The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-25 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Secretary of State for War and Inspector
General of Fortifications are at present engaged on
a tour of inspection of the coast, harbour, and river
defences of the kingdom, more especially on the
southern, eastern, and western coasts. The consi-
deration of the present state of these works, and of
the plans submitted for finishing them, is a subject
of no little magnitude. It is well known that
opinions are vastly divided among professional men
as to the form and disposition of the iron plating,
both for the marine fortifications—such as the forts
at Spithead—and the embrasure " shields" for the
coast batteries. The great fault in points of design
in the first instance with regard to most of the works
on the coast that have been expressly planned to
carry armour plating is the evident overcowding of
each work with embrasures. These works, it must
be remembered, built of granite, with an iron rib-
work of longitudinal and transverse girders, and
sheathing of outer armour, in the disposition of
which each embrasure will cost from £l,OOO to
£1,500, are supposed to be building to last, not for
a few years, but for alltime. They can neither, when
once planted in the sea—like the Shovel fort in Ply-
mouth Sound, the Spithead forts, or the fort on the
Isle of Grain—be reconstructed like a fleet, or mate-
rially enlarged upon in any way. The fact is these
forts were all intended when first designed to carry
the heaviest gun, then known, the 23-tonner, or, as
it is generally called, the 600-pounder, which has
earned such fame at Shoebury ; but now that the
land batteries at the Gilkicker, at Sandown, at
Sheerness, and other points are nearly ready to re-
ceive their ironplating, it is found that there will
not be space for the 23-ton gun, and a lesser weapon
will therefore have to be substituted. The same con-
clusions apply to the marine forts at Spithead and
elsewhere. The introduction of submarine mines
into the system of defence for roadsteads, harbours,
and rivers has, however, rendered the failure of our
marine forts to carry their originally intended
weight of armament a less serious matter than it
would otherwise have been, as it is just possible that
all such works may in future be looked upon as
grand torpedo stations, with their guns protecting
the nests of hidden mines lying in the water chan-
nels and on the edges of the shoals, rather than as
fighting batteries defending, unaided by any secret
bedevilments, the passage from the attack of an
enemy's fleet. But there are faults of overcrowding
batteries with gunports in some of the works that
have been, or are about to be, visited by Sir John
Pakington and Sir John Burgoyne that is really
unpardonable and utterly without remedy, unless
every alternate embrasure is built up, and half
the original number of guns placed in the work.
Take the costly Hilsea lines, which were designed
to command the entrance to the island of Port-
sea (on which stands all the naval and ordnance
establishments at Portsmouth), as an example.
The embrasures have here been placed so closely
together that even the earthen covering for the
stone-fronted face of the batteries will not stand,
so acute is the angle given by the short distance
between the ports. As the earth is piled up over the
top of these batteries the foundations also give way,
and huge cracks may be seen opening up through
the brickwork in all directions. The want of soli-
dity in the base to support the superstructure is, in-
deed, also to be found in almost every piece of new
fortifications now erecting, or lately erected, around
our coasts. In many places this result may have
been inevitable from the nature of the ground, but
in many cases it has most undoubtedly been assisted
by a neglect of precautionary measures, or disregard
of any consideration of the condition of the soil,
marsh, or shingle on which the fort was to be raised.
Forts are now standing, or are trying to stand,
which are constantly letting slip large slices of their
ramparts into the ditch below. These forts carry
guns, but it is almost needless to say that not one
bas yet been fired from their ramparts, nor could it
be done with safety, for fear of the whole fort fall-
ing prostrate.
The Medway forts are, perhaps, the most curious
and instructive in their history of all. They have no
doubt been a bugbear and a horror to Secretaries of
State for War and the officers of the Department.
The so-called foundations of these works only were
completed when they split through in the most fan-
tastic forms from their lowest to their highest stones,
and had to be braced together with stout iron tie-
rods from side to side to keep them from breaking
up. This latter strengthening measure accomplished
the next step was to build up the superstructure.
As the stones for this purpose were laid on any
one side of a work it sunk in the quaking morass,
while the opposite side rose. It was soon evident
that no forts could be finished on the Medway's
bank, but the difficulty was got rid of in a most un-
dignified way, and in a way, too, that was peculiarly
cruel to Sir J. Pakington when just fresh from his
labours in the " reconstruction" of the navy, and
taking up his new duties as Secretary of State for
War. Sir John was made to say in the House of
Commons that " it had been determined to abandon
the forts ou the banks of the Medway in order that
the money with which it had been intended to con-
struct them might be expended upon the Spithead
Forts."

