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    though it was the duty of the stoker to look back when leaving a station to see that all was right . The policeman at the bridge a little way out of Oxford , probably from habit , appears to have changed the red for the green , or « go on" signal . Thus the train proceeded , attaining fresh speed as it went along , the passengers being all second or third class in front , while the empty first-class carriage was behind . About a mile out of Oxford the expected coal-train came in sight from the opposite direction , drawn by two engines , but even then the infatuated driver is said never to have shut off the steam , and the result was a frightful collision .

    The consequences were instant and horrible . Of the twenty-one passengers eight were killed , five of the railway servants , at once . Two boys only escaped with whole bones and without bruises . An eye-witness describes the scene as he saw it , a few moments after the catastrophe : — " The most conspicuous object was the ragged outline of a carriage-end mounted high into the air , and clearly denned against the clear star-sprinkled sky . One engine I saw turned over into a watery ditch on the left side , and two others lay beyond it ( for the coal # train had two

    engines ); one of the tenders lay right across the down line , and the water was still pouring rapidly from its cistern . In the midst of these iron ruins one of the furnaces was still fiercely burning with livid blue flame . The first two carriages were literally shattered to pieces , and the top of one of them was lying on the down line of rails , and formed a platform on which the bodies of the wounded were placed , until they could be put into a firstclass carriage , which yet remained nearly entire , and removed to Oxford again . " All around were floods . The driver who was saved

    jumped into the water . After the fatal smash , it is said Mr . Cardwell , who was waiting for his wife , hastened to the spot , and rendered the most effectual assistance in directing the exertions of those who ran to aid the sufferers . The inquest was opened on Wednesday at the Star Hotel , Oxford . The coroner , Mr . William Brunner , said that it would be the best course to adjourn the inquiry for a few days , in order to collect evidence , on the part of the Company , particularly as to the rules

    by which their officers were governed , and the precise amount of responsibility imposed on each . The jury having viewed the body , James Smith , foreman over the engines and engine-men at the Oxford station , stated that he could identify the body at the infirmary as Samuel Wilcox , a fireman in the employ- of the company , attached to No . 220 engine . That engine was on Monday last bringing a coal train from Rugby to Oxford . The driver was John Lee , who escaped . He identified as well the bodies of John "Tarry ,

    enginedriver of the passenger train ; of Robert Bugden , the fireman , and of Joseph Kinch , the guard . He also knew the body of Thomas Landon , fireman to engine 124 , the first attached to the coal train . The driver of that was Robert Law , whose body was at the Victoria Inn . It was his ( Smith ' s ) duty to see the engines were in working order , and the men fit to go with them . In his absence it was the duty of the station-master and the policemen to see that the men were in a fit state to do their work . Bid not speak to Tarry when ho saw him waiting with his train at Islip , but saw that he was fit for his duty . Tarry was a sober steady man . There had boon only one line of rails at work between Oxford and Islip mnco the 15 th or 16 th of December . It was the upline . The

    contractor had the other for the repairs of tho tunnel at Wolvercote . Under tho tunnel thero was at this tiino only ono lino of rails . There wns no one at Oxford in witness ' s absence who was responsible for seeing whether a driver was in u fit state ; but if « ny one on the platform saw him the worso for drink , they would take notice of it . If witness had been at Oxford , ho should huvo examined the engine ; and if anything hud been tho matter with it , and ho had not suhfitituted another , ho would have boon responsible Hinco tho Kith December , it had lieon tho practice for the half-past ; five train to remain in Oxford fill tho coal-train arrived . When ho hsiw Tarry at I slip ho wiih satisfied ho was fit to proceed with tho engine . A

    coal-train was due every night at twenty minute * after five . John Lee , driver of engine 220 , stated that lie left IJletchloy at ten minutes utter three , and was about , twoniy uiinulna behind time Then ) wtvo two engines on account of tho heavy lo a , there being fifty-four wairgonH <>< ' « ' <> 111 lliul » break-waggon . Him wrh hcwhhI of which Landon

    encino the firnt being number 124 , wan fireman . At Inlip ntation he asked tho policeman whether it was all right , to go on , and tho answer wuh * ' Yoh . " H (! stopped at Islip from novim to ten niinutcH , while changing line * , erosHing from the down to the up line , in o <> nHO < luoneo of Him works going on at , Wolvorcoto Tunnel . It wiih on the printed bill that tho coal-train . hoaUl . top ^ Uanbury-roa . 1 ii required . Ho did not inquire at Banbury-road if tho

