The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-16 00:00:00

SERIOUS ACCIDENT ON THE

YORK AND NEWCASTLE RAILWAY.

SUNDERLAND, MONDAY NIGHT.-At an early hour
this morning a serious accident toc,k place on the Sun-
derland Newcastle branch (late the Brandling Junction)
on the above railway, about two miles from this town.
It appears that when the half-past down train had
passed the Cleadon station, a connecting rod of the
loco-
motive engine snapped asunder, and one of the pieces
penetrating the ground, the engine and tender, with two
of the carriages, were thrown off the line ; the former
fell over on one side, and the latter on the other. The
carriages fell on some stone sleepers which were laid on
the edge of an embankment, and were smashed to pieces.
In the train altogether there were eight carriages, six of
which did not receive any damage. The guard was
seated on the top of one of these, and retained his seat
until the train was brought to rest. When he got off he
saw the fireman, a young man named Joseph Henderson,
lying on a stone block. lie had been thrown off the

tender, and was severely bruised about his shoulder and
neck. The engineman, Richard Hall, was next found at
the end of the engine, in a state of insensibility, with his
head seriously cut and his body sealch d.
The guard immediately directed his attention to the
carriages which had been thrown off, the line. Fortu-
nately the passengers were few, owing to the early hour
at which the train started, not numbering more than
eight, and of these only two, a boy and an aged woman,
were in the broken carriages. They were in a state of
great terror, but beyond the shock they had not sus-
tained any injury. The other passengers were none the
worse for the accident, though, as may be anticipated,
they were somewhat alarmed, as well as grateful for
their narrow escape.
The engine driver and stoker were removed to Sun-
derland in a cart, and taken to a house in Thomas-street,
occupied by the father-in-law of the engine man (Hall),
where medical assistance was promptly rendered. They
both remain in an extremely dangerous condition ;
indeed, no hopes are entemined of the recovery of Hen-
derson, the fireman. Hall was only married last week,
and his wife is living at Gateshead ; his injuries were,
however, of so serious a nature that it was not deemed
safe to remove him to his own house.

Between one and two hundred labourers and plate-
layers were soon procured, and set to work to remove
the engine and broken tender and carriages, and to relay
a portion of the way which had bt en torn up. Intelli-
gence of the accident was communicated by electric
telegraph to the principal station at Gateshead, and Mr.
Harrison, the engineer, and Mr. Allport, the general
superintendent, were spca lily on the spot, making in-
quiries and giving directions. 'rho cause of the accident
is obvious, and no care nor foresight could have pre-
vented it. The engine is almost new, and was con-
sidered to be in excell( nt order. The train was pro-
ceeding at a slow speed when the rod broke.
It is fortunate that this accident did not happen on
the preceding day (Sunday), when the trains were large
and crowded. Had it done sa, in all probability many
lives would have been sacrificed.
Some inconvenience has arisen in working the trains
to-day, in consequence of a single line only being avail-
able for a considerable distance; but the way will be
entirely restored to-night.

SUDDEN DEATH oF MR, JUSTICE
WILLIAMS.
(From the Bury Herald.)
It is our melancholy duty to annouce the sudden
demise of Sir John Williams, Knight, one of her Ma
jesty's Justices of the Court of Queen's Bench, which
took
Livermere Park, near this
town, place
o n Mondayat hi his residence,evening
last. The Learned Judge, we
understand, complained of indisposition on Monday
morning. Dr. Probart, being sent for, prescribed for
him, and towards the afternoon the distinguished patient
felt considerably better, but did not appear at dinner, which
circumstance occasioned no serious apprehensions. In the
evening, however, while resting on a sofa, or as other ru-
mours say, while being conducted to the drawing-room,he suddenly breathed his last. The deceased, who was an
admirable scholar, was called to the bar in 1804; ap-
pointed a King's Counsel in 1827; Attorney-General to
the Queen in 1830; a Baron of the Exchequer in 1834;
and, in the same year, was appointed a Justice of the
Court of Queen's Bench. Sir John, when Mr. Williams,
acted as one of the junior counsel to Lords Brougham
and Denman in the defence of Queen Caroline.

