The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-18 00:00:00

FRIGHTFUL RAILTVAY ACCIDENT.

Yesterday Mr. C. S. Wood, the coroner for West
Surrey, and a numerous jury, assembled at the Railway
Arms Hotel, Farnham, for the purpose of inquiring into
the circumstances connected with the death of Charles

Cannon, aged 20, a porter on the London and South-
Western Railway, who was cut in two, and otherwise
fearfully mangled, on Saturday last, on the railway,
near this station.

The inquiry appeared to excite considerable interest
in the town. The Hon. F. Scott, M.P., the chairman
of the company ; Mr. Crombie, the secretary ; Mr.
Beattie, the locomotive superintendent ; Mr. G-odstone,
the general manager ; Mr. A. Scott, the traffic manager,
and Mr. Eaton were present to watch the pro-
ceedings.
The jury having viewed the remains of the unfortu-
nate sufferer, they returned to the inquest-room, when
The Coroner, addressing the foreman and jury, said
that they were summoned together to inquire into the
death of the deceased, who, if he was rightly informed,
had been run over by a special train at or near the
Farnham station of the London and South-Western
Railway, at the same minute, or nearly so, as the cus-
tomary passenger train arrives at that point. Where

the ground is occupied or monopolised by railway com-
panies everything out to be done to take care not
only of the safety of the public, but also of their own
servants. It appeared to him (the coroner), that, if
what he had been told was the case (but which he hoped
was not), a special train arrived near the station at
nearly the same time as the ordinary one. Now
he thought, when an inquiry of so much importance to
the public as the present took place, that the fullest in-
vestigation should-be gone into. The duty of conduct-
ing that inquiry devolved on him (the coroner), and he
had not the least doubt but that the foreman and the
gentlemen of the jury would consider it their duty to
make a full inquiry into all the circumstances attending
the death of this unfortunate man. He did not make

these remarks to prejudge the case ; he only did so in
the hope that the case might turn out differently to what
he had been told. He had been told that Captain
Galton, the government inspector of railways, was a
passenger by the stopping train, and he wished the case
to be postponed, so that he may be enabled to give some
evidence respecting the occurrence. If he had not
wished it, he (the coroner) would have felt it his duty to
have requested him to come forward and let them know
all he saw.

Mr. Hollis, solicitor, in answer to questions from the
coroner, said that he begged leave, on behalf or the
Government inspector, to ask the coroner to adjourn
the case.

Mr. Crombie, in answer to questions from the coroner,
said that this was not one of the accidents which, ac-
cording to -act of Parliament, the company were com-
pelled to give notice of, but, notwithstanding, they had
given notice to the Board of Trade.
The coroner said it appeared to him that that was not
of the least importance. He then inquired of Mr. Hollis
whether or not he was aware when the Government in-
spector could attend ?
Mr. Crombie said that he apprehended that the Go-
vernment inspector only wanted to be examined as a
witness of what he saw, and not in his official capacity
as Government inspector.
The coroner said that he had received a letter from
Captain Galion about the case.
Mr. Crombie asked whether the coroner would allow
him to state, in contradiction to what he had said, that
it was a special train which had caused the accident ?

The Co-roner replied that he could not allOWhin; at
present.

- Mr. Crombie said that he only wished to state that
the coroner had made remarks in that court, not of what
had taken place there, but of what had been said by
others out of doors, and as his remarks would go before
the public, he (Mr. Crombie) thought it nothing but
right that the facts of the case should be known.
The Coroner said that what he had said was only
hearsay evidence, and he hoped it would turn out during
the inquiry that the case was only an accident.
James Edwards, gate-keeper of Farnham station, was
then examined.—His duty was to open and close the gates
as the trains arrived. It was his duty to do so on Saturday
last. The first train due after dinner was 81 Minutes after
two, and the next at 31 minutes after six. There was
also a goods train which passed the station. The five
o'clock train from London would be doe at 31 minutes
after six, and two minutes after that time a train came
up and passed him, after he had signaled it to go on,
when on seeing it pass he said that he was afraid it
would not stop in time ; and seeing where deceased then
was, he said to Hatfield, " That man will surely be
killed." The train passed at considerable greater speed
than he had seen before on that line. The deceased
was running at the time from the fencing towards the
station, and he saw that he would not have time to
reach the station. When he was getting upon the wall
near the fence the train knocked him down, and he
(witness) cried out, "Oh God I he is killed." He only
saw him being carried away after that. He had no
doubt but that he was killed on the spot.
Mr. Crombie, in answer to the coroner, said that any
of the company's servants, or any witness connected
with them, the jury could examine without summoning
them. The company was most anxious that a full in-
quiry should be made, but he wished again to remark,
that it was not a special train, only a special-service
train for the use of the compsny's servants on the line,
which was absolutely necessary for the safety of the
public, the principal object being to see that the line was
in perfect order. No person, he added, could more
regret the melancholy occurrence than the directors of
the company.
.4s
The inquiry was then formally adjourned for a week
for the attendance of the government inspector.