The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-12 00:00:00

LATE FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY•
(LATEST PARTICULARS )J
The following will be found to be an accurate list of
the killed and wounded :

Mr.
TThhee RReevy..
sPahhidllyipss:
ooff
DEAD.
and comminuted fracture of the left leg.
Wilshere, valet to Sir Alexander Mackenzie—frac-
tured skull.
A male person (unknown), apparently a gentleman's
servant. WPeonozlawnicceh--sskkuulillfrfarcatcuturerded. ,

INJURED.
Captain Blair, R.N., of the Coast-guard service, Pen-
zance—injury of spine. (This case will be fatal.)
Mr. Carlton—dislocated ankle. (A bad case.)
Mr. Conway, of the Temple—lacerated legs, and much
cnt in the knee.
Mr. Lea, of Wadham College, Oxford—leg severely
broken, and simple fracture of the lett thigh.
Mr. Lindsay, of Cork— severely bruised.
Nicholas Seymour, of Cork—broken thigh and con-
tusions.

Mr. Cohen, of Goodman's-fields—face severely cut.
Mr. C. Pearse, 15, Old Cavendish -street—arm severely
cut and ankle injured. (This gentleman has since un-
dergone amputation of the ar m. S
on
tlhre. l‘hleaacdh, e
butn,
not Junior
very United ?
3seriouslyervice Club—contusions
h.ury to both knees,
of Putney-heath not much hurt. This
son of Mr. Sergi,eiadnot, of the Treasury.
hurt.
Mr. very severe.
gentleman
AMi rr..Pseeragri
Sergeant,
se—inj
atnhte,
of the lase Mr.
about four years.
Mrs. Phillips, of Penzance,
This lady had
hPhillips,er
son w
withho
her,v%•a killed
little bybtohye, accident.aged7
They are both much shaken, but not otherwise seriously
Hugh Hedge—head and face severely cut, and elbow
. J. Ellis—head cut.
twelve o'clock yesterday forenoon Mr. Wasbo-
g
the Coroner, and a jury of sixteen respectable
ri
much
ouuu htrh.
A fret
injured.
INQUEST ON THE BODIES.
A
inhabitants of Shrivenham, assembled at the Victoria
Arms Inn, adjacent to the railway station, to investigate
the circumstances connected with the deaths of the four
unfortunate persons above mentioned, whose bodies laid
in an adjoining building. They were much disfigured,
but not to such an extent as would be supposed by the
horrible character of the accident. Mr. Saunders, the
secretary of the Great Western Railway Company, was
present at the inquiry, as also Mr. Gooch, the engineer,
and Mr. Seymour Clark, the managing superintendent.
The painful ceremony of viewing the bodies having been
gone through, the evidence was gone into.
Mr. Charles Coulson, of Penzance, merchant, was the
first witness called. He identified one of the bodies as
that of the Rev. Mr. Phillips, of Chacewator, in Corn-
wall, and said—l came with Air. Phillips on board the
Cornwall steamer to Bristol on Tuesday, and we were
both passengers in the express train from the latter
place. I was not in the same carriage with him when
the accident occurred. The carriage in which I was
riding was next but one to that in which Mr. Phillips
met his death—he was further removed from the engine
than I was. I cannot describe the accident. I heard
the guard's whistle blown by the driver, and kept my
place till the train stopped. I went to search for Mr.
Phillips at the request of his wife, who was in the train,
and I identified him amongst the four bodies lying in
the Railway Tavern, where he had been removed on the
stretcher. Immediately the guard's whistle 'was blown
I saw the guard, who was sitting in a compartment where
I was, put on the brake.
Mr. Russell, chairman of the Great Western Com-
pany, here observed that he attended as representing
that corporation, for the purpose of giving the coroner
and jury every possible assistance in the inquiry.
Stephen Carter, sworn—l live at Shrivenham. lam
in the service of Mr. Rowland Brotherhood, a contractor
on the line, and am employed in packing the permanent
way. I was at the station at the time the accident took
place, and saw a horse.box on the main up-line before
the express train was in sight. It was not quite out on
the main line, but on the crossing, where the siding
runs into the main line. Behind the horse-box—that
is, on the siding, and coming close upon the main line—
was a cattle-truck. It was the cattle truck that the ex-
press train first struck. As the express train approached
the station, :Weybury, one of the porters, now in cus-
tody, came from between the trucks that were on the
siding, holding up his hands in the direction of the
driver, but the engine struck the cattle-truck the mo-
ment afterwards. He came out from between two trucks
that he and Willoughby (another porter, also in custody)
were pushing on the siding. Another person was help-
ing, but Ido not know his name. I did not see them
move the horse-box or the cattle•truck at the time of the
accident. When I first saw the train it was about 200
yards from the station.
A juror—You say that the horse-box was not wholly
on the main line ?