STEAM-BOAT COLLISION.—GRAVESEND, SEPT. 15.
—About eight o'clock last evening a collision of a fear-
ful kind took place off Gray's, between the Diamond
Company's packet the Ruby, and a small steam. packet
called the Gnome, from Woolwich, the property, we be-
lieve, of the Woolwich Company, off Gray's. The Ruby
was on her way down from London-bridge, and the
Gnome was going up the river, on her return from the
Nore, whither she had been making an "excursion,"
with a party of near 200 persons on board. As far as
we could collect the facts of the case, it appears that the
night being rather dark, the captain of the Ruby, as is ,
his usual practice it seems, kept himself, and ordered to
be kept, a close look out, and observing the steamer ap-
proaching directly ahead of him, he called out to the
helmsman to port the helm, an order that was imme•
diately obeyed ; but the Gnome having her helm at the
same time put a starboard, o collision became unavoid-
able, and the Ruby struck the Gnome on her starboard
bow with great force, although the engines of the Ruby
were with great rapidity reversed by the captains in
command. Still the concussion of the two vessels was
frightful, and the Gnome being the smaller and weaker
vessel, was made a wreck of. The scene on board the
latter may be easier conceived than described. She was
in her forepart literally shattered and stove in, but her
engines being comparatively uninjured were kept at work,
and she was run on the Essex shore, where she soon
sunk, after the Ruby had taken all her passengers or
party of excursionists out of her. The coolness and
good management of the captain of the Ruby, both in
endeavouring to avoid the collision and when it unfor-
tunately occurred, is borne testimony to by the pas-
sengers in the Ruby, who were on the deck at the time;
and to his coolness and management they ascribe in a
great degree the preservation of many of the lives of
those on board the Gnome, where a dreadful scene of
confusion prevailed. After having taken all the Gnome's
passengers on board, and brought them to Gravesend,
and having found that no serious damage so as to dis-
able the Ruby from proceeding back to London was in-
flicted, he, when his passengers to Gravesend were
landed, took those of the Gnome back to Woolwich,
where he landed them at their own request. Wherever
the blame of the collision may rest, it is fully admitted
by the passengers that the captain of the Ruby had
taken the only precaution he could take to avoid it—
namely, porting his helm, and reversing the engines;
and that his subsequent exertions in doing anything to
save the lives of the multitude on board the Gnome were
as judicious and coolly conducted as they were strenuous.
It is a matter of much surprise amongst those who wit•
nessed the scene, that no life was lost in the terror and
confusion that prevailed on board the Gnome.
lIUNGERFORD MARKET STEAM-BOAT PIER.—The
obstruction
be
finally settled
long-pending dispute between the Ilungerford Market
and Charing-cross Suspension Bridge Companies is now
an
the t o
rl
jacnkde t andty fl
,) em-
barkat
float-
ing-pier gp r
which
from
t henaviga-
tion
in course of arrangement, and
week, when the public will be
allowed d
of the river will be removed.
REWARDS FOR EXTINGUISIIINC FIRES.—At an ne
the Suspensionis o
great
an Bridge,
in-
quest held yesterday, it was suggested by a juryman that
a small fund, at the disposal of the coroner and jury,
might be most advantageously applied to reward indivi-
, duals who distinguished themselves in putting out fires
and saving lives. A shilling a piece from the house-
I holders of a district, it was said, would form an ample
fund for the purpose.

