The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-10 00:00:00

FRANCE.

BOURSE, April 9—Three o'clock.—The market
closed as follows :-
4} per Cent.
End of month... -- Ital'an Loan
3 per Cent
End of month 69 12} Mexican Loan ... 19 25
Credit Mobilier

End of month... 265 Spanish Threes 37 LI
Credit Fonder ...1460 —.Home Debt — _

End of month.,. I Deferred 34 -
RAILWAYS. Account.
Orleans ... 868 k
Northern llBO
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern..... 5Bl
Western
Eastern • • —
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard 373
North of Spain 7O
Saragossa
Roman 4B

THE FATAL ACCIDENT AI THE
BROMLEY STEEPLECHASE.

Yesterday evening Mr. C. J. Carttar, the
coroner for Kent, held an inquest at the Chequers
Inn, South Borough, Bromley, touching the death
of Mr. Edward Clifford, aged nineteen years, who
was killed at the Bromley Steeplechase on Tuesday
last. Mr. N. A. Clifford, York Hotel, Waterloo-
'road, identified the deceased. He was a gentle-
man jockey, and was the son of Mr. Thomas
Clifford, of the Prebendal, Thame, Oxfordshire.
He was much addicted to field sports, especially
hunting, and for three years past he frequently
rode his father's horses at steeplechases. He rode
at the Bromley races on Monday last, and proved
the winner. On Tuesday he rode again, being
mounted on Vindicator. Witness viewed the race
from the grand-stand. It was run at 4.20 p.m.
Vindicator cleared all the obstacles successfully,
until he came to the last hurdle, and he was the
first horse in the race. When he came to the last
hurdle he jumped falsely, and his hind legs caught
in the hurdle. The ground on the further side
being a little hard, his fore feet " slid," and
he tumbled. The deceased fell from the saddle,
and the crowd rushed forward. Two doctors
who were on the ground also ran to him, but they
found that he was quite dead. His neck was
broken, and he had received other severe internal
injuries. He was killed instantaneously. He was a
perfectly competent jockey. He rode for pleasure
and not for gain. J. Lane, a labourer, said that
he was near the last hurdle when the accident oc-
curred. Vindicator's hind legs caught in the hedge
and deceased was pitched headforemost out of the
but jumped up
isna
adtdalnet. y Ta
nh
de
rhaonr soe
fff einll
audpvoann
chei
of
the other horses.
The fence was cleared by the other horses without
accident, and they came over so quickly after the
accident that they would have alighted on Vindi-
cator if he had not been up and off so quickly. No
one did anything to frighten Vindicator or make
him miss his jump. It was a fair attempt and a
failure. The Coroner said that the evidence I
showed that the occurrence was entirely accidental.
There was a certain amount of danger inseparable
from steeplechasing, but it did not appear that at
the Bromley races the obstacles were in any way
exceptionally dangerous. The jury returned a
verdict, "That the deceased died from the effects
of injuries accidentally received through the fall of
the horse Vindicator while jumping a fence during
the steeplechase at Bromley." The race in which
the deceased gentleman met his death was for a
steeplechase plate of 40 sous., the course being two
miles. Five horses ran, and, although Ned of the
Hills came in first after the catastrophe to Vindi-
cator, the race was declared void, owing to the
fact that at least three of the horses had taken the
wrong side of a flag.

NAVAL AND MILITARY IN7ELLIGENCE.

The Admiralty paddle yacht Enchantress, Staff-
Commander Petley, arrived at Portsmouth yester-
day, from the Thames, en route for Holyhead.
The Lyra, screw sloop, arrived at Spithead on
Wednesday from the East Indies, has gone into
Portsmouth harbour to dismantle and be paid out
of commission.

Rear-Admiral R. S. Robinson, the Controller of
the Navy, accompanied by Mr. Walker, Auditor of
Dockyard Accounts, has been engaged at Ports-
mouth-dockyard, making inquiries into the usage
of dockyard charges in various forms. It is also
understood that certain inquiries have been made
(not perhaps officially connected with Admiral
Robinson's present visit) with reference to the pos-
sibility of making evidence to rebut certain damag-
ing evidence that will be tendered before Mr. Seely's
committee, proving the utter unreliability of all re-
turns of expenditure sent to Somerset House from
her Majesty's dockyards. The evidence to this effect
now before or at the command of the committee is,
however, so decisive that it is very improbable that
the Admiralty will attempt to make any fight to
prove the contrary.