The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-07 00:00:00

and from their conjoint statements it appeared they
had been called upon by the prisoner, who had put
questions to them which elicited whether they had
friends or relatives abroad, and in what part ; he
then claimed relationship, and so successful was he
in doing so, that to a female named Williams, re-
siding at 104, Royal Mint-street, Whitechcpel, he
had passed himself off as her step-son, her husband,
to whom she had been married 18 years, having
recently died, thus rendering it impossible to con-
tradict his assertion, although she admitted that
her husband, who was a widower at the time of
their marriage, had never made her acquainted with
the fact of having a son at sea. The prisoner then
represented himself as the first mate of a ship, and
succeeded, in the course of a few days he stopped
at the house, in borrowing a sum of £2 2s. 6d. at
different times, and also possessing himself of two
Indian war medals, which were shown him as
having belonged to his supposed late father. These
medals were found in his possession, together with
other articles, including a handsome porte-mormaie,
with an engraving on pearl of the Great Eastern
steam ship. at the time he was taken into custody,
while attempting a similar fraud at Greenwich. In
a second case he had called upon George Thompson,
a tailor, residing at 2, Carrington-street, Knights-
bridge, and having ascertained that he had a sister
and son in America, represented himself as the
brother of the husband of the sister, adding they
were all doing well, and that he had brought some
presents from them. Having received a cordial
welcome, the prisoner inquired the price of certain
articles of clothing, and was quickly supplied with
coat, waistcoat, &c., and calling on his (Mr. Thomp-
son's) daughter-in-law, obtained 2s. from her, under
pretence that he was going to his ship to bring the
presents ashore. When apprehended the prisoner
was wearing the clothes thus obtained, notwith-
standing which ho impudently denied having before
seen the witness in the case.

Several other charges were also gone into against
the prisoner, where he had succeeded in getting
sums of money from poor persons having sons or
brothers at sea, one of which resolved itself into
a case of felony, in carrying off a fancy pipe, and
which was found upon him.
The prisoner having pleaded guilty to this latter
charge, Mr. Maude said, although he could not help
expressing [surprise at the credulity displayed by
some of the witnesses examined, yet this was no
excuse for the prisoner, who was as consummate a
rogue as had ever stood in the dock at that court.
He regretted he had not the power to award him
a punishment adequate to his offences, but for steal-
ing the pipe he would be imprisoned and kept to
hard labour for six calendar months.

The prisoner was then removed, his worship
directing that all property found in his possession,
and for which owners had been discovered, should
be delivered up to them, an order which deprived
the prisoner of the coat he was wearing, and
'of which he was speedily divested by the gaoler.

THE LATE ACCIDENT ON THE LON-
DON 4ND .61?,1GILTON RAIL WAY.

PREVENTION OF COLLISIONS ON RAILWAYS.

The following is a copy of a circular lately issued by the
Board of Trade to the (different railway companies; and
appended are extracts from Captain Tyler's report on the
terrible collision in the Clayton Tunnel of the London and
Brighton Railway, in August last :
" Sir,—l am directed by the Lords of the Committee of
Privy Council for Trade to request you to state to the
directors of Railway Company that their lord-
ships' inspecting officer, Captain Tyler, ILE., in his report
upon the circumstances attending the collision that occurred
on the 25th of August last, in the Clayton Tunnel of the
London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, having dis-
cussed at some length the question of collisions on railways,
and the means that may be adopted for their prevention,
especially with reference to the use that may be made of
the electric telegraph, and having made some suggestions
of a general character, which my lords think may usefully
be brought under the notice of all persons concerned in the
management of railways, I am directed by their lordships to
forward to you an extract from that report, and to request
that it may be submitted for the careful consideration of the
Railway Company.—l am, &c.
" JAMES BOOTH.
" The Secretary of the Railway Company."

EXTRACTS FROM CAPTAIN TYLER'S REPORT.