MANCHESTER. ancIScWTHAMPTON
RAILWAY.
A public meeting of the scripholders in this Comp say
was held yesterday at the King's Arms Botei,
Palace- yard,Westminster, to take into consideration the
position of the Company, and to adopt n:easures for their
future guidance.
Sir John Barker Mill took the chair.
The Secretary having read the advertisement calling
the meeting,
Mr. J. IVALkisrsnaw, deputy-chairman, then said
he wished to inform the meeting that they had on the
table memorials from Cheltenham, Cirencester, Crick-
lade, Swindon, Marlborough, Andover, Stockbridge,
Romsey, and Southampton, praying that the directors
would proceed with the line. Letters also had been re-
ceived from Earl Bruce and Viscount Duncannon to the
same effect, and he stated that other noblemen
and influential landholders on the line had signed
one or other of the numerous memorials
which had been got up with a view to urging the di-
rectors to continue their application to Parliament for
their Act authoring the construction of the line. He
further deprecated any expression on that occasion of ir-
ritable feelings which were so apt to be occasioned
by temporary failure in railway matters ; he was
sure that any such expressions would only tend to im-
pede their future progress. Ile assured the meeting
that for himself and the directors it uas not their inten-
tion on that occasion to use any means which would
influence the vote of the scriphaders, that the result
might be purely their own.
The Secretary then read the report.
Sir JOHN BARKER MILL rose to move " That the re-
port now read be received and printed for distribution
among:t the shareholders." Ile said he did not feel
himself called upon to enter at any length into the de-
tails after the ample report which had been read.
Contrary to his expectation, he regretted to
say that they had been disappointed of success
before Parliament. He joined with the deputy-chairman
in deprecating any expresSion of angry feeling on that
occasion, and he was happy to allude to the numerous
and spontaneous meetings which from one end of the
land to the other had been held to urge them to persist
in their application to Parliament, and he
hoped one day, as their chairman, to be able
to congratulate them on receiving their Bill.
The object of their meeting then was to say whether
they would persist in going again to Parliament, or whe-
ther they would at once give up their Bill. lie would
venture to suggest one thing—that he hoped the share-
holders would continue to support the directors, who
were yet prepared to continue their exertions, and to
undertake any responsibility in going to Parliament.
Mr. Row, High Bailiff of Cheltenham, seconded the
motion.

The Rev. FRANCIS CLOSE, said that he appeared
on that occasion representing the people of his
parish. He was called up from his seat by
the word used by the Chairman in describing the meet-
ings as spontaneous. He had never seen a more spon-
taneous and more unanimous meeting of his parish-
ioners. They were all most forward for the suc•
cess of this line, and nothing seemed to give
them more concern than tke announcement
that the Company had failed of success, or to excite more
their indignation than the conduct of those opponents
through whom they had met with that failure. Their
approach to the town of Cheltenham had not been such
as to meet with the entire approbation of the town, but
rather than throw any obstacle in the way of
the Company's success, they agreed to submit without
expressing their dissent.

After afew words from EDWARD TOOTAL, Esq., from
Manchester,

JAMES HOSKINS, Esq., Mayor of Portsmouth, said he
would urge them to continue their exertions for the line,
first because it was a good line. It was a good line,
because, connecting the great manufacturing towns
of the north with the great seaport towns of
the south, it opened a track of country unsupplicd with
railway communication. He urged them to do so,
secondly, because they had the most ample and over-
whelming evidence to show that it was a good line, con-
vincing to all in the kingdom except five ; and thirdly,
because all the inhabitants on the route of the line were
unanimously in favour of it.
The resolution was then put and carried unanimously
with great applause.
Mr. WALKINGSHAW in moving the second resolution
said, he would but repeat what he had already said, that
he, or his brother directors would do or say nothing
which would in one iota sway in any way the opinion
of the shareholders on the subject. He moved:—
" That this meeting declares its deliberate opinion to be
that the line advocated by the Company is called for by
the public interests, and ought to be made, and that
nothing occurred in the course of the Parliamentary
proceedings which at all affects the confidence of the
shareholders in the soundness of the undertaking, as a
valuable investment."