If Sir John Pakington visits the sites of the aban-
d.med forts on the Medway during his present tour
with Sir John Burgoyne he will doubtless learn the
true cause of their abandonment, and at the same
time the importance of weighing carefully any state-
ment which he may have to make officially on sub-

jects with which he has had no opportunity to make
himself personally familiar.
In accordance with instructions to that effect, re-
ceived at Chatham from the War Department, a
supply of revolvers has been forwarded from the
armoury to Dover, on the application of the autho-
rities of the town, for use by the police and detec-
tive officers engaged in watching and searching the
steamers leaving for the Continent, to prevent the
escape of Col. Kelly and Deasey. The arms for the
officers were applied for by the Mayor of Dover in
consequence of a number of strangers and suspected
persons suddenly appearing in the town for the pur-
pose, it is surmised, of assisting Kelly and Deasey to
make their escape to the Continent. Yesterday a
photograph of Kelly was circulated among the me-
tropolitan police doing duty at Chatham.
The detachments belonging to the various corps
attached to the three battalions of infantry at Chat-
ham who have completed their course of instruction
in the use of the Snider breechloading musket at the
Ilythe School of Musketry will rejoin their respec-
tive regiments at the garrison this morning.
Licut.-Col. Richard Handcock, formerly of the
46th Regiment, and whose death we announced in
our obituary yesterday, at the advanced age of 80
years, entered the army in 1805, and accompanied
the expedition to llanover in that year. He attained
the rank of Lieutenant in 1806, in which year he
joined the army in Sicily, and was employed with
various operations until 1810 ; went with the expe-
dition to Naples, and was present at the capture of
Ischia and Procida, and returned to Sicily, and
was employed against the French army in 1811.
He served in Spain during 1812 and 1813, in-
cluding the battle of Castella, siege of Tarragona,
and affair of Villafranca. He served also in the
campaign of 1815, and was severely wounded at
Waterloo. He became Captain July 30, 1818 ;
M ijor January 10, 1837, and Lieut.-Col., Nov.
23, 1854.
The Admiralty have directed that the trials re-
cent'y inaie, comparatively, between the hydraulic
propelled gun vessel Waterwitch and the double
screw vessels Viper and Vixen are to be repeated
in Stokes-bay with the two first named, the Water-
witch to be lightened at the wish of Mr. Ruthven,
the inventor of the hydraulic wheel of the Water-
witch, on any trial, to give her the same mean im-
mersion with which the Viper may be tried. We
cannot exactly understand what either the Admi-
ralty or Mr. Ruthven expect to learn from these
renewed trials. If the results of the trials of the
fastest of the double screws—the Viper—is at all
questioned in their comparison with the results ob-
tained with the hydraulic vessel, any new trial at
" mean immersions" only, will not lead to any satis-
factory settlement. Probably, however, it is
thought that these extraordinary ironclads may
burn their coals with greater safety on the measured
mile than at sea.
The Admiralty yacht Enchantress, Commander

Petley, is under orders to proceed from Portsmouth
to the Medway for the service of the Lords of the
Admiralty in a contemplated tour of inspection on
the eastern coasts.

