The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-14 00:00:00

TERRIFIC RAILWAY COLLISIONS.

NEWPORT, AioNMOUTEMantE, Nov. 12.
divided edeint'eukt' 0, 0 p or L io u 8
This day two collisi,•ns of a very serious nature have
occurred on the Newport and Hereford Railway ; one of
them attended with loss of life. The first collision d
nocncuarr.
red about a quarter to 8 it, the morning, near tha Polite
newydti stati n, about six miles 1r... Ne "Pert. A goods
Prevailed at the
trainriving
l eaitt
the
iat.Newportlatter
fpo raoPe •in.t vwps7ol
—the latter of which consisted of 10 empty
coat
wag-
gons
has a some.
Y the wind,
y the drier
waggons ran
tuitje, andtaunedy at
chaberia
trucks
ruovaoapknon. r
tAwi
oe
were
strong of
blownnt gh ebiri eneebz
ale
ik, i
ebh
jumped off, the
screwing up his
ownhaf treat
neippotde3sc,oeniite,r
awmajdrdwseNreewthwelorts. Zeb
and stoker of the passenger train, which had just left the
Pontnewydn station. Seeing their imminent danger, the
driver reversed the engine, the stoker tightened the
• breaking in the
real,guard
ard andf()i ob:if,o,
sing
e theirtii e collision
example,
a i
tbeort h
break as tightly as he could. Such was the effect of the
collision that the break-van attached to the waggons
sweeping away the ohiml,ey and other
fmromutntoedt thuep
parts of the top, and finally sliding off into the ditch by
inmodtehr,e top of the engine
the side of the rail. The waggons were terrib y enmeshed;
but the passengers in the train were uninjured, with the
exception of a few trifling bruises. The up-Ime was
blocked up for several hours by the debris of the wag-
gons, but by the arrangements of Mr. King, of the
Pontypool station, and Mr. Mogford, of the Pontnewydd
station, the down-line was worked both ways, and the
station
passenger train for Hereford was sent 011 its journey in
three-quarters of an hour.
The second collision happened in the afternoon,
The
on, near
frryoin
siaHtieoce,f
onrodt 1 fareft
telnra Abergavenn The
about a quarter past 1 o'clock, and it had not proceeded
far before it came to a sharp curve near the Nantyderry
station. Here the express engine jumped off the line,
downthe Nan
and took a course across the road • to the up-line which
expresstY de r
it crossed, and just atthis critical juucturethe goo'ils train
advanced and came into contact with the passenger
carriages, some of which it gutted. The engine was
thrown upon its side doan the embankment, and mere
or less the train presented the appearance of a wreck.
How so many of the passengers escaped instant deal is
marvellous, and equally so is the escape of the driver and
stoker of the express. Two gentlemen were killed.
Their names we have not learnt, but one was a traveller
fora Wolverhampton boot and shoe manufactory. Seve-
ral persons were severely bruised, amongst whom was the
guard of the express. The dead bodies were removed to
I Abergavenny. It was half.rst 5 this
evening be ,re th.
passengers by the express reached Newport. Had all
1 gone right the express would have been hereabout 2 p.m.

Ae principal registrar of stock, Mr. Redpath bad, of
course, the entire c,introl of that department of the com-
pany's business. The investigation of the books since his
disappearance—for he left the office in a somewhat hasty
, manner on Tuesday last, and ha 4 not since been heard of
—his shown that the frauds have been prpetrated in
the' following manner :—When Mr. Redpath, who was
the principal registrar, bad to issue a 1001. stock, it
appears that he added an "0 " t,) the amount, thus
making it 1,0001. on the company's books. This opera-
tion was not confined to 1001., but extende I to stock of
2001., 3001., and 5001:, so that out of every 1001. stock
transferred he gained 9001. The directors appear not,
to have made any examination into the accounts, pro-
bably because they never had any Suspicion of their
officer, and it has been to them a mystery for some
years past that they were called upou to pay dividends
upon 15,0001. or 20.0001. more than according to their
au sited accounts they were liable for. Two or three
weeks since, however, the directors established a dis
tioct department for the purpose of securing a strict
investigation of the company's accounts. The officials
of this new department met on Monday last, and on
Tuesday morning they reassembled for the purpoie of
entering upon their duti-3. Soon atter they met Mr.
Redpath entered their room, and said to the chief clerk,
" What are you going to do I" The chief clerk replied,
"To go through all the accounts frim the commencement
of the company." Mr. Redpath replied, "That is a per-
fectly useless proceeding. You will find all the accounts
right in the gross, and it is of no use entering into de-
tails." The chief clerk said, "We are bound to go into
the whole of the accounts, as the directors have given
us explicit directions to do so, and we wish to begin with
the numerical register." Mr. Redpath took up one of the
books and then threw it down again, saying, " Well, if
that is your intention, I will have nothing to do with it."
He then said to one of the officers, " I am going out for
a few minutes " He went, but he never returned.

