The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-16 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

REPORT OF THE RAILWAY DEPARTMENT
OF THE BOARD OF TRADE ON SCHEMES
FOR EXTENDING RAILWAY COMMUNICA-
TION IN VARIOUS DISTRICTS.
Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed,
May 8, 1845.

Railway Department, Bcard of Trade,
Whitehall, May 8, 1845.
The Board constituted by the minute of the Lords
of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, for the
transaction of railway business, having had the fol-
lowing railway schemes, viz.
Porthdynllaen and Bangor;
Chester and Holyhead ;
Ditto—Mold Branch ;
Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings—Rye and Ash-
ford Branch ;
have decided on submitting the following report
thereon, for the consideration of Parliament :
The Porthdynllaen and Bangor (or North Wales
Railway), commences at the port of Porthdynllaen,
runs along► the coast of the Irish Channel, by Clynog
and Caernarvon, to Bangor; its length being 28 miles
56 chains. The earth-works on the whole will ex-
ceed an average, and a tunnel occurs of 704 yards in
length. At the 6th mile is an embankment 118 feet
high, and at the 11th mile a cutting 71 feet deep
and several run from 40 to 50 feet.

The promoters of the scheme state, that by bring-
ing into close connexion the city and port of Bangor
and the town of Caernarvon, the line would confer
important commercial advantages upon the interests
of North Wales ; and that its further course through
the mineral and agricultural districts will throw
open additional supplies of copper, lead, slates, grain,
and provisions, to new and extended markets. Es-
pecially they ay stress on the advantages to be de-
rived from opening out the extensive slate quarries in
the district.

With regard to passengers, they reckon upon a
considerable number going along the proposed line,
particularly in summer and autumn, and the traffic
tables, which have been submitted with the statement
of the promoters' case, seem to justify, so far as it is
in our power to form an opinion from the data which
they contain, their assumption that the line will be
remunerative. _

We have stated that the earth-works on the whole
will exceed an average, and that a tunnel occurs 704
yards in length; consequently the line will be of an
expensive description. The promoters of the scheme,
however, while they estimate the cost at 300,0001., state
that arrangements have been made with responsible
contractors to complete the Railway within the engi-
neer's estimate, both as to time and amount.
The projectors are particular in their statement,
that their scheme is not intended to rival the Chester
and Holyhead Railway, nor to disturb any existing
arrangements between that Company and the Govern-
ment; their line is for local purpases, and it appears
to have received very general local support.
No statement has been made to the Board of Trade
in opposition to this scheme, and we are not aware
of any circumstances tending to invalidate the case
of the promoters.
In these circumstances it becomes our duty to re-
port, in conformity with the Fifth Report of the
Select Committee of the House of Commons, that
" there are no public reasons which ought, in the
opinion of this department, to be decisive against it."
The object of the Chester and Holyhead Railway
Bill is to complete the continuous communication
from Chester to Holyhead by the passage of the
Menai Straits, by means of one of two alternative
lines, the first of which, 4 miles 63 chains in length,
passes over the town of Bangor by a viaduct bridge ;
the other, 4 miles 26 chains in length, passes about
half a mile south of Bangor, and effects a saving of
37 chains in distance. The gradients on both lines
are good.
The point selected for the passage of the Menai is
at the Britannia Rock, in the centre of the Strait,
which affords a convenient position for the central
pier of a bridge of two arches; but as an objection
was taken to the bridge proposed to be constructed,
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty directed a
local examination to be made by Sir John Rennie and
Mr. Rendel, civil engineers, in company with Capt.
Vidal, Royal Nary. We beg to refer the Committee
on the Bill to the reports of Sir John Rennie and Mr.
Rendel, in which the Inspector-General of Railways
concurs.