The Warrior, 32 guns, armoured iron screw
frigate, 1,250 horse power, Capt. H. Boys, sailed
from Spithead yesterday morning for the coast of
Ireland, calling in at a western port and Queens-
town. The armament of the Warrior has been
supplied to her on the new scale, and consists of
four 12 ton, 9 inch and 28 61 ton, 7 inch muzzle-
loading rifled guns, mounted on iron carriages and
slides. Some surprise has been recently expressed
at the loss in the rate of speed at the measured mile
apparently sustained by this frigate, in her re-
cent trial in Stokes-bay, as compared with the rate
she attained on her first trial when commissioned by
Capt. the Hon. A. A. Cochrane. The difference is,
however, perfectly explainable. The ship and her
engines are just as capal le of giving the same rate
of speed now as on her first trial under steam if the
conditions of trial are made the same. Now the
weight on the safety valve has been reduced very
considerably below the original weight, owing to
the age of the boilers, and the ship's mean immersion
of hull has been very materially increased by the
additional weights she has to carry in her new arma-
ment and its supplies of shot shell, powder, &c.
The St. George, 72, unarmoured screw line of
battle ship, Capt. Nolloth, sailed from Portsmouth
yesterday morning for Portland, to resume her
duties at that port as cadet training ship, &c. The
St. George answers very well as a harbour training
ship for young officers on the first step of their pro-
fessional career, but as a fighting ship she is a sham,
and, in appearance, with the exception of ships now
building in her Majesty's dockyards, she is un-
doubtedly the ugliest ship in the navy.
The Danae, screw corvette, 4, 350 horse power,
fitting with her machinery at Portsmouth dockyard
by the Messrs. Napier, of Glasgow, has had steam
up, and will make a preliminary trial of her engines
outside Spithead about Friday next.
The unarmoured screw sloop Blanche, 6, 350
horse power (nominal), having received on board
the heavy portion of her engines and machinery, by
Fears. Raveuhill and Hodgson, alongside Chatham
dockyard, has been removed up the harbour, and
moored alongside the Gloucester, 50, where she will
complete her equipment, and be brought forward for
sea. Her iron lower masts have been fitted on board.

THE FRIGHTFUL DEATH OF THREE
CHILDREN ON THE GREAT NORTHERN
RAILWAY.

Yesterday Dr. Ilardwicke, deputy-coroner,
opened an inquiry at the Railway Hotel, Colney-
hatch, on the bodies of the three children who were
knocked down and killed by an express train, near
Colney-batch station on the Great Northern Rail-
way, on Saturday.
NVontner, solicitor, appeared on behalf of the
railway company, and Mr. R. Ring, solicitor, on
behalf of Mr. Angus and other inhabitants.

The jury, having viewed the bodies, proceeded to
the scene of the accident, and called the attention
of the authorities to a pond which they considered
dangerous. Upon their return into court,
Alfred Glover, Colney• hatch, a platelayer, said—
On Saturday, a few minutes before 12, 1 was near
the crossing between Colney-hatch and Whetstone
tunnel. I saw a long goods train pass down. 1
heard also the whistle of an uptrain. I turned round
and saw the three children under the engine. The
two girls were carried 34 yards and the boy 41
yards. I went up to the little boy and laid him on
the bank. lle was quite dead. I then went to the
eldest girl. She was cut about the head, and her feet
were off. She was quite dead. The next body was
about a yard from the other. One of the company's
foreman brought a blanket and covered the bodies
over.

