The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-08 00:00:00

CORONERS' COURT.

Tux FATAL AGOIDEDIT AT. EDnE IULL STATtON.—The.
Coroner opened an inquest yeeterday, on the le.eliee of
Viseph Ford and Slith Foulkes (the litter 'died in the
infirmary), who Were killed at Edge TriesidaY, the •
facti of which we- Published On Wedtiesday:' Mr: Then,
kinsop appeared to watch the cake for the company.,
William. Wild was the. first witness examined, and said:
I am .a breaksman first
employ of the Loudon and
North, Western Railway Company for three or four
years, and knew Joseph Fora bee eight, and also Seth
,Foulkes, who were in the, employ of the coraptinf
before- I went there ; Ford was an engine driver, and
Foulkes a stoker or fi,•ealets; on Tuesday morning, at
half-past eleven I was at the E station at work on
the engine, named the Sr, Patrick ' • the engine Was on a
siding close to the station ; Ford was ,the liver of the
engine ; the deceased were sitting. Foulkes on the side of
the tender, and Ford on the reilside of the engine ; 'steam,
Wilson at the tints reedy for any work that was to be done;
the complement of men to any engine is three ; the
breaksmaa atten Is to the train, not to the engine ; I left
the engine to remove some sand from 'the Waterloo to
the Wapping side of the tunnel, mad went to get a
signal from from the peintsaaan to mark the place where
the sand had to be discharged ; on my way back
called to Ford to come on, and he started' the
steam, and instantly I heard a loud report, and
saw- a cloud of smoke, and ashes, end steam came from the
engine. I next saw Fordsfeety or fit y. yards off. I saw him
lifted off the engine, but did tweet& what became of him,
until I saw hirte-on the ground ; I did not see Foulkes ; I
want up immediately in that direction ; FOrd`Waisleleedieg
about the head ; he was.dead for-what t could see„ as he' id •
notraise'hia hands; Saw; Fottikeel they third Waggeie',frora
the engine.. The. engine :was lying'On its siOhs` and also the
tender; the flre-bex was:burnt ; 1 have no knowledg,3 cf.
engines or boilers ; the engine was not a regular engine fir
jobbing about. What -do you mean: by, jobbing about,`?.
Shifting goods from one place to and-there What description
of engine is-used for j ebbing about ? There is no particular
engine set apart for that work. If anything happened to a
train engine,-we would tyke a jobbing engine, or cne, from.:
within the shed.'-e The-Blenkinsop Yon will.get'
better from the foreman ea'-r,dge-hill, who knows all ab ,ut
these matters. • The witnesiiln rePlyi-to Air..l3leAkinspp,
said the engine wag at theeisidinesTainutoe,,, and histy4g
offea little steam bat -note, nrmesi (:'James. ortllitkitesik,
examined: I am a firman attached ,to the, engine Pcar-
miganr. and was from 40 to 50 yards down, the line at the
time, and heard the explosion. I saw the man in the air
as I turned round. He went up &milt 15 yards in the•
air. I inspected what had happened, and ran to the spot
immediately ; I saw Ford lying on the ground, and turned
up his faee; we carried hitnloo yards and he drew breath, _
but died within a quarter eisiv:hOur ; blood carne-rfrara
his nose and mouth. Saw the engine on its side; atn
over 9 years in the -.aieraieeir but I have very ,littlea
knowledge of boilers; - Sea, except .as to the._
working "'of ahem: Jobbing engines are just ,as
good as those used to , ' draw. trains, e for,
if one of thelatter broke down we 'about& usaone of the
jobbing engines; these are generally 'geods train engines,;
I have been on that 'cheat), but neverteard any corapllint,
of it; .the foreman on duty 'overlooks- the engines! and
examines them to see that all is right ; there are two:fores
men at. Edgehill, - Mr.'Marshall and -Mr. Eaton ; .they are:
engineer's; I don't know how Often they-have examined the
St. Patrickenor can I say how often they examine any
engine to see that all is right e rcan't form-any idea as to
the cause of the explosion. ~Tatnes Sadden : I amaze engine
driver, and-have been in the service for thirteen -years; .1
sin not attached to any particular engine, but just as" am
appointed; I was at the .corner of the engine shed,when
the accident happened,a; fifty or sixty, yards from thq
Patrick; Saw Foulkes and, goad at the: engine. leafier° 'the
explosion which I heard, ; I saw a volume of, steam. The
witness gaae geserel evidence, and said he did not know of
any defeet,imtlie engine, nor had he heard any one say it
was defective ; if there was anything defective in an engine
it would be reperted to the foreman, and they (the
drivers) would get another engine. In reply to Mr.
