The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-03 00:00:00

APPEARANCE OF THE PRISONER:

We read in the .North British Daily
" The prisoner lkiias Maddine Smith, was accom-
panied by a female turnkey. ascendei Ale
stair with a firm step and composed air, and s 'enled.
to re in perfe t alth, her complexion being tra
and even blooming. The personal appearance -of
Miss Smith is more !han ordinarily prepOsertsill:,
H*-r ft-a•ures expr sa great iliteilig,nce and energy,.
of charac.er. Her profile is siriking, the. upper
parr of her face exhi biting consiih-rable prOrninency,
while tie lower parr is cast in a most delicate
mould, and her c .mplexiou is soft and fair. Her
erfs are large and dark, and full of SethibilitY.'
She lo ks younger than her reputed.age Of 21;
bur, at the same time, h-r countenance betrays the
eff ct of confinement and aoxitty in an• air of
languor. and weariness, which her natural sPiritEt
and strength of mind in vain attempt to conceal.
Sh, was simply attired in a white straw Lonna,.
trimmed with wh to ribbon, and minuted with a
fignr.d black veil, which, however, she did not
make use of to conceal her face. She had on a
visite tlimmed with_ lace, her gown was of hrowu
silk. She held in her gloved .hands. a cambric
handkerchief and- bet tle • of :sr* salts. Her
figure seemed to be less, iban t Midtlre-iiie, and
gidiekandteigw..-. She took li-er ',Atli:perfect
composure, awl-maintained. t e..sa ni9 demeanour
throughout the day; at the t!atn-o dine, s e evi-
dently gave the keenest attention to all; the pro-
ce-dinga, and examined the .couFt "wick all the
curiosity of a mere spectator."

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.

A special general meeting of the shareholders of
the London and South-Western Railway Company
waa he'd • yesterday, at the company's offices in
the Waterloo-bridge station, Lambeth, company's.
Chap-
lin, M. P. in the chair, for the purpose of having
submitted for consideration

" A bill for authorising the London and South-Western
Railway Compthy and others to make deviations from
their antbotised lines of railway and other works; and
fnr authorising elvers other matters affecting that com-
pany and other companies and undertakings, and for other
purposes."