The Mold Branch of the Chester and Holyhead
Railway has been formally withdrawn by the projec-
tors, with the intention of bringing it forward in an
improved form at a future period.
The Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings (Rye and
Ashford Branch) is 29 miles 27 chains in length, with
a subsidiary branch to Hastings, 1 mile 21 chains in
length.
The main branch commences at a point on the
Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings Railway, about two
miles westward of the St. Leonard's terminus, and
about thirty-one miles from Brighton ; and, sweeping
round to the north of Hastings' to which it throws
off the subsidiary branch which we have mentioned,
passes by Winchelsea and Rye to Ashford, where it
terminates at the station of the South-Eastern Rail-
way.
In the report from the Board of Trade on the
Kentish and South-Eastern Railways, we stated,
with regard to the South-Eastern Company's scheme
(Ashford to Hastings), which is an important link in
the coast line of communication, that we were aware
of no public grounds why it should not receive the
sanction of the Legislature; and we omitted to notice
expressly the scheme which is now before us, in con-
sequence of the Directors of the Brighton, Lewes,
and Hastings Railway having, in a memorial re-
ceived at the Board of Trade on the 7th of January,
made the following statement :
" The extension of the coast line to a point on the
Dover Railway which would complete the chain of
communication along the coast, between Dover
and Portsmouth, at the eastern end of the chain, is an
object which has been viewed by the Directors to be
of great public importance, and one which it
was much their interest and desire to promote, and
for such purpose they have caused surveys to be made
and the country in that direction thoroughly
explored; but they feel bound to say, that any in-
terference with the prospects of their Railway, by
the adoption of any line having for its object the ab-
straction of the Hastings and London traffic, will
probably be fatal to such an undertaking, and that,
pending a state of uncertainty and doubt as to the
decision which may be arrived at, all efforts towards
its accomplishment on their part must be suspended,
although of course they could not object to its ac-
complishment by any other parties."
Considering, therefore, that the Hastings and Ash-
ford project was withdrawn, we omitted all notice of
it from the Report on the Kentish schemes ; but as
the Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings Company have
since requested us to report specially upon the
project, we beg to state, with reference to that
scheme, that inasmuch as a line of railway from
Hastings to Ashford will be an important link in tl-e
chain of the south coast communication, we think it
ought to be made; and that, having regard to all the
circumstances of the case, as set forth in our report
on the Kentish schemes, we are of opinion that the
branch will be best constructed by the South-Eastern
Rail way Company.
In conclusion, we beg to draw attention to the
passage of the Fifthl Report of the Select Committee
of last year, in which it is stated, in recommending that
reports should be made to Parliament by this depart-
ment upon railway schemes, " That no such report
should be held to prejudice the claims of private
persons, the examination of which should he alto-
gether reserved to the Houses of the Legislature."
In submitting to Parliament, in conformity with the
recommendation of that Committee, the results at
which we have arrived, with a view to the information
and assistance o f Parliament in forming a judgment
upon the schem es in question, in so far as our re-
port may bzi available for that purpose, we are anxious
that it should be distinctly understood that we have ar-
rival at these results solely upon public grout.ds, and to
the exclusion of all consideralions how far such results
might require to be modified by a due regard for private
rights and interests.

DALUOUSIE.
C. W. PASLEY. R. PORTER.
D. O'BRIEN. S. LAING.

DUTCH MAIL.
NIMRGURN, MAY 9.—By a decision of his Excel-
lency the Minister of the Interior, the Rhenish rail-
way from Arnhem is to be inaugurated on the 14th of
this month. The train of carriages is- to leave the;
station out of the Westerpool at Amsterdam, at ten
o'clock on that day. His Majesty the King has sig-
nified his intention of being present on the occasion.
Their Roy
al Highnesses the Prince of Orange and
Princes Frederick, and Alexander, and Henry are
invited to honour the ceremony with their presence.
A great number of invitations to persons of distinction
have been issued.
The King, the Princes, and the public functionaries
are to be at the station at Amsterdam on the 14th,
and half-past nine is the hour.
We hear that some capitalists of Amsterdam have
obtained a licence from the Government for the con-
struction of an iron railway from the Hague to
Scheveningen, and with the intention of connecting
the new branch with the Dutch and with the station
near this city.
FRANKFORT, MAY 17.—Count Munich Belling-
hausen, President of the Diet, returned yesterday
from Venice to resume his important functions.
We hear from Vienna that Prince Metternich in-
tending first to visit his estate at Konigswart, in Bo-
hemia, will not come to the Rhine till the end of the
summer, about which time the King and Queen of
Prussia are expected.
Letters from Berlin say that the negotiations be-
tween the Courts of Prussia and Wurtemburgh for
a marriage of the Crown Prince of %Vurtemburgh to
a Princess of the Royal Family
of Prussia are al-
ready so far advanced that it may be expected bat
thelestat -will "shortly be iiiiblished.