Previous, however, to his departure, he sent one of
the ticket-porters belonging to the railway, to the Unioa
Bank, in A rgyll-place, for the title deeds of his house in
Chester.place, and for other securities which were lodged
there in his name, directing him to meet him with the
documents at Chester-place. The porter misapprehend-
ing his instructions took the parcel he received from the
Bank, to the Great Northern Railway, and the officials
f the Company have taken possession of it, and notice
has been given at the bank to withhold his balance until
lurth,r inquiry.
As soon as the discovery of the frauds was made di-
rectioni were given to the police to take possession of
Redpath's house in Chester-terrace. This was done, and
almost simultaneously Inspector Willia,ns arrested Mr.
Charles James Cumming Kent, a young man aged 25,
'rim was a clerk in the register office, over which Mr.
R dpath, presided. Mr. Kent, who is supposed to have
been the dupe of Rodpath, was arrested at his residence
in Castle•terrace, Hampstead .•oad, and he immediately
afterwards underwent a private examination at Cier-
kenwell Police Court. He was remanded until Tuesday
next, and is now in the 'custody of the Governor of the
House of Detention.

A warrant has been granted for the apprehension of
Leopold Redpath, who is still a fugitive from justice.
Re is described as being about 45 years of age, 5 feet 10
inches in height, with fair complexion, brown, half*. He
walks in a hurried or " jolting" manner. He dresses well,
but not foppishly, and his general demeanour indicates a
per-on of extremely quiet habits and good position in
Si ,cie ty._.

The- directors of the Great Northern Railway appear
to have been acquainted with the expensive habits of
their servant, and to have been aware i hat 3001. a year
could not have met his expi-nses. Singularly enough, a
feeling prr,vaoed that be filled his revomible office simply
from a desire of having 'something so do ; and this opi-
nion was confirmed by the fact that ho made large con-
tributions to the many religious and charitable institu-
tions with which the metropolis abounds.

ALLEGED ROBBERY AND MURDER AT FRITH

EMT'', KENT, Thursday Evening.—For the past few
days the grease-t excitement has prevailed in this usu-
al:y quiet village and the surrounding neighbourhood in
consequence of the discovery ~f the dead body of a young
man at a place known as Park Spring C.pse, about a
mile from this station.

It appears that as a working man named Thos. Sewell
was proceeding up the avenue leading to Lesnes House,
Lesues Park, the mansion of Captain Wheatley, at a
quarter-past 11 on Saturday. morning last, he disc ivered
the dead body of a man lying on the grass amongst
some trees in the avenue known as Park Spring Copse.
The spot is about 400 yards from the road, and the man-
sion is at present unoccupied. Sewell, seeing that the
man was lying in a pool of blood, was in the act of hast-
ening for assistance, when about 21. yards from the body,
he saw a man's coat, and about the same distance off, in
an opposite direction. he found a cap, both of which arti-
cles evidently belonged to the man, as he was without
either on his body. Sewell then went for assistance, and
the body was conveyed in a shell to Erich dead-house.
There was a carpenter's gouge or round chisel lying in
the deceased's hand covered with blood, and no doubt
that was the instrument with which the wounds were
inflicted. When the body was stripped there were found
to he no fewer than 16 wounds (stabs) iu and about the
region of the heart. From one of the wounds (a very se-
vere one near the breast and very large) there was a por-
tion of the left lung protruding.
A great number of persons visited the dead house, but
were not able to identify the body. In the pockets were
found a second-class railway ticket from Waterloo to
Wandsworth a week cid, three halfpence in money, and
a catalogue a t.ale in the York-road, Battersea, on
Sept.. 27, 1855. with the name of John Cox written on
the fly leaf. Notwithstanding the fact that the descrip-
tion was widely circulatea the body was not ideutifiei
until after the inquest had been opened.
Mr. C. Cartttr, the coron r .r East Kent, having
issued his warrant, a jury was empannelled at the Rut -
ning Horses Tavern to inquire into the death of the
deceased. _

