The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-14 00:00:00

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but before long a very alarming aceidenT),Curred."
although not utt,•ndrd with loss of life, the tAskts wain
torn, d over an embankment. The same thing happ'qrse.d ,Wat 1%.
the ( lasgew and Edinburgh Railway. For three yeari
trains had been passing over a viaduct bridge without the sign
of accident, but the moment the express train came the bridge
proved too elastic for it, the e: give was thrown off the rail and
overturned, the tend: r rolled down the embankment, and the
engine-man was killed. lam not afraid of speed. Had I
1.),.e3 on the erigke to which the accident happened on this line,
1 dare say I should not have quarrelled with its speed, but have
shared the fate of the fireman.
The Co itONEß—That I have no doubt of. %e all wish to
go fast when it is our own case ; but I think we often wish to
go faster than we ought, or there is any necessity for.
Mr. R. S. Best, a student of Queen's College, and a first-
ales passenger by the half-past eleven o'clock train on the 4th
inst. (who was also examined at the inquest at Cambridge)
said, that he was accustomed to railway travelling, and did not
think the speed on that particular occasion at all extraordinary
for an express train. He had travelled much faster. He had
gun- sixty mil, s an hour, and did not think the train on Mon-
day week went beyond forty miles an hour_ At the time of
the accident he conceived they were going as fast as at any
other period of the journey, perhaps faster. Did not observe
the beat of the engine, nor any slackening of speed between
SVanden and the place where the accident occurred. A mo-
ment or two before the accident he had observed a good deal
of oscillation in the train.
Mrs. Mary Dickson examined—l was a second-class pas-
senger by the train. I have travelled a good deal by railways.
I did not consider that we came down at all fast. I returned
on the following Wednesday much quicker. About one minute
before the accident took place I observed a motion in the
carriage I was in ; it was more a jumping than a rocking
motion ; I had not observed it jumping or rocking before.
After leaving Wendon station, I thought we were not going
so fast as before. I made the remark to a gentleman in the
carriage with me, end he said, " We are on new ground, and
that, I suppose, is the reason why ice are going so slow and
steady." I am quite certain we were not going so fast after
leaving Wendon as before. 'The jumping of the eau riage was
like gaing from sleeper to sleeper, but I am certain the carriage
was lot off the rail, for I looked out of the window and saw
that it was net; in a moment after came the shock.
Mr. Best was re-examined, and said thi,.! a moment before
the accident he felt the carriage lie was in rolling from side to
side, but felt na jumping until it had got off the rail and on to
the sleepers.
Bennett examined—l live in Fetter-lane, Londott.
1 eas a passenger by the train. I was in the second-class
carriage, next the horse-box. I consider that the train
came very fast from London. I have been in the habit of
travelling every other day on the line as far as Stortford for
the last three years, but never before went by a quick
train. I observed the carriage I was in to shake very much
all the way from Wendon. I mean from side to side. I
did nut remark any jumping. Just before the accident 1 think
we were going faster than before. I thought so before the ac-
cident occurred. I thought so only in my own mind, I did not
say go to any ore in the carriage with me. I am the driverof the
Magnet coach. I was greatly shaken by the accident, and had
my hand much hurt.
Abraham Samord examined-1 am a farmer. I came by the
r.iilway from Brighton on the morning of Monday, the 4th
instant, and afterwards by the half-past eleven o'clock train
from Shoreditch. I consider that we went from that to Wen-
don quite as fast as un the Brighton line, and from Wendon to
the scene of the accident we went, I think, faster. It was su
remarked by a person in the carriage with me. Just before
'Le accident happened I observed a little swinging of the car-
but not much. 1 was in the second-class carriage
it was next the horse-box. About two days afterwards
I was speaking to a person who got out of the train at Wendon,
and he remarked, that we started from Wendon at a very rapid
pace. I have not travelled above half-a-dozen times by rail-
ways.

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At tl-.e suggestion of 111 r. Duncan, solicitor to the Company,
Lawford was called to satisfy the jury as to the outer rail
of the curve, where the accident happened, being higher than
the other. He said—l perfectly well know that curve. In
some parts of it, but I cannot say whether on the precise spot
where the accident happened, the outer rail is higher than the
inner. It was completed nine months ago, since when engines
and waggon trains have been constantly passing over it, and I
should say it was perfectly well consolidated when opened to the
public. I have no recollection whatever of stating to General
Pasley that the speed of the train to Wendon waa excessive. In
my former evidence I said, and I now repeat, that it was not ex-
cessive, and ►hat the train proceeded steadily to that station, at
which I got out. I observed no oscillation in it ; if I had I
should have apprehended some accident.
The CORONER having observed that he believed there were
no other witnesses to examine unless medical witnesses, whose
testimony could be of no use on the occasion, as they all knew
how the deceased met his death,
A medical gentleman, whom we understood was sent-for
when die accident happened, stepped forward, and produced a
letter, requiring his attendance as a witness, and demanded to
know if he would be allowed his expenses.
The CORONER thought not, at least he was not legally en-
titled to them. When he (the Coroner) required medical
witnesses be always summoned them himself, because unless he
did so, be had no power to pay them.
The Surgeon— Should 1 have been justified then in not
obeying this letter ?
The CORONER—Certainly, under the Coroners' Act.
The driver Young having been tendered as a witness,
The CORONER said he would hear any statement Young
had to make, but would not examine him on oath, because
he could not tell whether the jury would hold him responsible

