The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-14 00:00:00

The Late Dreadful Accident near Lynn.

KING'S LYNN, Thursday Afternoon.
The proceedings before Mr. Beloe, the borough
coroner, was resumed this morning at the Guildhall.
Mr. Edwards represented the railway company,
and Mr. Coulton, solicitor of Lynn, appeared for
the family of the deceased, Mr. John Dennis.
After some evidence bad been adduced similar to
that given on the former inquest,
Captain Tyler read the following statements by
the permission of the coroner, as the company felt

the -decision of the inquest as too strong :
" I will now, gentlemen, with the coroner's per-
mission, say a few words in my own defence, in
consequence of the censure which I have so unex-
pectedly, and as I think very unjustly, received in
a recent verdict. _ _

" It was quite impossible for me to distinguish, in
passing over the line in September last, between
those ditches which retained and those which would
lose their water during the present summer. The
farmers who live on the land from year to year
have good opportunities of observing the rise and
fall of the water in the district, but no person
visiting the country for the first time, and for a
limited period, can pretend to form an accurate
judgment in this respect. It any of them had taken
the trouble to write ever so short a note to the
Board of Trade before the line was inspected, and
expressed, however feebly, the apprehension that
they now, after the lamentable occurrence, proclaim
so loudly, my attention would in that case have
been specially directed to the subject. I should have
placed myself in communication with them when I
made my inspection, and we should have had a dif-
ferent result. I need hardly tell you, for instance,
if I could have foreseen that the ditch opposite Mr.
Bloomfield's field would become dry in the present
year, and be for this reason a cause of danger to
the public, I should have required the railway com-
pany to place a higher fence on the inside of it.
' u mi.. Valentine, the engineer who constructed
the line, who has had considerable experience in
similar marsh districts, was himself deceived with
regard to the water. The low fence was, of course,
only intended as an additional protection to wet
ditches. He paid great attention to the construc-
tion of those fences, and if he could have. formed a
more accurate judgment he would, of course, have
extended the high fence for a greater distance along
both sides of the line.
" I have myself no control over the construction
of railways, and am only called upon to inspect
them after they are supposed to be complete and
ready for traffic; and I would put the question to
you in this way. Supposing that I was called upon
near the end of next month—
round again—to as September is coming
inspect a similar line through a
similar country, and were to find, as in this case,
wet ditches with a low fence, and dry ditches with
a high one, should I say to the engineer, ' I mis-
trust your wet ditches, and therefore you shall now
add a high fence along the whole of the line, and
I will recommend the Beard of Trade to postpone
the opening of the line from to month
month
until it is completed.' If I were to adopt
this course, gentlemen, shareholders and directors,
engineers and managers, would all cry out, and
would justly complain of being put to unnecessary
expense in construction and delay in opening ; de-
putations would be aent up to the Board of Trade,
and an impatient public would join in denouncing
me as an unreasonable inspector, and one to whom
such duties ought not to be entrusted.
4' The engineer of the line would naturally cry
out, . Let us open the line, and we will add to the
fences, from time to time, as experience may show
it to be necessary ;' and I should be obliged to recom-
mend the Board of Trade to allow the opening of
the railway upon that explanation, leaving it to the
railway company to maintain, from time to time, a
sufficient fence at the side of the railway, and to
clear them out and to repair them, and add to them
as may be required, taking due care of the safety
of the public while they did so.
"I can only, by recommending the Board of
Trade to postpone the opening of the line from
month to month, cause such deficiencies to be recti-
fied as I am able to observe, and I feel, I assure you,
a heavy
responsibility in Going. so ; but I am obliged
to trust to the care and watchfulness of the officers
and servants of the railway company in guarding
against contingencies which constantly arise—,manyof them of far greater importance
than the condi-
tions of the fences— the inworking of a railway.
The present accident will, however, bring the ques-
tion of fences into greater prominence than anything
that has previously occurred in railway hiGct..rv.
•and
will, no doubt, induce greater care on all hands
with regard to it.
" Government inspection, before the opening of a
line, d It is the means of
does good in many ways.
obtainin for bridges, a better perma-
nent g rat. stronger
way, more substantial earthworks, superior
system of Signals, and a more finished railway than
you would have in ' •of without it ;
but it cannot be expected
the majon cases
make up for defect of
to
maintenance, inasmuch as the inspector has no eon-