Lord ERNEST BRUCE, in supporting the resolution,
said he appeared as the representative of the town of
Marlborough, and stated the very great necessity which
that town and Andover both had for that communica-
tion proffered by the line, and impressed upon the meet-
ing the desirableness of proceeding with it.
As no other person felt inclined to speak on the re-
solution, it was put and carried with acclamation.
Mr. G. FARQUHAR said he supported the line entirely
on public grounds, for he was sure that once made it
would become one of the most important main
trunk lines in the kingdom; and, in common with
others, felt strongly inclined to urge the meeting
to vote for prosecuting the line. lle moved:—
" That, therefore,a renewed application be made to Par-
liament in the ensuing session for an Act to authorise
the construction of the railway, with such changes and
modifications, if any, as to the directors may seem meet ;
and that the directors be, and they are hereby autho-
rised to take such steps, based upon the suggestions con-
tained in their report, as they may think fit, with a view
to give effect to this resolution ; and that they be
.further authorised to allow dissentient shareholders to
withdraw, and the scrip be re-issued in such manner and
upon such terms as they shall think expedient."
Mr. WILLIAM LANKESTER, from Southampton, said
it was the strong desire of the people of that town to
get a connexion with ;the north-west by way of Chel-
tenham into Wales, the west of Scotland, and also with
the coast of Ireland. It was of no avail to hare
given them the line by Oxford, for they could not
be convinced that the longest way round was
the nearest way home. Considering it was the main
port for the mail packet from Asia, and an arsenal of the
kingdom, it was no wonder that the people were united
in their determination and their purpose to have this line.
They felt strongly on the subject, and not a little indig-
nant, if they might be allowed to express it, at the Bill
having been thrown out, and they pledged themselves
not to rest till they had obtained it.
The resolution was carried.
Mr. GEORGE, of Romsey, moved—" That the thanks
of this meeting be presented to the directors for the
energy and ability with which they have devoted them-
selves to the interests of this Company, and for the ten-
der of continued service, which their report of this day
contains."

It was seconded by Mr. SAINSBURY, and carried
unanimously.
The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN, at the request of the Hon.
Baronet in the chair, acknowledged the honour which the
meeting had done them. He begged now to state what
he reserved before, that the directors were now doubly
confident of success, from the evidence which had come
out in favour of the line. He said, also, that within
the last few days more than twenty thousand scrip
had been sent in ursolicited to the office, with
urgent requests to proceed. He then referred to the
opinion of Mr. Robert Stephenson, their engineer, that
no line of railway could be laid down at a cheaper rate,
and to the admission of Mr. Brunel, the engineer of the
opposing line, that he would not interfere with the Great
Western, though made, and that line along the route
must one day yet be made. They had retained their old
friends, they had gained new ones ; they had gained the
co-operation of the South-Western, and he might say,
now that they had determined to proceed, that they
would further have the co-operation of the greatest lines
in the country, although he could not enter more into
particulars then.
Lord Ernest Bruce having been voted into the chair,
a unanimous vote of thanks to Sir John Barker Mill
was passed by the meeting, which then broke up.