At the same meeting there was also to be sub-
mitted for the consideration of the proprietors,
the bills hereinafter namad, which a, e promoted by
of er companies or parties, and in which, respec-
tively, certain clauses and provisions have been
ins-rted by t'teir respec'ive promoters, proposing
confer powers on, or to affect the interests of,
the London and South-Western Railway Company,
namely :
" A. bill for enabling the Portsmouth Railway Company
to execute certain works in connec ion with their railway,
and for other purposes.
" A. bill for authorising traffic arrangements between the
West-i-ni of London and Crystal Palace, and the London,
Brighton, and South C. ast, the South-Eastern and Lou,
don and South-Western R t.ilway Companies ; for sale or
lease of the West London and Crystal Palace Railway ; for
extending the time for completing the said railway; and
for 0; her purposes.
" A bill for making a rail way, from the North and South-
'R estern Junction Railway, in the parish of Ealing, to
Richmond, to be called ' The Richmond and Kew Exten-
sion Railway; and for other purposes.
"A hill for authorising an extension of the Dorset Cen-
tral Railway, and for regulating the capital of the Dorset
Central Railway Company, and for other purposes.
" A bill for making a railway from the London and
South-Western Railway at Wimbledon to Epsom.
" A bill to enable the Salisbury and Yeovil Railway
Company to make deviations from the line of their rail-
way, an t for other purposes connected with their under-
taking."
Mr. CROMBIE, the secretary, having read the
notice conve,lit.g the meeting,
Th- CHAIRMAN said, the chief feature in their
parliamentary ntrripa,gn had been the defence of
their territory, which !lad been threatened with the
construction of a line from Salisburyto Southampton
on the broadgauge. The bill torthe project, unfortu-
nately, went hef re an intellit..!ent and pains-taking
commi tee, who wentcompletely into the merits of it,
and decided that the country through which it
was proposed to carry the intended works was al-
ready sufficiently supplied with railway accommo-
tion. It was also t- x .eedingly sati,factory to the
directors to have beoi relieved from the promot;ori
of the Romsey and Reibri•lge line, which they had
put forward in opposirioo to the briad-guage
scheme. Having paid a h;gh compliment to the
ability with which- Mr. Bircham (the solicitor of
the company) had opposed the Sali,bury and
Suurhainpton project, the chairman observed that
the committee of the Lords deemed it unnecessary
to have the Direct Portsmouth andthe Wimbledon
and Epsom bills submitted to a -Wharncliffe meet-
ing. The bill respecting the traffic Arrangements
with the Crystal Palace line would enable tbe:com-
pany
their passengers to- Waterloo-road—
a mattteor,borigfneourse, of interest to the South-Western
propriet.ire—and would also probably lead ,to a'
large portion of the West-end traffic of the South-
to the South-Western
East, r„ a.mpany coming
terminus. The Kew and Richmond: Bill had been
ritaseuted to by the dire stirs, because they felt it
would throw traffic upon tries line. The Dorset
Ctntr4lßilllud for its oljectihe completion.of aline
from Blindford to Bruton, by which a communica-
tion, on ti e nary iw guage, would be effected be-
tween the English and Bristol Onannehr._. The bill
had a clause 'o empower the South-Westera_Com-
pany to c intribute 50,0001. towards the works,
with the consent of three-fifths of the Proprietors.
In the Salisbury and Yeovil Bill a cause bad been
inserted authorising the South-Western. CompanY
to guatantt•e 100,000/. of the debentures of the
Sale.bury and Yeovil Company, which would, of
couise, enAble the latter to obtain money at 291
easier rat- than they otherwise would. Taps °tnatikle
Western Company would work the linosedoubt as
all th rec ipte, so that there could be
o.bouoory
cubic
dicYeaorydisl
to having good security for the guarant)..e.4s
wits
In answer to qu( stionefrorn shar_e. , as
line is iu hand, and that a yards
ref th,t al:out one-half the
utBall23
that the works on
and the drift-way of .thetunnel
of ear th have been removed..1 It was further IV ated
torily. The I unne I '
kat • Es.td c , 1 at Crewkerms
►si r ongeraersl syi
rtt Honit mr re than one-third driven. It is ex-
pected that the tine from Salisbury to Exeter will
be open iu 1859. •
The bills were severally sanctioned, and a Tot*
nttruugn,
of thanks to the chairman closed the proceedings.

THE OUTWARD MAILS —SOUTHAMPTON. Thnreday.—.
TheAuoblt). t h
yali, lSilaitlCi(s)ul day,
rn
u! 's kteaabip Magdalena, Capt.
with the
pe
ails:2 87 paskengere, a full ea of the_value of
sncite ua
mails:,
We 4 India
35.401., and jewellery ti alai 10,0001. • -

' L:iko rly tire
Ai, I 7,24 t 0.3 No 11

SUN OFFICE, Seven o'tilock.

WORCESTER. RAOES.—(This Day.)

(BY ELECTRIC TBLEURAPii.)

LADIES' PLATE.

Blight
Auricula

Four ran.
FLYING STAKES.

Polly Johnson
Raven
Barbarity
Prince's Mixture
Eight ran. Won by a length

neck between second

- and third.
CITY PLATE.

Queen of the South - 1
Jesuit , 2

Pretty 80y...
Keterdy...
Obseuril

Four ran.
BENTINCK STAKES.

Three ran.

THE LATE FATAL ACCIDENT ON
THE NORTH KENT RAILWAY.

INQUEST THIS DAY.

