Dec. 



7,] 



THE NEWSPAPER. 



lessneis of some plumbers, who had been repairing the 1 considered they were responsible for their servants, and 

 leads during the dav. end kindled a firp nn a flaouQtnn* if Hip iurv felt that tho #»«otk ^r j j u„j l_ «j 



ri844. 



leads during the day, and kindled a fire on a flag-stone 

 placed upon the roof; this stone had split with the heat, 

 and the embers falling through the fractures had ignited 

 the timbers. 



Uxbrid(;e.— Ot\ Saturday a fatal accident occurred to 

 the Prince of Wales coach while on its way from this 

 town to Beaconsfield. The coach had only two passen- 

 gers outside, an aged couple, who had a few days pre- 

 viously come up from Oxford to see a married daughter 

 residing in town, and were on their return home. Just 

 as the coach was ascending the hill at the entrance of 

 Beaconsfield, the leader shied at a white post at the side 

 of a ditch, and at the same instant the reins broke, by 

 which the driver, Mr. Taplin, lost all command over the 

 horses, which drew the coach up a bank, by which it was 

 immediately overturned. Mr. Taplin and both passen- 

 gers were thrown to the ground with great force, and 

 the two passengers sustained such injuries that the man 

 died neit day and his wife is not expected to recover. The 

 driver was also severely hurt. 



Windsor. — The restoration of the Salisbury Tower, 

 the official residence of the Chancellor of the Order 

 of the Garter, agreeably to the original plans of 

 Sir Jeffrey Wyattvil.'e, whs commenced last week. It-is 

 intended to raze to the ground, at an early period, the 

 five residences of the Mil tary Knights on the Lower 

 Foundation, and accommodation will be provided for 

 three Knights in the Salisbury Tower, when the resto- 

 rations and alterations have been completed. Accom- 

 modatijn for the remainining two Knights will be pro- 

 vided in the North Tower of Henry the Eighth's gateway. 

 The Silisbury Tower will be entirely cleared, and con- 

 venient apartments substituted for the dilapidated 

 portions which have been removed. A noble terrace, to 

 be open to the public, will b;>. formed on the site of the 

 houses on the Lower Found ihon. 



Winchester. — A melancholy accident occurred here 

 on Tuesday last. Mr. Kindersley, brother of Mr. 

 Kindersley, of Lincoln's Inn, was out with the hounds in 

 the morning, and in attempting to jump over something 

 in his road, was thrown from his horse, and b-fore me- 

 dical assistance could arrive was a corpse. It has pro- 

 duced a great sensation in this neighbourhood. 



liaxlways.— The following are the returns for the 

 past week .—Birmingham and Gloucester, 21 1G/. ; Bris- 

 tol and Gloucester, 910/.; Eastern Counties, 3547/.; 

 Edinburgh and Glasgow, 2227/. ; Great Western, 

 13,100/.; Grand Junction, 7054/.; Glasgow, Paisley, 

 and Ayr, 1453J. ; Great North of England, 1649/. ; Lon- 

 don and Birmingham, 13,748/.; South Western, 4731/. ; 

 BlackwaU, 660/. ; Greenwich, 854/. ; Brighton, 3G15/. ; 

 Croydon, 384/.; Liverpool and Manchester, 4314/.; 

 Manchester, Leeds, and Hull associated, 6G03/. ; Mid- 

 land, 8159/. j Manchester and Birmingham, 292.5/; 

 Newcastle and Carlisle, 1743/. ; Newcastle and Dar- 

 lington, 1062/. ; Preston and Wyre, 305/. ; South-East- 

 ern and Dover, 4153/. ; Sheffield and Manchester, 659/. ; 

 York and North Midland, with Leeds and Selby, 2266/ 

 --The long protracted inquest on the body of Mr. Dean, 

 killed by the late accident on the Midland Counties 

 lvailway, was brought to a close on Saturday. After the 

 examination of witnesses had closed on Friday, Mr 

 Campbell, solicitor, addressed the jurv on behalf of Mr. 

