The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-29 00:00:00

The Accident at Blackfriars-bridge.

Yesterday afternoon Mr. W. J. Payne, the deputy
coroner for the city of London, opened an inquiry,
at the Board-room of Bridewell Hospital, Bridge-
street, into the cause of the death of James Ellis,
one of the labourers employed in the construction of
the bridge across the Thames in connexion with the
London, Chatham, and Dover Railway. The de-
ceased was one of the men who fell into the river on
Saturday, in consequence of the falling of one of the
travelling cranes used in the construction of the
works.

•
Mr. Freshfield said he attended on the part of the
company as well as the contractors, and as there
had been some misapprehension with regard to the
construction of the works, be had caused a number
of witnesses to be in attendance beyond those sworn.
John Robert Chapple, of New-court, Deptford,
lighterman, deposed picking up the body of the
deceased, which was floating in the river, opposite
Somerset House, on Wednesday last.
Thomas Wild, a labourer, said he was employed
on the same works as the deceased, and was work-
ing with hint on the same traveller or crane. The
traveller worked on cross-beams, from the upright
piles. He was in the traveller with the deceased
when the accident took place, and fell into the river
with him. The underneath timbers upon which
the rails were supported gave way, precipitating
the traveller and the men into the river. There was
no weight on the traveller at the time; it was only
being moved, and he believed that the breakage
took place about the middle of the cross beams of
the stage. There were seven men moving the tra-
veller by the winch chain slowly. He believed that
was the first time the traveller was on the stage,
and when in the middle of it the whole of the seven
men, including
himself, fell into the river.
John Smith, also a labourer, deposed that he was
on the traveller at the time of the accident. He
corroborated the evidence given by the previous
witness, adding that the stage had been erected
about a week before. Four of the beams across the
stage broke in the centre.
Mr. William Paynter, foreman over the labourers
on the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, em-
ployed by Messrs. Peto and Betts, deposed that the
beams of the stage where the accident took place
were about the centrearch of the bridge. The span
of the stage was about 71 feet. The beams on which
the traveller ran were about 16 feet wide. There
was nothing uncler the beams. There were four
beams and four lines of rails. All of them were
being used. The traveller had eight wheels. It was
about 14 or 15 tons in weight, and was being moved
by seven men at the top. It was capable ofcarry-
ing 50 or 60 tons weight. At the time of the acci-
dent he was standing on the lower beam, nearest to
London-bridge. The beam that broke was on the
Surrey side. He could not say whether it was the
metal or the timber that first gave way. The
beams lap over the stage about nine feet on each
side; that would make 89 feet in the whole length.
The beams were joined together, and were two feet
wide and sixteen inches thick. He believed they
broke rn asound part of the timber, but he had not
examinedit since the accident. He fully believed
that the tramway was perfectly safe, and was con-
structed in the usual way.
By the Coroner—He understood that the beams
were so constructed as to carry more than double
the weight of the traveller itself. The beam broke
about nine feet from the Surrey side of the span.
George Perkins, foreman of the carpenters, said
he assisted in the construction of the tramway under
his superiors. The stage was completed on Monday
week. 'r he beams of the tramway were composed of
several pieces bolted together, there being also an
iron truss rod from ono stage to the other. There
wore two rods under each beam, there being truss
brackets underneath. The first truss bracket from
the Surrey side was about nine feet from the bridge.
The beams were two feet and a half wide by 13-lin.
thick. After the tramway had been constructed he
could not say that it was tested. When the traveller
went on to it it was the first time it bad been used.
The beams were constructed of new Baltic timber.
London-
bridge. The lower beam broke first, breaking the
it appeared to him to be sound, there was no flaw
it. The beams were not braced toge-
ther, htisthree.
He had since examined the beam, and
that gave way was nearer to e
considered unnecessary. The rails re-
mainoTthhewhatever
a atets i ha irte
the n
bottom of the river. The iron tie beam
below did not break. The truss beneath the tram-
way was about four feet in depth.
A plan was produced of the tramway, which the