The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-26 00:00:00

THE LATE ACCIDENT ON THE LONDON
AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.

DOCHEa'S•LANE, WEDNESDAY.—The inquiry into the
circumstances attending the death of Mr. John Thomas
Beddington, commenced on the 33 inst., and carried on
by adjournment on the 11th and 17th inst., was resumed
and concluded to-day before Mr. W. Savage Poole and
the jury previously assembled at the Railway Inn, ad-
joining this station.
John Stephenson, a smith in the employ of the com-
pany at Rugby, was the first witness called. He re-
membered having repaired one of the stays of the ashpan
belonging to the engine No. 153. It was not now broken
in the same place. He admitted it might have been
better to make a new stay than to have mended the old
ono; but his orders were to mend the old one. Witness
had no power to make a new stay, whatever he thought,
unless he was told to do so.

CORONER—Suppose the iron of the stay was so weak
that you could not weld it, what would you do then?
Witness—l should wait to see Mr. Crawford, the loco-
motive foreman.

CORONER—Yea say that, in your opinion, a new stay
would have been better then to have mended the old ono?
Witness—Yes; of course it would.
CORONER—Why did you not say so at the time? Wit-
ness—l did. I objected to mend the stay when it was
brought to me by Ellison, but I was told it must be
mended, as the engine was wanted to go out.
CORONER—When you are in any doubt or trouble as
to your work, to whom is it your duty to apply? Wit-
ness—To Mr. Crawford, the locomotive superintendent.
CORONER—Did you apply to him about this stay?
Witness—No. I did not. I have scores of jobs brought
to me by the fitters in the course of the day, and it would
be impossible for me to apply to Mr. Crawford, except in
cases of importance.
Conorma—The jury and myself entertain a strong
opinion that sou ought to have referred this matter to
Mr. Crawford.
By M. Cleo,ther7The welded stay was as good a job
as I could make of it, and I had not the smallest doubt
that it was perfectly sound. A new stay might have been
better.
Some further evidence having boon gone into,
The CORONER proceeded to charge the jury with great
minuteness on the circumstances of the accident, and
pointing out those portions of the evidence deposed to by
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know, gentlemen, passengers by railway aro placed in a
very extraordinary situation—they put themselves en-
tirelyensfaidielireegel tohfethperi
company—they can't stir
hand or foot—they can't give any signal to the engine-
driver orguar , d but they place the most perfect confidence
under the control of the
in the company. Now, it seems to me only reasonable
and fair in return for a confidence of this sort, that the
company should do all they can, quite regardless of
iex-
pense, to carry their passengers as safely as possible;
and I for one, can .adroit of no distinction on this head
between first, second, or third-class passengers. I
think there may be a distinction n the amount
of comfort afforded them, but on the point of
safety there should bo none. I am led the
more particularly to make this observation because
some very extraordinary remarks have been recently
made by the chairman of a very important com-
pany, that passengers and hales of goods come to the
same thing, and that inasmuch as if you wish to insure
the safety of a valuable bale of goods you are bound to
insure it, so also you must insure the safety of a pas-
senger. I don't mean to say that the directors of the
London and North-Western Company are open to this
extraordinary charge, but I refer generally to this
matter to show you with how much jealousy accidents
decidenmt o,p theto hr e
on railways should at all times be watched. I think it
is to bo regretted, for instance, that these inquiries
should. not take place unless the occurrences are attended
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whether you aro satisfied from the evidence that the
ashpan became detached in consequence of any defects
which existed at the time of starting. If you think so,
then you will have to say whether those defects might
have been removed by the exercise of due care on the
part of the servants of the company; and if you think
they might have been removed, and were not, then you
will say who is the person or persons to whom this por-
tion of your verdict will apply.
The jury then retired, and remained in deliberation
about an hour. On their return into court the foreman
ottedneatvheordi
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handed inunanimously
t the
opinion following
Beddington was caused in consequence of the ashpan
thatwtrhi
having been severed from
the engine, but the cause of
such severance ig tOt., evidence before the jury."

THE GREArt TET:FISCOPE ON WANDSWORTH COM-
stoic —The following are the polrtfenfars of the refractive
powers and focal lengths of the lenses in the great achro-
matic telescope at Wandsworth•common, made b 7
Thomas Slater, of Somers-place meet! Euston-square —The
object glass is achromatic, consisting of piste and of flint
glass. The plate glass was cast by the Thames lat., Glass
Company, and is a moat excellent piece, being perfetjtly
homogeneous and free of stirm The refractive index of this
lass turned out to be 1.5103, and it is worked to a positive
focal length of 30 feet 11 inch. The flint glass is a very
superior piece, and does great credit to the manufacturers,
Messrs. Chance, of Birmingham. It is of unifosru density,
and very transparent; its refractive index is 1.6308, and it
is made to a negative focus of 49 feet 10i inches. The com-
bined focal length of the plate and flint glass lenses is 76
feet to parallel rays ; the focal length will be 85 feet only to
objects at about 708 feet distance from the object glass. The
diameter of the image of the full moon in this telescope is
about 8 inches, and Mr. Slater has made an eye piece of
that diameter, having a magnifying power of 125; another
eye piece, e, zitich takes about half the moon's diameter, has a
magnifying power of 250 ; otlief ey6 14,leees ere also made,
the powers of which vary from 500 to 3,000.
FINSBURY GENERAL DISPENSARY.--The usual
general quarterly court of the governors and subscribers to
this charity was held yesterday evening in the board-room of
the institution, Woodbridge-street, Clerkenwell, for the pur-
pose of receiving the report of the managing committee, and
upon other business. The report, after stating that the
number of patients admitted to the benefits of the charity
was fully an average, called upon the public to come forward
and support the committee in their endeavours to relieve the
sufferings of the sick poor. The minutes of former meetings
having been read and confirmed, and a day appointed for a
sermon to be preached on behalf of the fluids of the dispen•
sary, a vote of thanks was passed to the chairman. and the
meeting broke upc