The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-11 00:00:00

The Fatal Accident at London Bridge Station .

Last evening, Mr W. Payne, coroner for Southwark, he
an inquiry at Guy's Hospital respecting the deaths of twc )
men, George Start and James May; who were cut to piece'
last Saturday morning, near the London-bridge Station of
the South-Eastern Railway.

J. Ashton, engine driver, said—On Saturday morning ht,
was bringing up the Hastings express train, due at London,-
bridge at 11 15, When within 500 yards of the station, the.
train was switched off the main up-line on to the Croydon
up-line, which is within 2ft 4in of the parapet. Just at
that moment he saw the two deceased between the metals
and the wall. He reversed the engine and put on the breaks,
but the train was on them in a moment. One of them
looked at witness, and caught hold of the other to pull him
out of the way, when they were struck by the buffer-beam
which projected over the metals. Witness saw them spin-
ning round between the carriage and the wall for the whole
length of the train. There was not room for tiny person
to stand between the wall and the pr-jections of the train
—there could be no escape from such a position.
James Elwards and John Baggy described the fearial
state in which they fund the two deceased on the line,
May had been crushed against the wail for a distance of
100 yards from where the train first struck him, and a
trace of blood along the parapet was distinctly visible. He
was cut to pieces. Start was not so badly crushed, and he
lived two hours. They had been employed to post bills of
the "Route to Paris" on a board over the parapet at the
viaduct, and to enable them to stand on the parapet they
had a small ladder with them. Trains were passing the
spot every three or four minutes, and it was not possible to
tell until the train was within 60 yards of where they stood
whether it would continue on the main up line or come in
next the wall on to the Croydon up line.
Mr May, inspector of the South-Eastern Company's ad-
vertising department, said that the deceased were employed
in the engineer's yard, and he directed them to paste the
bills because they knew all about the trains, If they had
commenced their work at 6 o'clock they could have had it
all over by 9, before the heavy traffic commenced, but they
deferred the business too late.
The Coroner having summed up,

Thejury returned a verdict that the deceasel were kind
accidentally while pasting bills on the South-Eastern line,
and the jury recommended that all bills should in future be
pasted before 8 o'clock in the morning, and that no adver-
tising boards should be erected within at least 200 yards of
a switching junction,

Lord Enfield, M.P., and Mr. Lindsay, EP.,
at Uxbridge.

Lord Enfield and Mr. Lindsay, M.P., were among the
speakers at the annual dinner of Coe Middlesex Agricul-
tural Society, which took plae 3 at Uxbridge on Friday. Lord
Enfield defended the foreign policy of the Government—
especially with regard to the American and Dano-German
wars. With regard to domestic affairs, it had been said by a
high authority that they would do well to " rest and be
thankful." That came well from an old veteran who had
borne himself nobly in many a well-fought political field ;
but with regard to those younger men, who had yet their
pc litical spurs to win, he thought they ought to have another
watchword, "Move with the times." (Cheers) If they
looked around them, they saw that in Parliament they had
yet much work to do. In the state of their laws, and in
many other matters to which he need not particularly allude,
there was a wide field for their exertions. Everything in the
material and physical world was advancing, and daily pro-
ducing new fields for honourable effort and employment,
and they could not, therefore, sit with their hands folded
and say that al legislators their labour was at an end ; on
the contrary, he believed that before them they had a great
Tuture, and if they again conferred upon him the honour
of being one of their representatives, he would over be
animated with a warm desire to pursue the path of peace,
I progress, and improvement in all matters which affected
the prosperity of the country.—Mr Lindsay said he
agreed with his noble friend that their wisest course was
not to interfere in the American contest. Mediation would
be useless, and he had never advocated mediation, much
less interference, but had always been an humble, earnest
advocate of peace. He had looked upon this vain and
wicked war with hornr and disgust. (Hear.) Ho agreed
with the statesmen of England when they pronounced
through Mr Gladstone that the Southern people, both in
the management of their internal affairs, and in the defence
of their liberties and their homes, were a nation. The ma-
jority of the people of England felt that they were a nation
able to defend themselves against the masses of the North ;
and he thought it was their duty, not to interfere, not to
mediate, but to advise their Sovereign, in the exercise of
for just prerogative, to receive at her Court the representa •
tive of a people who had shown themselves, in every sense
of the word, a nation. (Hear.) The other Great Powers of
Europe were willing to follow their example, and he be-
lieved that the moral ff_ct of recognition would have
stayed the dreadful war. The Northern Government,
through Mr Seward, had now avowed that the restoration

of the Union, and not the extinction of the iniquitous sys-
tem of slavery, was the object of the war ; and if England
and the other Powers of Europe hal recognised the South,
and thus shows that they believed the restoration of the
Union to be vain, the moral effect on the people of the Nor h
would most likely have been such as to stay this desollting
war. England had great interest in seeing the people of
America great, prosperous, and industrious; and he feared
that the policy which had been adopted by those who had
the destinies of England in their hands had been a mis
taken one. There now prevailed in the North an exasre-
rated feeling against England ; and if in connection with
their American colonies, they got into trouble with the
North, they had lost the warm hearts, if not the material
aid, of the South. (Bear, hear.)

