The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-09 00:00:00

IFOUR PERSONS KILLED Br THE EXPLOSION
OF A LOOOMOTIVB BOILER.

A frightful accident occurred on the premises of the
London and North-Western Company at Longsight,
near Manchester, on Tuesday morning, whereby four
men lost their lives, and at least .a dozen men received
serious injuries, seven being conveyed to the Manchester
Royal Infirmary for medical aid there. It seems that
the engine, No. 1, an old four-wheeled engine, made by
Sharp, Roberts, and Co., some fourteen years ago, and
one of the first put upon the line, if not the very first,
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from fifty to eighty, were in the Polygon, breakfasting,
and the engine No. 1 was in steam, standing upon one
of the long ash-pits, while Hefron, the driver, was
oiling it, assisted by three or four men. This would
be between ten minutes to nine and nine o'clock,
and in a few minutes more the driver would have
taken the engine forward upon the turn-table, in the
centre of the building, in order that its head might have
been reversed, as it stood towards Manchester in-
stead of towards Huddersfield, when suddenly the men
inside were alarmed by a tremendous report and con-
cussion of air. The place was immediately filled with
steam and smoke, and a portion of the building came
rattling down, overwhelming a very large number of
them. As soon as the smoke and steam had cleared
away, the persons who found themselves uninjured,
hastened into the place and found the tender standing
where it had been before the occurrence, with the back
wheels of the engine, and the plate °ye,- them, on which
the driver stands, still adhering to the tender. The en-
gine itself was some thirty paces off, beneath the centre
of the building, and it was from that the fire-box had
exploded. On looking for the persons injured they dis-
covered four men dead in the ash-pit next to that upon
which the engine had been standing ; and as there was
a large piece of the le2t side of the fire-box, rnd a portion
of the frame of the engine near them, it was clear that
they had been killed by it. Their names were James
Moore, James Snowden, William Black, all assistant
boiler makers, and Thomas Gresty, a fitter. Gresty's
skull had been struck about the centre of the forehead,
and nearly carried away ; another man had both his
legs broken, and the other two were dreadfully mangled.
The explosion brought down about a third of the roof
of the bui'ding, which is a lofty shed of many &des,
as its rame.implies, covered by slates, with a wood
casing internally. The following seven persons were
got from be7eath the debris, and having bee-i placed
in a waggo-', were taken down the line to the
Manchester Royal Infirmary :—William Cowsell, of
Manchester, laceration of the scalp and fractured
knee, a bad case ; Ralph Brundrett Gordon Brook, lace-
ration of the thigh ; Edward Hefron, compound fracture
of the thigh and scalds ; Oharles Clyde, fractured arm
and leg ; Joseph Ainsworth, laceration of the scalp ;
William Cheetham, of Longsight, severe lacerations ;
Robert Tabley, severe scalds. Numerous others were
injured, but they were taken to their own homes in the
immediate neighbourhood, their injuries being less se-
vere ; but some received frightful wounds.
The cause of the explosion, as far as can be at present
ascertained, is clearly over-pressure of steam. There
were appearances about the engine which caused some
of the men to leave theZshed for fear, and it is said that
one of them remarked to Hefron how heavily his steam
was blowing off, to which he merely replied, " Yes, it
was?' This was but a minute be ore the explosion ; two
of the men referred to had only got out of the shed when
the explosion occurred. The engine it seems was worn
out. Some of the tubes at the side were quite filled up,
and some of the long stays were corroded very much ;
facts which seem to prove a want of supervision.
The force of the; concussion was so great that it blew
away every window in the shed, although the frames
were of cast iron ; and it lifted up the floor of the read-
irg-room, and threw the men from their seats. Three
cast-iron pillars, twenty-seven feet long, and about
twelve inches and a half in diameter, were thrown down
with the roof.

A coroner's inquest will be held to-day at the Waggon
and Horses, Longsight, by Mr. Rutter, on view of the
bodies, and no doubt a strict inquiry will be made into
the efficiency of the engine. At present there appears
to be blame attached to those who had to look over the
engine, in exposing an old piece of machinery to a strain
it could not stand.

THE FATAL .RAIL4AY ACCIDENT NEAR

BOLTON.

The following are the further proceedings which oc-
curred. It will be seen that the inquiry is adjourned,
the jury desiring some scientific opinion :
Joshua Worrell, banksman to Mr. Fletcher of Pen-
dleton, deposed : I went to the place by instruction, as
fast as possible, and got there about five minutes past
six. I found some carriages upset and broken, and I
assisted to get the people out of the carriages. I found
Croston, the engineer, upon the line. He was dead.
He was part inside and part outside on the main line.
The cokeman we found beneath a carriage which was
standing upon its wheels. He was quite dead.
Mr. Hugh Sandeman, of Portland-street, Manchester,
sworn : I identified the child as belonging to Mr. G.
Freeland Barbour, of the Grange House, Edinburgh.
It was aged 4& years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Barbour were
in the train, with two other children and two nurses ac-
companying them ; another child was seriously injured,
and is now dead. They were coming to Manchester from
Edinburgh. Had exceeding doubts of the correctness of
the ideas of those who had spoken of the speed of the
train ; should the inquiry be adjourned, they would hear
evidence 9f passengers to show the train was going at a
much higher speed than named. It was excessively high.
The Foreman said it would be exceedingly desirable
to have that information.

