The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-12 00:00:00

Mr. Wood stated that about a month ago the woman's
husband came up from Staffordshire, and was obliged
to go into St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he died
on Saturday week last. As soon as the widow was ap-
prised of the fact, she wrote up to request that they
would not bury the body until she had seen it, and im-
mediately started for London, but having to come by
canal she was three days and three nights performing
the journey of 200 miles. She proceeded to the hospital
on her arrival, and applied to see the body of her hus-
band, but her request was peremptorily refused. Why,
he could not say, but he had sent his clerk down to the
hospital, cautioning them not to bury the body until
tho complainant had seen it. The messenger of this
court had presented himself in his uniform, to support
the poor woman's request, and it was still refused. The
authorities had informed the widow that the body would
be buried to-morrow (this day).
Alderman Carter asked if the body was screwed down.
Groves, the messenger, said the authorities refused to
give him any information on that point, alleging that
it was against the rules of the hospital.
Alderman Carter said it appeared very extraordi-
nary, and if no reason was assigned for the objection
complained of he would give the poor woman all the
assistance in his power.
In a short time Mr. Wood's clerk returned with the
information that the body of the deceased was dissected,
consent having been obtained of one Richard Coburg,
who represented himself as a relative.

Alderman Carter asked applicant if she knew the man
Coburg ?
The widow said she knew no one of that name.
Alderman Carter said he understood that a post wor-
tern, examination had been held on the body, which, being
now in a state of decomposition, if she were allowed to
view it, would only tend to harrow her feelings and dis-
pel all the pleasing reminiscences of her last parting
from her husband. He therefore advised her to refrain
from pressing her request.
The widow said she would be satisfied if her brother
was allowed to view the body.
Alderman Carter thought that a better arrangement,
and very kindly gave her brother a letter to the trea-
surer in favour of that object.
Alderman Carter requested the press would acknow-
ledge the receipt of 101. from the Leathersellers' Com-
pany for the poor box.

SOUTHWARK.-21 fr. Charles Reginald Gibson, a
solicitor at Dartford, and clerk to the magistrates at that
place, was summoned before Mr. A'Beckett for unlaw-
fully obstructing James Lineharn, an officer of the South
Eastern Railway, while in the execution of his duty.
Mr. Church appeared for the railway company, and
the defendant was accompanied by a number of gentle-
men residing at Dartford and other places.
The complainant, on being sworn, stated that he
was a porter in the employ of the South Eastern Rail-
way Company, and at eight o'clock on Wednesday
evening, the 3d instant, he was placed at a barrier
close to a train that was about to start. The clock had
struck and the signal had been given to him by a man
at the booking office when witness closed the gate.
The outer door had also been closed at the North
Kent entrance where he was placed. The defendant
came in by another door, and asked whether the
train was gone,. He told him "No ; but the signal
had been given." After that defendant asked him to
open the gate and let him through. He refused to do
so, as his orders were otherwise. The defendant then
said, " Oh ! nonsense, I have got my ticket; let me go."
Witness told him that he could not go as the signal had
been given. The defendant then went to the right of
him and jumped over the iron railing which was placed
as a barrier. Witness wont up to him and laid hold of
him to bring hint back outside the barrier until the
train had started, when defendant struck him with his
umbrella on his head and face. Witness used no more
than necessary force to bring him back, and while doing
his duty he made two desperate charges at him with
his umbrella. It was his duty to prevent passengers
passing the barrier after the clock had struck and the
signal given, and until the train had started;
andMrG.e
joorghen
ITvielaletyh,erahlesao
station
-hoomupsaenmy'asstseerr,vgicaev,e
evi-
dence confirmatory of the previous witness's statement,
and
vidshaiieh dtheetgdoet admission.fendanthad no right to enter at the door
Mr. Gibson, in defence, positively denied striking the
of It Was highly important to him that he should
hgaiyvienPgr:cimeedaeuathbo
until two hours after -
yritthat train, as the next did not leave
had his return ticket,
way, as the train hawdaol
and he ought to havyotb toesto. vt
ete
started
tey
dt.heTic
loomeop
man
py
an's
ytrhai
an
d,
allowed to proceed on his
nothing in their bye-laws
general act gave them no
saved time and
d one. The way that he entered;owe tt withhold
act as they bad
him and the
quently used by return-ticket holders. station
was
fro
con-
venient to the railway company, as and it was a great deal of unnecessary trouble thetot sa7
The complainant seized him by the throat in servaatti9i,
manner, and took his umbrella from him. In ruffianly it away it might have touched hint slightly, but he wresting
solemnly denied wilfully assaulting him. When first
into the station the clock had not commenced striking,
and he should have been able to enter the train before
t
hat had not the complainant prevented bin), which he
had no right to do.