    way was clear , as he had a signal ( green ) that it was all right , but to go slowly . He went at about five to six miles an hour to the tunnel , and about four miles an hour in the tunnel . After he got through the tunnel the speed was increased to about seven or eight miles an hour . It is an incline from the tunnel to Oxford . There is a board as you come out of the tunnel on the Oxford side , on which were the words , " slacken speed . " They were coining down the line , witness being on the second engine , and he saw the lights of a train coming up , about fifty yards from the wooden bridge going into Port Meadow . At first he was not sure it was a train , but on a second look he

    saw it was , and jumped off the engine . He was going about six miles an hour , slackening speed , before he saw the train coming . He called to the fireman that a train was coming , and he had better come off ; he appeared to misunderstand him , and he ( witness ) set the whistle open . The fireman was Samuel Wilcox . Witness fell as he jumped off , and did not recover before the accident , although he got up as quickly a * he could , and he was not stunned . There was a collision between the two trains . When the steam blew off ,

    he found Wilcox on the foot-plate of his engine , alive and conscious , and he asked wit ness to take care of him , which he did . He had heard no signal at all from the passenger-train , no whistle , or anything . The down-line was used only by the contractor , he believed . He could not say at what rate the passengertrain was going . He did not hear the whistle of the leading engine of his train . The accident happened at about three-quarters of a mile from the Oxford station . Thought it strange that the passenger-train

    should have advanced on his t rain in face of the lights . The passenger-trains have white lights ; the goods , or coal-trains , green . There was no time to stop the train . The steam was shut off , which was all that could be done . He did not think he could have seen the danger signal at the iron bridge in time , if it had been turned on , but might have seen the auxiliary signal , about two hundred yards further up the line , if the train had not hid it . The policeman at Islip , since there had been only one line of rail , had always

    given instructions whether to stop or go on . William Hayes , foreman , porter , and ticket collector at the Oxford station , had to see the carriages marshalled in order for travelling , and it was his duty to be on the platform at the starting of every train . He and ¦ all the other servants had a printed book of instructions . There was a rule that the guard should give the signal to the driver to start , by whistling , and the guard took his instructions from the stationmaster , or from witness . He was on duty on the

    platform on Monday when the half-past live train should have started . He knew that the coal-train , due at twenty minutes past five , had not come in . He left the platform , according to a general order , to see from the swing-bridge whether the coal-traiif was ivee of the line , and while absent , a ballast-train came in , and ran into the sidings . Before he could get back to the platform , the passenger-train had started . He called to the driver to stop , but he was blowing off tho steam bo loud that he could not hear . Witness

    had a signal lamp , but it had no red glass , and was not , therefore , a proper signal lamp . He had no means of apprising the driver of his mistake than by calling out . He know by telegraph that the coal-train had left Islip , but he had ascertained it had not got to the ticket platform . Ho ran up to tho guard ( Kineh ) tin the train passed , and told him it was tho ballust-train , and not the coal-train , which had just conic in , and lie instantly put on his break . The guard was in the last carriage ; . Tho train went out very fast—faster than he bad ever known it . It was about seven minutes after time . Ho saw the driver ( Tarry ) about twenty-eight minutes after live on his engine , and spoke to him . Tarry appeared sober . Witness told him lie could not start till the coal-train had arrived .

    lie said , " Can't we leave till it . conies in ? " » nd witness replied , " Certainly not . " Witness led the train stationary when ho went ; to examine . He had examined tho passengers' tickets , and then told Kinch , the guard , tho train had left Islip halfan-hour , and that , ho must not go on . lie understood witness , for ho said , " Would it , not be bettor for the driver to open his whistle ? " Witness said , " No , " for tho line * would not bo clear whilst ( lie red signal wiih on tho bridge .

    Tho ml signal wuh on at tho bridge facing Oxford . Tho opening of tho whistlo was used to call the attention of tho policeman . Witness then left , tho platform , und wont up tho lino , as ho had stated . Tho red signal was on when the half-past live train startwl , ami it certainly ought not to have started . The signal was plainly t <> l > o &'on from the platform . When witness found the train leaving , ho ran to the policeman , who wuh alnmt forty yur < Ls oil " , and told him <<> -iliow Mio red rtignal in his liand lamp , which ho did , waving it

    violently . The red signal on the bridge was changed ( witness did not know why ) for a green signal , which means , " go on with caution . " The red signal signifies " danger , and to stop" ; and had it been kept no according to orders , the train would have been stopped . A man named B onner had the charge of the signal . He was cert ain there would be a collision , as the station-inaster , Mr . Blott , had telegraphed the coal-train from Islip to come on , the line being clear . Witness left the platform four or five minutes . There would be no one to act in his place during absence . The guard had no whistle to communicate with the driver . There is no audible signal . The guard has a red lamp , and had the engine-man observed the 21 st rule , to look back at the carriages , ho would have seen the red signal .

