The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-03 00:00:00

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LON DON,

driver was a desideratum. Many instances have oc-
curred in which the establishment of such a comma-

nication would have prevented the occurrence of much
mischief. It not unfrequently happens that the
friction of the iron axletrees of the wheels of
a railway carriage produces ignition of the wood-
work forming its flooring, and whilst the
train is proceeding it is impossible, save by the adop-
tion of the signal system, that the guard can be made
aware of the occurrence of the fire until the carriage
is actually in flames, by which time probably the pas-
sengers would be burned. "It is not until a bishop
is burned that any measures will be adopted to pre-
vent the recurrence of these accidents," said the late
witty Canon of St. Paul's, and shortly afterwards
the Bishop of EXETER was nearly burned to death
from the ignition of the floor of the carriage in which
he was travelling on a railway, and his life was saved
only from the fortunate circumstance of the train
stopping at a station before the
,fire had spread. An
accident of a similar nature placed in jeopardy the
lives of Mr. PAXTON and his friends during the course
of their recent journey to Derby, to attend the festi-
val which the inhabitants of that town had given in
honour of their townsmen, the constructors of the
Crystal Palace. It is not long since that during a
night journey from Birmingham, a gentleman travel-
ling in one of the. carriages was attacked and nearly
murdered by his fellow-passenger, who was suddenly
seized in a fit of raving madness, and who having nearly
murdered his companion, leaped through the window
of the carriage whilst the train was proceeding
at full speed, and, marvellous to relate, escaped un-
hurt. Only last week two young men leaped from
a train whilst it was in motion, one of whom was
killed and the other severely injured; but their
fellow-passengers had no means of communicating
the occurrence to the guard until the arrival of the
train at the next station, whilst had such communica-
tion existed, the train might have been stopped, and
the wounded man conveyed at once to a place of
safety, instead of being left as he was, lying senseless
on the road, and in consequent danger of being
crushed by the next train traversing the line of rails.
Scarcely a week passes that the reports from our
police•courts do not inform us of the punishment by
fine, a very inadequate punishment we admit, of some
cowardly miscreant for assaulting and insulting females,
his fellow-passengers, in a railway carriage, and so
common has this offence become, as to amount to a
virtual prohibition of the travelling of females alone
in a railway carriage after evening has set in. All
these facts tend to prove how very desirable it is that
there should be established a means of instanta-
neous communication between the passengers in a
railway carriage and the guard attending the train.
Several different plans have been proposed to effect
this desirable object, but the greater number of them
are open to the great, and, in the opinion of almost all
persons connected with the practical working of our
railway system, insuperable objection, that whilst
they alarm the guard they at the same time alarm
the whole of the passengers, and by the confusion
and commotion thus produced actually endanger
the safety of the whole. This objection applies with
greater force to those signals which may be called
noisy signals than to any others, and we believe
it is to the fact that until very recently
it has been deemed impossible to invent a
signal which shall alarm the guard without at the
same time alarming the passengers, that the objection
of the directors of the great majority of the railway
companies to permit experiments to be tried on their
lines is to be attributed. That objection, however,
has been completely obviated by the invention by
Captain Am:mom of a signal which alarms the guard,
and the guard alone, sshich is of mechanism so simple
as to be capable of being always preserved in an effi-
cient state, which can only be made by a
person travelling in the carriage, which cannot be
made by him without the full cognizance of
his fellow-passengers, and which indicates clearly and
unmistakeably the carriage from which it proceeds.
Thanks to the liberality and kindness of the direc-
tors of the North Kent line of railway, Captain
ADDISON was afforded an opportunity, on Monday
last, of testing the merits of his simple yet admirable
invention, and nothing could be more successful than
the result of those experiments, an account of which
appeared in The Sun of yesterday. The day signal
consists in the springing out from the side of the
carriage of a large iron flag, somewhat similar to that
carried by some of our omnibuses, which is thrown out
on an iron arm to such a distance from the carriage as
to be distinctly visible to the guard whose business it
is to keep his eye constantly along the whole line of
carriages. During the course of the journey this sig-
nal was given at least a dozen times, and was always
acknowledged within two seconds of the time of its
exhibition. The experiment had been performed se-
veral times before any of the passengers by the other
carriages were at all aware of what was going
on, and had it not been that they heard the
conversation on the subject which took place
at the different stations where the train stopped,
they would have completed their journey
without being aware that any experiments
whatever had been tried. The experiment with the
night signal was equally successful. In the night
signal, at the same time that the iron flag flies out,
a hammer falls upon a blue light, fitted up with a per-
cussion apparatus, which at once ignites the light,
and thus points out the carriage. The success of
these experiments was complete, and we congratulate
Captain ADDISON on having invented a safe and
simple signal, which meets all the objections that
have been made to the signal system, whilst it rea-
lizes all its advantages.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S FAIR.—To-day ttt twelve
o'clock the Lord Mayor nude the ancient proclamation for
holding this fair and the court of Pie- Poudre (or as the com-
monalty of the district have it, the dusty foot court). Not-
withstanding the meagreness of the fair, now shorn of all
old Richardson's and Wombwell's glories, a goodly number
of our own countrymen, equalled at least in number by
foreigners of all nations, visited the far-famed spot.
ELECTION OF CORONER FOR EAST GLOUCESTER.
sumr..—This election took place yesterday, at Cheltenham.
The High Sheriff presided. Lord Redesdale proposed Mr.
Joseph Lovegrove. Captain Robertson seconded the nomi-
nation, and no other candidate being proposed, Mr. Love-
grove was declared duly elected, and took the oaths of office.

