The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-26 00:00:00

GO OD W OOD RACES.
TUESDAY EXPRESS TRAIN. -
Au EXTRA EXPRESS TRAIN will leave the London-bridge
'-kertninu9 for Drayton, and Chichester, on TUESDAY MORNING,
at Nine o'clock.

FREDERICK SLIGHT, Secretary.
London-bridge Terminus, July 24, 1852.

ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS,
TRAFALGAR-SQUARE.
The EXHIBITION being CLNOTICEOSED, Exhibitors are requested to
send for their several Performances on Thursday or Friday next,
without fail.

JOHN PRESCOTT KNIGHT, R.A., Sec.

THE BUR N EYRAILWAir ACCIDENT.
The labours of the coroner's jury in this case concluded
near midnight on Saturday, having extended over three
days, under the guidance of Mr. J. Hargreaves, of
Blackburn. The result was unexpected—a verdict of
4 Accidental death," instead of that generally looked
for, of manslaughter against Parker, the pointsumn,
seho bad exposed himself to the charge by the manner
in which he delegated a duty which devolved upon him
to- unothorised persons. The fadts, stripped of verbiage;
were developed in the course of -the 'investigation as
follows:
John Parker, the poinbsman, a man who had been in
the eMployment of the company for a long time, and was
well acquainted with the duties to be performed by -hitn
in that capacity, had arranged that the two excursion
traina which had gone out So York and C...eleshat day.
should-on-tbeirr return bertutrulown a aamitniaanw-tf-
of the main line to the East Lancashire line, instead of
running up to the usual arrival and departure platform,
which would have been inconvenient, from the limbed
space ,there at command. In order to pass the.train
down the East Lancashire line, however, it was
necessary that a pair of points, known as the East
Lancashire points, situate about 100 yards from the sta-
tion, should be kept open, or the train would, of neces-
sity, run up to the arrival platform, where it was not
intended to have it. Parker had himself made these
arrangeinents with respect to where She train•was to go,
and wae.quite cognizant of what was requisite in order
to carry them out. As pointsman, it . was his specific
duty to be at the most important points, those for turn-
ing the train upon the East Lancashire line, but, instead
of being there, without telling any one, he delegated the
duty to a man named Crabtree, who, without being paid
by the company, or receiving any authority from any
hhaev e had
let
of their superior officers, had been appointed as a points.
man for Sunday duty in the absence of Parker or the
guard. There was nothing to show that he was not
remainedcompet entwthoemreanhaegwe
asthet'old pointtos,satannd dphoesswibolyulidf

the train in properly; but he, without. any authority,
told a man, named Bridge (a blacksmith, with such a
penchant for railway jobs that he was accustomed, after
u in the
tie had finished his smithy labours, to stroll to the sta-
tion to take a turn there at the points when luggage
trains were to be let in, or to assist the goods porters),
to do the work while he went up 'to see the train come
evidence,, is partlytshtaatterotheent,engine w
corroboratedhich ght bro by other
train reqUired to be shunted by the .use of another
pair of points (about five yards from the East Lance-
Abire points) into the engine-shed siding, and that just
after be had so shunted it, and before he could get back
to the East Lancashire points, the carriages came down,
passed the points which should have been open, and ran
into the siding. The guard was quite unable to control
it, and the fatal accident took place. Had he been at
the East Lancashire points, " the train would haie been
sent in the proper direction; but he declares he had not
time to get back before the train was upon them. The
train consisted of thirty five.carriages, and was laden
with 1,070 persons. There were five breaks upon it, but
only two guards to work them, and consequently only
two were on, as the guard in charge alleged that he had
calculated upon going down the longer distance, and
with his two breaks he could have brought his train up.
The engine had been taken off, so that the reverse mo-
tion could not be applied to retard the speed. The car-
.riage in which the people were killed was a third class
without any compartments inside, and it was argued by
the solicitors who watched the case as against the rail-
way company that that was a weak method of construc-
tion. The buffers, too, of the carriages appeared
"to' have been of unequal heights, and it was urged
that this had tended to rear the carriages up, and so
lead to the accident. There was not a single extra
man at the station to receive this large train, and
those regularly there, when called on to give evidence,
bandied the responsibility from one to the other in such
a manner that it. was , impossible to discover on whom
the responsibility rested: They all declared that Parker
ought to have been at thr'irpoints, but he replied that his
fluty was over at seven o'clock at night, and that really
he need not have, b, en at the spot at eIL On the part of
the company it was replied that-the carriages were- all
carefully examined and declared sound by a competent
person before they were sent on the joueney,land that
the, framework of the one broken was uninjured in that
part which would have to bear the shock of the col-
Itsioa • that the two breaksiwould have been sufficient to
take. the train safely down, supposing the points bad been
attended to, and that iu the presence of Captain Wynn;
the Government inspector, a train of 98k tons had bean
brought to a standstill three times on the incline by the
action of one break, less powerful than that on the
train, which weighed 175 tons, and had two breaks.
The irregularity of employing such men as Bridge and
Crabtree was admitted; but Captain Binstead, the super-
intendent, said he had not the slightest conception of
such a system being carried on.
The jury were an hour and a half in considering their
verdict, which they delivered as

