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 10s. to•day.
No one read that paper for me. When I signed
the paper 1 was in bed, but I was up to•day when
I got the 10s.
Coroner—lt is a loss that they did not give you
£lO.

Mr Concennon—How many of you that were
hurt were in the room ? There were eight of us,
and all of then 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 boggy 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 consia
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 partie
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
gat 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 fallea 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 hour.
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 comirg down on me. •For that
purpose I draggeethe tender 223 yards. I then took
out the handlamps 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 ?—Decidedly not ; that was the
reasma I was five minutes late at Mallingar, and
five minutes late at Athlone.
As a matter of fact, were you endeavouring to
pull up lost time ?—I 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 three.quarters 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 case of Thomas Henry.
The murder of the two sisters Anne and Ellen
Murphy, at Great Holy wood, near Balbriggan,
still excites speculation as to the perpetrator cf the
crime. The brother of the woman W3B brought up
oa remand yesterday at the Balbriggan Court-
house, and, on the application of Mr Bey tagh, 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 hie 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 havelbeen searching through
the locality indicated since Sunday, hut 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-

The Cotton Manufacturing Districts.

STocs.roßT.—The police return of mills at work in this
borough for the fortnight ending 17th October has been
issued. The total number of hands employed in better times
was 20,330 ; at present 7,139 are working full time, 1,004
four or five days per week, 4,377 shorter time, while 7,810
are wholly unemployed. As compared with the return of
previous month, there appears to be an increase of 1,315
working full time, a decrease of 177 employed four and five
days a week; and an increase o 1 3,141 working less time,
and a total of 2,270 fewer unemployed. The apparent in-
crease of employment may be accounted for by the fact
that a fortnight ago the largest mill, employing 1500 hands,
stopped for repairs, and has now resumed work.
BLACKBURN AND TIIE PUBLIC WORKS ACT.—
From a return just prepared by the Borough Surveyor of
Blackburn we learn that there are 1,071 operatives em-
ployed under the Public Works Act in Blackburn, of whom
448 are skilled labourers and 623 factory operatives. Dur-
ing the last month the Corporation expended on works un-
der this act £2,769 10e 8d ; of which £1,397 16s 7d was on
sewerage works, and £1,334 lh 10d on highways. The
month's receipts for work done were £315 4s 10d. In all
£60,000 has been borrowed under the act, and about 4.50,000
has been expended ; of this sum about £3,000 has been re-
paid.

THE ROSENDALE DISTRICT.—The following re-
turn of the state of employment in the cotton mills
of Bacup, Stacksteads, Newchurch, Rawtenstall, and Craw-
shaw Booth, made up to Oct. 31, shows a large increase in
the number of persons entirely without work. Bacup :
Working full time, 449, against 1,312 in the previous week ;
four or five days, 1,079, against 1,190; three days, 644,
against 525; two days and under, 15 ?., against 160 ; entirely
out of work, 2,040, against 1,175. Stacksteads : 'Working
full time, 298, previous month none ; four or five days
none, previous month, 124; three days, 45, previous
month 350; entirely without work, 691, against 560 in the
previous month. Newchurch : Working full time, 229,
against 683 in the previous month; four or five days, 671,
against 608 ; three days, 241, against 169 ; two days and
under,r7o, previous month, none ; entirely without work,
1,161, previous month, 919. Rawtenstall and Crawshaw
Booth—Working full time, 1,979, against 1,101 in the pre-
vious month ; four .or five days, 951, against 1,296 ; three
days, 420, against 811; entirely without work, 1,513,
against 1,668.