The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-06 00:00:00

NEWS PASE

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THE LATE ACCIDENT TO f .0r:,:,,,_,
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The examination of the two breaksmen IsC therOok;
train upon a charge of manslaughter in connection with
the late accident, was opened on Monday, at the Town
Hall, Abergele, before Mr. J. Lloyd Wynne (chairman),
Mr. R. B. Hesketh, and Mr. H. R. Hughes.
Mr. Edwards Wood again conducted the prosecution;
Mr. Louis, of Ruthin, assisted by Mr. Davies, of Holywell,
appeared for the accused ; Mr. Preston, of Rhyl, watched
the case on behalf of the London and North-Western
Railway Company. The inquiry is complicated by a charge
against Mr. Davies of being an accessory after the fact in
assisting the break m •n to escape from the custody of the
police. Mr. Swetenham, of the North Wales Circuit,
was engaged as counsel for Mr. Davies, but as he was
prevented by illness from attending, Mr. Louis con.
sented to appear in Mr. Swetenham's stead. The
bench, at his request, consented to postpone the case until
after that of the breaksmen, but as the inquiry was inter-
rupted,'against the wish of the bench, by another adjourn-
ment, the case against Mr. Davies stands over sine die.
Formal evidence of the accident to the Irish down mail
train on the 20th of August, of the death of Charles
Cripps, was then tendered.

Alfred Sara, driver of the goody train, recapitulated his
evidence as to what occurred at Llandulas station. Ile
said he was e,alleclback " easily " by the junior breaksman,
by which he meant that the signal given to him to kick
off the loaded waggons which struck the tail-end of the
van wag to move his engine only a yard or two, and to
give them only a slight kick. It was this kick which sent
the petroleum trucks running down the incline. He was
rather sharply cross-examined whether he had not given
the trucks a severe kick instead of a gentle kick. He
swore that he only moved his engine a few yards, and that
it was not a hard kick. He said he knew that the break
bad been broken by the force of the blow, and he admitted
that the waggons would not have remained on the incline
unless the break had been screwed down. He said that
the two breaksmen were busily engaged in discharging
their duties of uncoupling and shunting. He saw no
remissness or neglect on their part.
During the hearing the break of the break-van at-the
tail-end of the train, which had been rescued from the
&brig, was brought into court. Three of the cogs of the
wheel were found to be broken. This was relied upon as
proof that the " kick " being harder than was usual or
necessary was the real cause of the accident.
Mr. Lee, engineer of the line, deposed that the trucks
would have run down the line if the break had not been
screwed down, and Mr. Mason, assistant general manager
of the line, said he had brought the matter to the test of
actual experiment. The trucks began to move down the
incline the moment they were left without a break. Mr.
Mason repeated his evidence that the breaksmen were
not bound by' Rule 6 of the Appendix, which was
solely applicable to foreign lines. He admitted having
stated that if they had observed this rule the
accident would not have happened. If he stated on
a former occasion that the station-master and the breaks-
men were responsible for the breach of Rule 6, he must
either have misunderstood the question, or his answer
must have been misconceived. Having assisted in framing
these rules, it was perfectly well known to him that they
did not apply to Llandulas station. Mr. Edwards WoQd
then drew Mr. Mason's attention to Rule 205, stating that
the place of the senior guard is at the rear of the train.
Witness said that the senior guard did nothing
wrong in allowing the trucks to be taken down
to the tail part of the train ; but it would be
the duty of the guard who unhooked the waggons from a
train on an incline to follow them down to the break-van
and apply the breaks if necessary. It would be the duty
of the senior guard to receive them, and at once to couple
theM to the remainder of the train. He added: "I consider
that it was the duty of the junior breaksman to have
attended to the waggons shunted off, and of the
senior breaksman to have been ready to receive them."
It was not for him to say that it was culpable
negligence on the part of both the breaksmen to
.)e absent from the spot when the trucks kicked
Jff struck the tail end of the train ; they might have
miscalculated the force of the blow and the danger.
If, however, the breaksman had been at the end of the
train ready to act with the break, Mr. Mason said, he
thought the accident would not have happened.—Joseph
Eaton, the son of the Llandulas station-master, who
Was helping his father with the points, said he saw
one of the breaksmen, he did not know which, run after
the trucks before the waggons were put upon the siding.
It was not a sharp kick that the engine-driver gave
the trucks. His father, Samuel Eaton, was next
called, and, being cautioned, objected to give evidence
that might criminate himself. Other unimportant
evidence was adduced. Mr. Edwards Wood thereupon
prayed an adjournment, 011 the ground that Mr. Binger,
superintendent of the Chester and Holyhead line, was an
,ndispensable witness. The Chairman, on the part of the
ench, expressed a strong feeling against these repeated
adjournments, and said that they did not think it neces-
sary to adjourn the inquiry for Mr. Binger's evidence.
They were quite content with the evidence given by Mr.
Mason, who could, moreover, be further examined, if
necessary, by the prosecution. Mr. Wood contended that he
WAS entitled to bring the whole case before the magistrates.
The Chairman thought the application unreasonable. Mr.
Edwards Wood, however, insisted that the witnesses he
had named were indispensable to his case, and the Bench
at length reluctantly gave way, and consented to adjourn
the further hearing until Tuesday next.