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    APSLEY HOUSE—THE PRIVATE VIEW . An announcement has appeared in the daily papers that Apsley House will be opened to the public next week . A private view , to which members of the press were courteously invited , was given on Thursday . The rooms partially thrown open are—four drawingrooms , the picture-gallery , ( famous as the scene of many " Waterloo banquets , " ) the china-room , the secretary ' s room , the Duke ' s private room , and his bedroom . It is in the three last-named rooms that the most attaching interest is centred , and we are glad to be told that everything , table , desk , books , papers ,

    even to the battered old wooden despatch-box that served through , all his campaigns , remains exactly as the Duke left it . The chief paintings in the picturegallery are the "Agony , " by Correggio , formerly in the palace at Madrid ; some remarkable heads by Velasquez ; two or three Titians and Munllos ; and a good many gems of the Dutch school , among which Teniers , Backhuysen , and Wo ' uvermans are conspicuous . The modern pictures are numerous . Chief are Wilkie ' s " Chelsea Pensioners , " and its companion , " Greenwich Pensioners , " by Burnet ; " Van Amburgh , " by Landseer ; the " Melton Hunt , " by Grant ; and the " Battle of Waterloo , " by Allen . These , with the portraits , are principally distributed over the

    drawingrooms . More than once we find a portrait or sketch of the present Duchess ; a lovely and most refined head , touched with an exquisitely saddened grace : and in one corner is a portrait by Winterhalter , of Prince Arthur , the Duke ' s godson , playing with a little soldier-doll . This was the last birth-day present of the Queen . Of the bed-room and its austere simplicity enough has been said to mark the grand old soldier ' s rigorous fidelity to the recollections of the camp . The three apartments in which be more intimately lived , offer a strange contrast to the heaped magnificence of regal and civic gifts—the porphyry Vivses of Sweden , the malachites from the Emperor Alexander , the candelabra from Nicholas , the Sevres from Louis XVIII .. and the famous shield from the merchants of

    London . Tho apartments will be opened to the public on Tuesday . Admission , by ticket , is to be obtained by written application to Mr . Mitchell , 33 , Old Bondstreet , who has been entrusted with all the arrangements .

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    COUNT FATHOM AT TIIK LAMBKTII POLICE COURT . "A person of military appearance" —that in , according to the police reports ' , a person with exuberant whiskers , and moustaches of ii liory tint - one . Henry ( ioodshell Johnson by name , otherwise Captain Johnson , was taken before Mr . J'llljott on-Wedncsday , charged with conspiring to defraud a too-oonfuliiitf widow named Stewart , of railway shares to the amount , of 1000 / ., and also with stealing two valuable gold seals , a diamond ring , ami other property of that lady , from her house in Barnsbury-roud , Islington . It seems that , last September , Mrs . Stewart , hud a bill in her parlour

    window of" Apartments to Let ; " that the captain applied , and wished to take the rooms " for a twelvemonth certain ;" that , Mrs . Stewart was particular about references , and tho Captain derided to ' -call utf , iin ; " that ho did call , rather later than the day ho hud mimed , for which he politely apologised , and referred Mrs . Stewart to the proprietor of . an hotel in Air-street ; ( hut on # , «„ £ to tho hotel Mrs . Stewart was mot , by " a tall , stout , female , who had all tho appearance of a hostess , " him ! who doM .-riI . ed tlw Cnpjiun aa most . ff « nH « 'i . i . inly person , a giver of dmnern a ii . 'j . Ihw of Lord I ' almerslon , and the peculiar deh tf hf , of ill ! tho . rreat in tho land . " Tho result of her enquiry Lenitf NO favourable , and tlio Caplaiu hei . itf com einenlly at hand , tain Johnson

    an agreement was made on t . ho spot . So Cap IohMio time in nioviiitf from Ah-street to J arnsbury-road , iHliiiL'ton ' < " (! ' •> ' " ¦ r " W lholluttermir accounts Mrs . Stewart had received <> 1 tho Captain ' s regularity in his payment-s wore soon contradicted by fact ; but still ho was " so enl lemimly and agreeable , " and Hi > ok « no handsomely of Mis . Stewart ' s brother-in-law , " whom he had met at Trinidad , " that Mio lad y did not , preHH i ' or payment of her weekl y bills . On tho contrary , she drew out from her bunkers , (<> r tho Captain ' s occasional requirements , " <> ' rSfi a HIM " "" " ' (> ' 7 pi » rt , of which wan to assist him in joining a promising speculation " to work u nlut . o quarry . Ho hImo showed her a note from "his undo , Lord . L ' almornton , " and " talked about marriaeo . " Ho

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    January 8 , 1853 . ] THE LEA PER / 3 S

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 8, 1853, page 33, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1968/page/9/