The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-19 00:00:00

/ glad that the Government had taken the initiative
1 in this matter, and gave it as his opinion that the
time had arrived when there should be a consolida-
tion of the City prisons, the expense of which was
altogether incommensurate with their importance.
"The Alderman was continuing to comment on this
topic, when he was reminded that it was irrelevant
to the motion before the Court. The motion was
then put and carried. The Town Clerk read a
return presented by the Chamberlain, to an order
of the Court, showing that Mr. J. R. Whithair,
late keeper of Giltspur-street Compter, had been
in the receipt of a retiring allowance of £3OO since
September, 1854; Mr. W. W. Cope, late governor
of Newgate, of £5OO since December, 1855 ; and
Mr. Thomas Burden, late keeper of the Debtor's
Prison, of £4OO, since December, 1857. Alder-
man Halt presented a petition from Mr. B. Pever-
ley, an attorney in the city, praying that the Court
would order payment to him of £3O, his charges for
proceedings for the release of prisoners confined in
the Debtors Prison of Whitecross-street. This led
to a discussion as to the manner in which certain
charities given by some of the city companies for
the relief of persons confined for debt, and their
families had of late been administered. The conver-
sation arose in an incidental way; statements were
made on the one side with respect to Lieut.-Colonel
Hicks, lately governor of Whitecross-street Prison,
and contradicted on the other, and the matter which
was regarded by a majority of the Court as irrele-
vant, was left in an unsatisfactory state. Colonel
Wilson having taken occasion to reiterate his com-
plaint that there had been no governor of White-
cross-street Prison for nine months, the Lord
Mayor, interposing, said, having been chair-
man of the Gaol Committee, and being chief
magistrate, he might be permitted to state that in
consequence of the alteration in the laws relating
to bankrupts and insolvent debtors, which had pro-
duced a state of transition, it had been thought de-
sirable not to make any permanent appointment of
a governor of the Debtors' Prison, but to confide it
for the present to the care of the person who had
been chief officer under the late governor. That
arrangement had been referred to Mr. Parry, an
inspector of prisons, who had written a letter to
the effect that the prison was never in better order
than at present, and that it would be wise and pru-
dent to continue the arrangement until the full
effect of the change in the law should be ascer-
tained. Alderman Copeland, MX., said Col.
' Hicks had never been appointed governor by the
present sheriffs, and that his term of office ended
with that of the late sheriffs. Eventually, on the
motion of Alderman Challis, the petition :of Mr.
Poverley was ordered to lie on the table, which was
tantamount to its dismissal, and. the court ad-
' jonrned.

LA W 1N TELLIGENCE,—(Feb. 18.)

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

(Sittings at Nisi Prius, at Guildhall, before the
Lord Chief Justice and a Special Jury.)

FORD V. TIIE LONDON AND SOUTII-WESTERN RAIL-

WAY COMPANY.

Mr. Macaulay, Q.C., Mr. Manisty, Q.C., Mr.
Hindmarch, Q C., and Mr. Macroy appeared for
the plaintiff; and Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., and Mr.
Johnston for the defendants.

