The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-24 00:00:00

Von of the prisoner, havirg rased counted( it sovereigas
and half-sovereigns under similar circumstances.
Mr. HARDWICK ordered the prisoner to stand com-
mitted for trial on thepresent charge of stealing t.h© nit •
shillings, but to be brought up this day week, in order
hat the other charges may b brought against him.

THE LATE' FATAL ACCIDENT ON
THE SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.
TUNBRIDGE, WEDNESDAY NIGHT.—This afternoon,
at three o'clock, Mr. I)udlow. one of the Coroners for
the County of Kent; opened an investigetien at the
Aniel Inn, in this town, before a highly respeetaidejury,
rolatire to the death of Charles Dolby. aged 27, the un-
fortunate engine-driver who lost his life by this deplor-
able accident.
After the jury had been duly empannelled a discussion
arose as to the propriety of viewing the bridge, the jury
observing that. rumours were in circulation of its not
being in a proper state of solidity. '
The Coroner considered such a course luite unneces-
sary, inasmuch as the Company's officer would lay before
them such evidence as related to its construction, and the
circumstances of the accident would be explained by par,
ties competent to give an opinion.
The jury. however, stated thst it would b • more satis-
factory ti their minds to inspect it, and accordingly the
Coroner assented.
The jury then proceed. d to the station, where an en-
gine and carriage wire in waiting, which conveyed them
to the spot After the lapse of near an h.,ur they re•
`urned, when the following evidence was adduced :
Mr. P.W. Barlow, the engineer, Mr. Iberly, the .su-
perintendent of the locomotive department, and othfr
officials, attended to watch the interests of the Company.
Charles Linnard, a guard in the service of the South-
Eastern Railway Company, was then called. He said
the deceased was an engine-driver in the emp;oy of the
Company. On %tenthly night, at eight o'clock, he I. et
Dover with the luggage-train, the deceased driving the
engine, which was a new one, numbered 120. There
were seven waggons in the train, laden with goods. , It
arrived safe at Tunbridge at about half-past twelve
o'clock, and after waiting there a short time. and having
the usual signals, the train proceeded. They had scarcely,
however, gone more than a mile from Tunbridge before
the accident took place. He was sitting on the last car-
riage and felt a severe shock, the train being brought to
a sudden stop. He immediately got down, and found
that. the bridge had given way. Saw the engine, tender,
and carriages in the water. The train was not going
fast, not more than eight miles an hour. Ile instantly
put down a fog signal, and took a red signal-lamp
down the line towards Tunbridge, in order to stop all
trains from that station. lie also sent a man to that.
station for the same purpose. On returning to the spot
where the accident happened noticed the deceased lying
on the bank alive. All he heard him say was, "Lay me
on my belly; oh my thigh." The deceased's broiler,
who was the stoker, was near him, holding him out of
the water. Witness asked the fireman how it occurred.
whO replied that he did not know, but felt the engine
sink like into a hole and then turn over. Did not say if
the engine had gone over the bridge.
By the CORONER—Believed the engine to be heavi-r
than the tender. After removing the deceased from the
Bank and hiving got him upon the line, witness placed .
him in the last carriage of. the train, and having pro-
cured a pilot engine, conveyed him on to Tunbridge,
where he expired in the course of twenty minutes.
Could form no opinion as to the cause of the accident.
It took place about one o'clock on Tuesday morning.
Did not know what additional evidence the brother of
the deceased could give. Understood him to have
dragged the deceased out of the engine and swam ashore
with him.
The CORONER here asked the condition of the stoker,
the deceased's brother, who was lying at the house, with
a view of learning whether he was in a fit state to be
examined.
Mr. Gorair, a surgeon, who had charge of him, re-
plied that be did not think him sufficiently recovered to
undergo the excitement which an examination might
produce. There was a deep wound across his scalp, and
froth the state he was in, any conversation might pos-
sibly be dangerous to his recovery.
The ConoNEa then wished to know if the jury deemed
it necessary to have the stoker's evidence. Was any one
present who heard him mention anything relating to the
accident ?
A juryman remarked that the stoker, being a member
of a benefit society to which he belonged, he waited upon
him on the subject of the accident, when he observed
that he could not tell how it took place. They were
going at a a:ow and steady rate, when they felt the en-
gine falling, and were pitched into the river.
The CORONER inquired of the juryman if he heard
the stoker describe the engine to have gone over the
bridge ? The juryman answered that he did net.
Another juror observed that he had been told by the
stoker that it was very likely that the engine would have
safely gone over the. bridge, ha,' it not been for the car-
riages behind. He was informed by him that the tender
sank with the bridge, pulling back the engine, and
dragging the carriages after it.
In consequence, therefore, of the dangerous state of
the brother of' the deceased, it was determined, for the
present, not to examine him.
The CORONER then put it to the jury if they were de-
sirous of adjourning the investigation, in order to gain
the opinion of the Company's engineer. The jury wished
the C. to be cleared, so as to consult together on the
subject, and eventually aereed to an adjournment.

SIEGE OPERATIONS AT
CHATHAM.

