establishments, said he had tested the capacity of the
railway, and had caused the engine in question to be
weighed. Its weight, without coke or water, was 20
tons. One of the rails bent laterally an inch and a half,
and it would require a weight or force of 41 tons to
produce that effect. The engine must have been
running at the rate of 50 miles an hour. The engine
would have been safe to run at 30 miles an hour, but
not at 45 or 50 miles. He had known a similar engine
run off a straight line of road, such as this, the road
being in perfect order. Several of the company's
servants deposed as to the line being in good working
order, and Mr. J. Hepenstall deposed, that he had 14
men to repair the line between the Old Milford
Junction and Selby. He had power to mend the line
on his own account without applying to any one else.
But he could not take upon himself to relay the line to
any considerable extent. Captain Galton said he was
instructed by the Board of Trade to inquire into the
accident. He found the wheels of the engine rather
worn. He thought that the distribution of the weight
in this engine would cause unsteadiness at high speed,
especially if the road was not firm. The rails on the
road were a good deal worn and laminated. The keys
fixing the rails to the chairs were old. The sleepers
were generally decayed at the surface, and many were
decayed much deeper. Many of the spikes fixing the
chairs to the sleepers were loose, and the beds of the
wood on which the chairs rested were also decayed.
The ballast was at the top broken limestone, but below
a quantity of clay was mixed with it. The clay seemed
to retain the water under the sleeper in one or two
cases which he examined. He saw several engines
passing over the line; they caused the rails to work in
the chairs, and the chairs to work on the sleepers, and
the sleepers to work on the ballast. If the sleepers
were equally packed on both sides, it would give an
undulating motion to the trains; but if one end of the
sleeper were more firmly packed than another, it would
give an oscillating motion. This applies to all railways
as well as the present. The working of the chairs had
a tendency to throw out the keys, and after the passage
of trains he observed instances of the keys being out.
The engine, he thought, appeared in fair working order,
but he thought the road was not in such good condition
as it ought to have been. It depended very much on
the speed of a train whether the line was in a safe
condition. He did not consider it in a good condition
with heavy engines at a high speed. If he had been
requested to report on the state of the road, not knowing
of the accident, he should not have reported that it was
safe for the public to pass on with the present traffic
going over it. The coroner summed up, and left it to
the jury to say whether the accident arose from excessive
speed, which would be the act of the driver, now dead,
or from a defect of the engine or line; in the latter
case the directors would be criminally responsible.
The jury, found the verdict already mentioned against
the directors. A sufficient number had agreed, but
there were two who dissented from the rest of the
jurymen. The directors have given bail for their
appearance at next assizes.

A Child was Killed by a Bear at Portsmouth on the
6th instant. The bear belonged to the 38th regiment.
It was kept in a yard in Nicholas Street, and the child,
aged five years, son of Mr. Martin Curley, landlord of
the Rose and Crown, Nicholas Street—was in the habit
of feeding the bear with bits of bun and such matters.
It is supposed when the accident occurred that he was
teazing the bear, when the bear seized him by the back
of the neck and broke his windpipe, causing his instant
death. The officers immediately ordered some poison
to be given to the bear, and it died in twenty minutes.

A fatal Boiler Explosion took place on the 14th inst.
at Dudley, in the fire–iron and glass–cutting factory of
Messrs. Davis. The building was wholly destroyed,
together with all the machinery, which was blown into
the air, and scattered over the houses adjoining in many
cases large masses of iron falling on the houses and
breaking through the roofs. The engineer, named
Joseph Millward, was blown to a great height in the air,
and, falling on the roof of a house about 80 feet from
the factory wall, his weight carried him through the
slating and ceiling of the attic to the floor of the room.
The unfortunate man was not dead when he was found
in the room nearly half an hour after the explosion, but
did not survive more than an hour. Besides the
engineer there were killed—Elias Sheldon, about 20 years
of age; Peter Ellis, who has left a widow with five
children; and George Stokes, a married man, with no
children. The remains of the poor fellows were shockingly
mangled. James Taff, a lad in the employ of
Messrs. Davis, was so dreadfully injured that little hopes
were entertained of his recovery. A workman, named
Thomas Cifthes, and his wife were found buried in the
ruins, but, comparatively, not much hurt. The arm
and hand of one of the poor fellows, severed from his
body, could not be found. The cause of the accident has
not been explained.

A young man named Charles Cotton, a porter in the
service of the South–Western Railway Company, was
Killed on the 14th inst., by a survey train catching
him as he was about to get from the line to the platform.
The whistle had announced the arrival of a train, and
the deceased, thinking it was a passenger train just due,
hastened across the line, and endeavoured to get upon
the platform, catching hold of a fence to assist him,
when his foot slipped and he swung from it, still holding
on the fence, when at that moment the survey train, in
which some of the directors and officers were viewing
the state of the line, passed through the station without
stopping, as would have been the case had it been the
expected passenger train. As it passed, the steps of the
carriages appear to have struck the unfortunate man,
who was hurled some twenty or thirty yards forward on
the line, and killed upon the spot—the lower parts of his
body being almost literally twisted round from their
natural position. An inquest was held on the body on the
24th inst. As it appeared that the Hon. F. Scott, the
Chairman of the Directors, and Mr. Beattie, the
superintendent, were in the survey train at the time of the
accident, a verdict of manslaughter against them was
returned; the verdict having been agreed to by twelve
jurymen, with five dissentients.

An immense cotton factory at Liverpool, called the
North–shore Mill, the property of Messrs. Brogden, was
Destroyed by Fire, in the night of the 17th inst. In its
suddenness and extent the fire was the greatest that has
happened in Liverpool for many years. In half an hour
after it was discovered the whole building was one
mass of flames, and every attempt to stop their progress
was vain. The property, valued at nearly £100,000, is
said to be insured to the greater part of its amount; but
not less than a thousand workpeople are thrown out of
bread.

Holmfirth has experienced a great Calamity by Fire.
A very extensive woollen mill, erected by Mr. Lockwood,
but lately occupied by several persons, has been
burnt down. It is thought the fire originated from the
spontaneous combustion of "waste." Holmfirth,
studded with manufactories, has not a single fire–engine;
the nearest is seven miles away. So the fire had time
to get a great hold before any engine could be obtained.
The loss is estimated at £12,000 at least, and hundreds
of workpeople are thrown out of employment.

An extraordinary case of Hydrophobia has occurred
in Lincolnshire. In January last, a girl named Taylor,
12 years of age, was bitten in the hand by a mad dog,
in a field at Fillingham. She was taken to a surgeon,
who not only cauterized the wound, but applied the
cupping–glasses. She was subsequently removed to the
village of Brocklesby, where she took a quantity of
medicine, supposed to be a certain preventive or cure.
After returning home, she remained in apparently good
health until the 15th inst., when she was attacked by
spasms and great thirst. She was perfectly sensible
when free from the spasmodic attacks, but when triey
returned the paroxysms were distressing, and she
ultimately died from their effects. The wound was small,
and had healed.

On the morning of the 24th there was a Collision on
the Caledonian Railway. A passenger train, which had
just stopped at Slateford station, on its way to
Edinburgh, was run into by a mineral train approaching
Edinburgh on the same line of rails. Eleven of the
passengers were injured, one or two of them seriously,