The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-05 00:00:00

SPAIN.

M. Martinez de la Rosa has had a long interview
with the Minister of the Interior, which was of a
most satisfactory kind. It appears that the Govern-
ment will support M. Martinez de la Rosa as Vice-
President of the Royal Council. The decree rela-
tive to the liberty of the press is not yet ready.
Bourse.—Three per Cents., 4.41 ; Deferred, 24# ;
Exchange on London, 51 paper.

RATING OF THE LONDON AND NORTH-
WESTERN RAILWAY.

Yesterday a general.meeting of the vestry of St. Pan-
cras was held in the vestry-hall, King's-road, Camden-
town, for the purpose of hearing the appeal of the London
and North-Western Railway Company against the as-
sessment made upon the company's property in the
parish—James Parker Pierce, Esq., in the chair.
Mr. STRUTHERS, from the firm of Messrs. Swift and
Wagstaff, stated that he appeared to appeal against the
assessment of the property of the London an North-
Western Railway Company, situated in the parish of St.
Pancras. The present assessment was laid at 34,3311.,
whereas, by the late decision of the Court of Quarter
Sessions of Middlesex, the amount was fixed at 16,000/.
Mr. Wagstaff bad no objection to the appeal being gone
into that day, but the understanding was that this case
should stand over till the special case came before the
Court of Queen's Bench, and his principal witness was
subpoenaed elsewhere, but if the vestry declined to delay
the hearing till another day, he would at once go on
with the business of the appeal.
Mr. E. W. Watkins, examined by Mr. Struthers,
of t
stated that the gross earnings the railway in the
parish were 10,2291. The opening of the Great Nor-
thern and -Birmingham and Oxford lines had greatly
re-
duced the earnings of the line in that pari_sh ; from- theabove sum was to be deducted, for working and other
expenses, 6,2111., leaving 4,0181. liis valuation of the
Eustion-station, comprising the land and buil&ngs, was
5,248/. ; the Camden station he estimated as
7,3461.
The rateable value of the property, as laid down by M. r.
Serjeant Adams at the Quarter Session of September,
1851, was 12,718/. The expenses of the line were cal-
culated at 374 per cent. ; the gross receipts were esti-
mated at two-and-a-half millions, and the expenditure
at 1,300,000/. ; the amount of capital invested in the
"hole railway during the last year amounted to
26,000,000/. He could not say what the receipts were
at the Camden and Euston stations ; he did not believe
the property would have been so valuable had the coin-
P,:anY not
"ng the fixed the terminus at Euston-square. In estima-
judmentvalue of the property he was guided by his own
what it hadasooto what the property would let for, not
station had :t building. The portico at the Euston
beyond ornament
50,0001. ; its only value now was,
railway stationent merely nominal. He never knew a
Ruzby, which to be let except in one instance, that at
1,0001. cost 100,0001. in building, and let for-
Mr. J. G. yr
—ARnING' vestryman, regretted that a
gentlemn wha appeared
on behalf of the railway com-
pany should be ignorant
of
the rateable value of the pro-
perty removed by the erection of the two stations in the
parish. If
this this appuleitnt
company
any were permitted to go
on in
perpetuating a gross
robbery on the rest of the parieill)e
Mr. WATKINS contended that, while the company con.
tributed 3,000/. annually towards the rates, it caused no
increase in pauperism.
Mr. Churchwarden BILLET denied this assertion.
Mr. JOHN KISSICK moved that the assessment of the
railway property at 34,3311. be confirmed.
Mr. J. CRAMP seconded the resolution
some further discussion, was carriedl°n.; which, after
*ate with one di9sen-

SERIOUS RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR

OXFORD.

