The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-04 00:00:00

IRELAND,

DUBLIN, Wednesday Morning,
The inquest upon the remains of the two men
who lost their lives through the overturn of the
train on the Midland Great Western Railway on
Saturday was resumed yesterday at Ballinasloe.
The case excites great interest, and the scene of
the catastrophe has been visited every day by hun-
dreds. The injured passengers are going on satis-
factorily.

During the examination of the first witness called
yesterday, a man named Brennan, a singular and
somewhat suspicious circumstance was brought out.
He had been in the train, and having sustained
some slight injury, was with others removed to an
hotel. He said—l know 'Mr Hyde, the attorney.
I signed a paper on behalf of the company, for
which they gave me £5 yesterday and IQs. today.
No one read that paper for me. When I signed
the paper 1 was in bed, but I was up today when
I got the 10s.
Coroner—lt is a loss that they did not give you
£lO.

Mr Concannon—How many of you that were
hurt were in the room ? There were eight of us,
and all of them signed the paper on getting the
money.

Mr Price. the engineer of the railway, said—l
can give no opinion as to the cause of the accident,
but attributed it to the baggy ground at the spot.
I assume the bog may have been soft from the tre.
mendous quantity of rain which fell lately. I
assume—though the driver may have been going
at his ordinary speed—there may have been consi.
derable oscillation, as stated by some of the wit•
nesses ; that, finding the oscillation, he shut off the
steam. I only assume this, because I have not heard
his evidence ; that the carriage truck next the en•
gine being too light, and the whole of the train be.,
hind being too light, jumped off the rail, and of
course drew off the tender and carriages, and was
buried in the bog. The bog is soft, but it is in a
good state. We have some bogs on the Sligo line
not near so good, Within the last ten days about
six inches of rain fell, and this would necessarily
soften the bog. The drains were in good order. In
my opinion it would be safe to go over this parti.
cular spot at the rate of 30 miles an hour, but I
would not hazard myself to go at the rate of 40
miles an hour.

Mr Persse, a passenger, said—For the first four
miles after leaving Athlone we were going at the
rate of 25 miles an hour. The speed increased as we
get nearer Ballinasloe. On Saturday night we went
as fast as I ever did on the English express trains.
I like to travel very fast on a good line. When I
got out I observed the ground was very soft. A
great deal of rain had fallen previously, and the
ground was very spongy. There appeared to be
some new timber placed there before the accident
occurred. I said to every person with whom I con.
versed that we were travelling very fast. That was
when we got to Ballinasloe. I observed to a gentle-
man in the carriage that we were going at a very
fast pace. That was before the accident occurred.
A jump, or kind of a leap, took place, and I saw that
a dreadful accident was going to occur, whereupon
I was pitched against the gentleman opposite, and
was with the rebound, flung back again. We were
then very much confused and frightened, as we did
not know what next was going to happen.
The engine-driver, Robert Deane, having been
cautioned not to criminate himself, was examined,
and stated—We were five minutes behind time in
arriving at Athlone. We left Athlone at 4 50. After
leaving Athlone we travelled at about the rate of
18, and certainly not more than 20, miles an hcur.
After we left Thomastown we increased our speed.
We were going at the rate of 30 or 32 miles an hour
when the accident occurred. That was the usual
speed at which we travelled from Thomastown to
Ballinasloe. I cannot state how the accident oc-
curred. A moment before the accident occurred I
observed that the engine oscillated for two or three
lengths of rail. After that the tender leaped off
the line, but it did not separate from the engine.
By Mr Kaye—When I observed the oscillation,
just before the accident occurred, I immediately
shut off all steam.
Was that the proper thing to do, under the cir-
cumstances, as a skilful engineer P—lt was.
What was the effect of that ?—lt produced no
effect, as the tender went off immediately. I looked
round and saw that the tender had parted from the
train, whereupon I put on the steam.
With what object ?—To get clear of the carriages,
and prevent them corning down on me. For that
purpose I dragged the tender 223 yards. I then took
out the headlamps and fog signals, to prevent an
accident occurring to the Galway up train, which
was then due. The carriages had then blocked up
the up line,
Have you any instructions from the company to
pull up lost time P—Decidedly not ; that was the
ream I was five minutes late at Mullicgar, and
five minutes late at Athlone.
As a matter of fact, were you endeavouring to
pull up lost time P—l was not.
Medical evidence was given to prove the nature
of the injuries sustained by the deceased, after which
the coroner summed up, and the jury, after deli-
berating for threerquarters of an hour, arrived at
the following conclusion :—" We find that George
Glanville came by his death from excessive driving
over a bad line of railway." The jury found the
same verdict in the ease of Thomas Henry.
The murder of the two sisters Anne and Ellen
Murphy, at Great Holywood, near Balbriggan,
still excites speculation as to the perpetrator cf the
crime. The brother of the woman was brought up
oa remand yesterday at the Balbriggan Court-
house, and, on the application of Mr Baytagh, who
appeared for the Crown, a further remand was
granted, on the ground that the police were still
prosecuting inquiries as to a circumstance lately
presented to their notice. It appears that they have
been informed that the prisoner, at the time when
he said he was proceeding to his brother-in-law's,
on the evening of the murder, was seen to diverge
from the direct route, and go towards a bog some
distance off. The police have:been searching through
the locality indicated since Sunday, but so far their
efforts to find anything that would be a clue to the
murderer have been unavailing. The prisoner will
-be brought up again next week.
h.