Wm. Smith, the driver of the express, said—l was
driver of the express from Leicester on Saturday
morning. I saw the children on the line immediately
the down goods train passed. I was then four or five
yards from them. I saw that the engine went over
them. I stopped at the station and reported the
circumstance. The guard found one of the little
girls' hats under the engine. Wo were going 40
miles an hour when the accident happened.
Benjamin Murgatroyd, guard in the employ of
the Midland Railway Company, said he was guard
of the express in question, and saw the accident
happen as described by the last witness.
Mr. Taylor, hall porter at the Colney-hatch
Asylum, and related to the children, said they went
out for the purpose of black-berrying. They were
in the habit of crossing the line four times a day in
going to and from school.
A Juror—About 30 children attend that school.
Another Juror—About 120 or 130 children pass
over the line daily. It is a regular thoroughfare.
Mr. John Angus, 10, Ely-place, Colney-hatch,
carpenter, said—l have lived here nine years. My
children went across the line to school at Friern
Barnet ; many other children do the same. They
go from Ely-place, where there are about 20 houses.
Some children come from Frien Barnet to the infant
school on this side of the line.
By Mr. Ring—The path across the line has been
used for years.
Edwin Dibbin, stationmaster at Colney-hatch-
-1 know the crossing, which is called Church-path.
It is a public crossing. I have not known any acci-
dents to happen on it before this. The path was at
one time diverted, made more safe, because the ap-
proach was more elevated, and persons could see
what was coming each way. It was altered to its
original site at the request of the parishioners, who
did not like the Church-path being done away with.
The tunnel is about three-quarters of a mile from
the path. There is a bridge between the path and
the tunnel, but it does not hide the view of approach-
ing trains.
The Coroner thought the jury had obtained suffi-
cient evidence to enable them to come to a verdict.
The Foreman said he had a speech to make before
he retired, and a juror intimated that he had a
number of motions to make, but he was advised to
reserve them till the jury were in private.
The Foreman said that in support of his strong
opinion on the dangerous practice of allowing cross-
ings over railways he should quote Blackstone.
Blackstone said, "There is an unwritten law that
England recognises that the public must be pro-
tected spite of companies and all monopolies." He
found that 1,056 persons were annually killed by
trains. The poor children used all the caution that
any one possibly could on the occasion. They
watched the slow goods train pass, and then pro-
ceeded to cross the line, but were knocked down by
an express which was tearing along at the rate of
40 miles an hour. The accident might have been
prevented if the railway company had gone to a
little expense, and made a tunnel under the line. 11e
considered that if the company did not fully pro-
tect the lives of the public they would be the mur-
derers of every one killed.
The Coroner said the forman had omitted one im-
portant point upon which the company might be
induced to construct a tunnel under the liae, or a
bridge over it, and that was that there were two
schools, one on each side of the line, which were
approached by this path.
The jury then retired to consider their verdict.
After a lengthened deliberation the jury returned
into court, and the foreman said—" Our verdict is
accidental death. No blame attached to the driver
of the engine. The jury express their unanimous
Opinion that all foatpaths, roads, &c., on railways
should have the s line protection for the public as
before the railways croszing them. This protection
we do not find on the Great Northern Railway."
Coroner—l cannot enter all that as the verdict. I
must enter the verdict accidental death, and your
opinion must form the subject of a separate resolu-
tion to be forwarded to the company.
Foreman—lf you don't take the verdict as we
have written it we shall retire and draw up another,
attaching the blame directly to the company ?
Coroner—You do not wish to return a verdict of
manslaughter against the company ?
Foreman—Not exactly.
Coroner—But I can only enter it as accidental
death or manslaughter.
The jury still persistal in attaching blame to the
company, and retired to reconsider their verdict.
After they had been absent a considerable time they

were called into court by the Coroner for the pur-
pose of adjourning the case. They did not at first
obey the summons, and the Coroner at length went
into the room himself. After the lapse of an hour the
jury entered the court with the following verdict:—
"That the said Fanny Eliza Roddis, Mary Ann
Roddis, and Henry Albert Roddis were found dead
from the mortal effects of injuries by an express
train passing over their bodies at a public crossing
on the Great Northern Railway, and the jurors fur-
ther say that the said deaths were the result of an
aecidental cause, and that they attach no blame
either to the deceased children or engine-driver."
The Coroner was about to read a resolution passed
by the jury, when

Mr. Ring objected to the verdict being qualified.
If the jury attached blame to the company, the ver-
dict in effect was one of manslaughter.
The Foreman—Part of the jurors were in favour
of a verdict of manslaughter.
The Coroner--The jury have, I think, acted ac-
cording to custom in appending their opinion in the
form of a resolution to the verdict. That will go be-
fore the public through the press. The resolution is
" That the jury empanelled at the Railway Hotel,
Colney-hatch, to inquire into the cause of the death
of Fanny Eliza Roddis, Mary Ann Roddis, and
Henry Albert Roddis, having returned a verdict of
accidental death, are of opinion that all public cross-
ings and roads on railway lines should have proper
superintendence and protection for the prevention
of such accidents in future. They also consider this
crossing to be unsafe, and the jurors further wish to
state the case of the mother of the children to be a
fit one for the consideration and compensation by
the railway company."
The Foreman--The jurors have subscribed a sum
of money for the mother.
Mr. Wontner having stated that the company in-
tended to pay the expenses of the funeral, and take
the case of the widow into consideration, some re-
criminating words were bandied about as to the
motives exhibited on either side during the inquiry.
The Coroner remarked that is was a pity the in-
habitants had not waived a small amount of interest
or feeling at the time the company wanted to divert
the path across the bridge and acceded to that being
done. The accident would thus have been prevented.