Blenkinsop,' the witness said that there was a slate
kept at Edgehill to report to the 'foreman, and if
anything was so reported, the foreman would see to it the
first thieg in the' morning. John Reach, an engine
driver, was called, in order to ascertain if there, was any
defect in the engine. He workel h, r on Monday, and
she was all right, except a small leakage from a stay in the
fire box, but lie did not consider it of any importance,
nor did he think it necessary to report it to the foreman,
hut he pointed it out to the deceased man, Ford, at four
o'clock on Monday ; the witness would not have hes',
taed to take charge of the engine on Tuesday morning.
Io reply to Mr. Blenkinsop, the witness said, when he
tilledtPsrOtirsaaidahai Aida re" dt owr'eli(dirt" ttoa ktneounnea'
engineer and defect in the engines, roads, &c , but he did
not think this worth reporting. Thomas Newbold, an
engine driver in the service for eight years, was examined
as to the state of the engine, bat he never hear,' any
report or rumour of any defect in it, nor was hi' aware of
any defect whatever in it. A witness, named Widdowes,
au esgiue finer, was examined. He never heard of any
defect in the Saint Pakrick Eeg'ne. S. Evans, a boiler
maker, stated that in August last he thoroughly overhauled
tee engine, and found a small defect i 3 it, which he cut out
and replaced with a new sheet of copper, and never heard
any complaint of it since ; the defect was iu the fire box ;
the engine was in a thorough working states ; examined it
since Tuesday, and fmnd that the explosion had taken place
from the roof of the box, but he could not ascertain the
cause; it was not particularly thin ; the new piece he put
in had not given way ; there were some scales on the
surface of the box, and these would tend to weaken the
box; it was not possible to discover the scales before the
explosion took place, except by taking the dome off and
removing the regulator. In reply to Mr. Blenkinsop, the
witness said the engine got a thorough overhauling and
repair, and was in the shop front Auguit to November,
and the boiler was capable of working for twelve months
after ; the scales could not be discovered- except the
engine was taken into the shop and taken out separately.
To the jury : The engine was made in 1848, and he knew
engines to run for fourteen years; the average is about
twelve years. Mr. Morris, the House Surgeon at the
Royal Infirmary, was examined as to the cause of Fou'kes'
death at that establishment, and of course there was no
doubt about that unfortunate affair. Mr. Edward Ross
examined : I am an engineer, and was appointed by the
Board of Trade to examine engines, but I have given up
that now ; I examined the Saint Patrick Engine this
morning ; I found the explosion took place from the fie
box, between the first and second row of stays
I found a great deal of scale' on the. top
of the box ; I should suppose there were scales
down the side : I should think the platei were 7 1601 s
thick at firs'. I found one place near the patch spoken of,
a (parter, and at the-top less thickness.. There was nothing
to show what wore the pates doom. From what I kit )vr
and what I heard, I know tee plates were 7-I.6ihs at first.
In some of the c reper plates the hoI s were too large—not
'ull three is, end a great many of the plates had palled
themselves Gff.the stay bolts without s'ripping the threads
—a proof the hole was too big. I do' not attribute:-the
explosion to one, but to th, ee reasons, which would help
each ether. I attribute it ti st to the scales and that woul
',often the plate and .eres'ente water touching it • 'next
reas in, the thinness of fire-box plates.; third, the
copper plates not having support from the stays, through
their being short of thread. The n'a'ss also beina thin,
would have three threads instead of four or five. There
was no indication th'it the hider was short of water.