THE MURDER IN ST. GILES'S.

CENTRAL CRILITINAL COURT.
OLD COURT.
TRIAL OF JOSEPH CONNOR.

(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
Mr. BALLAST NE then proceeded to address the jury
on behalf of the prisoner. He said—When he was
first called upon to defend the prisoner he had
felt that he should have been able to offer a fair
defence in his behalf, but he was wholly unprepared for
the fresh evidence that had been adduced, and he almost felt
the weight of the responsibility thus thrown upon him—
almost too great for his abilities. He called upon
them to dismiss from their minds all that they had
heard out of doors, or from the public newspapers,
in reference to the prisoner, and, as unprejudiced men, :to
arrive only at a conclusion warranted by the evidence they
had heard. Ile held that the motives which had been as-
signed for the commission of the crime by the prisoner were
not of a character to entitle them t ) come to an adverse de-
cision respecting him. The prisoner was hurried to Newgate
with only half of the case heard against him, and complained
that he had not been supplied with the depositions
of the witnesses who were to be examined on his trial.
Thus he had to answer evidence which lie had no idea would
be brought against him. Was it possible that the prisoner,
a young man of two or three and twenty, could have had
intercourse with a woman of the age of the deceased—a
woman leading the most loathsome of all occupations, in the
most wretched and lowest district of the metropolis—a
district where, of all others, the lowest class of indi-
viduals and the lowest kind of vice was to be found?
The threats were not such as were used by persons in the
same class of life as the prisoner, and it could not reasonably
be inferred from them that he intended to destroy the
woman's life. It was unlikely that the prisoner, who was
about to be married, and whose betrothed had in no way dis-
appointed his affections, would commit so horrible a crime
as this. Then, as to the identity of the prisoner.
There was a belief that he was the individual—
a belief which might be excited by many causes, and
by the similarity of the prisoner to some other person.
Belief showed a defect of some nature—that the person using
the term was uncertain of matters in his testimony. Let
them look at what opportunities the various witnesses had of
specifying that the prisoner was the man who committed
the murder. Mary Palmer and Mrs. Hall, who had oppor-
tunity of seeing him—the one, at the very time he was
committing the murder, if he was the man—yet they
could not swear positively that the prisoner was
the person. Might they not have associated their
belief with certain descriptions which were given of
the person by whom the murder was really committed. So
much doubt was there, that men as old as -forty or fifty were
taken up on suspicion. When Allen saw the prisoner, whom
he said was the companion et reputed thieves, run out of
the house hastily, was it not extraordinary that he did not
arrest him—why did he stand still at the corner of the street ?
The aspersion cast upon the prisoner by the police-
man was refuted by the evidence of the witness
from Messrs. Garrard's, and from the evidence of the
prisoner's father, by whom it was shown that he was
both hard-working and honest, and consequently obtaining
his livelihood in a respectable manner. Then with respect
to the evidence of Mr. Oldham. Persons were, no
doubt, continually calling at his shop to purchase
knives, and it was singular that an ordinary indi-
vidual, making such a purchase at an ordinary time,
should have been so strongly impressed on his mind.
His daughter said that the person who purchased the
knife had a blotch on the side of his nose, yet none of the
eight witnesses who saw the prisoner on the night of the
murder were asked the question by the Counsel for the
Crown. When Mr. Oldham said " That is the man," that
inference was no doubt drawn from reasoning on the proba-
bilities that the prisoner was the individual. The voice
was most fallacious, and changed more than any other
organ by deep emotion. Was it not likely that the
prisoner's voice, speaking as he did, under deep emotion, and
under painful and trying circumstances, might have been
husky, and like the voice of a person merging from youth to
manhood. lle was not positive that the prisoner was the
man who bought the knife until he heard him speak some
half-dozen words. He held that this was not a reasonable
test, and could not be entertained by the jury. The object
of the prisoner in pointing out Mrs. Tape in the street as the
person who had communicated a certain disease to him, was
for the purpose of holding her up to shame amongst her com-
panions, and not as a prelude to a dreadful and revolting
murder. Secrecy was ne part of his conduct. He made no
secret of his aversion to the woman, and of the injury
he supposed he had received from her. The coat
which the policeman stated was stained with blood ought to
have been sent to some scientific person to ascertain if the
marks on it were blood or not, for surely in the advanced
state of science there was some means of arriving at such a
result. There was nothing to show that it was not rouge, or
that it was not the result of some slight wound. If the
prisoner committed the murder, was it not likely that in-
stead of there being spots cf blood on the coat,
it would have been deluged in blood ? It was proved that the
woman was tall and stout, and it was unlikely that the pri-
soner, who was not a powerful man, could have committed
the murder without meeting with great resistance, and of
having the knife wrested from his hand by her. It was
shown that the prisoner came home as usual and went
to bed with his father, and that his parent, whose testimony
was not biased, as, from the position in which he stood
towards the prisoner, might be supposed, saw nothing differ-
ent from his ordinary conduct. Was it not likely that, if he
had committed the murder, that he would have been dis-
turbed with the consciousness that he had destroyed the life
of another? Such, however, was not the case, and this was
an additional reason why he was not the man. If,
as it was stated, that he went home a short
time before the murder, why could he not have
obtained a knife there, instead of exposing himself in the cut-
ler's shop? He conceived that Cochrane had committed per-
jury. His evidence, and the assertions contained in it, were
inconsistent with truth, and could be little more than in-
vention, in which he had been assisted by the police, who,
he believed, had basely tampered with him. The name of
Connor had been associated with that of " the murderer,"
and many, Cochrane among the rest, no doubt
considered him guilty; his name had been mixed
up as " Connor the murderer" in litigation between
public officers, and in the newspapers—who could help con-
sidering him guilty? The assertion that if the women came
forward he would be sure to be tucked up, merely denoted a
morbid state of mind, and that he was labouring under great
apprehension as to the threats he had used towards the un-
fortunate woman. After referring to other matters in rela-
tion to the case, he concluded by a powerful appeal on behalf
of the prisoner.
The Learned Counsel then called the following witnesses
on behalf of the prisoner :
Mr. John Webster, gold and silver chaser, Soho, said the
prisoner was in his employment when a boy, and that he was
peaceable and well-conducted.