 L'^htfoot, the Nottingham-station master, upon whom 

 the evidence throughout bore with great severity. A 

 letter was also handed in, addressed to Mr. Lightfoot by 

 Gen. Pasley, the Government Inspector, in which the 

 General states that he has felt it his duty to report to th 

 Lords of the Privy Council for Trade, that he ascribes the 

 accident on the 21st to an error of judgment on Mr. Light- 

 foots part, in setting aside the directions given by 

 the engine-man, and communicated at the Beeston sta- 

 tion by the messenger. After some discussion, the 

 coroner deeded that this letter, and one from Mr. Camp- 

 bell in reply, could not be admitted in evidence. It is 

 fair, however, to state that several witnesses, and amon 



e 

 e 



. , "" V "° ,W1 "'' * u « coroner men summed up, 



and after recapitulating the facts as already given in this 

 paper, said, , that placed as Mr. Lightfoot was, in the 

 avvful situation of station-master, it became him to have 

 taken greater precaution before venturing to leave the 

 Beeston stat.on If, by an error of judgment, he had 



LI, V™ l ,f V b9t Was »° «cu«e for Ms having 



^ d t ie 1 !\ es of others - The jury would say whether 

 they thought proper precautions had been taken to 



?r VC n«/ fi v ad ? 1 trag3dy Which had burred; and, 

 Iw 5 it bu,den - tl >o"gh a heavy one to bear- 



^ J 8 / 1 "P " 80me °" e " Tt wa9 ^Possible to recall 

 -he lives already lost, but the jury, by their verdict 

 might prevent the loss of E . nj J J ,£■. 'We& 

 ner next alluded to the discrepancy which had been 

 shown to exist in the printed 'rules' circulated among 

 the company s servants. He confessed he had felt 

 great anxiety on this subject, which the evidence 



and he congratulated the company, 



jury, on the gentleman's explanation 



books had been so recently removed 



rom the printers. It would have been much better 



Jie said, if eTe n the delay which had been proved 



had not occurred. There was another question, as to 



Tntll t! ^ VT? 7 ere P r °perly acquainted with the 

 ru.es. He did think there was a laxity in this re- 

 spect - for anything the jury knew, the drivers might 

 have had the rules and not read them. Had the drivers 

 known the rules and acted upon them, the present acci- 

 dent^might have been prevented. It was incumbent on 



if the jury felt that the death of deceased had been caused 

 by an omission of this description, it would be compe- 

 tent to them to fix a deodand on the company. If, how- 

 ever, they were of a different opinion, the question of deo- 

 dand was at an end. The coroner then expressed the pain 

 he felt at the position in which Mr. Lightfoot was placed, 

 and concluded by remarking that he had no doubt 

 the jury would be guided solely by the etidence, by 

 doing which they might satisfy their own consciences, 

 and at the same time best consult the public safety. 

 The jury then retired, and after three hours' delibera- 

 tion, they returned into court with the coroner, who 

 said, that the Jury having given a full and patient at- 

 tention to the evidence, were compelled, however painful 

 to their own feelings, to return a verdict of Man- 

 slaughter against Robert Lightfoot. There was very 

 little surprise manifested at the result. The Coroner, 

 however, made a short pause after the name of Mr. 

 Lightfoot, and great anxiety was felt to learn whether 

 any other individual was about to be included in the 

 verdict. The pause, however, was but momentary, and 

 the Coroner immediately proceeded to read from a writ- 

 ten paper which he held in his hand, the following ap- 

 pendage to the verdict :—" The Jury cannot separate 

 without expressing their opinion that, notwithstanding 

 the arrangements generally prevailing on railroads, 

 much might yet be done, and ought to be done, to render 

 railway travelling more secure, especially in regard to 

 second-class carriages, which, though they may not be 

 made as comfortable, may be made as safe, as those of 

 the first class. The Jury further consider that passengers 

 ought on no occasion to be taken on the wrong line of 

 rails without their previous knowledge or consent. They 

 also suggest to railway directors that much greater 

 safety may be secured by the general introduction of 

 electric telegraphs upon the various lines. There is another 

 point which the Jury think ought to be attended to, and 

 that is, that in future great c ire should be taken to ascer- 

 tain that all the Company's servants are intimately and 

 perfectly acquainted with their several duties ; and the 

 Jury cannot too strongly express their conviction that 

 Jonathan Raven has not sworn to the truth in his depo- 

 sitions, and that he is utterly unworthy of the confidence 

 of the Railway Company, and unfit for the service of the 

 public. There is another point on which the Jury wish 

 to remark respecting Mr. Lightfoot, and that is, they 

 are exceedingly grieved on account of the many favour- 

 able circumstances in his favour, to place him in the 

 painful situation which they have done", and nothing but 

 a paramount sense of duty has induced them to do so. 

