The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-30 00:00:00

THE LATE STAGE-COACH ACCIDENT.

CORONER'S INQUEST.—Thomas Beagly Naylor.
of Mattock, Somerset, and a student at Oxford,
was on the box of the Defiance at a quarter past one
o'clock on the morning of the 18th ; when he first
saw the Celerity, it. was coming down the hill ; they
were in the flat when he first saw the Celerity, the
Defiance was by no means travelling at a quick rate;
when the Celerity was approaching, the coachman of
the Defiance said to me, " Sir, we shall he over;"
the morning was rather foggy, but we could see by
the assistance of the lamps; shortly after there was
a crash ; the Celerity was upset, and the Defiance
immediately afterwards; the Defiance was not near
the centre of the road, but very much on the left, on
the turf; the Celerity passed the ifore part of our
coach, and we were instantly overturned ; they struck
the fore wheel of the Defiance, and carried away the
cap; the fore wheel of the Celerity also struck be-
tween the hind wheel and the spring, and struck off
the hind wheel of the Defiance ; decidedly the
Defiance was on the right side; he was thrown from
the box on the bank; as soon as he got up, he took
hold of the wheel horses ; they were plunging ; the
coachman of the Defiance came up to him, and said,
" you see, sir, that I am not to blame ;" was
much confused when the coachman told him
they should be upset; was perfectly satisfied that
no blame whatever attached to their coachman,
who said, on the coachman of the Celerity coming up,
" Malk, this is the way that you are always serving
me." An altercation then took place ; I begged
them to desist, as the passengers were in a state of
great suffering. Had the Celerity not gone out of
its road, the Defiance would not have been over-
turned. When down, the Celerity lay full across
the road. On the approach of that coach, the De-
fiance pulled up to let them pass. There was a
scramble among the horses, but that entirely arose
from the coachman of the Defiance pulling up to
avoid coming in contact with the Celerity. The
luggage on the Defiance was not heavier than usual;
there was a box large but light, for he lifted it up,
and assisted in replacing the luggage on the coach.
The language of Maule was very bad—it was very
impertinent; had travelled two stages with the
coachman of the Defiance; he had drank nothing--
was perfetly sober ; and never met with a more I
civil and well-behaved man ; the guard was equally
so. When witness went to assist in lifting up the
Celerity it was lying across the road, and from its
position, there could not have been sufficient room
for the Defiance to pass. When he lifted up the
deceased, lie placed a box for his head to recline
upon. The guard of the Defiance said, " Here's
one poor fellow dead !" One of the lamps was
broken. It was the opinion of witness, that from
the' rapidity with which the Celerity's coachman
was driving, he must have lost the command of his
horses, or have done it on purpose.—[This witness
was lame from the injuries he had received in the
upsetting of the coach, and was accommodated with
a chair.]
Wm. Rendle (inside passenger, ironfounder in
Clerkenwell, who was also lame and equally accom-
modated) confirmed the testimony of the last witness.
Joseph Cannon, guard of the Defiance, stated
that they were travelling at the rate of about four or
five miles an hour when the accident. happened.
After a strict investigation, the Jury returned a
verdict of Manslaughter against John Maule, the
coachman of the Celerity ; and a deodand of 40s. on
the coach.
Maule was admitted to bail, himself in 1001,, and
Messrs. Woodward and Pratt (two of the pro-
prietors of the Celerity) in .501. each, for his appear-
ance at the Salisbury Assizes, which will be held on
Monday next.
It is said the sister of Mrs.. Crossland is since
dead.

CULTURE OF BEES IN FORESTS.—It has
been a custom in Livonia, from time immemorial, to make
cavities in the trees of a forest, for the purpose of receiv-
ing and rearing the swarms of bees. Some of the pro-
prietors have hundreds and even thousands of bee trees.
Those which are chosen for this use are large oaks, firs,
pines, alders, 84c. It has been objected to this system, that
it destroys the forest and diminishes the quantity of build-
ing wood ; but m. Buttner observes, that it is not neces-
sary to choose the finest trunks, and that stunted trees are
equally serviceable for this use, if they have sufficient size.
He states also that a bee tree is worth more than if sold
for wood ; that the old hollow trees will serve for an age
or two, spread seed around, and cause the production of
young suckers, which would be obtained with difficulty, by
destroying the old trunks. He adds, that the pure air of
the higher regions agrees better with the bees than the
air inclosed in hives, which receive the exhalations of the
earth, and in which contagious diseases sometimes make
great ravages. The proof he offers is, that whoa garden
bees swarm they are directed instinctively towards the
woods, whilst the bees of the wood never swarm towards
the gardens.... Bulletin