I was somewhat surprised to find that no record books
were kept either by the station masters at Brighton, or
Hassock's-gate, or by the signalman at tke Hastings Junc-
tion, or by the signalman at the Clayton Tunnel. Books
of this description, in which the times of starting or passing
of all trains, or of the despatch or receipt of telegraphic
messages, are entered in ruled columns, are commonly em-
ployed on many lines of railway ; are more particularly re-
quired where men, working a tunnel with one telegraph
needle for two lines of rails, are obliged to trust to their
memory; and are useful in tending to ensure, on the part
of station masters and signalmen, greater attention to their
signals and telegraph needles, and a stricter performance of
their duties. A man is obviously less likely to commit an
irregularity of any sort in duties of this description when
he is himself compelled to make a permanent record of it,
liable at any time to be brought against him, open to ob-
servation on periodical or irregular inspections, and checked
by other records made by responsible officers, within a
short distance, and perhaps on both sides of him. This
keeping of record books, as well as the mode of working
telegraph instruments, with the number of telegraph
needles employed, and generally the proper intervals to be
maintained between the trains, and the best mode of pre-
serving those intervals, are just the points upon which the
safety of the traffic mainly depends, from collision between
trains following one another upon the same line of rails; and
I consider it only right to make a few general observations
in this place in regard to them, as they have been brought
prominently forward in connection with the present acci-
dent. The rules most commonly laid down upon the dif-
ferent railways, for the purpose of preventing trains follow-
ing each other upon the same line of rails from coming into
collision with one another are, that there shall be five mi-
nutes between them, or, which answers this purpose, that
after any one train has passed any station, junction, level,
crossing, or siding, at which a signalman is stationed, the
danger signal shall be exhibited for five minutes, and the
caution signal for five minutes more; and the platelayers
are also expected, when they are at work, to assist in pre-
venting the trains from running too closely upon one an-
other. In this manner an interval of time is preserved be-
tween the trains, which answers the purpose tolerably well
when they run pretty much at the same speed, when the
line is not crowded with traffic, when the drivers can see
for a considerable distance before them, when the points at
which warning is afforded aro sufficiently near together,
and when the prescribed intervals are in practice strictly
observed. It does not always prove to be sufficient,
however, even in these cases. But in many cases, and
on many lines of railway, the above conditions do not
exist. Tho exigencies of the traffic prevent the inter-
vals from being strictly kept, and they become habi-
tually disregarded. The trains run at various rates of
speed, from ten miles an hour or less in the case of a heavy
mineral train, to sixty miles an hour or more in that of an
' express passenger train; and such intervals become useless,
while much longer intervals are in themselves insufficient.
Obstructions to view occur, which prevent a driver from
seeing perhaps more than a couple of hundred yards before
him, and thus increase the risk of his catching up another
train, or of running into collision with one that has become
wholly or partially disabled ; and these obstructions to view
may arise either from the condition of the line or from the
state of the atmosphere. The experience of accidents in
various parts of the country at length induced the managers
of railway companies to bring to their aid the electric tele-
graph, by the employment of which they were enabled in
this manner to interpose an interval of space instead of an
interval of time between their trains, allowing no train to
start from one telegraph station until the line was reported
by telegraph to be clear to the next station. This method,
found at first to be essential for the protection of trains
passing through tunnels, was gradually extended to other
parts of certain railways, as it was considered to be required;
but its progress has been slow, and is still unapplied in many
places where it is much wanted. Even in tunnels it is not uni-
versal, and the records of the department show many cases
within the last few years of collisions in tunnels for the want
of it. The system of working by telegraph has made its way
gradually, in consequence of accidents which have happened;
but it has had to contend with great difficulties, and has not
been as successful in practice as it might have been for
several reasons. The various methods under which it has
been applied have been imperfect in one way or another;
the telegraph instruments have been entrusted to persons
of insufficient age, or to persons with other work to do,
which has prevented them from paying proper attention to
their more important duties. In order to apply it in the
best manner, extra expenses and extra trouble have been
required, which have not always been willingly encoun-
tered, and it is principally on these accounts that at the
present limo its application is comparatively limited.
To provide the greatest facilii ies fcr working, and to ensure
the smallest risk of mistakes, there ought, as I believe, to
be three telegraphic needles at the disposal of the signalmen
for working in each direction; one for each lino of rails, to
act as a simple signal, and to point to " line clear," or "line
blccked," as the case may be ; and the third to enable the
men to communicate freely with one another in regard to
the description of the trains, or to report anything thatmay
be wrong with them (which they have frequent opportunities
of doing), or to correct any mistake into which they may
under certain circumstances be led, or for other purposes.
When the traffic becomes so heavy that trains travellitng„
some of them at the highest rate of speed, cannot be kept
.11t0
miles apart from one another, it would appear to be q
time t 6 apply the more expensive remedy of laying do
ui
wn
extra lines of rails. Between London and Reigate,
the
ate, on
d
which lino the trains of the Brighton Compail
South-Eastern Company run in common, the block
about k system
20
of telegraph is still carried out over a distance of
miles, and it is only the remaining 33 miles to Brigifhton
that is devoid of this sort of protection; whereas, one
portion of the line requires it more than another, it is that
put jntweeu Drightou and the Clayton Tunn.cl, over which