The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-21 00:00:00

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THE LATE FATAL CCIDENT ON 7-
THE SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.
The adjourned inquest on the body of David Mark•
land,,the engine driver, who was killed near Frimley
on Friday last, was resumed yesterday, at the Rail-
way _Hotel, Woking, before Mr. C. J. Vtrot.ds, the
coroner for West. Surrey. Among the parties present
on the part of the company were Mr. Locke, M.P.;
the chief engineer; Mr. Dalrymple, solicitor to the
company; Mr. Godson, the superintendent of the
line; Mr. Young, deputy superintendent; Mr.
Taunton, assistant secretary, in consequence of the
continued indisposition of✓ Mr. Campbell, and the
principal gentlemen who attended on hionday.
Mr. Towne, a solicitor, attended to watch the pro-
ceedings for the widow of the unfortunate man.
The jury having severally answered to their
names,

The Cozosen a aid that it would he recollected
that on Aloodet3-, after he-aring t'ne evidence Of two
passengers, Mr. Young, the deputy sw:erintendent of
the line, was put under examit,atioe, r: hen it :T•
peered that two men had been given into custody,
and had been remanded to prison by Mr. Elliott, the
magistrate of Lambeth Poiice-sour t. It being con-
sidered necessary that tkese Men should ba present at
the present inquiry, he had attempted to obtain an
order fur baying them brought before timn. In this
had been unsuccessful, and therefore thought it
would be necessary fur them again to adjourn before
delivering their verdict, w hen he (the Coroner) could
make an application to the &entity of State, who,
there would be no question, had the power to allow
the Men to be produced.
Mr. Charles Smith Ward was then called—He de-
posed-that he came in the train to which the accident
happened, fro.o Southampton, on Friday last. After
the train came to a stop, he ascertained from Mr.
Young that steps had been taken to stop the goods
train, but afterwards, hearing it approach, Mr. Young
said he thought it would be as well if he (Mr. Ward)
were to run down the line, and endeavour to attract
their attention. He did so for 200 or 800 yards,
waving his hat and shouting. The shouting was
answered from the engine, but seeing that a collision
was inevitable, he looked the other way to avoid the
sight, and saw the refh.ction of Brownsmith's red
light a long vv;iky down the,line, he should think 500
or GOO yards farther than he was. Both tln_
driver mrai- the -stoicen;iterrertin•.the engine*switerrthe
train passed him. On his return he saw the body
of Markland lying between the rails, and Calvert,
who appeared much hurt, supported at the side
of the line. He could not say whether tEe
engine was reversed at the time it passed him, but
he had no doubt that an attempt was made to check
its progress after he attracted the attention of the
driver. lie saw Brownsinith after the accident, who
told him that he went down the line three-quarters of
a mile, waving his lamp and shouting, but he could
not attract attention. lie did nut see any one on the
engine.

13y Mr. Dalrymple—About an hour after the ac-
cident he saw Jones, the driver of the luggage train,
%ho told him that he did not see Brownsmith's sig-
nal, but admitted he heard him (Mr. Vtrard) shout,
and answered him, and, pointing to the passenger
train, said there was but one light upon it ; the fact
being, to the best of his (Mr. IVard's) Eche'', that
the others had been knocked off by the collision. Ho
afterwards saw Fleming, the stoker, who said that it
was a bad job, and he supposed it would give him six
months. It was not a foggy night, but just such a
night by which a light might be seen at a considerable
distance, more so than it could in a bright moonlight.
Mr. Cornelius Stovin, general manager of traffic,
was then examined relative to the rules of the com-
pany. He considered it imperative under rule 13 that
in all cases of accident the second guard was not only
bound to walk down the lane, and fix a signal at the
distance of GOO yards, but it was imperative for hint
to apply the fog or detonating signals, which burst
with a report nearly as loud as a 9-pounder on a train
running over them on the line at a distance €1 100
yards each. He considered that Brownsmith not
having used his detonating signals was guilty of a
breach of duty, and that was the reason why he
gave him into custody. The detonating signals were
of recent introduction, about twelve months, as was
a red chemical light introduced by himself, and
which in a case of fog was to be used, as giving a
great glare. It was not necessary to use that signal
on such a night as Friday was representei to hay
been, but had he even used a doyen, Browusmit
would not have been blamed, as it would only
have been taking additional precaution to prevent an
accident.

Mr. John Barrett Gooch deposed that he was su-
perintendent of the locomotive department of the
South- Western Railway. The rate at which the
luggage train ought to proceed, at the place where
the accident happened, was about twenty miles an
hour, and it would consequently take about . ten
minutes from the time when its light was first seen
for it to arrive at the point where the collision took
place. On a clear' dark night the light could be seen
at a distance of five or six miles. Where the accident
occurred was on a gradient of from 1 in 300 to 1 in
333, and trains could be easily brought to a stand-
still within the distance allowed by the rules of the
company.
vv,,Qtbar J'akt °S P';"o64. thkie-cv ati-nsafaciert-L-eirelexs-
to stop the engine, and that the detonating signals
ought to have been used.

The inquiry was then adjourned till the Ist of
February, the Coroner intimating his intention of
applying in the meantime to the Secretary of State
for the men in custody to be present.