The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-25 00:00:00

afterwards invited for a seven years' contract for'
working the line, to commence when the engage-
ment with this company shall have terminated,
and, as the shareholders are no doubt aware, go-
vernment accepted the tender of the Reninsular and
Oriental Company. At the last meeting the directors
expressed a hope' that the securities leld by them
would cover the logs upon the working of the con-
tract. With the information they now possess,
they no longer entertain that belief, though what
the amount of the deficiency will be, it is impossible
at present to say. It must necessarily be large ;
but against it the company holds as security the
steam ship Tasmanian, which cost upwards of
£lOO,OOO, subject to a claim of 11Lessrs. Scott and
Co. for £15,000, which is to rank pari passu with
the company's claim, after first paying the amount
advanced by this company to the builder for her
completion, amounting to .£21,859 ; besides which,
the value of any stores, &c., remaining at the seve-
ral stations at the close of the term will also be
set off against the account. During the current
year a large portion of the company's intercolonial
fleet has been withdrawn for repair, consequently
the outlay under that head w ill be larger than
usual. The Prince, Derwent, Medway, Con-
way, and Trent, have been brought home in
succession ; and after undergoing thorough refit,
despatched to resume service in the West Indies.
The Thames has arrived, and will be followed by
others, as they can be relieved, for the purpose of
being overhaUled, and again prepared for interco-
lonial service. In the last report the directors al-
luded to the arrangemements made for accelerating
the mail service on the Brazil line. They have now
the satisfaction of stating that the ships then men-
tioned as intended for this route, viz., the Avon,
Tamar, and Tyne, have hitherto performed their
work in a very efficient manner. It is gratifying
to the directors to allude to the fact that no
casualty has occurred to the company's fleet during
the period embraced in the report, and they think
it but fair to record their °puma!' that great credit
is due to the captains and other officers for their
attention in navigating the company's scrips, which
have been kept free from disaster for a period now
of nearly two years. In conclusion the directors re-
commend that a dividend of £2 per share, free
of income tax, be declared for the first six months
of this year, the warrants for which to be issued
on the 29th inst.

THE LATE COLLISION ON THE
EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY.

