The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-07 00:00:00

THE FATAL COLLISION ON THE LONDON AND
NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY. •

THE INQUEST.
This inquiry was resumed yesterday at the Star Hotel,
Oxford. The first witness examined was
Charles Gwynn, sergeant of police at the Oxford sta-
tion, who stated that his duty was to attend to the book-
ing-office and platform. He was regularly present at
the departure of the trains. He had the poWer to regu-
late the starting of the trains after he had inquired at
the office whether the line was clear. He received orders
from Mr. Blott, the station-master, not from Hayes. He
was on duty on Monday when the 5.30 train should have
left. The coal train due at a few minutes past five not
having arrived, the starting of the train was delayed.
He knew it had not arrived by inquiring at the office of
the telegraph clerk, whose name was Manning. He had
no conversation with the driver, guard, or fireman of the
5.30 train. He had not told them not to go on. He did
not hear any other officer give them directions, but
he saw Mr. Blott with the guard, who was standing
by his brake. on the platform. It was about half-
past five. It was the duty of the guard .to remain
on the platform by the brake van till the train started,
unless he was putting luggage on the van. The porter
takes it to the guard who loads the van. Ile saw
Hayes, the foreman porter, on the platform at that time.
He did not see Hayes leave the platform. libeut‘‘a at
s
not on the platform when the train started,
the booking-office. The station-master was at that
time in the private office, adjoining the booking-
office. He knew the time the train started by hearing the
whistle of the engine ; not the guards. After he heard
the whistle, he came on the platform, and found the train
was gone. He was standing at the door of the office
at the time it started ; the door of which admitted pas-
sengers, and which should be closed before the train
started. It was not closed when the train started. The
front door and the ticket door were neither of them
closed. The object of closing the deer before the train
starts is to prevent passengers going in the train after
it is in motion. The, doors were not closed because the
coal train was not in. The doors were kept open till he
received orders that the line was clear. The train
started before he received orders to close the doors. He
was quite surprised to find that it had started. When
he got on the platform he did not see any officers in au-
thority, unless they were at the other end. The station-
master had told him that the coal train had passed the
Oxford-road Station, and as soon as it arrived at Oxford,
and all was clear, the 5.30 train could go. That infor-
mation was the cause of his not closing the door. When
he went into the office to get this information, Hayes
and the porters were on the platform. When he saw the
train gone, he said to Mr. Blott, whe was in his office,
"Has the coal train come in, for the train has gone ?"
Mr. Blott said to him, "Run up, and see if the coal
train is in." He went, and could see no porters, or
any one on the platform, they had gone after the
train, and he heard them halloing, and saw the
red signal hand-lamps waving. From the time he
went on the platform and returned, and found the
train, was not more than a minute or so. When he
saw the guard Kinch come. down from the engine
towards the brake-van ho believed the train was in
motion. He saw Kinch catch hold of the van. That
was when he went into the office to inquire about the
coal train. He did not call out to stop the train until
he had gone to inquire if the coal train had arrived or
not ; and then they said it was at Oxford-road, and the
train seemed in motion. That was before he heard the
whistle, and when he was in the office he heard the
whistle. He was in the office about a minute or two.
He did not then tell the station-master that the train
was in motion. He did not know but that they might
have seen the coal train at the other end, as the porters
there might have given the signal. He always got the
information as to the line being clear from the office ;
when he hears that, he gives the signal to the guards,
and they look to him for it. The guards look to him—
he looks to the office. As soon as he waves his hand
that is the signal for them to start. That is his duty.
He does not give that signal till he ascertains from the
office that the line is clear. On Monday when he saw
the guard coming from the engine he had not given him
any signal at all. If the station-master was on the
platform the guard would look to him, and he would
look to witness to see if the doors were all closed. The
station-master would look to the telegraph clerk to cer-
tify that the line was clear. The station-master was
not on the platform when the train started, but in his
office. It was two or three minutes before that he saw
him talking to the guard, Kinch. He saw the red signal
light at the iron bridge at the time he went into the
office. He believed the red light was on when the train
started. He saw the red light after the second whistle
when the train had left, and in an instant it was changed
to the green light. The station-master was not then on
the platform. It was before he went the second time
into the office that he saw the signals changed, but he
did not tell the station-master they had been changed.
