loosen
the coupling chains, and I went to the north
side and hunted for a stone. About six or
eight yards off, I saw an empty barrel that bad con-
tained petroleum. A few minutes after I saw the Marquis
of Hamilton up the line. He was faint, and I asked him
to lean on my arm. I led him up to a tree, where he sat
down, and I gave hint some brandy and loosened his
cravat. Eventually a railway official came up to us, and
informed us that a train was ready to take us back to
Abergele. At this time we had not the slightest ides
that a single life had been lost. We heard that the stoker
was missing, but that is all. My impression at the time
of the collision was that the train went on a little after
the shock.
By Mr. Wood—The wind was blowing from the sea
obliquely in the direction we were going. It would carry
the smoke chiefly to the platform side. There was less
smoke and flame on the aide where the six-foot was than
on the other. There was, however, so much that I could
not see through it. This was at the time when I went to
look for the stone, and whilst the man was cutting the
Wraps of the Post-ofilte van. I was not aware that there
was a passenger carriage in front of the Poet-office van. I
thought the fire proceeded from a goods waggon and the
engine. When I picked up the stone on the seaside of the
train there was certainly no living human being in front
of me. -

Mr. Joseph HMO, of Dublin, a passenger by the mail,
on Thursday, was next sworn. Before he was examined,
Mr. Littler said that it would be for the convenience of
the court if he stated what the construction of the train
was. It we. made up in the following order :—The loco•
motive, tender, guard's van, a composite carriage, a first-
class carnage, another first-class, a second-class carriage
partly filled with luggage, the mail Post-office van, the
mail tender, a parcel van, a first-class carriage, a cons-
r,osite carriage, a second and a third, and guard's van.
Smith, the deceased, was in the front guard's van, and
Minton in the rear. _ _ _

At this stage of the proceedings the court adjourned for
half an Lour.

45nthere:Msembling of the court,
The foreman of the jury said he was instructed to say
on behalf of the jury that they considered they had
enough evidence with reference to the effects of the acci-
dent, and they would be glad to proceed with the exami-
nation of witnesses who spoke as to the starting of the
trains.

Mr. Waod said he should like to call a witness who was
upon the 'Tot two minutes after the accident. This
was agreed to, and Sarah Ann Houghton was called. The
witness said she was staying with a friend living near the
scene of the accident. She was present on the spot
within two minutes of the occurrence of the accident

By Mr. Wood—l had to look down on the scene of the
lire from tho top of the bank. I saw the engine on its
side, and the tender thrown across the line. One carriage
was on fire, and the second was partially in flames. I saw
the passeugers in the carriages. I saw Mrs. Dickens
standing in the six footway. She was asking the people
in one of the carriages to come out. She was 'poetizing to
the passengers in a carriage next to the one which was
on fire.

By Mr. Littler—l was standing on the bank when
I saw the fire. I stayed there about a hour. The wind
was blowing towards me. I was about a dozen yards
away. I was standing opposite the carriages that were
not burnt. lam sure I saw Mn.. Dickens speaking to
some one in a carriage that was on fire.
Mr. Wood—Mr. Assessor, may 1 ask you whether you
are a shareholder in the London and North Western
Railway Company P
The Assessor.—l am not. lam surprised you should
have thought it necessary to have asked such a question.
4,5-nild not have sat in this court if I had been a share-
holder._ _ - . _ _ .

The Coroner—Eefore I obtained Mr. Egerton's assist-
ance I ascertained that he was not a shareholder.
Mr. Wood—The Question has been asked.
The Assessor—Then you should have exercised your
discretion before you put it,
Mr. Littler—Prom my knowledge of the profession, I
think, sir, that the gentleman who put the question is the
only one in the profession who would have done so.
Mr. Galbraith—The legal gentlemen who appear in this
ease, sir, are, with the exception of the gentleman who
asked the question, perfectly satisfied with your conduct
of it.

Richard Swift, coachman in the service of Mr. Ferrel,
of Ellesmere Shropehire—On Thursday, the day of the
accident, he drove his master to Wres I„mto catch the
train to meet the Irish mail at Chester.
George Reed, a_ porter at Chaster station, proved to
have assisted Mr. Ferrel into the Irish mail at Chester,
ticketing his luggage for Dublin.
Mr. Littler, solicitor, Ellesmere, identified amongst the
articles of personal property found in the debris of the
train a watch which had been worn by Mr. Ferrel.
Alfred Lars said—l was driver of the goods train cm
Thursday. I have driven it for the last two years. I
start from Crewe and make the first stoppage at Chester.
lam due out of Cheater at 7 n.m. The number of my
train in the company's table is 10. The terminus of the
train is Bangor. On Thursday last I left Chester at 10
o'clock. I have no book in which to enter the time of
departure. The breaksiniaa does that. The other men
with me in charge of the train were the fireman, Thomas
Davies, and two breakamen, Joseph White and Robert
Jones. At Rhyt, Richard Williams took White's=
We had no paraffin that I am aware of when we
from Chester. We took up two waggons at St. David's
works, Seltley, near Cheater. The waggons contained
barrels with some sort of oil in I 'appose. The waggons
were placed in the rear of the train, just before the
break van. At Abergele station the train was a long
one. I believe we had 47 waggons, some empty and
some loaded. We arrived at Abergele about five or six
minutes to 12, and left at from eight to ten minutes post 12.
Our time for leaving Abergels according to the table was
12.15 so we left a little before our time. The train is
called the "_ pick-up train." We are tuned to shunt
our train at Llandulas. As a rale we shunt at Llandulas,
sinless there is a doubt as to whether we have time. If
there is a doubt we shunt into Abergele, or even at Rhyl.
On the day of the accident we intended to shunt at
Ltandulas, at off This
We had waggons to pick
up and to east off. This siding is under the control of
Samuel Eaton, station master at Llandulas, whose duty
it is to work the signals. Sometimes he orders his son
to work the signals. To the best of my knowledge it
was the station-master who worked the signals on the
day of the ueettleut, but I cannot ',peak poaitively on this
point. The signals wore put up to danger a, .non as I
arrived. nil} MILS to prevent uny thing eke C0111:114 up.
',hunted a pott.ou of the waggon, into Llidaru siding,