Mr. Sandeman said it should be given, if possible. •
James Woistencroft, of Clifton, collier, assisted in
pulling Siminonds from beneath the train.
Mr. H. Blackmore, superintendent of the line, said—
It is nearly five miles from Bolton to the place, and
about two-and-a-half miles from Halshaw Moor. They
regulate their speed according to the time in the books,
and the limit for express engines is about thirty miles an
hour. All they have to do is to account for the tinke
lost, not to make it up. Messrs. Brassey and Co. are
contractors for the repairs of the line, and Mr. Izat,
under the resident engineer, Mr. Watts, is superintend-
ent of the line.
In answer to the Foreman, Captain Laws said—lt
was the duty of Mr. Izat to go over the line personally
every day, and he had several divisional superintendents
under him. The gradients are lin 200 from Halshaw
Moor to a little beyond where the accident happened.
There is no curve there of less radius than lf mile, and
there is no necessity for slackening speed. It is a flat
curve.
Roger Barrington, station-master at Dixonfold, said
—lt was within two or three minutes of six o'clock
when the train passed my station. It was not going at
more than the usual pace for an express train, and it
appeared to be all right. A boy upon the bridge gave
me information that the train was off the line, and I
then put on my signal and ran down the line. When
half way down I met the guard, and I went back to stop
the other trains. I had not observed any defect in any
part of the line ; but it is not my duty to examine the
line.

Mr. Wm. Hurst, locomotive superintendent of the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Company, deposed : I know
the engine No. 13. Croston was the driver of it. About
three weeks ago it was under repair. It had a general
overhaul, and was put in good order. It was put on the
line new in September, 1847. It might have been a
fortnight or three weeks under repair, and after being
finished three weeks has been working ever since up to
the time of the accident. It had had considerable
repairs before, probably once every six months, but not
oftener than usual. They are examined before they go
out every day. It was a four-wheel engine, and it is a
matter of opinion as to whether such an engine is as good
as a six-wheel. I think they are, all things considered.
I have seen the engine since the accident, but it does not
appear to be much injured. I believe the axle was
broken before the train got off the line, from the evi-
dence on the sleepers. It is the left axle, and the iron
is broken within the axle-box. There are marks of a
wheel upon the sleepers of the inside rail for several
yards before there are any on the outside rail, so that
it would appear that the inside axle broke, and was kept
with the box in which it works for the distance it ran.

A juror said they were fully an inch out of gauge that
Friday night after the occident.

Mr. Hunt considered that the breaking of the axle
might have been caused by a collision or a serious oscil-
lation, but by which he could not say. The oscillation
he had spoken off would not be produced upon a curve ;
it might upon a 'straight line. The engine weighed 14
tons, and he had never had any complaints of her. She
had had new tubes and tires, and her general overhaul
was once every six months.
Mr. Blackmore recalled—Fixed about two minutes
and a half as the time that would elapse in pulling up at
Halshaw Moor, stopping the the time described, and
getting into full speed again.
Mr. Sandeman withdrew his notice of intention to
bring forward witnesses to prove the speed. It would
only be the assertion of one gentleman against that of
another.
The jury then proceeded to discuss whether they
should proceed further that night, or not.
The Foreman thought it would be desirable to have
some one to speak to the general character, and not to
confine themselves to the mere breaking of the axle.
Mr. Lewis tendered Mr. Izat, the superintendent of
the line, and Mr. Watts, the resident engineer.
The Foreman—they had better have some one uncon-
nected with the company.
A long discussion took place with closed doors, and
when the public were admitted again, the Coroner said
the jury had formed an opinion that the train was run-
ning at an excessive speed, and that the line was not in
good order, and therefore they desired that the Govern.
ment inspector and Mr. Nasmyth and Mr. Fairbairn
should inspect, or some other competent person, and say
whether the engine and carriages were in such a state
as to justify such a rate of speed.
The inquest was then adjourned to Friday.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE MERSET.—On Monday
morning, about ten o'clock, five men were sitting on the
edge of the landing stage at Seacombe, on the Birken-
head side of the river, leaning against the chain, when
one of the ferry steamers came up, bumped against the
stage, and one of the iron rods supporting the pre-
tecting chain snapped, and the men fell into the river.
Four of them were rescued, but the fifth, named Hughes,
was drowned. His body was shortly afterwards re-
covered,