The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-23 00:00:00

A RUNAWAY 'ENGINE.

On Wednesday afternoon last an accident occurred on
the Great Northern line of railway, near York, which
resulted in a, cansiderable loss of property. and might
have teen attended with an awful sacrifice of human
lite. It appears that the driver of an engine having oc-
casion go- into a station at York, ho left his engine in
charge of he stoker. who, in order to save time, as he
though', endeavored to shunt it on the other liar. For
this purpose be partially put on the. steam, and then got
of aed went to turn the points, infeeding to jump on Vie
engine as. soon ea . it bad pawed oil to the proper
,line.
Cfafortetriately, however, the escape valve cloud,' and
away roshed the engine out of the station, at the rate or
thirty mites an hour. All attempts to overtake fj, were
' of course futile in the extreme, f;r in a short time
velocity inerased to sixty inileft 'an hoar. Ahodt a
entree front York, the driver of a coal train who teal pro-,
ceeding along the drrwn line-saw the ittineway engine
appreaching, and he instantly revers2tl his engtoc in
order to avoid the coosequeoees _of, a collisim, which
was appm ;SI!) eooner lied ha- dice, this
:liar: this other eu,iino was ;veil, him, ,a a., he and the
stokpr juerfp,,el off just its ..she 'Oat: piece,
end forttitoitely escaped uninjorer!.: The crash peoetic,d
by the opu'osing engines was tretnendotet; several of the
coil4agg,,sro were conipletelYThattf)fred in -^ piedcs. and
the tender of the rpnawey wits feice4 up to the •top of
the 'i,ngine.. where it remained fixsit an firm. The da-
wage la s,,eirticerl •Idpwaids ,If ,1100/. Alter twee
delay the-de.arismere cleattin of 3 tb t line. so as to en-
able the traina to pass, and thu4 no serious impediment
was,eauseti. to Ole, t!:Ata LI ad the Aptandent new rred. a
• few Minatses, later the engine wont:haw' ante iti'CoA.ect
with the s—s whirrs tolloweti real train, and it
is fearful to eint.empiate t e consequineee whion must
then have ensued. Tile stoker is placed in custody.
Shortie after th,e occurretme+ of this estaStropbe. the
stoker. George Whitted, who had so recklessly been the
cause of the mischief, wa, taken into ca,tody to await an
.examination before the magistratc,s. On the following
d,.) ('fnursd.-sy) he was brought up hetore the Lord
Mayor.. at the Gutldhall. The specific charge laid
against him was, tali!: he, being a servant of the Y.Jrk
and North Midland Railway Company, endaugered the
lives of the passengers travelling on their line, by wil-
fully neglecting his duty while in Charge of one of the
engines, by leaving the said engine.
William Gray, jun., E,q, secretary of the company,
appealed in support of the information, and stated that
it was one preferred, from a sen,e of duty towards the
public, against a man who had caused an occident of so
serious and extensive a nature as the company felt Om y
could not overlook. 'He was a man who had always
borne an excellent character, and had invariably con-
ducted himself with propriety; but as he had been the
instrument whereby the serious damage had resulted,
and as he had placed in jeopardy the lives of the railway
passengers as well as his fellow-workmen employed upon
the line, it was necessary, as a warning to others, that
an example should be made of him. Mr. Gray then
briefly
.recapitulated the facts of the case, as detailed
above.

The Lord Mayor, in adjudicating upon the cue, said
the defendant had been guilty of the grossest negligence
and reckkoness of conduct that it was possible to con-
ceive, and consequently a severe example ought to be
made of hint. The driver and stoker of the goods train
had, by a providential interference, for he could call it
nothing else, saved their lives by jumping off their en-
gine. Had the express train come up, which it provi-
dentially did no, au immense sacrifice of life, fearful to
contemplate. would doubtless have been the result. He
bad received a good character; his Lordship, however,
could not but declare that his condude had been negli-
gent, wilful, and culpable in till highest degree. His
Lordship then inflicted upon the defendant the maximum
penalty of the law—namely, 101. Whittal paid 51., nod
was allowed a short time to pay the other N.

ROYAL HIGHLAND SOCIETY.
Yesterday the members of this loyal body held a ge-
neral court at the Freemasons' Tavern, to elect office-
bearers and transact other 'business for the year. After
which they, with a large number of friends, dined to-
gether in the great hall. In the absence of his Excel-
lency the Lord-Lieutenaat of Ireland (the President),
Sir John Campbell, K.c.R., presided, supported by
Cluny MacPherson, Generel Delamotte; Captains Jay,
Phillimore, Hall, Wilkie, Forbes, Richardson, and
Dr. Est, Life Guards; Messrs. C. Sutherland, James
Murray, Reynolds, M.P., J. Coppock, Thomas .Macgre-
ger, and4r. Bain, honorary secretary, &c. The object
of this society—established in 1778—i9- to preserve the
national spirit, dress,•&c., of Caledonia, as well as to
improve the condition of the highlands. The occasion
of the Gstival being, according to custom, the anniver-
sary of the victory of Alexandria, one of the leading
toasts was •' The memory of Sir Ralph Aber-
crombie nod those who fell with him in Egypt."
The Chairman, having previously given the " Health
of Prince Albert, in conjunction with that of the Queen,"
said he need offer no apology for again proposing
the health of his Royal Highness as the chief of \the
Highland Society. "The Clans and Chiefs " was re-
sponded to by Cluny Macpherson, who' expressed-his
belief that the Scottish clans alone would suffice to pro-
tect dour chores from any foreign invaders; that they,
to a man, would gladly take the place of all rifle or other
volunteer corps, and fight to the' last to protect their
country and the Queen, who bad shown herself so well
deserving of their loVe. Among the other toasts were
" Caledonian Asylum. and its able supporter, Cap—
tain Forbes;" and a The Emerald Isle," responded to
by Mr. Reynolds, M.P. The bagpipes ot-Angus Mackay,
the Queen's piper, and of the children of the Caledonian
Asylum, kept up a merry and exciting series of airs
throughout the evening, Which wasfurther enlivened by
a Highland dance, admirably executed by Mackersle of
Avock, Cluny Macpherson, Macdonald of Isistrennoh,
and Mr. Bain.