Mr. George Robinson, carpenter and builder, had known
the prisoner for three years, and he had borne the character
of a quiet, inoffensive young man.
Mr. John Barnett, confectioner, 10, Great Suffolk-street,
had known the prisoner six or seven years. He was quiet
and well conducted. He was in his employ for eight months
about two years ago.
Mr. Baron ALDERSON then proceeded to sum up the evi-
dence. He called upon them to dismiss from their minds all
prejudices, find to confine their attention to the evidence they
had heard, as if they were in the presence of Almighty God,
who would have to judge them. With respect to the depo-
sitions of some of the witnesses not having been delivered to
the prisoner, he would remind them that on the second day
of the trial of Courvoisier, some important evidence was ob-
tained. It would not have been right to have dispensed with
this evidence, because it was not obtained until a late
period of the investigation. His Lordship then read over the
evidence of the witnesses, and commented as he proceeded on
the most important parts. He did not think they could rely
on the evidence of the cutler as to the prisoner's voice
strengthening his opinion that he was the man who bought
the knife from him on the night of the murder. Considering
the position in which he was placed, it was probable that his
voice was hoarse. He would not advise them to place too
strong reliance on the evidence of his daughter, who was not
in the shop more than a minute. After referring to other
portions of the evidence, more particularly to that of Waugh,
his Lordship concluded by leaving the case in the hands of
the jury.
The jury retired at twenty minutes past six o'clock, and
did not return into Court until a quarter to ten. Their names
were then called over, and the foreman gave their verdict of
Guilty.
The moment the verdict was pronounced the prisoner
turned deadly pale, and appeared quite overcome.
Proclamation for silence having been made, the Learned
Judges put on their black caps, and Mr. Baron Alderson pro-
ceeded to pass sentence upon the prisoner in the
following terms :—Joseph Connor, after a very patient
and careful investigation of your case, the jury
have felt themselves compelled to pronounce that fatal
verdict of guilty, which must remove you from this world,
and leave only before you the world that is to come. A
more barbarous murder than that by which the unhappy
victim of your brutality lost her life, I think, can hardly be
conceived, but it at the same time shows that when a man
offends against ono of God's laws, he very speedily trans-
gresses against the whole. You were at first guilty only of
an offence which you no doubt considered a very light one,
and that which you thought a very venial sin
ended in the commission of murder. No one
could tell, when once he stepped aside from God's commands,
where he should stop. I beseech you, said the Learned
Judge, to think of your present state. Your time in this
world is very short, and you must look upon it as of some-
thing passing away from you, and place all your reliance
and hope in that which is to come, and sincere repentance
and contrition may yet avail you. I have nothing now
to do, but as the minister of the law, to perform that
which I have always considered one of the most painful
and fearful duties of a judge, to pass upon you that sentence
of death which the law has affixed to the crime of which von
have been convicted. The Learned Judge then passed sen-
tence of death in the usual form.