Thos. Sewell and police-constable Turner having
deposed to the finding of the body as above narrated,
A female, name.. Parkins, said she was the wife of a
fisherman living at Er th. For a few days previous to
the body being found, she had seen a young man about
the village, whom she thought to be a person whom,
when she was living at Wandsworth, she knew as John
Carter. She ha.l seen the body, and she was of opinion
that it was that of Carter, but it was not the mau she
had seen in Erith as she had thought.
At this stage of the proceedings,
Several jurors ,expre•sed an opinion that there should
be forth r evidence brought before them, as they felt far
from satisfied with the case as it stood.

The inquest was accordingly adj..urned.
Later in the day, the family of the deceased, who carry
on business as market gardeners at Wandswertb, identi
fled the body as that of George Carter, aged 28. It was
stated by the relatives that the young man was in g god
health and spirits up to the day preceding the discovery
of his body. He left his home on the Friday, having with
him, it is supposed, between 601. and 801., since which
nothing was heard of him until he was found dead, with
only 10. in his pocket, upwards of 20 ini'es from his
home, from which he had not been absent 24 hours.
In pursuance of the order of the ooroner at the opening
of the investigation, a very minute examination of th-
bedy has been made by Dr. Oates, an eminent physician
of this place, and it has been found that there are 16
punctured wounds in the chest, breast, and ribs on the
left side. Of these injuries no less than five have pene-
trated the heart, one being in the apex, which is a fleshy
part without important arteries, a second in the right
aurice, and the other three are in the left ventricle of the
heart. The whole of the latter four are in the most dan
gerous part. One of the wounds in the heart was three
inches deep, being the centre of the three in the left ven-
tricle, corresponding exactly with the external incision
through which the portion of the lung protruded. In ad-
dition to the injuries above stated, there was an exten-
sive fracture of the skull at the back part of the head. A
portion of the skull about the size of an egg was beaten
into the brain.
Various rumours are afloat in the village, and the
greatest excitement prevails, every exertion being used
to sift this mysterious affair to .the utmost. Sergeant
Ebbs holds the case in hand, and is prosecuting the ni-
-1 quiry with the greatest assiduity and perseverance.

SUDDEN DEATH OF A LIVERPOOL MERCHANT.—
LIVERPOOL, Thureday.-7t is with regret we announce
the very sudden demise of Mr. Samuel Johnston, a mer-
chant engaged in the South American trade, and a mem-
ber of the firm of 'Messrs S. Johnston and Co.. Orange-
court. The deceased left his resi lenco, New Brighton,
Cheshire, this morning, and arrived by the usual ferry
boat. He called immedia ely in the office of his solicitor,
Mr. John North, Exchange-alley, and was engaged in
transacting some-business when he complained of being
ill, and although medical aid was at once called in, life
was on its- arrival extinct. Deceased was much respected.
He was 6 'years of age, and brother-iu-law to Mr.
Brimley-Moore, M,P. for Mallon.