OXFORD, TUESDAY. A very shoetidn
mLoilnedeofn
thainsd
eNrthityo.s-Nst
Six
nsenßs
were
gbracnatachstorfopthhee
took place last evening, on the Oxf
rwea Railway,
kilwithinled
en aboutthee
ta,
two have died since ; two more are so seriously hurt
others
their lives are despaired of ; and about twenty
have sustained more or less severe bodily injuries.
The accident seems to have occurred through a
deplor-
ablemisunderstondingpassengertran ileang o
onxftehredpaatrt
so.f3tohep.dmri.ver_Hoef
hadthe
t
the
that
a
been positively desired not to start until the arrivalf of an
as engine came in a few
expected coal train. A ball
mi-
nutes after thisatemanorder
(sin
was given,
dead)iven,and it
the utnfortun mistookissuPtPhic2srefodr
and, imagining that the line was elear, pro-
ceeded on' his journey. He had scarcely cleared the city
'
boundaries when he came into violent collision with a
train of forty-four laden coal trucks, propelled by two
engines, the dreadful consequences of which are above
indicated.
In order to render intelligible the mode in which the
collision took place, it is necessary to explain that, ow-
ing to the partial falling in, about two months since, of
the Wolvercott tunnel, distant about three miles from
Oxford, it has since been necessary to close one line of
rails, and the traffic between Islip and this city (five
miles) has lately been carried on over a single line only.
For the prevention of accidents, pending this arrange-
ment, positive orders were laid down that no train
should leave Oxford or Islip without a direct telegraphic
understanding between the station masters of the two
places. Last evening about five o'clock, Mr. Alfred
Blott, a very old servant of the North-Western Com-
pany, received a message from the Islip station-master,
inquiring whether a coal train then at Islip might come
on to Oxford. Mr. lßlott, aware that nearly half an
hour must elapse before he could start the 5.30 p.m.
trail from Oxford to London, and remembering that the
coal trains invariably ran the distance between Islip and
this city in from fifteen to twenty minutes, replied
in the affirmative, and gave the necessary orders to
his officials not to allow the up train to leave until
the expected coal train should have arrived. Mr.
Blott cautioned the guard personally, and men:
tioned it also to the policeman on duty—in fact, every
person about the station was perfectly conversant with
the circumstance. At half-past five o'clock the London
train was made up. It consisted of an engine and ten-
der, driven by John Tarry, a very old servant of the
company, with Robert Bugden, also many years em-
ployed on the railway, as his stoker ; a third-class car-
riage next the engine, a second-class carriage next, a
first-class carrriage next, and a break van last, with
Joseph Kinch as guard in charge. There were 21 pas-
sengers booked by the train, most of them of the poorer
class. No first-class tickets were issued. Just pre-
viously to the train starting, Mr. Hayes, the locomotive
foreman at Oxford, addressed Tarry, and told him that
he must not start until the coal train had arrived.
Tarry replied, " All right, sir," and Mr. Hayes pro-
ceeded to another part of the station. Mr. Blott had
also left the platform at this time, and had gone into his
private office to transact some business. Sergeant
Gwin, of the company's police, who was in charge of the
station, also left theplatform ani:l went into the booking-
office to see if there were any more passengers for the
train. The driver Tarry and the guard Kinch were
engaged in conversation together, and the train was
perfectly ready to start, awaiting the usual signal. At
this moment a ballast engine, employed on the
works at Wolvercott tunnel, approached the station,
and ran from the main line on to a siding,
about one hundred yards outside the platform shed.
This engine carried a white light in front—all coal en-
gines show a green light. It is therefore urged that the
driver ought not to have been mistaken as to the non-
arrival of the coal train. However this may be, it is
clear that the unfortunate man must have imagined the
coal train had entered the station, for without waiting a
signal to start from any authorised person, he put on his
steam and moved away from the platform. The rush of
steam called the attention of the officials to the circum-
stance of the train having started, and Mr. Blott and
Mr. Hayes immediately hastened to the platform, where
in a moment they ascertained that the train had left, and
also the terrible fact that the coal train had not arrived.
They both instinctively ran up the line shouting and hal-
looing after the receding train. All they could do was
to alarm the guard, who put down the break hard ; but,
owing to the speed and lightness of the train, failed to
arrest the attention of the driver. It appears that the
policeman on duty at the auxiliary signal, about two
hundred yards out of the station, aware of the danger
into which the train was running, exhibited his red
signal as it approached. Owing to the steam in
which the engine was enveloped, the driver did not