The trial of this cause, which has occupied the
time of the Court since Thursday, was concluded
to-day. The plaintiff, as we have in our previous
reports stated, claimed compensation for injuries
sustained on the line of the defendants, near Wim-
bledon, on the 28th of January, 1861. The real
question was whether or not the defendants had
been guilty of negligence. Probably no case
which ever came before a jury was fought with
more energy. Almost every point raised was argued.
Facts and theories were disputed on either side.
Witnesses of every genus and species were called ;
practical and scientific men of the greatest emi-
nence crowded the court. Such gentlemen as Colonel
Yolland, Sir Charles Fox, Mr. Nasmyth, Mr.
M'Connell, Mr. Bidder, Captain Huish, Mr. Strapp,
Mr. Bovill, and Mr. Woodhouse were examined
and cross-examined in the most minute and ex-
haustive manner, and the view contended for by
the company, that there were some accidents which
could not be prevented, was elaborated and com•
mented upon at great length. The plaintiff pointed
out several cases which contributed to the accident.
The defendants said that it was attributable to
none of these, and asserted their inability to assign
any reason for the train leaving the line. Mr. Bovill,
it is true, said that an axle might have become bent
during the journey. This theory, however, was not
very strongly urged by the company.
In reference to the question of damages, it was
stated that the plaintiff, feeling a sudden jerk, ex-
claimed, "Good gracious, the carriage is off," and
that he was immediately hurled over, and lost his
senses. When examined by a medical man it was
found that two ribs were broken on his right side,
his left shoulder blade was injured, his chest was
very much bruised, and his left shoulder was
broken. He was under the doctor's special care for
ten weeks, and for a considerably longer period he
required attendance, and was unable to superintend
his business. Before the accident he was a strong
and healthy man, but since then he had been ex-
ceedingly nervous and irritable, his eyesight had
become defective, and he had not since been able
perfectly to use his arm, nor was his shoulder
quite in the position in which it should be.
On behalf of the defendants it was stated that the
question as to how this accident occurred was con-
sidered of great importance to the scientific world,
and no expense would be spared by railway com-
panies to investigate the matter, in order to avoid
such an accident for the future. Deeply as the
directors deplored the accident, their answer to
the action was that it had not been caused
by any negligence upon the part. Nearly
eighty trains had passed over the spot where the
accident occurred on the same day, and for six
weeks afterwards the line was left in precisely the
same state, except that a broken rail was replaced,
so that anybody might fully examine it, and
100 trains a day passed along without accident
and without danger of accident. The plaintiff
contended that the speed was too great, but
it must be borne in mind that the train was an
express one, and it had taken nineteen minutes to
travel the 8.1 miles from London. Now, as to the
state of the railway. It was not possible to have
a line that was at all times perfect in its gauge,
and at that moment there was not a railway in
the kingdom in which there were not variations in
gauge to the same extent as those spoken to by the
plaintiff's witnesses, especially in curves. The
same observation applied to the superelevation of
one rail round the curve. The weather, of
course, materially affected railways, and preced-
ing the accident there had been a long continu-
ance of wet weather, followed by a frost, which
had subsequently broken up. On the 16th of
Jan. a notice was issued ordering engine men and
all concerned " to direct the most particular atten-
tion to engines and tenders during the continuance
of the present frosty weather," and saying that
" they must make the most minute and rigid scru-
tiny of every part so as to detect flaw or breakage,
and they will be rewarded for any defect they may
discover in proportion to the skill exercised in find-
ing it out." It concluded by saying " when the
frost breaks up great injury to all parts of the line
may be anticipated, and engineers are therefore to
be more than usually vigilant and careful, reducing
speed as necessary, and reporting any bad part of
the line at the next station at which the train
stops." On the 24th January a driver reported the
road to be in a bad state between Wimbledon and
Wey bridge, and on the 25th another driver made a
similar report of the line between Wimbledon and
Malden junction. These defects it was impossible to
avoid ; but it was found that there was no bad bit for
half a mile before getting to the Epsom junction,
nor for 400 yards past it. On the 26th an order
was issued that as it was reported that the line was
in a bad state between Wimbledon and Malden,
enginemen were to reduce speed there and to report
the time lost at the end of the journey; and the
platelayers were at once sent to put the line in order.
As to the tender-wheel, it was perfectly true that
the rim had turned round upon the other part of the
wheel ; but there was this additional circumstance,
that the defect having been discovered, the wheel
was on the 20th December sent into the workshop,
where it was put properly in order, and it remained
running, and the rim was perfectly tight until
the accident. It would also be shown from marks
made, by the evideece of the enginemen, and from
other circumstances, that it was not a tender-
wheel but a carriage wheel that first got off the line,
and the tender-wheel in no way caused the acci•
dent. As to breaks, the power of retarding the
train was the same whether the break was at the
middle, beginning, or end of the train, and there
were some advantages in having the break in the
middle of the train. As to the quantity of break
power in this case, it would be shown that it was
perfectly sufficient. There was one other head of
negligence suggested by the plaintiff's counsel,
which was this. Thn company's regulations say
that "in all cases no engine shaii pahs through any
junction points at a speed of more than 12 miles an
hour," and the plaintiff's counsel submited that this
applied to a train going along the main line and