Tbis great success—for we may at once ease our
readers' minds on this point—in the art of bell-
making gave tongue for the first time yesterday
morning at a few minutes past 11 o'clock. The
monster clapper, weighing 16 cwt., arrived last
week, and, having been fitted with great expedition,
notice was given to a number of official and scion
• t-fic celebrities that a strictly private trial of Big
Ben's powers of utterance and modulation was to
take place. So, precisely at eleven, a band, beaded
by Mr. E. B. Denison, Q.C., its accomplished de-
signer, and Mr. Taylor, assembled within the hoard
ing at the foot of the Westminster Clock 'Tower ;
some with tuning keys ready to apply to their
mouths, some with their ears stuffed with cotton,
lest their tympanums should crack, and some man-
fully trusting that their ears would stand the sound.
All were in anxious expectation, and awaited with
mixed feelings of impatience and awe the first
accents of the monster. Children are said to be born
imperfect in every respect excepting their tongues
of this all fathers blessed with° progeny have
had aural demonstration ; but this Frankenstein--
this Bell of Bells, though born, is unable to leap
his tongue or to give the faintest lisp without
nelp, and yesterday morning this help was supplied
by six or eight sturdy artisans, who tugged lustily
with a measured strp,in at ropes attached to Big Ben's
clapper. Now the bells of S. Margaret's, and of
the Abbey, struck 11, loud enough iu their way, but
soon to be put to silence. With the north-east breeze
came booming down, a moment after, the sound
of another bell, still the greatest in England,
but in a few minutes to_ le—immeasurably
passed in sound, and destined to take the second
place. It was the Last protest of the Great Ball of
St. Paul's, ci decant Great Tom of Westminster,
which at once proclaimed its own power and rung
in the suprenialy of the mighty rival, swingin4
over the very spot on which it had once itself steed,
to whom its sceptre of sound was now about to
depart for ever. If bells can feel, no doubt the
Great Bell at St. Paul's felt sad at that moment,
and " Big Ben" proportionally triumphant, but
externally the latter made no sound as the voice
of his antagonist came wailing up the Thames, and
he looked as firm and unmoved as the First Com-
missioner of Works when he is listening to the re-
proaches of a deputation.
Well, iow the time has come. As Wallenstein
told his soldiers to fight or rot, so Big Ben
must now speak or split. By his voice we shall
show him. Be there flaw or crack in him out it
now must come. So the sturdy fellows in fustian
pull with a will, at first somewhat jerkingly and
excitedly, Mr. Denison lending a willing hand as
leader in that honest team. One, two, three, and
then such an awful, solemn, heartrending sound ;
like a potent poison, the vibration penetrates every
vein in the body, it strikes every nerve, it attacks
and tries every fibre and muscle, it makes your
bones rattle and your marrow creep. In despair of
describing a sensation which combines all sensations
and invades the body by so many senses, we can
only call it a liquid blow ; it strikes you all over
your frame at once, and, net content with mas-
tering your outworks, it steams into and per-
vades and floods your inner man in as iustaut
of time. So much for the first stroke, the work of
a moment, an electric shook intensified, which it
has taken so many words to describe, even imper-
fectly. The men are not in good gear, and tug
somewhat hurriedly ; the second sun third strokes
are faltering, and cause our Frankenstein to give an
"uncertain sound ;" the fourth and tiftf, and so
stroke after stroke, with rare exceptions, corns
truly home. And now arises a wondrous conflu-
ence of vibration as the air in the confined space
under the clock-tower is lashed into fury by the
tempest of sound. Many stop their ears—and, if
any of Mr. Denison's detractors were present, it
must have amused him to see the attitude of these
" deaf adders, who refused to bear the voice of the
charmer"—scoffers who, perhaps, came to exult
over a defeat and remained to swell a triumph.
But to return. Many stop their ears ; many would
run away if they dared, and some did, saying they
preferred to hear it a little way off, but Ow true
friend of science neither stopped his ears nor
thought of running away. He stayed and braved
out the brazen surge of sound around him and re-
velled in its vibrations with the same exci!ement
and delight as when a- man stands upon a wind-
smitten headland on a stormy day, and joys to
feel the wind pour down on him blast after blast,
and to see each gust as it tears its way towards
the land, smoothing its path across the rolling
sea.