see the red light until he got very close to the
signal post. He then sounded his whistle twice,
and most unfortunately, instead of keeping the danger
signal on, the policeman shut the red off, and turn-
ed on green, signifying caution. This circumstance
probably re-assured Tarry, and he increased the speed of
his train immediately afterwards. The railway, after
leaving the station, runs parallel for some considerable
distance, with the Great Western, from which it is se-
parated only by a ditch about twenty feet wide, gene-
rally full of water. Both lines intersect a large tract of
common land belonging to the freemen of Oxford, and
known as the Post Meadow, at this time, owing to the
recent floods, covered with water to a depth of two or
three feet. The up train had not traversed this meadow,
and had scarcely got a mile from the station, when it
came into violent collision with the coal train, proceed-
ing in the opposite direction. The consequences were
of the most awful character. The engine of the passen
ger trained was turned completely round, and thrown
into the water ditch, in a frightfully shattered state.
The first engine attached to the coal train fell upon it,
the wheels of each being transfixed, and the second en-
gine also ran into the ditch. The third-class carriage
and the second-class carriage were completely broken
up, scarcely two boards remaining attached, and the
passengers were scattered about the line in every direc-
tion. The crash of the collision was heard at a very
great distance, and parties residing in the neighbourhood
were soon on the spot endeavouring to render assist-
ance. Mr. Blott and Mr. Hayes, who had never ceased
running after the train, also soon came up, and did
everything in their power to prevent further injury by
stopping all down trains on the line, the 2.45 p.m. from
London being at this time due. The difficulty of
knowing what to do in order to assist the injured parties
was greatly increased by the ravages of a fire which,
kindled from the furnaces of the engines, burst forth im
mediately after the accident. Messengers were soon
dispatched to Oxford for assistance, and, as the telegraph
was broken by the accident, information was sent on to
Islip, with instructions to telegraph at once to Wolver-
ton. The injured parties were then got out of the debris
as rapidly as possible, and sent on to Oxford, where they
were at once admitted into the Radcliffe Infirmary. One
man, who was very seriously hurt, preferred remaining
at a small public-house at Hayfield Hut. There were
three or four hundred prrsons on the spot shortly after
the accident, and no lack of willingness to assist ; but a
controlling head was wanted under such dreadful circum-
stances, and it was found in the person of Mr. Cardwell,
who, having expected his wife by the 2.45 p.m. down
train, was terrified when he heard of the accident, and
hastened at once to the spot. The honourable member
rendered almost superhuman exertions, working as only
a gentleman can work. The gallantry of his exemplary
conduct may he gathered from one simple fact. A
poor fellow, shockingly injured, called out for a drop of
water to cool his scorching thirst ; Mr. Cardwell,
having nothing better at hand in which to convey
the liquid to him, dashed his hat into the stream,
and thus relieved the sufferer. Mr. Grafton,
of the firm of Grafton and Hood, engineers, of Ox-
ford, was early _in attendance, and ably seconded all
that Mr. Cardwell proposed. The alarm which pre-
vailed among the crowd was very great. At one period
an approaching train on the Great Western Railway was
thought to be running on the North-Western line, and
30 or 40 persons rushed into the water to escape an im-
agined danger. Two engine-drivers and two stokers
were killed on the spot, all their bodies being frightfully
mutilated. One male passengey, not yet identified, was
thrown under the wreck, and before his body could be
extricated the upper half of his frame was burnt to a
cinder. A poor young woman named Caroline Davis,
a passenger, was thrown into the water, and in some
extraordinary manner became imbedded under the boiler
of the passenger engine. She was only discovered by
her legs having protruded above the water, and it was 6
o'clock this morning before her body was extricated.
Mr. M'Connell arrived from Wolverton about mid-
night with a large force of mechanics ; and Mr. Bed-
ford, the chief of the company's police force, was also
early in attendance. The men under Mr. M'Connell's
direction worked with admirable effect during the night,
and one line was cleared for traffic at an early hour. The
passengers by the down trains, last night, were received
at the Sheriff's-bridge, near where the accident occurred,
and brought on to Oxford in omnibuses.
It was quite impossible, in the confusion that prevailed
last night, to obtain a list of the injured parties. Mr.
Alderman Browning, the resident managing director of
the railway at Oxford, who has been indefatigable in his
exertions since the accident, completed his inquiries
about noon to-day, and from him we have received the
following list of the sufferers :

