The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-01 00:00:00

THE DUBLIN MAGAZINE.

This Magazine opens the New Year with great
spirit. The "Curse of Kishoge " is one of the
happiest imitations of the unrivalled Ingoldsby
Legends that we have met with. The hero, a
" Kerry boy," fond of love and whiskey, rides
a race at Midnight with the Spectre Chieftain of
the Lakes of Killarney, O'Donoghue, from whom
he wins a steed; is subsequently charged with
horse-stealing, condemned to be hanged, and
only escapes the rope by the not uncommon
miracle of his constant attachment to the bottle.
For as his biographer writes
:-
-'Tis he that could lope
With a parson or pope,
Faith it frightened the whiskey to see his mouth ope ;
By the powers of delf
Fathew Mathew himself
Among all his apostles ne'er met such a swiper ;
Let him bring the worst rascal
That e'er used a cask ill,
And Pat would have drunk him as drunk as a piper.
Oh ! 'twould gladden the heart of the veriest grumbler.
To see how he swallowed down tumbler on tumbler !
Of "Frigid= sine"
Or brandy or wine, he
Would quaff as a fish does of sea-water briny.
" Nuts and Nutcrackers" is a very clever pa-
Per, of which, though not partial to continua-
tions, we are glad that we have not seen the last
in this number. It will afford us a couple of
amusing extracts, of which the " Polish Count',
shall be the first:—

You cannot open a newspaper without meeting some
narrative of what, in the phrase of the day, is denomi-
nated an attempted imposition. Count Skryznyzk, with
black moustachues and a beard to match, who, after being
the lion of Lord Dudley Stuart's parties, and the de-
light of a certain set of people in the west end, who,
when they give a tea party, call it a soiree, and deem it
necessary to have either a libido°, or a Hottentot,n Pole
or a piano-player, to interest their guests, was lately
brought up before Sir Peter Laurie, charged by 964
with obtaining money under false pretences, and sen-
tenced to three months' imprisonment and hard labour
at the treadmill.

The charge looks a grave one, good reader, and per-
haps already some notion is trotting through your head
about forgery or embezzlement ; you think of widows
rendered desolate, or orphans defrauded; you lament
over the hard-earned pittance of persevering industry
lost to its possessor ; and, in your heart, you acknow-
ledge that there may have been some cause for the par-
tition of Poland, and that the Emperor of the Russias,
like another monarch, may not be half so black as he is
painted. But spare your honest indignation; our un-
pronouncable friend did none of these. No; the head
and front of his o&nding was simply exciting the sym-
pathies of a feeling world for his own deep wrongs; for
the fate of his father, beheaded in the Grand Place at
Warsaw; for his four brothers, doomed never to see the
sun in the dark mines of Tobolsk ; for his beautiful
sister, reared in the lap of luxury and wealth, wandering
houseless and an outcast around the palaces of St. Peters-
burgh, wearying heaven itself with cries for mercy on
her banished brethren; and last of all, for himself, he,
who at the battle of Pultawa led heaven knows how many
and how terrific charges of cavalry,—whose breast was a
galaxy of orders only outnumbered by his wounds, that
he should be an exile, without friends, and without
home!—ln a word, by a beautiful and highly- wrought
narrative, that drew tears from the lady and ten shillings
from the gentleman of the house, he became amenable to
our law as a swindler and an impostor, simply because
his narrative was a fiction.

