The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-21 00:00:00

THE LATE RAILWAY EXPLOSION AT EDGE

THE ADJOURNED INQUEST.

Yesterday the coroner, Mr. P. F. Curry, and the jury
before impannelled, resumed the investigation into the
cause of the late explosion of a railway steam engine at
Edge-hill, which terminated ie the death of the engine
driver and stoker. As at the i r a .veaegation, Mr.
Blenkinsop appeared to watch the case on the part of
the Loudon and North ,Western Railway Company, the
owners of the engine in question, and Mr. Pemberton and
Mr. Ward for the representatives of the deceased men. B. -
fore the enquiry was resumed, Mr. Pemberton said : Before
you proceed with this case I may mention to the court, for
I do not wish to keep anything from you, but, as I have
before stated on the first occasion, I had been instructed by
a friend of the wife of the deceased l?ord, to watch the case
on their behal. Last night, however, the mother, or a
woman who represented herself to be the mother of the
wife, called upon me, and said that she did not wish for
me to interfere further in this case I was instructed in
the first instance by a person named Lloyd. Now, I
wish to have your opinion whether I should he justified,
after having taken the responsibility of watching this case,
in withdrawing from it at the request of a third party. I
should like to know whether you think, in justice to myself,
the relations, or to the public, that I am bound to withdraw
from it. Mr. Blenkinsop : As far as I am concerned I
should be exceedingly sorry if Mr. Pemberton was
to withdraw from the case in the middle of ir,
and I hope that he will stay in it, until it is concluded.
Mr. Ward expressed a similar sentiment, and hoped that
Mr. Pemberton would not withdraw, because he should be
most happy in availing himself of his great practical ex-
perience. The Coroner to the jury.: Gentlemen you have
heard what have been stated by Mr. Pemberton, and you
have likewise heard the opinion, or I may say the request,
of the other two gentlemen, For my part, I think the
public are much indebted to Mr. Pemberton for having
rendered the assistance he has done. The investigation
was one of considerable importance to the public, and we
have a right to have the best assistance we can, for elicit-
ing the facts. Where an advocate has been retained by
one party, that same party should be the person who
should call upon him to revoke it. In this instance, it
appears that a third party has called, and revoked the
order. For my part, I do not see, under the circumstances
that he is called upon to withdraw from this case, because,
if he do, he may subject himself to what we call "Jaches,"
which is an action for carelessness, or neglecting to attend
in the case. I hope he will not withdraw. Mr. Pember-
ton : I should like to hear the opinion of the jury.
The jury said they fully concurred in the Coroner's views.
Mr. Ross was then recalled, and in answer to Mr. Pember-
ton said, on examining the engine the first time, I saw
marks on about fifty stays, evidently caused from leakage.
It is my opinion that fifty stay' had leaked and not two.
This was at one o'clock on the day after the accident, and
on the Thursday I made a second examination. when I
found that the fire box had been wiped down, and the
stays had been removed, but whether intentionally or not
I mina say. With that exception the engine presented
the same appearance. He could not tell on the second time
that the stays had leaked if heeled not seen them before.
I will not undertake to from the appearance of the
stays that there bad not been 100 leaking. By Mr. Ward :
If he had not seen the stays on the first day, he could not
have reported satisfactorily as to the number of stays that
leaked ; the effect of meddling with the engine between
the first and second time of my visit had a tendency to
prevent my ascertaining the number of stays that leaked.
By Mr. Blenkinsop : The leakage of threestaysdid not cause
the explosion ; where the explosion did take place the
plate had not been touched, but was in the same state as I
had first seen it ; I should say that there were atleast fifty
stays leaking ill the box, as they had all a white mark round
them, but he could not say that they were all leaking at
one time; he should;not like to say that there were twelve
stays leaking at one time. By the Coroner : A great len;
of the stays had their rivet heads off, and that was near
to where the explosion took place. Charles Stubbs, a
boiler maker, in the employ of the London and North
Western Railway Company, was next called. He said he
had been in their employ for about five years, and had
been apprenticed to the business before he went there ;
about three weeks before the accident was called upon
to go and rivet a stay on the right hand side of the fire-
hex, on the second row from the bottom of the St.
Patrick engine ; Mr. Eaton told me to go and do it ; I made
it all tight; the boiler was full of water at the time ; I
then looked round the engine, and I did not see any other
leakage; the engine then appeared all right ; that was
the last time I had anything to do with that engine. By
the Board : I never had that engine under my hands but
twice : I do not know what pressure she carried ; I do not
know her state and condition at all. By Mr. Pemberton :
I did not examine the fire 13..)x when I made the Kepairs I