DEATH OF CANON lIAwKINs.—We have to
announce the death on Canon Hawkins, which occurred
on Sunday, at noon, after a lingering illness. It is some
what singular that he should have died within a few days
after Archdeacon Bentinck, to whose canonry, on resigna-
tion, he was nominated ; and he has only held his prefer-
nient, so well deserved, for five years. The Dean, in
alluding, on Sunday, in the Abbey, to the death of Dean
Milman and Archdeacon Bentinck, spoke of their youngest
member hovering between life and death. The canonry
is in the gift of the Crown.

REGISTRATION APPEALS.-Ori the fifth day of
Michaelmas Term (the 7th November) the Court of Com-
mon Pleas will appoint sittings for the hearing of appeals
from the decisions of the revising barristers. Already
several have been lodged, and a considerable number will
appear by the fii%t day of term. An appellant has to give
ten days' notice, and by being given at once the hearing is
expedited. The first appeal lodged is from Manchester,
and contains the names of upwards of 5,000 women. One
case on female franchise will, it is expected, decide all the
other appeals on that question.

PLEASANT NEWS FOR THE NEIGHBOURS.-A few
days ago a man named urner escaped from the Broadmoor
Criminal Lunatic Asylum. The prisoner had been confined
since his acquittal of the murder of his wife on the ground
of insanity. It appears that while engaged with a dust-
dart outside the building he diverted the attention of the
attendant, and got off. An active search has been insti-
tuted, and a personal description of the fugitive posted at
the chief public places in the neighbourhood, but up to the
time of writing he had not been recaptured. He is said to
be a very powerful man, 6ft. 2in. in height.

- - - -
FATAL BOILER Exmosiox.—A dreadful explo-
slon has occurred at the Elescar Ironworks, belonging to
Messrs. George Darner and Co., near Barnsley, by which
two men lost their lives. On the scene of the accident
there are four egg-shaped boilers laid down together,
being surmounted by a coating of brickwork, and on
Friday morning one of these burst, one of the plates
being blown off and hurled a distance of twenty yards,
while the boiler itself was lifted from its place and carried
some nine or ten yards. In the immediate vicinity two
men, named Richard Salter and Daniel Nowland, were
laid, it is said, asleep, and both were buried in the ruins.
Nowland was extricated alive, but died almost immediately,
while the other man. when got out, was quite dead. No
other persons were injured, as the hands at the time were
forturiately changing "shifts." Had the accident occurred
some hours later, the result would have been most disas-
trous, as some 300 persons are employed at the works, and
a great many in the immediate neighbourhood of the
boilers. The boiler was being worked at a pressure of
401 b. to 451 b. to the square inch. The inquest was opened
the same afternoon before the deputy coroner, Mr. Wood-
head, but was adjourned to the 22nd of October) after
evidence in identification of the bodies had been taken.

VISIT OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES
TO GLASGOW.—The preparations at Glasgow for the
approaching visit of the Prince and Princess of 'Wales are
now all but complete. The Prince and Princess are
expected to arrive in the city from the North on Thursday
forenoon, and will be escorted from the station of the
North British Railway to the City Hall, where the Prince
will be presented with the freedom of the city. Thefounda.
tion-stone of the new -University buildings, Gilmorehill,will
then be laid by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
Their Royal Highnesses will leave for the south the same
evening. To preserve order, the authorities have erected
strong wooden barricades from one end of the line of route
to the other, and a force of from 5,000 to 6,000 volunteers
eenepdinPg the crowdk
a strong
wooden terreiictaydecso.n stAabtutlhareyllirnestk.
wooden bridge has been thrown across the Kelvin to the
grounds of Gilmorehill, which will make the route much
shorter, and give the visitors an opportunity of seeing the
most beautiful of the Glasgow public parks. The personal
escort of the Prince and Princess of Wales will be formed
by the Queen's Own Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry.
The Masonic bodies will take no part in the ceremony at
Gilmorebill, as the Prince declined to become a member of
- thy r.cAbertkococl,