The prisoner appeared to listen attentively to the obser-
vations of the Learned Judge, and when he had concluded ho
made one or two efforts to address the Court, but seemed
unable to do so from his emotion. lie at length bowed re-
spectfully, and then walked away from the bar.
The trial was not concluded until near ten o'clock.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
CIL ERKEIV WELL.
Edward Wilcox, of No. 3, Little Guildford. street, was
charged with the following outrageous conduct.
Julia Wright, the wife of a decent mechanic, a mo-
dest, quiet-looking young female, stated, that on the
previous night, between eleven and twelve o'clock, she was
returning home with her mother and husband, when the
latter made a momentary stop, and they walked on. At
the corner of Cromer-street, a boy was playing a barrel
organ, and they stood awaiting the return of the hus-
band. The prisoner, with five or six others, was stand-
ing at the deor of a beer-shop on the other side of the
street, when he suddenly ran over, and dragged her to
the side upon which he was standing. He then asked
her to dance—she being much terrified refused—her
mother interfered, but the prisoner knocked witness
down, and another man knocked her mother down.
Witness rose three times, but was each time prostrated
with a blow on the chest from the prisoner. The
fourth time she got upon her legs as well as she was able,
and screamed " Murder." Her husband came up, and
the prisoner ran away. She pursued him, but the pri-
soner suddenly turned round, and with a blow again
felled her. Witness had some braises on her, and felt
great pain in her chest from the bruises inflicted there.
Herself, husband, and mother were perfectly sober.
She considered the prisoner was sober.
Mary O'Neill, the mother, gave exactly the same ac-
count of the transaction. Her daughter,. the complainant,
being in the family way, she feared she would be killed,
and when the prisoner knocked her down, she threw
herself between them, awl said, " Oh, for God sake,
preserve her life, she is in the family way," Witness
had hardly uttered these words when one Gf the pri-
soner's comrades felled her with a blow on the chest.
Police con Agile 216 G deposed that he ,w the pri-
'-

soner running away and strike the complainant, who
was purs'iing him, a violent blow, from which she fell on
the pavement. Before he came up, he heard screams
and cries of murder.

Mrs. Williams, the housekeeper of the Court, deposed
that there were bruises on the complainant's hip., recently
inflicted.

The husband gave confirmatory evidence.
The prisoner said that when he asked the complainant
to dance, she refused, and struck him on the eye.
Mrs. Wright positively denied this, and Waddington,
the gaoler, said there was not the slightest trace of in-
jury on his face. _ _

Mr. GREENWOOD said the complainant was a respect-
able woman, and had given no provocation. She was
waiting quietly for her husband when attacked and
treated in the manner described. He would fine the
prisoner 21. 103., or three weeks' imprisonment.
The money was paid soon after, an the prisoner was
liberated.