 The Coroner wishes to join with every individual of the 

 Jury in expressing his sorrow on the occasion. There 

 is another thing which is desired to be recommended to 

 the Railway Company, and that is the situation of Mrs. 

 Dean, who, in the prime of life, has been suddenly, and 

 in a moment, deprived of the stay of her existence and 

 of her support ; and the Jury hope that provision will 

 be made for her by the Railway Company, so as to 

 prevent her feeling, in addition to her heavy loss, the 

 sorrows of destitution and privation." There was no 

 sort of allusion to deodand, nor was the Amalga- 

 mated Line of Railway specifically alluded to in any 

 way beyond the recommendation contained in the 

 last sentence of the preceding paragraph. The verdict 

 was not a unanimous one; but a sufficient number of 

 jurors having agreed, the Coroner recorded the same. 



...w — u^uu^^un ui mc veruicr, me coroner 



his warrant in the hands of the Nottingham police, 



apprehension of Mr. Lightfoot, who will be tried 



had removed, 

 and also the 

 that the new 



director. t0 see that they did know the™ better. He , ^o rX^edt'o" thf.^S 



After the announcement of the verdict, the Coroner 

 placed * ' ... 



for the 



at the ensuing assizes, which "commence on "the' 16th 

 inst., before Mr. Justice Patteson. There is a unani- 

 mous feeling of regret among all classes on the subject of 

 his committal. He is a man generally respected, and 

 was formerly in much better circumstances. He is a 

 widower, and has a family of four young children. 

 After the conclusion of the inquest he was not to 

 be found, but he did not leave Nottingham, and 

 surrendered himself on Tuesday. — The adjourned 

 inquest on Mr. Varnells, who was killed in the same 

 accident, was brought to a close on Tuesday, when the 

 Coroner summed up at great length, commenting on 

 the various discrepancies in the evidence, and stating that 

 if they thought, from the evidence produced, that blame 

 rested on some one, then two other questions naturallv 

 suggested themselves; first, Who was the person to whom 

 blame attached ? and, second, To what extent was 

 he blameable ?-in other words, was the culpable 

 party guilty of manslaughter, or merely of thought- 

 essness and an error in judgment ? In the course of 

 this inquiry they had the names and conduct of 

 several persons alluded to as hlameable parties ; for in- 

 stance, the Directors of the Railway, the Nottingham 

 and Beeston station-masters, the guards, the engine-men 

 and stokers of the two trains, and the Wilford station- 

 keeper ; it would be for the jury to say whether any, and 

 if any, who of those parties was blameable on account of 

 the death of deceased. The Coroner then read over the 

 whole of the evidence with respect to Mr. Lightfoot, and 

 called upon the jury to say whether, taking all the cir- 

 cumstances into consideration, the fair presumption was 

 not that, in starting the down-train, which he accompa- 

 nied from Beeston, he had reason to believe the tender 

 would have been by that time removed from the line, 

 and the up-train would come on its proper line. He 

 instanced the various particulars in which Lightfoot's 

 statement was confirmed by other witnesses, and re- 

 marked on the improbability cr glaring untruth of several 

 or the points in which he was contradicted by others. He 



ony that had been borne 



to his character as a man of caution and humanity 7f 

 he had shown himself grossly ignorant of his duties and 

 grossly negligent in not detaining the down-drain at 

 Beeston and taking proper precautions, they would find 

 him guilty of manslaughter. The Coroner then read the 

 evidence with reference to the driver and guard of the 

 Derby train, and called upon the jury to say whether thev 

 had sufficiently acted up to the 9th rule in not having 

 sent the fireman up the line before the engine to shrnal 

 their approach on the wrong line. He animadverted verv 

 strongly on the non-compliance with this rule, which 

 seemed to him to have been the cause of the whole acci- 

 dent. If any party was pronounced guilty of man" 

 slaughter the law would be satisfied ; but if none of the" 

 parties who had been alluded to were blameable, then 

 it would become the duty of the jury to say whether 

 the directors of the railway themselves were not, by 

 defective management of the line, responsible. If the jury 

 thought them blameable, the only way of reaching thera 

 would be by inflicting a fine in the shape of a deodand. 

