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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31395-0.txt b/31395-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b6e0a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/31395-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12516 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Railway Adventures and Anecdotes, by Various, +Edited by Richard Pike + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Railway Adventures and Anecdotes + extending over more than fifty years + + +Author: Various + +Editor: Richard Pike + +Release Date: February 25, 2010 [eBook #31395] +[Last updated: October 3, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAILWAY ADVENTURES AND ANECDOTES*** + + +This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler. + + + + + + RAILWAY ADVENTURES + AND ANECDOTES: + EXTENDING OVER MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS. + + + EDITED BY RICHARD PIKE. + + THIRD EDITION. + + * * * * * + + “The only _bona fide_ Railway Anecdote Book published + on either side of the Atlantic.”—_Liverpool Mercury_. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. + NOTTINGHAM: J. DERRY. + + * * * * * + + 1888. + + NOTTINGHAM: + J. DERBY, PRINTER, WHEELER GATE AND HOUNDS GATE. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Although railways are comparatively of recent date we are so accustomed +to them that it is difficult to realize the condition of the country +before their introduction. How different are the present day ideas as to +speed in travelling to those entertained in the good old times. The +celebrated historian, Niebuhr, who was in England in 1798, thus describes +the rapid travelling of that period:—“Four horses drawing a coach with +six persons inside, four on the roof, a sort of conductor besides the +coachman, and overladen with luggage, have to get over seven English +miles in the hour; and as the coach goes on without ever stopping except +at the principal stages, it is not surprising that you can traverse the +whole extent of the country in so few days. But for any length of time +this rapid motion is quite too unnatural. You can only get a very +piece-meal view of the country from the windows, and with the tremendous +speed at which you go can keep no object long in sight; you are unable +also to stop at any place.” Near the same time the late Lord Campbell, +travelling for the first time by coach from Scotland to London, was +seriously advised to stay a day at York, as the rapidity of motion (eight +miles per hour) had caused several through-going passengers to die of +apoplexy. + +It is stated in the year 1825, there was in the whole world, only one +railway carriage, built to convey passengers. It was on the first +railway between Stockton and Darlington, and bore on its panels the +motto—“Periculum privatum, publica utilitas.” At the opening of this +line the people’s ideas of railway speed were scarcely ahead of the canal +boat. For we are told, “Strange to say, a man on horseback carrying a +flag headed the procession. It was not thought so dangerous a place +after all. The locomotive was only supposed to go at the rate of from +four to six miles an hour; an ordinary horse could easily keep ahead of +that. A great concourse of people stood along the line. Many of them +tried to accompany the procession by running, and some gentlemen on +horseback galloped across the fields to keep up with the engine. At a +favourable part of the road Stephenson determined to try the speed of the +engine, and he called upon the horseman with the flag to get out of his +way! The speed was at once raised to twelve miles an hour, and soon +after to fifteen, causing much excitement among the passengers.” + +George Stephenson was greatly impressed with the vast possibilities +belonging to the future of railway travelling. When battling for the +locomotive he seemed to see with true prescience what it was destined to +accomplish. “I will do something in course of time,” he said, “which +will astonish all England.” Years afterwards when asked to what he +alluded, he replied, “I meant to make the mail run between London and +Edinburgh by the locomotive before I died, and I have done it.” Thus was +a similar prediction fulfilled, which at the time he uttered it was +doubtless considered a very wild prophecy, “Men shall take supper in +London and breakfast in Edinburgh.” + +From a small beginning railways have spread over the four quarters of the +globe. Thousands of millions of pounds have been spent upon their +construction. Railway contractors such as Peto and Brassey at one time +employed armies of workmen, more numerous than the contending hosts +engaged in many a battle celebrated in history. Considering the mighty +revolutions that have been wrought in social affairs and in the commerce +of the world by railways, John Bright was not far wrong when he said in +the House of Commons “Who are the greatest men of the present age? Not +your warriors, not your statesmen. They are your engineers.” + +The Railway era, although of modern date, has been rich in adventures and +incidents. Numerous works have been written upon Railways, also memoirs +of Railway Engineers, relating their struggles and triumphs, which have +charmed multitudes of readers. Yet no volume has been published +consisting exclusively of Railway Adventures and Anecdotes. Books having +the heading of Railway Anecdotes, or similar titles, containing few of +such anecdotes but many of a miscellaneous character, have from time to +time appeared. Anecdotes, racy of the Railway calling and circumstances +connected with it are very numerous: they are to be found scattered in +Parliamentary Blue Books, Journals, Biographies, and many out-of-the-way +channels. Many of them are highly instructive, diverting, and +mirth-provoking, having reference to persons in all conditions. The +“Railway Adventures and Anecdotes,” illustrating many a quaint and +picturesque scene of railway life, have been drawn from a great variety +of sources. I have for a long time been collecting them, and am willing +to believe they may prove entertaining and profitable to the railway +traveller and the general reader, relieving the tedium of hours when the +mind is not disposed to grapple with profounder subjects. + +The romance of railways is in the past and not in the future. How +desirable then it is that a well written history of British Railways +should speedily be produced, before their traditions, interesting +associations, and early workers shall be forgotten. A work of such +magnitude would need to be entrusted to a band of expert writers. With +an able man like Mr. Williams, the author of _Our Iron Roads_, and the +_History of the Midland Railway_, presiding over the enterprise, a +history might be produced which would be interesting to the present and +to future generations. The history although somewhat voluminous would be +a necessity to every public and private library. Many of our railway +companies might do worse than contribute £500 or £1000 each to encourage +such an important literary undertaking. It would give an impetus to the +study of railway matters and it is not at all unlikely in the course of a +short time the companies would be recouped for their outlay. + +Before concluding, it is only right I should express my grateful +acknowledgments to the numerous body of subscribers to this work. Among +them are noblemen of the highest rank and distinction, cabinet ministers, +members of Parliament, magistrates, ministers of all sections of the +Christian church, merchants, farmers, tradesmen, and artisans. Through +their helpful kindness my responsibility has been considerably lightened, +and I trust they will have no reason to regret that their confidence has +been misplaced. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +A.B.C. and D.E.F. 171 +Accident, Abergele, The 220 +,, Beneficial Effect of a Railway 186 +,, Extraordinary 128 +,, ,, 265 +,, Remarkable 172 +,, Versailles, The 96 +Action, A Novel 255 +Advantages of Railway Tunnels 126 +Advertisement, Remarkable 124 +Adventure, Remarkable 146 +Affrighted Toll Keeper 19 +Agent, The Insurance 269 +Air-ways, instead of Railways 83 +Alarmist Views 28 +Almost Dar Now 122 +American Patience and Imperturbability 183 +A’penny a Mile 170 +Army with Banners, An 207 +Atmospheric Railroad Anticipated 14 +Baby Law 216 +Balloonists, Extraordinary Escape of 275 +Bavarian Guards and Bavarian Beer 198 +Bill, Expensive Parliamentary 102 +,, First Railway 16 +Bishop, A Disingenuous 267 +,, An Industrious 248 +Blunder, An Extraordinary 254 +Bookshops, Growth of Station 130 +Booking-Clerk and Buckland, The 248 +Bookstalls, Messrs. Smith’s 131 +Brahmin, The Polite 260 +Bride’s Lost Luggage, A 142 +Brassey’s, Mr., Strict Adherence to his Word 264 +Brougham’s, Lord, Speech 60 +Box, Shut up in a large 273 +Buckland’s, Mr. Frank, First Railway Journey 175 +Buckland, Mr. Frank, and his Boots 261 +Bridge, Awful Death on a Railroad 273 +Bully Rightly Served, The 190 +Burning the Road Clear 179 +Business, Railway Facilities for 118 +Calculation as to Railway Speed 28 +Capture, Clever 105 +Catastrophe 165 +Carlist Chief as a Sub-contractor, A 213 +Carriage, The Duke’s 60 +Casuality, Curious 193 +Chase after a Runaway Engine, A 136 +Child’s Idea on Railways, A 179 +Child, Remarkable Rescue of a 249 +Claim for goodwill for a Cow killed on the Railway 268 +Clergy, Appealing to the 83 +Clever, Quite too 181 +Coach _versus_ Railway Accidents 198 +Compensation for Land 106 +,, A Widow’s Claim for 242 +Competition, Early Railway 27 +,, For Passengers 167 +,, Goods 135 +Conductor, A Wide-awake 184 +Coincidences, Remarkable 291 +Cook’s Railway Excursions, Origin of 87 +Cool Impudence and Dishonesty 248 +Coolness, A Little Boy’s 258 +Constable, The Electric 92 +Contracts, Expensive 263 +Contractor, An Accommodating 113 +Contractors and the Blotting Pad, Rival 99 +Contrast, National 171 +Conversion of the Gauge 243 +Counsel, The bothered Queen’s 247 +Courting on a Railway thirty miles an hour 159 +Crimea, The First Railway in the 156 +Croydon. It’s 271 +Curious Classification, A 294 +Custom of the Country, The 234 +Cuvier’s Description of the Locomotive 21 +Damages easily adjusted 127 +Day. The Great Railway Mania 114 +Death. Faithful unto 153 +Decision. A Quick 95 +Decoy Trunk, The 224 +Deodand. The 88 +Difficulties encountered in making Surveys 31 +Difficulty solved, A 181 +Discovery, A Great 144 +Discussion, An Unfortunate 89 +Disguise, Duty in 283 +Dissatisfied Passengers 236 +Doctor and the Officers, The 246 +Dog Ticket 91 +Down Brakes, or Force of Habit 192 +Drink. That accursed 274 +Drinking from the Wrong Bottle 262 +Driving a last spike 224 +Dropping the letter “L” 267 +Dukes and the traveller, The two 114 +Dying Engine Driver, The 191 +Early American Railway Enterprise 66 +Early Morning Ride 187 +Early Steam Carriages 15 +Elevated Sight-seers Wishing to Descend 59 +Engine Driver, A Brave 247 +,, A Mad 278 +Engine Driver’s Presence of Mind 232 +,, Driving 230 +,, Fascination 166 +Engineer and Scientific Witness 133 +,, Very Nice to be a Railway 113 +Entertaining Companion 195 +Epigram, Railway 124 +Epitaph, An Engine Driver’s 86 +,, on the Victim of a Railway Accident 85 +Escape, Providential 128 +Escapes from being Lynched, Narrow 153 +Everett’s Reply to Wordsworth’s Protest 123 +Evidence of General Salesman 78 +,, Picture 111 +Evil, A Dreaded 145 +Excursionists put to the proof 294 +Extracts from Macready’s Diaries 138 +Fares, Cheap 188 +Fault, At 241 +Female Fragility 250 +Flutter caused by the murder of Mr. Briggs 253 +Fog Signals 121 +Forged Tickets 217 +Fourth of July Facts 244 +Fraud on the Great Northern Company, Immense 161 +Frauds, Attempted 140 +Freak, Singular 170 +Freaks of Concealed Bogs 138 +Frightened at a Red Light 223 +Girl, A Brave 273 +Goat and the Railway, The 155 +Good Things of Railway Accidents 186 +Gravedigger’s Suggestion, A 257 +Gray, Thomas. A Railway Projector 22 +Greenlander’s First Railway Ride, A 255 +Growing Lad, A 217 +Hartington, The Marquis of, on George Stephenson 283 +Hair-Dresser, The anxious 79 +Heroism of a Driver 270 +Highlander and a Railway Engine, The 138 +Hoax, Accident 167 +Horses _versus_ Railways 262 +How to bear losses 214 +Impressions, A Mexican Chief’s Railway 278 +Incident, An amusing 258 +,, An Electric Tramway 282 +Information, Obtaining 154 +Insulted Woman, An 235 +Insured 202 +Judge’s feeling against Railways, A County Court 150 +Kangaroo Attacking a Train, A 209 +Kemble’s Letter, Fanny 35 +Kid-Gloved Samson, A 184 +Kiss in the Dark, A 256 +Lady and her Lap-dog, The 242 +,, An Exacting 183 +Legislation, Railway 100 +Liabilities of Railway Engineers for Errors 127 +Liability of Companies for Delay of Trains 191 +Life upon a Railway, by a Conductor 148 +Loan Engineering, or Staking out a Railway 172 +Locomotive, A Smuggling 234 +,, Dangerous 292 +Luggage, Lost 112 +,, in Railway Carriages 281 +,, What is Passengers’ 243 +Madman in a Railway Carriage, A 201 +Marriage, A Railway 139 +,, and Railway Dividends 228 +Match, A Runaway 93 +Merchant and his Clerk, The 160 +Mistake, A slight 263 +Monetary Difficulties in Spain 212 +Money. Lost and Found 87 +Monkey Signalman, A 294 +Navvy’s Reason for not going to Church, A 80 +Nervousness 259 +New Trick. A 203 +Newspaper Wonder, A 211 +Newton, Sir Isaac’s Prediction of Railway Speed 14 +Notice, Copy of a 237 +,, A curious 154 +,, A remarkable 252 +,, to Defaulting Shareholders, A Novel 95 +Not to be caught 246 +Novel Attack, A 197 +,, Obstruction 215 +Objections, Sanitary 77 +Opposition, A Landowner’s 110 +,, English and American 71 +,, Parliamentary 29 +,, to Making Surveys 75 +Orders, My 280 +Parody upon the Railway Mania 118 +Passengers and other Cattle 158 +,, Third-class 143 +Peto, Sir Morton, and the Balaclava Railway 156 +Peto’s, Sir Morton, Railway Mission 104 +Phillippe and the English Navvies, Louis 125 +Photographing an Express Train 259 +Polite Irishman, The 194 +Portmanteau, His 130 +Post Office and Railways. The 119 +Power of Locomotive Engines, Gigantic 94 +Practice, Sharp 80 +Prejudice against carrying Coals by Railways 84 +,, Removed 81 +Presentiment, Mrs. Blackburne’s 56 +Profitable Damages 295 +Prognostications of Failure 73 +Pullman’s Carriages 295 +Race, A Curious 254 +Railway, An Early 20 +,, An Early Ride on the Liverpool and Manchester 61 +,, Announcement 17 +,, Enterprise 296 +,, Travelling, Early 63 +,, Destroyers in the Franco-German War 223 +,, from Merstham to Wandsworth 16 +,, Liverpool and Manchester 32 +,, Manners 272 +,, Merthyr Tydvil 17 +,, A Profitable 260 +,, Opening of the Darlington and Stockton 26 +,, Romance 93 +,, Sleeper, A 246 +,, Signals 120 +,, Switch Tender and his Child 199 +,, Train turned into a Man-trap 185 +,, Up Vesuvius 274 +Railways, Elevated 214 +,, A Judgment 268 +,, Origin of 13 +Railroad Incident 214 +,, Tracklayer 216 +Rails, Expansion of 158 +Rector and his Pig. The 103 +Redstart, The Black 199 +Rejoinder, A smart 158 +Reproof for Swearing 189 +Request, A Polite 136 +Ride from Boston to Providence in 1835, A 81 +Robinson’s, Crabb, First Railway Journey 65 +Ruling Occupation strong on Sunday 186 +Safety on the Floor 147 +Seat, The Safest 268 +Scotch Lady and her Box 272 +Scene at a Railway Junction, Extraordinary 134 +,, Before a Sub-Committee on Standing Orders 176 +Security for Travelling 229 +Sell, A 241 +Seizure of a Railway Train for Debt 208 +She takes Fits 210 +Shrewd Observers 20 +Signalman, An Amateur 97 +Singular Circumstance 125 +Sleeper, A Heavy 276 +Sounds, Remarkable Memory for 266 +Snag’s Corners 210 +Snake’s Heads 81 +Snowed up on the Pacific Railway 237 +Speed of Railway Engines 30 +Steam defined 137 +,, Pulling a Tooth by 276 +Steel Rails 193 +Stephenson Centenary, The 284 +,, ,, George Robert Stephenson’s Address 286 +,, ,, Rev. T. C. Sarjent’s Address at the 288 +,, ,, Sir William Armstrong’s Address at the 284 +Stephenson’s Wedding Present, George 194 +Stopping a Runaway Couple 200 +Stumped 293 +Swindling, Ingenious 292 +Taken Aback 152 +Taking Him Down a Peg 252 +Taste, Loss of 291 +Tay Bridge Accident 245 +Telegraph, Extraordinary use of the Electric 111 +Ticket, A Lost 164 +,, Your 271 +Traffic-Taking 86 +Train Stopped by Caterpillars, A 204 +Travelling, Effects of Constant Railway 281 +,, in Russia 204 +,, Improvement in Third-Class 143 +Trent Station 192 +Trip, An Unpleasant Trial 72 +Tunnel, In a Railway 137 +Very Cool 199 +Waif, An Extraordinary 245 +Ward’s, Artemus, Suggestion 197 +Watkin, Sir Edward, on Touting for Business 269 +Way, A Quick 138 +Way-Leaves 13 +Wedding at a Railway Station 166 +What are you going to do? 189 +Whistle, Steam 98 +Wolves on a Railway 197 +Wordsworth’s Protest 122 +Yankee Compensation Case, A 218 + + + +ORIGIN OF RAILWAYS + + +The immediate parent of the railway was the wooden tram-road, which +existed at an early period in colliery districts. Mr. Beaumont, of +Newcastle, is said to have been the first to lay down wooden rails as +long ago as 1630. More than one hundred and forty years elapsed before +the invention was greatly improved. Mr. John Carr, in 1776 (although not +the first to use iron rails), was the first to lay down a cast-iron +railway, nailed to wooden sleepers, for the Duke of Newcastle’s colliery +near Sheffield. This innovation was regarded with great disfavour by the +workpeople as an interference with the vested rights of labour. Mr. +Carr’s life, as a consequence, was in much jeopardy and for four days he +had to conceal himself in a wood to avoid the violence of an indignant +and vindictive populace. + + + + +WAY-LEAVES. + + +Roger North, referring to a visit paid to Newcastle by his brother, the +Lord Keeper Guildford, in 1676, writes:—“Another remarkable thing is +their _way-leaves_; for when men have pieces of ground between the +colliery and the river, they sell the leave to lead coal over the ground, +and so dear that the owner of a rood of ground will expect £20 per annum +for this leave. The manner of the carriage is by laying rails of timber +from the colliery down to the river exactly straight and parallel, and +bulky carts are made with four rowlets fitting these rails, whereby the +carriage is so easy that one horse will draw four or five chaldron of +coals, and is an immense benefit to the coal merchants.” + + + + +SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S PREDICTION OF RAILWAY SPEED. + + +In a tract by the Rev. Mr. Craig, Vicar of Leamington, entitled “Astral +Wonders,” is to be found the following remarkable passage:—“Let me +narrate to you an anecdote concerning Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire. Sir +Isaac wrote a book on the Prophet Daniel, and another on the Revelations; +and he said, in order to fulfil certain prophecies before a certain date +terminated, namely 1260 years, there would be a certain mode of +travelling of which the men in his time had no conception; nay, that the +knowledge of mankind would be so increased that they would be able to +travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. Voltaire, who did not believe +in the Holy Scriptures, got hold of this, and said, ‘Now look at that +mighty mind of Newton, who discovered gravity, and told us such marvels +for us all to admire, when he became an old man and got into his dotage, +he began to study that book called the Bible; and it appears that in +order to credit its fabulous nonsense, we must believe that mankind’s +knowledge will be so much increased that we shall be able to travel fifty +miles an hour. The poor ‘dotard!’ exclaimed the philosophic infidel, +Voltaire, in the complaisancy of his pity. But who is the dotard now?” + + + + +THE ATMOSPHERIC RAILROAD ANTICIPATED. + + + _First Voice_. + + “But why drives on that ship so fast, + Without or wave or wind?” + + _Second Voice_. + + “The air is cut away before, + And closes from behind.” + + —_The Ancient Mariner_. + +This is the exact principle of the atmospheric railroad, and it is, +perhaps, worthy of note as a curious fact that such a means of locomotion +should have occurred to Coleridge so long ago. + + W. Y. Bernhard Smith, in _Notes and Queries_. + + + + +EARLY STEAM CARRIAGES. + + +Stuart, in his “Historical and Descriptive Anecdotes of Steam Engines and +of their Inventors and Improvers,” gives a description of what was +supposed to be the first model of a steam carriage. The constructor was +a Frenchman named Cugnot, who exhibited it before the Marshal de Saxe in +1763. He afterwards built an engine on the same model at the cost of the +French monarch. But when set in motion it projected itself onward with +such force that it knocked down a wall which stood in its way, and—its +power being considered too great for ordinary use—it was put aside as +being a dangerous machine, and was stowed away in the Arsenal Museum at +Paris. It is now to be seen in the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers. + +Mr. Smiles also remarks that “An American inventor, named Oliver Evans, +was also occupied with the same idea, for, in 1772, he invented a steam +carriage to travel on common roads; and, in 1787, he obtained from the +State of Maryland the exclusive right to make and use steam carriages. +The invention, however, never came into practical use. + +“It also appears that, in 1784, William Symington, the inventor of the +steamboat, conceived the idea of employing steam power in the propulsion +of carriages; and, in 1786, he had a working model of a steam carriage +constructed which he submitted to the professors and other scientific +gentlemen of Edinburgh. But the state of the Scotch roads was at that +time so horrible that he considered it impracticable to proceed further +with his scheme, and he shortly gave it up in favour of his project of +steam navigation. + +“The first English model of a steam carriage was made in 1784 by William +Murdoch, the friend and assistant of Watt. It was on the high-pressure +principle and ran on three wheels. The boiler was heated by a spirit +lamp, and the whole machine was of very diminutive dimensions, standing +little more than a foot high. Yet, on one occasion, the little engine +went so fast that it outran the speed of the inventor. Mr. Buckle says +that one night after returning from his duties in the mine at Redruth, in +Cornwall, Murdoch determined to try the working of his model locomotive. +For this purpose he had recourse to the walk leading to the church, about +a mile from the town. The walk was rather narrow and was bounded on +either side by high hedges. It was a dark night, and Murdoch set out +alone to try his experiment. Having lit his lamp, the water shortly +began to boil, and off started the engine with the inventor after it. He +soon heard distant shouts of despair. It was too dark to perceive +objects, but he shortly found, on following up the machine, that the +cries for assistance proceeded from the worthy pastor of the parish, who, +going towards the town on business, was met on this lonely road by the +hissing and fiery little monster, which he subsequently declared he had +taken to be the Evil One in _propriâ personâ_. No further steps, +however, were taken by Murdoch to embody his idea of a locomotive +carriage in a more practical form.” + + + + +FIRST RAILWAY BILL. + + +The first Railway Bill passed by Parliament was for a line from +Wandsworth to Croydon, in 1801, but a quarter of a century elapsed before +the first line was actually constructed for carrying passengers between +Stockton and Darlington. People still living can remember the mail +coaches that plied once a month between Edinburgh and London, making the +journey in twelve or fourteen days. The _Annual Register_ of 1820 boasts +that “English mail coaches run 7 miles an hour; French only 4½ miles; the +former travelling, in the year, forty times the length of miles that the +French accomplish.” These coaches were a great improvement on the +previous method of sending the mails. In 1783 a petition to Parliament +stated that “the mails are generally entrusted to some idle boy, without +character, mounted on a worn-out hack.” + + “_Progress of the World_” by M. G. Mulhall. + + + + +RAILWAY FROM MERSTHAM TO WANDSWORTH. + + +Charles Knight thus describes this old line:—“The earliest railway for +public traffic in England was one passing from Merstham to Wandsworth, +through Croydon; a small, single line, on which a miserable team of +donkeys, some thirty years ago, might be seen crawling at the rate of +four miles an hour, with several trucks of stone and lime behind them. +It was commenced in 1801, opened in 1803; and the men of science of that +day—we cannot say that the respectable name of Stephenson was not among +them, (Stephenson was then a brakesman at Killingworth)—tested its +capabilities and found that one horse could draw some thirty-five tons at +six miles an hour, and then, with prophetic wisdom, declared that +railways could never be worked profitably. The old Croydon railway is no +longer used. The genius loci must look with wonder on the gigantic +offspring of the little railway, which has swallowed up its own sire. +Lean mules no longer crawl leisurely along the little rails with trucks +of stone through Croydon, once perchance during the day, but the whistle +and the rush of the locomotive are now heard all day long. Not a few +loads of lime, but all London and its contents, by comparison—men, women, +children, horses, dogs, oxen, sheep, pigs, carriages, merchandise, +food,—would seem to be now-a-days passing through Croydon; for day after +day, more than 100 journeys are made by the great railroads which pass +the place.” + + + + +RAILWAY ANNOUNCEMENT. + + +The following announcement was published in a London periodical, dated +August 1, 1802:—“The Surrey Iron Railway is now completed over the high +road through Wandsworth town. On Wednesday, June 8, several carriages of +all descriptions passed over the iron rails without meeting with the +least obstacle. Among these, the Portsmouth wagon, drawn by eight horses +and weighing from eight to ten tons, passed over the rails, and did not +appear to make the slightest impression upon them.” + + + + +MERTHYR TYDVIL RAILWAY. + + +An Act of Parliament was granted for a railway to Merthyr Tydvil in 1803, +and the following year the first locomotive which ran on a railway is +described in a racy manner by the _Western Mail_, as follows:—“Quaint, +rattling, puffing, asthmatic, and wheezy, the pioneer of ten thousand +gilding creations of beauty and strength made its way between the +white-washed houses of the old tramway at Merthyr. It has a dwarf body +placed on a high framework, constructed by the hedge carpenter of the +place in the roughest possible fashion. The wheels were equally rough +and large, and surmounting all was a huge stack, ugly enough when it was +new, but in after times made uglier by whitewash and rust. Every +movement was made with a hideous uproar, snorting and clanking, and this, +aided by the noise of the escaping steam, formed a tableau from which, +met in the byeway, every old woman would run with affright. The Merthyr +locomotive was made jointly by Trevithick, a Cornishman, and Rees Jones, +of Penydarran. The day fixed for the trial was the 12th of February, +1804, and the track a tramway, lately formed from Penydarran, at the back +of Plymouth Works, by the side of the Troedyrhiw, and so down to the +navigation. Great was the concourse assembled; villagers of all ages and +sizes thronged the spot; and the rumour of the day’s doings even +penetrated up the defiles of Taff Vawr and Taff Vach, bringing down old +apple-faced farmers and their wives, who were told of a power and a speed +that would alter everything, and do away with horses altogether. Prim, +cosy, apple-faced people, innocent and primitive, little thought ye then +of the changes which the clanking monster was to yield; how Grey Dobbin +would see flying by a mass of wood and iron, thousands of tons of weight, +bearing not only the commerce of the country, but hundreds of people as +well; how rivers and mountains would afford no obstacle, as the mighty +azure waves leap the one and dash through the other. On the first engine +and trains that started on the memorable day in February, twenty persons +clustered like bees, anxious, we learn in the ‘History of Merthyr,’ to +win immortality by being thus distinguished above all their fellows; the +trains were six in number, laden with iron, and amidst a concourse of +villagers, including the constable, the ‘druggister,’ and the class +generally dubbed ‘shopwors’ by the natives, were Richard Crawshay and Mr. +Samuel Homfray. The driver was one William Richards, and on the engine +were perched Trevithick and Rees Jones, their faces black, but their eyes +bright with the anticipation of victory. Soon the signal was given, and +amidst a mighty roar from the people, the wheels turned and the mass +moved forward, going steadily at the rate of five miles an hour until a +bridge was reached a little below the town that did not admit of the +stack going under, and as this was built of bricks, there was a great +crash and instant stoppage. Trevithick and Jones were of the +old-fashioned school of men who did not believe in impossibilities. The +fickle crowd, too, who had hurrahed like mad, hung back and said ‘It +won’t do’; but these heroes, the advance-guard of a race who had done +more to make England famous than battles by land or sea, sprang to the +ground and worked like Britons, never ceasing until they had repaired the +mishap, and then they rattled on, and finally reached their journey’s +end. The return journey was a failure, on account of gradients and +curves, but the possibility of success was demonstrated; and from this +run on the Merthyr tramway the railway age—marked with throes and +suspense, delays, accidents, and misadventures—finally began.” + + + + +AN AFFRIGHTED TOLL-KEEPER. + + +There is a story told by Coleridge about the steam engine which +Trevithick exhibited at work on a temporary railroad in London. +Trevithick and his partner Captain Vivian, prior to this exhibition were +riding on the carriage on the turnpike road near to Plymouth. It had +committed sundry damage in its course, knocking down the rails of a +gentleman’s garden, when Vivian saw the toll-bar in front of them closed +he called to Trevithick to slacken speed which he did just in time to +save the gate. The affrighted toll-keeper instantly opened it. “What +have us got to pay?” asked Captain Vivian, careful as to honesty if +reckless as to grammar. + +“Na-na-na-na!” stammered the poor man, trembling in every limb, with his +teeth chattering as if he had got the ague. + +“What have us got to pay, I ask?” + +“Na-noth-nothing to pay! My de-dear Mr. Devil, do drive as fast as you +can! Nothing to pay!” + + + + +AN EARLY RAILWAY. + + +More than twenty years before the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester +Railway, the celebrated engineer Trevithick constructed, not only a +locomotive engine, but also a railway, that the London public might see +with their own eyes what the new high pressure steam engine could effect, +and how greatly superior a railway was to a common road for locomotion. +The sister of Davies Gilbert named this engine “Catch me who can.” The +following interesting account in a letter to a correspondent was given by +John Isaac Hawkins, an engineer well known in his day. + +“Sir,—Observing that it is stated in your last number (No. 1232, dated +the 20th instant, page 269), under the head of ‘Twenty-one Years’ +Retrospect of the Railway System,’ that the greatest speed of +Trevithick’s engine was five miles an hour, I think it due to the memory +of that extraordinary man to declare that about the year 1808 he laid +down a circular railway in a field adjoining the New Road, near or at the +spot now forming the southern half of Euston Square; that he placed a +locomotive engine, weighing about ten tons, on that railway—on which I +rode, with my watch in hand—at the rate of twelve miles an hour; that Mr. +Trevithick then gave his opinion that it would go twenty miles an hour, +or more, on a straight railway; that the engine was exhibited at one +shilling admittance, including a ride for the few who were not too timid; +that it ran for some weeks, when a rail broke and occasioned the engine +to fly off in a tangent and overturn, the ground being very soft at the +time. Mr. Trevithick having expended all his means in erecting the works +and enclosure, and the shillings not having come in fast enough to pay +current expenses, the engine was not again set on the rail.” + + + + +SHREWD OBSERVERS. + + +Sir Richard Phillips was a man of foresight, for, in the year 1813, he +wrote the following words in his “Morning Walk to Kew,” a book of some +popularity in its day:—“I found delight in witnessing at Wandsworth the +economy of horse labour on the iron railway. Yet a heavy sigh escaped me +as I thought of the inconceivable millions of money which had been spent +about Malta, four or five of which might have been the means of extending +double lines of iron railway from London to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Holyhead, +Milford, Falmouth, Yarmouth, Dover, and Portsmouth. A reward of a single +thousand would have supplied coaches and other vehicles of various +degrees of speed, with the best tackle for readily turning out; and we +might ere this have witnessed our mail coaches running at the rate of ten +miles an hour, drawn by a single horse, or impelled fifteen miles an hour +by Blenkinsop’s steam engine. Such would have been a legitimate motive +for overstepping the income of a nation; and the completion of so great +and useful a work would have afforded rational ground for public triumph +in general jubilee.” Mr. Edgeworth, writing to James Watt on the 7th of +August, 1813, remarks, “I have always thought that steam would become the +universal lord, and that we should in time scorn post-horses. An iron +railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road on the common +construction.” + + + + +CUVIER’S DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCOMOTIVE. + + +The celebrated Cuvier, in an address delivered by him before the French +Institute in the year 1816, thus referred to the nascent locomotive:—“A +steam engine, mounted upon a carriage whose wheels indent themselves +along a road specially prepared for it, is attached to a line of loaded +vehicles. A fire is lit underneath the boiler, by which the engine is +speedily set in motion, and in a short time the whole are brought to +their journey’s end. The traveller who, from a distance, first sees this +strange spectacle of a train of loaded carriages traversing the country +by the simple force of steam, can with difficulty believe his eyes.” + +The locomotive thus described by Cuvier was the first engine of the kind +regularly employed in the working of railway traffic. It was impelled by +means of a cogged wheel, which worked into a cogged rail, after the +method adopted by Mr. Blenkinsop, upon the Middleton Coal Railway, near +Leeds; and the speed of the train which it dragged behind it was only +from three to four miles an hour. + +Ten years later, the same power and speed of the locomotive were still +matters of wonderment, for, in 1825, we find Mr. Mackenzie, in his +“History of Northumberland” thus describing the performances on the Wylam +Coal Railroad:—“A stranger,” said he, “is struck with surprise and +astonishment on seeing a locomotive engine moving majestically along the +road at the rate of four or five miles an hour, drawing along from ten to +fourteen loaded wagons, weighing about twenty-one-and-a-half tons; and +his surprise is increased on witnessing the extraordinary facility with +which the engine is managed. This invention is indeed a noble triumph of +science.” + +In the same year, the first attempt was made to carry passengers by +railway between Stockton and Darlington. A machine resembling the yellow +caravan still seen at country fairs was built and fitted up with seats +all round it, and set upon the rails, along which it was drawn by a +horse. It was found exceedingly convenient to travel by, and the number +of passengers between the two towns so much increased that several bodies +of old stage coaches were bought up, mounted upon railway wheels, and +added to the carrying stock of the Stockton and Darlington Company. At +length the horse was finally discarded in favour of the locomotive, and +not only coals and merchandise, but passengers of all classes, were drawn +by steam. + + —_Railway News_. + + + + +A RAILWAY PROJECTOR. + + +In the year 1819, Thomas Gray—a deep thinker with a mind of comprehensive +grasp—was travelling in the North of England when he saw a train of +coal-wagons drawn by steam along a colliery tramroad. “Why,” he +questioned the engineer, “are not these tramroads laid down all over +England, so as to supersede our common roads, and steam engines employed +to convey goods and passengers along them, so as to supersede horse +power?” The engineer replied, “Just propose you that to the nation, sir, +and see what you will get by it! Why, sir, you will be worried to death +for your pains.” Nothing daunted by this reply, Thomas Gray could +scarcely think or talk upon any other subject. In vision he saw the +country covered with a network of tramroads. Before his time the famous +Duke of Bridgewater might have some misgivings about his canals. It is +related on a certain occasion some one said to him, “You must be making +handsomely out of your canals.” “Oh, yes,” grumbled he in reply, “they +will last my time, but I don’t like the look of these tramroads; there’s +mischief in them.” Mr. Gray, with prophetic eye, saw the great changes +which the iron railway would make in the means of transit throughout the +civilized world. In 1820 he brought out his now famous work, entitled +“Observations on a General Iron Railway, or Land Steam Conveyance, to +supersede the necessity of horses in all public vehicles; showing its +vast superiority in every respect over all the present pitiful methods of +conveyance by Turnpike-roads, Canals, and Coasting Traders: containing +every species of information relative to Railroads and Locomotive +Engines.” The book is illustrated by a plate exhibiting different kinds +of carriages drawn on the railway by locomotives. He evidently +anticipated that the locomotive of the future would be capable of going +at a considerable speed, for on the plate is engraved these lines:— + + “No speed with this can fleetest horse compare; + No weight like this canal or vessel bear. + As this will commerce every way promote, + To this let sons of commerce grant their vote.” + +Mr. Gray in his book exhibits a marvellous insight into the wants and +requirements of the country. He remarks, “The plan might be commenced +between the towns of Manchester and Liverpool, where a trial could soon +be made, as the distance is not very great, and the commercial part of +England would thereby be better able to appreciate its many excellent +properties and prove its efficacy. All the great trading towns of +Lancashire and Yorkshire would then eagerly embrace the opportunity to +secure so commodious and easy a conveyance, and cause branch railways to +be laid down in every possible direction. The convenience and economy in +the carriage of the raw material to the numerous manufactories +established in these counties, the expeditious and cheap delivery of +piece goods bought by the merchants every week at the various markets, +and the despatch in forwarding bales and packages to the outposts cannot +fail to strike the merchant and manufacturer as points of the first +importance. Nothing, for example, would be so likely to raise the ports +of Hull, Liverpool, and Bristol to an unprecedented pitch of prosperity +as the establishment of railways to those ports, thereby rendering the +communication from the east to the west seas, and all intermediate +places, rapid, cheap, and effectual. Anyone at all conversant with +commerce must feel the vast importance of such an undertaking in +forwarding the produce of America, Brazils, the East and West Indies, +etc., from Liverpool and Bristol, _via_ Hull, to the opposite shores of +Germany and Holland, and, _vice versa_, the produce of the Baltic, _via_ +Hull, to Liverpool and Bristol. Again, by the establishment of morning +and evening mail steam carriages, the commercial interest would derive +considerable advantage; the inland mails might be forwarded with greater +despatch and the letters delivered much earlier than by the extra post; +the opportunity of correspondence between London and all mercantile +places would be much improved, and the rate of postage might be generally +diminished without injuring the receipts of the post office, because any +deficiency occasioned by a reduction in the postage would be made good by +the increased number of journeys which mail steam carriages might make. +The London and Edinburgh mail steam carriages might take all the mails +and parcels on the line of road between these two cities, which would +exceedingly reduce the expense occasioned by mail coaches on the present +footing. The ordinary stage coaches, caravans, or wagons, running any +considerable distance along the main railway, might also be conducted on +peculiarly favourable terms to the public; for instance, one steam engine +of superior power would enable its proprietors to convey several coaches, +caravans, or wagons, linked together until they arrive at their +respective branches, when other engines might proceed on with them to +their destination. By a due regulation of the departure and arrival of +coaches, caravans, and wagons along these branches the whole +communication throughout the country would be so simple and so complete +as to enable every individual to partake of the various productions of +particular situations, and to enjoy, at a moderate expense every +improvement introduced into society. The great economy of such a measure +must be obvious to everyone, seeing that, instead of each coach changing +horses between London and Edinburgh, say twenty-five times, requiring a +hundred horses, besides the supernumerary ones kept at every stage in +case of accidents, the whole journey of several coaches would be +performed with the simple expense of one steam engine. No animal +strength will be able to give that uniform and regular acceleration to +our commercial intercourse which may be accomplished by railways; however +great animal speed, there cannot be a doubt that it would be considerably +surpassed by mail steam carriages, and that the expense would be +infinitely less. The exorbitant charge now made for small parcels +prevents that natural intercourse of friendship between families resident +in different parts of the kingdom, in the same manner as the heavy +postage of letters prevents free communication, and consequently +diminishes very considerably the consumption of paper which would take +place under a less burdensome taxation.” + +Mr. Gray’s book would no doubt excite ridicule and amazement when +published sixty years ago. The farmers of that day might well be excused +for incredulity when perusing a passage like the following:—“The present +system of conveyance,” says Mr. Gray, “affords but tolerable +accommodation to farmers, and the common way in which they attend markets +must always confine them within very limited distances. It is, however, +expected that the railway will present a suitable conveyance for +attending market-towns thirty or forty miles off, as also for forwarding +considerable supplies of grain, hay, straw, vegetables, and every +description of live stock to the metropolis at a very easy expense, and +with the greatest celerity, from all parts of the kingdom.” + +A writer in Chambers’s Journal, 1847, remarks:—“It was not until after +four or five years of agitation, and several editions of Mr. Gray’s work +had been published and successively commented upon by many newspapers, +that commercial men were roused to give the proposed scheme its first +great trial on the road between Liverpool and Manchester. The success of +that experiment, insured by the engineering skill of Stephenson, was the +signal for all that has since been done both in this island and in other +parts of the world. Unfortunately, the public has been too busy these +many years in making railways to inquire to whom it owes its gratitude +for having first expounded and advocated their claims; and probably there +are few men now living who have served the public as effectually, with so +little return in the way of thanks or applause, as Mr. Thomas Gray, the +proposer in 1820 of a general system of transit by railways.” + +Poor Gray! He was far ahead of his times. Public men called him a bore, +and people in Nottingham, where he resided, said he was cracked. The +_Quarterly Review_ declared such persons are not worth our notice, and +the _Edinburgh Review_ said “Put him in a straight jacket.” Thus the +world is often ignorant of its greatest benefactors. Gray died in +poverty. His widow and daughters earned their living by teaching a small +school at Exeter. + + + + +OPENING OF THE DARLINGTON AND STOCKTON RAILWAY. + + +In the autumn of 1825 the _Times_ gave an account of the origin of one of +the most gigantic enterprises of modern times. In that year the +Darlington and Stockton Railway was formally opened by the proprietors +for the use of the public. It was a single railway, and the object of +its promoters was to open the London market to the Durham Collieries, as +well as to facilitate the obtaining of fuel to the country along its line +and certain parts of Yorkshire. The account of the opening says:— + +A train of carriages was attached to a locomotive engine of the most +improved construction, and built by Mr. George Stephenson, in the +following order:—(1) Locomotive engine, with the engineer and assistants; +(2) tender with coals and water; next six wagons loaded with coals and +flour; then an elegant covered coach, with the committee and other +proprietors of the railway; then 21 wagons fitted up on the occasion for +passengers; and, last of all, six wagons loaded with coals, making +altogether a train of 38 carriages, exclusive of the engine and tender. +Tickets were distributed to the number of nearly 300 for those whom it +was intended should occupy the coach and wagons; but such was the +pressure and crowd that both loaded and empty carriages were instantly +filled with passengers. The signal being given, the engine started off +with this immense train of carriages. In some parts the speed was +frequently 12 miles per hour, and in one place, for a short distance, +near Darlington, 15 miles per hour, and at that time the number of +passengers was counted to 450, which, together with the coals, +merchandise, and carriages, would amount to nearly 90 tons. After some +little delay in arranging the procession, the engine, with her load, +arrived at Darlington a distance of eight miles and three-quarters, in 65 +minutes, exclusive of stops, averaging about eight miles an hour. The +engine arrived at Stockton in three hours and seven minutes after leaving +Darlington, including stops, the distance being nearly 12 miles, which is +at the rate of four miles an hour, and upon the level part of the railway +the number of passengers in the wagons was counted about 550, and several +more clung to the carriages on each side, so that the whole number could +not be less than 600. + + + + +EARLY RAILWAY COMPETITION. + + +The first Stockton and Darlington Act gave permission to all parties to +use the line on payment of certain rates. Thus private individuals might +work their own horses and carriages upon the railway and be their own +carriers. Mr. Clepham, in the _Gateshead Observer_, gives an interesting +account of the competition induced by the system:—“There were two +separate coach companies in Stockton, and amusing collisions sometimes +occurred between the drivers—who found on the rail a novel element for +contention. Coaches cannot pass each other on the rail as on the road; +and at the more westward public-house in Stockton (the Bay Horse, kept by +Joe Buckton), the coach was always on the line betimes, reducing its +eastward rival to the necessity of waiting patiently (or impatiently) in +the rear. The line was single, with four sidings in the mile; and when +two coaches met, or two trains, or coach and train, the question arose +which of the drivers must go back? This was not always settled in +silence. As to trains, it came to be a sort of understanding that light +wagons should give way to loaded; as to trains and coaches, that the +passengers should have preference over coals; while coaches, when they +met, must quarrel it out. At length, midway between sidings a post was +erected, and a rule was laid down that he who had passed the pillar must +go on, and the coming man go back. At the Goose Pool and Early Nook, it +was common for these coaches to stop; and there, as Jonathan would say, +passengers and coachmen ‘liquored.’ One coach, introduced by an +innkeeper, was a compound of two mourning coaches, an approximation to +the real railway coach, which still adheres, with multiplying exceptions, +to the stage coach type. One Dixon, who drove the ‘Experiment’ between +Darlington and Shildon, is the inventor of carriage lighting on the rail. +On a dark winter night, having compassion on his passengers, he would buy +a penny candle, and place it lighted amongst them, on the table of the +‘Experiment’—the first railway coach (which, by the way, ended its days +at Shildon, as a railway cabin), being also the first coach on the rail +(first, second, and third class jammed all into one) that indulged its +customers with light in darkness.” + + + + +CALCULATION AS TO RAILWAY SPEED. + + +The Editor of _The Scotsman_, having engaged in researches into the laws +of friction established by Vince and Coloumb, published the results in a +series of articles in his journal in 1824 showing how twenty miles an +hour was, on theoretic grounds, within the limits of possibility; and it +was to his writings on this point that Mr. Nicholas Wood alluded when he +spoke of the ridiculous expectation that engines would ever travel at the +rate of twenty, or even twelve miles an hour. + + + + +ALARMIST VIEWS. + + +A writer in the _Quarterly Review_, in 1825, was quite prophetical as to +the dangers connected with railway travelling. He observes:—“It is +certainly some consolation to those who are to be whirled at the rate of +18 or 20 miles an hour by means of a high-pressure engine, to be told +that there is no danger of being sea-sick while on shore, that they are +not to be scalded to death, nor drowned, nor dashed to pieces by the +bursting of a boiler; and that they need not mind being struck by the +flying off or breaking of a wheel. What can be more palpably absurd or +ridiculous than the prospect held out of locomotives travelling _twice as +fast_ as stage coaches! We should as soon expect the people of Woolwich +to suffer themselves to be fired off upon one of Congreve’s Ricochet +Rockets, as trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such +a rate. We will back old Father Thames against the Woolwich Railway for +any sum. We trust that Parliament will, in all railways it may sanction, +limit the speed to _eight or nine miles an hour_, which we entirely agree +with Mr. Sylvestor is as great as can be ventured on with safety.” + + + + +PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION. + + +On the third reading of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill in the +House of Commons, The Hon. Edward Stanley moved that the bill be read +that day six months, assigning, among other reasons, that the railway +trains worked by horses would take ten hours to do the distance, and that +they could not be worked by locomotive engines. Sir Isaac Coffin +seconded the motion, indignantly denouncing the project as fraught with +fraud and imposition. He would not consent to see widows’ premises +invaded, and “how,” he asked, “would any person like to have a railroad +under his parlour window? . . . What, he would like to know, was to be +done with all those who had advanced money in making and repairing +turnpike-roads? What with those who may still wish to travel in their +own or hired carriages, after the fashion of their forefathers? What was +to become of coach-makers and harness-makers, coach-masters and coachmen, +innkeepers, horse-breeders, and horse-dealers? Was the House aware of +the smoke and noise, the hiss and whirl, which locomotive engines, +passing at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, would occasion? +Neither the cattle ploughing in the fields or grazing in the meadows +could behold them without dismay. . . . Iron would be raised in price +100 per cent., or, more probably, exhausted altogether! It would be the +greatest nuisance, the most complete disturbance of quiet and comfort in +all parts of the kingdom, that the ingenuity of man could invent!” + + + + +SPEED OF RAILWAY ENGINES. + + +At the present day it is amusing to read the speeches of the counsel +employed against an act of Parliament being passed in favour of the +railway between Liverpool and Manchester. Mr. Harrison, who appeared on +behalf of certain landowners against the scheme, thus spoke with regard +to the powers of the locomotive engine:—“When we set out with the +original prospectus—I am sorry I have not got the paper with me—we were +to gallop, I know not at what rate, I believe it was at the rate of +twelve miles an hour. My learned friend, Mr. Adam, contemplated, +possibly in alluding to Ireland, that some of the Irish members would +arrive in wagons to a division. My learned friend says, that they would +go at the rate of twelve miles an hour, with the aid of a devil in the +form of a locomotive, sitting as a postillion upon the fore-horse, and an +Honourable Member, whom I do not see here, sitting behind him to stir up +the fire, and to keep it up at full speed. But the speed at which these +locomotive engines are to go has slackened; Mr. Adam does not now go +faster than five miles per hour. The learned Sergeant says, he should +like to have seven, but he would be content to go six. I will show you +he cannot go six; and probably, for any practical purposes, I may be able +to show, that I can keep up with him by the canal. Now the real evidence +to which you alone can pay attention shows, that practically, and for +useful purposes, upon the average, and to keep up the rate of speed +continually, they may go at something more than four miles an hour. In +one of the collieries, there is a small engine with wheels four feet in +diameter, which, with moderate weights has gone six; but I will not +admit, because, in an experiment or two, they may have been driven at the +rate of seven or eight miles an hour—because a small engine has been +driven at the rate of six, that this is the average rate at which they +can carry goods upon a railroad for the purpose of commerce, for that is +the point to which the Committee ought to direct their attention, and to +which the evidence is to be applied. It is quite idle to suppose, that +an experiment made to ascertain the speed, when the power is worked up to +the greatest extent, can afford a fair criterion of that which an engine +will do in all states of the weather. In the first place, locomotive +engines are liable to be operated upon by the weather. You are told that +they are affected by rain, and an attempt has been made to cover them; +but the wind will affect them, and any gale of wind which would affect +the traffic on the Mersey, would render it impossible to set off a +locomotive engine, either by poking up the fire, or keeping up the +pressure of the steam till the boiler is ready to burst. I say so, for a +scientific person happened to see a locomotive engine coming down an +inclined plane, with a tolerable weight behind it, and he found that the +strokes were reduced from fifty to twelve, as soon as the wind acted upon +it; so that every gale that would produce an interruption to the +intercourse by the canals, would prevent the progress of a locomotive +engine, so that they have no advantage in that respect.” + + + + +DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN MAKING RAILWAY SURVEYS. + + +Difficulties connected with making surveys of land were encountered from +the very commencement of railway enterprise. The following dialogue on +the subject took place in the Committee of the House of Commons, April +27, 1825. Mr. Sergeant Spankie was the questioner and George Stephenson +was the respondent. + +_Q_. “You were asked about the quality of the soil through which you +were to bore in order to ascertain the strata, and you were rather +taunted because you had not ascertained the precise strata; had you any +opportunity of boring?” + +_A_. “I had none; I was threatened to be driven off the ground, and +severely used if I were found upon the ground.” + +_Q_. “You were right, then, not to attempt to bore?” + +_A_. “Of course, I durst not attempt to bore, after those threats.” + +_Q_. “Were you exposed to any inconvenience in taking your surveys in +consequence of these interruptions?” + +_A_. “We were.” + +_Q_. “On whose property?” + +_A_. “On my Lord Sefton’s, Lord Derby’s, and particularly Mr. Bradshaw’s +part.” + +_Q_. “I believe you came near the coping of some of the canals?” + +_A_. “I believe I was threatened to be ducked in the pond if I +proceeded; and, of course we had a great deal of the survey to make by +stealth, at the time the persons were at dinner; we could not get it by +night, and guns were discharged over the grounds belonging to Captain +Bradshaw, to prevent us; I can state further, I was twice turned off the +ground myself (Mr. Bradshaw’s) by his men; and they said, if I did not go +instantly they would take me up, and carry me off to Worsley.” + +Committee. _Q_. “Had you ever asked leave?” + +_A_. “I did, of all the gentlemen to whom I have alluded; at least, if I +did not ask leave of all myself, I did of my Lord Derby, but I did not of +Lord Sefton, but the Committee had—at least I was so informed; and I last +year asked leave of Mr. Bradshaw’s tenants to pass there, and they denied +me; they stated that damage had been done, and I said if they would tell +me what it was, I would pay them, and they said it was two pounds, and I +paid it, though I do not believe it amounted to one shilling.” + +_Q_. “Do you suppose it is a likely thing to obtain leave from any +gentleman to survey his land, when he knew that your men had gone upon +his land to take levels without his leave, and he himself found them +going through the corn, and through the gardens of his tenants, and +trampling down the strawberry beds, which they were cultivating for the +Liverpool market?” + +_A_. “I have found it sometimes very difficult to get through places of +that kind.” + +In some cases, Mr. Williams remarks, large bodies of navvies were +collected for the defence of the surveyors; and being liberally provided +with liquor, and paid well for the task, they intimidated the rightful +owners, who were obliged to be satisfied with warrants of committal and +charges of assault. The navvies were the more willing to engage in such +undertakings, because the project, if carried out, afforded them the +prospect of increased labour. + + + + +LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY. + + +Mr. C. F. Adams, jun., remarks:—“It was this element of spontaneity, +therefore,—the instant and dramatic recognition of success, which gave a +peculiar interest to everything connected with the Manchester and +Liverpool railroad. The whole world was looking at it, with a full +realizing sense that something great and momentous was impending. Every +day people watched the gradual development of the thing, and actually +took part in it. In doing so they had sensations and those sensations +they have described. There is consequently an element of human nature +surrounding it. To their descriptions time has only lent a new +freshness. They are full of honest wonder. They are much better and +more valuable and more interesting now than they were fifty years ago, +and for that reason are well worth exhuming. + +“To introduce the contemporaneous story of the day, however, it is not +necessary even to briefly review the long series of events which had +slowly led up to it. The world is tolerably familiar with the early life +of George Stephenson, and with the vexatious obstacles he had to overcome +before he could even secure a trial for his invention. The man himself, +however, is an object of a good deal more curiosity to us, than he was to +those among whom he lived and moved. A living glimpse at him now is +worth dwelling upon, and is the best possible preface to any account of +his great day of life triumph. Just such a glimpse of the man has been +given to us at the moment when at last all difficulties had been +overcome—when the Manchester and Liverpool railroad was completed; and, +literally, not only the eyes of Great Britain but those of all civilized +countries were directed to it and to him who had originated it. At just +that time it chanced that the celebrated actor, John Kemble, was +fulfilling an engagement at Liverpool with his daughter, since known as +Mrs. Frances Kemble Butler. The extraordinary social advantages the +Kemble family enjoyed gave both father and daughter opportunities such as +seldom come in the way of ordinary mortals. For the time being they +were, in fact, the lions of the stage, just as George Stephenson was the +lion of the new railroad. As was most natural the three lions were +brought together. The young actress has since published her impressions, +jotted down at the time, of the old engineer. Her account of a ride side +by side with George Stephenson, on the seat of his locomotive, over the +as yet unopened road, is one of the most interesting and life-like +records we have of the man and the enterprise. Perhaps it is the most +interesting. The introduction is Mrs. Kemble’s own, and written +forty-six years after the experience:— + +“While we were acting at Liverpool, an experimental trip was proposed +upon the line of railway which was being constructed between Liverpool +and Manchester, the first mesh of that amazing iron net which now covers +the whole surface of England, and all civilized portions of the earth. +The Liverpool merchants, whose far-sighted self-interest prompted to wise +liberality, had accepted the risk of George Stephenson’s magnificent +experiment, which the committee of inquiry of the House of Commons had +rejected for the Government. These men, of less intellectual culture +than the Parliament members, had the adventurous imagination proper to +great speculators, which is the poetry of the counting house and wharf, +and were better able to receive the enthusiastic infection of the great +projector’s sanguine hope than the Westminster committee. They were +exultant and triumphant at the near completion of the work, though, of +course, not without some misgivings as to the eventual success of the +stupendous enterprise. My father knew several of the gentlemen most +deeply interested in the undertaking, and Stephenson having proposed a +trial trip as far as the fifteen-mile viaduct, they, with infinite +kindness, invited him and permitted me to accompany them: allowing me, +moreover, the place which I felt to be one of supreme honour, by the side +of Stephenson. All that wonderful history, as much more interesting than +a romance as truth is stranger than fiction, which Mr. Smiles’s biography +of the projector has given in so attractive a form to the world, I then +heard from his own lips. He was rather a stern-featured man, with a dark +and deeply marked countenance: his speech was strongly inflected with his +native Northumbrian accent, but the fascination of that story told by +himself, while his tame dragon flew panting along his iron pathway with +us, passed the first reading of the Arabian Nights, the incidents of +which it almost seemed to recall. He was wonderfully condescending and +kind, in answering all the questions of my eager ignorance, and I +listened to him with eyes brimful of warm tears of sympathy and +enthusiasm, as he told me of all his alternations of hope and fear, of +his many trials and disappointments, related with fine scorn, how the +“Parliament men” had badgered and baffled him with their book-knowledge, +and how, when at last they had smothered the irrepressible prophecy of +his genius in the quaking depths of Chat Moss, he had exclaimed, ‘Did ye +ever see a boat float on water? I will make my road float upon Chat +Moss!’ The well-read Parliament men (some of whom, perhaps, wished for +no railways near their parks and pleasure-grounds) could not believe the +miracle, but the shrewd Liverpool merchants, helped to their faith by a +great vision of immense gain, did; and so the railroad was made, and I +took this memorable ride by the side of its maker, and would not have +exchanged the honour and pleasure of it for one of the shares in the +speculation.” + + “LIVERPOOL, August 26th, 1830. + +“MY DEAR H—: A common sheet of paper is enough for love, but a foolscap +extra can only contain a railroad and my ecstasies. There was once a man +born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who was a common coal-digger; this man had +an immense constructiveness, which displayed itself in pulling his watch +to pieces and putting it together again; in making a pair of shoes when +he happened to be some days without occupation; finally—here there is a +great gap in my story—it brought him in the capacity of an engineer +before a Committee of the House of Commons, with his head full of plans +for constructing a railroad from Liverpool to Manchester. It so happened +that to the quickest and most powerful perceptions and conceptions, to +the most indefatigable industry and perseverance, and the most accurate +knowledge of the phenomena of nature as they affect his peculiar labours, +this man joined an utter want of the ‘gift of gab;’ he could no more +explain to others what he meant to do and how he meant to do it, than he +could fly, and therefore the members of the House of Commons, after +saying ‘There is a rock to be excavated to a depth of more than sixty +feet, there are embankments to be made nearly to the same height, there +is a swamp of five miles in length to be traversed, in which if you drop +an iron rod it sinks and disappears; how will you do all this?’ and +receiving no answer but a broad Northumbrian, ‘I can’t tell you how I’ll +do it, but I can tell you I _will_ do it,’ dismissed Stephenson as a +visionary. Having prevailed upon a company of Liverpool gentlemen to be +less incredulous, and having raised funds for his great undertaking, in +December of 1826 the first spade was struck in the ground. And now I +will give you an account of my yesterday’s excursion. A party of sixteen +persons was ushered into a large court-yard, where, under cover, stood +several carriages of a peculiar construction, one of which was prepared +for our reception. It was a long-bodied vehicle with seats placed across +it back to back; the one we were in had six of these benches, and was a +sort of uncovered _char à banc_. The wheels were placed upon two iron +bands, which formed the road, and to which they are fitted, being so +constructed as to slide along without any danger of hitching or becoming +displaced, on the same principle as a thing sliding on a concave groove. +The carriage was set in motion by a mere push, and, having received this +impetus, rolled with us down an inclined plane into a tunnel, which forms +the entrance to the railroad. This tunnel is four hundred yards long (I +believe), and will be lighted by gas. At the end of it we emerged from +darkness, and, the ground becoming level, we stopped. There is another +tunnel parallel with this, only much wider and longer, for it extends +from the place we had now reached, and where the steam carriages start, +and which is quite out of Liverpool, the whole way under the town, to the +docks. This tunnel is for wagons and other heavy carriages; and as the +engines which are to draw the trains along the railroad do not enter +these tunnels, there is a large building at this entrance which is to be +inhabited by steam engines of a stationary turn of mind, and different +constitution from the travelling ones, which are to propel the trains +through the tunnels to the terminus in the town, without going out of +their houses themselves. The length of the tunnel parallel to the one we +passed through is (I believe) two thousand two hundred yards. I wonder +if you are understanding one word I am saying all this while? We were +introduced to the little engine which was to drag us along the rails. +She (for they make these curious little fire horses all mares) consisted +of a boiler, a stove, a platform, a bench, and behind the bench a barrel +containing enough water to prevent her being thirsty for fifteen +miles,—the whole machine not bigger than a common fire engine. She goes +upon two wheels, which are her feet, and are moved by bright steel legs +called pistons; these are propelled by steam, and in proportion as more +steam is applied to the upper extremities (the hip-joints, I suppose) of +these pistons, the faster they move the wheels; and when it is desirable +to diminish the speed, the steam, which unless suffered to escape would +burst the boiler, evaporates through a safety valve into the air. The +reins, bit, and bridle of this wonderful beast, is a small steel handle, +which applies or withdraws the steam from its legs or pistons, so that a +child might manage it. + +“The coals, which are its oats, were under the bench, and there was a +small glass tube affixed to the boiler, with water in it, which indicates +by its fullness or emptiness when the creature wants water, which is +immediately conveyed to it from its reservoirs. There is a chimney to +the stove, but as they burn coke there is none of the dreadful black +smoke which accompanies the progress of a steam vessel. This snorting +little animal, which I felt rather inclined to pat, was then harnessed to +our carriage, and Mr. Stephenson having taken me on the bench of the +engine with him, we started at about ten miles an hour. The steam horse +being ill adapted for going up and down hill, the road was kept at a +certain level, and appeared sometimes to sink below the surface of the +earth and sometimes to rise above it. Almost at starting it was cut +through the solid rock, which formed a wall on either side of it, about +sixty feet high. You can’t imagine how strange it seemed to be +journeying on thus, without any visible cause of progress other than the +magical machine, with its flying white breath and rhythmical, unvarying +pace, between these rocky walls, which are already clothed with moss and +ferns and grasses; and when I reflected that these great masses of stone +had been cut asunder to allow our passage thus far below the surface of +the earth, I felt as if no fairy tale was ever half so wonderful as what +I saw. Bridges were thrown from side to side across the top of these +cliffs, and the people looking down upon us from them seemed like pigmies +standing in the sky. I must be more concise, though, or I shall want +room. We were to go only fifteen miles, that distance being sufficient +to show the speed of the engine, and to take us to the most beautiful and +wonderful object on the road. After proceeding through this rocky +defile, we presently found ourselves raised upon embankments ten or +twelve feet high; we then came to a moss or swamp, of considerable +extent, on which no human foot could tread without sinking, and yet it +bore the road which bore us. This had been the great stumbling-block in +the minds of the committee of the House of Commons; but Mr. Stephenson +has succeeded in overcoming it. A foundation of hurdles, or, as he +called it, basket-work, was thrown over the morass, and the interstices +were filled with moss and other elastic matter. + +“Upon this the clay and soil were laid down, and the road does float, for +we passed over it at the rate of five and twenty miles an hour, and saw +the stagnant swamp water trembling on the surface of the soil on either +side of us. I hope you understand me. The embankment had gradually been +rising higher and higher, and in one place where the soil was not settled +enough to form banks, Stephenson had constructed artificial ones of +woodwork, over which the mounds of earth were heaped, for he said that +though the woodwork would rot, before it did so the banks of earth which +covered it would have been sufficiently consolidated to support the road. +We had now come fifteen miles, and stopped where the road traversed a +wide and deep valley. Stephenson made me alight and led me down to the +bottom of this ravine, over which, in order to keep his road level, he +has thrown a magnificent viaduct of nine arches, the middle one of which +is seventy feet high, through which we saw the whole of this beautiful +little valley. It was lovely and wonderful beyond all words. He here +told me many curious things respecting this ravine; how he believed the +Mersey had once rolled through it; how the soil had proved so unfavorable +for the foundation of his bridge that it was built upon piles, which had +been driven into the earth to an enormous depth; how while digging for a +foundation he had come to a tree bedded in the earth, fourteen feet below +the surface of the ground; how tides are caused, and how another flood +might be caused; all of which I have remembered and noted down at much +greater length than I can enter upon here. He explained to me the whole +construction of the steam engine, and said he could soon make a famous +engineer of me, which, considering the wonderful things he has achieved, +I dare not say is impossible. His way of explaining himself is peculiar, +but very striking, and I understood, without difficulty, all that he said +to me. We then rejoined the rest of the party, and the engine having +received its supply of water, the carriage was placed behind it, for it +cannot turn, and was set off at its utmost speed, thirty-five miles an +hour, swifter than a bird flies (for they tried the experiment with a +snipe). You cannot conceive what that sensation of cutting the air was; +the motion is as smooth as possible, too. I could either have read or +written; and as it was, I stood up, and with my bonnet off ‘drank the air +before me.’ The wind, which was strong, or perhaps the force of our own +thrusting against it, absolutely weighed my eyelids down. + +“When I closed my eyes this sensation of flying was quite delightful, and +strange beyond description; yet strange as it was, I had a perfect sense +of security, and not the slightest fear. At one time, to exhibit the +power of the engine, having met another steam-carriage which was +unsupplied with water, Mr. Stephenson caused it to be fastened in front +of ours; moreover, a wagon laden with timber was also chained to us, and +thus propelling the idle steam-engine, and dragging the loaded wagon +which was beside it and our own carriage full of people behind, this +brave little she-dragon of ours flew on. Farther on she met three carts, +which, being fastened in front of her, she pushed on before her without +the slightest delay or difficulty; when I add that this pretty little +creature can run with equal facility either backwards or forwards, I +believe I have given you an account of all her capacities. Now for a +word or two about the master of all these marvels, with whom I am most +horribly in love. He is a man from fifty to fifty-five years of age; his +face is fine, though careworn, and bears an expression of deep +thoughtfulness; his mode of explaining his ideas is peculiar and very +original, striking, and forcible; and although his accents indicates +strongly his north country birth, his language has not the slightest +touch of vulgarity or coarseness. He has certainly turned my head. Four +years have sufficed to bring this great undertaking to an end. The +railroad will be opened upon the fifteenth of next month. The Duke of +Wellington is coming down to be present on the occasion, and, I suppose, +what with the thousands of spectators and the novelty of the spectacle, +there will never have been a scene of more striking interest. The whole +cost of the work (including the engines and carriages) will have been +eight hundred and thirty thousand pounds; and it is already worth double +that sum. The directors have kindly offered us three places for the +opening, which is a great favour, for people are bidding almost anything +for a place, I understand.” + +Even while Miss Kemble was writing this letter, certainly before it had +reached her correspondent, the official programme of that opening to +which she was so eagerly looking forward was thus referred to in the +Liverpool papers: + +“The day of opening still remains fixed for Wednesday the fifteenth +instant. The company by whom the ceremony is to be performed, is +expected to amount to eight or nine hundred persons, including the Duke +of Wellington and several others of the nobility. They will leave +Liverpool at an early hour in the forenoon, probably ten o’clock, in +carriages drawn by eight or nine engines, including the new engine of +Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson, if it be ready in time. The other +engines will be those constructed by Mr. Stephenson, and each of them +will draw about a hundred persons. On their arrival at Manchester, the +company will enter the upper stories of the warehouses by means of a +spacious outside wooden staircase, which is in course of erection for the +purpose by Mr. Bellhouse. The upper storey of the range of warehouses is +divided into five apartments, each measuring sixty-six feet by fifty-six. +In four of these a number of tables (which Mr. Bellhouse is also +preparing) will be placed, and the company will partake of a splendid +cold collation which is to be provided by Mr. Lynn, of the Waterloo +Hotel, Liverpool. A large apartment at the east end of the warehouses +will be reserved as a withdrawing room for the ladies, and is partitioned +off for that purpose. After partaking of the hospitality of the +directors, the company will return to Liverpool in the same order in +which they arrive. We understand that each shareholder in the railway +will be entitled to a seat (transferable) in one of the carriages, on +this interesting and important occasion. It may be proper to state, for +the information of the public, that no one will be permitted to go upon +the railway between Ordsall lane and the warehouses, and parties of the +military and police will be placed to preserve order, and prevent +intrusion. Beyond Ordsall lane, however, the public will be freely +admitted to view the procession as it passes: and no restriction will be +laid upon them farther than may be requisite to prevent them from +approaching too close to the rails, lest accidents should occur. By +extending themselves along either side of the road towards Eccles any +number of people, however great, may be easily accommodated.” + +Of the carrying out on the 15th the programme thus carefully laid down, a +contemporaneous reporter has left the following account:— + +“The town itself [Liverpool] was never so full of strangers; they poured +in during the last and the beginning of the present week from almost all +parts of the three kingdoms, and we believe that through Chester alone, +which is by no means a principal road to Liverpool, four hundred extra +passengers were forwarded on Tuesday. All the inns in the town were +crowded to overflowing, and carriages stood in the streets at night, for +want of room in the stable yards. + +“On the morning of Wednesday the population of the town and of the +country began very early to assemble near the railway. The weather was +favourable, and the Company’s station at the boundary of the town was the +rendezvous of the nobility and gentry who attended, to form the +procession at Manchester. Never was there such an assemblage of rank, +wealth, beauty, and fashion in this neighbourhood. From before nine +o’clock until ten the entrance in Crown street was thronged by the +splendid equipages from which the company was alighting, and the area in +which the railway carriages were placed was gradually filling with gay +groups eagerly searching for their respective places, as indicated by +numbers corresponding with those on their tickets. The large and elegant +car constructed for the nobility, and the accompanying cars for the +Directors and the musicians were seen through the lesser tunnel, where +persons moving about at the far end appeared as diminutive as if viewed +through a concave glass. The effect was singular and striking. In a +short time all those cars were brought along the tunnel into the yard +which then contained all the carriages, which were to be attached to the +eight locomotive engines which were in readiness beyond the tunnel in the +great excavation at Edge-hill. By this time the area presented a +beautiful spectacle, thirty-three carriages being filled by elegantly +dressed persons, each train of carriages being distinguished by silk +flags of different colours; the band of the fourth King’s Own Regiment, +stationed in the adjoining area, playing military airs, the Wellington +Harmonic Band, in a Grecian car for the procession, performing many +beautiful miscellaneous pieces; and a third band occupying a stage above +Mr. Harding’s Grand Stand, at William the Fourth’s Hotel, spiritedly +adding to the liveliness of the hour whenever the other bands ceased. + +“A few minutes before ten, the discharge of a gun and the cheers of the +assembly announced the arrival of the Duke of Wellington, who entered the +area with the Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury and a number of +friends, the band playing ‘See the conquering hero comes.’ He returned +the congratulations of the company, and in a few moments the grand car, +which he and the nobility and the principal gentry occupied, and the cars +attached to it, were permitted to proceed; we say permitted, because no +applied power, except a slight impulse at first, is requisite to propel +carriages along the tunnel, the slope being just sufficient to call into +effect the principle of gravitation. The tunnel was lighted with gas, +and the motion in passing through it must have been as pleasing as it was +novel to all the party. On arriving at the engine station, the cars were +attached to the _Northumbrian_ locomotive engine, on the southern of the +two lines of rail; and immediately the other trains of carriages started +through the tunnel and were attached to their respective engines on the +northern of the lines. + +“We had the good fortune to have a place in the first train after the +grand cars, which train, drawn by the _Phoenix_, consisted of three open +and two close carriages, each carrying twenty-six ladies and gentlemen. +The lofty banks of the engine station were crowded with thousands of +spectators, whose enthusiastic cheering seemed to rend the air. From +this point to Wavertree-lane, while the procession was forming, the grand +cars passed and repassed the other trains of carriages several times, +running as they did in the same direction on the two parallel tracks, +which gave the assembled thousands and tens of thousands the opportunity +of seeing distinctly the illustrious strangers, whose presence gave +extraordinary interest to the scene. Some soldiers of the 4th Regiment +assisted the railway police in keeping the way clear and preserving +order, and they discharged their duty in a very proper manner. A few +minutes before eleven all was ready for the journey, and certainly a +journey upon a railway is one of the most delightful that can be +imagined. Our first thoughts it might be supposed, from the road being +so level, were that it must be monotonous and uninteresting. It is +precisely the contrary; for as the road does not rise and fall like the +ground over which we pass, but proceeds nearly at a level, whether the +land be high or low, we are at one moment drawn through a hill, and find +ourselves seventy feet below the surface, in an Alpine chasm, and at +another we are as many feet above the green fields, traversing a raised +path, from which we look down upon the roofs of farm houses, and see the +distant hills and woods. These variations give an interest to such a +journey which cannot be appreciated until they are witnessed. The signal +gun being fired, we started in beautiful style, amidst the deafening +plaudits of the well dressed people who thronged the numerous booths, and +all the walls and eminences on both sides the line. Our speed was +gradually increased till, entering the Olive Mountain excavation, we +rushed into the awful chasm at the rate of twenty-four miles an hour. +The banks, the bridges over our heads, and the rude projecting corners +along the sides, were covered with masses of human beings past whom we +glided as if upon the wings of the wind. We soon came into the open +country of Broad Green, having fine views of Huyton and Prescot on the +left, and the hilly grounds of Cheshire on the right. Vehicles of every +description stood in the fields on both sides, and thousands of +spectators still lined the margin of the road; some horses seemed +alarmed, but after trotting with their carriages to the farther hedges, +they stood still as if their fears had subsided. After passing Whiston, +sometimes going slowly, sometimes swiftly, we observed that a vista +formed by several bridges crossing the road gave a pleasing effect to the +view. Under Rainhill Bridge, which, like all the others, was crowded +with spectators, the Duke’s car stopped until we passed, and on this, as +on similar occasions, we had excellent opportunities of seeing the whole +of the noble party, distinguishing the Marquis and Marchioness of +Salisbury, the Earl and Countess of Wilton, Lord Stanley, and others, in +the fore part of the car; alongside of the latter part was Mr. Huskisson, +standing with his face always toward us; and further behind was Lord +Hill, and others, among whom the Mayor of Liverpool took his station. At +this place Mr. Bretherton had a large party of friends in a field, +overlooking the road. As we approached the Sutton inclined plane the +Duke’s car passed us again at a most rapid rate—it appeared rapid even to +us who were travelling then at, probably, fifteen miles an hour. We had +a fine view of Billings Hill from this neighbourhood, and of a thousand +various coloured fields. A grand stand was here erected, beautifully +decorated, and crowded with ladies and gentlemen from St. Helen’s and the +neighbourhood. Entering upon Parr Moss we had a good view of Newton Race +Course and the stands, and at this time the Duke was far ahead of us; the +grand cars appeared actually of diminutive dimensions, and in a short +time we saw them gliding beautifully over the Sankey Viaduct, from which +a scene truly magnificent lay before us. + +“The fields below us were occupied by thousands who cheered us as we +passed over the stupendous edifice; carriages filled the narrow lanes, +and vessels in the water had been detained in order that their crews +might gaze up at the gorgeous pageant passing far above their masts +heads. Here again was a grand stand, and here again enthusiastic +plaudits almost deafened us. Shortly, we passed the borough of Newton, +crossing a fine bridge over the Warrington road, and reached Parkside, +seventeen miles from Liverpool, in about four minutes under the hour. At +this place the engines were ranged under different watering stations to +receive fresh water, the whole extending along nearly half a mile of +road. Our train and two others passed the Duke’s car, and we in the +first train had had our engine supplied with water, and were ready to +start, some time before we were aware of the melancholy cause of our +apparently great delay. We had most of us, alighted, and were walking +about, congratulating each other generally, and the ladies particularly, +on the truly delightful treat we were enjoying, all hearts bounding with +joyous excitement, and every tongue eloquent in the praise of the +gigantic work now completed, and the advantages and pleasures it +afforded. A murmur and an agitation at a little distance betokened +something alarming and we too soon learned the nature of that lamentable +event, which we cannot record without the most agonized feelings. On +inquiring, we learnt the dreadful particulars. After three of the +engines with their trains had passed the Duke’s carriage, although the +others had to follow, the company began to alight from all the carriages +which had arrived. The Duke of Wellington and Mr. Huskisson had just +shaken hands, and Mr. Huskisson, Prince Esterhazy, Mr. Birch, Mr. H. +Earle, Mr. William Holmes, M.P., and others were standing in the road, +when the other carriages were approaching. An alarm being given, most of +the gentlemen sprang into the carriage, but Mr. Huskisson seemed +flurried, and from some cause, not clearly ascertained, he fell under the +engine of the approaching carriages, the wheel of which shattered his leg +in the most dreadful manner. On being raised from the ground by the Earl +of Wilton, Mr. Holmes, and other gentlemen, his only exclamations +were:—“Where is Mrs. Huskisson? I have met my death. God forgive me.” +Immediately after he swooned. Dr. Brandreth, and Dr. Southey, of London, +immediately applied bandages to the limb. In a short time the engine was +detached from the Duke’s carriage, and the musician’s car being prepared +for the purpose, the Right Honourable gentleman was placed in it, +accompanied by his afflicted lady, with Dr. Brandreth, Dr. Southey, Earl +of Wilton, and Mr. Stephenson, who set off in the direction of +Manchester. + +“The whole of the procession remained at least another hour uncertain +what course to adopt. A consultation was held on the open part of the +road, and the Duke of Wellington was soon surrounded by the Directors, +and a mournful group of gentlemen. At first it was thought advisable to +return to Liverpool, merely despatching one engine and a set of +carriages, to convey home Lady Wilton, and others who did not wish to +return to Liverpool. The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel seemed +to favour this course; others thought it best to proceed as originally +intended: but no decision was made till the Boroughreeve of Manchester +stated, that if the procession did not reach Manchester, where an +unprecedented concourse of people would be assembled, and would wait for +it, he should be fearful of the consequences to the peace of the town. +This turned the scale, and his Grace then proposed that the whole party +should proceed, and return as soon as possible, all festivity at +Manchester being avoided. The _Phœnix_, with its train, was then +attached to the _North Star_ and its train, and from the two united a +long chain was affixed to his Grace’s car, and although it was on the +other line of rail, it was found to draw the whole along exceedingly +well. About half-past one, we resumed our journey; and we should here +mention that the Wigan Branch Railway Company had erected near Parkside +bridge a grand stand, which they and their friends occupied, and from +which they enthusiastically cheered the procession. On reaching the +twentieth mile post we had a beautiful view of Rivington Pike and +Blackstone Edge, and at the twenty-first the smoke of Manchester appeared +to be directly at the termination of our view. Groups of people +continued to cheer us, but we could not reply; our enjoyment was over. +Tyldesley Church, and a vast region of smiling fields here met the eye, +as we traversed the flat surface of Chat Moss, in the midst of which a +vast crowd was assembled to greet us with their plaudits; and from the +twenty-fourth mile post we began to find ourselves flanked on both sides +by spectators extending in a continuous and thickening body all the way +to Manchester. At the twenty-fifth mile post we met Mr. Stephenson +returning with the _Northumbrian_ engine. In answer to innumerable and +eager inquiries, Mr. Stephenson said he had left Mr. Huskisson at the +house of the Rev. Mr. Blackburne, Vicar of Eccles, and had then proceeded +to Manchester, whence he brought back medical assistance, and that the +surgeons, after seeing Mr. Huskisson, had expressed a hope that there was +no danger. Mr. Stephenson’s speed had been at the rate of thirty-four +miles an hour during this painful errand. The engine being then again +attached to the Duke’s car, the procession dashed forward, passing +countless thousands of people upon house tops, booths, high ground, +bridges, etc., and our readers must imagine, for we cannot describe, such +a movement through an avenue of living beings, and extending six miles in +length. Upon one bridge a tri-colored flag was displayed; near another +the motto of “Vote by ballot” was seen; in a field near Eccles, a poor +and wretchedly dressed man had his loom close to the roadside, and was +weaving with all his might; cries of “No Corn Laws,” were occasionally +heard, and for about two miles the cheerings of the crowd were +interspersed with a continual hissing and hooting from the minority. On +approaching the bridge which crosses the Irwell, the 59th regiment was +drawn up, flanking the road on each side, and presenting arms as his +Grace passed along. We reached the warehouses at a quarter before three, +and those who alighted were shown into the large upper rooms where a most +elegant cold collation had been prepared by Mr. Lynn, for more than one +thousand persons. The greater portion of the company, as the carriages +continued to arrive, visited the rooms and partook in silence of some +refreshment. They then returned to their carriages which had been +properly placed for returning. His Grace and the principal party did not +alight; but he went through a most fatiguing office for more than an hour +and a half, in shaking hands with thousands of people, to whom he stooped +over the hand rail of the carriage, and who seemed insatiable in their +desire to join hands with him. Many women brought their children to him, +lifting them up that he might bless them, which he did, and during the +whole time he had scarcely a minute’s respite. At half-past four the +Duke’s car began to move away for Liverpool. + +“They would have been detained a little longer, in order that three of +the engines, which had been to Eccles for water, might have dropped into +the rear to take their places; but Mr. Lavender represented that the +crowd was so thickening in upon all sides, and becoming so clamorous for +admission into the area, that he would not answer for the peace of the +town, if further delay took place. The three engines were on the same +line of rail as the Duke, and they could not cross to the other line +without getting to a turning place, and as the Duke could not be delayed +on account of his keeping the crowd together, there was no alternative +but to send the engines forward. One of the other engines was then +attached to our train, and we followed the Duke rapidly, while the six +trains behind had only three engines left to bring them back. Of course, +we kept pace with the Duke, who stopped at Eccles to inquire after Mr. +Huskisson. The answer received was that there was now no hope of his +life being saved; and this intelligence plunged the whole party into +still deeper distress. We proceeded without meeting any fresh incident +until we passed Prescot, where we found two of the three engines at the +6½ mile post, where a turning had been effected, but the third had gone +on to Liverpool; we then detached the one we had borrowed, and the three +set out to meet the six remaining trains of carriages. Our carriages +were then connected with the grand cars, the engine of which now drew the +whole number of nine carriages, containing nearly three hundred persons, +at a very smart rate. We were now getting into vast crowds of people, +most of them ignorant of the dreadful event which had taken place, and +all of them giving us enthusiastic cheers which we could not return. + +“At Roby, his Grace and the Childwalls alighted and proceeded home; our +carriages then moved forward to Liverpool, where we arrived about seven +o’clock, and went down the great tunnel, under the town, a part of the +work which, more than any other, astonished the numerous strangers +present. It is, indeed, a wonderful work, and makes an impression never +to be effaced from the memory. The Company’s yard, from St. James’s +Street to Wapping, was filled with carriages waiting for the returning +parties, who separated with feelings of mingled gratification and +distress, to which we shall not attempt to give utterance. We afterwards +learnt that the parties we left at Manchester placed the three remaining +engines together, and all the carriages together, so as to form one grand +procession, including twenty-four carriages, and were coming home at a +steady pace, when they were met near Newton, by the other three engines, +which were then attached to the rest, and they arrived in Liverpool about +ten o’clock. + +“Thus ended a pageant which, for importance as to its object and grandeur +in its details, is admitted to have exceeded anything ever witnessed. We +conversed with many gentlemen of great experience in public life, who +spoke of the scene as surpassing anything they had ever beheld, and who +computed, upon data which they considered to be satisfactory, that not +fewer than 500,000 persons must have been spectators of the procession.” + +So far from being a success, the occasion was, after the accident to Mr. +Huskisson, such a series of mortifying disappointments and the Duke of +Wellington’s experience at Manchester had been so very far removed from +gratifying that the directors of the company felt moved to exonerate +themselves from the load of censure by an official explanation. This +they did in the following language:— + +“On the subject of delay which took place in the starting from +Manchester, and consequently in the arrival at Liverpool, of the last +three engines, with twenty-four carriages and six hundred passengers, +being the train allotted to six of the engines, we are authorized to +state that the directors think it due to the proprietors and others +constituting the large assemblage of company in the above trains to make +known the following particulars: + +“Three out of the six locomotive engines which belonged to the above +trains had proceeded on the south road from Manchester to Eccles, to take +in water, with the intention of returning to Manchester, and so getting +out of that line of road before any of the trains should start on their +return home. Before this, however, was accomplished, the following +circumstances seemed to render it imperative for the train of carriages +containing the Duke of Wellington and a great many of the distinguished +visitors to leave Manchester. The eagerness on the part of the crowd to +see the Duke, and to shake hands with him, was very great, so much so +that his Grace held out both his hands to the pressing multitude at the +same time; the assembling crowd becoming more dense every minute, closely +surrounded the carriages, as the principal attraction was this particular +train. The difficulty of proceeding at all increased every moment and +consequently the danger of accident upon the attempt being made to force +a way through the throng also increased. At this juncture Mr. Lavender, +the head of the police establishment of Manchester, interfered, and +entreated that the Duke’s train should move on, or he could not answer +for the consequences. Under these circumstances, and the day being well +advanced, it was thought expedient at all events to move forward while it +was still practicable to do so. The order was accordingly given, and the +train passed along out of the immediate neighbourhood of Manchester +without accident to anyone. When they had proceeded a few miles they +fell in with the engines belonging to the trains left at Manchester, and +these engines being on the same line as the carriages of the procession, +there was no alternative but bringing the Duke’s train back through the +dense multitude to Manchester, or proceeding with three extra engines to +the neighbourhood of Liverpool (all passing places from one road to the +other being removed, with a view to safety, on the occasion), and +afterwards sending them back to the assistance of the trains +unfortunately left behind. It was determined to proceed towards +Liverpool, as being decidedly the most advisable course under the +circumstances of the case; and it may be mentioned for the satisfaction +of any party who may have considered that he was in some measure left in +the lurch, that Mr. Moss, the Deputy Chairman, had left Mrs. Moss and +several of his family to come with the trains which had been so left +behind. Three engines having to draw a load calculated for six, their +progress was of course much retarded, besides a considerable delay which +took place before the starting of the last trains, owing to the +uncertainty which existed as to what had become of the three missing +engines. These engines, after proceeding to within a few miles of +Liverpool, were enabled to return to Park-side, in the neighbourhood of +Newton, where they were attached to the other three and the whole +proceeding safely to Liverpool, where they arrived at ten in the +evening.” + +The case was, however, here stated, to say the least, in the mildest +possible manner. The fact was that the authorities at Manchester had, +and not without reason, passed a very panic-stricken hour on account of +the Duke of Wellington. That personage had been in a position of no +inconsiderable peril. Though the reporter preserved a decorous silence +on that point, the ministerial car had on the way been pelted, as well as +hooted; and at Manchester a vast mass of not particularly well disposed +persons had fairly overwhelmed both police and soldiery, and had taken +complete possession of the tracks. They were not riotous but they were +very rough; and they insisted on climbing upon the carriages and pressing +their attentions on the distinguished inmates in a manner somewhat at +variance with English ideas of propriety. The Duke’s efforts at +conciliatory manners, as evinced through much hand-shaking, were not +without significance. It was small matter for wonder, therefore, that +the terrified authorities, before they got him out of their town, +heartily regretted that they had not allowed him to have his own way +after the accident to Mr. Huskisson, when he proposed to turn back +without coming to it. Having once got him safely started back to +Liverpool, therefore, they preferred to leave the other guests to take +care of themselves, rather than have the Duke face the crowd again. As +there were no sidings on that early road, and the connections between the +tracks had, as a measure of safety, been temporarily removed, the +ministerial train in moving towards Liverpool had necessarily pushed +before it the engines belonging to the other trains. The unfortunate +guests on those other trains, thus left to their fate, had for the rest +of the day a very dreary time of it. To avoid accidents, the six trains +abandoned at Manchester were united into one, to which were attached the +three locomotives remaining. In this form they started. Presently the +strain broke the couplings. Pieces of rope were then put in requisition, +and again they got in motion. In due time the three other engines came +along, but they could only be used by putting them on in front of the +three already attached to the train. Two of them were used in that way, +and the eleven cars thus drawn by five locomotives, and preceded at a +short distance by one other, went on towards Liverpool. It was dark, and +to meet the exigencies of the occasion the first germ of the present +elaborate system of railroad night signals was improvised on the spot. +From the foremost and pioneer locomotive obstacles were signalled to the +train locomotives by the very primitive expedient of swinging the lighted +end of a tar-rope. At Rainhill the weight of the train proved too much +for the combined motive-power, and the thoroughly wearied passengers had +to leave their carriages and walk up the incline. When they got to the +summit and, resuming their seats, were again in motion, fresh delay was +occasioned by the leading locomotive running into a wheel-barrow, +maliciously placed on the track to obstruct it. Not until ten o’clock +did they enter the tunnel at Liverpool. Meanwhile all sorts of rumours +of general disaster had for hours been circulating among the vast +concourse of spectators who were assembled waiting for their friends, and +whose relief expressed itself in hearty cheers as the train at last +rolled safely into the station. + +We have also Miss Kemble’s story of this day, to which in her letter of +August 25th she had looked forward with such eager interest. With her +father and mother she had been staying at a country place in Lancashire, +and in her account of the affair, written in 1876, she says:— + +“The whole gay party assembled at Heaton, my mother and myself included, +went to Liverpool for the opening of the railroad. The throng of +strangers gathered there for the same purpose made it almost impossible +to obtain a night’s lodging for love or money; and glad and thankful were +we to put up with and be put up in a tiny garret by an old friend, Mr. +Radley, of the Adelphi, which many would have given twice what we paid to +obtain. The day opened gloriously, and never was an innumerable +concourse of sight-seers in better humour than the surging, swaying crowd +that lined the railroad with living faces. . . After this disastrous +event [the accident to Mr. Huskisson] the day became overcast, and as we +neared Manchester the sky grew cloudy and dark, and it began to rain. +The vast concourse of people who had assembled to witness the triumphant +arrival of the successful travellers was of the lowest order of mechanics +and artisans, among whom great distress and a dangerous spirit of +discontent with the government at that time prevailed. Groans and hisses +greeted the carriage, full of influential personages, in which the Duke +of Wellington sat. High above the grim and grimy crowd of scowling faces +a loom had been erected, at which sat a tattered, starved-looking weaver, +evidently set there as a _representative man_, to protest against this +triumph of machinery, and the gain and glory which the wealthy Liverpool +and Manchester men were likely to derive from it. The contrast between +our departure from Liverpool and our arrival at Manchester was one of the +most striking things I ever witnessed. + + MANCHESTER, _September_ 20_th_, 1830. + +MY DEAREST H—: + + * * * * * + +“You probably have by this time heard and read accounts of the opening of +the railroad, and the fearful accident which occurred at it, for the +papers are full of nothing else. The accident you mention did occur, but +though the unfortunate man who was killed bore Mr. Stephenson’s name, he +was not related to him. [Besides Mr. Huskisson, another man named +Stephenson had about this time been killed on the railroad]. I will tell +you something of the events on the fifteenth, as though you may be +acquainted with the circumstances of poor Mr. Huskisson’s death, none but +an eye-witness of the whole scene can form a conception of it. I told +you that we had had places given to us, and it was the main purpose of +our returning from Birmingham to Manchester to be present at what +promised to be one of the most striking events in the scientific annals +of our country. We started on Wednesday last, to the number of about +eight hundred people, in carriages constructed as I before described to +you. The most intense curiosity and excitement prevailed, and though the +weather was uncertain, enormous masses of densely packed people lined the +road, shouting and waving hats and handkerchiefs as we flew by them. +What with the sight and sound of these cheering multitudes and the +tremendous velocity with which we were borne past them, my spirits rose +to the true champagne height, and I never enjoyed anything so much as the +first hour of our progress. I had been unluckily separated from my +mother in the first distribution of places, but by an exchange of seats +which she was enabled to make she rejoined me, when I was at the height +of my ecstasy, which was considerably damped by finding that she was +frightened to death, and intent upon nothing but devising means of +escaping from a situation which appeared to her to threaten with instant +annihilation herself and all her travelling companions. While I was +chewing the cud of this disappointment, which was rather bitter, as I +expected her to be as delighted as myself with our excursion, a man flew +by us, calling out through a speaking trumpet to stop the engine, for +that somebody in the directors’ car had sustained an injury. We were all +stopped accordingly and presently a hundred voices were heard exclaiming +that Mr. Huskisson was killed. The confusion that ensued is +indescribable; the calling out from carriage to carriage to ascertain the +truth, the contrary reports which were sent back to us, the hundred +questions eagerly uttered at once, and the repeated and urgent demands +for surgical assistance, created a sudden turmoil that was quite +sickening. At last we distinctly ascertained that the unfortunate man’s +thigh was broken. + +“From Lady W—, who was in the duke’s carriage, and within three yards of +the spot where the accident happened, I had the following details, the +horror of witnessing which we were spared through our situation behind +the great carriage. The engine had stopped to take in a supply of water, +and several of the gentlemen in the directors’ carriage had jumped out to +look about them. Lord W—, Count Batthyany, Count Matuscenitz, and Mr. +Huskisson among the rest were standing talking in the middle of the road, +when an engine on the other line, which was parading up and down merely +to show its speed, was seen coming down upon them like lightning. The +most active of those in peril sprang back into their seats; Lord W— saved +his life only by rushing behind the duke’s carriage, Count Matuscenitz +had but just leaped into it, with the engine all but touching his heels +as he did so; while poor Mr. Huskisson, less active from the effects of +age and ill health, bewildered too by the frantic cries of ‘Stop the +engine: Clear the track!’ that resounded on all sides, completely lost +his head, looked helplessly to the right and left, and was +instantaneously prostrated by the fatal machine, which dashed down like a +thunderbolt upon him, and passed over his leg, smashing and mangling it +in the most horrible way. (Lady W— said she distinctly heard the +crushing of the bone). So terrible was the effect of the appalling +accident that except that ghastly ‘crushing’ and poor Mrs. Huskisson’s +piercing shriek, not a sound was heard or a word uttered among the +immediate spectators of the catastrophe. Lord W— was the first to raise +the poor sufferer, and calling to his aid his surgical skill, which is +considerable, he tied up the severed artery, and for a time at least, +prevented death by a loss of blood. Mr. Huskisson was then placed in a +carriage with his wife and Lord W—, and the engine having been detached +from the directors’ carriage, conveyed them to Manchester. So great was +the shock produced on the whole party by this event that the Duke of +Wellington declared his intention not to proceed, but to return +immediately to Liverpool. However, upon its being represented to him +that the whole population of Manchester had turned out to witness the +procession, and that a disappointment might give rise to riots and +disturbances, he consented to go on, and gloomily enough the rest of the +journey was accomplished. We had intended returning to Liverpool by the +railroad, but Lady W—, who seized upon me in the midst of the crowd, +persuaded us to accompany her home, which we gladly did. Lord W— did not +return till past ten o’clock, at which hour he brought the intelligence +of Mr. Huskisson’s death. I need not tell you of the sort of whispering +awe which this event threw over our circle; and yet great as was the +horror excited by it, I could not help feeling how evanescent the effect +of it was, after all. The shuddering terror of seeing our +fellow-creature thus struck down by our side, and the breathless +thankfulness for our own preservation, rendered the first evening of our +party at Heaton almost solemn; but the next day the occurrence became a +subject of earnest, it is true, but free discussion; and after that was +alluded to with almost as little apparent feeling as if it had not passed +under our eyes, and within the space of a few hours.” + + + + +MRS. BLACKBURNE’S PRESENTIMENT. + + +Miss Kemble was mistaken in stating Mr. Huskisson after his accident was +removed to Manchester. He was conveyed to the vicarage, at Eccles, near +Manchester. Of the vicar’s wife, Dean Stanley’s mother thus writes, +(January 17, 1832,):—“There is one person who interests me very much, +Mrs. Tom Blackburne, the Vicaress of Eccles, who received poor Mr. +Huskisson, and immortalised herself by her activity, sense, and conduct +throughout.” A writer in the _Cornhill Magazine_, for March, 1884, +referring to the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, +remarks:—“In celebration of this experiment, for even then most people +only looked upon it as a doubtful thing, the houses of the adjacent parts +of Lancashire were filled with guests. Mr. John Blackburne, M.P., asked +his brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Blackburne, to stay at +Hale Hall, near Liverpool, (which his ancestors in the direct line had +possessed since 1199,) and to go with his party to the ceremony and fetes +of the day. + +The invitation was accepted, and Mr. and Mrs. Blackburne went to Hale. +Now, however, occurred one of those strange circumstances utterly +condemned by critics of fiction as ‘unreal,’ ‘unnatural,’ or +‘impossible;’ only in this case it happened to be true, in spite of all +these epithets. Mrs. Blackburne, rather strong-minded than otherwise, at +all events one of the last women in the world to be affected by +imagination, became possessed by an unmistakable presentiment, which made +her feel quite sure _that her presence was required at home_; _and she +went home at once_. There were difficulties in her way; every carriage +was required, but she would go. She drove to Warrington, and from thence +‘took boat’ up the Irwell to Eccles. Canal boats were then regular +conveyances, divided into first and second classes. There were no mobs +or excitement anywhere on the 14th, and Mrs. Blackburne got quickly to +Eccles without any adventures. When there, except that one of her +children was unwell, she could find nothing wrong, or in the least likely +to account for the presentiment which had driven her home in spite of all +the natural enough, ridicule of her husband and friends at Hale. + +Early on the morning of the 15th, an incident occurred, the narration of +which may throw some light on the temper of the times. Mr. Barton, of +Swinton, came to say that a mob was expected to come from Oldham to +attack the Duke of Wellington, then at the height of his unpopularity +among the masses; for just by Eccles three miles of the line was left +unguarded, ‘Could Mr. Blackburne say what was to be done?’ + +‘My husband is away,’ said the Vicaress, ‘but I know that about fifty +special constables were out last year, the very men for this work, if +their licenses have not expired.’ + +‘Never mind licenses,’ replied Mr. Barton, with a superb indifference to +form, quite natural under the circumstances. ‘Where can I find the men?’ + +‘Oh,’ replied Mrs. Blackburne, ‘I can get the men for you.’ + +Mr. Barton hesitated, but soon with gratitude accepted the offer, and +with the help of the churchwardens and constables ‘a guard for the Duke’ +was soon collected on the bridge of Eccles, armed with staves and clubs +to be dispersed along the line. + +This done, she had a tent put up for herself and children, with whom were +Lord Wilton’s little daughters, the Ladies Elizabeth and Katherine +Egerton, and their governess. The tent was just above the cutting and +looked down on to it, and they would have a good view of the first train, +expected to pass about eleven o’clock. The morning wore on, the crowds +were increasing, and low murmurs of wonder were heard. It was thought +that the experiment had failed. A few of the villagers came into the +field, but none troubled the little band of watchers. The bright +sunshine had passed away, and it had become dark, with large hot drops of +rain, forerunners of a coming thunderstorm. The people lined the whole +of the way from Manchester to Liverpool, and, as far as the eye could +reach, faces were seen anxiously looking towards Liverpool. Suddenly a +strange roar was heard from the crowd, not a cheer of triumph, but a +prolonged wail, beginning at the furthest point of travelling along the +swarming banks like the incoming swirl of a breaker as it runs upon a +gravelled beach. + +Like a true woman, her first thought was for her husband, as Mrs. +Blackburne heard the words repeated on all sides, ‘An accident!’ ‘The +Vicarage!’ She flew across the field to the gate and met a sad +procession bringing in a sorely-wounded yet quite conscious man. She saw +in a moment that he had medals on his coat, and had been very tall, so +that it could not be as she feared. The relief of that moment may be +imagined. Then the quiet presence of mind, by practice habitual to her, +and the ready flow of sympathy left her no time to think of anything but +the sufferer, who said to her pathetically, ‘I shall not trouble you +long!’ She had not only the will but the power to help, even to +supplying from her own medicine chest and stores, kept for the poor, +everything that the surgeons required. + +It was Lord Wilton who suggested the removal of Mr. Huskisson to Eccles +Vicarage and improvised a tourniquet on the spot, while soon the medical +men who were in the train did what they could for him. Mr. Blackburne, +as will be remembered, was not with his wife, and only the presentiment +which had brought Mrs. Blackburne home had given the means of so readily +and quickly obtaining surgical necessaries and rest. Mr. Blackburne, +writing to his mother-in-law the day after this accident, referring to +Mr. Huskisson, remarks:—“To the last he retained his senses. Lord +Granville says when the dying man heard Wilton propose to take him to +this house he exclaimed, ‘Pray take me there; there I shall indeed be +taken care of.’ + +But fancy my horror! _Not one word did I know of his being here till I +had passed the place_, _and was literally eating my luncheon at +Manchester_! In vain did I try to get a conveyance, till at last the +Duke of Wellington sent to me and ordered his car to start, and I came +with him back, he intending to come here; but the crowd was so _immense_ +that the police dared not let him get out. To be sure, when my people on +the bridge saw me standing with him, they did shout, ‘That’s as it should +be—Vicar for us!’ He said, ‘These people seem to know you well.’ + +_Entre nous_, at the door I met my love, and after a good cry (I don’t +know which was the greatest fool!) set to work. The poor fellow was glad +to see me, and never shall I forget the scene, his poor wife holding his +head, and the great men weeping, for they all wept! He then received the +Sacrament, added some codocils to his will, and seemed perfectly +resigned. But his agonies were dreadful! Ransome says they must have +been so. He expired at nine. We never left him till he breathed his +last. Poor woman! How she lamented his loss; yet her struggles to bear +with fortitude are wonderful. I wish you could have heard him exclaim, +after my petition ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive . . . ’ ‘I +have not the smallest ill-will to any one person in the whole world.’ +They stay here until Saturday, when they begin the sad journey to convey +him to Sussex. They wanted to bury him at Liverpool, but she refused. I +forgot to tell you that he told Lawrence before starting that he _wished +he were safe back_.” + +Mr. Huskisson was not buried at Chichester, for at last Mrs. Huskisson +consented to the popular wish that his body might have a public funeral +at Liverpool, where a statue of him by Gibson now stands in the +cemetery.” + + + + +ELEVATED SIGHT-SEERS WISHING TO DESCEND. + + +Sir J. A. Picton, in his _Memorials of Liverpool_, relates an amusing +incident connected with the opening of the railway at that town. “On the +opening of the railway,” he remarks, “of course, every point and ‘coin of +vantage’ from whence the procession could be best seen was eagerly +availed of. A tolerably high chimney had recently been built upon the +railway ground, affording a sufficient platform on the scaffolding at the +top for the accommodation of two or three persons. Two gentlemen +connected with the engineer’s department took advantage of this crowning +eminence to obtain a really ‘bird’s eye view’ of the whole proceedings. +They were wound up by the tackle used in hoisting the bricks, and enjoyed +the perspective from their airy height to their hearts’ content. When +all was over they, of course, wished to descend, and gave the signal to +be let down again, but alas! there was no response. The man in charge, +excited by the events of the day, confused by the sorrowful news by which +it was closed, and, it may be, oblivious from other causes, had utterly +forgotten his engagement and gone home. Here was a prospect! The shades +of evening were gathering, the multitudes departing, and every +probability of being obliged to act the part of St. Simeon of Stylites +very involuntarily. Despair added force and strength to their lungs, and +at length—their condition and difficulty having attracted attention—they +were relieved from their unpleasant predicament.” + + + + +THE DUKE’S CARRIAGE. + + +A correspondent of the _Athenæum_, in 1830, speaking of the carriage +prepared for the Duke of Wellington at the opening of the Liverpool and +Manchester Railway, remarks: “It rather resembled an eastern pavilion +than anything our northern idea considers a carriage. The floor is 32 +feet long by 8 wide, gilt pillars support a crimson canopy 24 feet long, +and it might for magnitude be likened to the car of Juggernaut; yet this +huge machine, with the preceding steam engine, moved along at its own +fiery will even more swimmingly, a ‘thing of heart and mind,’ than a ship +on the ocean.” + + + + +LORD BROUGHAM’S SPEECH. + + +At a dinner given at Liverpool in celebration of the opening of the +Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Lord Brougham thus discourses upon the +memorable event and the death of Mr. Huskisson:—“When I saw the +difficulties of space, as it were, overcome; when I beheld a kind of +miracle exhibited before my astonished eyes; when I saw the rocks +excavated and the gigantic power of man penetrating through miles of the +solid mass, and gaining a great, a lasting, an almost perennial conquest +over the powers of nature by his skill and industry; when I contemplated +all this, was it possible for me to avoid the reflections which crowded +into my mind, not in praise of man’s great success, not in admiration of +the genius and perseverance he had displayed, or even of the courage he +had shown in setting himself against the obstacles that matter afforded +to his course—no! but the melancholy reflection that these prodigious +efforts of the human race, so fruitful of praise but so much more +fruitful of lasting blessing to mankind, have forced a tear from my eye +by that unhappy casualty which deprived me of a friend and you of a +representative!” + + + + +AN EARLY RIDE ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY. + + +No account of its first beginnings would, however, be complete for our +time, which did not also give an idea of the impressions produced on one +travelling over it before yet the novelty of the thing had quite worn +away. It was a long time, comparatively, after September, 1830, before +the men who had made a trip over the railroad ceased to be objects of +deep curiosity. Here is the account of his experience by one of these +far-travelled men, with all its freshness still lingering about it:— + +“Although the whole passage between Liverpool and Manchester is a series +of enchantments, surpassing any in the Arabian Nights, because they are +realities, not fictions, yet there are epochs in the transit which are +peculiarly exciting. These are the startings, the ascents, the descents, +the tunnels, the Chat Moss, the meetings. At the instant of starting, or +rather before, the automaton belches forth an explosion of steam, and +seems for a second or two quiescent. But quickly the explosions are +reiterated, with shorter and shorter intervals, till they become too +rapid to be counted, though still distinct. These belchings or +explosions more nearly resemble the pantings of a lion or tiger, than any +sound that has ever vibrated on my ear. During the ascent they become +slower and slower, till the automaton actually labours like an animal out +of breath, from the tremendous efforts to gain the highest point of +elevation. The progression is proportionate; and before the said point +is gained, the train is not moving faster than a horse can pace. With +the slow motion of the mighty and animated machine, the breathing becomes +more laborious, the growl more distinct, till at length the animal +appears exhausted and groans like the tiger, when overpowered in combat +by the buffalo. + +“The moment that the height is reached and the descent commences, the +pantings rapidly increase; the engine with its train starts off with +augmenting velocity; and in a few seconds it is flying down the declivity +like lightning, and with a uniform growl or roar, like a continuous +discharge of distant artillery. + +“At this period, the whole train is going at the rate of thirty-five or +forty miles an hour! I was on the outside, and in front of the first +carriage, just over the engine. The scene was magnificent, I had almost +said terrific. Although it was a dead calm the wind appeared to be +blowing a hurricane, such was the velocity with which we darted through +the air. Yet all was steady; and there was something in the precision of +the machinery that inspired a degree of confidence over fear—of safety +over danger. A man may travel from the Pole to the Equator, from the +Straits of Malacca to the Isthmus of Darien, and he will see nothing so +astonishing as this. The pangs of Etna and Vesuvius excite feelings of +horror as well as of terror; the convulsion of the elements during a +thunderstorm carries with it nothing but pride, much less of pleasure, to +counteract the awe inspired by the fearful workings of perturbed nature; +but the scene which is here presented, and which I cannot adequately +describe, engenders a proud consciousness of superiority in human +ingenuity, more intense and convincing than any effort or product of the +poet, the painter, the philosopher, or the divine. The projections or +transits of the train through the tunnels or arches are very +electrifying. The deafening peal of thunder, the sudden immersion in +gloom, and the clash of reverberated sounds in confined space combine to +produce a momentary shudder or idea of destruction—a thrill of +annihilation, which is instantly dispelled on emerging into the cheerful +light. + +“The meetings or crossings of the steam trains flying in opposite +directions are scarcely less agitating to the nerves than their transits +through the tunnels. The velocity of their course, the propinquity or +apparent identity of the iron orbits along which these meteors move, call +forth the involuntary but fearful thought of a possible collision, with +all its horrible consequences. The period of suspense, however, though +exquisitely painful, is but momentary; and in a few seconds the object of +terror is far out of sight behind. + +“Nor is the rapid passage across Chat Moss unworthy of notice. The +ingenuity with which two narrow rods of iron are made to bear whole +trains of wagons, laden with many hundred tons of commerce, and bounding +across a wide, semi-fluid morass, previously impassable by man or beast, +is beyond all praise and deserving of eternal record. Only conceive a +slender bridge of two minute iron rails, several miles in length, level +as Waterloo, elastic as whalebone, yet firm as adamant! Along this +splendid triumph of human genius—this veritable _via triumphalis_—the +train of carriages bounds with the velocity of the stricken deer; the +vibrations of the resilient moss causing the ponderous engine and its +enormous suite to glide along the surface of an extensive quagmire as +safely as a practiced skater skims the icy mirror of a frozen lake. + +“The first class or train is the most fashionable, but the second or +third are the most amusing. I travelled one day from Liverpool to +Manchester in the lumber train. Many of the carriages were occupied by +the swinish multitude, and others by a multitude of swine. These last +were naturally vociferous if not eloquent. It is evident that the other +passengers would have been considerably annoyed by the orators of this +last group, had there not been stationed in each carriage an officer +somewhat analogous to the Usher of the Black Rod, but whose designation +on the railroad I found to be ‘Comptroller of the Gammon.’ No sooner did +one of the long-faced gentlemen raise his note too high, or wag his jaw +too long, than the ‘Comptroller of the Gammon’ gave him a whack over the +snout with the butt end of his shillelagh; a snubber which never failed +to stop his oratory for the remainder of the journey.” + +To one familiar with the history of railroad legislation the last +paragraph is peculiarly significant. For years after the railroad system +was inaugurated, and until legislation was invoked to compel something +better, the companies persisted in carrying passengers of the third class +in uncovered carriages, exposed to all weather, and with no more +decencies or comforts than were accorded to swine. + + + + +EARLY RAILWAY TRAVELLING. + + +A writer in _Notes and Queries_ remarks:—“On looking over a diary kept by +my father during two journeys northward in 1830–31, I thought the readers +might be amused with his account of what he saw of railway travelling, +then in its infancy:— + +“Monday, Oct. 11, 1830, Darlington.—Walked to the railroad, which comes +within half-a-mile of the town. Saw a steam engine drawing about +twenty-five wagons, each containing about two tons and a half of coals. +A single horse draws four such wagons. I went to Stockton at four +o’clock by coach on the railroad; one horse draws about twenty-four +passengers. I did not like it at all, for the road is very ugly in +appearance, and, being only one line with occasional turns for passing, +we were sometimes obliged to wait, and at other times to be drawn back, +so that we were full two hours going eleven miles, and they are often +more than three hours. There is no other conveyance, as the cheapness +has driven the stage-coaches off the road. I only paid 1s. for eleven +miles. The motion was very unpleasant—a continual jolting and +disagreeable noise.” + +On Sept. 1, 1831, he remarks:—“The railroad to Stockton has been improved +since I was here, as they are now laying down a second line.” + +“Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1830.—Left Manchester at ten o’clock by the railroad +for Liverpool. We enter upon it by a staircase through the office from +the street at present, but there will, I suppose, be an open entrance, +by-and-bye; they have built extensive warehouses adjoining. We were two +hours and a half going to Liverpool (about thirty-two miles), and I must +think the advantages have been a good deal overrated, for, prejudice +apart, I think most people will allow that expedition is the only real +advantage gained; the road itself is ugly, though curious and wonderful +as a work of art. Near Liverpool it is cut very deeply through rock, and +there is a long tunnel which leads into a yard where omnibusses wait to +convey passengers to the inns. The tunnel is too low for the engines at +present in use, and the carriages are drawn through it by donkeys. The +engines are calculated to draw fifty tons. . . I cannot say that I at +all liked it; the speed was too great to be pleasant, and makes you +rather giddy, and certainly it is not smoother and easier than a good +turnpike road. When the carriages stop or go on, a very violent jolting +takes place, from the ends of the carriages jostling together. I have +heard many say they prefer a horse-coach, but the majority are in favour +of the railroad, and they will, no doubt, knock up the coaches.” + +“Monday, Sept. 12, 1831.—Left Manchester by coach at ten o’clock, and +arrived in Liverpool at half-past two. . . The railroad is not supposed +to answer vastly well, but they are making a branch to Warrington, which +will hurt the Sankey Navigation, and throw 1,500 men out of employment; +these people are said to be loud in their execrations of it, and to +threaten revenge. It is certain the proprietors do not all feel easy +about it, as one living at Warrington has determined never to go by it, +and was coming to Liverpool by our coach if there had been room. He +would gladly sell his shares. A dividend of 4 per cent. had been paid +for six months, but money had been borrowed. . . . Charge for tonnage of +goods, 10s. for thirty-two miles, which appears very dear to me.” + + + + +CRABB ROBINSON’S FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY. + + +“June 9th, 1833.—(Liverpool). At twelve o’clock I got upon an omnibus, +and was driven up a steep hill to the place where the steam carriages +start. We travelled in the second class of carriages. There were five +carriages linked together, in each of which were placed open seats for +the travellers, four or five facing each other; but not all were full; +and, besides, there was a close carriage, and also a machine for luggage. +The fare was four shillings for the thirty-one miles. Everything went on +so rapidly that I had scarcely the power of observation. The road begins +at an excavation through a rock, and is to a certain extent insulated +from the adjacent country. It is occasionally placed on bridges, and +frequently intersected by ordinary roads. Not quite a perfect level is +preserved. On setting off there is a slight jolt, arising from the chain +catching each carriage, but, once in motion, we proceeded as smoothly as +possible. For a minute or two the pace is gentle, and is constantly +varying. The machine produces little smoke or steam. First in order is +the tall chimney; then the boiler, a barrel-like vessel; then an oblong +reservoir of water; then a vehicle for coals; and then comes, of a length +infinitely extendible, the train of carriages. If all the seats had been +filled, our train would have carried about 150 passengers; but a +gentleman assured me at Chester that he went with a thousand persons to +Newton fair. There must have been two engines then. I have heard since +that two thousand persons or more went to and from the fair that day. +But two thousand only, at three shillings each way, would have produced +£600! But, after all, the expense is so great that it is considered +uncertain whether the establishment will ultimately remunerate the +proprietors. Yet I have heard that it already yields the shareholders a +dividend of nine per cent. And Bills have passed for making railroads +between London and Birmingham, and Birmingham and Liverpool. What a +change it will produce in the intercourse! One conveyance will take +between 100 and 200 passengers, and the journey will be made in a +forenoon! Of the rapidity of the journey I had better experience on my +return; but I may say now that, stoppages included, it may certainly be +made at the rate of twenty miles an hour. + +“I should have observed before that the most remarkable movements of the +journey are those in which trains pass one another. The rapidity is such +that there is no recognizing the features of a traveller. On several +occasions, the noise of the passing engine was like the whizzing of a +rocket. Guards are stationed in the road, holding flags, to give notice +to the drivers when to stop. Near Newton I noticed an inscription +recording the memorable death of Huskisson.” + + —_Crabb Robinson’s Diary_. + + + + +EARLY AMERICAN RAILWAY ENTERPRISE. + + +Mr. C. F. Adams, in his work on _Railroads_: _Their Origin and Problems_, +remarks:—“There is, indeed, some reason for believing that the South +Carolina Railroad was the first ever constructed in any country with a +definite plan of operating it exclusively by locomotive steam power. But +in America there was not—indeed, from the very circumstances of the case, +there could not have been—any such dramatic occasions and surprises as +those witnessed at Liverpool in 1829 and 1830. Nevertheless, the people +of Charleston were pressing close on the heels of those at Liverpool, for +on the 15th of January, 1831—exactly four months after the formal opening +of the Manchester and Liverpool road—the first anniversary of the South +Carolina Railroad was celebrated with due honor. A queer-looking +machine, the outline of which was sufficient in itself to prove that the +inventor owed nothing to Stephenson, had been constructed at the West +Point Foundry Works in New York during the summer of 1830—a first attempt +to supply that locomotive power which the Board had, with sublime +confidence in possibilities, unanimously voted on the 14th of the +preceding January should alone be used on the road. The name of _Best +Friend_ was given to this very simple product of native genius. The idea +of the multitubular boiler had not yet suggested itself in America. The +_Best Friend_, therefore, was supplied with a common vertical boiler, ‘in +form of an old-fashioned porter-bottle, the furnace at the bottom +surrounded with water, and all filled inside of what we call teats +running out from the sides and tops.’ By means of the projections or +‘teats’ a portion at least of the necessary heating surface was provided. +The cylinder was at the front of the platform, the rear end of which was +occupied by the boiler, and it was fed by means of a connecting pipe. +Thanks to the indefatigable researches of an enthusiast on railroad +construction, we have an account of the performances of this and all the +other pioneers among American locomotives, and the pictures with which +Mr. W. H. Brown has enriched his book would alone render it both curious +and valuable. Prior to the stockholders’ anniversary of January 15th, +1831, it seems that the _Best Friend_ had made several trips ‘running at +the rate of sixteen to twenty-one miles an hour, with forty or fifty +passengers in some four or five cars, and without the cars, thirty to +thirty-five miles an hour.’ The stockholders’ day was, however, a +special occasion, and the papers of the following Monday, for it happened +on a Saturday, gave the following account of it:— + +“Notice having been previously given, inviting the stockholders, about +one hundred and fifty assembled in the course of the morning at the +company’s buildings in Line Street, together with a number of invited +guests. The weather the day and night previous had been stormy, and the +morning was cold and cloudy. Anticipating a postponement of the +ceremonies, the locomotive engine had been taken to pieces for cleaning, +but upon the assembling of the company she was put in order, the +cylinders new packed and at the word the apparatus was ready for +movement. The first trip was performed with two pleasure cars attached, +and a small carriage, fitted for the occasion, upon which was a +detachment of United States troops and a field-piece which had been +politely granted by Major Belton for the occasion. . . The number of +passengers brought down, which was performed in two trips, was estimated +at upward of two hundred. A band of music enlivened the scene, and great +hilarity and good humour prevailed throughout the day.” + +It was not long, however, before the _Best Friend_ came to serious grief. +Naturally, and even necessarily, inasmuch as it was a South Carolina +institution, it was provided with a negro fireman. It so happened that +this functionary while in the discharge of his duties was much annoyed by +the escape of steam from the safety valve, and, not having made himself +complete master of the principles underlying the use of steam as a source +of power, he took advantage of a temporary absence of the engineer in +charge to effect a radical remedy of this cause of annoyance. He not +only fastened down the valve lever, but further made the thing perfectly +sure by sitting upon it. The consequences were hardly less disastrous to +the _Best Friend_ than to the chattel fireman. Neither were of much +further practical use. Before this mishap chanced, however in June, +1831, a second locomotive, called the _West Point_, had arrived in +Charleston, and this last was constructed on the principle of +Stephenson’s _Rocket_. In its general aspect, indeed, it greatly +resembled that already famous prototype. There is a very characteristic +and suggestive cut representing a trial trip made with this locomotive on +March 5th, 1831. The nerves of the Charleston people had been a good +deal disturbed and their confidence in steam as a safe motor shaken by +the disaster which had befallen the _Best Friend_. Mindful of this fact, +and very properly solicitous for the safety of their guests, the +directors now had recourse to a very simple and ingenious expedient. +They put what they called a ‘barrier car’ between the locomotive and +passenger coaches of the train. This barrier car consisted of a platform +on wheels upon which were piled six bales of cotton. A fortification was +thus provided between the passengers and any future negro sitting on the +safety valve. We are also assured that ‘the safety valve being out of +the reach of any person but the engineer, will contribute to the +prevention of accidents in the future, such as befel the _Best Friend_.’ +Judging by the cut which represents the train, this occasion must have +been even more marked for its ‘hilarity’ than the earlier one which has +already been described. Besides the locomotive and the barrier car there +are four passenger coaches. In the first of these was a negro band, in +general appearance very closely resembling the minstrels of a later day, +the members of which are energetically performing on musical instruments +of various familiar descriptions. Then follow three cars full of the +saddest looking white passengers, who were present as we were informed to +the number of one hundred and seventeen. The excursion was, however, +highly successful, and two-and-a-quarter miles of road were passed over +in the short space of eight minutes—about the speed at which a good horse +would trot for the same distance. + +This was in March, 1831. About six months before, however, there had +actually been a trial of speed between a horse and one of the pioneer +locomotives, which had not resulted in favour of the locomotive. It took +place on the present Baltimore and Ohio road upon the 28th of August, +1830. The engine in this case was contrived by no other than Mr. Peter +Cooper. And it affords a striking illustration of how recent those +events which now seem so remote really were, that here is a man until +very recently living, and amongst the most familiar to the eyes of the +present generation, who was a contemporary of Stephenson, and himself +invented a locomotive during the Rainhill year, being then nearly forty +years of age. The Cooper engine, however, was scarcely more than a +working model. Its active-minded inventor hardly seems to have aimed at +anything more than a demonstration of possibilities. The whole thing +weighed only a ton, and was of one horse power; in fact it was not larger +than those handcars now in common use with railroad section-men. The +boiler, about the size of a modern kitchen boiler, stood upright and was +fitted above the furnace—which occupied the lower section—with vertical +tubes. The cylinder was but three-and-a-half inches in diameter, and the +wheels were moved by gearing. In order to secure the requisite pressure +of steam in so small a boiler, a sort of bellows was provided which was +kept in action by means of a drum attached to one of the car-wheels over +which passed a cord which worked a pulley, which in turn worked the +bellows. Thus, of Stephenson’s two great devices, without either of +which his success at Rainhill would have been impossible—the waste steam +blast and the multitubular boiler—Peter Cooper had only got hold of the +last. He owed his defeat in the race between his engine and a horse to +the fact that he had not got hold of the first. It happened in this +wise. Several experimental trips had been made with the little engine on +the Baltimore and Ohio road, the first sections of which had recently +been completed and were then operated upon by means of horses. The +success of these trips was such that at last, just seventeen days before +the formal opening of the Manchester and Liverpool road on the other side +of the Atlantic, a small open car was attached to the engine—the name of +which, by the way, was _Tom Thumb_—and upon this a party of directors and +their friends were carried from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills and back, a +distance of some twenty-six miles. + +The trip out was made in an hour, and was very successful. The return +was less so, and for the following reason:— + +“The great stage proprietors of the day were Stockton and Stokes; and on +that occasion a gallant grey, of great beauty and power, was driven by +them from town, attached to another car on the second track—for the +company had begun by making two tracks to the Mills—and met the engine at +the Relay House on its way back. From this point it was determined to +have a race home, and the start being even, away went horse and engine, +the snort of the one and the puff of the other keeping tune and time. + +“At first the grey had the best of it, for his _steam_ would be applied +to the greatest advantage on the instant, while the engine had to wait +until the rotation of the wheels set the blower to work. The horse was +perhaps a quarter of a mile ahead when the safety valve of the engine +lifted, and the thin blue vapour issuing from it showed an excess of +steam. The blower whistled, the steam blew off in vapoury clouds, the +pace increased, the passengers shouted, the engine gained on the horse, +soon it lapped him—the silk was plied—the race was neck and neck, nose +and nose—then the engine passed the horse, and a great hurrah hailed the +victory. But it was not repeated, for, just at this time, when the +grey’s master was about giving up, the band which draws the pulley which +moved the blower slipped from the drum, the safety valve ceased to +scream, and the engine—for want of breath—began to wheeze and pant. In +vain Mr. Cooper, who was his own engineer and fireman, lacerated his +hands in attempting to replace the band upon the wheel; the horse gained +upon the machine and passed it, and although the band was presently +replaced, and the steam again did its best, the horse was too far ahead +to be overtaken, and came in the winner of the race.” + + + + +ENGLISH AND AMERICAN OPPOSITION. + + +What wonder that such an innovation as railways was strenuously opposed, +threatening, as it did, the coaching interest, and the posting interest, +the canal interest, and the sporting interest, and private interests of +every variety. “Gentlemen, as an individual,” said a sporting M.P. for +Cheltenham, “I hate your railways; I detest them altogether; I wish the +concoctors of the Cheltenham and Oxford, and the concoctors of every +other scheme, including the solicitors and engineers, were at rest in +Paradise. Gentlemen, I detest railroads; nothing is more distasteful to +me than to hear the echo of our hills reverberating with the noise of +hissing railroad engines, running through the heart of our hunting +country, and destroying that noble sport to which I have been accustomed +from my childhood.” And at Tewkesbury, one speaker contended that “any +railway would be injurious;” compared engines to “war-horses and fiery +meteors;” and affirmed that “the evils contained in Pandora’s box were +but trifles compared with those that would be consequent on railways.” +Even in go-aheadative America, some steady jog trotting opponents raised +their voices against the nascent system; one of whom (a canal +stockholder, by the way) chronicled the following objective arguments. +“He saw what would be the effect of it; that it would set the whole world +a-gadding. Twenty miles an hour, sir! Why you will not be able to keep +an apprentice-boy at his work; every Saturday evening he must take a trip +to Ohio, to spend the Sabbath with his sweetheart. Grave plodding +citizens will be flying about like comets. All local attachments must be +at an end. It will encourage flightiness of intellect. Veracious people +will turn into the most immeasurable liars; all their conceptions will be +exaggerated by their magnificent notions of distance. ‘Only a hundred +miles off! Tut, nonsense, I’ll step across, madam, and bring your fan!’ +‘Pray, sir, will you dine with me to-day at my little box at Alleghany?’ +‘Why, indeed, I don’t know. I shall be in town until twelve. Well, I +shall be there; but you must let me off in time for the theatre.’ And +then, sir, there will be barrels of pork, and cargoes of flour, and +chaldrons of coals, and even lead and whiskey, and such-like sober things +that have always been used to sober travelling, whisking away like a set +of sky-rockets. It will upset all the gravity of the nation. If two +gentlemen have an affair of honour, they have only to steal off to the +Rocky Mountains, and there no jurisdiction can touch them. And then, +sir, think of flying for debt! A set of bailiffs, mounted on +bomb-shells, would not overtake an absconded debtor, only give him a fair +start. Upon the whole, sir, it is a pestilential, topsy-turvy, +harum-scarum whirligig. Give me the old, solemn, straightforward, +regular Dutch canal—three miles an hour for expresses, and two for +ordinary journeys, with a yoke of oxen for a heavy load! I go for beasts +of burthen: it is more primitive and scriptural, and suits a moral and +religious people better. None of your hop-skip-and-jump whimsies for +me.” + + —_Sharpe’s London Journal_. + + + + +AN UNPLEASANT TRIAL TRIP. + + +Mr. O. F. Adams remarks:—“A famous trial trip with a new locomotive +engine was that made on the 9th of August, 1831, on the new line from +Albany to Schenectady over the Mohawk Valley road. The train was made up +of a locomotive, the _De Witt Clinton_, its tender, and five or six +passenger coaches—which were, indeed, nothing but the bodies of stage +coaches placed upon trucks. The first two of these coaches were set +aside for distinguished visitors; the others were surmounted with seats +of plank to accommodate as many as possible of the great throng of +persons who were anxious to participate in the trip. Inside and out the +coaches were crowded; every seat was full. What followed the starting of +the train has thus been described by one who took part in the affair:— + +“‘The trucks were coupled together with chains or chain-links, leaving +from two to three feet slack, and when the locomotive started it took up +the slack by jerks, with sufficient force to jerk the passengers who sat +on seats across the tops of the coaches, out from under their hats, and +in stopping they came together with such force as to send them flying +from their seats. + +“They used dry pitch-pine for fuel, and, there being no smoke or +spark-catcher to the chimney or smoke stack, a volume of black smoke, +strongly impregnated with sparks, coal, and cinders, came pouring back +the whole length of the train. Each of the outside passengers who had an +umbrella raised it as a protection against the smoke and fire. They were +found to be but a momentary protection, for I think in the first mile the +last one went overboard, all having their covers burnt off from the +frames, when a general mêlée took place among the deck passengers, each +whipping his neighbour to put out the fire. They presented a very motley +appearance on arriving at the first station.” Here, “a short stop was +made, and a successful experiment tried to remedy the unpleasant jerks. +A plan was soon hit upon and put into execution. The three links in the +couplings of the cars were stretched to their utmost tension, a rail from +a fence in the neighbourhood was placed between each pair of cars and +made fast by means of the packing yarn from the cylinders. This +arrangement improved the order of things, and it was found to answer the +purpose when the signal was again given and the engine started.’” + + + + +PROGNOSTICATIONS OF FAILURE. + + +In the year 1831, the writer of a pamphlet, who styled himself +_Investigator_, essayed the task of “proving by facts and arguments” that +a railway between London and Birmingham would be a “burden upon the trade +of the country and would never pay.” The difficulties and dangers of the +enterprise he thus sets forth:— + +“The causes of greater danger on the railway are several. A velocity of +fifteen miles an hour is in itself a great source of danger, as the +smallest obstacle might produce the most serious consequences. If, at +that rate, the engine or any forward part of the train should suddenly +stop, the whole would be cracked by the collision like nutshells. At all +turnings there is a danger that the latter part of the train may swing +off the rails; and, if that takes place, the most serious consequences +must ensue before the whole train can be stopped. The line, too, upon +which the train must be steered admits of little lateral deviation, while +a stage coach has a choice of the whole roadway. Independently of the +velocity, which in coaches is the chief source of danger, there are many +perils on the railway, the rails stand up like so many thick knives, and +any one alighting on them would have but a slight chance of his life . . +. Another consideration which would deter travellers, more especially +invalids, ladies, and children, from making use of the railways, would be +want of accommodation along the line, unless the directors of the railway +choose to build inns as commodious as those on the present line of road. +But those inns the directors would have in part to support also, because +they would be out of the way of any business except that arising from the +railway, and that would be so trifling and so accidental that the +landlords could not afford to keep either a cellar or a larder. + +“Commercial travellers, who stop and do business in all the towns and by +so doing render commerce much cheaper than it otherwise would be, and who +give that constant support to the houses of entertainment which makes +them able to supply the occasional traveller well and at a cheap rate, +would, as a matter of course, never by any chance go by the railroad; and +the occasional traveller, who went the same route for pleasure, would go +by the coach road also, because of the cheerful company and comfortable +dinner. Not one of the nobility, the gentry, or those who travel in +their own carriages, would by any chance go by the railway. A nobleman +would really not like to be drawn at the tail of a train of wagons, in +which some hundreds of bars of iron were jingling with a noise that would +drown all the bells of the district, and in the momentary apprehension of +having his vehicle broke to pieces, and himself killed or crippled by the +collision of those thirty-ton masses.” + + + + +SIR ASTLEY COOPER’S OPPOSITION TO THE LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY. + + +Robert Stephenson, while engaged in the survey of the above line, +encountered much opposition from landed proprietors. Many years after +its completion, when recalling the past, he said:—“I remember that we +called one day on Sir Astley Cooper, the eminent surgeon, in the hope of +overcoming his aversion to the railway. He was one of our most +inveterate and influential opponents. His country house at Berkhampstead +was situated near the intended line, which passed through part of his +property. We found a courtly, fine-looking old gentleman, of very +stately manners, who received us kindly and heard all we had to say in +favour of the project. But he was quite inflexible in his opposition to +it. No deviation or improvement that we could suggest had any effect in +conciliating him. He was opposed to railways generally, and to this in +particular. ‘Your scheme,’ said he, ‘is preposterous in the extreme. It +is of so extravagant a character as to be positively absurd. Then look +at the recklessness of your proceedings! You are proposing to cut up our +estates in all directions for the purpose of making an unnecessary road. +Do you think, for one moment, of the destruction of property involved by +it? Why, gentlemen, if this sort of thing be permitted to go on you will +in a very few years _destroy the nobility_!’” + + + + +OPPOSITION TO MAKING SURVEYS. + + +A great deal of opposition was encountered in making the surveys for the +London and Birmingham Railway, and although, in every case, as little +damage was done as possible, simply because it was the interest of those +concerned to conciliate all parties along the line, yet, in several +instances, the opposition was of a most violent nature; in one case no +skill or ingenuity could evade the watchfulness and determination of the +lords of the soil, and the survey was at last accomplished at night by +means of dark lanterns. + +On another occasion, when Mr. Gooch was taking levels through some of the +large tracts of grazing land, a few miles from London, two brothers, +occupying the land came to him in a great rage, and insisted on his +leaving their property immediately. He contrived to learn from them that +the adjoining field was not theirs and he therefore remonstrated but very +slightly with them, and then walked quietly through the gap in the hedge +into the next field, and planted his level on the highest ground he could +find—his assistant remaining at the last level station, distant about a +hundred and sixty yards, apparently quite unconscious of what had taken +place, although one of the brothers was moving very quickly towards him, +for the purpose of sending him off. Now, if the assistant had moved his +staff before Mr. Gooch had got his sight at it through the telescope of +his level, all his previous work would have been completely lost, and the +survey must have been completed in whatever manner it could have been +done—the great object, however, was to prevent this serious +inconvenience. The moment Mr. Gooch commenced looking through his +telescope at the staff held by his assistant, the grazier nearest him, +spreading out the tails of his coat, tried to place himself between the +staff and the telescope, in order to intercept all vision, and at the +same time commenced shouting violently to his comrade, desiring him to +make haste and knock down the staff. Fortunately for Mr. Gooch, although +nature had made this amiable being’s ears longer than usual, yet they +performed their office very badly, and as he could not see distinctly +what Mr. Gooch was about—the hedge being between them—he very simply +asked the man at the staff what his (the enquirer’s) brother said. “Oh,” +replied the man, “he is calling to you to stop that horse there which is +galloping out of the fold yard.” Away went Clodpole, as fast as he could +run, to restrain the unruly energies of Smolensko the Ninth, or whatever +other name the unlucky quadruped might be called, and Mr. Gooch in the +meanwhile quietly took the sight required—he having, with great judgment, +planted his level on ground sufficiently high to enable him to see over +the head of any grazier in the land; but his clever assistant, as soon as +he perceived that all was right, had to take to his heels and make the +shortest cut to the high road. + +In another instance, a reverend gentleman of the Church of England made +such alarming demonstrations of his opposition that the extraordinary +expedient was resorted to of surveying his property during the time he +was engaged in the pulpit, preaching to his flock. This was accomplished +by having a strong force of surveyors all in readiness to commence their +operations, by entering the clergyman’s grounds on the one side at the +same moment that they saw him fairly off them on the other, and, by a +well organised and systematic arrangement, each man coming to a +conclusion with his allotted task just as the reverend gentleman came to +a conclusion with his sermon; and before he left the church to return to +his home, the deed was done. + + —Roscoe’s _London and Birmingham Railway_. + + + + +SANITARY OBJECTIONS. + + +Mr. Smiles, in his _Life of George Stephenson_, remarks:—“Sanitary +objections were also urged in opposition to railways, and many wise +doctors strongly inveighed against tunnels. Sir Anthony Carlisle +insisted that “tunnels would expose healthy people to colds, catarrhs, +and consumption.” The noise, the darkness, and the dangers of tunnel +travelling were depicted in all their horrors. Worst of all, however, +was ‘the destruction of the atmospheric air,’ as Dr. Lardner termed it. +Elaborate calculations were made by that gentleman to prove that the +provision of ventilating shafts would be altogether insufficient to +prevent the dangers arising from the combustion of coke, producing +carbonic acid gas, which in large quantities was fatal to life. He +showed, for instance, that in the proposed Box tunnel, on the Great +Western Railway, the passage of 100 tons would deposit about 3090 lbs. of +noxious gases, incapable of supporting life! Here was an uncomfortable +prospect of suffocation for passengers between London and Bristol. But +steps were adopted to allay these formidable sources of terror. Solemn +documents, in the form of certificates, were got up and published, signed +by several of the most distinguished physicians of the day, attesting the +perfect wholesomeness of tunnels, and the purity of the air in them. +Perhaps they went further than was necessary in alleging, what certainly +subsequent experience has not verified, that the atmosphere of the tunnel +was ‘dry, of an agreeable temperature, and free from smell.’ Mr. +Stephenson declared his conviction that a tunnel twenty miles long could +be worked safely and without more danger to life than a railway in the +open air; but, at the same time, he admits that tunnels were nuisances, +which he endeavoured to avoid wherever practicable.” + + + + +ELEVATED RAILWAYS. + + +In the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for June, 1830, it is stated:—“There are at +present exhibiting in Edinburgh three large models, accompanied with +drawings of railways and their carriages, invented by Mr. Dick, who has a +patent. These railways are of a different nature from those hitherto in +use, inasmuch as they are not laid along the surface of the ground, but +elevated to such a height as, when necessary, to pass over the tops of +houses and trees. The principal supports are of stone, and, being placed +at considerable distances, have cast-iron pillars between them. The +carriages are to be dragged along with a velocity hitherto unparalleled, +by means of a rope drawn by a steam engine or other prime mover, a series +being placed at intervals along the railway. From the construction of +the railway and carriages the friction is very small.” + + + + +EVIDENCE OF A GENERAL SALESMAN. + + +The advantages London derives from railways, in regard to its supply of +good meat, may be gathered from the evidence given by Mr. George Rowley +in 1834, on behalf of the Great Western Railway Company. + +“You have been a general salesman of live and dead stock of all +descriptions in Newgate Market 32 years?”—“Yes.” + +“What is about the annual amount of your sales?”—“I turn over £300,000 in +a year.” + +“Would a railway that facilitated the communication between London and +Bristol be an advantage to your business?”—“I think it would be a special +advantage to London altogether.” + +“In what way?”—“The facility of having goods brought in reference to live +stock is very important; I have been in the habit of paying Mr. Bowman, +of Bristol, £1,000 a-week for many weeks; that has been for sending live +hogs to me to be sold, to be slaughtered in London; and I have, out of +that £1,000 a-week as many as 40 or 50 pigs die on the road, and they +have sold for little or nothing. The exertion of the pigs kills them.” + +“The means of conveying pigs on a railway would be a great +advantage?”—“Yes, as far as having the pigs come good to market, without +being subject to a distemper that creates fever, and they die as red as +that bag before you, and when they are killed in good health they die a +natural colour.” + +“Then do I understand you that those who are fortunate enough to survive +the journey are the worse for it?”—“Yes, in weight.” + +“And in quality?”—“Yes! All meat killed in the country, and delivered in +the London market dead, in a good state, will make from 6d. to 8d. a +stone more than what is slaughtered in London.” + + + + +THE ANXIOUS HAIR-DRESSER. + + +“Clanwilliam mentioned this evening an incident which proves the +wonderful celerity of the railroads. Mr. Isidore, the Queen’s coiffeur, +who receives £2,000 a year for dressing Her Majesty’s hair twice-a-day, +had gone to London in the morning to return to Windsor in time for her +toilet; but on arriving at the station he was just five minutes too late, +and saw the train depart without him. His horror was great, as he knew +that his want of punctuality would deprive him of his place, as no train +would start for the next two hours. The only resource was to order a +special train, for which he was obliged to pay £18; but the establishment +feeling the importance of his business, ordered extra steam to be put on, +and convoyed the anxious hair-dresser 18 miles in 18 minutes, which +extricated him from all his difficulties.” + + _Raike’s Diary from_ 1831 _to_ 1847. + + + + +SHARP PRACTICE. + + +Sir Francis Head, Bart., in his _Stokers and Pokers_, remarks:—“During +the construction of the present London and North Western Railway, a +landlady at Hillmorton, near Rugby, of very sharp practice, which she had +imbibed in dealings for many years with canal boatmen, was constantly +remarking aloud that no navvy should ever “do” her; and although the +railway was in her immediate neighbourhood, and although the navvies were +her principal customers, she took pleasure on every opportunity in +repeating the invidious remark. + +“It had, however, one fine morning scarcely left her large, full-blown, +rosy lips, when a fine-looking young fellow, walking up to her, carrying +in both hands a huge stone bottle, commonly called a ‘grey-neck,’ briefly +asked her for ‘half a gallon of gin;’ which was no sooner measured and +poured in than the money was rudely demanded before it could be taken +away. + +“On the navvy declining to pay the exorbitant price asked, the landlady, +with a face like a peony, angrily told him he must either pay for the gin +or _instantly_ return it. + +“He silently chose the latter, and accordingly, while the eyes of his +antagonist were wrathfully fixed upon his, he returned into her measure +the half gallon, and then quietly walked off; but having previously put +into his grey-neck half a gallon of water, each party eventually found +themselves in possession of half a gallon of gin and water; and, however +either may have enjoyed the mixture, it is historically recorded at +Hillmorton that the landlady was never again heard unnecessarily to boast +that no navvy could _do_ her.” + + + + +A NAVVY’S REASON FOR NOT GOING TO CHURCH. + + +A navvy at Kilsby, being asked why he did not go to church? duly answered +in geological language—“_Why_, _Soonday hasn’t cropped out here yet_!” +By which he meant that the clergyman appointed to the new village had not +yet arrived. + + + + +SNAKES’ HEADS. + + +One of the earliest forms of rails used by the Americans consisted of a +flat bar half-an-inch thick spiked down to longitudinal timbers. In the +process of running the train, the iron was curved, the spikes loosened, +and the ends of the bars turned up, and were known by the name of snakes’ +heads. Occasionally they pierced the bottoms of the carriages and +injured passengers, and it was no uncommon thing to hear passengers +speculate as to which line they would go by, as showing fewest snakes’ +heads. + + + + +PREJUDICE REMOVED. + + +Mr. William Reed, a land agent, was called, in 1834, to give evidence in +favour of the Great Western Railway. He was questioned as to the +benefits conferred upon the localities passed through by the Manchester +and Liverpool Railway. He was asked, “From your knowledge of the +property in the neighbourhood, can you say that the houses have not +decreased in value?” “Yes; I know an instance of a gentleman who had a +house very near, and, though he quarrelled very much with the Company +when they came there, and said, ‘Very well, if you will come let me have +a high wall to keep you out of sight,’ and a year-and-a-half ago he +petitioned the Company to take down the wall, and he has put up an iron +railing, so that he may see them.” + + + + +A RIDE FROM BOSTON TO PROVIDENCE IN 1835. + + +The early railway enterprise in America was not regarded by all persons +with feelings of unmixed satisfaction. Thus we read of the railway +journey taken by a gentleman of the old school, whose experience and +sensations—if not very satisfactory to himself—are worth recording:—“July +22, 1835.—This morning at nine o’clock I took passage in a railroad car +(from Boston) for Providence. Five or six other cars were attached to +the locomotive, and uglier boxes I do not wish to travel in. They were +made to stow away some thirty human beings, who sit cheek by jowl as best +they can. Two poor fellows who were not much in the habit of making +their toilet squeezed me into a corner, while the hot sun drew from their +garments a villanous compound of smells made up of salt fish, tar, and +molasses. By and bye, just twelve—only twelve—bouncing factory girls +were introduced, who were going on a party of pleasure to Newport. ‘Make +room for the ladies!’ bawled out the superintendent, ‘Come, gentlemen, +jump up on the top; plenty of room there.’ ‘I’m afraid of the bridge +knocking my brains out,’ said a passenger. Some made one excuse and some +another. For my part, I flatly told him that since I had belonged to the +corps of Silver Greys I had lost my gallantry, and did not intend to +move. The whole twelve were, however, introduced, and soon made +themselves at home, sucking lemons and eating green apples. . . The rich +and the poor, the educated and the ignorant, the polite and the vulgar, +all herd together in this modern improvement of travelling. The +consequence is a complete amalgamation. Master and servant sleep heads +and points on the cabin floor of the steamer, feed at the same table, sit +in each other’s laps, as it were, in the cars; and all this for the sake +of doing very uncomfortably in two days what would be done delightfully +in eight or ten. Shall we be much longer kept by this toilsome fashion +of hurrying, hurrying, from starting (those who can afford it) on a +journey with our own horses, and moving slowly, surely, and profitably +through the country, with the power of enjoying its beauty, and be the +means of creating good inns. Undoubtedly, a line of post-horses and +post-chaises would long ago have been established along our great roads +had not steam monopolized everything. . . . Talk of ladies on board a +steamboat or in a railroad car. There are none! I never feel like a +gentleman there, and I cannot perceive a semblance of gentility in any +one who makes part of the travelling mob. When I see women whom, in +their drawing rooms or elsewhere, I have been accustomed to respect and +treat with every suitable deference—when I see them, I say, elbowing +their way through a crowd of dirty emigrants or lowbred homespun fellows +in petticoats or breeches in our country, in order to reach a table +spread for a hundred or more, I lose sight of their pretensions to +gentility and view them as belonging to the plebeian herd. To restore +herself to her caste, let a lady move in select company at five miles an +hour, and take her meals in comfort at a good inn, where she may dine +decently. . . . After all, the old-fashioned way of five or six miles, +with liberty to dine in a decent inn and be master of one’s movements, +with the delight of seeing the country and getting along rationally, is +the mode to which I cling, and which will be adopted again by the +generations of after times.” + + —_Recollections of Samuel Breck_. + + + + +APPEALING TO THE CLERGY. + + +Mr. C. F. Adams remarks:—“During the periods of discouragement which, a +few years later, marked certain stages of the construction of the Western +road, connecting Worcester with Albany—when both money and courage seemed +almost exhausted—Mr. De Grand never for a moment faltered. He might +almost be said to have then had Western railroad on the brain. Among +other things, he issued a circular which caused much amusement and not +improbably some scandal among the more precise. The Rev. S. K. Lothrop, +then a young man, had preached a sermon in Brattle Street Church which +attracted a good deal of attention, on the subject of the moral and +Christianizing influence of railroads. Mr. De Grand thought he saw his +occasion, and he certainly availed himself of it. He at once had a +circular printed, a copy of which he sent to every clergyman in +Massachusetts, suggesting the propriety of a discourse on ‘The moral and +Christianizing influence of railroads in general and of the Western +railroad in particular.’” + + + + +AIR-WAYS INSTEAD OF RAILWAYS. + + +In the _Mechanics’ Magazine_ for July 22nd, 1837, is to be found the +following remarkable suggestion:—“In many parts of the new railroads, +where there has been some objection to the locomotive engines, stationary +ones are resorted to, as everyone knows to draw the vehicles along. Why +might not these vehicles be balloons? Why, instead of being dragged on +the surface of the ground, along costly viaducts or under disagreeable +tunnels, might they not travel two or three hundred feet high? By +balloons, I mean, of course, anything raised in the air by means of a gas +lighter than the air. They might be of all shapes and sizes to suit +convenience. The practicability of this plan does not seem to be +doubtful. Its advantages are obvious. Instead of having to purchase, as +for a railway, the whole line of track passed over, the company for a +balloon-way would only have to procure those spots of ground on which +they proposed to erect stationary engines; and these need in no case be +of peculiar value, since their being a hundred yards one way or the other +would make little difference. Viaducts of course would never be +necessary, cuttings in very few occasions indeed, if at all. The chief +expense of balloons is their inflation, which is renewed at every new +ascent; but in these balloons the gas once in need never to be let out, +and one inflation would be enough.” + +The same writer a few years later on observes:—“One feature of the +air-way to supersede the railway would be, that besides preventing the +destruction of the architectural beauties of the metropolis, now menaced +by the multitudinous network of viaducts and subways at war with the +existing thoroughfares, it would occasion the construction of numerous +lofty towers as stations of arrival and departure, which would afford an +opportunity of architectural effect hitherto undreamed of.” + + + + +PREJUDICE AGAINST CARRYING COALS BY RAILWAYS. + + +Rev. F. S. Williams in an article upon “Railway Revolutions,” +remarks:—“When railways were first established it was never imagined that +they would be so far degraded as to carry coals; but George Stephenson +and others soon saw how great a service railways might render in +developing and distributing the mineral wealth of the country. Prejudice +had, however, to be timidly and vigorously overcome. When it was +mentioned to a certain eminent railway authority that George Stephenson +had spoken of sending coals by railway: ‘Coals!’ he exclaimed, ‘they will +want us to carry dung next.’ The remark was reported to ‘Old George,’ +who was not behind his critic in the energy of his expression. ‘You tell +B—,’ he said, ‘that when he travels by railway, they carry dung now!’ +The strength of the feeling against the traffic is sufficiently +illustrated by the fact that, when the London and Birmingham Railway +began to carry coal, the wagons that contained it were sheeted over that +their contents might not be seen; and when a coal wharf was first made at +Crick station, a screen was built to hide the work from the observation +of passengers on the line. Even the possibility of carrying coal at a +remunerative price was denied. ‘I am very sorry,’ said Lord Eldon, +referring to this subject, ‘to find the intelligent people of the north +country gone mad on the subject of railways;’ and another eminent +authority declared: ‘It is all very well to spend money; it will do some +good; but I will eat all the coals your railway will carry.’ + +“George Stephenson, however, and other friends of coal, held on their +way; and he declared that the time would come when London would be +supplied with coal by railway. ‘The strength of Britain,’ he said, ‘is +in her coal beds; and the locomotive is destined, above all other +agencies, to bring it forth. The Lord Chancellor now sits upon a bag of +wool; but wool has long ceased to be emblematical of the staple commodity +of England. He ought rather to sit upon a bag of coals, though it might +not prove quite so comfortable a seat. Then think of the Lord Chancellor +being addressed as the noble and learned lord on the coal-sack? I’m +afraid it wouldn’t answer, after all.’” + + + + +AN EPITAPH ON THE VICTIM OF A RAILWAY ACCIDENT. + + +A correspondent writes to the _Pall Mall Gazette_:—“Our poetic +literature, so rich in other respects, is entirely wanting in epitaphs on +the victims of railway accidents. A specimen of what may be turned in +this line is to be seen on a tombstone in the picturesque churchyard of +Harrow-on-the-Hill. It was, I observe, written as long ago as 1838, so +that it can be reproduced without much danger of hurting the feelings of +those who may have known and loved the subject of this touching elegy. +The name of the victim was Port, and the circumstances of his death are +thus set forth:— + + Bright was the morn, and happy rose poor Port; + Gay on the train he used his wonted sport. + Ere noon arrived his mangled form they bore + With pain distorted and overwhelmed with gore. + When evening came and closed the fatal day, + A mutilated corpse the sufferer lay.” + + + + +AN ENGINE-DRIVER’S EPITAPH. + + +In the cemetery at Alton, Illinois, there is a tombstone bearing the +following inscription:— + + “My engine is now cold and still. + No water does my boiler fill. + My coke affords its flame no more, + My days of usefulness are o’er; + My wheels deny their noted speed, + No more my guiding hand they heed; + My whistle—it has lost its tone, + Its shrill and thrilling sound is gone; + My valves are now thrown open wide, + My flanges all refuse to glide; + My clacks—alas! though once so strong, + Refuse their aid in the busy throng; + No more I feel each urging breath, + My steam is now condensed in death; + Life’s railway o’er, each station past, + In death I’m stopped, and rest at last.” + +This epitaph was written by an engineer on the old Chicago and +Mississippi Railroad, who was fatally injured by an accident on the road; +and while he lay awaiting the death which he knew to be inevitable, he +wrote the lines which are engraved upon his tombstone. + + + + +TRAFFIC-TAKING. + + +Between the years 1836 and 1839, when there were many railway acts +applied for, traffic-taking became a lucrative calling. It was necessary +that some approximate estimate should be made as to the income which the +lines might be expected to yield. Arithmeticians, who calculated traffic +receipts, were to be found to prove what promoters of railways required +to satisfy shareholders and Parliamentary Committees. The Eastern +Counties Railway was estimated to pay a dividend of 23½ per cent.; the +London and Cambridge, 14½ per cent.; the Sheffield and Manchester, 18½ +per cent. One shareholder of this company was so sanguine as to the +success of the line that in a letter to the _Railway Magazine_ he +calculated on a dividend of 80 per cent. Bitter indeed must have been +the disappointment of those railway shareholders who pinned their faith +to the estimates of traffic-takers, when instead of receiving large +dividends, little was received, and in some instances the lines paid no +dividend at all. + + + + +MONEY LOST AND FOUND. + + +On Friday night, a servant of the Birmingham Railway Company found in one +of the first-class carriages, after the passengers had left, a pocket +book containing a check on a London Bank for £2,000 and £2,500 in bank +notes. He delivered the book and its contents to the principal officer, +and it was forwarded to the gentleman to whom it belonged, his address +being discovered from some letters in the pocket book. He had gone to +bed, and risen and dressed himself next morning without discovering his +loss, which was only made known by the restoration of the property. He +immediately tendered £20 to the party who had found his money, but this +being contrary to the regulations of the directors, the party, though a +poor man, could not receive the reward. As the temptation, however, was +so great to apply the money to his own use, the matter is to be brought +before a meeting of the directors. + + —_Aris’s Gazette_, 1839. + + + + +ORIGIN OF COOK’S RAILWAY EXCURSIONS. + + +Mr. Thomas Cook, the celebrated excursionist, in an article in the +_Leisure Hour_ remarks:—“As a pioneer in a wide field of thought and +action, my course can never be repeated. It has been mine to battle +against inaugural difficulties, and to place the system on a basis of +consolidated strength. It was mine to lay the foundations of a system on +which others, both individuals and companies, have builded, and there is +not a phase of the tourist plans of Europe and America that was not +embodied in my plans or foreshadowed in my ideas. The whole thing seemed +to come to me as by intuition, and my spirit recoiled at the idea of +imitation. + +“The beginning was very small, and was on this wise. I believe that the +Midland Railway from Derby to Rugby _via_ Leicester was opened in 1840. +At that time I knew but little of railways, having only travelled over +the Leicester and Swannington line from Leicester to Long Lane, a +terminus near to the Leicestershire collieries. The reports in the +papers of the opening of the new line created astonishment in +Leicestershire, and I had read of an interchange of visits between the +Leicester and Nottingham Mechanics’ Institutes. I was an enthusiastic +temperance man, and the secretary of a district association, which +embraced parts of the two counties of Leicester and Northampton. A great +meeting was to be held at Leicester, over which Lawrence Heyworth, Esq., +of Liverpool—a great railway as well as temperance man—was advertised to +preside. From my residence at Market Harborough I walked to Leicester +(fifteen miles) to attend that meeting. About midway between Harborough +and Leicester—my mind’s eye has often reverted to the spot—a thought +flashed through my brain, what a glorious thing it would be if the +newly-developed powers of railways and locomotion could be made +subservient to the promotion of temperance. That thought grew upon me as +I travelled over the last six or eight miles. I carried it up to the +platform, and, strong in the confidence of the sympathy of the chairman, +I broached the idea of engaging a special train to carry the friends of +temperance from Leicester to Loughborough and back to attend a quarterly +delegate meeting appointed to be held there in two or three weeks +following. The chairman approved, the meeting roared with excitement, +and early next day I proposed my grand scheme to John Fox Bell, the +resident secretary of the Midland Counties Railway Company. Mr. Paget, +of Loughborough, opened his park for a gala, and on the day appointed +about five hundred passengers filled some twenty or twenty-five open +carriages—they were called ‘tubs’ in those days—and the party rode the +enormous distance of eleven miles and back for a shilling, children +half-price. We carried music with us, and music met us at the +Loughborough station. The people crowded the streets, filled windows, +covered the house-tops, and cheered us all along the line, with the +heartiest welcome. All went off in the best style and in perfect safety +we returned to Leicester; and thus was struck the keynote of my +excursions, and the social idea grew upon me.” + + + + +THE DEODAND. + + +It was a principle of English common law derived from the feudal period, +that anything through the instrumentality of which death occurred was +forfeited to the crown as a deodand; accordingly down to the year 1840 +and even later, we find, in all cases where persons were killed, records +of deodands levied by the coroners’ juries upon locomotives. These +appear to have been arbitrarily imposed and graduated in amount +accordingly as circumstances seemed to excite in greater or less degree +the sympathies or the indignation of the jury. In November, 1838, for +instance, a locomotive exploded upon the Liverpool and Manchester line, +killing its engineer and fireman; and for this escapade a deodand of +twenty pounds was assessed upon it by the coroner’s jury; while upon +another occasion, in 1839, when the locomotive struck and killed a man +and horse at a street crossing, the deodand was fixed at no less a sum +than fourteen hundred pounds, the full value of the engine. Yet in this +last case there did not appear to be any circumstances rendering the +company liable in civil damages. The deodand seems to have been looked +upon as a species of rude penalty imposed on the use of dangerous +appliances, a sharp reminder to the companies to look sharply after their +locomotives and employés. Thus upon the 24th of December, 1841, on the +Great Western Railway, a train, while moving through a thick fog at a +high rate of speed, came suddenly in contact with a mass of earth which +had slid from the embankment at the side on to the track. Instantly the +whole rear of the train was piled up on the top of the first carriage, +which happened to be crowded with passengers, eight of whom were killed +on the spot, while seventeen others were more or less injured. The +coroner’s jury returned a verdict of accidental death, and at the same +time, as if to give the company a forcible hint to look closer to the +condition of its embankment, a deodand of one hundred pounds was levied +on the locomotive and tender. + + + + +AN UNFORTUNATE DISCUSSION. + + +Two gentlemen sitting opposite each other in a railway carriage got into +a political argument; one was elderly and a staunch Conservative, the +other was young and an ultra-Radical. It may be readily conceived that, +as the argument went on, the abuse became fast and furious; all sorts of +unpleasant phrases and epithets were bandied about, personalities were +freely indulged in, and the other passengers were absolutely compelled to +interfere to prevent a _fracas_. At the end of the journey the +disputants parted in mutual disgust, and looking unutterable things. It +so happened that the young man had a letter of introduction to an +influential person in the neighbourhood respecting a legal appointment +which was then vacant, which the young man desired to obtain, and which +the elderly gentleman had the power to secure. The young petitioner, +first going to his hotel and making himself presentable, sallied forth on +his errand. He reached the noble mansion of the person to whom his +letter of introduction was addressed, was ushered into an ante-room, and +there awaited, with mingled hope and fear, the all-important interview. +After a few minutes the door opened and, horrible to relate! he who +entered was the young man’s travelling opponent, and thus the opponents +of an hour since stood face to face. The confusion and humiliation on +the one side, and the hauteur and coldness on the other, may be readily +imagined. Sir Edward C—, however—for such he was—although he instantly +recognized his recent antagonist, was too well-bred to make any allusion +to the transaction. He took the letter of introduction in silence, read +it, folded it up, and returned it to the presenter with a bitter smile +and the following speech: “Sir, I am infinitely obliged to my friend, Mr. +—, for recommending to my notice a gentleman whom he conceives to be so +well fitted for the vacant post as yourself; but permit me to say that, +inasmuch as the office you are desirous to fill exists upon a purely +Conservative tenure, and can only be appropriately administered by a +person of Conservative tendency, I could not think of doing such violence +to your well-known political principles as to recommend you for the post +in question.” With these words and another smile more grim than before, +Sir Edward C— bowed the chapfallen petitioner out, and he quickly took +his way to the railway station, secretly vowing never again to enter into +political argument with an unknown railway traveller. + + —_The Railway Traveller’s Handy Book_. + + + + +DOG TICKET. + + +Shortly after telegraphs were laid alongside of railways, a principal +officer of a railway company got into a compartment of a stopping train +at an intermediate station. The train had hardly left, when an elderly +gentleman, in terms of endearment, invited what turned out to be a little +Skye terrier to come out of its concealment under the seat. The dog came +out, jumped up, and appeared to enjoy his journey until the speed of the +train slackened previous to stopping at a station, the dog then +instinctively retreated to its hiding place, and came out again in due +course after the train had started. The officer of the company left the +train at a station or two afterwards. On its arrival at the London +ticket platform the gentleman delivered up the tickets for his party. +“Dog ticket, sir, please.” “Dog ticket, what dog ticket?” “Ticket, sir, +for Skye terrier, black and tan, with his ears nearly over his eyes; +travelling, for comfort’s sake, under the seat opposite to you, sir, in a +large carpet bag, red ground with yellow cross-bars.” The gentleman +found resistance useless; he paid the fare demanded, when the +ticket-collector—who throughout the scene had never changed a +muscle—handed him a ticket that he had prepared beforehand. “Dog ticket, +sir; gentlemen not allowed to travel with a dog without a dog ticket; you +will have to give it up in London.” “Yes, but how did you know I had a +dog? That’s what puzzles me!” “Ah, sir,” said the ticket-collector, +relaxing a little, but with an air of satisfaction, “the telegraph is +laid on our railway. Them’s the wires you see on the outside; we find +them very useful in our business, etc. Thank you, sir, good morning.” +It is needless to tell what part the principal officer played in this +little drama. On arrival in London the dog ticket was duly claimed, a +little word to that effect having been sent up by a previous train to be +sure to have it demanded, although, as a usual practice, dog tickets are +collected at the same time as those of passengers. + + —_Roney’s Rambles on Railways_. + + + + +THE ELECTRIC CONSTABLE. + + +The first application of the telegraph to police purposes took place in +1844, on the Great Western Railway, and, as it was the first intimation +thieves got of the electric constable being on duty, it is full of +interest. The following extracts are from the telegraph book kept at the +Paddington Station:— + +“Eton Montem Day, August 28, 1844.