HEALTH OF LORD CARLISLE.—The Earl of Care
lisle continues very prostrate at his seat, Castle Howard,
Melton. Hic lordship's medical attendants report, however,
tl.at th3re was throughout the whole of last week a regular
improvement in his lordship's condition, and they are not
without hopes that, with quiet and retirement, his health
may be much restored.

FRIGTITFUL FALL OVER A BRIDGE.-A van con•
taining two persons was crossing the bridge at
Airdrie a few days ago, when it came into violent contact
with the parapet. The occupants of the vehicle were thrown
over the bridge, falling a distance of some 30 feet into the
rocky bed of the river below, which, unfortunately, was at
th) time almost free of water. They were fol:owed by the
horse and machine. Singularly enough the Tr fell on
its feet, e•ad wes led home afterwer is apparent;_ -.0: much
the worse of the accident. It was net so with the 41, n, ciao
of whom was picked up insensible from external and inter-
nal injuries, and carried into an apartment adjei2ing t
store, and the other had his jawbone broken, and a number
cf teeth knccked out, but wee in a condition to be carried
home. Hopes cf the recovery of the lat ter are entertained,
bat the life of the former is despaired of.

5
THE "BLACK BALL" SHlPS.—Advices havo
been received in advance of the Australian mail,
per telegram from Sucz, of the arrivals of the ships
Southern Empire, Captain Reeves, and the Royal Dane,
Captain L. Davies, both from Liverpool, at Melbourne, the
Royal Albert, Captain Davis, from London, at Sydney ;
the Young Australian, Captain C. Grey, from London, the
Fusiliers, Captain D. Carvosse, fram London, and the
Sultana, Captain 11. Williams, from Liverpool, all cat
Brisbane, Moreton By. And of the sailing of the ships,
the Matilda, Captain Stevenson, the Southern Empire,
Captain Reeves, and the Dul:a of Newcastle, C:.ptoin
M'Kenzie, all from Melbourne.
NATIONAL EXIIIBITIONS.—TIin returns of the
number of visitors to national institutions give the
following results for these 11, which we place in order ac-
cording to the extent to which they attract the public :
South Kensington Museum, National Gallery, British
Museum, Kew Gardens, Hampton Court Palace, Houses of
Parliament, the Tower, Windsor Castle, Museum of Prac-
tical Geology, National Portrait Gallery, Sane Museum.
In 1861 they were visited by 2,845,445 persons; in 1862,
the Exhibition year, by 4,641,770 ; in 1863, with a sort of
reaction in sight-seeing, by only 2,656,773. But the South
Kensington Museum and Hampton Court Palace h .d more
visitors in 1863 than in IS6I.
NUMBER OF BILLS OF EXCHANGE.—The Inland
Revenue returns show that the number of bill stamps used
by the public is constantly increasing, In the financial
year 1861-62 the number issued from the Stamp-office was
5,397,195, and in the next year, 1862-53, 5,531,488. This is
exclusive of foreign bills. 1,795,187 stamps for foreign bills
were sold in the year 1861-62, and 1.951,602 in the year
1862-63. In this latter year stamps were sold for 6,740
inland bills, and 4,288 foreign, to be drawn for upwards of
£4,000 each. There is no return as yet of the number of
bill stamps sold in the year 1863-64, but it must be very
large, for the stamp duty received from them was more by
15 per cont. than in the year 1862-63.
DIABOLICAL ATTEMPT.—WOOLWICH, Oct. 10.—
fhe police are now engaged endeavouring to dia.
cover the perpetrator of a vile attempt to kill or injure some
persons connected with the Gun Factories' department of
the Royal Arsenal; It appears that a few days since a set
of drawers was removed from another department to the
clerks' offices at the Royal Gun Factories, and one of the
compartments was opened with some difficulty, when it
was found to be filled with powder and ball cartridge, a
flint-lock pistol, loaded and primed, being placed in such a
manner that a slight concussion would have caused it to
explode and the ammunition to become ignited. Fortunately
the pistol did not explode. and the object of the miscreant
was defeated. It is suspected that the attempt was made
by one of the emplo3 es at the department who has recently
been discharged.
THE EXPLOSION NEAR ERlTH.—Anoiher death
has resulted from the recent explosion at Belvedere. Yes-
terday the girl Elizabeth Oborn expired in Guy's Hos-
pital from serious wounds on the head and arms which she
received from the falling debris after the explosion. Her
case was almost hopeless from the first. The death of this
sufferer makes the total number of lives lost by the late
calamity 12. The rest of the wounded in Guy's Hospital
are reported to be in a fair way towards ultimate recovery.
Mr Sidney Turner, the house surgeon, is of opini ,n that
some of them will be in a condition to leave the hospital
this vet.k.