On Saturday, at the sitting of the magistrates
for the Bottisham Division, of Cambridgeshire—
present, Rev. J. Hailstone, Mr. E. Hicks, Mr. C.
W. Townley, and Mr. H. 'Wilkinson—l. Ward,
the driver of the train which ran into the horse-box
train at Six-mile Bottom.on the night of Saturday,
the 9th inst, was brought up in custody, charged
with having caused the death of the deceased, Chas.
Titmarsh Mr. Cooper, town-clerk of Cambridge,
appeared for the prosecution ; -Mr. Rawlings, of
Romford, for the prisoner, and;• as at the inquiry
before the coroner, Mr. Ashley, of Hoxton, for the
company. . ... .
Mr. Cooper, in opening the proceedings, said he
should make but few preliminary remarks, as the
matter bad already undergone inquiry before ano-
ther tribunal, but he was bound to say that the
decision of that tribunal had caused considerable
surprise, and was generally thought not to be jus-
tified by the facts of the case. Indeed, it was one
of the most perverse verdicts he had ever heard of.
He believed that the evidence would make out that.
Ward was intoxicated, but that was no part of his
case. He did not rely upon that ; the real issue was
whether he had or had not exercised all the care in
his power ; if they, thought that he had not—and
he believed he should convince the bench he had
not—then it would be the duty of -the magistrates
to send the ease to a jury. Mr. Cooper called
Mr. Thomas Kitson, locomotive' superintendent
at Cambridge. Witness said—A fortnight ago
to-day I was at Six-mile Bottom. I left New-
market by . a train -about ten minutes to eleven
o'clock -by a train made •up of 21 empty horse-
boxes, two. carriages, and a 'break. It was drawn
by three return engines, which were all. to-
gether in front. The train did not require three
engines for its propulsion, but they were working
back after running special trains clown. All the
engines were in work, and each was attended by
a driver and a fireman. I travelled on the middle
engine. We did not stop at Dullingham, and
reached Six-mile Bottom station at 22 minutes past
11. It is a double line from Newmarket to Six-
mile Bottom, and a single line thence to Cambridge.
The proper tail and side lights were attached to the
train, and the auxiliary signal at the Six-mile
Bottom station was turned properly after its
passage, showing " danger" to any train approach-
ing from the Newmarket side. The auxiliary signal
is 800 yards from the semaphore at the station.
The auxiliary showed a white light as we passed,
and the semaphore " danger," and we stopped at
the latter. I made the usual returns at Six-mile
Bottom, and was waiting there for the order to
go on when the accident took place. We waited
at Six-mile Bottom from 15 to 18 minutes before
the collision, and at the time the accident hap-
pened the order had not arrived. The tele-
graph for the order was worked directly on. my
arrival. When -Ward's train approached I heard
two sharp whistles, which I knew to denote that a
goods train was coming. I knew that a goods train
was to follow us, and when I heard the whistles I
and others ran out and called on the drivers of the
standing train to "go ahead." The reason for doing
that was to get the train out of the, way, if possible,
as I saw the goods train coming up fast.
Mr. Cooper—At what pace do you think Ward's
train was travelling ?
Witness—lt is difficult to say. An answer to that
question must be founded on pure supposition.
Mr. Cooper—l don't want to pledge you to exac-
titude ; was it coming fast or slow ?
Witness—That depends upon what you call fast.
Mr. Cooper—Was it travelling 10 miles an hour ?
Witness—l think it was.
Mr. Cooper—Fifteen ?
Witness--I think not.
Mr. Cooper—Was not your motive for sending
the horse-box train ontooua:i•ootidp, possible,ii.feviousiys a
said
th t
colli-
sion, which you saw was impending ?
Witnessl—Certainly. Clearly so.
Mr. Cooper—Have y
Ward's train was travelling 15 miles an hour ?
Witness—lf I have been reported correctly you
will see that I said it was a difficult matter to tell,
but I should think, perhaps, 15 miles an hour. I
should think that Ward's train was from 100 to
150 yards from me when I first satwraiint,. buTthtethsaet
iiss
aa
matter of conjecture.
aAitnncetoonlinlsisiixniog-nmtioleokßnptltaocine.,
partly
What we technically
olfh 2tat gradient is 1 in 100.
dwel
aeailenlsl
ittihoece,
from
eadanr
sidi:epDs rta
partly
yportionu thegh
in
Leaving Dullingham it is first. 1 in 90, then 1 in
120, then 1 in 90 again; -but -running into
Six-mile Bottom station from • Newmarket there
is an adverse gradient, cenimencing about
occasionally 200 yards from the station. The: collision took
place about 20 minutes
Titmarsheta ng.
g
ithe
deceased)
Iwbelieasa porter
antod
I 2 ..
uard.
in the break at the time of 'the collision. I was
present when he was found, and he was then quite
dead. Ward's engine was running tender first.
There is a turn-table at Newmarket. I have been
informed that Ward came out tender first from
Peterborough. I saw Ward about 20 to 25minutes
after the collision took place and spoke to him.
I asked him if he could move his engine ahead, and
he said, " No; the reversal lever is jammed- up."
I said, " Then you had better ballast the fire out,"
and he replied, "I am doing so." I nolieed nothing
in demeanour, except the excitement -which
would be the natural result of the collision. The
semaphore at the Six:mile Bottom station can be
seen two miles upon the Newmarket side, and the
danger signal was on at that semaphore all . the
time I was at the Six-mile Bottom station.

By the Bench—The auxiliary signal can be seen
for a distance of a mile to a mile and a quarter on
the Dullingham side of the station. There should
have been, and I have every reason to believe there
were, tail and-side danger lights on the horse-box
train, and these would have been visible on the
night of the accident 400 or 500 yards off. It was
a good night for seeing signals.
By Mr. Rawlinp—l have been locomotive super-
intendent only since I have been connected with the
Eastern Counties, but I hare been connected with
railways 15 years, and among locomotive engines
all my life. Assuming the auxiliary signal to show
white on the station side, I think there is just a
possibility of its showing white on the Dullingham
side also; but if white was on the station side, the
natural inference would be that red, or " danger,"
was against the driver of an in-coming train from
the Dullingham side. I. did not see Watson go to
the wheel of the auxiliary signal.
Mr. Fosdyke, the stationmaster at Six-mile Bot-
tom, deposed that the rate at which a train should
run into that station would depend materially on
its weight. If the auxiliary signal was at " danger"
it was the duty of a driver to stop, but if " all right"
was shown by a white light he would run on to the
semaphore. The instructions to drivers are not to
run down " the bank" at more than 15 miles an
hour. Generally, the speed of a goods train is left
to the discretion of a driver, but he is limited as to
the speed over some portions of the line. Ward
was justified in running on to the semaphore if the
auxiliary was at " all right," but he would not have
been entitled to pass the former until that was al-
tered from " danger," at which it was kept, to " all
ht" also. Even
egmharthhoereawuxowilida7utsyheoinwteid.
a.rd "all right" the