 It was a most unsatisfactory way of fining those parties" 

 to take the money from them and give it to the Queen 

 instead of to the injured parties or the bereaved family 

 of the deceased ; but that was the only way of reaching 

 the directors. With reference to Mr. Lightfoot, he 

 called upon the jury to dismiss from their minds all 

 knowledge of the verdict in the other inquest. Nor 

 were they entitled to draw any conclusion unfavourable 

 to his innocence from the fact that he had absconded. 

 He himself would have kept out of the way under such" 

 circumstances, knowing that in the course of two weeks 

 he should be enabled to surrender for trial without un- 

 dergoing incarceration for a fortnight, which he could 

 not without a judge's order avoid, and that would cost at 

 least 207., and be attended with great delay. On the 

 whole, he left the case in the hands of the jury, feeling 

 persuaded they would take all the circumstances into 

 consideration and find that verdict which the justice 

 of the case required. The summing up lasted two hours 

 and a-half. The jury at half-past 3 o'clock retired to 

 consider their verdict, and at 10 o'clock on the follow- 

 ing morning they sent for the coroner, and informed 

 him they could not agree upon their verdict, and 

 that there was no probability of their agreeing. At 11 

 o'clock the coroner was again sent for, and at a quarter 

 to 12 the jury returned the following verdict: — "We 

 return a verdict of Accidental Death, and the jury impose 

 a deodand of 1000/. upon the engines, tenders, and car- 

 riages, being the property of the Midland Counties Rail- 

 way ; but in so doing we beg to remark that we are 

 convinced the collision took place in consequence of mis- 

 management, and the want of a clear understanding on 

 the part of the company's servants of the directions which 

 were given, but owing to conflicting evidence we are not 

 able to decide who are the parties individually implicated. 

 We are also of opinion that much improvement may be 

 made in the general management of the Midland Railway, 

 particularly at the Nottingham station, tending materially 

 to secure the public safety. W T e think it important that 

 the servants, and particularly the engine men and guards, 

 should be instructed in and suitably impressed with the 

 importance of the printed rules, and that as much as pos- 

 sible they should be observed to the letter. We are also of 

 opinion that Jonathan Raven, the Beeston station master, 

 has given evidence which the jury can place no reliance 

 upon, and that he ought to forfeit the confidence of the 

 company, and be no longer retained as a public servant. 

 —On Thursday night another accident, which might 

 have been attended with most serious consequences, 

 occurred on this railway. The London train, which 

 should reach Derby at 10 minutes past 5, had arrived at 

 the place where a short line of railway is in progress of 

 formation, connecting the north with the London line by 

 a nearer cut, about a quarter of a mile from the Derby 

 station, and were proceeding at a slow pace, when, from 

 the points not being properly laid, the train got on the 

 new embankment. At present there is not more than 

 20 yards of rails laid down on the new line, so that when 

 the train got to the end, it was stopped by the gravel, 

 which luckily lav a considerable depth. The engine was 

 buried in the earthwork, and several carriages were broken 

 by the shock, but the passengers were not injured, rur- 

 ther than the fright they sustained. Had the train been 

 going at the usual speed, the loss of li'e must have Deen 



dreadful A meeting of the London and Birmingham 



Company was held last week to consider the propriety oi 

 forming a railway from Maxworth, Bucks, to Worceste , 

 with lines to Ru^by and Oxford, and also from W orcejwr 

 to Dudley and Wolverhampton, at a rent equivalent iu 

 4 per cent, upon the cost of construction, with an equ 

 division of surplus profits between the company and " 

 shareholders in the new lines. Mr. Glyn took the chair, 

 and stated that the capital required to carry out the pro-. 

 ject would be 2,500,000/. The total revenue at preset 

 derived from the traffic amounted to 226,539/. per annum. 

 Deducting from this 35 per cent, for working expense , 

 would yield to the proprietors a net revenue ofl * '>*?"' 

 Several proprietors objected to the extension of the nn , 

 as it would violate a contract recently entered I into 

 between the London and Birmingham and Grand Junct 

 lines, for the mutual protection of both companies, i 

 and other objections having been overruled, a resoiui 

 authorising the directors to apply to Parliament for an a 

 to construct the lines, and delegating to them the nece^ 

 sary powers, was unanimously adopted. — Sa . r y cy „,. rtI111 d 

 been engaged during the past week in taking : g r0 ^ d 

 plans of the new line of railway between *}*****££ 

 London. It is proposed to erect the station in ™* SL 

 street, nearly opposite to the Star and Garter, and c ; 

 the line close by the Bachelor's Acre, cross the 