or not.
Young declined to make any statement, but
Mr.Fernihough, superintedent of the locomotive department,
wished to say, that from London to Stortford the speed allowed
was very great indeed, so much so, that do what they might,
they were sometimes unable to keep it up. If not up to time
at Stortford, they endeavoured to make it up at Wendon. On
this occasion they did so, and there was, therefore, no necessity
for travelling atter they left Wendon at a greater speed than
was allowed, that being on the average 30 miles an hour frem
,;tortford downwards. The engine-men had instruction.
to make up lost time within certain limits, and were liable
to reprimands, and ultimately to dismissal, if they did not do
so. But, since this accident occurred, it was not intended to
make up any lost time on the new road.
The CORONER then brictly addressed the jury. They had
to consider whether this accident had arisen from the negli-
gence or reekles,.w,, e.f the driver, or was the result of a
oi over which lCa os- nY tom nary' car 'Opt/1i 'the paid
If the latte777llk':event 'et could necessarily be " Accidental
death;" and then EY.De the question as to whether the jumping
,f the engine arose from overspved or from any depression
or imperfection on any part of the line. As regarded the
engine itself, it appeared that it was in perfect working
order; and, as regarded the line, nothing, according to the
evidence, could be discovered in it sufficient to account for
the jumping of the engine. If General Pasley's evidence
were to be relied on, and it was supported by various facts
ind cirtumstraices, theme appeared to him (the Coroner)
very little doubt that the train was going at a greater
speed than it ought; that that speed caused the engine to
jurni., and that the jumping split the rail. They were told
that the speed from London to Stortford was exceedingly
great, and that from Stortford to Cambridge it was allowed
to be on the average thirty miles an hour. According to the
evidence of Mr. Fernihough this train was going at, or over
thirty miles an hour. Now, considering this to be a new line,
that would appear to be much too great a speed, although for
i hat speed the engine-driver would not be responsible, as it
was allowed and required by the Company. The Company, no
doubt, imagined that they might go at that speed with perfect
safety to themselves and the public. That also must have been
the opinion of General Pasley when he inspected the line,
otherwise he would have felt it his duty to report to the Com-
pany that they ought not to allow a train to go down the in-
clines at a quicker rate than 18 or 20 miles. When he in-
spected the line, he, no doubt, thought that they might be
descended with safety at 30 miles an hour ; he had since altered
his opinion, and he now felt that they could not be descended
with safety at a greater speed than 18 or 20 miles. The decline
was stated to be only lin 157. The curve, according to Mr.
Phipps, was a very slight one, and a train, in his opinion, might
with safety descend it at from 30 to 35 miles an hour. His
(tile Coroner's) impression, as far as he knew of the

subject, and he had learned something of it from the
numerous inquests he had held, at which it necessarily
came under his attention, was that there must be more
than ordinary risk connected with these curves, unless the
greatest caution were observed; in fact, every accident which
had come under his notice had taken place at a curve. Taking
all the facts of this case, he thought it was tolerably evidentthat
the jumping of the engine going down this incline and along
this curve, was occasioned by a much greater speed than ought
to have been employed Whether that amount of speed was
such as to implicate the driver and make him criminally re-
sponsible was for the jury to say. He would only observe that
his instructions were to go rather better than thirty miles an
hour, and according to Mr. Fernihough he was not exceeding
that at the time of the accident. On the subject of the speed
the evidence was very conflicting, and in his opinion,
although he did not offer it for the guidance of the jury, it
was not sufficiently conclusive to justify a verdict of man-
slaughter against the driver. If they discharged him from
all criminal responsibility, their verdict would be accidental
death, and the only question remaining was as to the deodand.
During the last session of Parliament a Bill was intro-
duced for the purpose of doing away with deodauds by a
Noble and Learned Lord, and supported by other Noble Lords.
Whether the Noble Lords were shareholders in railways or not,
he did not know—( A laugh)—but the Bill was thrown out by
the Attoney-Genet al, and the law, therefore, stood as it did
before the introduction of that Bill. It was in evidence that
the engine at present, and after deducting for injuries, was of
the value of 1,4t,0/., and it was competent to the jury to levy
a deodand for that amount, or any portion of it which they
might think fit.
The jury were then left to themselves. They deliberated
for about two hours, and at four o'clock returned a verdict of
" Accidental death," with a deodand of 1501. on the engine,
accompanying the verdict with the following remark:—" The
jury beg to express a hope that no swift train will be allowed
to run upon any part of the line below Stortford until it has
become much more consolidated and settled. They also hope
that no train will be allowed to run without at least two trucks
between the tender and the passengers' carriages, and that
posts or marks may be at once put up showii:g where every
incline begins and ends."