

CHAPTER IV. 



The Accident at Newby Ferry. 



' Eleven good men in the laden boat. 

 Eleven good steeds o'er the ferry float ; 

 Alas ! e'er their ferryman's task was done, 

 Two widows were weeping o'er father and son ! 



' Let Yorkshire, while England re-echoes her wail. 

 Bereft of her bravest, record the sad tale ; 

 How Slingsby, of Scriven, at Newby fell. 

 In the heat of the chase that he loved so well.' — 



Egerton Warburi'on. 



Those who were livino- at the time will never forget the 

 thrill of horror which ran through the whole of the country 

 when the sad accident on the Ure deprived Yorkshire of 

 some of her best and bravest sons. From one end of the 

 land to the other, in all classes of society, nothing was talked 

 of but the upsetting of the ferry-boat on a river, of which 

 most of those in whose mouth its name was almost hourly, 

 had scarcely even heard. Perhaps it would not be too much 

 to say that no social calamity of recent years has caused so 

 great a shock as did this fearful accident. 



Bramham Moor and neighbouring packs did not hunt 

 till after the funeral, whilst the day of the funeral was kept 

 as a day of mourning almost throughout hunting England. 