Now the men begin to feel fatigued and a signal
is given to cease for a while, and hero it is most
curious to mark the cessation of sound and the gra-
dual decline of vibration ; for long after the
metallic ring had ceased there followed a strange
mysterious after-noise, a sound between the trickling
of a slender rill arid the dry shivering rustle of
autumn leaves hustled together by a gust across a
hard gravel-walk. This is the thin ghost of Big Ben's
full utterance. In such dry husky accents did th ,
shade of the great A.chilles address the wandering
Odysseus when he told him the life of a serf on this
warm, genial, upper earth was worth a king's crown
down in that gloomy nether realm of Hades.
But even the husky whisper has ceased, and
silence is again restored. We look at our neigh-
bours. Well, we don't think any of them have had
their tympanums split, though some are cautiously
removing their cotton. Opinions are compared, and
we are happy to say that it is universally ackuow
ledged that the bell is with )ut crack or fl tw, a per-
fect piece of casting. So much for Mr. Warner, the
founder. He may sleep happy. Well ! but for the
sound ; how do M. Deniso s innovations of shape,
material, and mixture answer ? What is the sound
as expressed in musical scale ? Here, again,
opinion appears to be untnimous. Mr. Denison
had prophesied—for it could scarcely be anything
else than prophecy—me mean of that scien-
tific kind which can boast of its fulfilment before
the event—that it was to be E natural.
And here all the praiseworthy persons who had
their tuning-keys in their mouths luring the trial
declare Big Ben's voice to be pure natural E. At
this moment seine one suggi-s a that Mr. Turie and
tlve Abbey and its maguincent organ are close at
hand—what easier than to run over to the Abbey
•nd to check the sound of the hell by the organ ?
Away goes ;he indefatigab:e Mr. Denison, and u
a short time comes back with the iufoimation that
Mr. Tittle confirms the opinion that it is a pure
natural E, the sound it was meant to be. We do
not know that in these days of univPrsal failure
we can praise anything more highly than by
saying, especially if it be matter of experiinental
science, that it turns out what it was meant to be.
Big Ben's voice has turned out what it • was
meant to be, and when it says—" Here I
am, E natural,—strike me, buffet me, crush me
if you can, with a clapper of Newt., not one syl-
lable of anyihing else shall you got out of me than
that. "E riatui al I am, and E natural I shall re-
main till Jove splits me with his thunder." When
the bell says this, we do not know that any words
of ours can add one syllable more to the learned gen-
tleman's justly-earned 'need of praise. Mr. Denison
hashed, as our readers know, a hard battle about this
bell. He has routed his foes, he has carried his point,
the bell has answered his expectations; what more
can we say except to cosigratrilate him on his
signal triumph ?
It is true th tt a critical friend of ours, over-
whel9ed with the first tumult of sound, trio I to
whisper in our ear that the bell was a dead failure.
He forgot, however, that a bell of this size, espe-
cially if irregularly struck as this was, can never
be a very pleasant companion when you are within
two yards of it. A 68 pounder would be quite as
agreeable. A bell of these proportions is intended
to be hung some 200 feet above your head. It is
meant to be heard miles in all directions ; in fact,
t
it is only meant to be heard at a considerable dis-
tance. All the world are not Quasimodos,he
of this
top the
whole metropolis will not live up at i
tower close to the bell, and therefore it ill to be
o Whean
supposedallowance tflioarthoiusrelforsioenddi t
proximityii ink,e'asuauffiidciethrret
jarring vibrations of whole strokes-and half-strokes,
he uttered his opinion. We are happy to add that
his doubts were removed by a short walk, for, on
retiring from the spot, it was found that as we
receded from the tower the • voice of Big Ben rapidly
assumed, in spite of its
enormous volume, a soft
melodious sound, until when we reache I the middle
of St. Margaret's churchyard—no great distance,
after all—it was im— •
bl possi e to conceive a deeper or
a finer tone.
So much for the sake of truth and as an instance
of the best way to remove the scruples of these
" doubting Thomases" who will not make due
allowances for time and space. If any one stands
before the bell and fancies lie detects a jar, let him
remember that the laws of proportion are universal,
that the frescoes of Michael Angelo and the mosaics
of St. Peter's are meant to be seen afar off, just as
Big Ben is meant to be heard afar off ; and that if
scientific men will scramble up to the one on lad-
ders, and will list-. n within two feet of theother,

