The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-06 00:00:00

THE FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR

OXFORD.

CORONER'S INQUEST.

OXFORD, WEDNESDAY, EVENING.—The inquest on the
bodies•oftlie eight unfortunal,e!irietims of the lament-
able catastrophe which occurred to the down train of the
London and North-Western Railway, when approaching
this city on Monday evening last, was commenced this
forenoon, at the Star Hotel, Corn Market-street, before
Mr. Brunner, coroner for the district of the city of Ox-
ford, and a respectable jury. Mr. G. P. Hester, solici-
tor and town clerk of Oxford, appeared to watch the
proceedings on behalf of the railway company; and Mr.
Hayes, of the firm of Parker, Hayes, and Co., solicitors
to the company, was also in attendance. Bruyeres,
superintendent of the line,' and Mr. 'M'Connell, super-
intendent of the locomotive department, were also pre-

sent to afford every facility t 9 the jury and the coroner
in the prosecution of their inquiry. Mr. Mallam, soli-

citor, also appeared on behalf of Mr. Alfred Blott, sta-

tion-master -at Oxford; and, in the course of the proceed-

ings, Capt. Wynne, the Government inspector, altered
the room, and remained during the rest of the sitting.

The jury having been duly sworn.

The Coroner briefly addressed them, calling attention
to the importance of the melancholy task *hich de-

volved upon them. No doubt there would be a great

number of witnesses brought before them, and it was
desirable that—as had been done formerly in the Bices-
case—they should confine themselves, first, to tak-
ng the evidence which could be given by parties who
certainly could speak from a knowledge of the facts, but
who at the same time could not be supposed to be re-
sponsible for the management of the line, as it might
happen, although he did not know that it would, that
ill* course of the inquiry would show that certain officers
of the company were to blame. He was sure, however,
that the jurors would dismiss all extraneous circum-
mance, and all prejudices from their minds, and would

spare no pains or time in thoroughly investigating the
cause of the calamity, and endeavouring to arrive at a
conclusion which might be satisfactory to the public.
He might observe that one of the bodies, that of Samuel
Wilcox, a stoker, was lying at the Radcliffe Infirmary.
The name of the woman who had been killed by the
accident had been mistaken for Caroline Davis, whereas

her real name was Julia Norman.

There were two

bodies which had not yet been identified, besides which
were the bodies of the two drivers and the two stokers,
which lay at the public-house in Horse and Jockey-lane.
The jury had better first go to view the bodies, and
afterwards inspect the scene of the accident ; and he had

no doubt that the engineers of the railway company
would furnish them with a map of the part of the line
between Islip and Oxford, in order to aid them in arriv-

ing at a perfect knowledge of all the circumstances bear-
ing on the inquiry.
The jury then proceeded to view the bodies, and also
the part of the line at which the catastrophe occurred ;

and on their return they were about to call the wit-

messes, when

Mr. Maßam applied to the coroner for permission to his
client, Mr. Blott, to be present during the ;14stigation.
The Coroner—lt would be better that -.llTariiiild not

- - ,
be here. He will, I am sure, be ;represented by
you, Mr. Mallam.

Mr. Mallam—l cannot, sir, be properly instructed
without my client. In all courts of justice he is allowed
to attend, and to suggest to his attorney matters which
it is desirable to get at in evidence.
The Coroner—Mr. Blott is one of the responsible ser-

wants of the railway company, and assuming that the in-
quiry should take a turn which should render it necessary
for the jury to examine him hereafter, it would be objec-
tionable that he should be in the room now ; and, on

the other hand, if the inquiry should turn against him,
it was still more desirable that he should be absent.
Mr. Mallam—l only think that his presence would
better enable zee to discharge my duty ; but I bow, of
course, to the coroner's decision.
A Juryman—l cannot see, Mr. Coroner, how Mr.
Slott will be able to defend himself if he is excluded,
should anything be adduced tending to criminate him.
Mr. Mallam—l well renew my application at another
Stage, should it be desirable.
The following witnesses were then called in and ex-
amined :
John Smith—l am foreman over the engines and en-
gine-drivers at the Oxford station of the London and
North-Western Railway. I have accompanied the jury
this morning to view the bodies. I can identify the

