The Sun. — 1862-03-25 (London, England)

THE ACCIDENT AT THE CLAYTON TUNNEL.  The commission for the county of Sussex was opened in this town yesterday by Mr, Justice Wightman, and owing to there not having been a winter gaol delivery, and other causes, the criminal business is heavier than has ever been remembered in this county. The gaol calender already contains the names of 65 prisoners, and there are no less than three charges of murder in it, besides a number of other very serious offences. The case, however, that will probably create the greatest public interest will be the charges of manslaughter arising out of the frightful accident that took place last autumn at the Clayton tunnel upon the Brighton Railway, when, it will be remembered, there was an awful destruction of human life. The question involved in these inquiries is of such vastimportance in reference to the safety of railway passengers, that the following particulars in reference to the subject will no doubt be of interest. It will be remembered that the coroner's jury, after several meetings, and fully lures; j:ating all the circumstances, returned a verdict oilYlanslaughter against Mr. Legge, the station -master at lelton, upon the ground 11 that the fatal accident had beet occasioned by some negligence on his part. The usual eel'irse, in such of cases, is to return the inquisition to the clerk assize, and, under ordinary circumstances, cotnaZi are instructed to prosecute. It was expected that the railway company would have taken some steps to have so serious a matter fully inquired into, but it appears they have taken no steps in the matter, and their solicitor at Brighton has not given any intimation of his intention to prefer bills of indictment before the grand jury, and the probable result of this would have been that no witnesses would be in attendance to give evidence in support of the inquisition, there would have been no solicitor or counsel to conduct the case, and from the want of proof the inquisition would have failed, and there would have been an end of the matter. It appears however that the officials upon this circuit who represent the crown in criminal matters, having regard to the importance of this question, and with a view to obviate as far as possible the failure of justice from the facts not being laid in a proper manner before the court, intend to send up bills of indictment to the grand jury in all the cases, and thus all chance of the inquiry being stopped by any technical objections to he coroner's inquisitiou a failure of justice from the :riclui.7 o, or be tab veoi indge d ,on a s ducted in a proper manner, -+ion of the counsel will be retained by the dim:— .s court to take care that all the necessary stek are taken to have, this very serious matter fully inquire,. into. It is also understood that the Town Clerk of Brighton, as the legal adviser of the magistrates of that division, will also assist in the prosecution. There are upwards of 50 witnesses to be examined in support of these charges, and during the last few days subpoenas have been applied for by the Town Clerk of Brighton to procure the attendance of several other witnesses, whose evidence is considered likely to throw some light upon the dreadful calamity.