''' ''' ' • ---- ni
I they must expect to find the lineament346clli ting
I of the frescoes distorted and grotesq*'.‘nee:t f fit.Le;
1
sound of the bell occasionally jarring ands teeranuititerr'
Returning to the foot of Ihe t.ower weVii(Vitt- '
adventurous band, headed by Sit., a ,H:01 aucalr. £1
Denison, about to scale its height, bent on seeiroe
' where the bell was finally to he hung. To those
who bad mounted Antwerp Tower or scaled the
Gothic lacework of Strasburg, 200 feat, egrecially
up an unworn staircase lighted with gee, is ix)
very arduous-undertaking ; still, keeping historic
truth' always in view, wo are compelled to
say that if any of the " deaf Adders" before allude.
ed to were of this climbing party thef_becaroe •
"puff adders" ere they reeehedthe top. Deans
and bishops and ecclesiastical dignitaries ought
never to climb tihoie their tf:rones or prebendal
stalls. Fancy a dignitary of the Church suddenly
becoming broken-winded 150 feet above the ground,
in a narrow staircase. How is he to get up 1' How
is he to get down ? Who is to pass him ? There he
stands, a bulwark of Church and State, :in his
proper place, no doubt, but a great 'obstacle here,
puffing and panting like a Christmas bullock half-
way up a high tower.
Now we are two-thirds up the tower, above the
clock-dial, more than 200 feet above the pavements
and just where the stonework ends and iron begiw,.
Here, on a frame of wood not yet erected, " Big
Ben" is to be hung. Mr. Denison confesses a -de-
sire that his bell should be hung still• higher up, in
the open gallery of iron-work above the' stone.
The feasibility of this was discussed, and, after an
extempore debate, which, at any rate, was, not weary-
ing from itslength it seemed to be thegeneral opinion.
that the lo eer site is best, due regard being had to
its more extensive area, while the higher position
would tend to check and confuse the vibration,
owing to the too great proximity of the bell to the
iron of.which the top of the tower is composea. So
for the nresent we are advised to prefer the-lower
site, and we descend to the ground, highly delighted
wish our morning's work. -
Bat before we leave this subject we must:make
some remarks on the name now commonly given to
the bell ; and certainly, as we first christened it, no
one can have a bete,— righteto stand up for our seod-
child. Some de' y courtly perenns onite top
of the truerleete Le-eebring the vulkar4 Of the
' tOrna—frigrnen." In a spirit of flattery-,-from
which we are entirely free, as we do not expect to
become great Government contractors, to farm the
sewers, to be raised. to the vacant bishopric which
that Pope, L ,rd Palmerston, obstinately keeps ,in,
petto, or even to become a simple dean—in a spirit
of flattery we say, some of these worthy people, of
whose profession and position we are entirely igno-
rant, and none of whom it is therefore. requested
will suppose that they are meant, were deploring
that it was a pity the bell was net called "the Royal
Albert," or "The Lady Victoria," or "the Princess
Royal," or "the Crown Princess of Prussia," or anye.
thing courtly, or, as the Germans' would express it,
"vornekm," instead of this odious " Big Ben," so
willingly adopted by that stupid public. We are
ready at once to admit that these Sempeons of flat-
tery have a happy talent for dragging in the Royal
family on all occasions, but we cannot congratulate
them on their ears. The name of a bell must be 'short
and glib ; it must run trippingly ; it must repre-
sent a sound; it must be English. Now, " Vic-
toria" and "Albert " are honotfred' names, but
they are not short or glib. Therare neither of
them particularly English in sound. In a word,
they may be fit for anything else, but they .are not
fit for a hell, and if given the public will not accept
them. We are glad to say that Sir Benjamin Hall
when appealed to on the subject, replied in a man-
ner not very encouraging to the objectors ; while
Mr. Denison observed that he was afraid, the bell
was already christened, and that it was too late
to change the name. We wonder what the
courtly flatterers of the age of the Planta-
genets thought of all the " Great Toms" which
sprung .up out; of the blood of a certain low-
born Themas, sometime Archbishop of Canter-
bury. We daresay they thought them horridly
vulgar, but, though 'Becket's bones were scattered
to the winds after an idolatry of more than three
centurieS, yet his name still survives in our English
" Great Toms." We do not know that "ißeia" is
worse in this respect than "Tom ;" both are aw-
fully vulgar, no doubt, though we know some good:
men and true called "Torn," but both are decent
English, and they certainly agree in this, that no
English King has ever sat on the Throne either as
Thomas or Benjamin.
" En Thema) laude resono bim born sine fraude,"
ran the . old monkish Leonine on Becket's bells.
Would not

" Victoria laude resono Big .Ben sine frande"—

where we beg all good Englishmen to excuse the
false quantity for the sake of the loyalty of the sen-
timent—be as good for our Great' Westminster
Bell ; t,r would our courtly flatterers prefer alegend
which we remember to have seen on some tho-
roughly foreign un English bell, hanging over a
13,,1ace gate, and containing much mere brass in
its composition than this of Mr. Denison ?
"MENTIOR ET ASSENTIOR."