The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-11-13 00:00:00

IRE LIVERPOOL STANDA

RAILWAY

AFFAIRS,

The Nexcastle and Carlisle railway company not having
received any offer from the York, Newcastle, and Ber-
wick, have resolved to work the line themselves.
At the Brighton junction of the Manchester and Shef-
field railway a goods train ran into a tender, on Monday,
and shivered it all to pieces. The damage is estimated at
£l,OOO.
An agreement has been entered into between the East
Lancashire, Bolton, and West Yorkshire, that will put an
end to the competition that has hitherto existed between
these companies.
The Caledonian railway company have entered into an
arrangement with the London and North-Western rail-
way, by which the former company will save £20,000 a
year, the interest on the floating debt, which will be paid
off by an advance, and also at least £lO,OOO a year by

greater economy.
RAILWAY AUDIT, LONDON.—An important meeting of
the representatives of railway companies was held on
Thursday, Lord Lonsdale in the chair. Mr. Glynn pro-
posed a resolution to the following effect, " That two
shareholders and a public accountant shpuld examine the
accounts." After a prolonged discussion, the resolution
was carried by a majority of two. The opinion of all
the shareholders, in all the companies, will be taken on
the subject. A committee was appointed to prepare a bill

for Parliament, in conformity with the resolution. There
were several gentlemen from Liverpool present, and dur-
ing the proceedings a number of parties present expressed
themselves favourable to a Government audit.
ALARMING ACCIDENT.— A fearful accident, which for-
tunately was not attended with fatal results, occurred at
the Stepney station of the Blackwall Railway, on Wed-
nesday. About a quarter-past five, the regular up-train
arrived, somewhat behind time, just as an express-train
was about to proceed downward. This created some
bustle. A lue-gage-train, which followed the regular one,
and which, no doubt, calculated that the latter had left
the station several minutes before, was just then heard

thundering along the curved part at the east of t
tion, which is roofed over to protect the vessels lying in
the neighbouring besin from any chance sparks from the
engines. When the position of the two trains was disco-
vered, the luggage-train at once let off the steam, but it
was too late to avert the shock, which took place with
tremendous effect. Dashing furiously into the train, it
swept the last carriage of the passenger-train clean off its
frame, leaving the latter a mere truck. The displaced
carriage working its way under, the preceding one forced
the hinder end into the air, with the head ploughing
downwards. Eight or nine persons are said to have been
seriously injured, but none dangerously. Some had their
ribs fractured, some their arms, and all suffered more or
less from severe contusions. Most of them were con-
veyed to their own homes in cabs, which were immediately
in attendance. Considering the nature of the collision, it
may well be called a narrow escape.
SHREWSBURY AND HEREFORD RAILWAY.—A general
meeting of shareholders in this undertaking was held on
Tuesday, at Chester, to consider the general affairs of the
company, and a plan proposed by the directors for pro-
ceeding with the line (the works of which, owing to the
depressed state of the times, have been in a state of
abeyance) on a reduced scale of expenditure ; and for the
further purpose of sanctioning an application to Parlia-
ment, for powers to limit the capital to £450,000, to
reduce the shares from £2O to £lO each, and to increase
the number of shares from 40,000 to 45,000. Mr. Ormsby
Gore, M.P., was the chairman.—Mr. G. E. Taunton, re-
presentative of the Liverpool shareholders, opposed, at
considerable length, the adoption of the report.—Mr.
John Budd, of Liverpool, also opposed, at considerable
length, the adoption of the report.—Mr. Robert Scott
expressed surprise at the apparent desire of the Liverpool
proprietors to repudiate their connection with a company
to promote which they had taken shares upon the faith of
an act of Parliament ; more particularly when, at one
period. bad it not been for the success of the Shrewsbury
and Hereford in Parliament, another company might
have made the line.—Sir CHARLES MALCOLM supported
the report, and the proposals of the directors, which he
thought judicious.—Mr. Robertson, the engineer, in re-
ply to questions, said he felt confident that the line could
be constructed for £485,000. After considerable dis-
cussion the amendment was lost.