The dinner and wines were .served up in excellent
style, the managers of this favourite dining-hall elmost
exceeding their predecessors in their attention to the
aaures of the company, tbr lessees of the Freemuson*'
Tavern beieg now the former officials under Messrs.
Cuff and Bacon.

Mr.. Moody and Mr. Sinclair sang several songs
during the evening,.

ROYAL CALEDONIAN ASYLUM.---yesterday the
annual general court of the guardians of this institution was
held in the hall of the Scottish Hospital, Crane-court. In
the absence of his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant of Ire-
land, who was to have presided, the chair was taken by Sir
John Heron Maxwell, Bart., one of the treasurers. The
minutes of the last quarterly court having been confirmed,
the secretary submitted, for the sanction of the court, an
appeal in b half of the asylum, soliciting for it the support of
all Scotcbmen, which, with some modifications, was agreed
to. It was stated that although the asylum was built for
the reception of 200 inmates, the children of sailors, solders,
and marines, natives of Scotland, yet that, from want of
adequate support, only 108 are on the books, and that these
are maintained at the annual expanse of 1,0001. above the
income, the items for last year being—incom, 1,500/.; ex-
penditure, 2,500/ On the motion of Lord James Stuart,
M.P., seconded by David C. Macrae, Esq.. it was ordered
that the children be supplied with a pudding dinner one day
in the week. His Grace the Duke of Montrose was elected
vice-president, vice Lord Melville, deceased, and thA usual
roue ins business having been transacted, the proceedings
terminated with a vote of thanks to the chairman.

SOCIETY or ANTIQUABIES.—On Thurrday evening
Sir
R the vire-president in the chair,
and in H.
trodluncgk dlis,Tßhaoritria, was
Leach, Esq. (nephew of the late
Master of the Rolls), as a member, and the Rev. Mr. Freer,
Prebendary of Hereford, was elected. Two interesting
papers were read, both connected with royal expenditure
sums two or three centuries ago. One of them was a letter
to Sir Henry Ellis, from Mr. R. Cole, on the regalia of
Charles 11., as formerly in the custody of Sir G. ; and
the other, a communication from Sir C. G. Young, garter,
giving very curious details of money paid on thec arrm;:airalg:if
of Elizabeth, daughter of James 1., with the Elector Pala-
tine. This was the second of two very disastrous unions
belonging to this period, the first being that of
Somerset, with the Countess of Essex, which, led to the
murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. The particulars furnished
by Sir C. G. Young related to the journey of the Electrons
P.uatine, immediately after her marriage, to Germany,
whither she was accompanied by the Duke of Lennox and
Lord Lisle, who did not travel ak their own charges, but
made it a regular item against tills State, included in the
gross sum of 100,0001., which the ceremonial coat this
country, equal to at least half a million of ourresent cue.
rency. The venerable Mr. Ady Repton closed
ec arm
of the evening by a short letter, d his n that
the iron instruments for dr • g opinion the p business
dragging soldiers from their horses,
which he had recently presented to the museum of the society,
belonged rather to the reign of Edward lIL than to the
period of the civil wars.

PIG THR WIND.—The following
RATH
no ared to cured lately iu Upper Silesi% One night there appeared
by
a wealthy widow a MeSietiger from St. 17,t42„Ta. asudrrraft for 100
a supernatural glory, and holding in his -d her lately de-
thalers, payable to bes.rer, drawn on her by
atten-
incident on
ceased husband, to meet the fees and other expenses
dint on his entry into heaven. The affectionate widow,
facilitate his entrance into
anxious to do all honour to her husband'sten _
ea to look up the
had only
signature, and to
70 thalers by her,
money, but as she unfortunately d
haelship to call again was compelled to request his ailF of the place, on
to-
morrow for the balance. The clergyman
on the widow to al-
being consulted the next day,
prevailedto witness the payment, so that
paradise,
low him and the magistrate,. appeared again according to
when the heavenly messe-1-seized by profane hands and
was roughly
appointment, be
st part of all is, that next
1. the strange
incarcerated ;"t - f d empty, and his mode of escape
isoe was oun
Morning his Pr
remains a secret.
STEAM VESSELS
.—A return to the House of Coln-
mons gives the number ofvoyages and tonnage of British
which entered the ports of the
United King-
steam vessels Hollnd, and Belgium, during the year
King-
dom. from France,
made was 1,625;
that France umber of voyages
1851. From
999. From Holland the number of voyages
the tonnage, 285 ,
22 020 From Belgium the number
was the tonnage, 4, .
184;was
of voyages 321;
for
foreign steam vessels shows that 2
foreign vessels together
which
of 149 tons, entered from France, 136 from _ Holland, of
.
and btl Wool mougluln.
the aggregate tonnage was 31,318 tons,
of which the tonnage was 22,151.