have ristenti.tned ; I never told anybody that I could drive
theohammer through any part of the boiler; I will swear
that I never did. This witness, who was called in conse-
quence of the anonymous latter sent on the previous
occasion to the j ury, was cross-examined at considerable
length, but nothing of the slightest importance was
elicieel. Mr. James Kennedy, an engineer of great
experience, having made the railway engine for the first
public railway company in England, said : I examined the
St. Patrick engine on the Bth of May, the day after the
explosion ; it was the remains of the boiler; I saw that,
the fire box was very thin on the upper part of the sides;
It was about three-sixteenths nick ; the lower part was
stronger than the upper part; the diference between the
thickest and the thinest part of the boiler was about two
or nearly three-sixteenths ; I examined the interior
and there were scales at the top part of the
corner of the box. I also examined the stays. They
appeared to be sufficiently strong themselves, and I attri-
bute the explosion to the thinness of the copper at a par-
ticular part, which was not sufficient to withstanl the
pressure of the steam. [This Mr. Kennedy explained to
the jury.] The part to which I allude is the right hand
corner of the boiler, where the explosion took place. By
the Coroner : Having fully examined the boiler, the stays
and all connected therewith, are you of opinion that the
pressure of 90 lbs to the square inch was too mach to put
on the engine ? Mr. Kennedy :It was too much. The
Coroner : Do you consider it was unsafe to work at such a
pressure ? Mr. Kennedy : Most certainly I do. The
proper mode of testing a boiler is by the hammer, but
there is another mode, that by hydraulic pressure. The
stays were sufficiently strong of themselves, but they bad
given way at the threads from wear and tear. The Coroner :
Supposing that this engine bad been fully examined and
overhauled in November last, and then put into proper
repair, do you think that it could have got into the store
it was from wear and tear ? Mr. Kennedy : Generally
speaking it could not, because some fife box s will near
much longer than others. The Coroner: Well, could you,
having examined the boiler and all the stays, say that the
explosion was caused by the negligence of any person, and
if so, who? I could not say that I could prove negligence
on the part of any one. By Mr. Blenkiesop : The wiping
of the bex would only have concealed the leakage in the
stays. This box has worn very unequally. The thinnest
part of a box is generally at the surface of the fire, and
not at the corner, where this gave way, as the fire has less
intensity there than at any other place. The scales on
the tap of the box had nothing to do with
the explosion. With some waters the scales
I saw in this box would gather in a fortnight or three
weeks ; it all depends on the water used ; this boiler
appeared to be in fair working order ; I can't say that I
have ever seen a box of that thinness bear a pressure of
901bs to the square inch ; to test a b x by hydraulic-
pressure I should put on nearly double the working pros
sure.; the age of the boiler has nothing to do with its
strength, as that depends upon the wear and tear By Mr.
Ward : Ido not think the boiler was of a uniform thick-
ness when it was turned out of the sheds in November
last ; the ordinary test is by the hammer, and I think
the disparity of the thickness might have been discovered ;
I do not think that the pressure on the engine should
have been more than 501hs ; I think it was alarmingly
unsafe to turn the engine out with a pressure of 901bs to
the square inch. By Mr. Pemberton :If I bad examined
the engine in August last I should have tested it, and
might have discovered the thinness of the plates. By
Mr. Blenkinsop ; No man, had he known the plates were
so thin, would have turned the engine out with a pressure
of 901bs; my experience has chiefly been confined to test-
ing new engines. By Mr. Ward : -There is no doubt that
the railway authorities should have discovered the thin-
ness of the plates, but the difficulty was how to accomplish
it; he did not approve of drilling holes in a boiler to test
the thickness or thinness of the plates because
there was no doubt but that it weakened it. Mr. James
Fenton, chief engineer and manager of the Low Moor
Iron 'Works was called. Re said : I was the locomotive
manager of the Leeds Railway ; I have examined
the fire box of the St. Patrick engine, and
can say that I never saw a box so unequally worn ; the
particular part that has failed I should never have thought
would have worn so; this is an exceptional case, and I
never knew a fire box to fail in the same plact before ; I
do not think that hammering would have detected the
defect, which caused the explosion ; from my experience
I should say that the cause of the explosion arose from
the want of water at the particular piece ; I have known
fi-e boxes that had been worn out by running 50,000,
miles, while others now in use have run 190,000 miles;
locomotives are now worked at a pressure of 1401bs. on
the square inch ; I think that hammering is a good test
for a box, and should perhaps drill a hole to see the exact
thickness. By Mr. Ward : I should not have been
alarmed at working the St. Patrick at 901bs, but, having
ascertained its real state, I think SOlbs would have been ;
authorities could
sufficient ;I do not see how railway