—The Commissioners of Police having +issued orders that several officers of the detective force shall be +stationed at Paddington to watch the movements of suspicious persons, +going by the down train, and give notice by the electric telegraph to the +Slough station of the number of such suspected persons, and dress, their +names (if known), also the carriages in which they are.” + +Now come the messages following one after the other, and influencing the +fate of the marked individuals with all the celerity, certainty, and +calmness of the Nemesis of the Greek drama:— + +“Paddington, 10.20 a.m.—Mail train just started. It contains three +thieves, named Sparrow, Burrell, and Spurgeon, in the first compartment +of the fourth first-class carriage.” + +“Slough, 10.50 a.m.—Mail train arrived. _The officers have cautioned the +three thieves_.” + +“Paddington, 10.50 a.m.—Special train just left. It contained two +thieves; one named Oliver Martin, who is dressed in black, _crape on his +hat_; the other named Fiddler Dick, in black trousers and light blouse. +Both in the third compartment of the first second-class carriage.” + +“Slough, 11.16 a.m.—Special train arrived. Officers have taken the two +thieves into custody, a lady having lost her bag, containing a purse with +two sovereigns and some silver in it; one of the sovereigns was sworn to +by the lady as having been her property. It was found in Fiddler Dick’s +watch fob.” + +It appears that, on the arrival of the train, a policeman opened the door +of the “third compartment of the first second-class carriage,” and asked +the passengers if they had missed anything? A search in pockets and bags +accordingly ensued, until one lady called out that her purse was gone. + +“Fiddler Dick, you are wanted,” was the immediate demand of the police +officer, beckoning to the culprit, who came out of the carriage +thunder-struck at the discovery, and gave himself up, together with the +booty, with the air of a completely beaten man. The effect of the +capture so cleverly brought about is thus spoken of in the telegraph +book:— + +“Slough, 11.51 a.m.—Several of the suspected persons who came by the +various down-trains are lurking about Slough, uttering bitter invectives +against the telegraph. Not one of those cautioned has ventured to +proceed to the Montem.” + + + + +RUNAWAY MATCH. + + +Sir Francis Head in his account of the London and North-Western Railway +remarks:—“During a marriage which very lately took place at —, one of the +bridesmaids was so deeply affected by the ceremony that she took the +opportunity of the concentrated interest excited by the bride to elope +from church with an admirer. The instant her parents discovered their +sad loss, messengers were sent to all the railway stations to stop the +fugitives. The telegraph also went to work, and with such effect that, +before night, no less than four affectionate couples legitimately married +that morning were interrupted on their several marriage jaunts and most +seriously bothered, inconvenienced, and impeded by policemen and +magistrates.” + + + + +A RAILWAY ROMANCE. + + +An incident of an amusing though of a rather serious nature occurred some +years ago on the London and South-Western Railway. A gentleman, whose +place of residence was Maple Derwell, near Basingstoke, got into a +first-class carriage at the Waterloo terminus, with the intention of +proceeding home by one of the main line down trains. His only +fellow-passengers in the compartment were a lady and an infant, and +another gentleman, and thus things remained until the arrival of the +train at Walton, where the other gentleman left the carriage, leaving the +first gentleman with the lady and child. Shortly after this the train +reached the Weybridge station, and on its stopping the lady, under the +pretence of looking for her servant or carriage, requested her male +fellow-passenger to hold the infant for a few minutes while she went to +search for what she wanted. The bell rang for the starting of the train +and the gentleman thus strangely left with the baby began to get rather +fidgety, and anxious to return his charge to the mother. The lady, +however, did not again put in any appearance, and the train went on +without her, the child remaining with the gentleman, who, on arriving at +his destination took the child home to his wife and explained the +circumstance under which it came into his possession. No application +has, at present, it is understood, been made for the “lost child,” which +has for the nonce been adopted by the gentleman and his wife, who, it is +said, are without any family of their own. + + + + +GIGANTIC POWER OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. + + +Sir Francis Head remarks:—“The gigantic power of the locomotive engines +hourly committed to the charge of these drivers was lately strangely +exemplified in the large engine stable at the Camden Station. A +passenger engine, whose furnace-fire had but shortly been lighted, was +standing in this huge building surrounded by a number of artificers, who, +in presence of the chief superintendent, were working in various +directions around it. While they were all busily occupied, the fire in +the furnace—by burning up faster than was expected—suddenly imparted to +the engine the breath of life; and no sooner had the minimum of steam +necessary to move it been thus created, than this infant Hercules not +only walked _off_, but without the smallest embarrassment walked +_through_ the 14-inch brick wall of the great building which contained +it, to the terror of the superintendent and workmen, who expected every +instant that the roof above their heads would fall in and extinguish +them. In consequence of the spindle of the regulator having got out of +its socket the very same accident occurred shortly afterwards with +another engine, which, in like manner, walked through another portion of +this 14-inch wall of the stable that contained it, just as a +thorough-bred horse would have walked out of the door. And if such be +the irresistible power of the locomotive engine when feebly walking in +its new-born state, unattended or unassisted even by its tender, is it +not appalling to reflect what must be its momentum when, in the full +vigour of its life, it is flying down a steep gradient at the rate of 50 +miles an hour, backed up by, say, 30 passenger carriages, each weighing +on an average 5½ tons? If ordinary houses could suddenly be placed in +its path, it would, passengers and all, run through them as a musket-ball +goes through a keg of butter; but what would be the result if, at this +full speed, the engine by any accident were to be diverted against a mass +of solid rock, such as sometimes is to be seen at the entrance of a +tunnel, it is impossible to calculate or even to conjecture. It is +stated by the company’s superintendent, who witnessed the occurrence, +that some time ago an ordinary accident happening to a luggage train near +Loughborough, the wagons overrode each other until the uppermost one was +found piled 40 feet above the rails!” + + + + +NOVEL NOTICE TO DEFAULTING SHAREHOLDERS. + + +In the early days of railway enterprise there was often much difficulty +in obtaining the punctual payment of calls from the shareholders. The +Leicester and Swannington line was thus troubled. The Secretary, +adopting a rather novel way to collect the calls, wrote to the +defaulters:—“I am therefore necessitated to inform you, that unless the +sum of £2 is paid on or before the 22nd instant, your name will be +furnished to one of the principal and most pressing creditors of the +company.” The missives of the Secretary generally had the desired +effect. + + + + +A QUICK DECISION. + + +The elder Brunel was habitually absent in society, but no man was more +remarkable for presence of mind in an emergency. Numerous instances are +recorded of this latter quality, but none more striking than that of his +adventure in the act of inspecting the Birmingham Railway. Suddenly in a +confined part of the road a train was seen approaching from either end of +the line, and at a speed which it was difficult to calculate. The +spectators were horrified; there was not an instant to be lost; but an +instant sufficed to the experienced engineer to determine the safest +course under the circumstances. Without attempting to cross the road, +which would have been almost certain destruction, he at once took his +position exactly midway between the up and down lines, and drawing the +skirts of his coat close around him, allowed the two trains to sweep past +him; when to the great relief of those who witnessed the exciting scene, +he was found untouched upon the road. Without the engineer’s experience +which enabled him to form so rapid a decision, there can be no doubt that +he must have perished. + + —_The Temple Anecdotes_. + + + + +THE VERSAILLES ACCIDENT IN 1842. + + +Mr. Charles F. Adams thus describes it:—“On the 8th of May, 1842, there +happened in France one of the most famous and horrible railroad +slaughters ever recorded. It was the birthday of the king, Louis +Phillipe, and, in accordance with the usual practice, the occasion had +been celebrated at Versailles by a great display of the fountains. At +half-past five o’clock these had stopped playing, and a general rush +ensued for the trains then about to leave for Paris. That which went by +the road along the left bank of the Seine was densely crowded, and was so +long that it required two locomotives to draw it. As it was moving at a +high rate of speed between Bellevue and Menden, the axle of the foremost +of these two locomotives broke, letting the body of the engine drop to +the ground. It instantly stopped, and the second locomotive was then +driven by its impetus on top of the first, crushing its engineer and +fireman, while the contents of both the fire-boxes were scattered over +the roadway and among the _debris_. Three carriages crowded with +passengers were then piled on top of this burning mass, and there crushed +together into each other. The doors of the train were all locked, as was +then, and indeed is still, the custom in Europe, and it so chanced that +the carriages had all been newly painted. They blazed up like pine +kindlings. Some of the carriages were so shattered that a portion of +those in them were enabled to extricate themselves, but no less than +forty were held fast; and of these such as were not so fortunate as to be +crushed to death in the first shock perished hopelessly in the flames +before the eyes of a throng of impotent lookers-on. Some fifty-two or +fifty-three persons were supposed to have lost their lives in this +disaster, and more than forty others were injured; the exact number of +the killed, however, could never be ascertained, as the telescoping of +the carriages on top of the two locomotives had made of the destroyed +portion of the train a visible holocaust of the most hideous description. +Not only did whole families perish together—in one case no less than +eleven members of the same family sharing a common fate—but the remains +of such as were destroyed could neither be identified nor separated. In +one case a female foot was alone recognisable, while in others the bodies +were calcined and fused into an undistinguishable mass. The Academy of +Sciences appointed a committee to inquire whether Admiral D’Urville, a +distinguished French navigator, was among the victims. His body was +thought to be found, but it was so terribly mutilated that it could be +recognized only by a sculptor, who chanced some time before to have taken +a phrenological cast of his skull. His wife and only son had perished +with him. + +“It is not easy now to conceive the excitement and dismay which this +catastrophe caused throughout France. The new invention was at once +associated in the minds of an excitable people with novel forms of +imminent death. France had at best been laggard enough in its adoption +of the new appliance, and now it seemed for a time as if the Versailles +disaster was to operate as a barrier in the way of all further railroad +development. Persons availed themselves of the steam roads already +constructed as rarely as possible, and then in fear and trembling, while +steps were taken to substitute horse for steam power on other roads then +in process of construction.” + + + + +AN AMATEUR SIGNALMAN. + + +Mr. Williams in his book, _Our Iron Roads_, gives an account of a foolish +act of signalling to stop a train; he says:—“An Irishman, who appears to +have been in some measure acquainted with the science of signalling, was +on one occasion walking along the Great Western line without permission, +when he thought he might reduce his information to practical use. +Accordingly, on seeing an express train approach, he ran a short distance +up the side of the cutting, and began to wave a handkerchief very +energetically, which he had secured to a stick, as a signal to stop. The +warning was not to be disregarded, and never was command obeyed with +greater alacrity. The works of the engine were reversed—the tender and +van breaks were applied—and soon, to the alarm of the passengers, the +train came to a ‘dead halt.’ A hundred heads were thrust out of the +carriage windows, and the guard had scarcely time to exclaim, ‘What’s the +matter?’ when Paddy, with a knowing touch of his ‘brinks,’ asked his +‘honour if he would give him a bit of a ride?’ So polite and ingenuous a +request was not to be denied, and, though biting his lips with annoyance, +the officer replied ‘Oh, certainly; jump in here,’ and the pilgrim was +ensconced in the luggage van. But instead of having his ride ‘for his +thanks,’ the functionary duly handed him over to the magisterial +authorities, that he might be taught the important lesson, that railway +companies did not keep express trains for Irish beggars, and that such +costly machinery was not to be imperilled with impunity, either by their +freaks or their ignorance.” + + + + +STEAM WHISTLE. + + +In the early days of railways, the signal of alarm was given by the +blowing of a horn. In the year, 1833, an accident occurred on the +Leicester and Swannington railway near Thornton, at a level crossing, +through an engine running against a horse and cart. Mr. Bagster, the +manager, after narrating the circumstance to George Stephenson, asked “Is +it not possible to have a whistle fitted on the engine, which the steam +can blow?” “A very good thought,” replied Stephenson. “You go to Mr. +So-and-So, a musical instrument maker, and get a model made, and we will +have a steam whistle, and put it on the next engine that comes on the +line.” When the model was made it was sent to the Newcastle factory and +future engines had the whistle fitted on them. + + + + +EXEMPTION FROM ACCIDENTS. + + +Mr. C. F. Adams, remarks:—“Indeed, from the time of Mr. Huskisson’s +death, during the period of over eleven years, railroads enjoyed a +remarkable and most fortunate exemption from accidents. During all that +time there did not occur a single disaster resulting in any considerable +loss of life. This happy exemption was probably due to a variety of +causes. Those early roads were in the first place, remarkably well and +thoroughly built, and were very cautiously operated under a light volume +of traffic. The precautions then taken and the appliances in use would, +it is true, strike the modern railroad superintendent as both primitive +and comical; for instance, they involve the running of independent pilot +locomotives in advance of all night passenger trains, and it was, by the +way, on a pioneer locomotive of this description, on the return trip of +the excursion party from Manchester after the accident to Mr. Huskisson, +that the first recorded attempt was made in the direction of our present +elaborate system of night signals. On that occasion obstacles were +signalled to those in charge of the succeeding trains by a man on the +pioneer locomotive, who used for that purpose a bit of lighted tarred +rope. Through all the years between 1830 and 1841, nevertheless, not a +single serious railroad disaster had to be recorded. Indeed, the +luck—for it was nothing else—of these earlier times was truly amazing. +Thus on this same Liverpool and Manchester road, as a first-class train +on the morning of April 17, 1836, was moving at a speed of some thirty +miles an hour, an axle broke under the first passenger carriage, causing +the whole train to leave the rails and throwing it down the embankment, +which at that point was twenty feet high. The carriages were rolled +over, and the passengers in them turned topsy-turvy; nor, as they were +securely locked in, could they even extricate themselves when at last the +wreck of the train reached firm bearings. And yet no one was killed.” + + + + +RIVAL CONTRACTORS AND THE BLOTTING PAD. + + +In rails, the same system has prevailed. Ironmasters have been pitted +against each other, as to which should produce an apparent rail at the +lowest price. At the outset of railways the rails were made of iron. +Competition gradually produced rails in which a core, of what is +technically called “cinder,” is covered up with a skin of iron; and the +cleverest foreman for an ironmaster was the man who could make rails with +the maximum of cinder and the minimum of iron. In more than one instance +has it been known in relaying an old line the worn-out rails have been +sold at a higher price per ton than the new ones were bought for; yet +this would hardly open the eyes of the buyers. The contrivances which +are resorted to to get hold of one another’s prices beforehand by +competing contractors are manifold; and, when they attend in person, they +commonly put off the filling up of their tender till the last moment. +Once a shrewd contractor found himself at the same inn with a rival who +always trod close on his heels. He was followed about and +cross-questioned incessantly, and gave vague answers. Within +half-an-hour of the last moment he went into the coffee room and sat +himself down in a corner where his rival could not overlook him. There +and then he filled up his tender, and, as he rose from the table, left +behind him the paper on which he had blotted it. As he left the room his +rival caught up the blotting paper, and, with the exulting glee of a +consciously successful rival, read off the amount backwards. “Done this +time!” was his mental thought, as he filled up his own tender a dollar +lower, and hastened to deposit it. To his utter surprise, the next day +he found that he had lost the contract, and complainingly asked his rival +how it was, for he had tendered below him. “How did you know you were +below me?” “Because I found your blotting paper.” “I thought so. I +left it on purpose for you, and wrote another tender in my bedroom. You +had better make your own calculations next time!” + + —_Roads and Rails_, by W. B. Adams. + + + + +RAILWAY LEGISLATION. + + +A writer in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ remarks:—“The expenses, direct +and incidental, of obtaining an Act of Parliament have been in many cases +enormous, and generally are excessive. The adherence to useless and +expensive forms of Parliamentary Committees in what are called the +standing orders, or general regulations for the observance of promoters +of railway bills, on the one part, and the itching for opposition of +railway companies, to resist fancied inroads on vested rights, supposed +injurious competition, on the other part, have been amongst the sources +of excessive expenditure. Mr. Stephenson mentioned an instance showing +how Parliament has entailed expense upon railway companies by the system +complained of. The Trent Valley Railway was under other titles +originally proposed in 1836. It was, however, thrown out by the standing +orders committee, in consequence of a barn of the value of £10, which was +shown upon the general plan, not having been exhibited upon an enlarged +sheet. In 1840, the line again went before Parliament. It was opposed +by the Grand Junction Railway Company, now part of the London and +North-Western. No less than 450 allegations were made against it before +the standing orders subcommittee, which was engaged twenty-two days in +considering those objections. They ultimately reported that four or five +of the allegations were proved, but the committee nevertheless allowed +the bill to proceed. It was read a second time and then went into +committee, by whom it was under consideration for sixty-three days; and +ultimately Parliament was prorogued before the report could be made. +Such were the delays and consequent expenses which the forms of the House +occasioned in this case, that it may be doubted if the ultimate cost of +constructing the whole line was very much more than was expended in +obtaining permission from Parliament to make it. This example serves to +show the expensive formalities, the delays, and difficulties, with which +Parliament surround railway legislation. Another instance, quoted by the +same authority, will show not only the absurdity of the system of +legislation, but also the afflicting spirit of competition and opposition +with which railway bills are canvassed in Parliament, and the expensive +outlay incurred by companies themselves. + +“In 1845, a bill for a line now existing went before Parliament with +eighteen competitors, each party relying on the wisdom of Parliament to +allow their bill at least to pass a second reading! Nineteen different +parties condemned to one scene of contentious litigation! They each and +all had to pay not only the costs of promoting their own line, but also +the costs of opposing eighteen other bills. And yet conscious as +government must have been of this fact, Parliament deliberately abandoned +the only step it ever took on any occasion of subjecting railway projects +to investigation by a preliminary tribunal. Parliamentary committees +generally satisfied themselves with looking on and watching the ruinous +game of competition for which the public are ultimately to pay. In fact, +railway legislation became a mere scramble, conducted on no system or +principle. Schemes of sound character were allowed to be defeated on +merely technical grounds, and others of very inferior character were +sanctioned by public act, after enormous Parliamentary expenses had been +incurred. Competing lines were granted, sometimes parallel lines through +the same district, and between the same towns.” + + + + +AN EXPENSIVE PARLIAMENTARY BILL. + + +A writer in the _Popular Encyclopædia_ observes:—“But the most +conspicuous example in recent times, which overshadowed all others, of +excessive expenditure in Parliamentary litigation as well as in land and +compensation, is supplied in the history of the Great Northern Company. +The preliminary expenses of surveys, notices to landowners, etc., +commenced in 1844, and the Bill was introduced into the House of Commons +in 1845, when it was opposed by the London and North-Western, the Eastern +Counties, and the Midland Railways. It was further opposed successively +by two other schemes, called the London and York and the Direct Northern. +The contest lasted eighty-two days before the House of Commons, more than +half the time having been consumed by opposition to the Bill. The Bill +was allowed to stand over till next year (1846), when it began, before +the Committee of the House of Lords, where it left off in the Lower House +in the year 1845 on account of the magnitude of the case. The Bill was +before the Upper House between three and four weeks, and in the same year +(1846) it was granted. The promoters of the rival projects were bought +off, and all their expenses paid, including the costs of the opposition +of the neighbouring lines already named, before the Great Northern bill +was passed; and the ‘preliminary expenses,’ comprising the whole +expenditure of every kind up to the passing of the bill was £590,355, or +more than half-a-million sterling, incurred at the end of two years of +litigation. Subsequently to the passing of the Act an additional sum of +£172,722 was expended for law engineering expenses in Parliament to 31st +December, 1857, which was spent almost wholly in obtaining leave from +Parliament to make various alterations. Thus it would appear that a sum +total of £763,077 was spent as Parliamentary charges for obtaining leave +to construct 245 miles, being at the rate of £3,118 per mile.” + + + + +THE RECTOR AND HIS PIG. + + +“I have been a rector for many years,” writes a clergyman, “and have +often heard and read of tithe-pigs, though I have never met with a +specimen of them. But I had once a little pig given to me which was of a +choice breed, and only just able to leave his mother. I had to convey +him by carriage to the X station; from thence, twenty-three miles to Y +station, and from thence, eighty-two miles to Z station, and from there, +eight miles by carriage. I had a comfortable rabbit-hutch of a box made +for him, with a supply of fresh cabbages for his dinner on the road. I +started off with my wife, children, and nurse; and of these impediments +piggy proved to be the most formidable. First, a council of war was held +over him at X station by the railway officials, who finally decided that +this small porker must travel as ‘two dogs.’ Two dog tickets were +therefore procured for him; and so we journeyed on to Y station. There a +second council of war was held, and the officials of Y said that the +officials of X (another line) might be prosecuted for charging my piggy +as two dogs, but that he must travel to Z as a horse, and that he must +have a huge horse-box entirely to himself for the next eighty-two miles. +I declined to pay for the horse-box—they refused to let me have my +pig—officials swarmed around me—the station master advised me to pay for +the horse-box and probably the company would return the extra charge. I +scorned the probability, having no faith in the company—the train (it was +a London express) was already detained ten minutes by this wrangle; and +finally I whirled away bereft of my pig. I felt sure that he would be +forwarded by the next train, but as that would not reach Z till a late +hour in the evening, and it was Saturday, I had to tell my pig tale to +the officials; and not only so, but to go to the adjacent hotel and hire +a pig-stye till the Monday, and fee a porter for seeing to the pig until +I could send a cart for him on that day. Of course the pig was sent +after me by the next train; and as the charge for him was less than a +halfpenny a mile, I presume he was not considered to be a horse. Yet +this fact remains—and it is worth the attention of the Zoological +Society, if not of railway officials—that this small porker was never +recognised as a pig, but began his railway journey as two dogs, and was +then changed into a horse.” + + + + +SIR MORTON PETO’S RAILWAY MISSION. + + +Mr., afterwards Sir S. Morton Peto, having undertaken the construction of +certain railways in East Anglia, was at this time in the habit of +spending a considerable part of the year in the neighbourhood of Norwich, +and, with his family, joined Mr. Brock’s congregation. It will +afterwards appear how many important movements turned upon the friendship +which was thus formed; but it is only now to be noted that, in the course +of frequent conversations, the practicability was discussed of attempting +something which might serve to interest and improve the large number of +labourers employed on the works in progress. They were part of that +peculiar body of men which had been gradually formed during a long course +of years for employment in the construction, first of navigable canals, +and then of railways, and called, from their earlier occupation, +“navvies.” They were drawn from diverse parts of the British Islands, +and professed, in some instances, hostile forms of religion, but were +distinguished chiefly by extreme ignorance and all but total spiritual +insensibility. They had, at the same time, a common life and an +unwritten law, affecting their relations to each other, their employers, +and the rest of the world. That they were accessible to kind +attentions—clearly disinterested—followed from their being men, but they +required to be approached with the greatest caution and patience. Mr. +Brock’s wide and various sympathy, joined with his friend’s steady +support, led—under the divine blessing—to measures which proved very +successful. Mr. Peto constructed commodious halls capable of being moved +onward as the line of railway advanced, and affording comfortable shelter +for the men in their leisure hours, and furnished with books and +publications supplying amusement, useful information, and religious +knowledge. To give life to this apparatus, Christian men, carefully +selected, mingled familiarly with the rude but grateful toilers, helping +them to read and write, encouraging them to acquire self-command, and +above all, especially when they were convened on Sundays, presenting and +pressing home upon them the words of eternal life. + +Mr. Brock had liberty to draw on the “Railway Mission Account,” at the +Norwich Bank, to any extent that he found necessary, and in a short time +he had a body of the best men, he was accustomed to say, that he ever +knew at work upon all the chief points of the lines. No part of his now +extended labours gave him greater delight than in superintending these +missionaries, reading their weekly journals, arranging their periodical +movements, counselling and comforting them in their difficulties, and +visiting them, sometimes apart and at other times at conferences for +united consultation and prayer, held at Yarmouth, Ely, or March. + +Results of the best character, of which the record is on high, arose out +of these operations. + + —Birrell’s _Life of the Rev. W. Brock_, _D.D._ + + + + +CLEVER CAPTURE. + + +A few days ago (1845), a gentleman left Glasgow in one of the day trains, +with a large sum of money about his person. On the train arriving at the +Edinburgh terminus, the gentleman left it, along with the other +passengers, on foot for some distance. It was not long, however, before +he discovered that his pocket book, containing £700, in bank notes was +missing. He immediately returned to the terminus, where the first person +he happened to find was the stoker of the train that had brought him to +Edinburgh, who, on being spoken to, remembered seeing the gentleman +leaving the terminus, and another person following close behind him, whom +he supposed to be his servant; he further stated, that the supposed +servant had started to return with the train which had just left for +Glasgow. The gentleman immediately ordered an express train, but as some +time elapsed before the steam could be got up, it was feared the +gentleman and the stoker would not reach Glasgow in time to secure the +culprit. However, having gone the distance in about an hour, they had +the satisfaction of seeing the train before them close to the Cowlairs +station, just about to descend the inclined plane and tunnel, and thus +within a mile and a half of the end of their journey. The stoker +immediately sounded his whistle, which induced the conductor of the +passenger train to conclude that some danger was in the way, who had his +train removed to the other line of rails, which left the road then quite +clear for the express train, which drove past the other with great speed, +and arrived at the terminus in sufficient time to get everything ready +for the apprehension of the robber. The stoker, who thought he could +identify the robber, assisted the police in searching the passenger +train, when the person whom he had taken for the gentleman’s servant was +found with the pocket book and also the £700 safe and untouched. The +gentleman then offered a handsome reward to the stoker, who refused it on +the plea that he had only done his duty; not satisfied, however, with +this answer, he left £100 with the manager, requesting him to pay the +expenses of the express train, and particularly to reward the stoker for +his activity, and to remit the remainder to his address. Shortly after +he received the whole £100, accompanied with a polite note, declining any +payment for the express train, and stating that it was the duty of the +company to reward the stoker, which they would not omit to do. + + —_Stirling Journal_. + + + + +COMPENSATION FOR LAND. + + +Mr. Williams, in _Our Iron Roads_, gives much interesting information +upon the subject of compensation for land and buying off opposition to +railway schemes. He says:—“One noble lord had an estate near a proposed +line of railway, and on this estate was a beautiful mansion. Naturally +averse to the desecration of his home and its neighbourhood, he gave his +most uncompromising opposition to the Bill, and found, in the Committee +of both Houses, sympathizing listeners. Little did it aid the projectors +that they urged that the line did not pass within six miles of that +princely domain; that the high road was much closer to his dwelling; and +that, as the spot nearest the house would be passed by means of a tunnel, +no unsightliness would arise. But no; no worldly consideration affected +the decision of the proprietor; and, arguments failing, it was found that +an appeal must be made to other means. His opposition was ultimately +bought off for twenty-eight thousand pounds, to be paid when the railway +reached his neighbourhood. Time wore on, funds became scarce, and the +company found that it would be best to stop short at a particular portion +of their line, long before they reached the estate of the noble lord who +had so violently opposed their Bill, by which they sought to be released +from the obligation of constructing the line which had been so obnoxious +to him. What was their surprise at finding this very man their chief +opponent, and then fresh means had to be adopted for silencing his +objections! + +“A line had to be brought near to the property of a certain Member of +Parliament. It threatened no injury to the estate, either by affecting +its appearance or its intrinsic worth; and, on the other hand, it +afforded him a cheap, convenient, and expeditious means of communication +with the metropolis. But the proprietor, being a legislator, had power +at head-quarters, and by his influence he nearly turned the line of +railway aside; and this deviation would have cost the projectors the sum +of _sixty thousand pounds_. Now it so happened that the house of this +honourable member, who had thus insisted on such costly deference to his +peculiar feelings respecting his property, was afflicted with the dry +rot, and threatened every hour to fall upon the head of its owner. To +pull down and rebuild it, would require the sum of thirty thousand +pounds. The idea of compromise, beneficial to both parties, suggested +itself. If the railway company rebuilt the house, or paid £30,000 to the +owner of the estate, and were allowed to pursue their original line, it +was clear that they would be £30,000 the richer, as the enforced +deviation would cost £60,000; and, on the other hand, the owner of the +estate would obtain a secure house, or receive £30,000 in money. The +proposed bargain was struck, and £30,000 was paid by the Company. ‘How +can you live in that house,’ said some friend to him afterwards, ‘with +the railroad coming so near?’ ‘Had it not done so,’ was the reply, ‘I +could not have lived in it at all.’ + +“One rather original character sold some land to the London and +Birmingham Company, and was loud and long in his outcries for +compensation, expatiating on the damages which the formation of the line +would inevitably bring to his property. His complaints were only stopped +by the payment of his demands. A few months afterwards, a little +additional land was required from the same individual, when he actually +demanded a much larger price for the new land than was given him before; +and, on surprise being expressed at the charge for that which he had +declared would inevitably be greatly deteriorated in value from the +proximity of the railway, he coolly replied: ‘Oh, I made a mistake +_then_, in thinking the railway would injure my property; it has +increased its value, and of course you must pay me an increased price for +it.’ + +“On one occasion, a trial occurred in which an eminent land valuer was +put into the witness box to swell the amount of damages, and he proceeded +to expatiate on the injury committed by railroads in general, and +especially by the one in question, in _cutting up_ the properties they +invaded. When he had finished the delivery of this weighty piece of +evidence, the counsel for the Company put a newspaper into his hand, and +asked him whether he had not inserted a certain advertisement therein. +The fact was undeniable, and on being read aloud, it proved to be a +declaration by the land valuer himself, that the approach of the railway +which he had come there to oppose, would prove exceedingly beneficial to +some property in its immediate vicinity then on sale. + +“An illustration of the difference between the exorbitant demands made by +parties for compensation, and the real value of the property, may be +mentioned. The first claim made by the Directors of the Glasgow Lunatic +Asylum on the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway is stated to have been no +less than £44,000. Before the trial came on, this sum was reduced to +£10,000; the amount awarded by the jury was £873. + +“The opposition thus made, whether feigned or real, it was always +advisable to remove; and the money paid for this purpose, though +ostensibly in the purchase of the ground, has been on many occasions +immense. Sums of £35,000, £40,000, £50,000, £100,000, and £120,000, have +thus been paid; while various ingenious plans have been adopted of +removing the opposition of influential men. An honourable member is said +to have received £30,000 to withdraw his opposition to a Bill before the +House; and ‘not far off the celebrated year 1845, a lady of title, so +gossip talks, asked a certain nobleman to support a certain Bill, stating +that, if he did, she had the authority of the secretary of a great +company to inform him that fifty shares in a certain railway, then at a +considerable premium, would be at his disposal.’ + +“One pleasing circumstance, however, highly honourable to the gentleman +concerned, must not be omitted. The late Mr. Labouchere had made an +agreement with the Eastern Counties Company for a passage through his +estate near Chelmsford, for the price of £35,000; his son and successor, +the Right Honourable Henry Labouchere, finding that the property was not +deteriorated to the anticipated extent, voluntarily returned £15,000. + +“The practice of buying off opposition has not been confined to the +proprietors of land. We learn from one of the Parliamentary Reports that +in a certain district a pen-and-ink warfare between two rival companies +ran so high, and was, at least on one side, rewarded with such success, +that the friends of the older of the two projected lines thought it +expedient to enter into treaty with their literary opponent, and its +editor very soon retired on a fortune. It is also asserted, on good +authority, that, in a midland county, the facts and arguments of an +editor were wielded with such vigour that the opposing company found it +necessary to adopt extraordinary means on the occasion. Bribes were +offered, but refused; an opposition paper was started, but its conductors +quailed before the energy of their opponent, and it produced little +effect; every scheme that ingenuity could devise, and money carry out, +was attempted, but they successively and utterly failed. At length a +Director hit on a truly Machiavellian plan—he was introduced to the +proprietor of the journal, whom he cautiously informed that he wished to +risk a few thousands in newspaper property, and actually induced his +unconscious victim to sell the property, unknown to the editor. When the +bargain was concluded, the plot was discovered; but it was then too late, +and the wily Director took possession of the copyright of the paper and +the printing office on behalf of the company. The services of the +editor, however, were not to be bought, he refused to barter away his +independence, and retired—taking with him the respect of both friends and +enemies.” + + + + +A LANDOWNER’S OPPOSITION. + + +In _Herepath’s Railway Journal_ for 1845 we meet with the following:—“A +learned counsel, the other day, gave as a reason for a wealthy and +aristocratic landowner’s opposition to a great line of railway +approaching his residence by something more than a mile distance, that +‘His Lordship rode horses that would not bear the puff of a steam +engine.’ Truly this was a most potent reason, and one that should weigh +heavily against the scheme in the minds of the Committee. His Lordship +has a wood some two miles off, between which and his residence this +railway is intended to pass. His lordship is fond of amusing himself +there in hunting down little animals called hares, and sometimes treats +himself to a stag hunt. Not the slightest interference is contemplated +with his lordship’s pastime, or rather pursuit, for such it is, occupying +nearly his whole time, and exercising all the ability of which he is +possessed; but still he objects to the intrusion. The bridge that is to +be constructed by the Company to give access to the wood, or forest, is +in itself all that could be wished, forming, rather than otherwise, an +ornamental structure to his lordship’s grounds; but then he fears that +should an engine chance (of course, these chances are not within his +control) to pass under the bridge at the same moment as he is passing +over, his high blood horses would prance and rear, and suffer injury +therefrom. His lordship is very careful and proud of his horse-flesh, +and thinks it hard, and what the legislature ought not to tolerate, that +they (his horses) are to be worried, or subjected to the chance of it, by +making a railway to serve the public wants! + +“This _noble_ man is of opinion, too, that, should the railway be made, +he is entitled to an enormous amount of compensation; and, through his +agent, assigns as a reason for his extravagant demand—we do not +exaggerate the fact—that he is averse to railways in general, and +considers the system as an unjustifiable invasion of the province of +horse-flesh. This horse jockey lord thereby excuses his conscience in +opposing and endeavouring to plunder the railway company as far as he +possibly can.” + + + + +PICTURE EVIDENCE. + + +Amongst laughable occurrences that enlivened the committee rooms during +the gauge contest, was a scene occasioned by a parliamentary counsel +putting in as evidence, before the committee on the Southampton and +Manchester line, a printed picture of troubles consequent on a break of +gauge. The picture was a forcible sketch that had appeared a few days +before in the pages of the _Illustrated London News_. Opposing counsel +of course argued against the production of the work of art as testimony +for the consideration of the committee. After much argument on both +sides the chairman decided in favour of receiving the illustration, which +was forthwith put, amidst much laughter, into the hands of a witness, who +was asked if it was a fair picture of the evils that arose from a break +of gauge. The witness replying in the affirmative, the engraving was +then laid before the committee for inspection. + + —_Railway Chronicle_, June 13, 1846. + + + + +EXTRAORDINARY USE OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. + + +Oct. 7, 1847. An extraordinary instance has occurred of the application +of the electric telegraph at the London Bridge terminus of the South +Eastern Railway. + +Hutchings, the man found guilty and sentenced to death for poisoning his +wife, was to have been executed at Maidstone Goal at twelve o’clock. +Shortly before the appointed hour for carrying the sentence into effect, +a message was received at the London Bridge terminus, from the Home +Office, requesting that an order should be sent by the electric telegraph +instructing the Under-Sheriff at Maidstone to stay the execution two +hours. By the agency of the electric telegraph the communication was +received in Maidstone with the usual rapidity, and the execution was for +a time stayed. Shortly after the transmission of the order deferring the +execution, a messenger from the Home Office conveyed to the railway the +Secretary of State’s order, that the law was to take its course, and that +the culprit was to be at once executed. The telegraph clerk hesitated to +sending such a message without instructions from his principals. The +messenger from the Home Office could not be certain that the order for +Hutchings’s execution was signed by the Home Secretary, although it bore +his name; and Mr. Macgregor, the chairman, with great judgment and +humanity, instantly decided that it was not a sufficient authority in +such a momentous matter. + +An officer of confidence was immediately sent to the Secretary of State, +to state their hesitation and its cause, as the message was, in fact, a +death warrant, and that Mr. Walter must have undoubted evidence of its +correctness. On Mr. Walter drawing the attention of the Secretary of +State to the fact, that the transmission of such a message was, in +effect, to make him the Sheriff, the conduct of the railway company, in +requiring unquestionable evidence and authority, was warmly approved. +The proper signature was affixed in Mr. Walter’s presence; and the +telegraph then conveyed to the criminal the sad news, that the suspension +of the awful sentence was only temporary. Hutchings was executed soon +after it reached Maidstone. + + —_Annual Register_, 1847. + + + + +LOST LUGGAGE. + + +Sir Francis Head, giving an account of the contents of the Lost Luggage +Office, at Euston Station, observes:—“But there were a few articles that +certainly we were not prepared to meet with, and which but too clearly +proved that the extraordinary terminus-excitement which had suddenly +caused so many virtuous ladies to elope from their red shawls—in short, +to be all of a sudden not only in ‘a bustle’ behind, but all over—had +equally affected men of all sorts and conditions. + +“One gentleman had left behind him a pair of leather hunting breeches! +another his boot-jacks! A soldier of the 22nd regiment had left his +knapsack containing his kit. Another soldier of the 10th, poor fellow, +had left his scarlet regimental coat! Some cripple, probably overjoyed +at the sight of his family, had left behind him his crutches!! But what +astonished us above all was, that some honest Scotchman, probably in the +ecstasy of suddenly seeing among the crowd the face of his faithful +_Jeanie_, had actually left behind him the best portion of his +bagpipes!!! + +“Some little time ago the superintendent, on breaking open, previous to a +general sale, a locked leather hat-box, which had lain in this dungeon +two years, found in it, under the hat, £65 in Bank of England notes, with +one or two private letters, which enabled him to restore the money to the +owner, who, it turned out, had been so positive that had left his hat-box +at an hotel at Birmingham that he made no inquiry for it at the railway +office.” + + + + +VERY NICE TO BE A RAILWAY ENGINEER. + + +A lady in conversation with a railway engineer observed, “It must be very +nice to be a railway engineer, and be able to travel about anywhere you +want to go to for nothing.” + +“Yes, madam,” was the reply, “It would, as you say, be very nice to +travel about for nothing, _if we were not paid for it_. But you see,” he +remarked, “railway engineers are like the cabman’s horse. The cabman has +a very thin horse. ‘Doesn’t your horse have enough to eat?’ inquired a +benevolent lady passenger. ‘Oh yes, ma’am,’ replied cabby, ‘I give him +lots o’ victuals to eat, only, you see, he hasn’t any time to eat ’em.’ +So it is with the railway engineer; he has lots of pleasure of all kinds, +only he has not any time to take it.” + + + + +AN ACCOMMODATING CONTRACTOR. + + +One railway of some scores of miles hung fire; the directors were +congested with their fears of exceeding the estimates, and so a shrewd +man of business, a contractor, i.e., a man with a mind contracted to +profit and a keen eye to discern the paths of profit, called on them. +This man had made his way upward, and passing through the process of +sub-contracting, had obtained a glimpse of the upper glories. And thus +he relieved the directors from their difficulties, by proffering to make +the railway complete in all its parts, buy the land at the commencement, +and, if required, to engage the station-clerks at the conclusion, with +all the staff complete, so that his patrons might have no trouble, but +begin business off-hand. But the latter condition—the staff and +clerks—being simply a matter of patronage, the directors kept that +trouble in their own hands. + +Our contractor loomed on the directors’ minds as a guardian angel, a +guarantee against responsibilities, backed by sufficient sureties, so the +matter was without delay handed over to him, and he knew what to do with +it. + + —_Roads and Rails_, by W. B. Adams. + + + + +THE TWO DUKES AND THE TRAVELLER. + + +The following amusing anecdote is related of a commercial traveller who +happened to get into the same railway carriage in which the Dukes of +Argyle and Northumberland were travelling. The three chatted familiarly +until the train stopped at Alnwick Junction, where the Duke of +Northumberland got out, and was met by a train of flunkeys and servants. +“That must be a great swell,” said the “commercial,” to his remaining +companion. “Yes,” responded the Duke of Argyle, “he is the Duke of +Northumberland.” “Bless my soul!” exclaimed the “commercial.” “And to +think that he should have been so condescending to two little snobs like +us!” + + + + +THE GREAT RAILWAY MANIA DAY. + + +Never had there occurred, in the history of joint-stock enterprise, such +another day as the 30th of November, 1845. It was the day on which a +madness for speculation arrived at its height, to be followed by a +collapse terrible to many thousand families. Railways had been gradually +becoming successful, and the old companies had, in many cases, bought +off, on very high terms, rival lines which threatened to interfere with +their profits. Both of these circumstances tended to encourage the +concoction of new schemes. There is always floating capital in England +waiting for profitable employment; there are always professional men +looking out for employment in great engineering works; and there are +always scheming moneyless men ready to trade on the folly of others. +Thus the bankers and capitalists were willing to supply the capital; the +engineers, surveyors, architects, contractors, builders, solicitors, +barristers, and Parliamentary agents were willing to supply the brains +and fingers; while, too often, cunning schemers pulled the strings. This +was especially the case in 1845, when plans for new railways were brought +forward literally by hundreds, and with a recklessness perfectly +marvellous. + +By an enactment in force at that time, it was necessary, for the +prosecution of any railway scheme in Parliament, that a mass of documents +should be deposited with the Board of Trade, on or before the 30th of +November in the preceding year. The multitude of these schemes in 1845 +was so great that there could not be found surveyors enough to prepare +the plans and sections in time. Advertisements were inserted in the +newspapers offering enormous pay for even a smattering of this kind of +skill. Surveyors and architects from abroad were attracted to England; +young men at home were tempted to break the articles into which they had +entered with their masters; and others were seduced from various +professions into that of railway engineers. Sixty persons in the +employment of the Ordnance Department left their situations to gain +enormous earnings in this way. There were desperate fights in various +parts of England between property-owners who were determined that their +land should not be entered upon for the purpose of railway surveying, and +surveyors who knew that the schemes of their companies would be +frustrated unless the surveys were made and the plans deposited by the +30th of November. To attain this end, force, fraud, and bribery were +freely made use of. The 30th of November, 1845, fell on a Sunday; but it +was no Sunday at the office near the Board of Trade. Vehicles were +driving up during the whole of the day, with agents and clerks bringing +plans and sections. In country districts, as the day approached, and on +the morning of the day, coaches-and-four were in greater request than +even at race-time, galloping at full speed to the nearest railway +station. On the Great Western Railway an express train was hired by the +agents of one new scheme. The engine broke down; the train came to a +stand-still at Maidenhead, and, in this state, was run into by another +express train hired by the agents of a rival project; the opposite +parties barely escaped with their lives, but contrived to reach London at +the last moment. On this eventful Sunday there were no fewer than ten of +these express trains on the Great Western Railway, and eighteen on the +Eastern Counties! One railway company was unable to deposit its papers +because another company surreptitiously bought, for a high sum, twenty of +the necessary sheets from the lithographic printer, and horses were +killed in madly running about in search of the missing documents before +the fraud was discovered. In some cases the lithographic stones were +stolen; and in one instance the printer was bribed, by a large sum, not +to finish in proper time the plans for a rival line. One eminent house +brought over four hundred lithographic printers from Belgium, and even +then, and with these, all the work ordered could not be executed. Some +of the plans were only two-thirds lithographed, the rest being filled up +by hand. However executed, the problem was to get these documents to +Whitehall before midnight on the 30th of November. Two guineas a mile +were in one instance paid for post-horses. One express train steamed up +to London 118 miles in an hour-and-a-half, nearly 80 miles an hour. An +established company having refused an express train to the promoters of a +rival scheme, the latter employed persons to get up a mock funeral +cortege, and engage an express train to convey it to London; they did so, +and the plans and sections came _in the hearse_, with solicitors and +surveyors as mourners! + +Copies of many of the documents had to be deposited with the clerks of +the peace of the counties to which the schemes severally related, as well +as with the Board of Trade; and at some of the offices of these clerks, +strange scenes occurred on the Sunday. At Preston, the doors of the +office were not opened, as the officials considered the orders which had +been issued to keep open on that particular Sunday, to apply only to the +Board of Trade; but a crowd of law agents and surveyors assembled, broke +the windows, and threw their plans and sections into the office. At the +Board of Trade, extra clerks were employed on that day, and all went +pretty smoothly until nine o’clock in the evening. A rule was laid down +for receiving the plans and sections, hearing a few words of explanation +from the agents, and making certain entries in books. But at length the +work accumulated more rapidly than the clerks could attend to it, and the +agents arrived in greater number than the entrance hall could hold. The +anxiety was somewhat allayed by an announcement, that whoever was inside +the building before the clock struck twelve should be deemed in good +time. Many of the agents bore the familiar name of Smith; and when ‘Mr. +Smith’ was summoned by the messenger to enter and speak concerning some +scheme, the name of which was not announced, in rushed several persons, +of whom, of course, only one could be the right Mr. Smith at that +particular moment. One agent arrived while the clock was striking +twelve, and was admitted. Soon afterwards, a carriage with reeking +horses drove up; three agents rushed out, and finding the door closed, +rang furiously at the bell; no sooner did a policeman open the door to +say that the time was past, than the agents threw their bundles of plans +and sections through the half-opened door into the hall; but this was not +permitted, and the policeman threw the documents out into the street. +The baffled agents were nearly maddened with vexation; for they had +arrived in London from Harwich in good time, and had been driven about +Pimlico hither and thither, by a post-boy who did not, or would not, know +the way to the office of the Board of Trade. + +The _Times_ newspaper, in the same month, devoted three whole pages to an +elaborate analysis, by Mr. Spackman, of the various railway schemes +brought forward in 1845. “There were no less than 620 in number, +involving an (hypothetical) expenditure of 560 millions sterling; besides +643 other schemes which had not gone further than issuing prospectuses. +More than 500 of the schemes went through all the stages necessary for +being brought before Parliament; and 272 of these became Acts of +Parliament in 1846—to the ruin of thousands who had afterwards to find +the money to fulfil the engagements into which they had so rashly +entered. + + —_Chambers’s Book of Days_. + + + + +PARODY UPON THE RAILWAY MANIA. + + +About the time of the bursting of the railway bubble, or the collapse of +the mania of 1844–5, the following clever lines appeared:— + + “There was a sound of revelry by night.”