In the name of all justice, in the name of truth, of
honesty, and fair dealing, I ask you is this right? or if
the treadmill be the fit reward for such powers as his,
what shall we say, what shall we do, with all the popular
writers of the day? How many of Bulwer's stories are
facts? What truth is there in James? Is that beautiful
creation of Dickens, "Poor Nell," a real or a fictitious
character? And is the offence, after all, merely in the
manner, and not the matter, of the transgression ? Is it
that, instead of coming before the world printed, puffed,
and hot-pressed by the gentlemen of the Row, he ven-
tured to edite himself, and; instead of the trade, make his
tongue the medium of publication? And yet, if speech
be the crime, what say you to Macready, and with what
punishment are you prepared to visit him who made
your heart-strings vibrate to the sorrows of Virginius,
or thrills your very blood with the malignant vengeance
of 'ago? Is what is permissible in Coveut Garden cri-
minal in the City? or, stronger still, is there a punish-
ment at one place and praise at the other? Or is it the
costume, the foot-lights, the orange peel, and the saw-
dust,—are they the terms of the immunity ? Alas, and
alas! I believe they are.
Next to this, the relative fates of Willis, the
American author of " Pencillings by the Way,"
'notice.
Never the Boy Jones, claim our especial notice.
Never was good honest John Bull's predilection
for strangers more happily hit off than in the
following extract:—
Of all the lions that caprice and the whimsical ab-
surdity of a secor.d-rato set in- fashion ever courted and
entertained, never had any one less pretensions to the
civility he received than the author of " Pencillings by
the Way"—poor in thought, still poorer in expression,
without a spark of wit, without a gleam of imagination
--a fourth-rate looking man, and a fifth-rate talker, he
continued to receive the homage we were wont to be-
stow upon a Scott, and even charity extended to a
Dickens. His writings the very slip-slop of " com-
m erage," the tittle-tattle of a Sunday paper, dressed up
in the cant of Kentucky; the very titles, the contempti-
ble affectation of unredeemed twaddle, Pencillings by
the way ! Letters from under a bridge. Good Lack—
how the latter name is suggestive of eaves-dropping and
listening; and how involuntarily we call to mind those
chance expressions of his partners in the dance, or his
companions at the table, faithfully recorded for the edi-
fication of the free-born Americans who, while they
ridicule our institutions, endeavour to pantomime our
manners.

For many years past a number of persons have driven
a thriving trade in a singular branch of commerce, no
less than buying up cast Court-dresses and second-hand
uniforms for exportation to the colonies. The negroes,
it is said, are far prouder of figuring in the tattered and
tarnished fragments of former greatness, than of wear-
ing the less gaudy, but more useful garb, befiting their
condition. So it would seem our transatlantic friends
prefer importing through their agents, for that purpose,
the abandoned finery of Courtly gossip, to the more use-
ful but less pretentious apparel of common-place infor-
mation. Mr. Willis was invaluable for this purpose ; he
told Ida friends every thing that he heard, and he
heard every thing that he could; and, like mercy, he
enjoyed a duplicate of blessings—for while he was de-
lighted in by his own countrymen, he was dined by ours.
Pie scattered his autographs, as Feargus O'Connor did
franks; he smiled, he ogled, he read his own poetry, and
went the whole ljon witli all his might ; and yet, in the
midst c tlilm, a rival starts up equally desirous of court
secrets, and fifty times as enterprising in their search;
he risks his liberty, perhaps his life, in the pursuit, and
what is his reward? I need only tell you his name, and
you are answered—l mean the bay Jones ; not under a
bridge, but under a sogu, ; not in Almacks, obtaining it
at second-h, nd, but in Buckingham Palace--in the very
apartment of the Queen—the adventurous youth has
dared to insinuate himself. No lady, however, sends her
album to him for some memento of his genius. His tem-
ple is not defrauded of its curls to grace a locket or a

medallion; and his reward, instead of a supper at Lady
Blessington's, is a voyage to Swan River. For my part,
I prefer the boy Jones: I like his singleness of purpose;
I admire his steady perseverance; still, however, he had
the misfortune to be born in England—his father lived
near Wapping, and ke was ineligible for a lion.
To what other reason than his English growth can
be attributed the different treatment he has experienced
at the hands of the world. The similarity between
the two characters is most striking. Willis had a
craving appetite for Court gossip, and the tittle-tattle of
a palace ; so had the boy Jones. Willis established him-
self as a listener in society; so did the boy Jones. Willis
obtruded himself into places, and among people where
lie had no possible pretension to be seen; so did the boy
Jones. Willis wrote letters from under a bridge: the
boy Jones eat mutton chops under a sofa.
The portly figure of Sir William Rowan Ha-
milton, President of the Royal -Irish Academy,
adorns the portrait gallery of the " University
Magazine" fin• this month. The " Vice Legate's
Bal I," the " Chapters on G hosteraft," and '' Gas-
par the Pirate," are all very clever. There is an
excellent Review of " Tyler's History of Scot-
land," fast becoming one of the few standard
histories originally written in the English lan-
guage. Altogether the Number is a very good one.