There is no mode of discoverine• these:les except by takine
off the dome, and then even it is not easy to do so. I
should think if the en zine.was properly cleaned in august,
it would not require arother since that, so far as th 3
scales were concerned ; I should' say the box-p Lites were
too thin at that pressure ; had all the stays been doing
their duty, the plates world not possiely be too thin ;
I don't think there has been any negligence on the part
of any one connected with the company ; when I looked
in the fire-h x I saw many of the stlys leaking, and that
ught to have been look-d after. Coroner : Looking at
what has taken place, and what you have seen since the
exp!oien, do you think there is any b'ame attached to
any one ? Well, I don't think there is ; if there is any,
it was want of forethought, that's all. The coroner said
he could not let the las' queslien go to the jury without a
remark on it. Evens was re-called, anti said when he
put on the piece it was aths ihick at the time. Coroner :
What Rai tine p..essure ? 90 pounds; it was worked at that,
some are worked at 120. A juror : Old engines? Oh, no,
net old ones. Coroner (to Mr. Ross): Can you suggest
anything for the future for the prevention of accidents of
this description ? Witness : Toe greatest blame must be
attached to the man wile originally put in the stays, as I
can see by the hole they were never properly put in Mr.
Crews (clot k) : Would not the rivetting stoat the thread up ?,
Yes, to a certain extent. To Mr. Blenkinsop : Originally
the thread was not filled up. It wont-h be impossible at
this distance of time to find out the man who did the work
then. The rivet would keep out the leakage for a certain
time. I ehould think there was a great leakage before the
explosion. In August last the man who repaired it could
not see the defective threads, so there was no blame
attached to hint. When the engine wee thoroughly re-
paired and brought oat of the week hop in November
last, would you think it the duty of the company to put it
int ) the shop and make a repair again, with-
out any report from the engineer or any one else?
Some conversation, Lot important, took place here; when
the questioneveas repeated, and the witness replied : No.
What a as the immediate cause of the explesion ? I think
the plate must have got warm in consequence of the scales.
Might it not have got hot Um want of water ? Yes, but

there was no indication of that. A. Sketch of the engine was'
produced, and the witness explained the, place where the
might b 3 from mttint of -water.' I do:,ubt, think the scales
scales were, and said, for anything-4w saw, the explosiom
i
could be formed since August last. The engine was of a,
good construction, except for the scales, Jew. The
Qertier said the answer Mont the not
having been collected Since August 'het; would
,raise an important qiiestion. Mr.' Blenkinsop said
,ha would produce the engineer; and-have an account of
the original Corietructiol and thickness of -the plates, but
lie did not think the eVidence,- as it shod at present, war-
ranted the jury in'sayinotr that ,there was the slightest blame
or negligenCe attachable to' any One Whatever. , Some con-
versation followed, and thiSti therrbroner said the •matter
was of considerable importanee to the' public, as the jury
would see that the conspany had done everything in their
'lower for the protection of -_the public::: , After another
conversation it was agreed E) hajoura the-inquiry to ssiur_
I day, at half-past eleven oielock -in order toproduce further
ilevidence. The proceedings did not terminate until seven
• , .
in the evening.
The following inquesti were alioheld yesterday forenoon
On the body of John Taylor, siity4Wo years old, who
was hurt on the 17th of Mareh.in a sewer in Duke-street,
the facts of which appeared in our paper of Thursday.
The jury found a verdict of " Accidental. death."
On the body of a child, .named William. Moran, two years
old, who was scalded internally on Tue.day evening when
he drank boiling water out of the pipe of a kettle that stood
on the "hob," and died in coflsequence. Verdict, " .A.eci-
dental death."
On the bOdy of,thbrn s AlexandertLeyland,:aged twenty
y'Pard, who wase: clerk, and who' lived'at No. 27, Seymour
street. lie waadescribed•as p.,so*-!'steady, and respecta-
ble young man, and went to bed as thug AG previous
night He was found dead3inbed yesterday morning. He
used-to complain latterlyof pain in-thachest, which he
" attributed to leaning over the desk. Verdict, "Died from
natural causes."