body shown to the jury at the Radcliffe Infirmary a; that
of Samuel Wilcox. He was fireman in the employ of
the London and North-Western Railway Company, of
engine No. 220. That engine was engaged in bringing
a coal tram to and from Rugby to Oxford, on Monday
afternoon last. John Lee was the driver of that engine.
Lee is here. I also identified the body of John Tarry,
engine-driver ; it lies at the- Saddler's Arms, St. Giles's.
Tarry was attached to engine No. 148, which was ap-
pointed to take the passenger train to Oxford, at 5.30,
p.m., on Monday. Another of the bodies was that of
Robert Bagden, fireman to that engine. He lies at the
same place. I was not at the station when that engine
started. It was not my duty to see the train start. Jo-
seph Kinch was guard of that train. I identified, also,
the body of Thomas Landon, fireman to engine No. 124,
which engine was also attached to the coal train on Mon-
day last, and it was the foremost engine of the two.
Robert Law was the driver of that engine (124). His
body lies at the Victoria public-house. Law came from
Bletchley with the coal train. No. 220 was the second
engine of the coal train. I can't identify either of the
bodies. I knew Wilcox, Lee, Tarry, Landon, and Law. I
knew nothing of the accident. I went to Bicester by the four
o'clock train on the company's business on Monday. I act
tinder the locomotive department. I have only to see
tkat the engines are in good working order, and that
the men are in a proper state before they start. I have
not to see the trains start. Any man in an unfit state,
or the worse for liquor, would be seen by Mr. Blott, or
somebody else at the station. I intended to return to
Oxford by the coal train, but my business was not
finished when that train came to Bicester ; and so I
stayed and returned by the six o'clock train. There are
time bills for the coal train. The four o'clock train in
which I travelled stopped at Islip, and there I saw the
driver of 148 engine. He was bringing the 4.5 pas-
senger train from Bletchley to Oxford, and his train
was waiting for our's to pass. I did not speak to
Tarry, but I saw him on his engine. I was on the
other engine. He came to Islip at 4.15. I have known
Tarry for four or five years as a driver, and never saw
him the worse for liquor. When he got to Oxford, he
would have first to turn his engine and take water and
coke if required, and then to " shunt " his train from
one side of the station to the other, which duties would
take him about half an hour, and he had to leave again
at half-past five. From about the 15th of last month
there has been- only one line of rails from Islip to Ox-
ford. The whole of the passenger traffic has been con-
veyed upon this one line of rails. We call it the up-
line. The contractors for the tunnel at Wolvercot had
the sole use of the down-line. They used it for the
conveyance of stone, ballast, and water, between Islip
and Oxford.
By a Juror—There was nobody on whom any res-
ponsibility would rest in my absence, as regards seeing
that Tarry was in a sober state for the half hour that he
would have to spare after " shunting" his engine. I had
seen Tarry on Monday, at five minutes before 10 a.m.
I also saw him at 12, but subsequent to that I had no
conversation with him. When I saw him afterwards at
Islip I did not speak to him, but he was on his engine,
and I was satisfied that he was in a fit state for his
duty.
By another Juror—l know of my own knowledge
that on two occasions the 5.30 passenger train from

Oxford left the station before the coal train had come

in. In one of these instances two of the waggons of
the coal train had gone off the line, and the circumstance
was telegraphed to Oxford. I know of no other occa-
sion of the passenger train leaving before the coal train
came in. There is a coal train due every night in the
week except Sunday, at 5.20, at Oxford. I repeat that
I do not know that there is any person in particular
upon whom my responsibility would devolve in my
absence from the Oxford station ; but I should think
any of the policemen would take notice if the men were
the worse for liquor.
The witness then withdrew.
John Lee examined—l am a driver in the employ of
the London and North-Western Company, and have the
care of engine No. 220, which was at work on Monday
from Bletiley to Rugby, and from Rugby to Oxford
with a coal train. From Rugby to Bletchley there was
only my engine attached to the coal train ; but from
Bletchley to Oxford there was a second engine (No.
124), which Landon drove. We started at ten minutes
past three p.m. from Bletchley, which was about twenty
or twenty-five minutes behind time. We should have
left at 2.45. We took on the other engine because the
train was so heavy. The train comprised 54 waggon
loads of coal, and a break waggon, besides the two en-
gines and two tenders. We stopped at Winslow, Bices-
ter, Islip, and Banbury-road stations. When we arrived
at the Islip station I asked the policeman if it was all
right t• go on, and he said that it was. We might have
stopped for seven or ten minutes at Islip. We there
crossed on to the up line—that was in consequence of
some works going on at the Wolvercot tunnel. Almost
every day since the 15th November last I had driven
along this line in consequence of these works. I never
left Islip for Oxford without learning from the policeman
that the line was clear. Our time-bill states that the
coal train was due at 5.5 p.m. at. Banbury-road. There
is a telegraphic communication between Islip and Ox-
ford. We stopped at the Banbury-rdad station, where
we saw a green or caution signal shown, and we went
along slowly, at the rate of five to six miles an hour, till
we came to the tunnel, and we went through the tunnel
at about four miles an hour. After we got through
th• tunnel we increased the speed to about seven or
eight miles an hour. I know it as an incline from the
tunnel to Oxford. I was driving the second engine
at this time ; and when we had got within seventy or
eighty yards from the wooden bridge leading to Port
Meadow, we saw the lights of an approaching passenger
train. At first I was not sure that it was a second train,
but I looked again, and being satisfied that it was a
train, I immediately jumped off. We were then going
at about six miles an hour. We were slackening speed
again before we saw the train coming. I set
whistle before I jumped off. I called out to open
nfirmey
fire-
man that the train was coming, and told him
jumptoi
off. His name is Samuel Wilcox. He told me after