sta-

THE BRITANNIA BRIDGE.—AnI important process is
now being carried out. The operation has for its object
the joining of the wain tube securely on to the lsnd tube
in the centre of the great tower on the Anglesea side of
the straits, and so completing one half of the passage
across. Tn effecting this, it is found necessary to pro-
vide for the expansion and contraction of so great a
mass of metal, which from changes of temperature are
necessarily very considerable : the extreme variation
in the length of one of the tubes between summer and
winter is stated to be nearly twelve inches. To make pro-
vision, therefore, for this constant alteration in length,
which would otherwise endanger the stability of the
whole structure, the great tubes are fixed in the central
Britannia tower in such a manner that they cannot
move, but on either side, where the tube unites with
those land towers and abutments on shore, they
travel on moveable rollers of cast iron six inches in
diameter, a portion of the weight being also supported at
the top on balls of hard gun metal of the same size, work-
ing in channeled beams and acting in the same way as the
rollers. Beside these rollers, which are now being
placed, and on which the tube ias to be let down, at the
extreme ends, where the rails intended for the trains in
the tube are joined to those on land, contrivances are
used to prevent a gap from being formed by the contrac-
tion of the tube, which might otherwise interfere with the
passage of the trains. Some uncertain"..y has occurred
with reference to the floating of the second tube. Should
the tides, &c., be favourable, it will take place before the
close of this month, but if not, at the beginning of
December. The hydraulic apparatus will be brought
into action for the lifting of the second tube as soon as it
is floated to the foot of the piers.

THE BERMONDSEY MURDER-CONDUCT OF
THE PRISONERS.

The convict Manning was on Tuesday permitted to
have another interview with his brother, Edmund Man-
ning, accompanied by a married sister, who had come to
town for the purpose of seeing her wretched relative.
The Rev. Mr. Rowe and Mr. Keene, the Governor of the
Gaol, were present at the interview, which was of an ex-
tremely painful nature. After the first outburst of feeling
had subsided the convict was addressed by his brother at
some length, and urged to communicate all he knew on
the subject of the murder. Manning- expressed his readi-
ness to do so, and commenced by reiterating his former
statement to the effect that his wife shot O'Connor as the
latter was proceeding down stairs to wash his hands.
He further stated that O'Connor had noticed the hole dug
in the back kitchen on the occasion of former visits paid
to Minever-place, end that he bad been told by Mrs.
Manning that it was a drain they were making. On the
day of the murder, when the unhappy man went down
stairs, Manning states that on reaching the back-kitchen
he heard him address his wife, and say, " What haven't
you finished the drain yet ?" These, he says, were the
last words O'Connor uttered, for immediately afterwards
he heard the report of a pistol, and then a heavy fall on
the floor. The wretched man, in answer to other ques-
tions put to him by his brother, has confessed that he
pledged a pair of pistols, with one of which the deceased
was shot, on the evening o; the day his wife left town,
being at, the time almost penniless. He also confessed
where the watches belonging to the late Patrick O'Con-
nor, and the crowbar with which the murder was comple-
ted, may be found. The brother, Edmund Manning, on
taking leave, promised to see the convict again on Satur-
day, but the sister took a last farewell.
Manning is more resigned to his fate than he was for
two or three days after conviction. At first he would
neither eat nor drink for some hours together, but he nose
takes his meals regularly, and expresses himself prepared
for the awful change he has to undergo. He is not less

anxious than heretofore to have an interview with his
wife, but she positively refuses to see him. Edmund
Manning, when at the prison, sought to obtain an inter-
view with her, but she declined to see either him or his
sister. There has been no application to see the female
convict on the part of her own friends since her convic-
tion.

EXCHEQUER CHAMBER, WEDNESDAY

The point reserved, as to the right of the female
prisoner to be tried as an alien, by a jury consisting of an
equal number of aliens and natural subjects, or, in legal
language, de niedietate Unglue, came on for argument on
Wednesday.

The Learned Judges who formed the court were—the
Lord Chief Justice Wilde, the Lord Chief Baron, Mr.
Justice Coleridge, Mr. Justice Cresswell, Mr. Baron
Rolfe, and Mr. Baron Platt.

After an argument from Mr. Ballantine, in favour of
the prisoner, and a reply from the Attorney-General on
the part of the Crown, Lord Chief Justice Wilde delivered
an elaborate judgment, in which he pronounced the una-
nimous opinion of the Court that the prisoner has no
right to a mixed Jury, and that therefore the trial was a
legal one.