Mr. C. J. Carttar, coroner for West Kent, re-
sumed the inquiry this morning, at the Plough,
Leivisham, into the deaths of the eleven unfortu-
nate individuals who lost their lives on the North
Kent Railway on Sunday night last.
Mr. Bodkin,-instructed by Mr. Reos, solicitor to
the South Eastern Railway Company, who work
the line, attended to watch the case on their behalf.
Mr. Burgon, for the engine-driver and stoker ;
Mr. Soloman for the relatives of Mrs. A Wilcox
and Miss M. A. Howe, sisters ; Mr. W. J. Scott,
for the relatives of Mr. T. Franklyn ; Mr. Norton,
of the firm of Norton, Son, and E am, for the rela-
tives of H. and T. Turner (hrothers-in-law) ; Mr.
Armstrong for the relatives of Frincis Drake.
The Hon. J. Byng, chairman of the board of
directors of the South-Eastern Railway Company,
was present during the day.
The first witness examined was Mr. John Nel-
son, station-master, Lewisham—He deposed that
on Sunday night the 9.15 train from &rood ar-
rived at the distance signal, Lewisham, ab tut 10.40
to the best of his rec illeotion. It 011.;ht not to
have stopped, but have ran throuili the station
about 10.20. He did not know the cause of its de-
tention. The train drew up at the signal distance-
post because the danger signal
.was up, in conse-
quence of the line being blocked between the Junc-
tion station and the Lewisham station. It drew ut,
within thedistance signal, the h ad of the train being
about 40 yards from the station master. Witne-s
went to the train to see if there was room in it for
the passengers left behind by the last train, making
arrangements for stopping any up train ; finding
there was no room in toe train, he did not have it
brought to the station. He then went to the signal
box, and saw the signal "stop all up," from the
junction. He then tapped at the instrument two
or three tun s, but received no reply. tie went
out and SAW the signals up for the Mid KAI;
train to be let out first. The train romaiued
stationary from 10.40 till 10.55, when he
saw an engine from Lewisham dart through the
bridge with two white lights in front. He was
much alarmed, ant before he could jump off he
heard the collision. He ran down and seeing the
frightful nature of the accident he went to the
driver of the 9.30 train that ran into the other, and
said to him, " How is this, how came you to run
past the red light?" He replied, "Its a bad job, Mr.
Wilson, I did not see the red light in sufficient
time to pull np." Witness tben saw Abbott, the
head guard of the train running towards the
station ; he desired him to run down to
stop anything coming up. A thought then
occurred to him to recall Abbott, which he
did, and asked him to examine the distance signals.
Abbott replied, " That is all correct, I saw it
plainly." • Witness replied, " Never mind," and
asked him to go with him ; they went to the signals
and found them correct. Witness went back to

the signal box. where he found ; lie looked
at the tel'graph needles and saw that they s oo I
" stop all, up." He asked Wild, " How's this ;"
Wild replied, " 1 cat say—Blackheath gave me
two beats on the instrument, to which I gave no
reply as the needle stood "stop all up ;" two heats
indicated that the up train was ready to start, but
ou receiving no reply the train ought not to hav e
been stated, and the B'ackheath station-wager
ought not to have detaine I it. If au answer had
been given for the train to proceed, one beat would
have been sufficient ; that might have been given
without altering the needles pointing "stop all
-

Two dials were produced and the working of the
in,truments explained by a gentleman connected
with the railway electric nnnpany. It ap-
peared to be the most perfect plan that pr*sibly
could be devised for safety by the preveuti,n of a
To the instrument is atfixe t a gong and
a bell for giving notice to e ich station, the gong
being struck fu down trains and the bell for the
Up trairo, and cn no occasion could they be struck
by m'stake. If Lewisham signalled to Blackheath
"stop all up," th.: la•tor could not have altered it
until another signal from Lewisham that the
line was clear. Bla,-;kbeitb, wi h tar-) l'e:ts,
should have called the attention of Lewisham
to the train being ready, and even a,imitting
Lewisham might have given a wring signal pro-
vision was made fur rt c•iying such a mistake befo•e
the trains leaving. The signals were struck by the
pressure of a button and not by clock work, which
gave a distinct striking that could not be mistaken
in counting.