THE LATE ACCIDENT ON THE
GREAT WESTERN RAIL WAX.
CORONER'S INQUEST.
READING, FRIDAY NIGHT.—This morning, at ten
o'clock, a Coroner's Jury, consisting of twelve of the
most respectable tradesmen of the town, assembled at
the Royal Berkshire Hospital, to inquire into the cause
of the death of Richard Woolley, one of the passen-
gers by the luggage-train which left Paddington on the
morning of Friday, the 24th inst.
Mr. J. Blandy the Coroner for the borough, pre-
sided.
The Coroner and Jury having viewed the remains of
the deceased, which were in the hospital, immediately
adjourned to the public office in the town, where the
evidence was proceeded with.
The public office was crowded throughout the whole
of these exceedingly lengthened proceedings, which
lasted upwards of ten hours.
- Mr. Bartlett, solicitor, of Friar-street, Reading, at-
tended for the purpose of examining the witnesses and
watching the proceedings, on the part of the friends of
the deceased.
The examination of witnesses then commenced, and
was principally to the same effect as that adduced on
the previous inquest.
Mr. T. Hardy Bertram sworn—l am an ssistant en-
gineer in the service of the Great Western Railway
Company, and reside at No. 2, Portland-place, Read.
ing. My duties are to visit that portion of the line under
my charge, generally twice daily, from Reading to Lon-
don. I employ competent foremen upon short distances,
who inspect the line closely, and employ other men, or
gaugers, under them, also to inspect the line in all
weathers. The foremen report to me any unusual ap-
pearance, or requiring anything in the usual processes
of repair. On the Wednesday afternoon before the ac-
cident I remarked that the portion of the line, particu-
larly at Sonning-cutting, and it presented no change in
appearance from the previous three weeks. Mr.
Charles Owen, my assistant, stated that sundry
drains ordered by me had been made, and that he
had made part of an under drain, in cne slip,
which was in the immediate neighbourhood of the
great slip which occurred on Friday. I received no
communication which rendered a detailed examination
on my part, in any part of the cutting; necessary. I
consider the slopes throughout the cutting were equally
safe. Ido not consider the spoil bank on the top of
the cutting accelerated the fall from its own weight, or
contributed at all to the slip. I have examined the slip
since the accident took place. The slip, in my judg-
ment, is to be attributed to water perforating from a
small seam of gravel which occurs near the top. That
seam of gravel had not previously attracted my atter'.
Lion, as it had only been thrown open by the slip, and
then showed itself. There was no previous appearance
in the ground to indicate the probability of a slip of this
kind taking place. it was an entirely new slip in my
opinion. The police arc not under my directions, but
I am authorised by Mr. Brunel to put special watch-
men upon any part of the line, by day or by night, on
which the state of the works may appear to require
them. The reports made to me by the foreman under
me are made personally, and not in writing. In my
opinion, no systems of precaution can be taken by the
Company to forewarn them against accidents of this
kind, better than are now adopted.
Charles Owen was then called in to be examined.—
Upon being sworn, he said—l am employed by Mr.
Bertram, as an assistant, to see that the repairs in dif-
ferent parts of the line, and the Soaping cutting in par-
ticular, were properly done. He gave me instructions
about three weeks ago to go to Sonning cutting, and i
examine the slip which bad then taken place, and see
that the instructions he had given to the foreman had
been carried out. I did so, and I found the drain Mr.
Bertram had ordered to be completed had been done.
It was the duty of the foreman, Bottrell, to visit those
slips when I did not, to examine them. Bottrell's duty
is to make his reports to Mr. Bertram. During the
sixteen days I was absent I frequently inquired of Bot-
trell the state of the slips, and his report was satisfactory.
The principal evidence in addition was that of Mr.
Brunel. This gentleman was examined at considerable
length. He stated—With respect to the system of
watching adopted at night, I consider that any number
of watchmen will be more effectively employed when
placed specially to watch any particular place where
any change is expected than by attempting to patrol
generally over a district in the night, and for that rea-
son this system is adopted ; my assistants have po.
sitive directions, at all times, without any limitation,
to place watchmen at any point where they consider,