Shortly after the decision of the Judges was known,
information was forwarded to the Governor and Chaplain
of Horsemonger-lane Gaol, so that Maria Manning might
be made acquainted with the fact, as she has since her
condemnation confidently relied on being successful,
which has materially buoyed up her spirits. These func-
tionaries accordingly had an interview with her in her cell,
and the Rev. Chaplain informed her that she must prepare
herself to meet her Maker, as the sentence pronounced
upon her by the judge at her trial would be carried into
effect on Tuesday morning. She seemed extremely sur-
prised at the announcement, and exclaimed that she had
been unjustly tried and convicted, which her unfeeling
husband could prove. He could unravel the whole of the
circumstances relative to the murder, and if he told the
truth it would exculpate her from any participation in the
dreadful crime. She seemed rather excited at first, but
afterwards put her hands to her face and cried bitterly.
The Chaplain exhorted her to employ the few remaining
hours she had to live in prayer and repentance, and im-
plored her to make a full confession of the crime for
which she is convicted. She asserted that she was not
the party who committed the murder, and she had nothing
to confess. Her husband occupies all his time in reading
religious works and writing.
It being suspected by the authorities of Horsemonger-
lane Gaol that Maria Manning might do some violence to
herself after hearing her fate on Wednesday evening, it
was thought advisable to have an extra woman in atten-
dance upon her. Accordingly Mrs. Randall, the woman
searcher of the Southwark police station, was sent for
that night to assist the two other women in watching her.
Mrs. Randall attended upon her during the several lengthy
examinations at the police court, and Mrs. Manning
seemed very much attached to her. As soon as she was
introduced to her in the cell, she seemed much pleased,
and conversed freely with her on several subjects. The
unfortunate woman still asserts that she is innocent, and
will not be executed, and that some influential ladies will
intercede for her in high quarters. On Thursday she
wroth two letters, and believes that the contents will have
the effect of saving her life. On being told that her legal
advisers had done all they could for her, she stamped her
foot on the floor, and exclaimed in a violent manner—
" Done all they could ! Why, they have done nothing ;
they and everybody else in the Court decided upon hang-
ing me before I was tried." In alluding to her husband
a few minutes afterwards she said, " Ah, he is a vagabond.
I never said anything about him. He knows who
murdered poor O'Connor, and can tell all." She refuses
all religious consolation, and pays little attention to the
Rev. Mr. Rowe, the chaplain. She has been visited by a
charitable lady, who attempted to instil into her mind
the awful position in which she stood, and implored
her to offer up her prayers to her Maker, but she listened
with a deaf ear, and as soon as the lady had left the cell
she entered into conversation with her attendants as un-
concernedly as if she were free from crime. She eats
heartily, and sleeps well, but if any of her attendants
would converse with her all night she would sit up and
join them. During some allusion to her attorney (Mr.
Solomon) and the counsel who defended her she became
much excited, and, clinching her fists, exclaimed, " Oh,
if I only had them here I'd serve them out. They might
have acquitted me if they had done their duty." She,
however, seems very confident that she will be set at
liberty, and has no idea that the sentence of the law will
be carried into effect. Her unfortunate husband is quite
dejected. He is completely emaciated, and unable to eat
anything.

t,-
On Friday morning, according to the special request of
Frederick George Manning, Mr. Binns, his solicitor,
waited upon him in the condemned cell. The interview
took place in the presence of Mr. Rowe, the chaplain ;
Mr. Keene, the governor; and two turnkeys. Manning
was in much better spirits, and as soon as Mr. Binns en-
tered his cell he shook hands with him cordially, and
thanked him for his kindness. He told him he was quite
prepared to meet his unhappy fate, and could die happy if
his wife would only tell the truth. He informed Mr.
Binns that he took with him some railway shares to Jer-
sey, which he destroyed in a water closet before his appre-
hension, a description of which he handed him for the
benefit of Mr. O'Connor's family. They will, no doubt,
be restored by the companies who issued them. This will
clearly show that the murdered man was possessed of con-
siderable property in railway shares, which were useless
to any one except the real owner. On being asked where
the crowbar was, he stated that it could be found at a
certain railway station (naming the place). He directed
Mr. Binns to dispose of all his property, and after paying
all demands for legal expenses, to hand over the surplus
to his brother Edmund. Prior to Mr. Binns leaving him
he handed him the following letters, giving him permis-
sion to publish them if he pleased :