—_Childe Harold_. + + “There was a sound that ceased not day or night, + Of speculation. London gathered then + Unwonted crowds, and moved by promise bright, + To Capel-court rushed women, boys, and men, + All seeking railway shares and scrip; and when + The market rose, how many a lad could tell, + With joyous glance, and eyes that spake again, + ’Twas e’en more lucrative than marrying well;— + When, hark! that warning voice strikes like a rising knell. + + Nay, it is nothing, empty as the wind, + But a ‘bear’ whisper down Throgmorton-street; + Wild enterprise shall still be unconfined; + No rest for us, when rising premiums greet + The morn to pour their treasures at our feet; + When, hark! that solemn sound is heard once more, + The gathering ‘bears’ its echoes yet repeat— + ’Tis but too true, is now the general roar, + The Bank has raised her rate, as she has done before. + + And then and there were hurryings to and fro, + And anxious thoughts, and signs of sad distress + Faces all pale, that but an hour ago + Smiled at the thoughts of their own craftiness. + And there were sudden partings, such as press + The coin from hungry pockets—mutual sighs + Of brokers and their clients. Who can guess + How many a stag already panting flies, + When upon times so bright such awful panics rise?” + + + + +RAILWAY FACILITIES FOR BUSINESS. + + +A gentleman went to Liverpool in the morning, purchased, and took back +with him to Manchester, 150 tons of cotton, which he sold, and afterwards +obtained an order for a similar quantity. He went again, and actually, +that same evening, delivered the second quantity in Manchester, “having +travelled 120 miles in four separate journeys, and bought, sold, and +delivered, 30 miles off, at two distinct deliveries, 300 tons of goods, +in about 12 hours.” The occurrence is perfectly astounding; and, had it +been hinted at fifty years ago, would have been deemed impossible. + + —_Railway Magazine_, 1840. + + + + +RAILWAYS AND THE POST-OFFICE. + + +It might naturally be thought that the new and quicker means of transport +afforded by the railway would be eagerly utilised by the Post-office. +There were, however, difficulties on both sides. The railway companies +objected to running trains during the night, and the old stage-coach +offered the advantage of greater regularity. The railway was quicker, +but was at least occasionally uncertain. Thus, in November, 1837, the +four daily mail trains between Liverpool and Birmingham on ten occasions +arrived before the specified time, on eight occasions were exact to time, +and on 102 occasions varied in lateness of arrival from five minutes to +five hours and five minutes. There were all sorts of mishaps and long +delays by train. The mail guard, like the passenger guard, rode outside +the train with a box before him called an “imperial,” which contained the +letters and papers entrusted to his charge. In very stormy weather the +mail guard would prop up the lid of his imperial and get inside for +shelter. On one occasion when the mail arrived at Liverpool the guard +was found imprisoned in his letter-box. The lid had fallen and fastened +in the male travesty of “Ginevra.” Fortunately for him it was a +burlesque and not a tragedy. Bags thrown to the guards at wayside +stations not unfrequently got under the wheels of the train and the +contents were cut to pieces. On one occasion, on the Grand Junction, an +engine failed through the fire-bars coming out. The mails were removed +from the train and run on a platelayer’s “trolly,” but unfortunately the +contents of the bags took fire and were destroyed. But many of these +mishaps were obviated by the invention of Mr. Nathaniel Worsdell, a +Liverpool coachbuilder, in the service of the railway, who took out a +patent in 1838 for an appliance for picking up and dropping mail bags +while the train was at full speed. This is still used. The loads of +railway vehicles, it may be mentioned, were limited by law to four tons +until the passage of the 5 and 6 Vic., c. 55. In 1837, when the weight +of the mails passing daily on the London and Birmingham line was only +about 14cwt., the late Sir Hardman Earle suggested that a special +compartment should be reserved for the mail guard in which he could sort +the letters _en route_. The first vehicle specially set apart for mail +purposes was put upon the Grand Junction in 1838. From this humble +beginning has gradually developed the express mails, in which the chief +consideration is the swift transit of correspondence, and which are +therefore limited in the number of the passengers they are allowed to +carry. The cost of carrying the mails in 1838 and 1839 between +Manchester and Liverpool by rail, including the guard’s fare, averaged +about £1 a trip, or half of the cost of sending them by coach. The price +paid to the Grand Junction for carriage of mails between Manchester and +Liverpool and Birmingham was 1d. a mile for the guard and ¾d. per cwt. +per mile for the mails. This brought a revenue of about £3,000 a year. +When the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed and carried the imposition +of the passenger duty, in 1832, the company intimated to the Post-office +that they should advance the mail guard’s fare ½d. per mile. In 1840 an +agreement was negotiated between the Post-office and railway authorities +to convey the mails between Lancashire and Birmingham four times daily +for £19 10s. a day, with a penalty of £500 on the railway company in case +of bad time keeping. This agreement was not carried into effect. + + —_Manchester Guardian_. + + + + +RAILWAY SIGNALS. + + +The history of railway signals is a curious page in the annals of +practical science. For some years signals seem scarcely to have been +dreamt of. Holding up a hat or an umbrella was at first sufficient to +stop a train at an intermediate station. At level crossings the gates +had to stand closed across the line of rails, and on the top bar hung a +lamp to indicate to drivers that the way was blocked. In 1839, Colonel +Landman, of the Croydon line, said that he should avoid the danger at a +junction during a fog by going slowly, tolling a bell, beating a drum, or +sounding a whistle. The first junction signal was denominated a +lighthouse. The difficulties attending junctions may be judged of by the +fact that when the Bolton and Preston line was ready for opening it was +agreed that no train should attempt to enter or leave the North Union +line at Euxton junction within fifteen minutes of a train being due on +the main line which might interfere with it. The movable rails at +junctions had to be removed by hand and fixed into position by hammer and +pin. Mr. Watts, engineer to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, is +believed to have been one of the first to use the tapering movable +switch. One of Mr. Watts’s men invented the back weight, another +designed the crank, while a third suggested the long rod. These +improvements were all about the year 1846. The first fixed signal set up +at stations was an ordinary round flag pole having a pulley on the top, +upon which was hoisted a green flag to stop a train and a red one to +indicate danger on the road. The night signal was a hand lamp hoisted in +the same way. These were superseded by a signal on which an arm was +worked at the end of a rod, and a square lamp with two sides, red and +white, having blinkers working on hinges to shut out the light. These +were used until 1848. The semaphores only came into practical use some +20 years ago, and it is remarkable that the first time they were used on +the Liverpool and Manchester line they were the cause of a slight +collision. The use of signal lights on trains was much advanced by two +accidents which occurred on the North Union line on the 7th September, +1841. One of these happened at Farrington, where two passenger trains +came into collision. The other happened at Euxton, where a coal train +ran into a stage coach which was taking passengers to Southport. The +Rev. Mr. Joy was killed, and several others, including the station +master, who lost one leg, were injured. These were the first serious +accidents investigated by the now Government Inspector of Railways, Sir +Frederic Smith, who was appointed by the Board of Trade under Lord +Seymour’s Act. + + —_Manchester Guardian_. + + + + +FOG-SIGNALS. + + +During the prevalence of fogs, when neither signal-posts nor lights are +of any use, detonating signals are frequently employed, which are affixed +to the rails, and exploded by the iron tread of the advancing locomotive. +All guards, policemen, and pointsmen who are not appointed to stations, +and all enginemen, gatemen, gangers and platelayers, and tunnel-men, are +provided with packets of these signals, which they are required always to +have ready for use whilst on duty; and every engine, on passing over one +of these signals, is to be immediately stopped, and the guards are to +protect their train by sending back and placing a similar signal on the +line behind them every two hundred yards, to the distance of six hundred +yards; the train may then proceed slowly to the place of obstruction. +When these detonating signals were first invented, it was resolved to +ascertain whether they acted efficiently, and especially whether the +noise they produced was sufficient to be distinctly heard by the engine +driver. One of them was accordingly fixed to the rails on a particular +line by the authority of the company, and in due time the train having +passed over it, reached its destination. Here the engine driver and his +colleague were found to be in a state of great alarm, in consequence of a +supposed attack being made on them by an assassin, who, they said, lay +down beside the line of rails on which they had passed, and deliberately +fired at them. The efficiency of the means having thus been tested, the +apprehensions of the enginemen were removed, though there was at first +evident mortification manifested that they had been made the subjects of +such a successful experiment. + + —F. S. Williams’s _Our Iron Roads_. + + + + +“ALMOST DAR NOW.” + + +The following anecdote, illustrative of railroad facility, is very +pointed. A traveller inquired of a negro the distance to a certain +point. “Dat ’pends on circumstances,” replied darkey. “If you gwine +afoot, it’ll take you about a day; if you gwine in de stage or homneybus, +you make it half a day; but if you get in one of _dese smoke wagons_, you +be almost dar now.” + + + + +WORDSWORTH’S PROTEST. + + +Lines written by Wordsworth as a protest against making a railway from +Kendal to Windermere:— + + “Is there no nook of English ground secure + From rash assault? Schemes of retirement sown + In youth, and ’mid the world kept pure + As when their earliest flowers of hope were blown, + Must perish; how can they this blight endure? + And must he, too, his old delights disown, + Who scorns a false, utilitarian lure + ’Mid his paternal fields at random thrown? + Baffle the threat, bright scene, from Orrest-head, + Given to the pausing traveller’s rapturous glance! + Plead for thy peace, thou beautiful romance + Of nature; and if human hearts be dead, + Speak, passing winds; ye torrents, with your strong + And constant voice, protest against the wrong!” + + + + +THE HON. EDWARD EVERETT’S REPLY TO WORDSWORTH’S PROTEST. + + +The Hon. Edward Everett in the course of his speech at the Boston +Railroad Jubilee in commemoration of the opening of railroad +communication between Boston and Canada, observed, “But, sir, as I have +already said, it is not the material results of this railroad system in +which its happiest influences are seen. I recollect that seven or eight +years ago there was a project to carry a railroad into the lake country +in England—into the heart of Westmoreland and Cumberland. Mr. +Wordsworth, the lately deceased poet, a resident in the centre of this +region, opposed the project. He thought that the retirement and +seclusion of this delightful region would be disturbed by the panting of +the locomotive and the cry of the steam whistle. If I am not mistaken, +he published one or two sonnets in deprecation of the enterprise. Mr. +Wordsworth was a kind-hearted man, as well as a most distinguished poet, +but he was entirely mistaken, as it seems to me, in this matter. The +quiet of a few spots may be disturbed, but a hundred quiet spots are +rendered accessible. The bustle of the station-house may take the place +of the Druidical silence of some shady dell; but, Gracious Heavens, sir, +how many of those verdant cathedral arches, entwined by the hand of God +in our pathless woods, are opened to the grateful worship of man by these +means of communication? + +“How little of rural beauty you lose, even in a country of comparatively +narrow dimensions like England—how less than little in a country so vast +as this—by works of this description. You lose a little strip along the +line of the road, which partially changes its character; while, as the +compensation, you bring all this rural beauty, + + ‘The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, + The pomp of groves, the garniture of fields,’ + +within the reach, not of a score of luxurious, sauntering tourists, but +of the great mass of the population, who have senses and tastes as keen +as the keenest. You throw it open, with all its soothing and humanizing +influences, to thousands who, but for your railways and steamers, would +have lived and died without ever having breathed the life-giving air of +the mountains; yes, sir, to tens of thousands who would have gone to +their graves, and the sooner for the prevention, without ever having +caught a glimpse of the most magnificent and beautiful spectacle which +nature presents to the eye of man, that of a glorious curving wave, a +quarter-of-a-mile long, as it comes swelling and breasting toward the +shore, till its soft green ridge bursts into a crest of snow, and settles +and digs along the whispering sands.” + + + + +REMARKABLE ADVERTISEMENT. + + +The most astonishing kind of property to leave behind at a railway +station is mentioned in an advertisement which appeared in the newspapers +dated Swindon, April 27th, 1844. It gave notice “That a pair of bright +bay horses, about sixteen hands high, with black switch tails and manes,” +had been left in the name of Hibbert; and notice was given that unless +the horses were claimed on or before the 12th day of May, they would be +sold to pay expenses. Accordingly on that day they were sold. + + —_Household Words_. + + + + +RAILWAY EPIGRAM. + + +In 1845, during the discussions on the Midland lines before the Committee +of the House of Commons, Mr. Hill, the Counsel, was addressing the +Committee, when Sir John Rae Reid, who was a member of it, handed the +following lines to the chairman:— + + “Ye railway men, who mountains lower, + Who level locks and valleys fill; + Who thro’ the _hills_ vast tunnels _bore_; + Must now in turn be _bored by Hill_.” + + + + +SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE. + + +A certain gentleman of large property, and who had figured, if he does +not now figure, as a Railway Director, applied for shares in a certain +projected railway. Fifty, it seems were allotted to him. Whether that +was the number he applied for or not, deponent saith not; but by some +means nothing (0) got added to the 50 and made it 500. The deposit for +the said 500 was paid into the bankers’, the scrip obtained, and before +the mistake could be detected and corrected—for no doubt it was only a +mistake, or at most a _lapsus pennæ_—the shares were sold, and some £2000 +profit by this very fortunate accident found its way into the pocket of +the gentleman. + + —_Herepath’s Journal_, 1845. + + + + +LOUIS PHILIPPE AND THE ENGLISH NAVVIES. + + +Whittlesea Will, William Elthorpe, from Cambridgeshire, had a large +railway experience; during the construction of Longton Tunnel, he told me +the following story:—“Ye see, Mr. Smith (Samuel Smith, of Woodberry +Down), I was a ganger for Mr. Price on the Marseilles and Avignon Line in +France, and I’d gangs of all nations to deal with. Well, I could not +manage ’em nohow mixed—there were the Jarman Gang, the French Gang, the +English, Scotch, and Irish Gangs, of course; the Belgic Gang, the Spanish +Gang, and the Peamounter Gang—that’s a Gang, d’ye see, that comes off the +mountains somewhere towards Italy.” “Oh, the Piedmontese, you mean.” +“Well, you may call ’em Peedmanteeze if you like, but we call’d ’em +Peamounters—and so at last I hit on the plan of putting each gang by +itself; gangs o’ nations, the Peamounter gang here, the Jarman gang +there, and the Belgic gang there, and so on, and it worked capital, each +gang worked against the other gang like good ’uns. + +“Well one day our master, Mr. Price, gave the English gang a great +entertainment at a sort of Tea Garden place, near Paris, called Maison +Lafitte, and we were coming home along the road before dark—it was a +summer’s evening—singing and shouting pretty loud, I dare say, when a +fat, oldish gentleman rode into the midst of us and pulling up said, +taking off his hat—‘I think you are English Navigators.’ ‘Well, and what +if we are, old fellow, what’s that to you?’ ‘Why, you are making a very +great noise, and I noticed you did not make way for me, or salute me as +we met, which is not polite—every one in France salutes a gentleman. +I’ve been in England, I like the English,’ by this time his military +attendants rode up, and seeing him alone in the midst of us were going to +ride us down at once but the old boy beckoned with his hand for them to +hold back, and continued his sarmont. ‘I should wish you,’ says he, +quite pleasant, ‘whilst you remain in France to be orderly, obliging, +civil, and polite; it’s always the best—now remember this: and here’s +something for you to remember Louis Philippe by;’ putting his hand into +his pocket, he pulled out what silver he had, I suppose, threw it among +us, and rode off—but, my eyes, didn’t we give him a cheer!” + + + + +ADVANTAGES OF RAILWAY-TUNNELS. + + +We cannot help repeating a narrative which we heard on one occasion, told +with infinite gravity by a clergyman whose name we at once inquired +about, and of whom we shall only say, that he is one of the worthiest and +best sons of the kirk, and knows when to be serious as well as when to +jest. “Don’t tell me,” said he to a simple-looking Highland brother, who +had apparently made his first trial of railway travelling in coming up to +the Assembly—“don’t tell me that tunnels on railways are an unmitigated +evil: they serve high moral and æsthetical purposes. Only the other day +I got into a railway carriage, and I had hardly taken my seat, when the +train started. On looking up, I saw sitting opposite to me two of the +most rabid dissenters in Scotland. I felt at once that there could be no +pleasure for me in that journey, and with gloomy heart and countenance I +leaned back in my corner. But all at once we plunged into a deep tunnel, +black as night, and when we emerged at the other end, my brow was clear +and my ill-humour was entirely dissipated. Shall I tell you how this +came to be? All the way through the tunnel I was shaking my fists in the +dissenters’ faces, and making horrible mouths at them, and _that_ +relieved me, and set me all right. Don’t speak against tunnels again, my +dear friend.” + + —_Fraser’s Magazine_. + + + + +DAMAGES EASILY ADJUSTED. + + +It is related that the President of the Fitchburg Railroad, some thirty +years ago, settled with a number of passengers who had been wet but not +seriously injured by the running off of a train into the river, by paying +them from $5 to $20 each. One of them, a sailor, when his terms were +asked, said:—“Well, you see, mister, when I was down in the water, I +looked up to the bridge and calculated that we had fallen fifteen feet, +so if you will pay me a dollar a foot I will call it square.” + + + + +LIABILITIES OF RAILWAY ENGINEERS FOR THEIR ERRORS. + + +An action was tried before Mr. Justice Maule, July 30, 1846—the first +case of the kind—which established the liability of railway engineers for +the consequences of any errors they commit. + +The action was brought by the Dudley and Madeley Company against Mr. +Giles, the engineer. They had paid him £4,000 for the preparation of the +plans, etc., but when the time arrived for depositing them with the Board +of Trade they were not completely ready. The scheme had consequently +failed. This conduct of the defendant it was estimated had injured the +company to the extent of £40,000. The counsel for the plaintiff did not +claim damages to this amount, but would be content with such a sum as the +jury should, under the circumstances, think the defendant ought to pay, +as a penalty for the negligence of which he had been guilty. For Mr. +Giles, it was contended, that the jury ought not, at the worst, to find a +verdict for more than £1,700, alleging that the remainder £2,300 had been +paid by him in wages for work done, and materials used. + +The jury, however, returned a verdict to the tune of £4,500, or £500 +beyond the full sum paid him. + +But, what said the judge? That “it was clear that the defendant had +undertaken more work than he could complete, and that he should not be +allowed to gratify with impunity, and to the injury of the plaintiffs, +his desire to realise in a few months a fortune which should only be the +result of the labour of years.” + + + + +EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT. + + +Yesterday afternoon, as the Leeds train, which left that terminus at a +quarter-past one o’clock, was approaching Rugby, and within four miles of +that station, an umbrella behind the private carriage of Earl Zetland +took fire, in consequence of a spark from the engine falling on it, and +presently the imperial on the roof and the upper part of the carriage +were in a blaze. Seated within it were the Countess of Zetland and her +maid. The train was proceeding at the rate of forty miles an hour. +Under these circumstances, Her Ladyship and maid descended from the +carriage to the truck, when—despite the caution to hold on given by a +gentleman from a window of one of the railway carriages—the maid threw +herself headlong on the rail, and was speedily lost sight of. On the +arrival of the train at Rugby an engine was despatched along the line, +when the young woman was found severely injured, and taken to the +Infirmary at Leicester. Lady Zetland remained at Rugby, where she was +joined by His Lordship and the family physician last night, by an express +train from Euston-square. How long will railway companies delay +establishing a means of communication between passengers and the guard? + + —_Times_, Dec. 9th, 1847. + + + + +PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE. + + +On Monday, at the New Bailey, two men, named William Hatfield and Mark +Clegg, the former an engine-driver and the latter a fireman in the employ +of the London and North-Western Railway, were brought up before Mr. +Trafford, the stipendiary magistrate, and Captain Whittaker, charged with +drunkenness and gross negligence in the discharge of their duty. Mr. +Wagstaff, solicitor, of Warrington, appeared on behalf of the Company, +and from his statement and the evidence of the witnesses it appeared that +the prisoners had charge of the night mail train from Liverpool to +London, on Saturday, December 25, 1847. The number of carriages and +passengers was not stated, but the pointsman at the Warrington junction +being at his post, waiting for the train, was surprised to hear it coming +at a very rapid rate. He had been preparing to turn the points in order +to shunt the train on to the Warrington junction, but as the train did +not diminish in speed, but rather increased as it approached, he, +anticipating great danger if he should turn the points, determined on the +instant upon letting the train take its course, and not turning them. +Most fortunate was it that he exercised so much judgment and sagacity, +for, in consequence of the acuteness of the curve at Warrington junction +and the tremendous rate at which the train was proceeding—not less than +forty miles an hour—it does not appear that anything could have otherwise +prevented the train from being overturned, and a frightful sacrifice of +human life ensuing. Meantime the train continued its frightful progress; +but the mail guard seated at the end of the train, perceiving that it was +going on towards Manchester, instead of staying at the junction, +signalled to the engine-driver and fireman, but without effect, no notice +whatever being taken of the signal. Finding this to be the case, he, at +very considerable risk, passed over from carriage to carriage till he +reached the engine, where he found both the prisoners lying drunk. At +length, at Patricroft, however, he succeeded in stopping the train just +before it reached that station, a distance of 14 miles from Warrington. +This again appears to be almost a miraculous circumstance, for at the +Patricroft station, on the same line as that on which the mail train was +running was another train, containing a number of passengers, who thus +escaped from the consequences of a dreadful collision. The prisoners +were, of course, immediately given into custody, and convoyed to the New +Bailey prison, while, other assistance being obtained, the train was +taken back again to Warrington junction. The regulation is in +consequence of the sharp curve at this junction, that the trains shall +not run more than five miles an hour. The bench sentenced both prisoners +to two months hard labour. + + —_Manchester Examiner_. + + + + +HIS PORTMANTEAU. + + +An English traveller in Germany entered a first-class carriage in which +there was only one seat vacant, a middle one. A corner seat was occupied +by a German, who evidently had placed his portmanteau on the opposite +one—at least the traveller suspected that this was the case. The latter +asked, “Is this seat engaged?” “Yes,” was the reply. When the time for +the departure of the train had almost arrived, the Englishman said, “Your +friend is going to miss the train, if he is not quick.” “Oh, that is all +right. I’ll keep it for him.” Soon the signal came and the train +started, when the passenger seized the portmanteau, and threw it out of +the window, exclaiming, “He’s missed his train but he mustn’t lose his +baggage!” That portmanteau was the German’s. + + + + +GROWTH OF STATION BOOKSHOPS. + + +The gradual rise of the railway book-trade is a singular feature of our +marvellous railway era. In the first instance, when the scope and +capabilities of the rail had yet to be ascertained, the privilege of +selling books, newspapers, etc., at the several stations was freely +granted to any who might think proper to claim it. Vendors came and +went, when and how they chose, their trade was of the humblest, and their +profits were as varying as their punctuality. By degrees the business +assumed shape, the newspaper man found it his interest to maintain a +_locus standi_ in the establishment, and the establishment, in its turn, +discerned a substantial means of helping the poor or the deserving among +its servants. A cripple maimed in the company’s service, or a married +servant of a director or secretary, superseded the first batch of +stragglers and assumed responsibility by express appointment. The +responsibility, in truth, was not very great at starting. Railway +travelling, at the time referred to, occupied but a very small portion of +a man’s time. The longest line reached only thirty miles, and no +traveller required anything more solid than his newspaper for his hour’s +steaming. But as the iron lengthened, and as cities remote from each +other were brought closer, the time spent in the railway carriage +extended, travellers multiplied, and the newspaper ceased to be +sufficient for the journey. At this period reading matter for the rail +sensibly increased; the tide of cheap literature set in. French novels, +unfortunately, of questionable character were introduced by the newsman, +simply because he could buy them at one-third less than any other +publication selling at the same price. The public purchased the wares +they saw before them, and very soon the ingenious caterers for railway +readers flattered themselves that there was a general demand amongst all +classes for the peculiar style of literature upon which it had been their +good fortune to hit. The more eminent booksellers and publishers stood +aloof, whilst others, less scrupulous, finding a market open and +ready-made to their hands were only too eager to supply it. It was then +that the _Parlour Library_ was set on foot. Immense numbers of this work +were sold to travellers, and every addition to the stock was positively +made on the assumption that persons of the better class, who constitute +the larger portion of railway readers, lose their accustomed taste the +moment they smell the engine and present themselves to the railway +librarian. + + —Preface to a Reprinted Article from the _Times_, 1851. + + + + +MESSRS. SMITHS’ BOOKSTALLS. + + +The following appeared in the _Athenæum_, 27th Jan., 1849. “The new +business in bookselling which the farming of the line of the +North-Western Railway by Mr. Smith, of the Strand, is likely to open up, +engages a good deal of attention in literary circles. This new shop for +books will, it is thought, seriously injure many of the country +booksellers, and remove at the same time a portion of the business +transacted by London tradesmen. For instance, a country gentleman +wishing to purchase a new book will give his order, not as heretofore, to +the Lintot or Tonson of his particular district, but to the agent of the +bookseller on the line of railway—the party most directly in his way. +Instead of waiting, as he was accustomed to do, till the bookseller of +his village or of the nearest town, can get his usual monthly parcel down +from his agent ‘in the Row’—he will find his book at the locomotive +library, and so be enabled to read the last new novel before it is a +little flat or the last new history in the same edition as the resident +in London. A London gentleman hurrying from town with little time to +spare will buy the book he wants at the railway station where he takes +his ticket—or perhaps at the next, or third, or fourth, or at the last +station (just as the fancy takes him) on his journey. It is quite +possible to conceive such a final extension of this principle that the +retail trade in books may end in a great monopoly:—nay, instead of seeing +the _imprimatur_ of the Row or of Albermarle Street upon a book, the +great recommendation hereafter may be ‘Euston Square,’ ‘Paddington,’ ‘The +Nine Elms,’ or even ‘Shoreditch.’ Whatever may be the effect to the +present race of booksellers of this change in their business—it is +probable that this new mart for books will raise the profits of authors. +How many hours are wasted at railway stations by people well to do in the +world, with a taste for books but no time to read advertisements or to +drop in at a bookseller’s to see what is new. Already it is found that +the sale at these places is not confined to cheap or even ephemeral +publications;—that it is not the novel or light work alone that is asked +for and bought. + +“The prophecy of progress contained in the above paragraph has been +fulfilled so far as the North-Western and Mr. Smith are concerned. His +example, however, was not infectious for other lines; and till within the +last three months, when the Great Northern copied the good precedent, and +entered into a contract with Mr. Smith and his son, the greenest +literature in dress and in digestion was all that was offered to the +wants of travellers by the directors of the South-Western, the Great +Western, and other trunk and branch lines with which England is +intersected. A traveller in the eastern, western, and southern counties +who does not bring his book with him can satisfy his love of reading only +by the commonest and cheapest trash—for the pretences to the appearance +of a bookseller’s shop made at Waterloo, at Shoreditch, at Paddington, +and at London Bridge, are something ridiculous. This should not be. It +shows little for the public spirit of the directors of our railways that +such a system should remain. Mr. Smith has, we believe, as many as +thirty-five shops at railway stations, extending from London to +Liverpool, Chester and Edinburgh. His great stations are at Euston +Square, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. He has a +rolling stock of books valued at £10,000. We call his stock rolling, +because he moves his wares with the inclinations of his readers. If he +finds a religious feeling on the rise at Bangor, he withdraws Dickens and +sends down Henry of Exeter or Mr. Bennett; if a love for lighter reading +is on the increase at Rugby, he withdraws Hallam and sends down Thackeray +and Jerrold. He never undersells and he gives no credit. His business +is a ready-money one, and he finds it his interest to maintain the +dignity of literature by resolutely refusing to admit pernicious +publications among his stock. He can well afford to pay the heavy fee he +does for his privilege; for his novel speculation has been a decided +hit—of solid advantage to himself and of permanent utility to the +public.” + + —_Athanæum_, Sept. 5, 1851. + + + + +A RESIDENT ENGINEER AND SCIENTIFIC WITNESS. + + +Shortly after the first locomotives were placed on the London and +Birmingham Railway, a scientific civilian, who had given very positive +evidence before Parliament as to the injury to health and other +intolerable evils that must arise from the construction of tunnels, paid +a visit to the line. The resident engineer accompanied him in a +first-class carriage over the newly-finished portion of the works. As +they drew near Chalk Farm the engineer attracted the attention of his +visitor to the lamp at the top of the carriage. “I should like to have +your opinion on this,” he said. “The matter seems simple, but it +requires a deal of thought. You see it is essential to keep the oil from +dropping on the passengers. The cup shape effectually prevents this. +Then the lamps would not burn. We had to arrange an up-cast and +down-cast chimney, in order to ensure the circulation of air in the lamp. +Then there was the question of shadow;”—and so he continued, to the great +edification of his listener, for five or six minutes. When a +satisfactory conclusion as to the lamp had been arrived at, the learned +man looked out of the window. “What place is this?” said he. “Kensal +Green.” “But,” said the other, “how is that? I thought there was one of +your great tunnels to pass before we came to Kensal Green.” “Oh,” +replied the Resident, carelessly, “did you not observe? We came through +Chalk Farm Tunnel very steadily.” The man of science felt himself +caught. He made no more reports upon tunnels. + + —_Personal Recollections of English Engineers_. + + + + +EXTRAORDINARY SCENE AT A RAILWAY JUNCTION. + + +A most extraordinary and unprecedented scene occurred on Monday morning +at the Clifton station, about five miles from Manchester, where the East +Lancashire line forms a junction with the Lancashire and Yorkshire. The +East Lancashire are in the habit of running up-trains to Manchester, past +the Clifton junction, without stopping, afterwards making a declaration +to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company of the number of passengers the +trains contain, and for whom they will have to pay toll. The Lancashire +and Yorkshire Company object to this plan, and demand that the trains +shall stop at Clifton, so that the number of passengers can be counted, +and give up their tickets. The East Lancashire Company say that in +addition to their declaration, the other parties have access to all their +books, and to the returns of their (the East Lancashire Company’s) +servants; and that the demand to take tickets, or to count, is only one +of annoyance and detention, adopted since the two companies have become +competitors for the traffic to Bradford. Towards the close of last week, +the dispute assumed a serious aspect, by one of the Lancashire and +Yorkshire Company’s agents at Manchester (Mr. Blackmore) threatening that +he would blockade or stop up the East Lancashire line, at the point of +junction, with a large balk of timber. The East Lancashire Company got +out a summons against Mr. Blackmore on Saturday; but, notwithstanding +this, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company’s manager proceeded on Monday +to carry the threat into execution, despite the presence of a large body +of the county police. The East Lancashire early trains were allowed to +pass upon the Lancashire and Yorkshire line without obstruction; but at +half-past 10 o’clock in the morning, as the next East Lancashire train to +Manchester was one which would not stop at Clifton, but attempt to pass +on to Manchester, a number of labourers, under the direction of Captain +Laws, laid a large balk of timber, secured by two long iron crowbars, +across the down rails to Manchester of the Lancashire and Yorkshire line, +behind which was brought up a train of six empty carriages, with its +engine at the Manchester end. When the East Lancashire train came in +sight, it was signalled to stop, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire +Company’s servants went and demanded the tickets from the passengers. +This demand, however, was fruitless, inasmuch as the East Lancashire +parties had taken the tickets from the passengers at the previous +station—Ringley. The first act of the East Lancashire Company’s servants +was to remove the balk of timber, and this they did without hindrance. +They next attempted to force before them the Lancashire and Yorkshire +blockading train. This they were not able to do. The East Lancashire +Company then brought up a heavy train laden with stone, and took up a +position on the top line to Manchester. Thus the Lancashire and +Yorkshire Company’s double line of rails was completely blocked up—one +line by their own train, and the other by the stone train of the East +Lancashire Company. In this position matters remained till near 12 +o’clock. There were altogether eight trains on the double lines of rails +of the two companies, extending more than half a mile. After which the +blockade was broken up, and the various trains were allowed to pass +onwards—fortunately without accident or injury to the passengers. + + —_Manchester Examiner_, March 13th, 1849. + + + + +GOODS’ COMPETITION. + + +Within the last fortnight, we understand, the London and North-Western, +in conjunction with the Lancashire and Yorkshire, have commenced carrying +goods between Liverpool and Manchester, a distance of 31 miles, at the +ruinously low figure of 6d. per ton, where they used to have 8s. We +further hear that the 6d. includes the expenses of collection and +delivery. The cause is a competition with the East Lancashire and the +canal. At a very low estimate it has been calculated that every ton +costs 6s. 3d., so that they are losing 5s. 9d. on every 6d. earned, or +860 per cent. + +How long this monstrous competition is to continue the directors only +know, but the loss must be frightful on both sides. Chaplin and Horne +had 10s. a ton for collecting and delivering the goods at the London end +of the London and North-Western Railway, and, though the expense must be +less in such comparatively small towns as Liverpool and Manchester, it +can hardly be less than a half that, 5s. Therefore, allowing only 1s. +3d. for the bare railway carriage, which is under a halfpenny a ton a +mile, we have 6s. 3d., the estimate showing the above-mentioned loss of +5s. 9d. on every 6d. earned. + + —_Herepath’s Journal_, Sept. 29th, 1849. + + + + +A POLITE REQUEST. + + +An amusing illustration of the formal politeness of a railway guard +occurred some years ago at the Reigate station. He went to the window of +a first class carriage, and said: “If you please, sir, will you have the +goodness to change your carriage here?” “What for?” was the gruff reply +of Mr. Bull within. “Because, sir, if you please, the wheel has been on +fire since half-way from the last station!” John looked out; the wheel +was sending forth a cloud of smoke, and without waiting to require any +further “persuasive influences,” he lost no time in condescending to +comply with the request. + + + + +A CHASE AFTER A RUNAWAY ENGINE. + + +Mr. Walker, the superintendent of the telegraphs of the South-Eastern +Railway Company, remarks:—“On New Year’s Day, 1850, a collision had +occurred to an empty train at Gravesend, and the driver having leaped +from his engine, the latter darted alone at full speed for London. +Notice was immediately given by telegraph to London and other stations; +and, while the line was kept clear, an engine and other arrangements were +prepared as a buttress to receive the runaway, while all connected with +the station awaited in awful suspense the expected shock. The +superintendent of the railway also started down the line on an engine, +and on passing the runaway he reversed his engine and had it transferred +at the next crossing to the up-line, so as to be in the rear of the +fugitive; he then started in chase, and on overtaking the other he ran +into it at speed, and the driver of the engine took possession of the +fugitive, and all danger was at an end. Twelve stations were passed in +safety; it passed Woolwich at fifteen miles an hour; it was within a +couple of miles of London when it was arrested. Had its approach been +unknown, the money value of the damage it would have caused might have +equalled the cost of the whole line of telegraph.” + + + + +STEAM DEFINED. + + +At a railway station, an old lady said to a very pompous looking +gentleman, who was talking about steam communication. “Pray, sir, what +is steam?” “Steam, ma’am, is ah!—steam, is ah! ah! steam is—steam!” “I +knew that chap couldn’t tell ye,” said a rough-looking fellow standing +by; “but steam is a bucket of water in a tremendous perspiration.” + + + + +IN A RAILWAY TUNNEL. + + +Mr. Osborne in the _Sunday at Home_, says, “I have heard from a friend a +strange story of a tunnel, which I will try to tell you as it was told to +me. A well-known engineer was walking one day through a tunnel, a narrow +one, and as he was going along, supposing himself safe, he thought his +ear caught the far-off rumble of a train _in the tunnel_. After stopping +and listening for a moment, he became sure it was so, and that he was +caught, and could not possibly get out in time. What was he to do? +Should he draw himself up close to the side wall, making himself as small +as possible, that the train might not touch him. Or should he lie down +flat between the rails and let the train pass over him. Being an +engineer, and knowing well the shape of things, he decided to lie down +between the rails as his best chance. He had to make up his mind +quickly, for in a minute or so the whole train came to where he lay, and +went thundering over him, and—did him no harm whatever. But he +afterwards told his friends, that in that brief moment of time, while the +train was passing over, he saw his whole past life spread out like a map, +like an illuminated transparency, with every particular circumstance +standing out plain.” + + + + +A QUICK WAY. + + +Some years ago, when a new railway was opened in the Highlands, a +Highlander heard of it, and bought a ticket for the first excursion. The +train was about half the distance to the next station when a collision +took place, and poor Donald was thrown unceremoniously into an adjacent +park. After recovering his senses, he made the best of his way home, +when the neighbours asked him how he liked his ride. “Oh,” replied +Donald, “I liked it fine; but they have an awfu’ nasty quick way in +puttin’ ane oot.” + + + + +HIGHLANDER AND A RAILWAY ENGINE. + + +We remember hearing a story of an old Highland peasant who happened to +see a railway engine for the first time. He was coming down from the +Grampians into Perthshire, and he thus described the novel monster as it +appeared in his astounded Celtic imagination:—“I was looking doon the +glens, when I saw a funny beast blowing off his perspiration; an’ I ran +doon, an’ I tried to stop him, but he just gave an awfu’ skirl an’ +disappeared into a hole.”—(meaning, of course, a tunnel). + + —_Once a Week_. + + + + +EXTRACTS FROM MACREADY’S DIARIES. + + +“July 3rd, 1845.—Brewster called to cut my hair; he told me the tradesmen +could not get paid in London, for all the money was employed in +railroads.” + +“June 19th, 1850.—We were surprised by the entrance of Carlyle and Mrs. +C—. I was delighted to see them. Carlyle inveighed against railroads—he +was quite in one of his exceptious moods.” + + + + +FREAKS OF CONCEALED BOGS. + + +Great difficulties have often been encountered by engineers in carrying +earth embankments across low grounds, which, under a fair, green surface, +concealed the remains of ancient bogs, sometimes of great depth. Thus, +on the Leeds and Bradford Extension, about 600 tons of stone and earth +were daily cast into an embankment near Bingley, and each morning the +stuff thrown in on the preceding day was found to have disappeared. This +went on for many weeks, the bank, however, gradually advancing, and +forcing up on either side a spongy black ridge of moss. On the +South-Western Railway a heavy embankment, about fifty feet high, crossed +a piece of ground near Newham, the surface of which seemed to be +perfectly sound and firm. Twenty feet, however, beneath the surface an +old bog lay concealed; and the ground giving way, the fluid, pressed from +beneath the embankment, raised the adjacent meadows in all directions +like waves of the sea. A culvert, which permitted the flow of a brook +under the bank, was forced down, the passage of the water entirely +stopped, and several thousand acres of the finest land in Hampshire would +have been flooded but for the exertions of the engineer, who completed a +new culvert just as the other had become completely closed. The +Newton-green embankment, on the Sheffield and Manchester line, gave way +in like manner, and to such an extent as to spread out two or three times +its original width. In this case it was found necessary to carry the +line across the parts which yielded, under strong timber shores. On the +Dundalk and Enniskillen line a heavy embankment twenty feet high suddenly +disappeared one night in the bog of Meghernakill, nearly adjoining the +river Fane. The bed of the river was forced up, and the flow of the +water for the time was stopped, and the surrounding country heavily +flooded. A concealed bog of even greater extent, on the Durham and +Sunderland Railway, near Aycliff, was crossed by means of a +double-planked road, about two miles in length. A few weeks after the +line had been opened, part of the road sank one night entirely out of +sight. The defect was made good merely by extending the floating surface +of the road at this portion of the bog. + + —_Quarterly Review_. + + + + +A RAILWAY MARRIAGE. + + +In Maine, a conductor—too busy, we suggest, saying “Go ahead!” to be +particular about wedding formalities—invited his betrothed and a minister +into a car, and while the train was in motion was married; leaving that +station a bachelor, at this station he was a married man! It is but one +of a thousand examples of life as it goes in this fast country. + + —_New York Nation_. + + + + +ATTEMPTED FRAUDS. + + +Feb. 29, 1849, _Central Criminal Court_.—Robert Duncan, aged 47, +staymaker, Mary Duncan, his wife, who surrendered to take her trial, and +Pierce Wall O’Brien, aged 30, printer, were indicted for conspiring +together to obtain money from the London and North-Western Railway +Company by false pretences. + +From the statement of Mr. Clarkson and the evidence, it appeared that the +charges made against the prisoners involved a most impudent attempt at +fraud. It appears that on the 5th of September last year an accident +occurred to the up mail train from York, near the Leighton Buzzard +station, but, although some injury was occasioned to the train, it seemed +that none of the passengers received any personal injury. On the 26th of +October following, however, the company received a communication from Mr. +Harrison, requiring compensation on behalf of defendant, Robert Duncan, +for an injury alleged to have been sustained by his wife upon the +occasion of the collision referred to, it being represented, also, that +her brother, the defendant O’Brien, who was travelling with her at the +time from York, had likewise received serious injury by the same +accident. The company immediately sent a medical gentleman to the place +described as the residence of these persons, No. 59, George Street, +Southwark, and he there saw the man Robert Duncan, who represented that +his wife was dangerously ill, and that the result of the accident on the +railway was a premature confinement, and that her life was in danger. +Mr. Porter was then introduced to the female defendant, whom he found in +bed, apparently in great pain, and she confirmed her husband’s statement. +In the same house the prisoner O’Brien was found in bed, and he also told +the same story about the accident on the railway. It appeared that some +suspicion was entertained by the company of the general character of the +transaction, and they had been instituting inquiries. On the 2nd of +November they received another letter from the prisoner Robert Duncan, in +which he made an offer to accept £60 for the injury his wife had +received, and also stating that Mr. O’Brien was willing to accept a +similar amount for the damage he had sustained. At this it appeared Mr. +Harrison resolved not to have anything further to do with the matter, +unless he received satisfactory proof of the truth of the story told by +the parties; and another solicitor was employed by the defendants, who +brought an action against the company for damages for the alleged injury, +and he proceeded so far as to give notice of trial. The case, however, +never went before a jury in that shape, and by this time it was +discovered that there was no truth in the story told by the defendants. +It was proved at the period when the accident was alleged to have +occurred to the female defendant, she was residing with her husband, and +was in her usual health. With regard to O’Brien, there was no evidence +to show that he was upon the train at the time the accident happened, +but, according to the testimony of a witness named Darke, during the +period when the negotiation was going on with the company, O’Brien +requested him to write a letter to Mr. Harrison to the effect that he was +riding in the same carriage with Mrs. Duncan and her brother at the time +of the accident, and he was aware of her having been injured, and gave +him a written statement to that effect, which he copied. This witness, +in cross-examination, admitted that at the time he wrote the statement he +was perfectly well aware it was false, and he also said that +notwithstanding this, he made no difficulty in doing what O’Brien +requested, and also that he should have been ready to make a solemn +declaration of the truth of the statement if he had been required to do +so. + +A verdict of “Not Guilty” was taken as to the female prisoner, on the +ground that she was acting under the control of her husband. The jury +returned a verdict of “Guilty” against the two male defendants. + +Mr. Clarkson said he was instructed to state that, at the period of the +catastrophe on board the Cricket steam-boat, the prisoners obtained a sum +of £70 from the company to which that vessel belonged, by the false +pretence that they had received injury upon the occasion. + +The Recorder sentenced Duncan to be imprisoned for twelve, and O’Brien +for six months. + + _Annual Register_. + + + + +A BRIDE’S LOST LUGGAGE. + + +The trouble which is bestowed by railway companies to cause the +restitution of lost property is incalculable. Some years ago, a young +lady lost a portmanteau from the rest of her luggage—a pardonable +oversight, for she was a bride starting on a honeymoon trip. The +bridegroom—never on such occasions an accountable being—had not noticed +the misfortune. When the loss was discovered, and application made +respecting it, the lady spoke positively of having seen it at the station +whence they started, then again at a station where they had to change +carriages; she saw it also when they left the railway; it was all safe, +she averred, at the hotel where they stopped for a few days. She was +also certain that it was among the rest of the “things” when they again +started for a watering-place; but, when they arrived there, it was +missing. It contained a new riding habit, value fifteen pounds. The +search that was instituted for this portmanteau recalled that of +Telemachus for Ulysses; the railway officials sent one of their clerks +with a _carte blanche_ to trace the bride’s journey to the end of the +last mile, till some tidings of the strayed trunk could be traced. He +went to every station, to every coach-office in connection with every +station, to every town, to every hotel, and to every lodging that the +happy couple had visited. His expenses actually amounted to fifteen +pounds. He came back without success. At length the treasure was found; +but where? At the by-station on another line, whence the bride had +started from home a maiden. Yet she had positively declared, without +doubt or reservation, that she had, “with her own eyes,” seen the trunk +on the various stages of her tour; this can only be accounted for by the +peculiar flustration of a young lady just plunged into the vortex of +matrimony. The husband paid the whole of the costs. + + + + +THIRD-CLASS PASSENGERS. + + +The conveyance of passengers at cheap fares was from the commencement of +railways a great public concern, and it was soon found necessary that the +legislature should take action in the matter. Accordingly, by the +Regulation of Railways Act, 1844, all passenger railways were required to +run one train every day from end to end of their line, carrying +third-class passengers at a rate not exceeding one penny a mile, stopping +at all stations, starting at hours approved by the Board of Trade, +travelling at least twelve miles an hour, and with carriages protected +from weather. This enactment greatly encouraged the poorer classes in +railway travelling; but the companies were slow to carry out the new +regulations cheerfully. The trains were timed at most inconvenient +hours; to undertake a journey of any considerable length in one day at +third-class fare was almost out of the question. In fact, a +short-sighted policy of doing almost everything to discourage third-class +travelling was adopted by the Companies. + +A traveller having started on a long journey, thinking to be able to +travel all the way third-class, would find at some stage of the route +that he had arrived, only a few minutes perhaps, after the departure of +the cheap train to his destination, with no alternative but to wait for +hours or proceed by the express and pay accordingly. Moreover, the +third-class carriages were provided with the very minimum of comfort. It +was not seen by the railway executive of that time that the policy +adopted was actually prejudicial to their own interests. + + _Our Railways_, by Joseph Parsloe. + + + + +IMPROVEMENT IN THIRD-CLASS TRAVELLING. + + +The Rev. F. S. Williams, in an article in the _Contemporary Review_, +entitled “Railway Revolutions,” remarks:—“We need not go back so far as +the time when third-class passengers had to stand in a sort of cattle-pen +placed on wheels; it is only a few years since the Parliamentary trains +were run in bare fulfilment of the obligations of Parliament, and when a +journey by one of them could never be looked upon as anything better than +a necessary evil. To start in the darkness of a winter’s morning to +catch the only third-class train that ran; to sit, after a slender +breakfast, in a vehicle the windows of which were compounded of the +largest amount of wood and the smallest amount of glass, and which were +carefully adjusted to exactly those positions in which the fewest +travellers could see out of them; to stop at every roadside station, +however insignificant; and to accomplish a journey of 200 miles in about +ten hours—such were the ordinary conditions which Parliament in its +bounty provided for the people. Occasionally, moreover, the monotony of +progress was interrupted by the shunting of the train into a siding, +where it might wait for more respectable passenger trains and fast goods +to pass.” + +“We remember,” says a writer, “once standing on the platform at +Darlington when the Parliamentary train arrived. It was detained for a +considerable time to allow a more favoured train to pass, and, on the +remonstrance of several of the passengers at the unexpected detention, +they were coolly informed, “Ye mun bide till yer betters gaw past, ye are +only the nigger train.” + +“If there is one part of my public life,” recently said Mr. Allport +(Midland Railway) to the writer, “in which I look back with more +satisfaction than anything else, it is with reference to the boon we +conferred on third-class passengers. When the rich man travels, or if he +lies in bed all day, his capital remains undiminished, and perhaps his +income flows in all the same. But when a poor man travels he has not +only to pay his fare, but to sink his capital, for his time is his +capital; and if he now consumes only five hours instead of ten in making +a journey, he has saved five hours of time for useful labour—useful to +himself, to his family, and to society. And I think with even more +pleasure of the comfort in travelling we have been able to confer upon +women and children. But it took,” he added, “five-and-twenty years’ work +to get it done.” + + + + +A GREAT DISCOVERY. + + +Confound that Pope Gregory who changed the style! He, or some one else, +has robbed the month of February, in ordinary years, of no less than +three days, for Mr. George Sutton, the solicitor, has discovered and +established by the last Brighton Act of Parliament that February has +_really thirty-one days_, while that good-for-nothing Pope led us to +believe it had only twenty-eight. The language of the 45th clause of the +Act or of the bill which went into the Lords is:— + +“That so much of the said Consolidation Act as enacts that the ordinary +meetings of the company, subsequent to the first ordinary meeting +thereof, shall be held half-yearly on the 31st day of July, and +_thirty-first day of February_ in each year, or within one month before +or after these days shall be, and the same is hereby repealed.” + +The next clause enacts, we suppose by reason of “the 31st of February” +being an inconvenient day, that the meetings shall be held on the 31st of +January and the 31st of July, a month before or a month after. + +On account of the great value of an addition of three days to our years, +and, therefore, an annual addition to our lives of three days, we beg to +propose that a handsome testimonial be given to Mr. George Sutton, the +eminent solicitor of the Brighton Railway Company, the author of the Act +and the discoverer of the Pope’s wicked conduct. We further propose that +it be given him on “the 31st day of February” next year, and that his +salary be paid on that day, and no other, every year. + + —_Herepath’s Journal_, June 24th, 1854. + + + + +A DREADED EVIL. + + +When the old Sheffield and Rotherham line was contemplated, “A hundred +and twenty inhabitants of Rotherham, headed by their vicar, petitioned +against the bill, because they thought the canal and turnpike furnished +sufficient accommodation between the two towns, and because they dreaded +an incursion of the idle, drunken, and dissolute portion of the Sheffield +people as a consequence of increasing the facilities of transit.” For a +time the opposition was successful but eventually the Lord’s Committee +yielded to the perseverance of the promoters of the bill. + + _Sheffield and Rotherham Independent_. + + + + +REMARKABLE ADVENTURE. + + +A young lady some years ago thus related an adventure she met with in +travelling. “After I had taken my seat one morning at Paddington, in an +empty carriage, I was joined, just as the train was moving off, by a +strange-looking young man, with remarkably long flowing hair. He was, of +course, a little hurried, but he seemed besides to be so disturbed and +wild that I was quite alarmed, for fear of his not being in his right +mind, nor did his subsequent conduct at all reassure me. Our train was +an express, and he inquired eagerly, at once, which was the first station +we were advertised to stop. I consulted my Bradshaw and furnished him +with the required information. It was Reading. The young man looked at +his watch. + +“‘Madam,’ said he, ‘I have but half-an-hour between me and, it may be, +ruin. Excuse, therefore, my abruptness. You have, I perceive, a pair of +scissors in your workbag. Oblige me, if you please, by cutting off all +my hair.’ + +“‘Sir,’ said I, ‘it is impossible.’ + +“‘Madam,’ he urged, and a look of severe determination crossed his +features; ‘I am a desperate man. Beware how you refuse me what I ask. +Cut my hair off—short, close to the roots—immediately; and here is a +newspaper to hold the ambrosial curls.’ + +“I thought he was mad, of course; and believing that it would be +dangerous to thwart him, I cut off all his hair to the last lock. + +“‘Now, madam,’ said he, unlocking a small portmanteau, ‘you will further +oblige me by looking out of the window, as I am about to change my +clothes.’ + +“Of course I looked out of the window for a very considerable time, and +when he observed, ‘Madam, I need no longer put you to any inconvenience,’ +I did not recognise the young man in the least. + +“Instead of his former rather gay costume, he was attired in black, and +wore a grey wig and silver spectacles; he looked like a respectable +divine of the Church of England, of about sixty-four years of age; to +complete that character, he held a volume of sermons in his hand, +which—they appeared so to absorb him—might have been his own. + +“‘I do not wish to threaten you, young lady,’ he resumed, ‘and I think, +besides, that I can trust your kind face. Will you promise me not to +reveal this metamorphosis until your journey’s end?’ + +“‘I will,’ said I, ‘most certainly.’ + +“At Reading, the guard and a person in plain clothes looked into our +carriage. + +“‘You have the ticket, my love,’ said the young man, blandly, and looking +to me as though he were my father. + +“‘Never mind, sir; we don’t want them,’ said the official, as he withdrew +his companion. + +“‘I shall now leave you, madam,’ observed my fellow-traveller, as soon as +the coast was clear; ‘by your kind and courageous conduct you have saved +my life and, perhaps, even your own.’ + +“In another minute he was gone, and the train was in motion. Not till +the next morning did I learn from the _Times_ newspaper that the +gentleman on whom I had operated as hair cutter had committed a forgery +to an enormous amount, in London, a few hours before I met him, and that +he had been tracked into the express train from Paddington; but +that—although the telegraph had been put in motion and described him +accurately—at Reading, when the train was searched, he was nowhere to be +found.” + + + + +SAFETY ON THE FLOOR. + + +Many concussions give no warning of their approach, while others do, the +usual premonitory symptoms being a kind of bouncing or leaping of the +train. It is well to know that the bottom of the carriage is the safest +place, and, therefore, when a person has reason to anticipate a +concussion, he should, without hesitation, throw himself on the floor of +the carriage. It was by this means that Lord Guillamore saved his life +and that of his fellow passengers some years since, when a concussion +took place on one of the Irish railways. His Lordship feeling a shock, +which he knew to be the forerunner of a concussion, without more ado +sprang upon the two persons sitting opposite to him, and dragged them +with him to the bottom of the carriage; the astonished persons at first +imagined that they had been set upon by a maniac, and commenced +struggling for their liberty, but in a few seconds they but too well +understood the nature of the case; the concussion came, and the upper +part of the carriage in which Lord Guillamore and the other two persons +were was shattered to pieces, while the floor was untouched, and thus +left them lying in safety; while the other carriages of the train +presented nothing but a ghastly spectacle of dead and wounded. + + —_The Railway Traveller’s Handy Book_. + + + + +LIFE UPON THE RAILWAY, BY A CONDUCTOR. + + +The Western Division of our road runs through a very mountainous part of +Virginia, and the stations are few and far between. About three miles +from one of these stations, the road runs through a deep gorge of the +Blue Ridge, and near the centre is a small valley, and there, hemmed in +by the everlasting hills, stood a small one-and-a-half-story log cabin. +The few acres that surrounded it were well cultivated as a garden, and +upon the fruits thereof lived a widow and her three children, by the name +of Graff. They were, indeed, untutored in the cold charities of an +outside world—I doubt much if they ever saw the sun shine beyond their +own native hills. In the summer time the children brought berries to the +nearest station to sell, and with the money they bought a few of the +necessities of the outside refinement. + +The oldest of these children I should judge to be about twelve years, and +the youngest about seven. They were all girls, and looked nice and +clean, and their healthful appearance and natural delicacy gave them a +ready welcome. They appeared as if they had been brought up to fear God +and love their humble home and mother. I had often stopped my train and +let them get off at their home, having found them at the station some +three miles from home, after disposing of their berries. + +I had children at home, and I knew their little feet would be tired in +walking three miles, and therefore felt that it would be the same with +these fatherless little ones. They seemed so pleased to ride, and +thanked me with such hearty thanks, after letting them off near home. +They frequently offered me nice, tempting baskets of fruit for my +kindness; yet I never accepted any without paying their full value. + +Now, if you remember, the winter of ’54 was very cold in that part of the +State, and the snow was nearly three feet deep on the mountains. + +On the night of the 26th of December, of that year, it turned around +warm, and the rain fell in torrents. A terrible storm swept the mountain +tops, and almost filled the valleys with water. Upon that night my train +was winding its way, at its usual speed, around the hills and through the +valleys, and as the road-bed was all solid rock, I had no fear of the +banks giving out. The night was intensely dark, and the winds moaned +piteously through the deep gorges of the mountains. Some of my +passengers were trying to sleep, others were talking in a low voice, to +relieve the monotony of the scene. Mothers had their children upon their +knees, as if to shield them from some unknown danger without. + +It was near midnight, when a sharp whistle from the engine brought me to +my feet. I knew there was danger by that whistle, and sprang to the +brakes at once, but the brakesmen were all at their posts, and soon +brought the train to a stop. I seized my lantern and found my way +forward as soon as possible, when what a sight met my gaze! A bright +fire of pine logs illuminated the track for some distance, and not over +forty rods ahead of our train a horrible gulf had opened its maw to +receive us! + +The snow, together with the rain, had torn the whole side of the mountain +out, and eternity itself seemed spread out before us. The widow Graff +and her children had found it out, and had brought light brush from their +home below, and built a large fire to warn us of our danger. They had +been there more than two hours watching beside that beacon of safety. As +I went up where that old lady stood drenched through by the rain and +sleet, she grasped my arm and cried: + +“Thank God! Mr. Sherbourn, we stopped you in time. I would have lost my +life before one hair of your head should have been hurt. Oh, I prayed to +heaven that we might stop the train, and, my God, I thank thee!” + +The children were crying for joy. I confess I don’t very often pray, but +I did then and there. I kneeled down by the side of that good old woman, +and offered up thanks to an All Wise Being for our safe deliverance from +a most terrible death, and called down blessings without number upon that +good old woman and her children. Near by stood the engineer, fireman, +and brakesmen, the tears streaming down their bronzed cheeks. + +I immediately prevailed upon Mrs. Graff and the children to go back into +the cars out of the storm and cold. After reaching the cars I related +our hair-breadth escape, and to whom we were indebted for our lives, and +begged the men passengers to go forward and see for themselves. They +needed no further urging, and a great many of the ladies went also, +regardless of the storm. They soon returned, and their pale faces gave +full evidence of the frightful death we had escaped. The ladies and +gentlemen vied with each other in their thanks and heartfelt gratitude +towards Mrs. Graff and her children, and assured her that they would +never, never forget her, and before the widow left the train she was +presented with a purse of four hundred and sixty dollars, the voluntary +offering of a whole train of grateful passengers. She refused the +proffered gift for some time, and said she had only done her duty, and +the knowledge of having done so was all the reward she asked. However, +she finally accepted the money, and said it should go to educate her +children. + +The railway company built her a new house, gave her and her children a +life pass over the road, and ordered all trains to stop and let her get +off at home when she wished, but the employés needed no such orders, they +can appreciate all such kindness—more so than the directors themselves. + +The old lady frequently visits my home at H— and she is at all times a +welcome visitor at my fireside. Two of the children are attending school +at the same place. + + —_Appleton’s American Railway Anecdote Book_. + + + + +A COUNTY COURT JUDGE’S FEELING AGAINST RAILWAYS. + + +In a County Court case at Carlisle, reported in the _Carlisle Journal_, +of October 31st, 1851, the judge (J. K. Knowles, Esq.) is represented to +have said:—“You may depend upon it, if I could do anything for you, I +would, for I detest all railways. If they get a verdict in this case it +will be the first, and I hope it will be the last.” + + + + +RAILWAY TICKETS. + + +A writer in that valuable miscellany _Household Words_, remarks:—“About +thirteen years ago, a Quaker was walking in a field in Northumberland, +when a thought struck him. The man who was walking was named Thomas +Edmonson. He had been, though a Friend, not a very successful man in +life. He was a man of integrity and honour, as he afterwards abundantly +proved, but he had been a bankrupt, and was maintaining himself as a +clerk at a small station on the Newcastle and Carlisle line. In the +course of his duties in this situation, he found it irksome to have to +write on every railway ticket that he delivered. He saw the clumsiness +of the method of tearing the bit of paper off the printed sheet as it was +wanted, and filling it up with pen and ink. He perceived how much time, +trouble, and error might be saved by the process being done in a +mechanical way; and it was when he set his foot down on a particular spot +on the before mentioned field that the idea struck him how all that he +wished might be done by a machine—how tickets might be printed with the +names of stations, the class of carriage, the dates of the month, and all +of them from end to end of the kingdom, on one uniform system. Most +inventors accomplish their great deeds by degrees—one thought suggesting +another from time to time; but, when Thomas Edmonson showed his family +the spot in the field where his invention occurred to him, he used to say +that it came to his mind complete, in its whole scope and all its +details. Out of it has grown the mighty institution of the Railway +Clearing House; and with it the grand organization by which the Railways +of the United Kingdom act, in regard to the convenience of individuals, +as a unity. We may see at a glance the difference to every one of us of +the present organized system—by which we can take our tickets from almost +any place to another, and get into a carriage on almost any of our great +lines, to be conveyed without further care to the opposite end of the +kingdom—and the unorganized condition of affairs from which Mr. Edmonson +rescued us, whereby we should have been compelled to shift ourselves and +our luggage from time to time, buying new tickets, waiting while they +were filled up, waiting at almost every point of the journey, and having +to do it with divers companies who had nothing to do with each other but +to find fault and be jealous. + +“On Mr. Edmonson’s machines may be seen the name of Blaycock; Blaycock +was a watchmaker, and an acquaintance of Edmonson’s, and a man whom he +knew to be capable of working out his idea. He told him what he wanted; +and Blaycock understood him, and realized his thought. The third machine +that they made was nearly as good as those now in use. The one we saw +had scarcely wanted five shillings worth of repairs in five years; and, +when it needs more, it will be from sheer wearing away of the brass-work, +by constant hard friction. The Manchester and Leeds Railway Company were +the first to avail themselves of Mr. Edmonson’s invention; and they +secured his services at their station at Oldham Road, for a time. He +took out a patent; and his invention became so widely known and +appreciated, that he soon withdrew himself from all other engagements, to +perfect its details and provide tickets to meet the daily growing demand. +He let out his patent on profitable terms—ten shillings per mile per +annum; that is, a railway of thirty miles long paid him fifteen pounds a +year for a license to print its own tickets by his apparatus; and a +railway of sixty miles long paid him thirty pounds, and so on. As his +profits began to come in, he began to spend them; and it is not the least +interesting part of his history to see how. It has been told that he was +a bankrupt early in life. The very first use he made of his money was to +pay every shilling that he ever owed. Ho was forty-six when he took that +walk in the field in Northumberland. He was fifty-eight when he died, on +the twenty-second of June last year.” + + + + +TAKEN ABACK. + + +Four young cavalry officers, travelling by rail, from Boulogne to Paris, +were joined at Amiens by a quiet, elderly gentleman, who shortly +requested that a little of one window might be opened—a not unreasonable +demand, as both were shut, and all four gentlemen were smoking. But it +was refused, and again refused on being preferred a second time, very +civilly; whereupon the elderly gentleman put his umbrella through the +glass. “Shall we stand the impertinence of this bourgeois?” said the +officers to one another. “Never.” And they thrust four cards into his +hand, which he received methodically, and looked carefully at all four; +producing his own, one of which he tendered to each officer with a bow. +Imagine their feelings when they read on each—“Marshal Randon, Ministre +de Guerre.” + + + + +FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. + + +The engineer of a train near Montreal saw a large dog on the track. He +was barking furiously. The engineer blew the whistle at him, but he did +not stir, and crouching low, he was struck by the locomotive and killed. +There was a bit of white muslin on the locomotive, and it attracted the +attention of the engineer, who stopped the train and went back. There +lay the dead dog, and a dead child, which had wandered upon the track and +gone to sleep. The dog had given his signal to stop the train, and had +died at his post. + + + + +NARROW ESCAPES FROM BEING LYNCHED. + + +A writer in _All the Year Round_, observes:—“A dreadful accident down in +‘Illonoy,’ had particularly struck me as a warning; for there, while the +shattered bodies were still being drawn from under the piles of shivered +carriages, the driver on being expostulated with, had replied: + +‘I suppose this ain’t the first railway accident by long chalks!’ + +Upon which the indignant passengers were with difficulty prevented from +lynching the wretch; but he fled into the woods, and there for a time +escaped pursuit. + +But, two other railway journeys pressed more peculiarly on my mind; one +was that of eight or ten weeks ago, from Canandaigua to Antrim. It was +there a gentleman from Baltimore, fresh from Chicago, told me of a +railway accident he had himself been witness to, only two days before I +met him. The 2.40 (night) train from Toledo to Chicago, in which he +rode, was upset near Pocahontas by two logs that had evidently been +wilfully laid across the rails. On inquiry at the next station, it was +discovered that a farmer who had had, a week before, two stray calves +killed near the same place, had been heard at a liquor store to say he +would ‘pay them out for his calves.’ This was enough for the excited +passengers, vexed at the detention, and enraged at the malice that had +exposed them to danger and death. A posse of them instantly sallied out, +beleaguered the farmer’s house, seized him after some resistance, put a +rope round his neck, dragged him to the nearest tree, and would have then +and there lynched him, had not two or three of the passengers rescued +him, revolver in hand, and given him up to the nearest magistrate.” + + + + +CURIOUS NOTICE. + + +The following notice, for the benefit of English travellers, was +exhibited some years ago in the carriage of a Dutch railway:—“You are +requested not to put no heads nor arms out of te windows.” + + + + +OBTAINING INFORMATION. + + +But one of the most difficult things in the world is the levity with +which people talk about “obtaining information.” As if information were +as easy to pick up as stones! “It ain’t so hard to nuss the sick,” said +a hired nurse, “as some people might think; the most of ’em doesn’t want +nothing, and them as does doesn’t get it.” Parodying this, one might +say, it is much harder to “obtain information” than some people think; +the most don’t know anything, and those who do don’t say what they know. +Here is a real episode from the history of an inquiry, which took place +four or five years ago, into the desirability of making a new line of +railway on the Border. A witness was giving what is called “traffic +evidence,” in justification of the alleged need of the railway, and this +is what occurred:— + +_Mr. Brown_ (the cross-examining counsel for the opponents of the new +line)—Do you mean to tell the committee that you ever saw an inhabited +house in that valley? + +_Witness_—Yes I do. + +_Mr. Brown_—Did you ever see a vehicle there in your life? + +_Witness_—Yes, I did. + +_Mr. Brown_—Very good. + +Some other questions were put, which led to nothing particular: but, just +as the witness—a Scotchman—was leaving the box, the learned gentleman put +one more question:— + +_Q_.—I am instructed to ask you, if the vehicle you saw was not the +hearse of the last inhabitant? + +_Answer_—It was. + + —_Cornhill Magazine_. + + + + +THE GOAT AND THE RAILWAY. + + +In Prussian Poland the goods and cattle trains are prohibited from +carrying passengers under any conditions, and, however urgent their +necessities, the only exception allowed being the herd-keepers in charge +of cattle. So strictly is this regulation enforced that even medical men +are not allowed to go by them when called for on an emergency, and where +life and death may be the result of their quick transit. This is +generally considered a great hardship, the more so as there are only two +passenger trains daily on the above railroads. But the inventive genius +of a small German innkeeper at Lissa has hit upon a clever plan of +circumventing the government regulations in a perfectly legitimate +manner. He keeps a goat, which he hires out to persons wanting to +proceed in a hurry by a cattle train, at the rate of 6d. per station, the +passenger then applying for a ticket as the person in charge of the goat, +which he obtains without any difficulty. In this manner a well-known +nobleman, residing at Lissa, is frequently seen travelling by the cattle +train to Posen, in the passenger’s carriage, and the goat is so tame that +a very slender silk ribbon suffices to keep it from straying. + + + + +THE FIRST RAILWAY IN THE CRIMEA. + + +During the Russian War, in 1854, when the whole country was horror-struck +with the report of the sufferings endured by our brave soldiers in the +Crimea, Mr. Peto, in the most noble and disinterested manner, and at the +cost of his seat in the House of Commons for Norwich—which city he had +represented for several years—constructed for the Government a line of +railway from Balaclava to the English camp before Sebastopol, which at +the end of the war, with its various branches, was 37 English miles in +length and had 10 locomotives on it. In recognition of this patriotic +service the honour of a baronetcy was, in the following year, conferred +upon him by Her Majesty. + + —_Old Jonathan_. + + + + +THE BALACLAVA RAILWAY. + + +The following interesting extract from a communication to the _Times_, by +Sir Morton Peto, Bart., respecting the construction of the railway from +Balaclava to the British camp is worthy of preservation. Sir Morton +remarks:—“It was in the midst of the dreary winter of 1854, when the +British army was suffering unparalleled hardships before Sebastopol, that +it was resolved to construct a railway from Balaclava to the British +camp. Let honour be given where honour is due.—The idea emanated from +the Duke of Newcastle. His Grace applied to our firm to assist in +carrying out the design. The sympathies of all England were excited at +the time by the sufferings of our troops. Every one was emulous to +contribute all that could be contributed to their succour and support. +The firm of which I am a partner was anxious to take its share in the +good work, and, on the Duke of Newcastle’s application, we cheerfully +undertook to make all the arrangements for carrying his Grace’s views +into execution, on the understanding that the work should be considered +National; and that we should be permitted to execute it without any +charge for profit. + +We accordingly placed at the disposal of Her Majesty’s Government the +whole of our resources. We fitted out transports with the stores +necessary for the construction of the railway; employed and equipped +hundreds of men to execute the works; provided a commissariat exclusively +for their use; engaged medical officers to attend to their health, and +placed the whole service under the direction of the most experienced +agents on our staff. These important preliminaries were arranged so +effectually, and with so much despatch, that the Emperor of the French +sent an agent to this country to instruct himself as to the mode in which +we equipped the expedition. + +Every item shipped by us for the works was valued before shipment at its +selling price; and for all these items of valuation, as well as for the +payments which we made for labour, we received the certificate of the +most eminent engineer of the day (the late lamented Mr. Robert +Stephenson). We undertook the execution of the Balaclava Railway as a +‘National’ work, agreeing to execute it without profit. We performed our +contract to the letter. We never profited by it to the extent of a +single shilling. + +The works (nearly seven miles of railway) were executed in less than a +month; an incredibly short space of time, considering the season of the +year, the severity of the climate, and the difficulties to which, +considering the distance from home, we were all of us exposed. It is a +matter of history that they eventuated in the taking of the great +fortress of Sebastopol. Before the railway was made, all the shot, all +the shell, and all the ammunition necessary for the siege, had to be +carried from Balaclava to the camp, a distance of five miles up hill, +through mud and sludge, upon the backs of the soldiers. An immense +proportion of our troops was told off for this most laborious service; of +whom no less than 25 per cent per month perished in its execution. On +the day the railway was opened, it carried to the camp of the British +army, in 24 hours, more shot and shell than had been brought from +Balaclava for six weeks previously. + +To our principal agent in the Crimea, the late Mr. Beattie, the greatest +credit was due for the way in which the arrangements were made, and the +work executed on that side. Mr. Beattie’s labours were so arduous, and +his efforts so untiring, that he died of fatigue within six weeks after +the completion of the work—a victim, absolutely, to his unparalleled +exertions. The only favour in connection with these works which the Duke +of Newcastle ever granted at our request, he granted to the family of +this lamented gentleman. Mr. Beattie left a widow and four children to +deplore his loss, and through the favour of the Duke of Newcastle, the +widow, who now resides with her father, an estimable clergyman in the +North of Ireland, enjoys a pension as the widow of a colonel falling in +the field.” + + + + +PASSENGERS AND OTHER CATTLE. + + +At the Eastern Counties meeting (1854) the solicitor cut short a clause +about passengers, animals, and cattle, by reading it “passengers and +other cattle.” We do not recollect passengers having been classed with +cattle before. Perhaps the learned gentleman’s eyesight was defective, +or the print was not very clear. + + + + +EXPANSION OF RAILS. + + +Robert Routledge, in his article upon railways, remarks:—“It may easily +be seen on looking at a line of rails that they are not laid with the +ends quite touching each other, or, at least, they are not usually in +contact. The reason of this is that space must be allowed for the +expansion which takes place when a rise in the temperature occurs. The +neglect of this precaution has sometimes led to damage and accidents. A +certain railway was opened in June, and, after an excursion train had in +the morning passed over it, the midday heat so expanded the iron that the +rails became, in some places, elevated to two feet above the level, and +the sleepers were torn up; so that in order to admit the return of the +train, the rails had to be fully relaid in a kind of zigzag. In June, +1856, a train was thrown off the metals of the North-Eastern Railway, in +consequence of the rails rising up through expansion.” + + + + +A SMART REJOINDER. + + +An American railway employé asked for a pass down to visit his family. +“You are in the employ of the railway?” asked the gentleman applied to. +“Yes.” “You receive your pay regularly?” “Yes.” “Well, now, suppose +you were working for a farmer, instead of a railway, would you expect +your employer to hitch up his team every Saturday night and carry you +home?” This seemed a poser, but it wasn’t. “No,” said the man promptly, +“I wouldn’t expect that; but if the farmer had his team hitched up and +was going my way, I should call him a contemptible fellow if he would not +let me ride.” Mr. Employé came out three minutes afterwards with a pass +good for three months. + + + + +COURTING ON A RAILWAY THIRTY MILES AN HOUR. + + +An incident occurred on the Little Miami Railway which outstrips, in +point of speed and enterprise, although in a somewhat different field, +the lightning express, “fifty-cents-a-mile” special train achievement +which attended the delivery of the recent famous “defalcation report” in +this city. The facts are about thus: A lady, somewhat past that period +of life which _the world_ would term “young”—although she might differ +from them—was on her way to this city, for purposes connected with active +industry. At a point on the road a traveller took the train, who +happened to enter the car in which the young lady occupied a seat. After +walking up and down between the seats, the gentleman found no unoccupied +seat, except the one-half of that upon which the lady had deposited her +precious self and crinoline—the latter very modestly expansive. Making a +virtue of necessity—a “stand-ee” berth or a little self-assurance—he +modestly inquired if the lady had a fellow-traveller, and took a seat. + +As the train flew along with express speed, the strangers entered into a +cosy conversation, and mutual explanations. The gentleman was pleased, +and the lady certainly did not pout. After other subjects had been +discussed, and worn thread-bare, the lady made inquiries as to the price +of a sewing machine, and where such an article could be purchased in this +city. The gentleman ventured the opinion that she had “better secure a +husband first.” This opened the way for another branch of conversation, +and the broken field was industriously cultivated. + +By the time the train arrived at the depot in this city, the gentleman +had proposed and been accepted (although the lady afterwards declared she +regarded it all as a good joke). The party separated; the gentleman, all +in good earnest, started for a license, and the lady made her way to a +boarding-house on Broadway, above Third, for dinner. At two o’clock the +gentleman returned with a license and a Justice, to the great +astonishment of the fair one, and after a few tears and +half-remonstrative expressions, she submitted with becoming modesty, and +the Squire performed the little ceremony in a twinkling. If this is not +a fast country, a search-warrant would hardly succeed in finding one. + + —_Cincinnati Commercial_. + + + + +THE MERCHANT AND HIS CLERK. + + +A London merchant resided a few miles from the City, in an elegant +mansion, to and from which he journeyed daily, and invariably by third +class. It happened that one of the clerks in his employ lived in a +cottage accessible by the same line of railway, but he always travelled +first class; the same train thus presenting the anomaly of the master +being in that place which one would naturally assign to the man, and the +man appearing to usurp the position of the master. One day these two +alighted at the terminus in full view of each other. “Well,” said Mr. +B—, in that tone of banter which a superior so frequently thinks it +becoming to adopt, “I don’t know how you manage to ride first-class, when +in these hard times I find third-class fare as much as I can afford.” +“Sir,” replied the clerk, “you, who are known to be a person of wealth +and position, may adopt the most economical mode of travelling at no more +risk than being thought eccentric, and even with the applause of some for +your manifest absence of pride. But, as for myself, I cannot afford to +indulge in such irregularities. Among the persons I travel with I am +reported to be a well-paid _employé_, and am respected accordingly; to +maintain this reputation I am compelled to travel in the same manner as +they do, and were I to adopt an inferior mode, it would be attributed to +some serious falling off of income; a circumstance which would occasion +me not only loss of consideration among my _quondam_ fellow-travellers, +but one which, upon coming to the ears of my butcher, baker, and grocer, +might seriously injure my credit with those highly respectable, but +certainly worldly minded tradesmen.” Mr. B— was not slow in recognizing +the full force of the argument, more particularly as the question of his +own liberality was involved, nor did he hesitate to give it a practical +application by immediately increasing the salary of his clerk; not only +to the amount of a first-class season ticket, but something over. + + —_The Railway Traveller’s Handy Book_. + + + + +REMARKABLE WILL. + + +Some years ago an old gentleman of very eccentric habits, Mr. John +Younghusband, of Abbey Holme, Cumberland, died, and his will has proved +to be of the most eccentric character. The Silloth Railway runs through +part of his property, an arrangement to which he was most passionately +averse; and though years have elapsed since then, his bitterness was in +no way assuaged. In his will he leaves near £1000 to a solicitor who +opposed the making of the railway; the rest of his money he bequeaths to +a comparative stranger upon these conditions—that the legatee never +speaks to one of the directors of the railway, that he never travels upon +it, that he never sends cattle or other traffic by it; and should he +violate any of these conditions, the estate reverts to the ordinary +succession. To Mr. John Irving and the other directors of the Silloth +line Mr. Younghusband has sarcastically bequeathed a _farthing_. + + + + +IMMENSE FRAUD ON THE GREAT-NORTHERN RAILWAY. + + +In the _Annual Register_ for 1856, November 14th, we read, “Another fraud +connected with the transfer of shares and stock, but on a far grander +scale, and by a much more pretentious criminal, has been discovered. + +“Of late some strange discrepancies had been observed in the accounts of +the Great-Northern Railway Company, and in particular that the amount +paid for dividends considerably exceeded the rateable proportion to the +capital stock. An investigation was directed. The registrar of shares, +Mr. Leopold Redpath, expressed a decided opinion that the investigation +into his department would be useless, and, on its being pressed, +absconded. The investigation developed a long-continued system of frauds +of vast amount, to the amount, it was said, of nearly £250,000. + +“Mr. Leopold Redpath passed in society as a gentleman of ample means, +great taste, and possessed of the Christian virtue of charity in no +common degree. He had a house in Chester Terrace, handsomely furnished, +and a “place” at Weybridge complete with every luxury that wealth could +procure; gave good dinners with excellent wines; kept good horses and +neat carriages. He was a governor of Christ’s Hospital, the St. Ann’s +Schools, and subscribed freely to the most useful charities of London. +His appointment on the Great-Northern was worth £300 per annum; but it +was supposed that this was only of consequence to Mr. Redpath as +affording him a regular occupation and an opportunity of operating in the +share-market, in which he was known to have extensive dealings. The +directors of the railway appear to have been perfectly aware that their +servant was living far beyond his salary, but they considered him to be a +very successful speculator. Upon this splendid bubble being blown up, +Redpath fled to Paris; but, finding that the French authorities were not +inclined to protect him, he returned to London and surrendered himself. + +“The mode in which this gigantic swindler had committed his frauds is +simple enough. Having charge of the books in which the stock of the +company is registered, he altered the sum standing in the name of some +_bonâ fide_ stockholder to a much larger sum, generally by placing a +figure before it, by which simple means £500 became £1,500, or £2,500, or +any larger number of thousands. The surplus stock thus _created_ Redpath +sold in the stock-market, forging the name of the supposed transferer, +transferring the sum to the account of the supposed transferee in the +register, and either attesting it himself, or causing it to be attested +by a young man, his protegé and tool, but who appears to have been free +from guilty cognizance. In some instances the fraud was but the more +direct course of making a fictitious entry of stock, and then selling it. +By these processes the number of shareholders and the amount of stock on +the company’s register became greatly magnified, while, as the _bonâ +fide_ holders of stock remained credited with their proper investments, +there was no occasion for suspicion on their part. How Redpath dealt +with subsequent transfers of the fictitious stock does not appear. The +prisoner was subjected to repeated examination before the police +magistrates, when this prodigious falsification was thoroughly sifted, +and the prisoner was finally committed for trial at the Central Criminal +Court in the following year. It is said that the value of the leases, +furniture, and articles of taste in Redpath’s house in Chester Terrace is +estimated at £30,000, and at Weybridge at a still larger sum. It is also +said that Redpath and Robson, whose forged transfer of Crystal Palace +shares has been recorded in this chronicle, were formerly fellow clerks. + +“Lionel Redpath was tried, January 16th, 1857, at the Central Criminal +Court, and, being found guilty, was sentenced to transportation for life. +At the same time a junior clerk in his office, Charles Kent, was also +charged as his partner in the crime. It appeared that Kent had acted on +many occasions as attesting witness to the forged transfers which Redpath +had employed to carry out his ends; but, as no guilty knowledge on the +part of the former was shown, he was acquitted. + +“The railway company at first attempted to repudiate the forged stock +which Redpath had put into circulation, but pressing remonstrances, not +unaccompanied by threats, having been made by the Committee of the Stock +Exchange, they consented to acknowledge it. Then came the question by +whom the loss was to be borne; a question which was not solved until +after considerable litigation. The directors asserted that it ought to +be paid out of the current income of the year, and so it was ultimately +decided. This led to a further question between the guaranteed +shareholders and the rest of the company. For the diminution of the +year’s earnings caused by taking up the fictitious stock being so great +as to render it impossible to satisfy the guaranteed dividends out of the +residue, it was contended on the part of the holders of those shares +that, by the provisions of the deed of settlement, the deficiency ought +to be made up out of the next year’s profits, so that the guarantee that +they should receive their specified dividends was not clogged with the +condition in case a sufficient amount of earnings in each year was made +to pay them. This dispute led to a Chancery suit, the decree in which +was in favour of the holders of the guaranteed shares.” + + + + +A LOST TICKET. + + +“Now, then, make haste there, will you, an’ give up your ticket,” +exclaimed a railway guard to a bandsman in the Volunteers returning from +a review. “Didna I tell ye I’ve lost it?” “Nonsense, man; feel in your +pockets, you cannot hae lost it.” “Can I no?” was the drunken reply; +“man, that’s naething, I’ve lost the big drum!” + + + + +MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.—SINGULAR ACTION. + + +The _Annual Register_ contains the following interesting case. July 25, +1857.—At the Maidstone Assizes an action arising out of a singular and +melancholy accident was tried. The action, Shilling _v._ The Accidental +Insurance Company, was brought by Charlotte Shilling, widow and +administratrix of Thomas Shilling, to recover from the defendants the sum +of £2000, upon a policy effected by the deceased on the life of her +father-in-law, James Shilling. The husband of the plaintiff, Thomas +Shilling, carried on the business of a builder at Malling, a short +distance from Maidstone. His father, James Shilling, lived with him; he +was nearly 80 years old, and very infirm, and his son used to drive him +about occasionally in his pony chaise. In the month of March, last year, +an application was made to the defendants to effect two policies for +£2000 each upon the lives of Thomas Shilling and James Shilling, and to +secure that sum in the event of either of them dying from an accident, +and the policies were completed and delivered in the following month of +June. On the evening of the 11th of July, 1856, about half-past 7 +o’clock, the father and son went from Malling with a pony and chaise, for +the purpose of proceeding to a stone quarry at Aylesford, where Thomas +Shilling had business to transact, and they never returned home again +alive. There where two roads by which they could have got to the quarry +from Malling, one of which was rather a dangerous one to be taken with a +vehicle and horse, on account of a steep bank leading to the river Medway +being on one side and the railway passing close to the other; but this +route, it appears, was much shorter than the other, which was nearly two +miles round, and it was consequently constantly used both by pedestrians +and carriages. About 8 o’clock the pony and chaise and the father and +son were seen on this road, and upon arriving at the gate leading to the +quarry, Thomas Shilling got out, leaving the pony and chaise in charge of +his father. Mr. Garnham, the owner of the quarry, was not at home, and +while one of the labourers was conversing with Thomas Shilling, the sound +of an approaching train was heard, and the men advised him to go back to +his pony, for fear it should take fright at the train, and he said he +would do so, as it had been frightened by a train on a previous occasion. +He accordingly went towards the gate where he had left the pony and +chaise, and from that time there was no evidence to show what took place. +The family sat up the whole night awaiting the return of their relatives +in the utmost possible alarm at their absence; but nothing was heard of +them until the following morning, when a bargeman found the drowned pony +and the chaise and the dead bodies of the father and son floating in the +Medway, near the spot where the chaise had been last seen on the previous +evening. They were taken home, and a coroner’s inquest was held, and the +only conclusion that could be arrived at was that the pony had taken +fright at the noise of the train, which appeared to have passed about the +time, and that he had jumped into the river, which at this spot was from +12 to 14 feet deep. + +The policy on the life of the father had been assigned to the son, whose +widow claimed the two sums insured from the defendants. That payable on +the death of the son they paid: but they refused to pay that due on the +father’s policy, and pleaded to the action several pleas, alleging +certain violations of the conditions; and singularly enough, considering +that they had not disputed the son’s policy on the same ground, they now +pleaded that the death was not the result of accident, but arose from +wanton and voluntary exposure to unnecessary danger. + +The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff. + + + + +A CATASTROPHE. + + +An old lady was going from Brookfield to Stamford, and took a seat in the +train for the first and last time in her life. During the ride the train +was thrown down an embankment. Crawling from beneath the _débris_ +unhurt, she spied a man sitting down, but with his legs laid down by some +heavy timber. “Is this Stamford?” she anxiously inquired. “No, madam,” +was the reply, “this is a catastrophe.” “Oh!” she cried, “then I hadn’t +oughter got off here.” + + + + +WEDDING AT A RAILWAY STATION. + + +Baltimore has had what it calls a romantic wedding at Camden Station. A +few moments before the departure of the outbound Washington train, a +gentleman accompanied by a lady and another gentleman, whose clerical +appearance indicated his profession, alighted from a carriage and entered +the depot. Upon the locks of the leader of the party the snows of fifty +winters had evidently fallen, while the lady had apparently reached that +age when she is supposed to have lain aside her matrimonial cap. Quietly +approaching the officer on duty within the station, they asked for a room +where a marriage ceremony might be privately performed. The request was +readily granted, and under the leadership of the obliging officer, the +party was conducted to the despatch room, a small lobby in the eastern +part of the building, where in a few minutes the twain were made man and +wife. With pleasant smiles, and a would-be-congratulated look upon their +countenances, they mingled with the crowd in waiting; and when the gates +were thrown open, arm in arm they boarded the train, their +fellow-passengers all the while ignorant of the interesting ceremony. + + —_Illustrated World_. + + + + +ENGINE FASCINATION. + + +The fascination which engines and their human satellites exercise over +some minds is very great; and while speaking on the subject, I am +reminded of a young man who haunted for years one of our chief termini: +he was the son of a leading west end confectioner, so that his early +training had in no way disposed him to an engineering life; but he was +the most remarkable accumulation of statistics in connection therewith I +ever knew. The line employed several hundreds of engines, and he not +only knew the names of all of them, but when they were made, and who had +made them; when each one had last been supplied with a new set of tubes +at the factory—this last, of course only referred to the engines employed +on the main line, which he had an opportunity of seeing, and would miss +when they were laid up for repair—and how this had had the pressure on +its safety-valve increased, and this had been diminished. He had such a +retentive memory for these and kindred facts, that I have seen the +foreman of the works appeal to him for information, which was never +lacking. His penchant was so well known that he had special permission +for access to the works. + + —_Chambers’s Journal_. + + + + +COMPETITION FOR PASSENGERS. + + +Mr. Galt remarks:—“In the summer of 1857 the London and North-Western and +Great Northern railways contended with each other for the passenger +traffic from London to Manchester. First-class and second-class +passengers were conveyed at fares, there and back, of seven and sixpence +and five shillings respectively, the distance being 400 miles, and four +clear days were allowed in Manchester. As might have been expected, +trains were well filled, and, but for the fact that the other traffic was +much interfered with, the fares would, it is said, have been +remunerative. As it was, it is said the shareholders lost 1 per cent. +dividend. + +“Another memorable contest was carried on about the year 1853 between the +Caledonian and the Edinburgh and Glasgow Companies. The latter suddenly +reduced the fares between Edinburgh and Glasgow for the three classes +from eight shillings, six shillings, and four shillings, to one shilling, +ninepence, and sixpence. The contest was continued for +a-year-and-a-half, and cost the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company nearly 1 +per cent. in their dividends.” + + + + +ACCIDENT HOAX. + + +The following impudent hoax, contained in a letter which appeared in the +_Times_ in 1860, was most annoying to the officials of the Great Northern +Company. It is headed:— + + “Accident on the Great Northern Railway. + “To the Editor of the _Times_. + +“Sir,—I beg to inform you of a serious accident, attended by severe +injury, if not loss of life, which occured to-day to the 8 o’clock a.m. +train from Wakefield, on the Great Northern railway, near Doncaster, by +which I was a passenger. As the train approached Doncaster, about 9 +o’clock, the passengers were suddenly alarmed by the vehement oscillation +of the carriages. In a few seconds the engine had run off the line, +dragging the greater part of the train with it across the opposite line +of rails. By this time the concussion had become so vehement that the +grappling chains connecting the engine, tender, and first carriage with +the rest of the train providentially snapped. This circumstance saved +the lives of many. But the engine, tender, and first carriage were +hurled over the embankment, all three being together overturned, and the +latter (a second-class one) nearly crushed. The stoker was severely +injured on the head, and his recovery is more than doubtful; the engine +driver contrived to leap off in time to save himself with a few bruises. +The shrieks of the passengers in the overturned carriage (three women and +five men) were fearful; and for some time their extrication was +impossible. One middle-aged woman had her thigh broken, another her arm +fractured. One old man had one, if not two of his ribs broken. The +passengers in the other carriages, in one of which I was travelling, were +less seriously injured, though sufficiently so to talk about +compensation, instead of assisting in earnest those with broken limbs. +The line of rails was torn up for a considerable distance. Owing to the +telegraph being out of gear, some delay in communicating with Doncaster +was experienced. A surgeon and various hands at length arrived with a +special train for the injured passengers, who, after long delay, were +removed to Doncaster. I, of course, as a medical man, rendered what +assistance I could. Those worst injured were conveyed to the Railway +Arms, the recovery of more than one being doubted by myself. At length a +fresh train started from Doncaster, and we reached London nearly two +hours after due. + +The carelessness of the Company will, I hope, be the subject of your +severest animadversion. The accident was caused by the tire of one of +the right wheels of the engine having flown off; and it is clear that the +engine was not in a condition to ply between the stations of the Great +Northern railway. + +I have no objection to your use of my name if you think fit to publish +it. + + Your obedient servant, + Thomas Waddington, M.D., of Wakefield. + Morley’s Hotel, Charing Cross, March 26. + +To the above letter the following reply was sent to the _Times_. + + “Alleged Accident on the Great Northern. + “To the Editor of the _Times_. + +“Sir,—The Directors of the Great Northern railway will feel much obliged +by the insertion of the following statement in the _Times_ to-morrow +relative to a letter which appeared therein to-day, signed ‘Thomas +Waddington, M.D., of Wakefield,’ and headed, ‘Accident on the Great +Northern railway.’ + +There was no accident whatever yesterday on the Great Northern railway. + +The trains all reached King’s Cross with punctuality, the most irregular +in the whole day being only five minutes late. No such person as Thomas +Waddington is known at Morley’s Hotel, whence the letter in question is +dated. + + I am, Sir, yours faithfully, + Seymour Clark, General Manager, + King’s Cross, March 27. + +In the _Times_ on the day following appeared a letter from the real Dr. +Waddington, of Wakefield, (Edward not “Thomas”) confirmatory of the +impudence of the hoax. + + “The alleged Accident on the Great Northern railway. + “To the Editor of the _Times_. + +“Sir,—My attention has been called to a letter in the _Times_ of +yesterday (signed ‘Thomas Waddington, M.D., of Wakefield’) the signature +of which is as gross and impudent a fabrication as the circumstances +which the writer professes to detail. I need only say there is no ‘M.D.’ +here named Waddington but myself, and that I was not on the Great +Northern or any other Railway on the 26th inst, when the accident is +alleged to have occured. + +Having obtained possession of the original letter, I have handed it to my +solicitors, in the hope that they may be enabled to discover and bring to +justice the perpetrator of this very stupid hoax. + + I am, Sir, your obedient servant, + Edward Waddington, M.D. + + Wakefield, March 28. + + + + +A’PENNY A MILE. + + +Two costers were looking at a railway time-table. + +“Say, Jem,” said one of them, “vot’s P.M. mean?” + +“Vy, penny a mile, to be sure.” + +“Vell, vot’s A.M.?” + +“A’penny a mile, to be sure.” + + + + +SINGULAR FREAK. + + +In October, 1857, Mr. Tindal Atkinson applied to Mr. Hammill, at Worship +Street Police Court, to obtain a summons under the following strange +circumstances:— + +“Mr. Atkinson stated that he was instructed on behalf of the Directors of +the Eastern Counties Railway Company to apply to the magistrate under the +terms of their Act of Incorporation, for a summons against Mr. Henry +Hunt, of Waltham-Cross, Essex, for having unlawfully used and worked a +certain locomotive upon a portion of their line, without having +previously obtained the permission or approval of the engineers or agents +of the company, whereby he had rendered himself liable to a penalty of +£20. He should confine himself to that by stating that in the dark, on +the night of Thursday, the 1st instant, a locomotive engine belonging to +Mr. Hunt was suddenly discovered by some of the company’s servants to be +running along the rails in close proximity to one of the regular +passenger trains on the North Woolwich line. So great was the danger of +a collision, that they were obliged to instantly stop the train till the +stranger engine could get out of the way, to the great terror of the +passengers by the train, and as he was instructed it was almost the +result of a merciful interposition of Providence that a collision had not +occurred between them, in which event it would probably have terminated +fatally, to a greater or lesser extent. He now desired that summonses +might be granted not only against the owner of the engine so used, but +also against the driver and stoker of it, both of whom, it was obvious, +must have been well aware of their committing an unlawful act, and of the +perilous nature of the service in which they were engaged when they were +running an engine at such a time and place. + +“Mr. Hammill said it certainly was a most extraordinary proceeding for +anyone to adopt, and after the learned gentleman’s statement he had no +hesitation whatever in granting summonses against the whole of the +persons engaged in it.” + + + + +A.B.C. AND D.E.F. + + +A gentleman travelling in a railway carriage was endeavouring, with +considerable earnestness, to impress some argument upon a +fellow-traveller who was seated opposite to him, and who appeared rather +dull of apprehension. At length, being slightly irritated, he exclaimed +in a louder tone, “Why, sir, it’s as plain as A.B.C.” “That may be,” +quietly replied the other, “but I am D.E.F.” + + + + +NATIONAL CONTRAST. + + +The contrast which exists between the character of the French and English +navvy may be briefly exemplified by the following trifling anecdote:— + +“In excavating a portion of the first tunnel east of Rouen towards Paris, +a French miner dressed in his blouse, and an English “navvy” in his white +smock jacket, were suddenly buried alive together by the falling in of +the earth behind them. Notwithstanding the violent commotion which the +intelligence of the accident excited above ground, Mr. Meek, the English +engineer who was constructing the work, after having quietly measured the +distance from the shaft to the sunken ground, satisfied himself that if +the men, at the moment of the accident, were at the head of “the drift” +at which they were working, they would be safe. + +Accordingly, getting together as many French and English labourers as he +could collect, he instantly commenced sinking a shaft, which was +accomplished to the depth of 50 feet in the extraordinary short space of +eleven hours, and the men were thus brought up to the surface alive. + +The Frenchman, on reaching the top, suddenly rushing forward, hugged and +saluted on both cheeks his friends and acquaintances, many of whom had +assembled, and then, almost instantly overpowered by conflicting +feelings—by the recollection of the endless time he had been imprisoned +and by the joy of his release—he sat down on a log of timber, and, +putting both his hands before his face, he began to cry aloud most +bitterly. + +The English “navvy” sat himself down on the very same piece of +timber—took his pit-cap off his head—slowly wiped with it the +perspiration from his hair and face—and then, looking for some seconds +into the hole or shaft close beside him through which he had been lifted, +as if he were calculating the number of cubic yards that had been +excavated, he quite coolly, in broad Lancashire dialect, said to the +crowd of French and English who were staring at him, as children and +nursery-maids in our London Zoological Gardens stand gazing +half-terrified at the white bear, “YAW’VE BEAN A DARMNATION SHORT TOIME +ABAAOWT IT!” + + Sir F. Head’s _Stokers and Pokers_. + + + + +REMARKABLE ACCIDENT. + + +The most remarkable railway accident on record happened some years ago on +the North-Western road between London and Liverpool. A gentleman and his +wife were travelling in a compartment alone, when—the train going at the +rate of forty miles an hour—an iron rail projecting from a car on a +side-track cut into the carriage and took the head of the lady clear off, +and rolled it into the husband’s lap. He subsequently sued the company +for damages, and created great surprise in court by giving his age at +thirty-six years, although his hair was snow white. It had been turned +from jet black by the horror of that event. + + + + +ENGINEERING LOAN, OR STAKING OUT A RAILWAY. + + +“Beau” Caldwell was a sporting genius of an extremely versatile +character. Like all his fraternity, he was possessed of a pliancy of +adaptation to circumstances that enabled him to succumb with true +philosophy to misfortunes, and also to grace the more exalted sphere of +prosperity with that natural ease attributed to gentlemen with bloated +bank accounts. + +Fertile in ingenuity and resources, Beau was rarely at his wit’s end for +that nest egg of the gambler, a stake. His providence, when in luck, was +such as to keep him continually on the _qui vive_ for a nucleus to build +upon. + +Beau, having exhausted the pockets and liberality of his contemporaries +in Charleston, S.C., was constrained to “pitch his tent” in fresh +pastures. He therefore selected Abbeville, whither he was immediately +expedited by the agency of a “free pass.” + +Snugly ensconced in his hotel, Beau ruminated over the means to raise the +“plate.” The bar-keeper was assailed, but he was discovered to have +scruples (anomalous barkeeper!) The landlord was a “grum wretch,” with +no soul for speculation. The cornered “sport” was finally reduced to the +alternative of “confidence of operation.” Having arranged his scheme, he +rented him a precious negro boy, and borrowed an old theodolite. Thus +equipped, Beau betook himself to the abode of a neighbouring planter, +notorious for his wealth, obstinacy, and ignorance. Operations were +commenced by sending the nigger into the planter’s barn-yard with a +flagpole. Beau got himself up into a charming tableau, directly in front +of the house. He now roared at the top of his voice, +“72,000,000—51—8—11.” + +After which he went to driving small stakes, in a very promiscuous +manner, about the premises. + +The planter hearing the shouting, and curious to ascertain the cause, put +his head out of the window. + +“Now,” said Beau, again assuming his civil engineering _pose_, “go to the +right a little further—there, that’ll do. 47,000—92—5.” + +“What the d---l are you doing in my barn-yard?” roared the planter. + +Beau would not consent to answer this interrogation, but pursuing his +business, hallooed out to his “nigger”— + +“Now go to the house, place your pole against the kitchen door, +higher—stop at that. 86—45—6.” + +“I say there,” again vociferated the planter, “get out of my yard.” + +“I’m afraid we will have to go right through the house,” soliloquized +Beau. + +“I’m d--d if you do,” exclaimed the planter. + +Beau now looked up for the first time, accosting the planter with a +courteous— + +“Good day, sir.” + +“Good d---l, sir; you are committing a trespass.” + +“My dear friend,” replied Beau, “public duty, imperative—no +trespass—surveying railroad—State job—your house in the way. Must take +off one corner, sir,—the kitchen part—least value—leave the +parlour—delightful room to see the cars rush by twelve times a day—make +you accessible to market.” + +Beau, turning to the nigger, cried out— + +“Put the pole against the kitchen door again—so, 85.” + +“I say, stranger,” interrupted the planter, “I guess you ain’t dined. As +dinner’s up, suppose you come in, and we’ll talk the matter over.” + +Beau, delighted with the proposition, immediately acceded, not having +tasted cooked provisions that day. + +“Now,” said the planter, while Beau was paying marked attention to a +young turkey, “it’s mighty inconvenient to have one’s homestead smashed +up, without so much as asking the liberty. And more than that, if +there’s law to be had, it shan’t be did either.” + +“Pooh! nonsense, my dear friend,” replied Beau, “it’s the law that says +the railroad must be laid through kitchens. Why, we have gone through +seventeen kitchens and eight parlours in the last eight miles—people +don’t like it, but then it’s law, and there’s no alternative, except the +party persuades the surveyor to move a little to the left, and as curves +costs money most folks let it go through the kitchen.” + +“Cost something, eh?” said the planter, eagerly catching at the bait +thrown out for him. “Would not mind a trifle. You see I don’t oppose +the road, but if you’ll turn to the left and it won’t be much expense, +why I’ll stand it.” + +“Let me see,” said Beau, counting his fingers, “forty and forty is +eighty, and one hundred. Yes, two hundred dollars will do it.” +Unrolling a large map, intersected with lines running in every direction, +he continued—“There is your house, and here’s the road. Air line. You +see to move to the left we must excavate this hill. As we are desirous +of retaining the goodwill of parties residing on the route, I’ll agree on +the part of the company to secure the alteration, and prevent your house +from being molested.” + +The planter revolved the matter in his mind for a moment and exclaimed:— + +“You’ll guarantee the alteration?” + +“Give a written document.” + +“Then it’s a bargain.” + +The planter without more delay gave Beau an order on his city factor for +the stipulated sum, and received in exchange a written document, +guaranteeing the freedom of the kitchen from any encroachment by the C. +L. R. R. Co. + +Before leaving, Beau took the planter on one side and requested him not +to disclose their bargain until after the railroad was built. + +“You see, it mightn’t exactly suit the views of some people—partiality, +you know.” + +The last remark, accompanied by a suggestive wink, was returned by the +planter in a similar demonstration of _owlishness_. + +Beau resumed his theodolite, drove a few stakes on the hill opposite, and +proceeded onward in the fulfilment of his duties. As his light figure +receded into obscurity and the distance, the planter caught a sound +vastly like 40—40—120—200.—And that was the last he ever heard of the +railroad. + + _Appleton’s American Railway Anecdote Book_. + + + + +MR. FRANK BUCKLAND’S FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY. + + +Mr. Spencer Walpole remarks:—“Of Mr. Buckland’s Christ Church days many +good stories are told. Almost every one has heard of the bear which he +kept at his rooms, of its misdemeanours, and its rustication. Less +familiar, perhaps, is the story of his first journey by the Great +Western. The dons, alarmed at the possible consequences of a railway to +London, would not allow Brunel to bring the line nearer than to Didcot. +Dean Buckland in vain protested against the folly of this decision, and +the line was kept out of harm’s way at Didcot. But, the very day on +which it was opened, Mr. Frank Buckland, with one or two other +undergraduates, drove over to Didcot, travelled up to London, and +returned in time to fulfil all the regulations of the university. The +Dean, who was probably not altogether displeased at the joke, told the +story to his friends who had prided themselves in keeping the line from +Oxford. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘you have deprived us of the advantage of a +railway, and my son has been up to London.’” + + + + +SCENE BEFORE A SUB-COMMITTEE ON STANDING ORDERS. +PETITIONING AGAINST A RAILWAY BILL, 1846. + + +“Well, Snooks,” began the Agent for the Promoters, in cross-examination, +“you signed the petition against the Bill—aye?” + +“Yees, zur. I zined summit, zur.” + +“But that petition—did you sign that petition?” + +“I do’ant nar, zur; I zined zummit, zur.” + +“But don’t you know the contents of the petition?” + +“The what, zur?” + +“The contents; what’s in it.” + +“Oa! Noa, zur.” + +“You don’t know what’s in the petition!