from any previous symptoms, or from any peculiar cir-
cumstance, that there is anything to watch for. At
the present moment there must be about thirty, or
more, between London and Bristol each night. These
men being workmen, and in communication with the
foreman, know better what to watch for, and are more
likely to see any change, than the ordinary policemen.
The Sonning cutting I can safely say, has given
less trouble, and caused less anxiety, than the
majority of cuttings on the line. Near the
place where the late accident occurred, there was
one of those superficial slips. I had seen it about
three weeks before the accident. I inquired of Mr.
Bertram and learned that he had given directions to
have it drained, and I saw afterwards that it had been
drained, and in passing very frequently I observed no
change had taken place. Upon examining the greater
slip a few hours after it had occurred, 1 found the
drain which had been cut round the old slip, and which
marked its situation. I found that the fall of earth
which had taken place was situated about 40 or GO feet
further east, and higher up the slope. It was a totally
distinct matter ; the first was a sliding of the surface,
the result, I believe, of the quantity of rain that had
fallen ; the other was a large breaking down of the
masses of slope in a particular stratum near the top of
the slope. The ordinary sliding down of the surface
below this, which is the result of the slip, and
not the slip itself, had spread over and reached the
former slide ; but they were totally distinct, and the
larger one could not have been caused by the small one.
I can speak to the fact that the passengers' carriages
are quite as strong as the luggage vans, for they were
originally constructed for luggage, and since converted
into passengers' trucks. I arrived at the spot of the
accident at about half-past eleven o'clock. They had
not then entirely removed tl.e earth from off the rails.
I examined the site carefully and particularly, because
was surprised at so much mischief having been pro-
duced by the comparatively small quantity of ground
which had slipped, and I found some large stones which
bad slipped down with the clay, being part of a bed of
stones wbioh lies a considerable height up the cutting.
One of these stones, probably two feet square, ap-
peared to have been on the rail just at the point where,
I think, the engine first left the line, and I have no
doubt that these stones were the cause of the accident,
as I think the engine would have run through the clay,
and the train have been stopped much more gradually.
Ile engine wheels were not broken, but the guard, as
we call it, was broken.
By the CORONER—I do not think if more vigilance
had been used the accident could have been prevented.
I am satisfied, most decidedly, that my engineers re-
ported everything which occurred, and, from reports
made to me. from my knowledge of the cutting, and
from what I have seen so frequently passing through it,
that this fall of earth has taken place without previous
symptoms.
By the. Foreman—The result of all our experience
upon the line has been, that these slips have been caused
either by continued rains, or breaking out of some fresh
springs. If the passengers had been in the hind car-
riages they would have escaped, of course ; but, gene-
rally speaking, it is not a sate position for them, as they
would be exposed to more danger than in front. [Mr.
Brunel gave the same reasons for forming this opinion
which were given by him when asked a similar ques-
tion at the inquest held on Monday last.] With re-
spect to the relative safety of the passenger trucks, I
have to state that I have frequently travelled by them,
and at one period I generally went by them once a week
to Bristol, as being the last train out of London at
night ; and, taking the speed of travelling into consi-
deration, 1 considered them rather a safe train than
otherwise.
By the CORONER—The chances are greater of a
luggage-train being run into behind than before.
By a Juror—There is a tail-lamp always behind the
luggage-train ; but from the frequent stoppages of this
train, the shifting of waggons, &c., there is still risk of
its being overtaken unexpectedly.
By the CORONER—If two or three empty carriages
intervened between the tender and the passengers, they
would not at all add to the safety of the passengers, in
consequence of the comparative lightness of those empty
trucks.
By the CORONER—An accident is more likely to
occur to the passengers by a slip at night than in the
day time. A mere patrol along the line at night
would not enable him to be an effective watch. It is