Witness—lt was not entirely on the main line, but
it was nearly so. The cattle-truck was on the siding,
but not so far back but that the engine could strike it
in passing.
The Rev. Joseph Mansfield, perpetual curate of New
Swindon, identified the body of the Rev. George Wil-
liam Sandys, of Woolwich.
Thomas Higgins examined—l am in the employ of
11fr. John Kemp, and every day drive his vau to the
station at Highworth. I was standing by the side of
the loading shed when the accident took place, and was
helping Weybury and Willoughby, at their request, to
push the trucks off the side line. Weybury and Wil-
loughby did not say anything about the express train
until it was heard approaching. A third person, named
Richard Cowley, was helping us. We were going back
on the siding to move some empty waggons when we
heard the train approach.
Weybury and Willoughby were then brought into the
room, and the coroner read over to them the evidence
given by Higgins.
Weybury said he had done all he could to stop the
train directly he heard it, and that in his endeavour to
do so he was nearly smashed by the engine. He was
not cautioned in the slightest degree that the express
train had not passed. There were at the station two
porters and a policeman, whose duty it was to acquaint
him of the fact. •• • • •
Mr. C. Hudson examined—l am station clerk at
Shrivenham, and was at the station when the accident
took place. I had not given the porters any orders to
move the trucks, and was not aware they were doing so.
I have been station clerk for three years. I had been at
the station about a quarter of an hour when the accident
happened. The porters are in the habit of moving
carriages and tracks about the line without my orders.
It is their duty to do so. It is not my duty, at least I
do not consider it is, to direct these men in moving the
carriages in every case. They are under my superin-
tendence, and I am supposed to be attending to my
duties as station•clerk, in the office, and to be looking
after the men. Ido not make it a point at all times, as
lam occasionally in the office issuing tickets. lam the
only station.clerk. I cannot tell whether the policeman
turned the signal on for the'driver to run through the
station. It appears that the signal was on, though Ido
not know this of my own knowledge. It may be sup-
posed that the signal was put on at its proper time,
namely, three o'clock. When I went to attend to the
seventeen minutes after three down train, the signal
that all was clear upon the line was on for the express
train. It was not absolutely necessary for the parties
to remove the horse-box and cattle-truck from the
aiding on the main line.
A juror—But you did not know whether the express
train had passed or not? Witness—Not of my own know-
ledge; but I took it for granted, seeing the signal that the
line was clear was still on, that it had not passed, and,
therefore, did not make any inquiry about it. The
signal would remain till the express train had passed,
and then it would be immediately turned against any
train going in the same direction. The porters at the
station are aware that the " all right" signal remains
turned on till the expected train had passed it.
Robert Roscoe—l am an engine•driver, and have been
in the employ of the Great Western Company for the
last three years. Before that I was a driver on the Mid-
land line for the same period. I have driven the express
trains for the last three years. I brought the express
train yesterday from Swindon. The train was twenty-
one minutes late at starting. Shrivenham is six miles
from Swindon. I was not driving faster than usual when
I passed the station. I was running my regular speed.
I did not attempt to make up lost time. We have had
orders during the last fortnight, that if we are behind
time, we are not to increase our speed. The usual speed
in passing this station will be from 55 to 60 miles an
hour. If I saw the signal was against me, I could easily
bring up before I came to the station, but the signal was
on for me to run through, and it remained so until after
I had stopped my train. I saw the obstruction on the
line when I was 150 yards from the station. I saw
Weybury put up his hands, but that was after I blew the
guard's whistle. There is not the slightest doubt about
the signal having been on for me to run through the
station. It was left on for ten minutes after I had passed
the station. I directed the attention of several persons
to the fact.
Mr. Hudson was recalled to!speak to the character of
Willoughby. Willoughby had up to the present time
performed his duties very well indeed, and he believed
that the same character would be given by the preceding
station-clerk who had employed him.
The CORONER then very briefly summed up the evi-
dence.
The jury remained in deliberation about an hour. At
the expiration of that time the court was re-opened,
when the foreman announced that himself and brother
jurors had agreed to an unanimous vervict of " Man-
slaughter against James Weybury and William Wil-
loughby," the porter and assistant-porter atShrivenham
station.
The CORONER thereupon made out his warrant for the
committal of the two prisoners to Bedford Gaol, to wait
their trial at the next assizes.

THE YORKSHIRE SOCIETY.—The usual annual
dinner took place on Wednesday night, at the London
Tavern, and was very well attended. The Hon. 0. bun-
combe presided, supported by Mr. Hudson, M.P., Lord
Feversham, and other gentlemen connected with York-
shire. The society was founded in 1812, for the purpose
of boarding, clothing, and educating the children of
and
re-
spectable Yorkshire parents, reduced by misfortune! 1
resident within five miles 'of the Royal Exctha_toigne•
giArist
present there are thirty-one boys and twenty-
in y
the charity
in the school, and the general conditio
deserves all praise, for its objects ppear to be very sa-
raough the exertions of
tisfactory. The finances have,
and the society has
Mr. Hudson, who
extentperformed
of esodoutt,ies of chairman last
year, increased to the
period of great com-
thus been carried safely through
mercial distress, which meupst otherwise have borne hard
inproceedings at the festival,
upon its resources.
party than of the for-
from the number of
ofrfiesnds assembled, partook more of
the social character
and, altogether, the evening
dinnerp,rivate
unlit), of a public 1 santl The subscriptions, an-
passed away very Pea Y.
ounefa by the secretary,
amounted to 5004