DEAD.
Lying at the Saddlers' Arms, Plantation-road, St.
Giles's.
John, Tarry, driver of the passenger train.
Robert Bugden, stoker of the passenger train.
Thomas Landon, stoker of the first coal engine.
A male passenger—unknown.
At the Queen Victoria, Plantation-road, St. Giles's.
Robert Lawes, driver of the first coal engine.
Caroline Davis, of Parringdon, passenger to Winslow.
At the Radcliffe Infirmary.
Samuel Willcox, stoker of the second coal engine.
Richard Falkner, sen., a mechanic, belonging to some
place in Surrey.
INJURED.

Radcliffeson of
futfihnne
Infirmary,
Richard
Richard Falkner, the
r,jun.,
Falkner, head cut and body bruised.
Job Falkner, another sou ; body bruised
and thigh
burned.
John Williams, hawker, of Birmingham
fracture of arm—since amputated. , compound
Joseph Townsend, of Bicester ; dislocated hip—since
reduced.
John Harper, of Cheltenham ; compound fracture d one
thigh and both legs broken.
Thomas Monney, of Little Coxwell, near Farringdon ;
head cut, fractured jaw, and thigh injured.
John Walters, of Bicester ; knee and thigh injured.
William Knibbs, of ,Bicester ; head cut and injury to ribs.
Sarah Smith, of Steeple Claydon, injury to chest.
At Graces' Hotel, near the Railway Station.
James Sayers, of Winslow ; four ribs fractured.
George Slade; suffering from the shock,

At the Anchor public-house, Hayfield Hut, near where
the accident occurred.
William Jones, of Doncaster, horse dealer ; seriously
hurt about the head and body.
At the Railway Hotel.
Henry Watts, breaksman of the coal train ; suffering
from the shock.

At Bletchley. -
Joseph Kinch, guard of the passenger train ; head cu
and body bruised.

It will be observed that of the six men in charge of
the engines only one has escaped. The survivor, John
Lee, states that he saw the passenger train was on the
same line of rails with himself, but not until within a very
few moments of the collision, owing to a slight curve on
the railway at this point. He was driving the second
engine, and after shutting off the steam, he told his
mate, Willcox, that he should jump, advising him to do
the same. Lee immediately got over his tender on to
one of the coal trucks, and had 'crossed two or three
others before the collision took place. Willcox hesitated
to follow, and the next moment he was lying under the
wreck, with a thigh badly fractured, and his pelvis dread-
fully lacerated. Lee did not jump off the train until it
stopped, and after doing so the first person he saw was
his mate, whom he dragged out of the wreck by main
force. Willcox was among those taken to the infirmary,
where he died this morning.
Richard Falkner was travelling in company with two
sons in search of work. He left his wife at Oxford, and she
was to have followed this morning. He was insensible when
picked up, and remained in a state of collapse, without
taking food, until this evening, when he died. Caroline
Davis is the daughter of a shoemaker at Farringdon.
She was proceeding in company with Thomas Monney,
who is now lying in the infirmary at Winslow, on her
way to Wotton, where she was engaged to take the
superintendence of an infant school.
We have stated that all the bodies were frightfully
mutilated. Tarry's watch was crushed nearly flat, the
hands being fixed in the dial plate at thirty-five minutes
after six. He has left a widow, and although it may
appear unnecessary to allude to such a circumstance
here, it is currently reported that he lived on such ter-
rible terms with his wife that when he left his house last
night she declared that she hoped he would never enter
it again. Bugden was a very fine young 'than. He had
six children by a former wife, and about four months
ago married a respectable young woman, who, besides
being enciente, is left to foster an orphaned family.
Sarah Smith was discovered in a state of almost per-
fect nudity, on the buffer of one of the engines, with a
piece of iron firmly fixed across her throat. She was
extricated with great difficulty. This poor woman had
been to Oxford to see her brother, who had enlisted a
few days previously. She has lost everything she pos-
sessed. Jones, the horse dealer, who is lying at Hay-
field Hut, had 1231. in notes and gold in his pocket
when the accident occurred. He is very much injured.
It is feared that both this case and that of Harper may
terminate fatally.
There were some miraculous escapes of passengers in
the train. Two little boys, sons of a local clergymen,
were sitting opposite each other in the second class car-
riage, escaped unhurt. Another gentleman escaped
with a few bruises, and a third was so little hurt that he
proceeded to London last night by the mail on the Great
Western Railway.
The coroner has appointed the inquest to be opened
to-morrow morning (this day), at the Star Hotel.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

BETTING AT MANCHESTER-YESTERDAY.

METROPOLITAN HANDICAP.
20 to 1 agst Galvanism
25 to 1 Contentment (taken)
25 to 1 Richmond (taken)
25 to 1 Tobolski (taken)
30 to 1 Hirsuta (taken)
30 to 1 Defiance (taken)
30 to 1 The Hatchet
CHESTER CUP.
1,000 to 20 offered on the Field, but nothing done.

NORTHAMPTON AND PYTCHLEY HUNT.