" We find that the four deceased lost their lives at the
Burnley station of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Rail-
Way accidentally, in consequence of the return of the
Goole excursion train running into the siding instead of
the main line connected with the East Lancashire Rail-
way, and coming in contact with the buffers fixed in the
masonry abutment of the bridge at the terminus of the
said siding, thereby causing wolent concussion to those
carriages at the head of the train, and thetooitnatladoenmotlhie-
he cause of the train being thus run
twioenreoffelnhendb.odly of the carriage in which the deceased
y
w h
when
no
thethe
train passed,
p
wood bridge bariiddigneg tbehein jury r
which should have been opened to shunt the train
on to the main line. It appears to the jury, from
the ;evidence produced, that there were only two
guards, each working a break, for this train Consist.
ing of. thirty-five carriages, and containing upwards
of one thousand pasbengers, which they consider quite
inadequate to check the impetus of such a train de-
Scending.an incline, and that, had more guards acoom.
pt ied the train to work . the breaks, or had the en.
genes not been detached from the train, and their action
reversed in descending the incline, the jury are deci
dedly of opinion this accident would have been, if not
entirely prevented, very much less fatal in its cense_
quences. The jury are unanimously agreed that the
sole cause of this accident was owing to the deficiency of
guards and pointsmen to let the train safely down the
incline into the station, and by the employment of in.
competent and irresponsible men, to the want of order
and discipline amongst the company's servants gene-
rally, and the total absence of any responsible Person
to direct and superintend the safe arrival and unloading
of the train; and they feel bound to state that the
greatest negligence was displayed by the executiv
officials of the railway company on this occasion. It 'e
the opinion of the jury that there is is
great blame to b
attached to the seleetion of carriages for this train,e
, more
particularly on account of their inequality in •
size and
difference iu the height above the rails to the centre of
the buffers, as given in evidence. At the same time
the
jury wish to record that they had no opportun' tyo
forming any opinion of their condition or construction,
as die whole were removed before they were called
to visit the station. In conclusion the jury beg toaPell
mit to the directors of this railway that in their oPini°R
sub.
the siding into which the ordinary arrival trains
run
is
fraught with danger, in consequence of being situated
the bottom of an incline, and terminating apel•ai at
net a
strong dead buffer."

SHIPBUILDING IN LIVERPOOL. Not eitintend*
our many local advantages and the rapid rise of trade and
commerce, it is remarkable there are only about half.a.do-""
unkn zeo
shipbuilding-yards in this great port. From some
well. k awn cause, whether the want
thenf accommodation or the
high price of labour, ports south and north of oe ha knows
us far behind in the number and class of clipper vessela.ve..l,eft
it is to be hoped this will not long continue. A. reaetin_ But
pears to have sprung up amongst she shipbuilding elm: a.. 1?:
ready, and the present may be considered an era la `,!
history of shipbuilding in Liverpool. In a yard on the the
side of the Brunswick dock the keel of a vessel of apurvbraedt
of 2,000 tons has been laid. When completed she will be the
largest merchantman ever built in England. The great fee_
tures in the construction of this vessel are that she wili,ll;
built of soft wood—pitch pine, with Amerizan oak floors,
The great injury which the shipwrights of this town have
'suffered through the influx of North American-built vessels
which are sold here for about one-half of the coat of a gri''
cess
tish- built craft. will now probably receive a check. The
object of the builders is to compete with our Transatlantic
fao re fortnight
a d aft
brethren, and, accordingly, the American process of con-
struction is to be adopted throughout. A novelty in the art
of shipbuilding in this country may now be witue,:sed. The
usual practice here is to join rib by rib to the keel of the
vessel until her hull is completed, and then ensues the pr
:nom
.eex;ocifeedetthlaotngthoenvetssheel,
keel,
of planking. In the construction of this vessel the ribs
are joined together on the stage, and hoisted en masse to their
position. This renders the• work much more expeditious, and
hleari dl
lines
sy
FO,l will be ready for sea in February next. She will be
will be fin hawndas
from e* She is intended for the Australian trade, and,
her long flo •
Her cost is or, is expected to carry an immense cargo,
charged for an
expectedo to be a little above half of that usually
two more yardsthe last few '
-built vessel. Within , . weeks.
have beenadded to the number in this
town, a proof of the • h. • L'
pool Mercury,
increased demand for s ipping.— „v..
DESERTERS PROM p
• ;gassed in the late
.PasFOREIGN Slurs —ln an , Ant
Parliament, to enable her Majesty.to carry
Jot° effect arrangements
apprehension with foreign the
apprehension of seamen who desert from their ships, there is
a provision to the effect that a
her-
( ban su doortoi ii ,";.,,, any person who protects or
1"9 t 9 as PORlati 0104