EVENING SUN

impossible in the night, and by the mere assistance of
a lamp, for a policeman, walking along the line, and
without knowing what he has particularly to watch
for, to detect any changes in the levels and rails,
or any of the numerous symptoms of danger. Such
watching could not be relied upon. It appeals to a►e
that the most certain way of securing safety by night is
to use all the means in our power during daylight to
remedy any evil, and detect any fresh symptoms o
movement, and then placing special watchmen at those
places, with a knowledge of what they have to look for ;
and that is the system which is followed.
Mr. Russell. M.P., wished the following question to
be asked Mr. Brunel :

With reference to the police force upon the Great
Western Railway, compared with railways in general,
is the police as large as upon other lines
Mr. Brunel repl►ed that it was so, and that such, he
believed, was the opinion of the Inspector-General of
Railroads. There was uo railroad in the kingdom which
lead a stronger body of police engaged.
The CORONER then proceeded to read over the whole
of the evidence, and remarked upon various portions of
the depositions as he went on.
The Jury then retired, and after being absent far
nearly an hour, returned the following verdict in
writing :—" The verdict of the Jury is, that Richard
Woolley came by his death from a fracture he received
on the skull, caused by the engine called the Heda,
coming into collision with a mass of earth, having fallen
from the slope of a cutting on the Great Western Rail-
way, at Sonning, in this county ; and they are of opinion
that the accident might have been avoided had there
been a night police or watch on the cutting. They
therefore place a deodand on the engine and train of
carriages of the sum of one hundred pounds. And
further, they recommend that the passenger trucks be
in future placed further from the engine."

THE LATE EXPLOSION ON TEIE

BRISTOL AND GLOUCESTER RAILWAY.
BRISTOL, DEC. 31.—An inquest was held yesterday
evening in the Board-room of the Infirmary, before J.
B. Grindon, Esq , Coroner, and a respectable Jury,
on Henry NVilliams, another of the sufferers by the
late accident on the line of the Bristol and Gloucester
Railtvay, who expired in the Infirmary.
The Jury having been sworn, proceeded to 'vievaZthe
body of deceased, which was much burnt, and ex•
hibited two extensive wounds in the thigh.
The CORONER then briefly addressed them as to the
nature of the inquiry they would have to make,
After which, the Jury proceeded to the bed-side
of another of the sufferers, named John Hodge, who
deposed that he was a labourer, employed in the con-
struction of the line near Wickwar, at shaft No. 5.
Deceased was a blacksmith, and worked near it. The
gunpowder used in the work was generally kept its
the blacksmith's shop every night, and taken out in
the morning. There is no precaution taken against an
explosion that he knew of. It is the duty of the
banksman to put the powder in the shop, as he took
charge of all the powder. It is kept in barrels, round
which there is a bag made coarsely of hemp. The
barrel in question contained one cwt. of powder. Thu
blacksmith's shop is close to the shaft. The powder is
not kept in any particular part of it, but sometimes its
one part and sometimes in another. On Monday
morning last, at about seven o'clock, witness was in the
shop with several others. The forge was lighted,
and the deceased was hammering at a drill. Witness
and the other men (eight in all) were standing near
to the fire. Two barrels were standing near the wall
at seven or eight feet from the fire. There was no-
thing between them and the fire but two or three
planks which leant against the wall partly covering them.
The men in the shop were sitting down quietly smoking
their pipes, and at about seven o'clock the powder ex-
ploded and they were all blown up. Three were killed,
on the spot, one of wham was Jones, the bankstears,
who was supposed to have put the powder in 04 itlop.
Witness and the others were much bruited and
wounded, and brought to the infirmary. rihe powder
is kept in the smith's shop because ttere is no other
place where it can be kept under t over, and it must be
kept dry.

Lewis Crew, another or the sufferers, was next exa-
mined, and gave, to a great extent, similar testimony.
Mr. C. Gregg, house-surgeon, deposed to the
nature of the injuries of which the deceased
died ; and also gave a statement of the deceased,
made under the apprehension of death, as to
the cause of the accident. He said the powder
had got a little damp, and had been put into the smith's
shop to dry. At the time of the explosion he was blow-
ing the forge fire. A spark must have flown to the
barrels. He heard a great noise, and then a lot of
things tumbling about him.

Tire learned Coroner proceeded to sum up, comment-
ing with much severity on the gross negligence evinced
in the care and management of the gunpowder.
The jury then consulted together and returned a ver-
dict of " Accidental death," accompanied by the fol-
lowing addition :—" And the jury unanimously express
their great regret that in this ease they have it not in
their power to mark their sense of the grossly improper
management of this line of railway by levying a deodand,
which they would have levied to the utmost extent, had
anything been left to levy it upon."