The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-08-14 00:00:00

INQUEST ON THE BODIES

On Saturday morning, the coroner for the county, M.
Pearson. Esq., of Selby, arrived by the train at the place
where the castastrophe occurred, where he was met by C. H.
Philips, Esq., solicitor to the Hull and Selby railway com-
pany, and several of the directors. Three persons killed on
the spot had been removed into the jurisdiction of Howden.
The jury being sworn, proceeded to view the bodies. They
presented a most awful and terriffic spectacle, every feature
being disfigured or obliterated either by wounds or blood ;
and the bones, especially of the female, almost all crushed to
atoms. Witnesses were called to identify the bodies. ThOse
of Mr. Nicholas Veltman and Mr. Stead were identified ;
that of the female was not known. The rope was here pro-
duced that had been used to fasten the casting on the truck.
It was evidently nearly worn in two by friction in several
places, and had been cut by the casting. A juryman asked if
the weight of the iron had been ascertained. A gentleman
replied about three tons. Examination--Neither the engine
nor the tender had been thrown off the road, nor the truck
upon which this casting was laid. They were all on the road,
as was also the truck on which the casting was laid. Seven
carriages next to the truck were all thrown off the rails and
crushed to pieces. All were overturned. All the seven were
laid upon the road, under which the two bodies were laid. I
did not notice many persons upon the road. The carnage
train was only coming at its usual speed. They were travelling
according to my idea, from twenty to twenty-four miles an
hour.

R. Hesketh evarnined-1 live at Selby, and am an engine-
driver on the Hull and Selby Railway. Yesterday morning,
about seven minutes after eight o'clock, 1 started from Selby
with the train, I managing the engine. Everything was right
at Selby. I got off the engine and examined the coupling,
which is the chain that attaches the first carriage to the ten-
der. This carriage was the truck upon which the metal was
placed. I cannot say whether the casting was either fastened
or tied to the truck by chain or rope, or whether it was not.
I did not make that observation. The casting was laid fair
and level on the truck. It projected a little over each side,
as it was longer than the truck, and overreached about an
inch and a half on each side. It did not reach over more on
one side than the other. All was right when we got near to
the Howden station ; at least I saw nothing that alarmed me
until the time the accident occurred. It was about half a
mile on this side of the Howden station when the engine gave
a jump.. I perceived nothing fall from the train before the
engine jumped. I had been looking forward. The engine
after the jerk began to go faster. I then looked back and
saw the engine hnd tender and one truck were separated from
the rest of the train, and that I had left the passenger car-
riages behind. The engine was on the line, but the two hind
wheels of the tender were off. All four wheels of the truck
were off the line. Neither engine, tender, nor truck was
overturned. As soon as I could stop the engine I got off and
went to the passenger carriages. They were froni sixty to
one hundred yards from where I stopped the engine. The
hind wheels of the tender were thrown off, in my opinion, in
consequence of my having stopped the engine so suddenly.
According to my idea, as near as I can speak, I was going at
the rate of twenty-three to twenty five mileS an hour. This
was about our usual .speed. It is customary to let off our
steam when approaching the station, but we did not go to the
spot where we usually do so. This was not a:dangerous rate
to travel at, provided the road had been clear; it is slower
than that at which passenger trains generally travel. I have
been employed upwards of seven years as engine-driver—
first, on the Bolton and Leigh Junction, then on the Liver-
pool and Manchester; afterwards, in Belgium, for Brussels
and Antwerp, and now upon the Hull and Selby. The jury
expressed themselves perfectly satisfied with the witness's
conduct.