The evidence of Mr. Nelson was then resumed—
The last entry he found in Wild's book was the
signal of the 9.15 train standing in
the station ; it is the duty of the man
at the instrument to immediately enter
the signals he receives, and he had entered
that the train had left Blackheath. Wit-
ness drew a line and wrote his name under it, tel.-
ing the signal man to enter all further :ignals he
received under it. The danger signal en the post
that stopped the 9.10 train was in the same state
when the 9.30 train arrived that ran into it. Tile
signal post was under the care of Wild, and could
not have been tampered with by any one during
the 20 minutes that elapsed. Ha b lieved it had
not been tampered with. If it hal been tampered
with he or Wild must have known it. (rhe signal-
book was produced and examined by the coroner
and jury.)
By a juryman—The Lewisham Junction danger
signal could not be seen at Blackhe tth, but the
distance signal that s'opped the 9 15 train could
be seen there ; the Blackheath station mtster had
told him so.
Witness desired Wild not to interfere with the
signals to Blackheath, but to let them remain as
they were. There being great confusion he went
to the assistance of the sufferers. Saxby was in
charge of the signals, vvhil-t he sent Wild to the
train. He believed 11.1 did not alter them ; the
train was stanclin, at the proper place wben the
collision occurred' Perry alluded to the distance
when he said he could not see the red light.
It was a clear night, and the siemals could be d s-
tinctly seen. He believed Vie "driver (Perry) was
sober. Witness did not notice the state of the
breaks. It was the duty of the man Wild, who
attended the electric signal, to work the other
signals. He signalled of his own accord though
under his (witness's) personal orders. The 9.56
Woolwich train was the first cause of thestoppage. It
was stopped at New Cross for the colle3tiou of
tickets. The great mischief occurred to a third-
class carriage in front of a break van. This was an
open third-class carriage ; had it been a covered
carriage no doubt it would have better resisted the
accident.

By Mr. Burgon—lt would not hive been a
prudent thing for the guard of she sta'ionary train
to have gone back and put fog signals on the rails,
because be was wait ng for a signal to pro:;eed. If
he had deemed it prudent to doso lie shou!dcommu-
nicAtErwiththe driver to wait fi.r him. In this case he
ought not to have done so beciuse the train was
expecting to start every minty e. He did not know
that the telegraph signals were auxiliary s'gnik
They had bden used on the line ever since he h,d
They
it. In the absence of the telegraph
vre back. thoughtil the guard ought not to have
.thought a danger signal sufilei-int
minutes.protet'on for
t. aitrwaiaabiut to rem in two or three
thought then thi,fo"e
.to remain half an hour he
telegraph signals 48,,imgoals should. be used. Tile
box, and theP conimuncielalitup" were entered in a
:who would inform the guard
-6 the station master,
driver If ".all clear" was i'ar toe ,the eugine-
fore it was started, would te R-ie, a train, be-
lled, and it was
often star ed b-fore an answe-r'gliaco
He denied that Vie 9.15 train :sl,?•ti be e ret trued
.itiAtal at a spe. d of five miles an hoer,(""ce
The driver
a that train, passed.it and came on tot
photo sig,,a]. It was the practice on the
non-stopping and other twins not to treatLe the
for
distance signal or a stopping signal without e
any-
thing else occtured, but to jcome on to the soma

_
phore signal. He" caled to Abbott •o look to the
signals in justification of his con,;uA that nil was
right ; there had been comphitts of the stve of the
signal from engine drivers. Hid might have c nn-
plaitied of it two days b fore the accident occurrel,
but he did not recollect It. He did not notice on

Sunday night the passengers get out of the train,
and tit-it they pres-ed on the wires of the signals as
they sa` ou the bank ; the effect of sting on the
wire would be to strain it, and probably swing
round the signals ; the wires werenot protected from
the public. Where the train stopped the wires of
the signals were olose to the ground.
Plans of the Lewisham and Blackheath stations,
with the curves, signals, &c., were put in and
proved by Mr. Curtis Edwards, engineer of Graves-
end, who was also examined at some length as to
there relative distances. The distance signal at
Lewisham could be seen at Blackh-ath ; it was 281
yards between the distance and the semaphore
signal ; the line slightly curved but not sufficient to
prevent the distance si.tnal being seen. It could
be seen under the bridge.
By Mr. Bodkin—He did not notice if there was
a t til light to the train which was run into.
By Mr. Burgon—On Tuesday after the accident
the gas pipes used for the signals were cleaned out ;
he did not know when they were cleaned out be-
, fore.

By the Coroner—The pipes were cleaned to im-
prove the light.
By Mr. B .dkin—He could not say when the
pipes were cleaned out before. When he want--d
to improve the ligh's he had the gas pipes cleaned
out.