Ho believed that the station-master followed him out
immediately. He could have heard the guard's whistle
if lie had given the signal by his whistling. The red
light is always up before the train starts. According
to the 10th rule, the red light should have been kept
up for five minutes after the train started. It was the
practice for the signal-man at the iron bridge to change
the light when he heard the second whistle, provided the
line was clear. The guard, when he gave the signal for
starting, was sometimes on the platform and sometimes
on the van. He never saw the guard give any other
signal to start but the whistle. He might have seen
him wave his hand. The custom of the guard as to
starting trains was by the whistle. He had known a '
train started without the whistle, and by the wave of
the hand. He could not recollect any particular time
that this happened. He had seen a guard named Turner
do it. He had seen Kinch do it also ;he had seen a
train started by the words " All right," and waving the '
hand. When he does that the guards are sometimes on
the platform, sometimes on the brake ; most usually on
the platform. At the time the train was first started the
only person who had authority to stop it on the platform
were the porters. When witness saw the train in mo-
tion,
he was certain that as he had not given the signal
that it was started without proper authority, even if the
guard had known that the coal train was in. It was the
duty of the station-master to write a report, up to the
last moment of the trains starting, and for which it was
necessary for him to he in his office. That was the in-
variable custom and practice. Since the single line only
was in use it was usual to retain this train till the coal
train came in. The report or way-bill was always given
by the station-master to the guard. He could not tell
whether on Monday night the way-bill had been given
to the guard or whether he had it ; he should have gone
to Mr. Blott after he had ascertained that the coal-train
was in before he started the train.
The Coroner here asked if any officer of the company
could point out the duties of the signal-man at the
bridge. Before the question was answered,
John Norman, of Devises, the father of the deceased
young woman, Julia Norman, was examined, and
stated that he had seen the body and identified it as that
of his daughter. She was 23 last June. She left his
house on Monday morning, to proceed to Lady Louisa
Harrison's, at Shearswell-park, in Oxfordshire, and was
to have left the train at Bicester.
Captain Bruyeres, the superintendent of the southern
division of the traffic and the branch lines on the Lon-
don and North-Western Railway, then stated—The
whole of the servants of the line are under his direction
except those in the locomotive department. They are
are all subject to the printed rules and.gn regulations
oe iron
of the
company. One was given to the signal-man
bridge. It was required that he shouldaml be a
The man employed there on Monday was named Bon-
ham. There are two at the signal. Hee had been some
time in the company's service. That. signa thes put up
oved for bgoe tsis
at that bridge as a protection of the line, as brid •
a swing bridge, crossing the river and is m
si
gnaal-
to pass. When so swung, it is the duty of th
man not to take the red light off' on any account the
red signal was kept up at all times.
and the line
preached, and the bridge was not svning,
When a train_' ap-
proached
dear, it was the duty of the man to lower the armle,
to allow the train to pass or change the colour of the
signal. This was the station signal but the bridge signal,
when the train passed the red signal, was to. be rte--
red. It is inoperative as a danger signal to the
nu.except so far as regards the bridge, to show whe-
ther it was swung or not. The red light would not have
anything to do with the starting of the train. There
also anotherprecautionary signal lamp on the bridge,
which could not be seen either from the platform or the
line unless
be shown. thee bridge was swung when its light would
the starting
the trains,
was no station signal with reference to
rule 21
the platform. as the order was to be given from
observing The way the trains were stopped was by
care, and to look that no driver was to start but with
done, there vma no difficulty
to see that all is safe. If that was
guard is 'faculty in starting a train. The
responsible for the starting the train after re-
authorised by Min. the station-master, or some one
the
train on Monday was started
very fast, it was in direct violation of the orders. The
engine driver was not feting against orders by starting
the train when the red signal
as up on the bridge ; but
if it was not changed, he would
the train, because the bridge have been bound to stop
awould then have been
swung and the train would have gone into the canal.
b
The bridge signal having changed ged the driver was
right in going on with caution. Th
could only see three quarters men at the bride
a mile along the
line. It was not required that thestation-master
should see personally to the starting of each train. H e
might be in his office on the platform, and,
that the train was fit to start, might de
thority to start the train. An engine driver woulied abue-