After considerable argument on each side,
Mr. A'Beckett said that defendant was charged with
obstructing the officer in the execution of his duty. The
officer's duty was to prevent passengers passing the
!wrier. lie bad not done so, for defendant had passed
the barrier before lio was interfered with. The question
was, whether the officer then took the proper Course.
He thought not. The alleged offence was not proved
against the defendant, and the summons must bo did.missed.

As a train of the Left Bank Versailles Railway was on
Wednesday coming to Paris, one of the guards, a man
named Albert, imprudently stood up as it approached
the bridge of Verger'. The consequence was that the
man's skull striking against the bridge was broken in,
and he fell dead. Several accidents of the same kind have
occurred at the same bridge,--atikin"l'

Mr. Miller—l can't say that. He presented, however,
a most wretched appearance, and I know that his clothes
were in the most filthy state. If ho had been a tramp
he could not have been worse.
Mr. Howell said that after the statement which had
come from their medical officer, it was only right that
the public mind should be satisfied with regard to the
way in which this man had come by his death. The
man was a Welshman ; he had no friend to look to him
here ; his friends knew nothing of him, and under the
circumstances the guardians ought not to let the mat-
ter rest. He (Mr. Howell) should move that appli-
cation be made to the coroner of this borough to hold
an inquisition. (A Member of the Board—" The man
is buried,") Well (continued Mr. Howell), I beg to
more that the coroner give us a perfect statement in
writing of the reasons why ho did not hold an inquest.
Here is a man, a Welshman, far from his home and his
friends, and ho dies under circumstances which certainly
call for investigation. I wish to know how, and by
what means, he came by his death, and if Mr. Cooper,
the coroner, will satisfy my mind as one of the public, I
will have done with the matter. I cannot, however,
after the statement of the medical officer, allow the case
to pass over without inquiry; and I move that applica-
tion be made, by letter, to the coroner, to know his
reasons for not holding the inquest.
Mr. Dore—l think it quite right that we should have
some explanation on the subject. We ought to know
the reason the coroner had for refusing to hold the in-
quest, and I therefore second Mr. Howell's motion.
Mr. Levy said the coroner was a public officer, whom
they did not think they could interfere with. The coro-
net ought to know his duty.
Mr. Hannam—But if he don't do his duty ?
Mr.'J. Jolliffe—l think that this matter touches the
Board of Guardians as much as anybody. The man dies
from exhaustion and neglect ' • he is buried out of this
house ; of the circumstances his friends know nothing,
and it is quite right that the coroner should give some
explanation to us.
Mr. Levy said he only gave it as his opinion that they
had no power to call on the coroner to give any explana-
tion which he did not think it proper to give; the man
had bean buried now for 6 days, but no matter how
long, they could dig him up, and if the coroner had not
done his duty there were means which might be adopted
in such a case. It might be all very true that was said,
but, really, the coroner had to come to the conclusion
that it was necessary to hold an inquest. This man,
John Williams, had been admitted at eight o'clock on
the evening of the 3d, and had died at 4 in the morning
of the 4th from exhaustion and neglect, according to
the statement of Mr. Joseph Bull. Now, Mr. Bull was
not near the Himalaya, was not present on any occasion,
and could not give evidence as to how the man was
treated; but yet he jumped to the conclusion that he
had died from exhaustion and neglect on board of a
vessel which bore the British pendant. That was more
time their officer should have done.
The Chairman observed here, that Mr. Levy's re-
marks with regard to the medical officer were ill-judged.
Mr. Levy.—l make these remarks in consequence of
the report of the medical officer that the man died from
exhaustion and neglect which he had suffered on board
the Himalaya, and this, I say, the medical officer could
not speak to. •
The Chairman.—Perhaps the man stated so to the
medical officer, who saw the state of the body, and could
judge as to any statements made by the man, touching
the cause of his wretched condition.
Mr. Miller then stated that the man had got an order
of admission to the house from the relieving officer ; he
(Mr. Miller) had ascertained that deceased was first
taken to the Sailor's Home, Queen-street, near the dock-
yard, where he was refused admission, on account of
being sick. He was then taken to the hospital (the
Royal Portsmouth, Portse4, and Gosport Hospital, at
Landport), and there refused admission for want of an
order, He was next taken to the offices of Messrs.
Garratt and Gibbon, the agents to Lloyd's .(at Point,
Portsmouth), and they advised that he should be con-
veyed to the union-house. The relieving officer was
applied to ; he at once granted an order, and deceased
was admitted into the house.