THE VICARAGE OF KNARESEOROUGH.—We under-
stand that the living of Knaresborougb, vacant by the death,
on Thursday last, of the Ray. Andrew Cheap, has been be-
stowed on the Rev. James Fawcett, M.A., incumbent of
Woodhouse, Leeds. The gift of the living is in the Bishop
of Ripon. The late vicar held the living upwards of forty
years, and was seventy-seven years of age.
THE CIVIC CHAIR.—The forthcoming election of
chief magistrate of the city of London begins already to en-
gross the attention of the citizens. The senior aldermen who
have not passed the chair are W. hunter, Esq., T. Challis,
Esq., and T. Sidney, Esq., M.P.
_ _

The Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, accompanied
by Lady Adeliza Howard, attended morning service, at the
parish church of Arundel, on Sunday last.

The price of bread in Paris for the first fortnight
of the present month is fixed at 29 centimes the two-pound
'oaf, being a reduction of I centime.
ADVANCE OF WAGES TO COUNTERPANE WEAVERS.
—The counterpane weavers of Bolton have been seeking an
advance of wages, and the masters at once complied with
their demand. At a meeting of the body the weavers
agreed to ask for an advance of wages, to the extent of one
penny in the shilling, and also to ask that, in future, a uni-
form scale:of prices should be adopted by every employer.
On Monday last the masters met at the Swan Hotel, and
having agreed to the proposal, appointed a committee of six
to meet an equal number of the men to arrange a uniform
list of prices. This being communicated to the weavers, a
numerous meeting of the body was held in the evening, and
a committee nominated to meet the gentlemen appointed by
the masters. On Tuesday the committees met, and on Wed-
nesday the business was arranged to the satisfaction of both
parties.

SERIOUS ACCIDENT IN REGENT-STREET.—Yester-
day evening, as Mr. Louth, of 127, New-road, Chelsea, was
driving his horse and gig along Piccadilly, the animal started
at the sound of a barrel-organ, and became totally unma-
nageable, darting off at a furious pace towards Regent-
street, which was thronged at the moment with people and
vehicles coming from the Great Exhibition. Numerous colli-
sions took place, and several persons were knocked down and
much hurt, the body of the gig was separated by coming in
contact with a heavily laden waggon, and Mr. Louth seri-
ously injured. The horse, with shafts dangling at his heels,
was not secured till he reached Charing-cross. Two persona,
Mr. and Mrs. Davis, of Turpin's coffee-house, Gilbert's-pas-
sage, Oxford-street, who were knocked down at the Regent-
circus, were removed to Charing-cross Hospital, where they
lie without hopes of recovery. The other persons who were
injured were taken to their own homes.
JURY LISTS.—CLAIMS OF EXEMPTlON.—Yester-
day notice was given that in the present month the jury
lists will be exhib'ted on the church doors for the next three
Sundays, and that all persons (sixty or upwards) must
claim at the petty sessions to be exempted, otherwise they
will be bound to serve on juries. As additional duties are
likely to be imposed under a recent Act, persons entitled to
exemption should claim the same.
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SOUTHAMPTON, SEPT. 2.—The Trent, Royal Mail
Company steam-skip, Captain Clark, with the usual West
India mails, left this afternoon, taking out 90 passengers,
a full cargo, and specie to the amount of 33,0001. The Dee,
with the homeward West India mails, may be looked foi
about the sth instant. The United States Mail steam-ship
Humboldt, Captain Lines, from Now York, is expected off
Cowes on or almit Friday.