By the Coroner—The wire was pushed to put on
the red light, and a person sitting on the wire
would cause the substitution of the white for the
re 1 light.
Mr. Burgon said he should be in a position to
show that the effect of the persons on the wire
that night was to shift the lights.
By the Coroner—Witness had no occasion to go
to the end of the trAin before the accident,
and tha- was why he did not know if there was a
red light there.
By Mr. Bodkin—He believed there was no'hing
to justify the engine-driver entering the station on
Sunday night in the manner he did.
By a Juror—He was Unable to state the speed at
which the 9.30 train entere l tne station.

By the Coroner—lt appearel to enter the station
at a Lister speed than was usual for a stopping
train. The speed of entering a train depended
ranch on the state of the weather.

By Mr. Bodkin—There is great traffic on Sunday
nights.
By the Corner—He considered the distance
signal the commencement of the station. Ater
stopping a train at the distance signal, and the
driver saw no train a-head, he might adv tune to
the semaphore signal. If the driv,r of this train
had noticed the red light, and not the train on the
line, he was justified incoming on to the semaphore
signal.
The Coroner then called for Wild, the signal-man.
Mr. Bodkin—He is in custody, undergoing ex-
amination before the magistrate.
William Wi'ey, guard, No. 20, deposed that he
was guard of the 9.15 train from Str.iod on Sunday
night. The train was late, owing to five minuses'
stoppage, at Woolwich, and five minutes at Charl-
ton, fit all ele-r signal-J. The train arrived at Lewis-
ham at 10.38. The train ought to have run
through the station, but it was stopped in conse-
quence of the danger signal being on. Witness put
his break on as soon as he saw the signal, but find-
ing the pace slackened, and the driver going care-
fully, he took off his break. The train stopped
about 100 yards within the distance signal, and
shortly after stopped dead. He got out and stood
behind his break in the rear of the train. There
was a red tail-light on the off side of the train, and
he hal his red hand-light with him. Witless went
back a little and saw the Beckenham train go to-
wards London. He heard a train coming, on
which he ran forward, waved his lamp, and whistle I
with his fingers. He was standing on the down
line. His reason for using his fingers in whistlinc,
was, that he could make a louder noise than if he

use] the company's whistle. He shou'ed, whistled, '
and waved his light, but the driver of the train did I
not appear to novice him. When he turned round '
he saw the d.st ince signal. He did not se) it '
flicker. The die ante signal could be seen at all
times shortly after leaving Blackheath. He hid
seen it from Blackheath station. The seam of an
engine going through a towel or under a bridge
impeded the sight of this signal. The train was de-
layed 18 or 20 minutes before the collision. He
was on the down line all the time, and he was tin.-
able to say if any of the passern:ers left the train.
liebelieved one or two ot the off doors were not
lo;ked ; the keys did not fit them, and there was
not tiros t.) lock t leak before t tey left S!rood.
The train passed him at th, usual speed ot 20 m lei
an hour—the speed of a train at:out to stop at
Lowish-em. It was down an inclined plane. The
st ppagd of a train depended oir the engine, length
of irtin, and the weather. Some trains could be
sopped within 100 yards, whilst others required
300 parch. He considered it was the duty of the
st ttion-master to give orders for the advance, 830.,
of a train "siopp-d" within the distance signal ;
lie also considered the train ptotec ed when it got
within the dirt trice signal, and that it was not his
duty to go back half-a-mile and put fog signals on
tie lines. He had his fog signals in his pouch
when he walked back tow .rds the train, but there
was not time then for him to place fog signals ou
the ling.
By Mr. Burgon—He could have done it if he had
g-me, back immediately after the train stopped, brit
he did not consider he was required to do so. The
pa sengers were not unusually noisy for Sunday
p isserters.
By Mr. Nort-in—Ove red light was placed at
the tail of ordinary trains. If an express train was
to flow two tel tail lights were used.
By Mr. Burgon—He bad heard engine drivers
say they had been on duty 18 hours a day ; the
long st time he had been on duty was on Sundays.
It lasted from half-past 7 o'clock iu the morning
till 11 or half-past 11 o'clock at night, with an in-
terval of two hours.
After some further evidence, the inquiry was ad-
jourTe.i.
Photographs, taken by direction of the company
of the line, by Mr. Beard, the photographist
of King William-street, were produced before
the jury, showing that the signals at Lewisham
were distinctly visible at distsnces greater than ne-
cess4ry for the diiver to bring his train to a
stand, and one of the photographic views was
taken from an engine placed on the main
line of the railway ar, the Blackheath Station, a
distance of three-quart-rs of a mile ; the other
from the engine when at ti e distance of 800 yards
from the Lewisham station. In both views
the danger signal was most clearly deliceated, and,
in one, the guard who ran back on the night of the
aceident, to warn the approaching train was also
most accurately represented, as holding out his
I lamp as a signal of danger.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

HOUSE OF LORDS.—(This Evening.)