The Chairman—The man has bean carried about in a
way far from proper.
In answer to Mr. Howell, Mr. Miller stated that the
medicll officer had given it as his opinion, when he first
saw the man, that he could not live long. He added
that deceased had first of all been taken to the relieving
officer at Portsmouth, but that the officer had been out
at the time.

Mr. Howell said that the poor unfortunate man had
been placed in their custody before his death ; he ;lad
died in the house, and they, as guardians, were bound
to see how he had come by his death. The coroner was
appointed by virtue of the powers vested in the town coun-
cil • he was responsible to them; and if he (Mr. Howell)
did not prevail on the guardians to agree to his motion,
he should certainly bring the matter before the corpora-
tion. The man had been " hawked ",about ;he had
been refused admission into the Sailors' Home—a place
in connexion with the meetings of which he saw the
names of right reverends, and nobles, and gentry ; but
if a British sailor knew that he was liable to be treated
in this way, what would he think ? He bad been re-
fused admission, too, into the hospital, to the funds
of which so many gentlemen contributed, and
where many medical gentlemen attended, and yet, after
all that was known of the man's treatment, no inquiry
had been made as to the cause of death. He (Mr.
Howell) held that upon the report of the medical officer,
such a report as had been read, it was the duty of the
coroner to held an inquest. It was his duty to do so
to satisfy the public mind, even if no ground appeared
to him to call for it. If the board did not agree to his
motion, lie should certainly to-morrow put a notice on
the paper and bring the subject before the town council
at its first meeting, and then he should immediately for-
ward a copy of the resolution to the Home Secretary.
The Chairman (to Mr. Miller)—Did the coroner see
the report of the doctor ?
_ _ .

Mr. Miller—l copied the report myself, and took it
and showed it to him.

Mr. Levy was not opposed to calling on the coroner
for an explanation, if he thought the coroner would con-
descend to answer their note ; he thought it would place
this board in a very awkward position.
Mr. Howell submitted that Mr. Levy was not in
order ; it was not fair that Mr. Levy should make fur-
ther statements after he (Mr. Howell) had replied. Ho
hoped they would see the propriety of agreeing to the
motion ; if, however, he brought the subject before the
town council, he would " let out evidence to show the
necessity of applying to the coroner." If he (Mr.
Howell) went there he would make out a stronger case
than some gentlemen expected.
Mr. Levy was satisfied—perfectly satised—that they
had nothing to do with the coroner ; to show them,
however, that he had no objection to their receiving any
explanation they could from the coroner, he should vote
for the motion—"although it was ridiculous, he should
vote for it."

wa,l4s,lTerio.iauDtceialyneedraiepnupxlti,het:htfieoolculloeblive•kin,n2gtandteeenrimorestah:d;tchoeromi7ortioton:i:VbfhoirCimh
the
who
calla 4:1i; itto\ Sraiwilenihelirtlau
noi
thelieot len
nc-al iierosiceutaitsmol:
si;altiloaalnanocdl
etasfb:ronoiapi unr:ietuahetrehsi ::geopnitoiotiru Itreeftl:ll::°'
investigation."
by
The motion, as above, was put to the vote, and carried
W a majority of nine to four.
then e copy the following from the report and journal of
overnor of the union-house :
" Thursday, Jan. 4.—teported to the coroner the death
the Himalaya, who died
of a man named John
illiams, a seaman landed from
-W
abt se von hours after his ad-
misaion, and, in the recorded opinion of the
of the houso, from exhaustion
and neglect."medical ofHc©r

* The following is a copy of the burial certificate referred
to by Mr. Dore :
2l" hereby certify I attended John Williams, a sailor, aged
at ; I saw him on January 3, 1855 ; that ho died on Jan. 4,
4 a.m., at tho Portsca Island Union-house, and. the cause
of his death was exhaustion and exposure, and having been
landed from the Himalaya when unable to walk to proper
shelter; he hits also been much neglected during the passage.
"JOSEPH BULL, Medical Officer,
rcyrtsQA 1510,114 UlllOll-1191150."