PROTEST OF THE DUKE OF OLDENDURGH.-The
Augsburgh Gazette gives the following as the protest
made by the Grand Duke of Oldenburgh against the
letters patent of the King of Denmark:—" By the letters
patent addressed from Copenhagen on the Bth of July,
1846, by his Majesty King Christian VIII. of Denmark,
the Grand Duke of Oldenburgh has seen in what sense
it had pleased his Majesty to declare himself towards his
subjects relative to the eventualities of the succession.
As it has not reached the knowledge of his Royal High-
ness that his Majesty had thought proper to come to an
understanding on this subject, before the publication of
the letters patent, with the different chiefs of the special
lines belonging to the house of Oldenburgh; that at
least he has taken no steps whatsoever on this subject
with the Grand Duke of Oldenburgh, who in virtue of
existing treaties represents in Germany the chief of the
line of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, the Grand Duke of
Oldenburgh cannot recognise in that declaration, pub-
lished without his participation, but a notice and a per-
sonal interpretation of his Majesty; but at the same
time his Royal Highness considers it his duty, in his
quality as head of his house, to protest solemnly, in the
history of its eventful rights, against all the conse-
quences which may be drawn from that declaration to
the prejudice of his rights and those of his house."
AN ELEPHANT'S DOINGS.—We learn by a gentle.
man of the city, who was at Lockport on Saturday, that
at noon of that day an elephant belonging to a mena-
gerie exhibiting there, walked out of his tent toward a
span of horses attached to a waggon some twenty rods
off. The horses took fright as the huge beast ap-
proached them, broke loose, and ran a few rods to an
angle of a fence ; the elephant followed, capsized the
waggon, and threw the horses some two rods over the
fence. One of the horses rose with several broken ribs,
and managed to escape his assailant, which fell upon the
other with his tusks, tore out his entrails, and continued
to toss him along the fence some ten rods or more. At
this time the keeper, who was at dinner when the
elephant escaped from the tent, came up, and called the
animal by name. The elephant immediately obeyed the
word, and followed the keeper to an orchard about a
hundred rods off, where he was secured by strong chains
made fast to the trunk of a full-grown tree. Just as
our informant left in the afternoon, he heard that the
elephant had uprooted the tree to which he was fastened,
and had injured a man ; but learned no particulars.
The rage of the elephant, it is said, was caused by some
tobacco concealed in the food that some of the bystanders
offered to him. People cannot be too cautious how they
trifle in such a way with an elephant.-13zffalo Com.
mercial. _

The Right Hon. Sir George Grey arrived in town
yesterday, from Tunbridge Wells.