CHATHAM. JAN. 20.—This day, Tuesday, the 20th
inst , was witnessed an experiment of considerable inte-
rest in the field works of the Royal Engineers, near to
the Casemate Barracks, Brompton, under the direction
of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Frederick Smith,
and in the presence of the Inspector-General of Forti-
fications, Sir John Fox Burgoyne, K.C.8., who c one
purposely to witness the evolutions. There were also
present Sir Thomas Willshire, Bart., Commandant of
the Garrison; Colonel Wear°, K.EI., of the Provisienal
Battalion ; Major of Brigade, Capt. O'Brien, and a
numerous assemblage of the officers of th• garrison.
The first military movement was that of breaching a
stockade of a most substantial construction, consisting
of a number of pieces of solid timber, united together
with ribb,,ns of oak plank, top and bottom, firmly nailed
! with ten inch spikes. It was thirty feet in length,
each piece of timber being a foot square, and about
twelve feet long, and firmly rammed into the earth about
three feet. This stockade had two rows of loop-holes
for musketry firing, one so as to enab e soldiers to fire
standing on the ground, and the'other near to the bottom
to fire as if the (ten were standing in a trench. The
whole had been so arranged as to represent the same
sort of obstruction a; our troops encountered recently in
New Zealand, when so many lives of British soldiers
were sacrificed, in attacking with only their muskets
and bayonets ; indeed every pains had been taken to
make this stockade as substantial as it could possibly be
put together. The first trial of waking a breach was an
experiment or 301bs. of powder placed in a b;;g opposite
to the top ribbon of the stockade, by slinging it at the
end of two pieces of slight timber in the shape of a tri-
angle placed against the structure, and on its being fired
it was found to have no other effect that' that of re-
moving out of their places at the spot a few pieces of
the timber about four inches out of their line towards

the top. A sec and charge of 30!bs. of powder in a bag
was then laid on the ground in the centre of the
stockade, closely clamped with four damp sand bags,
and on being fired it made a breach of a space of
two-feet nine inches, driving one of the . piles out
of the earth, and breaking another asunder like a twig.
To effect a total destruction of this strong-build stockade
two charges of powder well tamped with sand hags were
placed in hag, one consisting of a bag containing 701134.
of powder
and another of 501h5.. in equal distances close
against the building, and on their being fired,. they ha':
such an effect that it raked the piles of timber out o
the earth, and drone some of them to a distance of 150
eel from the spot, scattering the timber to a very con-
siderable distance. The report was tremendous, and it
produced a most magnificent sight. A pass having been
made, a number of Sappers and Miners, to about 200,
passed through, representing the taking of the place.
' The object of destroying the stockade was to ascertain
the minimum quantity of powder necessary for that
purpose, and from the result of those experiments, it is
evident that a barrel of gunpowder containing 901bs.
will destroy any stockade, however firmly put together,
provided the action of the powder is confined by being
surrounded by three or four bags of earth about the
Lae
of a bushel each.

The next scene of attraction was that of the mining
operations. The first was the firing of a countermine,
containing a charge of 1501bs, of powder, lodged in a
chamber of a gallery several feet under ground, and on
being fired it produced an explosion with a loud report,
causing a strikingly perceptible effect in the earth, felt
by persons standing on the glacis on the opposite side of
the trench, and throwing the earth up a considerable
distance, and forming a crater of nearly twenty feet in
circumference, and about three feet deep. This was
followed in a few momenta by another explosion of a
charge of 1701b5.. thereby causing an explosion of a most
magnificent description. The earth and fragments were
blown up into the air, forming a crater of 33 feet by 16
rest, and a depth of 6 feet. The earth seemed to tremble
for some distance. To witness this mode of warfare, the
troops of the line and the Royal Marines were present,
besides a vast number of civi'iaus. The weather was
particularly fine.
At tho conclusion a few experiments were tried with
globes of compression at the end of holes bored in the
earth by means of a boring apparatus. with small charges
of gunpowder placed at the end, and well rammed up
with earth. These experiments were tried to ascertain
the size chambers that small charges of powder would
make in solid earth being applicable to dileusive mines.
The whole of the arrangements commenced at two o'clock
P.M., and closed at four o'clock P M.

ANTI-CORN-LAW MEETING AT INVERGRY.—On
Thursday evening, a public meeting was bad in the Town
Hall, Inverury, for the purpose of taking into consideration
the evil tendencies of the corn-laws. Mr. Gordon of the
Commercial Inn, in the chair. Speeches were delivered by
the chairman, Messrs. John Innes, Cock, Roy, and others.
The audience was numercus and respectable. Resolutions
condemnatory of the existing corn-laws were passed without
a disentient voice; and a memorial to both Houses of Par-
liament is new in the course of signature in the district.—
North of Scotland Gazette.
PRO CORN-LAW PETITIONS —According to their
usual tactics the Protectionists are resorting to all sorts of
unconstitutional means to obtain signatures to their petitions
in favour of the bread tax; force and fraud being resorted to
to induce the labourers, and others dependent on them, to
put their names to those precious documents. We have heard
of several cases where threats have been made use of to
iuduce labourers to sign,—where they have even been turned
off for refusing,-.-and where the masters have taken the liberty
of signing for their labourers. Let the gentry beware expo-
sure awats them. Truly the poor and dependent, who are
thus dealt with, require " protection;" not such as they now
receive, but to be protected against those who first deprive
them of the naeansof living andthen coerce them to pray for
fi continuo) of Duch persecu Wiltshit s Independent.