ROYAL CO M MISSION.

The Royal As-ent was given by commission to the
following bills :—The Consolidated Fund (8,000,0001.);
Insurers of Lives (Abatsment of Income-tax) Continu-
ance ; Ministers Money (Ireland) ; Court of Exchequer
(Ireland) ; Calcutta and South Eastern Railway ; Ports-
inouth Ral.ay ;North-Eastern Railway (capital) ;Dun-
bar:, on Water; Islington Parish ; Brighton Hove; Preston
Constant Water Service; Exeter and Exnouth Railway;
Cork Gas ; Kidsgrove Nlarktt ; Great Ya.rmoirl Brit-
tailia Pier ; Bridgwater Market and Fairs; Waterford
and Tramore Railway; Dublin arid Wicklow Railway;
al.() Sew scraig Estate.
The Royal Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor,
the Earl of flarrowhy, and Lord Monteagle.
Their lordships adjourned during pleasure.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.
The Earl of DARTMOUTH presented a petition from
Bridgewater praying that corn might be sold at one de-
hoite weight throughout the country.
Lord BELPER presented a petition from North-
ampton in favour of the .Te s ish Di-ablities Bill.
SECOND READINGS
Oa the motion of Lord REDESDALE the following bills
w,,re read a sec ind time :—Carew's Estate, and Strat-
ford-upon-Avon Railway.
THIRD READINGS.
The following bills) were severally reed a third time
and passed :—Shepherd's Disabilities Removal, Wilm-
stan and Lawton Road, Fras:rhury Harbour.
THE RATE OF EXMIANGE IN INDIA.
Toe Earl of ELLENEOROUGH called attention to
the ateration made in the rata of exchange to which the
East India Company are parties, in reference to the
reception of funds from this country, an an
neuncement to that effect having appeared in the pub-
lic newsp,pers. The alteration was a mere reduction
in the rate of exchange of one farthing, being about 24
in the pound. The altera.ien would come in propor-
tioowe reduction in the price of bar silver and dollars.
It might be that the East India Company bad adopted
that course with a view of checking the export of silver
fr.:oat this country, which had increased to a great extent.
But whether such was the purpose, or whether it was for
obtaining a larger amount of funds by offering more fa-
vourable terms for them, the effect would be precisely
the same. Tl.e Indian Government remitted money to
England in the following way :—Money was advanced
io Reba upon the receipt of goods hypothecated to the
Company, and it was transmitted hither in the shape of
bill,. If those bills should happen not to be paid, it
was an acL of bankruptcy. If, however, they-were paint,
the danger of the Government at present was very great
in paralysing the operations of commerce. The revenue
of India was subject to great danger. In the first place

there was great oanger in the non collection imposts
There was further dat,g,-r from being unable tc
trat,smit Vie remaining funds to this country. He shouid
be glad to know the coime the Government intended to
pursue under thet.,e nircumstanc,s.
Eirl GRANV ILLE —The Government were fr,-
queLth indebted to the noble earl for his suggestions.
The subject alluded to by the noble earl had not
escaned the notice of her Majesty's Governmeot.
There was co fear to apprehend a total drain in tha..
country. He assured the noble lord the Governme.it
would closely watch the matter, and take care that the
finances of the country were kept in a safe and healthy
condition.
IRISH REPRESENTATIVE PEERS.

The LORD CHANCELLOR moved the following
resolution :—That all petitioners claiming a right
to vote at the election of representative peers
for Ireland, by virtue of peerages under
which a right to vote had been admitted by the House
of Lords of the United Kingdom, be referred to the
Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to
consider and report thereupon, and the Lord Chancel-
lor or Lord Keeper is upon such reference to consider
the matter of the said petition, and to make his report
thereupon to the house.
After a few observations from Lord REDESDALE
the motion was agreed to.