William Greaves, whose face was severely cut, was next
examined. He said—l reside at Leeds. lam a guard in the
employ of the Leeds and Selby Railway Company. Before
we started for Selby I went from one end of the train to the
other, and ascertained that all the " couplings" were safe.
I noticed that a truck- followed, and was attached to the
tender,- between it and the passenger train. . Everything
appeared to me, as far as I could see; to be 'safe arid right.
I observed nothing calculated to excite any alarm, or appre-
hension of danger. It is my opinicn that it would be safer
to put trucks, having iron or castings upon them, behind the
passenger carriages ; for if anything fell from these trucks
they could in that case do no.harm to the passengers. It is
considered conducive to the safety of those who. may be
passengers to place the passenger carriages at a distance
from the engine, It is, therefore, usual to place, the goods
between the engine and the passenger carriageS, as in case of
any accident happening to the engine it would be safer for
the passengers that the passenger carriages should be placed
last. In this case, were the engine to get off the line, the
carriages at the greatest distance from the engine would be
most secure. I have seen this occur, -and it is the cause
from which accidents are most to be apprehended on rail-
ways. Before we started from Selby 1 did not observe
whether the casting was fastened. to-the truck by any ropes.
This casting had come from Leeds, but not by the train
which I arrived by. The coroner asked how the casting had
come from Leeds to Selby? One of the company's servants
answered that it came by the goods train.
•The inquest was then adjourned till nine o'clock on
Tuesday morning, at Loftsome-bridge Inn. The only clue
as yet found calculated to lead to the identity of the woman
is the following mark on her chemise—" E. Lee, No. 3."

In reply to many inquiries which have reached us on the
subject, and in reference to a paragraph in a contemporary
journal, affirming that no Brevet will take place unless the
child of which her Majesty is enceinte should turn out to be
a boy, we have to state, once for all, that the sex of the young
stranger will make no difference in the matter. Whether
boy or girl a Brevet will assuredly take place on the event. It
would be but a poor compliment to her Majesty to presume
that a daughter (an heiress presumptive at all avents) may
not prove as good and efficient a Queen as herself. At all
events, no such distinction as that which has been guessed at
by our contemporary is in the least likely to be drawn.—
United Service Gazette.

GREAT VIADUCT.—The grand viaduct which crosses the
Union Canal, below Port Downie, will, when completed, be
one of the most imposing works of the kind in Britain—an
ornament to the improved masonry of the age, and, we trust,
a permanent example of the stability that railway work ought
to exhibit. The principal span is 130 feet, and the second 60
feet. We believe there will only be one other example of a
similar arch with so low an elevation, it being only 24 feet
in the whole, which will tell at once to the scientific calcula-
tion of the engineer, and will reflect deserved credit on the
contractors.—Stirling Observer.

STATIONS OF PREACHERS IN THE '
METHODIST CONNEXION

WESLEYAN

The following are the stations of the several preachers in
the Liverpool and Manchester district, as appointed by con-

ference

LIVERPOOL

Liverpool, North (Brunswick Chapel, &c.)—John Davis,
Chas. Haydon, David Hay; Calverley Riley. Supernumerary-
Liverpool, South (Pitt-street, &c.)—William Vevers, Jo-
seph Beaumont, John Nelson, Richard Brown.
Liverpool, Welsh (Benn's Gardens, &c.)—Thos. Aubrey,
William Owen.
Chester.—William France, Joseph Hargreaves, Edward
Jones ; Isaac Lilley, Supernumerary.
Holy;vell, (English.)—Henry Hine, George Greenwood;
William Henshaw, Supernumerary. _ . .

, .
Carnarvon, (English.)—George Hughes, John Ward, jun,
Wrexham.—Luke Heywood, Thomas Denham. _

- -
Whitchurch (Salop.)—John Squarebridge, Thos. Rodham•
Warrington.—Samuel Wilde, James Laycock, Walter
Coates ; William Jones, Supernumerary.
St. Helen's and Prescot.—Thos. Shin, George Dickinson•
Wigan.—Richard Sinetham, James P. Fairbourne.
Southport and Ormskirk.—Ralph Gibson, George Paterson.
Preston and Chorley.—Thomas Cocking, Benjamin Slack,
William Winterburn ; illiam WKitrick, Supernumerary.
Garstang.—Moses Rayner, John P. Johnson.
Lancaster.—Thomas Hall, William Baddeley.
WILLIAM VEVERS, Chairman of the District.
JOHN NELSON, Financial Secretary.