LONDON—ITS RIVERS AND
DITCHES.
The following interesting delatis are extracted from a
lecture on "London and its Antiquities," by Mr. Frank
J. Scud unore. Speaking of ancient London, he thus
proceeds:—
It etas long before the city was completely drained
of the waters with which the ground was so plentifully
saturated. The great fen, entitled Moorfields, was in-
deed without the city wall, whence it extended almost
to the high grounds of Islington, but there were seve-
ral marshy spots even within the precincts of the
city. The ground on which Bartholomew Hospital
stands was reclaimed from the waters; and when Sir
Chris. Wren built the church of St. Lawrence Jewry,
ho was compelled to drive piles into the moist ground
before he could lay the foundation. The name of Fen-
church-street sufficiently denotes the character of the
soil, and from this street issued a small stream, or bourne
as it was called, which ran through Lombard-street and
Sherborne-lane into the Thames, and from this circuitous
route gave the name of Langbourne or Longbourne
Ward, to that division of the city. Another stream
rose in MoorfieltlF, and ran across the Poultry, down
‘‘'a !brook, and Bread-street-hill into the Thames, with
such velocity, that the spot where it entered that river
a 9 called Dowgate or Dow ngste, which name it retains
to this day. It must be remembered, however, that in
those times London stood on a hill which sloped towards
the river, but that after the great fire Sir Christopher
Wren. caused the ground to be raised in Thames-street
several feet, and lowered proportionately in Cannon-
street, so that the declivity no longer retains its original
angle. It is recorded of this turbulent little brook, that
in the year 1571 it caught a boy by the legs as he was
attempting to leap over the channel which was swollen
by a heavy shower of rain, and carried him onward to
the Thames with such velocity, that he must certainly
have been drowned if he had not been killed by
coming in contact with a cart-wheel. Nevertheless
barges used to ascend this stream ; and the higheSt
point of their progress is marked by the name Barge-
yard, Bucklersbury. But the most important of these
tributary streams was the Fleet River, which took
its rise near Battle-bridge, and being swelled by
the little brooks called Old Bourne and Turnmill, ran
into the Thames near to the Blackfriars Priory. Before
the year 1290, barges used to ascend the stream as far as
Holborn-bridge, and it was otherwise useful for
cleansing the district through which it passed ;
but the inhabitants of the Temple, who were not
less celebrated then than now, for taking care of
their own interests, turned off its waters into another
channel for the purpose of working the mills which
they possessed in great abundance along the banks
of the Thames, which felonious misappropriation
of the waters caused first the mouth, and subsequently
the whole course of the stream to be so choked up with
filth, that the priests of White Friars were almost stifled
by the pestilential odours, which overpowered the smell
of the incense during Divine service, and were otherwise
detrimental to the health of the citizens., As a matter of
course this nuisance lasted for a long time, for English-
men love so well to exercise their national passion for
grumbling, that they are never in a very great hurry
to remove the cause of offence. In this instance they
followed out that principle with remarkable pertinacity,
for it was not until five hundred years after the first
complaint that the ditch was completely covered over
and rendered wholesome. Those who now observe, from
Blackfriars-bridge, that vast stream of black mud issu-
ing from a dark arch, and just visible at low water, will
hardly believe it to have been so exposed even as late as
the year 1763, that a tipsy barber from the country,
going along near there one winter's night of that year,
missed his way, walked into the ditch, at d was frozen to
death in an upright position. Besides these streams there
were several wells or springs in different parts of the
metropolis. There was one in Whitefriars, just by the
present St. Bride's church, Fleet-street, and called St.
Bride's Well, whence Bridewell Palace, which stood
hard by, derived its name. This residence of our ear-
liest monarchs was subsequently begged from Henry
VIII. by Bishop Ridley for charitable purposes, since
which time the name of Bridewell has gained more ce-
lebrity in connexion with the hospital and asylum,
than had been previously conferred upon it by its
royal inmates. There was another well in the parish
of St. John, Clerkenvvell, called the Skinners' Well,
or Clerks' Well, round which the parish clerks of London
used to exhibit their sacred plays or mysteries in the sum-
mer evenings. In the year 1409, they exhibited the "Cre-
ation of the World," which lasted eight days, and attracted
the nobility from all parts ofEngland. These worthy clerks
must have been sadly at a loss for proper scenery, nor in-
deed could the exhibition have been tolerated except by
persons passionately fond of stage representation ; but
in an age when printing was unknown, and the Bible
not translated, the great attraction must have been the
novelty of the subjects, and the whole representations
were perhaps beneficial, inasmuch as they kept alive in
the minds of the people some few truths which would
otherwise have been lost in the wilderness of tradition.
To supply the city with plenty of fresh water was
the constant care of all public-spirited Mayors and
Aldermen, and to this end numerous conduits were
built, in various places, to which water was brought
in leaden pipes from the most covenient springs.
The chief of these was the Standard in Cheapside,
which served also as a rendezvous for the citiz ns in
times of danger or insurrection. Here they cut off
the Bishop of Exeter's head, in 1325, and here Lord Say
and Sele was beheaded in the rebellion of Jack Cade.
In the centre of the four ways of Leadenhall, Cornhill,
Gracechurch, and Bishopsgate streets, was a condu t
called the Water Standard, placed there in 1582,
and supplied with water from the Thames, by one
of the earliest forcing-pumps ever used in England.
Stow tells us that a Dutchman of the name of
Peter Morris contrived a forcingepunip by means
of which he conveyed the waters of the Thames,
in leaden pipes, over the steeple of St. Magnus
church, London-bridge; and from thence to divers houses
in Thames-street and Grass-street, up to the north-west
corner of Leadeuhall, the highest ground in the City,
where the waste of tkis main pipe rising into this
standard, provided at the charge of the City, with four
spouts running four ways, plentifully served at every
tide the commodity of the neighbours near adjoining,
and also cleansed the channels of their streets."

We who live under the New River dispensation, and
have the water laid on in our bedrooms, ready warmed
fur shaving purposes, cannot properly appreciate the
blessings which these conduits conferred upon the City ;
but the romantic mind may revert with pleasure to the
quaint old streets, with their wooden houses, from whose
walls a few lanthorns, suspended on poles, shed a dim
religious light ; whilst, to complete the picture, was the
fountain, bubbling up so coolly in the hot summer
nights, and little groups of citizens lounging near its
waters for gossip, love, and pastime.