The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-03 00:00:00

THE LATE FATAL COLLISION
ON THE SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.

COMMITMENT OF THE PRISONERS.
Yesterday, at the Lambeth Police-court, William
Jones, an engine•driver, and Lewis Fleming, a fire-
man, in the service of the South-Western Railway
Company, who have been in custody since the kith
of the last month on a charge of having caused the
death of David Markland, were placed in the dock
before Mr. Elliott for final examination.
Mr. Dalrymple, one of the solicitors, and several of
the officers connected with the company, attended for
the prosecution, and Mr. Wolff appeared on behalf of
the prisoners.
Mr. Dalrymple remarked that the prisoners had
biwn remanded on a former day for the purpose of
producing Fortescue, one of the guards of the goods'
train on the night of the accident. By the certifi-
cate he (Mr. Dalrymple) then produced, it would
be seen that Fortescue was not as yet in a fit state
to attend.

Mr. John Veret Gooch was then sworn, and stated
that he was superintendent of the locomotive depart-
ment of the London and South-Western Railway.
He knew Purbright embankment, in the parish of
Woking, and had visited the spot since the accident
occurred, for the purpose of making:bhimself ac-
quainted with the details of the gradien there. He
knew the canal wall at the end of Frirnley cutting
there. The accident happened at the 25th mile post,
and the distance frcuu there to the canal wall was as

near three miles and a quarter as possible. On
getting out of Frimley cutting the country was an
open one, and there was an uninterrupted view from
there to where the accident happened. The gradi-
ents between these two points are slightly varying
from lin 285 up to lin 848. This is a fair gra-
dient, and is not greater near to where the accident
happened. He made an experiment last night with
a goods' train, consisting of twenty-five waggons
ordinarily laden, and corresponding with the one
that caused the accident, and starting at the same
time of day from Southampton. Before meeting
the train he placed a man at the 25th mile post,
and desired him to walk 600 yards i:owards Frimley
cutting, and at the en i of that distance to stand with
a green light, and also to place on the line a deto-
nating signal ; and, further, to remain there after
the train passed, and until Mr. Gooch came to him.
Witness then proceeded to I''arnbo•:ough, where he
met the goods' train, and taking charge of the engine
proceeded towards town at the rate of about twenty-
one miles an hour, which was a mile an hour over
the average speed of goods' trains. He told the fire-
man to stand ready with leis break to apply it when
he desired him. On coming up to the man with the
green light, he heard the detonating signal go off,
and he instantly reversed the engines without shut-
ting off the steam, when the whole force of the
steam was against the progress of the engine. He
also at the same moment sounded the whistle,
and both the guards, who were not aware
of his object, put on the breaks. When the
train came to a stand-still he got down and
measured the distance to where the man with the
green lamp stood, and found it to be 258 yards from
the engine. These 258 yards were within the 600
yards from where the accident occurred. The en-
gine he drove was the Buffalo, one exactly similar in
power and construction to the one the prisoners had
charge of on the night of the accident. There were
two road box-breaks to the trains with which he
tried the experiments, but there was only one road
box and one break to the train in charge of the pri-
soners. A road box-break is a great assistance in
stopping a train, but the tender-break is the most
effectual, and the latter is in charge of the fireman.
Engine-drivers calculated principally upon being able
to stop the train by the tender-break. On the night
the accident happened there were six carriages more
than on the train with which he made the experiment
on the night before. Ile (Mr. Gooch) thought the
night before was very favourable for stopping a train,
for it was a very dry night, and the rails were parti-
cularly dry ; but still he thought that if he had had
the additional carriages added to the train, he could
have stopped in from seventy to one hundred yards
further on. Had the night been unfavourable, the
rails Het or greasy, the additional six carriages, and
only one road-box and break besides that in the tender,
he was decidedly of opinion that he could have
stopped the train within the six hundred yards, that
being the distance prescribed by the rules. It was
the duty of the engineer and firemen to look out for
lights, or any other signals of danger, and if the pri-
soners had been doing so on the night in question he
(witness) had no doubt they might have stopped the
train and prevented the accident. Witness, on the
night before, saw the green light at a distance of
two miles, though it was but a hand lamp, and not
so large by a great deal as those danger lights placed
at the end of the train. The light was the same
size as that carried by Brownsmith on the night of
the accident.

Mr. Gooch begged to say that he had always con-
sidered the prisoners to be very steady, careful, and
sober men, and was much surprised upon hearing that
the accident occurred with them.

John Smally, a guard in the company's employ,
was examined at considerable length. He was a
guard of a luggage train that started from South-
ampton three hours after that on which the prisoners
were employed. He described the night as rather
foggy, and said the train received a danger signal
from the down mail train, and stopped about three
quarters of a mile out of the cutting. They went on
at a slow pace for about three-quarters of a mile
more, when they saw five red ligits in advance, and
also a fog signal. The lights were then on the side
and tail of the train, as well as two head lamps, and
these they saw die tinctly for a considerable distance
ahead, and he made an observation at the time that
two of them were the side lamps of the passenger
train. The train which he (witness) was on was
two miles from where the accident happened when he
saw the danger signals.
In reply to the Magistrate—This engine only ap-
plied the breaks and did not reverse the engine, and
the train was stopped in about half a mile.
Mr. Wolff submitted that there was nothing in the
charge to justify the further detention of the prisoner
Fleming, nor would any jury be found to find
Jones guilty of any offence on the depositions just

read.
Mr. Elliott, however, committed both the prisoners
to take their trial at the next Kingston Assizes on a
charge of manslaughter, hi causing the death of
David Markland, an engineer in the company's em-
ployment, on the night of Friday, the 14th of last
month.
The court was much crowded during the investi-
gation, which occupied a considerable time, and had
not concluded till a late hour.