—Why, ain’t you the petitioner +himself?” + +“Noa, zur, I doan’t nar that I be, zur.” + +[“Snooks! Snooks! Snooks!” issued a voice from a stout and +benevolent-looking elderly gentleman from behind, “how can you say so, +Snooks? It’s your petition.” The prompting, however, seemed to produce +but little impression upon him for whom it was intended, whatever effect +it may have had upon the minds of those whose ears it reached, but for +whose service it was not intended]. + +“Really, Mr. Chairman,” observed the Agent for the Bill, who appeared to +have no idea of _Burking_ the inquiry, “this is growing interesting.” + +“The interest is all on your side,” remarked the Agent for the petition +(against the Bill). + +“Now, Snooks,” continued the Agent for the Bill, “apply your mind to the +questions I shall put to you, and let me caution you to reply to them +truly and honestly. Now, tell me—who got you to sign this petition?” + +“I object to the question,” interposed the Agent for the petition. “The +matter altogether is descending into mean, trivial, and unnecessary +details, which I am surprised my friend opposite should attempt to +trouble the Committee with.” + +“I can readily understand, sir,” replied the other, “why my friend is so +anxious to get rid of this inquiry—simple and short as it will be; but I +trust, sir, that you will consider it of sufficient importance to allow +it to proceed. I purpose to put only a few questions more on this +extraordinary petition against the Bill (the bare meaning of the name of +which the petitioner does not seem to understand) for the purpose of +eliciting some further information respecting it.” + +The Committee being thus appealed to by both parties, inclined their +heads for a few moments in order to facilitate a communication in +whispers, and then decided that the inquiry might proceed. It was +evident that the matter had excited an interest in the minds and breasts +of the honourable members of the Committee; created as much perhaps by +the extreme mean and poverty-stricken appearance of the witness—a +miserable, dirty, and decrepit old man—as by the disclosures he had +already made. + +“Well, Snooks, I was about to ask you (when my friend interrupted me) who +got you to sign the petition, or that zummit as you call it?” + +“Some genelmen, zur.” + +“Who were they—do you know their names?” + +“Noa, zur, co’ant say I do nar ’em a’, zur.” + +“But do you know any of them, was that gentleman behind you one?” + +[The gentleman referred to was the fine benevolent-looking individual who +had previously kindly endeavoured to assist the witness in his answers, +and who stood the present scrutiny with marked composure and +complaisance]. + +“Yees, zur, he war one on ’em.” + +“Do you know his name?” + +“Noa, zur, I doant; but he be one of the railway genelmen.” + +“What did he say to you, when he requested you to sign the petition?” + +“He said I ware to zine (pointing to the petition) that zummit.” + +“When and where, pray, did you sign it?” + +“A lot o’ railway genelmen kum to me on Sunday night last; and they wo’ +make me do it, zur.” + +“On Sunday night last, aye!” + +“What, on Sunday night!” exclaimed one honourable member on the extreme +right of the Chairman, with horror depicted on his countenance; “are you +sure, witness, that it was done in the evening of a Sabbath?” + +“The honourable member asks you, whether you are certain that you were +called upon by the railway gentlemen to sign the petition on a Sunday +evening? I think you told me last Sunday evening.” + +“Oa, yees, zur; they kum just as we war a garing to chapel.” + +“Disgraceful, and wrong in the extreme!” ejaculated the honourable +member. + +“And did not that gentleman” (continued the Agent for the Bill), “nor any +of the railway gentlemen, as you call them, when they requested you to +sign, explain the nature and contents of the petition?” + +“Noa, zur.” + +“Then you don’t know at this moment what it’s for?” + +“Noa, zur.” + +“Of course, therefore, it’s not your petition as set forth?” + +“I doant nar, zur. I zined zummit.” + +“Now, answer me, do you object to this line of railway? Have you any +dislike to it?” + +“O, noa, zur. I shud loak to zee it kum.” + +“Exactly, you should like to see it made. So you have been led to +petition against it, though you are favourable to it?” + +The petitioner against the Bill did not appear to comprehend the precise +drift of the remark, and his only reply to the wordy fix into which the +learned agent had drawn him was made in the dumb-show of scratching with +his one disengaged hand (the other being employed in holding his hat) his +uncombed head—an operation that created much laughter, which was not +damped by the Agent’s putting, with a serious face, a concluding question +or remark to him to the effect that he presumed he (the witness) had not +paid, or engaged to pay, so many guineas a day to his friend on the other +side for the prosecution of the opposition against the Bill—had he; yes, +or no? The witness’s appearance was the only and best answer. + +The petition, of course, upon this _exposé_, was withdrawn. + +This, the substance of what actually took place before one of the +Sub-Committees on Standing orders will give some idea of the nature of +many of the petitions against Railway Bills, especially on technical +points. It will serve to show in some measure what heartless mockeries +these petitions mostly are; the moral evils they give birth to—and that, +even while complaining of errors, they are themselves made up of +falsehood. + + + + +AN IDEA ON RAILWAYS. + + +A happy comment on the annihilation of time and space by locomotive +agency, is as follows:—A little child who rode fifty miles in a railway +train, and then took a coach to her uncle’s house, some five miles +further, was asked on her arrival if she came by the cars. “We came a +little way in the cars, and all the rest of the way in a carriage.” + + + + +BURNING THE ROAD CLEAR. + + +It is related of Colonel Thomas A. Scott, that on one occasion, when +making one of his swift trips over the American lines under his control, +his train was stopped by the wreck of a goods train. There was a dozen +heavily loaded covered trucks piled up on the road, and it would take a +long time to get help from the nearest accessible point, and probably +hours more to get the track cleared by mere force of labour. He surveyed +the difficulty, made a rough calculation of the cost of a total +destruction of the freight, and promptly made up his mind to burn the +road clear. By the time the relief train came the flames had done their +work and nothing remained but to patch up a few injuries done to the +track so as to enable him to pursue his way. + + + + +HARSH TREATMENT OF A MAN OF COLOUR. + + +My treatment in the use of public conveyances about these times was +extremely rough, especially on “The Eastern Railroad,” from Boston to +Portland. On the road, as on many others, there was a mean, dirty, and +uncomfortable car set apart for coloured travellers, called the “Jim +Crow” car. Regarding this as the fruit of slaveholding prejudice, and +being determined to fight the spirit of slavery wherever I might find it, +I resolved to avoid this car, though it sometimes required some courage +to do so. The coloured people generally accepted the situation, and +complained of me as making matters worse rather than better, by refusing +to submit to this proscription. I, however, persisted, and sometimes was +soundly beaten by the conductor and brakeman. On one occasion, six of +these “fellows of the baser sort,” under the direction of the conductor, +set out to eject me from my seat. As usual, I had purchased a +first-class ticket, and paid the required sum for it, and on the +requirement of the conductor to leave, refused to do so, when he called +on these men “to snake me out.” They attempted to obey with an air which +plainly told me they relished the job. They, however, found me _much +attached_ to my seat, and in removing me tore away two or three of the +surrounding ones, on which I held with a firm grasp, and did the car no +service in some respects. I was strong and muscular, and the seats were +not then so firmly attached or of as solid make as now. The result was +that Stephen A. Chase, superintendent of the road, ordered all passenger +trains to pass through Lynn, where I then lived, without stopping. This +was a great inconvenience to the people, large numbers of whom did +business in Boston, and at other points of the road. Led on, however, by +James N. Buffum, Jonathon Buffum, Christopher Robinson, William Bassett, +and others, the people of Lynn stood bravely by me, and denounced the +railway management in emphatic terms. Mr. Chase made reply that a +railroad corporation was neither a religious nor a reformatory body; and +that the road was run for the accommodation of the public; and that it +required the exclusion of the coloured people from its cars. With an air +of triumph he told us that we ought not to expect a railroad company to +be better than the Evangelical Church, and that until the churches +abolished the “negro pew,” we ought not to expect the railroad company to +abolish the negro car. This argument was certainly good enough as +against the Church, but good for nothing as against the demands of +justice and equity. My old and dear friend, J. N. Buffum, made a point +against the company that they “often allowed dogs and monkeys to ride in +first-class cars, and yet excluded a man like Frederick Douglass!” In a +very few years this barbarous practice was put away, and I think there +have been no instances of such exclusion during the past thirty years; +and coloured people now, everywhere in New England, ride upon equal terms +with other passengers. + + —_Life and Times of Frederick Douglass_. + + + + +QUITE TOO CLEVER + + +The elder Dumas was at the railway station, just starting to join his +yacht at Marseilles. Several friends had accompanied him, to say +good-bye. Suddenly he was informed that he had a hundred and fifty +kilogrammes excess of luggage. “Ho, ho!” cried Dumas. “How many +kilogrammes are allowed?” “Thirty for each person,” was the reply. +Silently he made a mental calculation, and then in a tone of triumph bade +his secretary take places for five. “In that way,” he explained, “we +shall have no excess.” + + + + +A DIFFICULTY SOLVED. + + +Among the improvements that have been carried out at Windsor during the +autumn, has been an entire alteration in the draining of the Home Park +about Frogmore. New drains have been laid, and the waste earth has been +used to level the ground. This portion of the Royal domain was almost +wild at the beginning of the present reign. It consisted of fields, with +low hedges and deep ditches, and was intersected by a road, on which +stood several cottages and a public-house. It was quite an eyesore, and +Prince Albert was at his wit’s end to know how to convert it into a park +and exclude the public, as before this could be done, it was necessary to +make a new road in place of the one it was desired to abolish, and +altogether a large outlay was inevitable; and even in those days, it was +out of the question to apply to Parliament for the amount required, +which, I believe, was about £80,000. + +The difficulty, however, was solved in rather a strange way. In the +early days of railroads they were looked upon as nuisances, and the +authorities at Windsor Castle were firmly resolved that no line should +approach the Royal borough, in which resolution they were warmly +supported by the equally stupid and short-sighted managers of Eton +College. Although the inhabitants sighed for a railway, none was brought +nearer than Slough. At this moment, when the park question was being +agitated, the South Western Directors brought forward a proposition that +they should make a line into Windsor, running along one side of the Home +Park, and right under the Castle. This audacious idea was regarded with +indignation at the Castle, until a hint was received that possibly, if +Royal interest were forthcoming to support the plan, the Company might be +able to facilitate the proposed alterations; and it then came out, +strangely enough, they had fixed the precise sum needed (£80,000) as +compensation for the disturbance of the Royal property. No more was +heard of the objections to the scheme, which had been so vehemently +denounced a few days before, but, no sooner did it transpire that the +South-Western plan was not opposed by the Castle interest than down came +the Great-Western authorities in a fever of indignation, for it appeared +they had received an explicit promise that, if Windsor was ever +desecrated by a railway, they should have the preference. So resolute +was their attitude, that so far as I remember, the sitting of Parliament +was actually protracted in order that their Bill might be passed; not +that they got it without paying, for they gave £20,000 for an old stable +and yard which were required for their station, and which happened to +stand on Crown property. Things were sometimes managed strangely enough +in those days. + + —_Truth_, Dec. 29, 1881. + + + + +AN EXACTING LADY. + + +A lady of fashion with a pugdog and a husband entered the train at +Paddington the other day. There were in the carriage but two persons, a +well-known Professor and his wife; yet the lady of fashion coveted, not +indeed his chair, but his seat. “I wish to sit by the window, sir,” she +said, imperiously, and he had to move accordingly. “No, sir, that won’t +do,” she said, as he meekly took the next place. “I can’t have a +stranger sitting close to me. My husband must sit where you are.” + + _Gentleman’s Magazine_. + + + + +AMERICAN PATIENCE AND IMPERTURBABILITY. + + +About an hour after midnight, on our journey from Boston to Albany, we +came to a sudden pause where no station was visible; and immediately, +very much to my surprise, the engine-driver, conductor, and several +passengers were seen sallying forth with lanterns, and hastening down the +embankment on our right. “What are they going to do now?” said I to a +gentleman, who, like myself, kept his seat. “Only to take a look at some +cars that were smashed this morning,” was the reply. On opening the +window to observe the state of affairs, as well as the darkness would +allow, there, to be sure, at the bottom and along the side of the high +bank, lay an unhappy train, just as it had been upset. The locomotive on +its side was partly buried in the earth; and the cars which had followed +it in its descent lay in a confused heap behind. On the top of the bank, +near to us, the last car of all stood obliquely on end, with its hind +wheels in the air in a somewhat grotesque and threatening attitude. All +was now still and silent. The killed and wounded, if there were any, had +been removed. No living thing was visible but the errant engineer and +others from our train clambering with lanterns in their hands over a +prostrate wreck, and with heedless levity passing critical remarks on the +catastrophe. Curiosity being satisfied all resumed their places, and the +train moved on without a murmur of complaint as to the unnecessary, and, +considering the hour, very undesirable delay. I allude to the +circumstance, as one of a variety of facts that fell within my +observation, illustrative of the singular degree of patience and +imperturbability with which railway travellers in America submit +uncomplainingly to all sorts of detentions on their journey. + + _Things as they are in America_, by W. Chambers, 1853. + + + + +A WIDE-AWAKE CONDUCTOR. + + +Dana Krum, one of the conductors on the Erie Railway, was approached +before train time by an unknown man, who spoke to him as if he had known +him for years. “I say, Dana,” said he, “I have forgotten my pass, and I +want to go to Susquehanna; I am a fireman on the road, you know.” But +the conductor told him he ought to have a pass with him. It was the +safest way. Pretty soon, Dana came along to collect tickets. Seeing his +man, he spoke when he reached him. “Say, my friend, have you got the +time with you?” “Yes,” said he, as he pulled out a watch, “it is twenty +minutes past nine.” “Oh, it is, is it? Now, if you don’t show me your +pass or fare, I will stop the train. There is no railway man that I ever +saw who would say ‘Twenty minutes past nine.’ He would say, +‘Nine-twenty.’” He settled. + + + + +A KID-GLOVED SAMSON. + + +A correspondent of the _Chicago Journal_ relates the following feat of +strength, to which he was witness:— + +“On Sunday, about nine o’clock A.M., as the train westward was within +three or four miles of Chicago, on the Fort Wayne road, a horse was +discovered on the stilt-work between the rails. The train was stopped, +and workmen were sent to clear the track. It was then discovered that +the body of the horse was resting on the sleepers. His legs having +passed through the open spaces, were too short to reach the ground. +Boards and rails were brought, and the open space in front of the horse +filled up, making a plank road for him in case he should be got up, and +by means of ropes one of his fore feet was raised, and there matters came +to a halt. It seemed that no strength or stratagem could avail to +release the animal. Levers of boards were splintered, and the men tugged +at the ropes in vain, when a passenger, who was looking quietly on, +stepped forward, leisurely slipped off a pair of tinted kids, seized the +horse by the tail, and with tremendous force hurled him forward on the +plank road. No one assisted, and, indeed, the whole thing was done so +quickly that assistance was impossible. The horse walked away looking +foolish, and casting suspicious side-glances towards his caudal +extremity. The lookers-on laughed and shouted, while the stranger +resumed his kids, muttering something about the inconvenience of railway +delays, lit a cigar, and walked slowly into the smoking car. He was +finely formed, of muscular appearance, was very fashionably dressed, wore +a moustache and whiskers of an auburn or reddish colour, and to all +questions as to who he was, only answered that he was a Pennsylvanian +travelling westward for his health. The horse would certainly weigh at +least twelve hundred.” + + + + +A RAILWAY TRAIN TURNED INTO A MAN-TRAP. + + +A branch of the Bombay presidency runs through a wild region, the +inhabitants of which are unsophisticated savages, addicted to thievery. +The first day the line was opened a number of these Arcadians conspired +to intercept the train, and have a glorious loot. To accomplish their +object they placed some trunks of trees across the rails; but the engine +driver, keeping a very sharp look out, as it happened to be his first +trip on the line in question, descried the trunks while yet they were at +a considerable distance from him. The breaks were then put on, and when +the locomotive had approached within a couple of feet of the trunks it +was brought to a standstill. Then, instantaneously, like Roderick Dhu’s +clansmen starting from the heather, natives, previously invisible, +swarmed up on all sides, and, crowding into the carriages, began to +pillage and plunder everything they could lay their hands upon. While +they were thus engaged, the guard gave the signal to the driver, who at +once reversed his engine and put it to the top of its speed. The reader +may judge of the consternation of the robbers when they found themselves +whirled backwards at a pace that rendered escape impossible. Some poor +fellows that attempted it were killed on the spot. + + —_Central India Times_, June 22, 1867. + + + + +THE RULING OCCUPATION STRONG ON SUNDAY. + + +In an Episcopal church in the north, not one hundred miles from Keith, a +porter employed during the week at the railway station, does duty on +Sunday by blowing the bellows of the organ. The other Sunday, wearied by +the long hours of railway attendance, combined, it may be, with the +soporific effects of a dull sermon, he fell sound asleep during the +service, and so remained when the pealing of the organ was required. He +was suddenly and rather rudely awakened by another official when +apparently dreaming of an approaching train, as he started to his feet +and roared out, with all the force and shrillness of stentorian lungs and +habit, “Change here for Elgin, Lossiemouth, and Burghead.” The effect +upon the congregation, sitting in expectation of a concord of sweet +sounds, may be imagined—it is unnecessary to describe it. + + —_Dumfries Courier_, 1866. + + + + +THE GOOD THINGS OF RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. + + +We have always thought that, except to lawyers and railway carriage and +locomotive builders, railway accidents were great misfortunes, but it is +evident we were wrong and we hasten to acknowledge our error. Speaking +on Thursday with a respectable broker about the heavy damages (£2,000) +given the day before on account of the Tottenham accident against the +Eastern Counties Company in the Court of Exchequer, he observed, “It is +rather good when these things happen as it moves the stock. I have had +an order for some days to buy Eastern Counties at 56 and could not do it, +but this verdict has sent them down one per cent., and enabled me now to +buy it.” With all our railway experience we never dreamt of such a +benefit as this accruing from railway accidents, but it is evidently +among the possibilities. + + —_Herepath’s Railway Journal_, June 7th, 1860. + + + + +BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF A RAILWAY ACCIDENT. + + +A gentleman who was in a railway collision in 1869, wrote to the _Times_ +in November of that year. After stating that he had been threatened with +a violent attack of rheumatic fever; in fact, he observed, “my condition +so alarmed me, and my dread of a sojourn in a Manchester hotel bed for +two or three months was so great, that I resolved to make a bold sortie +and, well wrapped up, start for London by the 3.30 p.m. Midland fast +train. From the time of leaving that station to the time of the +collision, my heart was going at express speed; my weak body was in a +profuse perspiration; flashes of pain announced that the muscular fibres +were under the tyrannical control of rheumatism, and I was almost beside +myself with toothache. From the moment of the collision to the present +hour no ache, pain, sweat, or tremor has troubled me in the slightest +degree, and instead of being, as I expected, and indeed intended, in bed +drinking _tinct. aurantii_, or absorbing through my pores oil of +horse-chestnut, I am conscientiously bound to be at my office bodily +sound. Don’t print my name and address, or the Midland Company may come +down upon me for compensation.” + + + + +AN EARLY MORNING RIDE TO THE RAILWAY STATION. + + +In the course of his peregrinations, the railway traveller may find +himself in some out-of-the-way place, where no regular vehicle can be +obtained to convey him to the station, and this _contretemps_ is +aggravated when the time of departure happens to be early in the morning. +Captain B—, a man of restless energy and adventurous spirit, emerged +early one morning from a hovel in a distant village, where from stress of +weather he had been compelled to pass the night. It was just dawn of +day, and within an hour of the train he wished to go by would start from +the station, about six miles distant. He had with him a portmanteau, +which it would be impossible for him to carry within the prescribed time, +but which he could not very well leave behind. Pondering on what he +should do, his eye lighted on a likely looking horse grazing in a field +hard by, while in the next field there was a line extended between two +posts, for the purpose of drying clothes upon. The sight of these +objects soon suggested the plan for him to adopt. In an instant he +detached the line, and then taking a piece of bread from his pocket, +coaxed the animal to approach him. Captain B— was an adept in the +management of horses, and as a rough rider, perhaps, had no equal. In a +few seconds he had, by the aid of a portion of the line, arranged his +portmanteau pannier-wise across the horse’s back, and forming a bridle +with the remaining portion of the line, he led his steed into the lane, +and sprang upon his back. The horse rather relished the trip than +otherwise, and what with the unaccustomed burden, and the consciousness +that he was being steered by a knowing hand, he sped onwards at a +terrific pace. While in mid career, one of the mounted police espied the +captain coming along the road at a distance; recognizing the horse, but +not knowing the rider, and noticing also the portmanteau, and the uncouth +equipment, this rural guardian of the peace came to the conclusion that +this was a case of robbery and horse stealing; and as the captain neared +him, he endeavoured to stop him, and stretched forth his hand to seize +the improvised bridle, but the gallant equestrian laughed to scorn the +impotent attempt, and shook him off, and shot by him. Thus foiled, the +policeman had nothing to do than to give chase; so turning his horse’s +head he followed in full cry. The clatter and shouts of pursuer and +pursued brought forth the inhabitants of the cottages as they passed, and +many of these joined in the chase. Never since Turpin’s ride to York, or +Johnny Gilpin’s ride to Edmonton, had there been such a commotion caused +by an equestrian performance. To make a long story short, the captain +reached the station in ample time; an explanation ensued; a handsome +apology was tendered to the patrol, and a present equally handsome was +forwarded, together with the abstracted property, to the joint owner of +the horse and the clothes-line. + + + + +CHEAP FARES. + + +In the year 1868, Mr. Raphael Brandon brought out a book called _Railways +and the Public_. In it he proposes that the railways should be purchased +and worked by the government; and that passengers, like letters, should +travel any distance at a fixed charge. He calculates that a threepenny +stamp for third-class, a sixpenny stamp for second-class, and a shilling +stamp for first-class, should take a passenger any distance whether long +or short. With the adoption of the scheme, he believes, such an impetus +would be given to passenger traffic that the returns would amount to more +than double what they are at present. There may be flaws in Mr. +Brandon’s theory, yet it may be within the bounds of possibility that +some great innovator may rise up and do for the travelling public by way +of organization what Sir Rowland Hill has done for the postage of the +country by the penny stamp. + + + + +WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? + + +The above question was asked by a man of his friend who had been injured +in a railway accident, “I am first going in for repairs, and then for +_damages_,” was the answer. + + + + +REPROOF FOR SWEARING. + + +The manager of one of the great Indian railways, in addressing a European +subordinate given to indulge in needless strong language, wrote as +follows:—“Dear sir, it is with extreme regret that I have to bring to +your notice that I observed very unprofessional conduct on your part this +morning when making a trial trip. I allude to the abusive language you +used to the drivers and others. This I consider an unwarrantable +assumption of my duties and functions, and, I may say, rights and +privileges. Should you wish to abuse any of our employés, I think it +will be best in future to do so in regular form, and I beg to point out +what I consider this to be. You will please to submit to me, in writing, +the form of oath you wish to use, when, if it meets my approval, I shall +at once sanction it; but if not, I shall refer the same to the directors; +and, in the course of a few weeks, their decision will be known. +Perhaps, to save time, it might be as well for you to submit a list of +the expletives generally in use by you, and I can then at once refer +those to which I object to the directors for their decision. But, +pending that, you will please to understand that all cursing and swearing +at drivers and others engaged on the traffic arrangements in which you +may wish to indulge must be done in writing, and through me. By adopting +this course you will perceive how much responsibility you will save +yourself, and how very much the business of the company will be +expedited, and its interests promoted.” + + + + +THE BULLY RIGHTLY SERVED. + + +In the _Railway Traveller’s Handy Book_, there is an account of an +occurrence which took place on the Eastern Counties line:—“A big hulking +fellow, with bully written on his face, took his seat in a second-class +carriage, and forthwith commenced insulting everybody by his words and +gestures. He was asked to desist, but only responded with language more +abusive. The guard was then appealed to, who told him to mind what he +was about, shut the door, and cried ‘all right.’ Thus encouraged the +miscreant continued his disgraceful conduct, and became every moment more +outrageous. In one part of the carriage were four farmers sitting who +all came from the same neighbourhood, and to whom every part along the +line was well known. One of these wrote on a slip of paper these words, +‘Let us souse him in Chuckley Slough.’ This paper was handed from one to +the other, and each nodded assent. Now, Chuckley Slough was a pond near +one of the railway stations, not very deep, but the waters of which were +black, muddy, and somewhat repellent to the olfactory nerves. The +station was neared and arrived at; in the meantime the bully’s conduct +became worse and worse. As they emerged from the station, one of the +farmers, aforesaid, said to the fellow, ‘Now, will you he quiet?’ ‘No, I +won’t,’ was the answer. ‘You won’t, won’t you?’ asked a second farmer. +‘You’re determined you won’t?’ inquired a third. ‘You’re certain you +won’t?’ asked the fourth. To all of which queries the response was in +negatives, with certain inelegant expletives added thereto. ‘Then,’ said +the four farmers speaking as one man, and rising in a body, ‘out you go.’ +So saying, they seized the giant form of the wretch, who struggled hard +to escape but to no purpose; they forced him to the window, and while the +train was still travelling at a slow pace, and Chuckley Slough appeared +to view, they without more ado thrust the huge carcass through the +window, and propelling it forward with some force, landed it exactly in +the centre of the black, filthy slough. The mingled cries and oaths of +the man were something fearful to hear; his attempts at extrication and +incessant slipping still deeper in the mire, something ludicrous to +witness; all the passengers watched him with feelings of gratified +revenge, and the last that was seen of him was a huge black mass, having +no traces of humanity about it, crawling up the bank in a state of utter +prostration. In this instance the remedy was rather a violent one; but +less active measures had been found to fail, and there can be little +doubt that this man took care ever afterwards not to run the risk of a +similar punishment by indulging in conduct of a like nature.” + + + + +LIABILITY OF COMPANIES FOR DELAY OF TRAINS. + + +There have been cases where claims have been made and recovered in courts +of law for loss arising from delay in the arrival of trains, but the law +does not render the company’s liability unlimited. A remarkable case +occurred not long since. A Mr. Le Blanche sued the London and +North-Western Company for the cost of a special train to Scarborough, +which he had ordered in consequence of his being brought from Liverpool +to Leeds, too late for the ordinary train from Leeds to Scarborough. A +judgment in the county court was given in favour of the applicant. + +The railway company appealed to the superior court, and the points raised +were argued by able counsel, when the decision of the county court judge +was confirmed. The company was determined to put the case to the utmost +possible test, and on appealing to the Supreme Court of Judicature the +judgment was reversed, the decision being to the effect that, whilst +there was some evidence of wilful delay, the measure of damage was wrong. + + —_Our Railways_, by Joseph Parsloe. + + + + +THE DYING ENGINE DRIVER. + + +Doubts have been expressed whether our iron ships will ever be regarded +in the same affectionate way as “liners” used to be regarded by our “old +salts.” It has been supposed that the latest creations of science will +not nourish sentiment. The following anecdote shows, however, as +romantic an attachment to iron as was ever manifested towards wood. On +the Great Western Railway, the broad gauge and the narrow gauge are +mixed; the former still existing to the delight of travellers by the +“Flying Dutchman,” whatever economical shareholders may have to say to +the contrary. The officials who have been longest on the staff also +cling to the broad gauge, like faithful royalists to a fast disappearing +dynasty. The other day an ancient guard on this line was knocked down +and run over by an engine; and though good enough medical attendance was +at hand, had skill been of any use, the dying man wished to see “the +company’s” doctor. The gentleman, a man much esteemed by all the +employés, was accordingly sent for. “I am glad you came to see me start, +doctor, (as I hope) by the up-train,” said the poor man. “I am only +sorry I can do nothing for you, my good fellow,” answered the other. “I +know that; it is all over with me. But there!—I’m glad it was _not one +of them narrow-gauge engines that did it_!” + + —_Gentleman’s Magazine_. + + + + +“DOWN BRAKES,” OR FORCE OF HABIT. + + +An Illinois captain, lately a railroad conductor, was drilling a squad, +and while marching them by flank, turned to speak to a friend for a +moment. On looking again toward his squad, he saw they were in the act +of “butting up” against a fence. In his hurry to halt them, he cried, +“Down brakes! Down brakes!” + + + + +TRENT STATION. + + +This station on the Midland system is often a source of no little +perplexity to strangers. Sir Edward Beckett thus humorously describes +it:—“You arrive at Trent. Where that is I cannot tell. I suppose it is +somewhere near the river Trent, but then the Trent is a very long river. +You get out of your train to obtain refreshment, and having taken it, you +endeavour to find your train and your carriage. But whether it is on +this side or that, and whether it is going north or south, this way or +that way, you cannot tell. Bewildered, you frantically rush into your +carriage; the train moves off round a curve, and then you are horrified +to see some lights glaring in front of you, and you are in immediate +expectation of a collision, when your fellow-passenger calms your fears +by telling you that they are only the tail lamps of your own train.” + + + + +STEEL RAILS. + + +The first steel rail was made in 1857, by Mushet, at the Ebbw-Vale Iron +Co.’s works in South Wales. It was rolled from cast blooms of Bessemer +steel and laid down at Derby, England, and remained sixteen years, during +which time 250 trains and at least 250 detached engines and tenders +passed over it daily. Taking 312 working days in each year, we have the +total of 1,252,000 trains and 1,252,000 detached engines and tenders +which passed over it from the time it was first laid before it was +removed to be worked over. + +The substitution of steel for iron, to an extent rendered possible by the +Bessemer process, has worked a great and abiding change in the condition +of our ways, giving greater endurance both in respect of wear and in +resistance to breaking strains and jars. + +Two steel rails of twenty-one feet in length were laid on the 2nd of May, +1862, at the Chalk Farm Bridge, side by side with two ordinary rails. +After having outlasted sixteen faces of the ordinary rails, the steel +ones were taken up and examined, and it was found that at the expiration +of three years and three months, the surface was evenly worn to the +extent of only a little more than a quarter of an inch, and to all +appearance they were capable of enduring a great deal more work. The +result of this trial was to induce the London and North Western to enter +very extensively into the employment of steel rails. + + _Knight’s Dictionary of Mechanics_. + + + + +CURIOUS CASUALTY. + + +Out of three truck loads of cattle on the Great Western Railway two of +the animals were struck dead by the lightning on Monday afternoon, July +5, 1852, not very far from Swindon. What renders it remarkable is, that +one animal only in each of the two trucks was struck, and five or six +animals in each escaped uninjured. The animal killed in one of the +trucks was a bull, the cows escaping injury, and in the other truck it +was a bull or an ox that was killed. + + + + +GEORGE STEPHENSON’S WEDDING PRESENT. + + +A correspondent, writing to the _Derbyshire Courier_ the week following +the Stephenson Centenary celebration at Chesterfield, remarks:—“The other +day I met a kindly and venerable gentleman who possesses quite a fund of +anecdotes relating to the Stephensons, father and son. It appears we +have, or had, relations of old George residing in Derby. Years ago, says +my friend, an old gentleman, who by his appearance and carriage was +stamped as a man distinguished among his fellow-men, was inquiring on +Derby platform for a certain engine-driver in the North Midland or the +Birmingham and Derby service, whose name he gave. On the driver being +pointed out, the gentleman, with the rough but pleasing north-country +burr in his voice, said, after asking his name, “Did you marry —?” “Yes, +sir.” “Then she’s my niece, and I hope you’ll make her a good husband. +I have not had the chance of giving you a wedding present until now.” +Then slipping into his hand a bank note for £50, he talked of other +matters. The joy of the engine-driver at receiving so welcome a present +was not greater than being recognised and kindly received by his wife’s +illustrious uncle, George Stephenson.” + + + + +THE POLITE IRISHMAN. + + +It’s a small matter, but a gentleman always feels angry at himself after +he has given up his seat, in a railway car, to a female who lacks the +good manners to acknowledge the favour. The following “hint” to the +ladies will show that a trifle of politeness properly spread on, often +has a happy effect. + +The seats were all full, one of which was occupied by a rough-looking +Irishman; and at one of the stations a couple of evidently well-bred and +intelligent young ladies came in to procure seats, but seeing no vacant +ones, were about to go into a back car, when Patrick rose hastily, and +offered them his seat, with evident pleasure. “But you will have no seat +yourself?” responded one of the young ladies with a smile, hesitating, +with true politeness, as to accepting it. “Never ye mind _that_!” said +the Hibernian, “ye’r welcome to ’t! I’d ride upon the cow-catcher till +New York, any time, for a smile from such _jintlemanly_ ladies;” and +retreated hastily to the next car, amid the cheers of those who had +witnessed the affair. + + + + +AN ENTERTAINING COMPANION. + + +Once, during a tour in the Western States, writes Mr. Florence, the +actor, an incident occurred in which I rather think I played the victim. +We were _en route_ from Cleveland to Cincinnati, an eight or ten-hour +journey. After seeing my wife comfortably seated, I walked forward to +the smoking car, and, taking the only unoccupied place, pulled out my +cigar case, and offered a cigar to my next neighbour. He was about sixty +years of age, gentlemanly in appearance, and of a somewhat reserved and +bashful mien. He gracefully accepted the cigar, and in a few minutes we +were engaged in conversation. + +“Are you going far west?” I inquired. + +“Merely so far as Columbus.” (Columbus, I may explain is the capital of +Ohio.) “And you, sir?” he added, interrogatively. + +“I am journeying toward Cincinnati. I am a theatrical man, and play +there to-morrow night.” I was a young man then, and fond of avowing my +profession. + +“Oh, indeed! Your face seemed familiar to me as you entered the car. I +am confident we have met before.” + +“I have acted in almost every State in the Union,” said I. “Mrs. +Florence and I are pretty generally known throughout the north-west.” + +“Bless me?” said the stranger in surprise, “I have seen you act many +times, sir, and the recollection of Mrs. Florence’s ‘Yankee Girl,’ with +her quaint songs, is still fresh in my memory.” + +“Do you propose remaining long in Columbus?” + +“Yes, for seven years,” replied my companion. + +Thus we chatted for an hour or two. At length my attention was attracted +to a little, red-faced man, with small sharp eyes, who sat immediately +opposite us and amused himself by sucking the knob of a large walking +stick which he carried caressingly in his hand. He had more than once +glanced at me in a knowing manner, and now and then gave a sly wink and +shake of the head at me, as much as to say, “Ah, old fellow, I know you, +too.” + +These attentions were so marked that I finally asked my companion if he +had noticed them. + +“That poor man acts like a lunatic,” said I, _sotto voce_. + +“A poor half-witted fellow, possibly,” replied my fellow-traveller. “In +your travels through the country, however, Mr. Florence, you must have +often met such strange characters.” + +We had now reached Crestline, the dinner station, and, after thanking the +stranger for the agreeable way in which he had enabled me to pass the +journey up to this point, I asked him if he would join Mrs. Florence and +myself at dinner. This produced an extraordinary series of grimaces and +winks from the red-faced party aforesaid. The invitation to dinner was +politely declined. + +The repast over, our train sped on toward Cincinnati. I told my wife +that in the smoking car I had met a most entertaining gentleman, who was +well posted in theatricals, and was on his way to Columbus. She +suggested that I should bring him into our car, and present him to her. +I returned to the smoking car and proposed that the gentleman should +accompany me to see Mrs. Florence. The proposal made the red-faced man +undergo a species of spasmodic convulsions which set the occupants of the +car into roars of laughter. + +“No, I thank you,” said my friend, “I feel obliged to you for the +courtesy, but I prefer the smoking car. Have you another cigar?” + +“Yes,” said I, producing another Partaga. + +I again sat by his side, and once more our conversation began, and we +were quite fraternal. We talked about theatres and theatricals, and then +adverted to political economy, the state of the country, finance and +commerce in turn, our intimacy evidently affording intense amusement to +the foxy-faced party near us. + +Finally the shrill sound of the whistle and the entrance of the conductor +indicated that we had arrived at Columbus, and the train soon arrived at +the station. + +“Come,” said the red-faced individual, now rising from his seat and +tapping my companion on the shoulder, “This is your station, old man.” + +My friend rose with some difficulty, dragging his hitherto concealed feet +from under the seat, when, for the first time, I discovered that he was +shackled, and was a prisoner in charge of the Sheriff, going for seven +years to the state prison at Columbus. + + + + +NOVEL ATTACK. + + +Auxerre, November 15th, 1851.—Last week, at the moment when a railway +tender was passing along the line from Saint Florentin to Tonnerre, a +wolf boldly leaped upon it and attacked the stoker. The man immediately +seized his shovel and repulsed the aggressor, who fell upon the rail and +was instantly crushed to pieces. + + —_National_. + + + + +WOLVES ON A RAILWAY. + + +In 1867, “A cattle train on the Luxemburg Railway was stopped,” says the +_Nord_, “two nights back, between Libramont and Poix by the snow. The +brakesman was sent forward for aid to clear the line, and while the +guard, fireman, engine-driver, and a customs officer were engaged in +getting the snow from under the engine they were alarmed by wolves, of +which there were five, and which were attracted, no doubt, by the scent +of the oxen and sheep cooped up in railed-in carriages. The men had no +weapons save the fire utensils belonging to the engine. The wolves +remained in a semicircle a few yards distant, looking keenly on. The +engine-driver let off the steam and blew the whistle, and lanterns were +waved to and fro, but the savage brutes did not move. The men then made +their way, followed by the wolves, to the guard’s carriage. Three got in +safe; whilst the fourth was on the step one of the animals sprang on him, +but succeeded only in tearing his coat. They all then made an attack, +but were beaten off, one being killed by a blow on the head. Two hours +elapsed before assistance arrived, and during that time the wolves made +several attacks upon the sheep trucks, but failed to get in. None of the +cattle were injured.” + + + + +ARTEMUS WARD’S SUGGESTION. + + +“I was once,” he remarks, “on a slow California train, and I went to the +conductor and suggested that the cowketcher was on the wrong end of the +train; for I said, ‘You will never overtake a cow, you know; but if you’d +put it on the other end it might be useful, for now there’s nothin’ on +earth to hinder a cow from walkin’ right in and bitin’ the folks!” + + + + +COACH VERSUS RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. + + +A coachman once remarked, “Why you see, sir, if a coach goes over and +spills you in the road there you are; but if you are blown up by an +engine, where are you?” + + + + +BAVARIAN GUARDS AND BAVARIAN BEER. + + +“In England,” says Mr. Wilberforce, “the guard is content to be the +servant of the train; in Germany he is in command of the passengers. +‘When is the train going on?’ asked an Englishman once of a foreign +guard. ‘Whenever I choose,’ was the answer. To judge from the delays +the trains make at some of the stations, one would suppose that the guard +had uncontrolled power of causing stoppages. You see him chatting with +the station-master for several minutes after all the carriages have been +shut up, and at last, when the topics of conversation are exhausted, he +gives a condescending whistle to the engine-driver. Time seems never to +be considered by either guards or passengers. Bavarians always go to the +station half-an-hour before the train is due, and their indifference to +delay is so well known that the directors can put on their time book ‘As +the time of departure from small stations cannot be guaranteed, the +travellers must be there twenty-five minutes beforehand.’” Mr. +Wilberforce should not have omitted to mention the main cause of these +delays, which appears at the same time to constitute the final cause of a +Bavarian’s existence—Beer. Guards and passengers alike require alcoholic +refreshment at least at every other station. At Culmbach, the fountain +of the choicest variety of Bavarian beer, the practice had risen to such +a head that, as we found last summer, government had been forced to +interfere. To prevent trains from dallying if there was beer to drink at +Culmbach was obviously impossible. The temptation itself was removed; +and no beer was any longer allowed to be sold at that fated railway +station, by reason of its being so superlatively excellent. + + —_Saturday Review_, 1864. + + + + +THE RAILWAY SWITCH-TENDER AND HIS CHILD. + + +On one of the railroads in Prussia, a few years ago, a switch-tender was +just taking his place, in order to turn a coming train approaching in a +contrary direction. Just at this moment, on turning his head, he +discerned his little son playing on the track of the advancing engine. +What could he do? Thought was quick at such a moment of peril! He might +spring to his child and rescue him, but he could not do this and turn the +switch in time, and for want of that hundreds of lives might be lost. +Although in sore trouble, he could not neglect his greater duty, but +exclaiming with a loud voice to his son, “Lie down,” he laid hold of the +switch, and saw the train safely turned on to its proper track. His boy, +accustomed to obedience, did as his father commanded him, and the fearful +heavy train thundered over him. Little did the passengers dream, as they +found themselves quietly resting on that turnout, what terrible anguish +their approach had that day caused to one noble heart. The father rushed +to where his boy lay, fearful lest he should find only a mangled corpse, +but to his great joy and thankful gratitude he found him alive and +unharmed. Prompt obedience had saved him. Had he paused to argue, to +reason whether it were best—death, and fearful mutilation of body, would +have resulted. The circumstances connected with this event were made +known to the King of Prussia, who the next day sent for the man and +presented him with a medal of honour for his heroism. + + + + +VERY COOL. + + +Some years ago at a railway station a gentleman actually followed a +person with a portmanteau, which he thought to be his, but the fellow, +unabashed, maintaining it to be his own property, the gentleman returned +to inquire after his, and found, when too late, that his first suspicions +were correct. + + + + +THE BLACK REDSTART. + + +A railway carriage had been left for some weeks out of use in the station +at Giessen, Hesse Darmstadt, in the month of May, 1852, and when the +superintendent came to examine the carriage he found that a black +redstart had built her nest upon the collision spring; he very humanely +retained the carriage in its shed until its use was imperatively +demanded, and at last attached it to the train which ran to +Frankfort-on-the-Maine, a distance of nearly forty miles. It remained at +Frankfort for thirty-six hours, and was then brought back to Giessen, and +after one or two short journeys came back again to rest at Giessen, after +a period of four days. The young birds were by this time partly fledged, +and finding that the parent bird had not deserted her offspring, the +superintendent carefully removed the nest to a place of safety, whither +the parent soon followed. The young were, in process of time, full +fledged and left the nest to shift for themselves. It is evident that +one at least of the parent birds must have accompanied the nest in all +its journeys, for, putting aside the difficulty which must have been +experienced by the parents in watching for every carriage that arrived at +Giessen, the nestlings would have perished from hunger during their stay +at Frankfort, for everyone who has reared young birds is perfectly aware +that they need food every two hours. Moreover, the guard of the train +repeatedly saw a red-tailed bird flying about that part of the carriage +on which the nest was placed. + + + + +STOPPING A RUNAWAY COUPLE. + + +Captain Galton who some years ago was the government railway inspector, +in one of his reports relates the following singular circumstance. “A +girl who was in love with the engine-driver of a train, had engaged to +run away from her father’s house in order to be married. She arranged to +leave by a train this man was driving. Her father and brother got +intelligence of her intended escape; and having missed catching her as +she got into the train, they contrived, whether with or without the +assistance of a porter is not very clear, to turn the train through +facing points, as it left the station, into a bog.” The captain does not +pursue the subject further in his report, so that we are left in +ignorance as to the success of the plan for stopping a contemplated +runaway marriage. + + + + +A MADMAN IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. + + +We subjoin from the _Annual Register_ for 1864 an account of an alarming +occurrence which took place July 4th of that year:—“In one of the +third-class compartments of the express train leaving King’s Cross +Station at 9.15 p.m., a tall and strongly-built man, dressed as a sailor, +and having a wild and haggard look, took his seat about three minutes +before the train started. He was accompanied to the carriage by a woman, +whom he afterwards referred to as his wife, and by a man, apparently a +cab-driver, of both of whom he took leave when the train was about to +start. It had scarcely done so, when, on putting his hand to his pocket, +he called out that he had been robbed of his purse, containing £17, and +at once began to shout and gesticulate in a manner which greatly alarmed +his fellow-travellers, four in number, in the same compartment. He +continued to roar and swear with increasing violence for some time, and +then made an attempt to throw himself out of the window. He threw his +arms and part of his body out of the window, and had just succeeded in +placing one of his legs out, when the other occupants of the carriage, +who had been endeavouring to keep him back, succeeded in dragging him +from the window. Being foiled in this attempt, he turned round upon +those who had been instrumental in keeping him back. After a long and +severe struggle, which—notwithstanding the speed the train was running +at—was heard in the adjoining compartments, the sailor was overcome by +the united exertions of the party, and was held down in a prostrate +position by two of their number. Though thus secured, he still continued +to struggle and shout vehemently, and it was not till some time +afterwards, when they managed to bind his hands and strap him to the +seat, that the passengers in the compartment felt themselves secure. +This train, it may be explained, makes the journey from London to +Peterborough, a distance little short of eighty miles, without a single +stoppage; and as the scene we have been describing began immediately +after the train left London, the expectation of having to pass the time +usually occupied between the two stations (one hour and fifty minutes) +with such a companion must have been far from agreeable. While the +struggle was going on, and even for some time afterwards, almost frantic +attempts were made to get the train stopped. The attention of those in +the adjoining compartment was readily gained by waving handkerchiefs out +of the window, and by-and-by a full explanation of the circumstances was +communicated through the aperture in which the lamp that lights both +compartments is placed. A request to communicate with the guard was made +from one carriage to another for a short distance, but it was found +impossible to continue it, and so the occupants of the compartments +beyond the one nearest the scene of the disturbance could learn nothing +as to its nature, a vague feeling of alarm seized them, and all the way +along to Peterborough a succession of shouts of ‘Stop the train,’ mixed +with the frantic screams of female passengers, was kept up. On the +arrival of the train at Peterborough the man was released by his captors +and placed on the platform. No sooner was he there, however, than he +rushed with a renewed outburst of fury on those who had taken the chief +part in restraining his violence, and as he kept vociferating that they +had robbed him of his money, it was some time before the railway +officials could be got to interfere—indeed, it seemed likely for some +time that he would be allowed to go on in the train. As remonstrances +were made from all quarters to the station-master to take the fellow into +custody, he at length agreed, after being furnished with the names and +addresses of the other occupants of the carriage, to hand him over to the +police. The general impression on those who witnessed the sailor’s fury +seemed to be that he was labouring under a violent attack of delirium +tremens, and he had every appearance of having been drinking hard for +some days. Had there been only one or even two occupants of the +compartment besides himself, there seems every reason to believe that a +much more deadly struggle would have ensued, as he displayed immense +strength.” + + + + +INSURED. + + +The engine of an ordinary railway train broke down midway between two +stations. As an express train was momentarily expected to arrive at the +spot, the passengers were urgently called upon to get out of the +carriages. A countryman in leather breeches and top-boots, who sat in a +corner of one of the carriages, comfortably swathed in a travelling +blanket, obstinately refused to budge. In vain the porter begged him to +come out, saying the express would reach the spot in a minute, and the +train would in all probability be dashed to pieces. The traveller pulled +an insurance ticket out of his breeches pocket, exclaiming, “Don’t you +see I’ve insured my life?” and with that he set up a horse laugh, and +sunk back into his corner. They had to force him out of the train, and +an instant afterwards the express ran into it. + + + + +A NEW TRICK. + + +A novel illustration of the ingenuity of thieves has been afforded by an +incident reported from the continent. For some time past a North German +railway company had been suffering from the repeated loss of goods which +were sent by luggage train, and which, notwithstanding all research and +precautions, continued to disappear in a very mysterious manner. The +secret which the inquiries set on foot had failed to discover was at +length revealed by a rather amusing accident. A long box, on one side of +which were words equivalent to “This side up,” had, in disregard of this +caution, been set up on end in the goods shed. Some time afterwards the +employés were not a little startled to hear a voice, apparently +proceeding from the box in question, begging the hearers to let the +speaker out. On opening the lid, the railway officials were surprised +and amused to find a man inside standing on his head. In the explanation +which followed, the fellow wanted to account for his appearance under +such unusual circumstances as due to the result of a wager, but he was +given into custody, and it was soon found that the thieves had adopted +this method of conveying themselves on to the railway premises, and that +during the absence of the employés they had let themselves out of the box +which they at once filled with any articles they could lay their hands +on, refastened the lid, and then decamped. But for the unfortunate +inability of human nature to endure an inverted position for an +indefinite period, the ingenious authors of the scheme might have +flourished a long time without detection. + + + + +A TRAIN STOPPED BY CATERPILLARS. + + +_Colonies and India_ quotes from a New Zealand paper the following +story:—In the neighbourhood of Turakina an army of caterpillars, hundreds +of thousands strong, was marching across the railway line, bound for a +new field of oats, when the train came along. Thousands of the creeping +vermin were crushed by the wheels of the engine, and suddenly the train +came to a dead stop. On examination it was found that the wheels of the +engine had become so greasy that they kept on revolving without +advancing—they could not grip the rails. The guard and the engine driver +procured sand and strewed it on the rails, and the train made a fresh +start, but it was found that during the stoppage caterpillars in +thousands had crawled all over the engine, and all over the carriages +inside and out. + + + + +TRAVELLING IN RUSSIA. + + +Of course, travelling in Russia is no longer what it was. During the +last quarter of a century a vast network of railways has been constructed +and one can now travel in a comfortable first-class carriage from Berlin +to St. Petersburg or Moscow, and thence to Odessa, Sebastopol, the Lower +Volga, or even the foot of the Caucasus; and, on the whole, it must be +admitted that the railways are tolerably comfortable. The carriages are +decidedly better than in England, and in winter they are kept warm by +small iron stoves, such as we sometimes see in steamers, assisted by +double windows and double doors—a very necessary precaution in a land +where the thermometer often descends to 30 degrees below zero. The +trains never attain, it is true, a high rate of speed—so at least English +and Americans think—but then we must remember that Russians are rarely in +a hurry, and like to have frequent opportunities of eating and drinking. +In Russia time is not money; if it were, nearly all the subjects of the +Tsar would always have a large stock of ready money on hand, and would +often have great difficulty in spending it. In reality, be it +parenthetically remarked, a Russian with a superabundance of ready money +is a phenomenon rarely met with in real life. + +In conveying passengers at the rate of from fifteen to thirty miles an +hour, the railway companies do at least all that they promise, but in one +very important respect they do not always strictly fulfil their +engagements. The traveller takes a ticket for a certain town, and on +arriving at what he imagines to be his destination, he may merely find a +railway station surrounded by fields. On making inquiries he finds to +his disappointment, that the station is by no means identical with the +town bearing the same name, and that the railway has fallen several miles +short of fulfilling the bargain, as he understood the terms of the +contract. Indeed, it might almost be said as a general rule railways in +Russia, like camel drivers in certain Eastern countries, studiously avoid +the towns. This seems at first a strange fact. It is possible to +conceive that the Bedouin is so enamoured of tent life and nomadic +habits, that he shuns a town as he would a man-trap; but surely civil +engineers and railway contractors have no such dread of brick and mortar. +The true reason, I suspect, is that land within or immediately without +the municipal barrier is relatively dear, and that the railways, being +completely beyond the invigorating influence of healthy competition, can +afford to look upon the comfort and convenience of passengers as a +secondary consideration. + +It is but fair to state that in one celebrated instance neither engineers +nor railway contractors were to blame. From St. Petersburg to Moscow the +locomotive runs for a distance of 400 miles, almost as “the crow” is +supposed to fly, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. For +fifteen weary hours the passenger in the express train looks out on +forest and morass and rarely catches sight of human habitation. Only +once he perceives in the distance what may be called a town; it is Tver +which has been thus favoured, not because it is a place of importance, +but simply because it happened to be near the straight line. And why was +the railway constructed in this extraordinary fashion? For the best of +all reasons—because the Tsar so ordered it. When the preliminary survey +was being made, Nicholas learned that the officers intrusted with the +task—and the Minister of Ways and Roads in the number—were being +influenced more by personal than by technical considerations, and he +determined to cut the Gordian knot in true Imperial style. When the +Minister laid before him the map with the intention of explaining the +proposed route, he took a ruler, drew a straight line from the one +terminus to the other, and remarked in a tone that precluded all +discussion, “You will construct the line so!” And the line was so +constructed—remaining to all future ages, like St. Petersburg and the +Pyramids, a magnificent monument of autocratic power. + +Formerly this well-known incident was often cited in whispered philippics +to illustrate the evils of the autocratic form of government. Imperial +whims, it was said, override grave economic considerations. In recent +years, however, a change seems to have taken place in public opinion, and +some people now venture to assert that this so-called Imperial whim was +an act of far-seeing policy. As by far the greater part of the goods and +passengers are carried the whole length of the line, it is well that the +line should be as short as possible, and that branch lines should be +constructed to the towns lying to the right and left. Apart from +political considerations, it must be admitted that a great deal may be +said in support of this view. + +In the development of the railway system there has been another +disturbing cause, which is not likely to occur to the English mind. In +England, individuals and companies habitually act according to their +private interests, and the State interferes as little as possible; +private initiative acts as it pleases, unless the authorities can prove +that important bad consequences will necessarily result. In Russia, the +_onus probandi_ lies on the other side; private initiative is allowed to +do nothing until it gives guarantees against all possible bad +consequences. When any great enterprise is projected, the first question +is—“How will this new scheme affect the interests of the State?” Thus, +when the course of a new railway has to be determined, the military +authorities are always consulted, and their opinion has a great influence +on the ultimate decision. The consequence of this is that the railway +map of Russia presents to the eye of the tactician much that is quite +unintelligible to the ordinary observer—a fact that will become apparent +to the uninitiated as soon as a war breaks out in Eastern Europe. Russia +is no longer what she was in the days of the Crimean war, when troops and +stores had to be conveyed hundreds of miles by the most primitive means +of transport. At that time she had only about 750 miles of railway; now +she has more than 11,000 miles, and every year new lines are constructed. + + _Russia_, by D. M. Wallace, M.A. + + + + +AN ARMY WITH BANNERS. + + +As giving an idea of the old way of signalling and precautions employed +to ensure safety on the Hudson River Railroad nearly forty years ago, we +append the following from the _Albany Journal_. It should be premised +that this road extends from New York to East Albany, a distance of only +144 miles:— + +“AN ARMY WITH BANNERS.—As you are whirled along over the Hudson River +Railroad at the rate of 40 miles an hour, you catch a glimpse, every +minute or two, of a man waving something like a white pocket handkerchief +on the end of a stick, with a satisfactory sort of expression of +countenance. If you take the trouble to count, you will find that it +happens some two hundred times between East Albany and Thirty-first +street. It looks like rather a useless ceremony, at first glance, but is +a pretty important one, nevertheless. + +“There are 225 of these ‘flagmen’ stationed at intervals along the whole +length of the line. Just before a train is to pass, each one walks over +his “beat,” and looks to see that every track and tie, every tunnel, +switch, rail, clamp, and rivet, is in good order and free from +obstruction. If so, he takes his stand with a white flag and waves it to +the approaching train as a signal to ‘come on’—and come on it does, at +full speed. If there is anything wrong, he waves a red flag, or at night +a red lamp, and the engineer, on seeing it, promptly shuts off the steam, +and sounds the whistle to ‘put down the brakes.’ Every inch of the road +is carefully examined after the passage of each train. Austrian +espionage is hardly more strict.” + + + + +SEIZURE OF A RAILWAY TRAIN FOR DEBT. + + +The financial difficulties under which some railway companies have +recently laboured were brought to a crisis lately in the case of the +Potteries, Shrewsbury, and North Wales Railway, a line running from +Llanymynech to Shrewsbury, with a projected continuation to the +Potteries. A debenture holder having obtained a judgment against the +company, a writ was forthwith issued, and a few days back the sheriff’s +officers unexpectedly presented themselves at the company’s principal +station in Shrewsbury, and formally entered upon possession. The down +train immediately after entered the station, and the bailiffs, without +having given any previous intimation to the manager, whose office adjoins +the station, seized the engines and carriages, and refused to permit the +outgoing train to start, although many passengers had taken tickets. +Ultimately the manager obtained the requisite permission, and it was +arranged that the train should make the journey, one of the bailiffs +meanwhile remaining in charge. The acting-sheriff refused a similar +concession with regard to the further running of the trains, and it being +fair day at Shrewsbury, and a large number of persons from various +stations along the line having taken return tickets, much inconvenience +to the public was likely to ensue. The North Wales section of this line +was completed in August last at a cost of a little over £1,100,000, and +was opened for passenger and goods traffic on the 13th of that month. As +has already been stated, the ordinary traffic of the line was, after the +enforcement of the writ, permitted to be continued, with the proviso that +a bailiff should accompany each train. This condition was naturally very +galling to the officials of the railway company, but they nevertheless +treated the representative of the civil law with a marked politeness. On +the night of his first becoming a constant passenger by the line he rode +in a first-class carriage to Llanymynech, and on the return journey the +attentive guard conducted him to a similar compartment which was devoted +to his sole occupation. On arriving at Kennerly the bailiff became +conscious of the progress of an elaborate process of shunting, followed +by an entire stoppage of the train. After sitting patiently for some +minutes it occurred to him to put his head out of the window and inquire +the reason for the delay, and in carrying out the idea he discovered that +the train of which his carriage had lately formed a part was vanishing +from sight round a distant curve in the line. He lost no time in getting +out and making his way into the station, which he found locked up, +according to custom, after the passage through of the last down train. +Kennerly is a small roadside station about 12 miles from Shrewsbury, and +offers no accommodation for chance guests; and, had it been otherwise, it +was of course the first duty of the bailiff to look after the train, of +which he at that moment was supposed to be in “possession.” There being +no alternative, he started on foot for Shrewsbury, where he arrived +shortly after midnight, having accomplished a perilous passage along the +line. It appeared, on inquiry, that in the course of the shunting the +coupling-chain which connected the tail coach with the body of the train +had by some means become unlinked; hence the accident. The bailiff +accepted the explanation, but on subsequent journeys he carefully avoided +the tail-coach. + + _Railway News_, 1866. + + + + +A KANGAROO ATTACKING A TRAIN. + + +The latest marsupial freak is thus given by a thoroughly reliable +correspondent of the _Courier_ (an Australian paper):—A rather exciting +race took place between the train and a large kangaroo on Wednesday night +last. When about nine miles from Dalby a special surprised the kangaroo, +who was inside the fences. The animal ran for some distance in front, +but getting exhausted he suddenly turned to face his opponent, and jumped +savagely at the stoker on the engine, who, not being able to run, gamely +faced the “old man” with a handful of coal. The kangaroo, however, only +reached the side of the tender, when, the step striking him, he was +“knocked clean out of it” in the one round. No harm happened beyond a +bit of a scare to the stoker, as the kangaroo picked himself up quickly +and cleared the fence. + + + + +SHE TAKES FITS. + + +Some time ago, an old lady and gentleman were coming from Devenport when +the train was crowded. A young man got up and gave the old lady a seat, +while his companion, another young gent, remained stedfast and let the +old gent stand. This did not suit the old gentleman, so he concluded to +get a seat in some way, and quickly turning to the young man on the seat +beside his wife, he said:—“Will you be so kind as to watch that woman +while I get a seat in another carriage? She takes fits!” This startled +the young gent. He could not bear the idea of taking charge of a fitty +woman, so the old gentleman got a seat, and his wife was never known to +take a fit afterwards. + + + + +SNAGS’ CORNERS. + + +The officials of a Michigan railroad that was being extended were waited +upon the other day by a person from the pine woods and sand hills who +announced himself as Mr. Snags, and who wanted to know if it could be +possible that the proposed line was not to come any nearer than three +miles to the hamlet named in his honour. + +“Is Snags’ Corners a place of much importance?” asked the President. + +“Is it? Well, I should say it was! We made over a ton of maple sugar +there last spring!” + +“Does business flourish there?” + +“Flourish! Why, business is on the gallop there every minute in the +whole twenty-four hours. We had three false alarms of fire there in one +week. How’s that for a town which is to be left three miles off your +railroad?” + +Being asked to give the names of the business houses, he scratched his +head for awhile, and then replied— + +“Well, there’s me, to start on. I run a big store, own eight yokes of +oxen, and shall soon have a dam and a sawmill. Then there’s a blacksmith +shop, a post-office, a doctor, and last week over a dozen patent-right +men passed through there. In one brief year we’ve increased from a +squatter and two dogs to our present standing, and we’ll have a lawyer +there before long.” + +“I’m afraid we won’t be able to come any nearer the Corners than the +present survey,” finally remarked the President. + +“You won’t! It can’t be possible that you mean to skip a growing place +like Snags’ Corners!” + +“I think we’ll have to.” + +“Wouldn’t come if I’d clear you out a place in the store for a ticket +office?” + +“I don’t see how we could.” + +“May be I’d subscribe 25 dols.,” continued the delegate. + +“No, we cannot change.” + +“Can’t do it nohow?” + +“No.” + +“Very well,” said Mr. Snags as he put on his hat. “If this ’ere railroad +thinks it can stunt or cripple Snags’ Corners by leaving it out in the +cold it has made a big mistake. Before I leave town to-day I’m going to +buy a windmill and a melodeon, and your old locomotives may toot and be +hanged, sir—toot and be hanged!” + + + + +A NEWSPAPER WONDER. + + +The _Railway Journal_, an American newspaper, containing the latest +intelligence with respect to home and foreign politics, the money market, +Congress debates, and theatrical events, is now printed and published +daily in the trains running between New York and San Francisco. All the +news with which its columns are filled is telegraphed from different +parts of the States to certain stations on the line, there collected by +the editorial staff travelling in the train, and set up, printed, and +circulated among the subscribing passengers while the iron horse is +persistently traversing plains and valleys, crossing rivers, and +ascending mountain ranges. Every morning the traveller may have his +newspaper served up with his coffee, and thus keep himself informed of +all that is going on in the wide world during a seven days’ journey +covering over three thousand miles of ground. He who pays his +subscription at New York, which he can do at the railway ticket-office, +receives the last copy of his paper on the summit of the Sierra Nevada. +The production of a news-sheet from a flying printing office at an +elevation of some ten thousand feet above the level of the sea is most +assuredly a performance worthy of conspicuous record in journalistic +annals, and highly creditable to American enterprise. + + + + +MONETARY DIFFICULTIES IN SPAIN. + + +Sir Arthur Helps, in his life of Mr. Brassey, remarks:—“There were few, +if any, of the great undertakings in which Mr. Brassey embarked that gave +him so much trouble in respect of the financial arrangements as the +Spanish railway from Bilbao to Tudela. The secretary, Mr. Tapp, thus +recounts the difficulties which they had to encounter:— + +“‘The great difficulty in Spain was in getting money to pay the men for +doing the work—a very great difficulty. The bank was not in the habit of +having large cheques drawn upon it to pay money; for nearly all the +merchants kept their cash in safes in their offices, and it was a very +debased kind of money, coins composed of half copper and half silver, and +very much defaced. You had to take a good many of them on faith. I had +to send down fifteen days before the pay day came round, to commence +getting the money from the bank, obtaining perhaps £2,000 or £3,000 a +day. It was brought to the office, recounted, and put into my safe. In +that way I accumulated a ton-and-a-half of money every month during our +busy season. When pay week came, I used to send a carriage or a large +coach, drawn by four or six mules, with a couple of civil guards, one on +each side, together with one of the clerks from the office, a man to +drive, and another—a sort of stableman—who went to help them out of their +difficulty in case the mules gave any trouble up the hilly country. I +was at the office at six o’clock, and I was always in a state of anxiety +until I knew that the money had arrived safely at the end of the journey. +More than once the conveyance broke down in the mountains. On one +occasion the axle of our carriage broke in half from the weight of the +money, and I had to send off two omnibuses to relieve them. I had the +load divided, and sent one to one section of the line and one to the +other. + +“‘Q.—Was any attempt made to rob the carriage? + +“‘A.—Never; we always sent a clerk armed with a revolver as the principal +guard. We heard once of a conspiracy to rob us; but, to avoid that, we +went by another road. We were told that some men had been seen loitering +about the mountain the night before.’” + + + + +A CARLIST CHIEF AS A SUB-CONTRACTOR. + + +The natural financial difficulties of constructing a railway in Spain +were added to by the strange kind of people Mr. Brassey’s agents were +obliged to employ. One of the sub-contractors was a certain Carlist +chief whom the government dared not arrest on account of his great +influence. Mr. Tapp thus relates the Carlist chief’s mode of settling a +financial dispute:— + +“When he got into difficulties, Mr. Small, the district agent, offered +him the amount which was due to him according to his measured work. He +had over 100 men to pay, and Mr. Small offered him the money that was +coming to him, according to the measurement, but he would not have it, +nor would he let the agent pay the men. He said he would have the money +he demanded; and he brought all his men into the town of Orduna, and the +men regularly bivouacked round Mr. Small’s office. They slept in the +streets and stayed there all night, and would not let Mr. Small come out +of the office till he had paid them the money. He attempted to get on +his horse to go out—his horses were kept in the house (that is the +practice in the houses of Spain); but when he rode out they pulled him +off his horse and pushed him back, and said that he should not go until +he had paid them the money. He passed the night in terror, with loaded +pistols and guns, expecting that he and his family would be massacred +every minute, but he contrived eventually to send his staff-holder to +Bilbao on horseback. The man galloped all the way to Bilbao, a distance +of twenty-five miles, and went to Mr. Bartlett in the middle of the +night, and told him what had happened. Mr. Bartlett immediately sent a +detachment up to the place to disperse the men. This Carlist threatened +that if Mr. Small did not pay the money he would kill every person in the +house. When he was asked, ‘Would you kill a man for that?’ he replied, +‘Yes, like a fly,’ and this coming from a man who, as I was told, had +already killed fourteen men with his own hand, was rather alarming. Mr. +Brassey and his partners suffer a great amount of loss by their contracts +for the Bilbao railway.” + + + + +HOW TO BEAR LOSSES. + + +During the construction of the Bilbao line, shortly before the proposed +opening, it set in to rain in such an exceptional manner that some of the +works were destroyed. The agent telegraphed to Mr. Brassey to come +immediately, as a certain bridge had been washed down. About three hours +afterwards another telegram was sent, stating that a large bank was +washed away; and next morning, another, stating the rain continued, and +more damage had been done. Mr. Brassey, turning to a friend, said, +laughingly: “I think I had better wait until I hear that the rain has +ceased, so that when I do go, I may see what is left of the works, and +estimate all the disasters at once, and so save a second journey.” + +No doubt Mr. Brassey felt these great losses that occasionally came upon +him much as other men do; but he had an excellent way of bearing them, +and, like a great general, never, if possible, gave way to despondency in +the presence of his officers. + + + + +RAILROAD INCIDENT. + + +An Englishwoman who travelled some years ago in America writes:—“I had +found it necessary to study physiognomy since leaving England, and was +horrified by the appearance of my next neighbour. His forehead was low, +his deep-set and restless eyes significant of cunning, and I at once set +him down as a swindler or a pickpocket. My conviction of the truth of my +inference was so strong that I removed my purse—in which, however, acting +by advice, I never carried more than five dollars—from my pocket, leaving +in it only my handkerchief and the checks for my baggage, knowing that I +could not possibly keep awake the whole morning. In spite of my +endeavours to the contrary, I soon sunk into an oblivious state, from +which I awoke to the consciousness that my companion was withdrawing his +hand from my pocket. My first impulse was to make an exclamation; my +second, which I carried into execution, to ascertain my loss, which I +found to be the very alarming one of my baggage checks; my whole property +being thereby placed at this vagabond’s disposal, for I knew perfectly +well that if I claimed my trunks without my checks the acute +baggage-master would have set me down as a bold swindler. The keen-eyed +conductor was not in the car, and, had he been there, the necessity for +habitual suspicion incidental to his position would so far have removed +his original sentiments of generosity as to make him turn a deaf ear to +my request; and there was not one of my fellow-travellers whose +physiognomy would have warranted me in appealing to him. So, +recollecting that my checks were marked Chicago, and seeing that the +thief’s ticket bore the same name, I resolved to wait the chapter of +accidents, or the reappearance of my friends. With a whoop like an +Indian war-whoop the cars ran into a shed—they stopped—the pickpocket got +up—I got up too—the baggage-master came to the door. ‘This gentleman has +the checks for my baggage,’ said I, pointing to the thief. Bewildered, +he took them from his waistcoat pocket, gave them to the baggage-master, +and went hastily away. I had no inclination to cry ‘stop thief!’ and had +barely time to congratulate myself on the fortunate impulse which had led +me to say what I did, when my friends appeared from the next carriage. +They were too highly amused with my recital to sympathize at all with my +feelings of annoyance, and one of them, a gentleman filling a high +situation in the east, laughed heartily, saying, in a thoroughly American +tone, ‘The English ladies must be cute customers if they can outwit +Yankee pickpockets.’” + + + + +NOVEL OBSTRUCTION. + + +On a certain railroad in Louisiana the alligators have the bad habit of +crawling upon the track to sun themselves, and to such an extent have +they pushed this practice that the drivers of the locomotives are +frequently compelled to sound the engine whistle in order to scare the +interlopers away. + + —_Railway News_, 1867. + + + + +BABY LAW. + + +The railways generously permit a baby to be carried without charge; but +not, it seems, without incurring responsibility. It has been lately +decided, in “Austin _v._ the Great Western Railway Company,” 16 L. T. +Rep., N. S., 320, that where a child in arms, not paid for as a +passenger, is injured by an accident caused by negligence, the company is +liable in damages under Lord Campbell’s Act. Three of the judges were +clearly of opinion that the company had, by permitting the mother to take +the child in her arms, contracted to carry safely both mother and child; +and Blackburn, J., went still further, and was of opinion that, +independently of any such contract, express or implied, the law cast upon +the company a duty to use proper and reasonable care in carrying the +child, though unpaid for. It may appear somewhat hard upon railway +companies to incur liabilities through an act of liberality, but they +have chosen to do so. The law is against them, that is clear; but they +have the remedy in their own hands. There was some reason for exempting +a child in arms, for it occupies no place in the carriage, and is but a +trifling addition of weight. But now it is established that the company +is responsible for the consequences of accident to that child, the +company is clearly entitled to make such a charge as will secure them +against the risk. The right course would be to have a tariff, say +one-fifth or one-fourth of the full fare, for a child in arms; and if +strict justice was done, this would be deducted from the fares of the +passengers who have the ill-luck to face and flank the squaller. + + —_Law Times_, 1867. + + + + +RAILROAD TRACKLAYER. + + +The railroad tracklayer is now working along regularly at the rate of a +mile a day. The machine is a car 60 feet long and 10 feet wide. It has +a small engine on board for handling the ties and rails. The ties are +carried on a common freight car behind, and conveyed by an endless chain +over the top of the machinery, laid down in their places on the track, +and, when enough are laid, a rail is put down on each side in proper +position and spiked down. The tracklayer then advances, and keeps on its +work until the load of ties and rails is exhausted, when other car loads +are brought. The machine is driven ahead by a locomotive, and the work +is done so rapidly that 60 men are required to wait on it, but they do +more work than twice as many could do by the old system, and the work is +done quite as well. The chief contractor of the road gives it as his +opinion that when the machine is improved by making a few changes in the +method of handling rails and ties it will be able to put down five or six +miles per day. This will render it possible to lay down track twelve +times as fast as the usual rate by hand, and it will do the work at less +expense. The invention will be of immense importance to the country in +connection with the Pacific railroad, which it was calculated could be +built as fast as the track could be laid, and no faster; but hereafter +the speed will be determined by the grading, which cannot advance more +than five miles a day. Thirty millions of dollars have already been +invested on the Pacific railroad, and if the time of completion is +hastened one year by this tracklayer, as it will be if Central and Union +Companies have money enough to grade each five miles a day, there will be +a saving of three million dollars on interest alone on that one road. + + —_Alla California_, 1868. + + + + +A GROWING LAD. + + +“This your boy, ma’am?” inquired a collector of a country woman, “he’s +too big for a ’alf ticket.” “Oh, is he?” replied the mother. “Well, +perhaps he is now, mister; but he wasn’t when he started. The train is +ever so much behind time—has been so long on the road—and he’s a growing +lad!” + + + + +FORGED TICKETS. + + +Attempts to defraud railway companies by means of forged tickets are +seldom made, and still more seldom successful. In 1870, a man who lived +in a toll-house near Dudley, and who rented a large number of tolls on +the different turnpikes, in almost every part of the country, devised a +plan for travelling cheaply. He set up a complete fount of type, +composing stick, and every requisite for printing tickets, and provided +himself with coloured papers, colours, and paints to paint them, and +plain cards on which to paste them; and he prepared tickets for journeys +of great length, and available to and from different stations on the +London and North-Western, Great Western, and Midland lines. On arriving +one day at the ticket platform at Derby, he presented a ticket from +Masbro’ to Smethwick. The collector, who had been many years in the +service of the company, thought there was something unusual in the +ticket. On examination he found it to be a forgery, and when the train +arrived at the platform gave the passenger into custody. On searching +his house, upwards of a thousand railway tickets were discovered in a +drawer in his bedroom, and the apparatus with which the forgeries were +accomplished was also secured. On the prisoner himself was the sum of +£199 10s., and it appeared that he came to be present at the annual +letting of the tolls on the different roads leading out of Derby. The +punishment he received was sufficiently condign to serve as a warning to +all who might be inclined to emulate such attempts after cheap +locomotion. + + —Williams’s _Midland Railway_. + + + + +A YANKEE COMPENSATION CASE. + + +A horny-handed old farmer entered the offices of one of the railroad +companies, and inquired for the man who settled for hosses which was +killed by locomotives. They referred him to the company’s counsel, whom, +having found, he thus addressed:— + +“Mister, I was driving home one evening last week—” + +“Been drinking?” sententiously questioned the lawyer. + +“I’m centre pole of the local Tent of Rechabites,” said the farmer. + +“That doesn’t answer my question,” replied the man of law; “I saw a man +who was drunk vote for the prohibition ticket last year.” + +“Hadn’t tasted liquor since the big flood of 1846,” said the old man. + +“Go ahead.” + +“I will, ’Squire. And when I came to the crossing of your line—it was +pretty dark, and—zip! along came your train, no bells rung, no whistles +tooted, contrary to the statutes in such cases made and provided, +and—whoop! away went my off-hoss over the telegraph wires. When I had +dug myself out’n a swamp some distance off and pacified the other +critter, I found that thar off-hoss was dead, nothing valuable about him +but his shoes, which mout have brought, say, a penny for old iron. +Well—” + +“Well, you want pay for that ’ere off-hoss?” said the lawyer, with a +scarcely repressed sneer. + +“I should, you see,” replied the farmer, frankly; “and I don’t care about +going to law about it, though possibly I’d get a verdict, for juries out +in our town is mostly made up of farmers, and they help each other as a +matter of principle in these cases of stock killed by railroads.” + +“And this ’ere off-hoss,” said the counsel, mockingly, “was well bred, +wasn’t he? He was rising four years, as he had been several seasons +past. And you had been offered £500 for him the day he was killed, but +wouldn’t take it because you were going to win all the prizes in the next +race with him? Oh, I’ve heard of that off-horse before.” + +“I guess there’s a mistake somewhere,” said the old farmer, with an air +of surprise; “my hoss was got by old man Butt’s roan-pacing hoss, Pride +of Lemont, out’n a wall-eyed no account mare of my own, and, now that +he’s dead, I may say that he was twenty-nine next grass. Trot? Why, +Fred Erby’s hoss that he was fined for furious driving of was old Dexter +alongside of him! Five hundred pounds! Bless your soul, do you think +I’m a fool, or anyone else? It is true I was made an offer for him the +last time I was in town, and, for the man looked kinder simple, and you +know how it is yourself with hoss trading, I asked the cuss mor’n the +animal might have been worth. I asked him forty pounds, but I’d have +taken thirty.” + +“Forty?” gasped the lawyer; “forty?” + +“Yes,” replied the farmer, meekly and apologetically; “it kinder looks a +big sum, I know, for an old hoss; but that ’ere off-hoss could pull a +mighty good load, considering. Then I was kinder shook up, and the pole +of my waggon was busted, and I had to get the harness fixed, and there’s +my loss of time, and all that counts. Say fifty pounds, and it’s about +square.” + +The lawyer whispered softly to himself, “Well, I’ll be hanged!” and +filled out a cheque for fifty pounds. + +“Sir,” said he, covering the old man’s hand, “you are the first honest +man I have met in the course of a legal experience of twenty-three years; +the first farmer whose dead horse was worth less than a thousand pounds, +and could trot better without training. Here, also, is a free pass for +yourself and your male heirs in a direct line for three generations; and +if you have a young boy to spare we will teach him telegraphing, and find +him steady and lucrative employment.” + +The honest old farmer took the cheque, and departed, smiting his brawny +leg with his horny hand in triumph as he did so, with the remark— + +“I knew I’d ketch him on the honest tack! Last hoss I had killed I swore +was a trotter, and all I got was thirty pounds and interest. Honesty is +the best policy.” + + —_Once a Week_. + + + + +ABERGELE ACCIDENT. + + +The Irish mail leaving London at shortly after seven A.M., it was timed +in 1868 to make the distance to Chester, one hundred and sixty-six miles, +in four hours and eighteen minutes; from Chester to Holyhead is +eighty-five miles, for running which the space of one hundred and +twenty-five minutes was allowed. Abergele is a point on the seacoast in +North Wales, nearly midway between these two places. On the 20th of +August, 1868, the Irish mail left Chester as usual. It was made up of +thirteen carriages in all, which were occupied—as the carriages of that +train usually were—by a large number of persons whose names, at least, +were widely known. Among these, on this particular occasion, were the +Duchess of Abercorn, wife of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with +five children. Under the running arrangements of the London and +North-Western line a goods train left Chester half-an-hour before the +mail, and was placed upon the siding at Llanddulas, a station about a +mile-and-a-half beyond Abergele, to allow the mail to pass. From +Abergele to Llanddulas the track ascended by a gradient of some sixty +feet to the mile. On the day of the accident it chanced that certain +wagons between the engine and the rear end of the goods train had to be +taken out to be left at Llanddulas, and, in doing this, it became +necessary to separate the train and to leave five or six of the last +wagons in it standing on the main line, while those which were to be left +were backed on to a siding. The employé whose duty it was to have done +so, neglected to set the brake on the wagons thus left standing, and +consequently when the engine and the rest of the train returned for them, +the moment they were touched, and before a coupling could be effected, +the jar set them in motion down the incline toward Abergele. They +started so slowly that a brakeman of the train ran after them, fully +expecting to catch and stop them, but as they went down the grade they +soon outstripped him, and it became clear that there was nothing to check +them until they should meet the Irish mail, then almost due. It also +chanced that the wagons thus loosened were oil wagons. + +The mail train was coming up the line at a speed of about thirty miles an +hour, when its engine-driver suddenly perceived the loose wagons coming +down upon it around the curve, and then but a few yards off. Seeing that +they were oil wagons, he almost instinctively sprang from his engine, and +was thrown down by the impetus and rolled to the side of the road-bed. +Picking himself up, bruised but not seriously hurt, he saw that the +collision had already taken place, that the tender had ridden directly +over the engine, that the colliding wagons were demolished, and that the +front carriages of the train were already on fire. Running quickly to +the rear of the train, he succeeded in uncoupling six carriages and a +van, which were drawn away from the rest before the flames extended to +them by an engine which most fortunately was following the train. All +the other carriages were utterly destroyed, and every person in them +perished. + +The Abergele was probably a solitary instance, in the record of railway +accidents, in which but one single survivor sustained any injury. There +was no maiming. It was death or entire escape. The collision was not a +particularly severe one, and the engine driver of the mail train +especially stated that at the moment it occurred the loose wagons were +still moving so slowly that he would not have sprung from his engine had +he not seen that they were loaded with oil. The very instant the +collision took place, however, the fluid seemed to ignite and to flash +along the train like lightning, so that it was impossible to approach a +carriage when once it caught fire. The fact was that the oil in vast +quantities was spilled upon the track and ignited by the fire of the +locomotive, and then the impetus of the mail train forced all of its +leading carriages into the dense mass of smoke and flame. All those who +were present concurred in positively stating that not a cry, nor a moan, +nor a sound of any description was heard from the burning carriages, nor +did any one in them apparently make an effort to escape. + +Though the collision took place before one o’clock, in spite of the +efforts of a large gang of men who were kept throwing water on the line, +the perfect sea of flame which covered the line for a distance of some +forty or fifty yards could not be extinguished until nearly eight o’clock +in the evening, for the petroleum had flowed down into the ballasting of +the road, and the rails were red-hot. It was, therefore, small occasion +for surprise that when the fire was at last gotten under, the remains of +those who lost their lives were in some cases wholly undistinguishable, +and in others almost so. Among the thirty-three victims of the disaster, +the body of no single one retained any traces of individuality; the faces +of all were wholly destroyed, and in no case were there found feet or +legs or anything approaching to a perfect head. Ten corpses were finally +identified as those of males, and thirteen as those of females, while the +sex of ten others could not be determined. The body of one passenger, +Lord Farnham, was identified by the crest on his watch, and, indeed, no +better evidence of the wealth and social position of the victims of this +accident could have been asked for than the collection of articles found +on its site. It included diamonds of great size and singular brilliancy; +rubies, opals, emeralds; gold tops of smelling bottles, twenty-four +watches—of which but two or three were not gold—chains, clasps of bags, +and very many bundles of keys. Of these, the diamonds alone had +successfully resisted the intense heat of the flame; the settings were +nearly all destroyed. + + + + +RAILWAY DESTROYERS IN THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. + + +One obvious means of hampering the military operations of the Germans was +the cutting of railroads, so as to interrupt and overthrow on-coming +trains. This method was resorted to by bands of volunteers, calling +themselves “The Wild Boars of Ardennes,” and “Railway Destroyers.” Here +again the invaders incurred great odium by announcing that, on the +departure of a train in the disaffected districts, the mayor and +principal inhabitants should be made to take their places on the engine, +so that if the peasants chose to upset the conveyance, their surest +victims would be their own compatriots. + + —_Annual Register_, 1870. + + + + +FRIGHTENED AT A RED LIGHT. + + +A driver, not on duty, had been drinking, and was, in company with his +fireman, walking in the vicinity of the Edgware Road, when he suddenly +started violently, and seizing his mate’s arm, shouted— + +“Hold hard, mate—hold hard!” + +“What’s the matter?” cried the fireman. + +“Matter!” roared the driver, “why, you’re a-running by the red light;” +and he pointed to the crimson glare which streamed through a glass bottle +in a chemist’s window. + +“Come along; that’s nothing,” said the fireman, trying to drag him on. + +“What, run by the red light, and go afore Dannel in the morning?” +retorted the driver, and no persuasion could or did get him to pass the +shop. He was a Great Western man, and the “Dannel” whom he held in such +wholesome awe was the celebrated engineer, now Sir Daniel Gooch, and +chairman of that line. He was then the locomotive chief, and renowned +above all other things for maintaining discipline among his staff, while +they cherished a feeling for him very much akin to what we hear of the +clannish enthusiasm of the ancient Scotch. + + + + +THE DECOY TRUNK. + + +August 27, 1875. The Metropolitan magistrates have had before them a +case which seems likely to show how some, at least, of the robberies at +railway stations are accomplished. Some ingenious persons, it appears, +have devised a way by which a trunk can be made to steal a trunk, and a +portmanteau to annex a portmanteau. The thieves lay a trunk artfully +contrived on a smaller trunk; the latter clings to the former, and the +owner of the larger carries both away. The decoy trunk is said to be +fitted with a false bottom, which goes up when it is laid on a smaller +trunk, and with mechanism inside which does for the innocent trunk what +Polonius recommended Laertes to do for his friend, and grapples it to its +heart with hooks of steel. In fact, the decoy duck—we do not know how +better to describe it—is made to perform an office like that of certain +flowers, which suddenly close at the pressure of a fly or other insect +within their cup and imprison him there. + + —_Annual Register_, 1875. + + + + +DRIVING A LAST SPIKE. + + +There are now two lines crossing the American continent. The western +section of the new route goes through on the thirty-parallel—far enough +south from the Rocky Mountains for the current of the train’s own motion +to be acceptable even in December, and to be a grateful relief in June. +Beginning at San Francisco, the additional line runs south through +California to Fort Yuma on the Colorado river; thence along the southern +border of the territories of Arizona and New Mexico, and across the +centre of Kansas, until it joins the lines connecting the Southern States +with New York. The undertaking is a vast one, and has been one of some +difficulty; but its completion has been the occasion of very little +display. Never was a great project of any kind brought to a successful +result with so much of active work and so little of actual talk. A cable +message a line in length told the story a month ago to European readers, +and none of the American papers appear to have dealt with the matter as +anything out of the ordinary run of daily events. + +Far otherwise was it with the finishing touch twelve years ago to the +other Transcontinental line. The whole world heard of what was then +done. All the bells in all the great cities of the United States rang +out jubilant peals as the last stroke sent home the last spike on the +last rail of the new highway of travel. The news was flashed by +telegraph everywhere throughout the Union, and that there might be no +delay in its transmission and no hindrance to its simultaneous reception, +a certain pre-arranged signal was given and all the wires were for the +time being kept free of other business. There were cases in which, to +save time in ringing out the glad news, the message was conveyed on +special wires right up to the bell towers; and everywhere there was a +feeling that a great victory had been won. Preceding the consummation, +there had been some wonderful feats in railroad construction. From the +Missouri river on the one side and from the Sacramento on the other, the +two companies—the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific—advanced against +each other in friendly rivalry. The popular idea was that the length of +the line of each company would be measured to the point at which it +joined rails with the other. This was hardly the case; but an +arrangement was come to after the completion of the work which has given +this notion the strength of a tradition. The greater part of the Union +Pacific route was over comparatively even ground, and it was not until +the Salt Lake region was being approached that any serious constructive +difficulties presented themselves. It was otherwise with the company +advancing eastward. The line had to be carried over the Sierra Nevada, +the ascent beginning almost from the starting point, and rising seven +thousand feet in a hundred miles. On the other side of the mountain +range, the descent was in turn formidable. Over this part of the road it +was impossible to proceed rapidly. The work was surrounded with +difficulties, and there were competent engineers who had no confidence +that it could be carried out. Progress could only be made at the outset +at the rate of about twenty miles each year; but in this slow work there +was time to profit by experience, so that eventually, when it became a +question simply of many hands, the platelayer went forward with the swing +of an army on the march. Then it was that the two companies went +vigorously into the race of construction. In one day, in 1868, the Union +men were able to inform the Central men by telegraph that they had laid +as many as six miles since morning. A few days afterwards the response +came from the Central men that they had just finished as their day’s work +a stretch of seven miles. Spurred to fresh activity by this display, the +Union men next reported to the other side a complete stretch for a day’s +work of seven and a half miles! The answer came back in the +extraordinary announcement that the workers for the Central Company were +prepared to lay ten miles in one day! The Union people were inclined to +regard this as mere boasting, and the Vice-President of the company +implied as much when he made an offer to bet ten thousand dollars that in +one day such a stretch of railroad could not be well and truly laid. It +is not on record that the bet was taken up. But the fact remains that it +was made, that the Central army of workers heard of it, and that they +determined to make good the pledge given in their name. So a day was +fixed for the attempt. From the Union side men came to take note of the +work and to measure it, and their verdict at the close of the day’s toil +was that not only had the promised ten miles been constructed, but that +the measurement showed two hundred feet over! And this, on the words of +an authority, is how it was done:—When the car loaded with rails came to +the end of the track, the two outer rails on either side were seized with +iron nippers, hauled forward off the car, and laid on the ties by four +men who attended exclusively to this work. Over these rails the cars +were pushed forward and the process repeated. Then came a gang of men +who half-drove the spikes and screwed on the fish-plates on the dropped +rails. At a short interval behind these came a gang of Chinamen, who +drove home the spikes already inserted and added the rest. A second +squad of Chinamen followed, two deep, on each side of the single track, +the inner men carrying shovels and the outer men wielding picks, their +duty being to ballast the track. Every movement was thus carefully +arranged, and there was no loss of time. The average rate of speed at +which the work was done was 1 min. 47½ secs. to every 240 feet of +perfected track. There was, of course, an army of disciplined helpers, +whose duty it was to bring up the materials. In this great feat of +construction more than four thousand men found employment in various +capacities. When they had carried their line four miles further east, +the Central and the Union men met each other, the point of connection +being known as Promontory. Afterwards the two companies made an +arrangement whereby the Union Pacific relinquished fifty-three miles of +road to the Central, thus fixing on Ogden as the western terminus of the +one line and the eastern terminus of the other. The popular belief is +that the fifty-three miles were obtained by the Central Pacific directors +as an acknowledgement of the greater engineering difficulties they had to +overcome in laying their part of the track, and that they served a +handicapping purpose at the end of this wonderful railroad competition. + +The placing of the final tie on the Pacific lines, as has been hinted, +was a ceremonious undertaking. The event took place on Monday, March +10th, 1869. Representatives were present from almost every part of the +Union, and the construction parties, not yet wholly dispersed, made up a +greater crowd than had been seen at Promontory before or is likely ever +to be seen there again—for, with the fixing of the termini at another +point, the glory of the place has departed. The connecting tie had been +made of California laurel. It was beautifully polished, and bore a +series of inscribed silver plates. The tie was carefully placed, and +over it the rails were laid by picked men on behalf of each company. The +spikes were then inserted—one of gold, silver, and iron, from Arizona; +another of silver, from Nevada; and a third of gold, from California. +President Stanford, of the Central Pacific, armed with a hammer of solid +silver, drove the last spike, the blow falling precisely at noon, and the +news of the completion of the road being flashed abroad as it fell. Then +the two locomotives, one from the west and the other from the east, drew +up to each other on the single line, coming into gentle collision, that +they in their way, in the pleasing conceit of their drivers, might +symbolise the fraternisation that went on. It does not spoil the story +of the ceremony to state that the laurel tie, with its inscriptions and +its magnificent mountings, was only formally laid, and that it became +from that day a relic to be officially cherished; and it should be added +that the more serviceable tie which replaced it was cut into fragments by +men eager to have some memento of the occasion. Other ties for a time +shared the same fate, until splinters of what was claimed to be “the last +tie laid” became as common as pieces of the Wellington boots the great +commander is said to have left behind him at Waterloo. + +With the junction of the two lines, it became possible to make safely in +one week an overland journey that not many years before required months +in its execution, and was attended by many hardships and dangers. It +was, however, a route better known even in the days when the legend of +the pilgrims over it was “Pike’s Peak or bust!” than is the region +crossed by the new southern line. This line opens up what is practically +an undiscovered and an unsettled country, but the region traversed has +been ascertained to be so rich in resources as to fully justify the heavy +expenditure involved in the construction of the line. In another year +the line will become a powerful agent in the development of the Union, +for it will then be connected with the lines that run through Texas into +Louisiana, and New Orleans and San Francisco will be brought into direct +communication with each other. This, in fact, has been a prominent +object in the undertaking. The effect of it will be to cheapen the +tariff on goods from the Pacific Coast to Europe, and will, it is +believed, have the effect of controlling a large share of the Asiatic +trade. + + —_Leeds Mercury_, April 23rd, 1881. + + + + +MARRIAGE AND RAILWAY DIVIDENDS. + + +Marriage would not seem to have any close connection with railroad +traffic, but we find an officer of an East Indian railroad company +explaining a falling off in the passenger receipts of the year (1874) by +the fact that it was a “twelfth year,” which is regarded by the Hindoos +as so unfavourable to marriage that no one, or scarcely any one, is +married. And, as weddings are the great occasions in Hindoo life when +there is great pomp and a general gathering together of friends, they +cause a great deal of travelling. + + + + +SECURITY FOR TRAVELLING. + + +A civil engineer, of long experience in connection with railways, gives +some reassuring statements as to the precautions taken in keeping the +lines in order. The majority of accidents occur, not from defects in the +line, but from imperfections in the living agents who have charge of the +signals and other arrangements of trains in transit. The engineer +says:—“To begin at the bottom, we have the ganger of the ‘beat,’ a man +selected from the waymen after several years’ service for his aptitude +and steadiness, whose duty it is to patrol his length of two or three +miles every morning, and to make good fastenings, etc., afterwards +superintending his gang in packing, replacing rails, sleepers, and other +necessary repairs. Over the ganger is the inspector of permanent way, +responsible for the gangers doing their duty, who generally goes over all +his district once a day on the engine, and walks one or more gangers’ +beats. The inspectors, again, are under the district superintendent or +engineer, who makes frequent inspections both by walking and on the +engine. The ganger, if in want of men or materials, reports to his +inspector, who, if they are required, sends a requisition to the +engineer, keeping a small stock at his head-quarters to supply urgent +demands. The engineer in his turn keeps the whole in harmony, +sanctioning the employment of the necessary men, and ordering the +materials, the only check upon the number of men or quantity of materials +being the total half-yearly expenditure. Directors never within my +experience grudge an outlay necessary to keep the line in good order; +but, should they limit the expenditure from financial motives, it would +then clearly be the duty of the engineer to recommend a reduction of +speed to a safe point. Occasionally, idle gangers are met with, who are +always asking for more men, and as naturally meeting with refusal. + + + + +THE NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY. + + +Lord Lymington, M.P., relates the following amusing tale of his +experience with an inquiring and hospitable gentleman in Arkansas:—“He +introduced himself to me very kindly on learning that I was a traveller +and an Englishman, and offered me the hospitalities of the town. It was +very obliging of him, but unfortunately I could not stay, so we had a +chat while I was waiting for the train. During this chat his eye fell on +a portmanteau of mine which I had caused to be marked, for convenience +sake and easy identification, with the cabalistic figures 120. This he +scanned for some time with ill-concealed curiosity, and finally, turning +to me, said rather abruptly, ‘If I am not mistaken, you are a nobleman, +are you not?’ I admitted that such was my unhappy lot. ‘Then,’ he said, +‘I presume that number there on your valise is what they call in the +nobility armorial bearings, is it not—in fact, your crest?’ ‘Hardly +that,’ I modestly replied. ‘A number is only borne as a crest, I +believe, by much more illustrious persons—for example, the Beast in the +Apocalypse.’ ‘Oh!’ he replied, and then, after meditating a moment or +two, asked, ‘Have your family been long in England?’ ‘Yes,’ I said, +‘they have been there for some time. But why do you ask?’ ‘Perhaps the +number refers,’ he replied, ‘to the number of generations, just as they +recite them in the Old Testament, you know?’ ‘Yes,’ I unhesitatingly and +with prompt mendacity replied, ‘that is exactly it, and I don’t see how +you hit it so cleverly.’ He smiled all over with delight as the train +rushed up, and waved kind farewells to me as long as we were in sight.” + + + + +ENGINE DRIVING. + + +But the regulator once in his hand, the engine-driver has only begun his +experience. He goes through an apprenticeship with different varieties +of engines. He must pick up what knowledge he can himself, and he must +always be on the alert to benefit from the experience of others. The +locomotive in its varying “moods” must be his constant study, and he must +work it so that he shall not infringe more than an average share of a +multiplicity of rules and regulations. The best position in the service, +apart from that of superintendence, is in the driving of an express +engine, and the greatest honour that can be conferred on an engine-driver +is to select him to take charge of the locomotive on a Royal train. Only +the best men are picked out to drive the Queen, and the best engine on +the road is detailed for the Royal service; and although on those +occasions railway officials, who are the superiors of the driver, get on +the foot-boards, the latter is for the time being master of the +situation. Should the locomotive superintendent dictate to him, it would +be to confess that the driver was unworthy of his high trust, and so the +superintendent is content to look on; but it is the contentment born of +the conviction that he has chosen for the task a driver whose experience +is great, and whose watchfulness and care and knowledge of enginery have +given him a claim to the chief service his company has for him. Not that +there is any more risk in running the Queen’s train than in running an +ordinary passenger express. In fact, the risk is reduced to a minimum. +A pilot engine has gone before to keep the way clear. The pilot engine +is fifteen minutes in advance of the Royal carriages at every station, +and the space travelled over in that fifteen minutes is kept free and +unobstructed. The speed of the train is carefully regulated, and amongst +other provisions for security the siding points are for the moment +spiked. Every crossing gate is guarded from the time of the passage of +the advance engine until the train follows in its wake. Everything is +done to make the Royal journey over a railroad a safe one. Such +arrangements, however, if they add to the responsibility, heighten also +the pride a man feels in being the Queen’s driver. + +So far as the companies are concerned, it may be said that there is a +fair field and no favour all the way from the fire-box in the +cleaning-shed up to the footboard on the locomotive that takes Her +Majesty from Windsor to Ballater. Promotion comes practically as a +result of competitive examination. The mistake of a weak appointment is +soon rectified, and the precautions taken to test a man’s capacity in one +grade before raising him to another are an absolute barrier to +incompetence. But there are circumstances under which a man’s chances +are weakened. His responsibilities make him liable for the faults of +others, and mistakes of this kind go to his discredit. Then if he is not +companionable, or is over-confident, tricks may be played which will +prevent his going forward as rapidly as he otherwise would. Mr. Reynolds +tells the story of a driver who had come to a dead stop on a journey +because he was short of steam. The cause was a mystery. There appeared +to be nothing wrong with the engine or the fire, and apparently the +boiler was also in trim. It was eventually found that some one had put +soft soap in the tender, and the water there being hot, the soap was +gradually dissolved and introduced into the boiler, with the result that +the grease covered the tubes, and together with the suds prevented the +transmission of heat to the water. An enemy had done this, but under the +rules the driver was responsible for his engine, and he was suspended; +only, however, to be reinstated when once the mischief was traced to the +perpetrator. Even an act which to the ordinary spectator is a marvellous +example of presence of mind may, interpreted by the company’s rules, be +an offence on the part of the engine-driver. An engine attached to a +train broke from the tender in the course of its journey, and became +separated. Noticing the mishap, the driver slackened speed, allowed the +tender and carriages to come up, and while the train was still in motion +he and the fireman adroitly secured the runaway, and no harm was done. +The men interested did not think it advisable to report the occurrence. +But the clever management of the engine had been noticed by a peasant in +a field, and Hodge, in his wonderment, began to talk about the affair all +round the country-side. Then the story found its way to a station +master, and thence to headquarters, and an inquiry brought the matter to +light, and ended in the two men being advised not to do the same thing +again. It was held that under the circumstances the train should have +been stopped. + + + + +ENGINE DRIVERS’ PRESENCE OF MIND. + + +An able writer upon railway topics remarks:—“I have alluded to a driver’s +coolness and resolution in an accident, but no chronicle ever has or ever +will be written which will tell one tithe of the accidents which the +courage and presence of mind of these men have averted. A railway ran +over a river—indeed, it might be called an arm of the sea: as it was the +inlet to an important harbour, provision was obliged to be made for the +shipping, and so the piece of line which crossed the water, at a height +of seventy feet, was, in fact, a bridge which swung round when large +vessels had to pass. I need hardly say that such a point was carefully +guarded. At each end, at a fitting distance, a man was placed specially +to indicate whether the bridge was open or shut. One day, as the express +was tearing along on its up journey, the driver received the usual ‘all +right’ signal; but to his horror, on coming in full sight of the bridge, +he found it was wide open, and a gulf of fatal depth yawning before him. +He sounded his brake-whistle, that deep-toned scream which signals the +guard, and he and his fireman held on, as before described, to the brake +and regulator. The speed of the train was, of course, checked; but so +short was the interval, so great had been the impetus, that it seemed +almost impossible to prevent the whole train from going over into the +chasm. Had the rails been in the least degree slippery, any of the +brakes out of order, or the driver less determined, there would then have +occurred the most fearful railway accident ever known in England; but by +dint of quick decision and cool courage the danger was averted; the train +was brought to a standstill when the buffers of the engine absolutely and +literally overhung the chasm. Three yards more, and a different result +might have had to be chronicled. + +“Some of my readers may remember an incident in railway history which +dates back to our first great Exhibition. I mention it here for its +singularity, and for my having known the driver whose coolness was so +marked. In ascending a very long gradient, the hindmost carriages of the +train snapped their couplings when at the top; the engine rattled on with +the remainder, while these ran down the slope, which was several miles in +length, with a velocity which, of course, increased every moment. To +make matters worse, the next train on the same line was comparatively +close behind, and, in fact, shortly came in sight. The driver of this +second train, a watchful and experienced hand, saw the carriages rushing +towards him, and divined that they were on the same line. If he +continued steaming on, of course, in a couple of minutes he would come +into direct collision with them, while, on the other hand, if he ran +back, the carriages would probably gather such way that they would leap +from the bank. So, with great presence of mind and wonderful judgment of +speed, he ran back at a pace not quite as fast as the carriages were +approaching, so that eventually they overtook him, and struck his moving +engine with a blow that was scarcely more perceptible than the jar +usually communicated by coupling on a fresh carriage. When this was +done, all the rest was easy; he resumed his down journey, and pushed the +frightened passengers safely before him until they reached their +destination, where the officials, as may readily be supposed, were in a +state of frantic despair at the loss of half the train.” + + + + +A SMUGGLING LOCOMOTIVE. + + +A singular adaptation of the locomotive has just been made in Russia. +Information having been given to the authorities at Alexandrovo, on the +Polish frontier, that the locomotive of the express leaving that station +for Warsaw had been ingeniously converted into a receptacle for smuggled +goods, it was carefully examined during its sojourn at the station. +Though nothing was found wrong, it was deemed advisable that a +custom-house official should accompany the train to its destination, when +the engine furnace and boiler were emptied and deliberately taken to +pieces. In the interior was discovered a secret compartment containing +one hundred and twenty-three pounds of foreign cigars and several parcels +of valuable silk. Several arrests were made, including that of the +driver; but his astonishment at finding the engine to which he had been +so long accustomed converted into a hardened offender against the laws +was so genuine that he was released and allowed to return to his duties. + + + + +THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY. + + +An English lady accustomed to travelling abroad, and able to converse +fluently in the languages of the countries she visited, recently found +herself alone in a railway carriage in Germany, when two foreigners +entered with pipes in their mouths, smoking strong tobacco furiously. +She quietly told them in their own language that it was not a smoking +carriage, but they persisted in continuing to smoke, remarking that it +was “the custom of the country,” upon which the lady took from her pocket +a pair of gloves and commenced cleaning them with benzoline. Her +fellow-passengers expressed their disgust at the nauseous effluvium, when +she remarked that it was the custom of her country. She was soon left in +the sole possession of the carriage. + + —_Truth_. + + + + +AN INSULTED WOMAN. + + +Mark Twain in his interesting work “A Tramp Abroad,” thus refers to a +railroad incident:—“We left Turin at 10 the next morning by a railway, +which was profusely decorated with tunnels. We forgot to take a lantern +along, consequently we missed all the scenery. Our compartment was full. +A ponderous, tow-headed, Swiss woman, who put on many fine-lady airs, but +was evidently more used to washing linen than wearing it, sat in a corner +seat and put her legs across into the opposite one, propping them +intermediately with her up-ended valise. In the seat thus pirated sat +two Americans, greatly incommoded by that woman’s majestic coffin-clad +feet. One of them begged her, politely, to remove them. She opened her +wide eyes and gave him a stare, but answered nothing. By-and-by he +preferred his request again, with great respectfulness. She said, in +good English, and in a deeply offended tone, that she had paid her +passage and was not going to be bullied out of her ‘rights’ by ill-bred +foreigners, even if she _was_ alone and unprotected. + +“‘But I have rights also, madam. My ticket entitles me to a seat, but +you are occupying half of it.’ + +“‘I will not talk with you, sir. What right have you to speak to me? I +do not know you. One would know that you come from a land where there +are no gentlemen. No _gentleman_ would treat a lady as you have treated +me.’ + +“‘I come from a land where a lady would hardly give me the same +provocation.’ + +“‘You have insulted me, sir! You have intimated that I am not a lady—and +I hope I am _not_ one, after the pattern of your country.’ + +“‘I beg that you will give yourself no alarm on that head, madam but at +the same time I must insist—always respectfully—that you let me have my +seat.’ + +“Here the fragile laundress burst into tears and sobs. + +“‘I never was so insulted before! Never, never! It is shameful, it is +brutal, it is base, to bully and abuse an unprotected lady who has lost +the use of her limbs and cannot put her feet to the floor without agony!’ + +“‘Good heavens, madam, why didn’t you say that at first! I offer a +thousand pardons. And I offer them most sincerely. I did not know—I +_could_ not know—that anything was the matter. You are most welcome to +the seat, and would have been from the first if I had only known. I am +truly sorry it all happened, I do assure you.’ + +“But he couldn’t get a word of forgiveness out of her. She simply sobbed +and snuffled in a subdued but wholly unappeasable way for two long hours, +meantime crowding the man more than ever with her undertaker-furniture, +and paying no sort of attention to his frequent and humble little efforts +to do something for her comfort. Then the train halted at the Italian +line, and she hopped up and marched out of the car with as firm a leg as +any washerwoman of all her tribe! And how sick I was to see how she had +fooled me!” + + + + +DISSATISFIED PASSENGERS. + + +Any one wanting a fair and yet amusing account of what really occurs to a +person travelling in America should read G. A. Sala’s book called +_America Revisited_. He speaks of a gentleman from the Eastern States +whom he met in the train across the continent, and who thus held forth +upon the difference between reality and guide-books:— + +“There ain’t no bottling up of things about me. This overland journey’s +a fraud, and you oughter know it. Don’t tell me. It’s a fraud. This +Ring must be busted up. Where are your buffalers? Perhaps you’ll tell +me that them cows is buffalers. They ain’t. Where are your prairie +dogs? They ain’t dogs to begin with, they’re squirrels. Ain’t you +ashamed to call the mean little cusses dogs? But where are they? There +ain’t none. Where are your grizzlies? You might have imported a few +grizzlies to keep up the name of your railroad. Where are your herds of +antelopes scudding before the advancing train? Nary an antelope have you +got for to scud. Rocky Mountains, sir? They ain’t rocky at all—they’re +as flat as my hand. Where are your savage gorges? I can’t see none. +Where are your wild injuns? Do you call them loafing tramps in dirty +blankets, injuns? My belief is that they are greasers looking out for an +engagement as song and dance men. They’re ‘beats,’ sir, ‘dead beats,’ +they’re ‘pudcocks,’ and you oughter be told so.” + +Another passenger in the train with Mr. Sala was of a poetic mind, and he +softly sang to himself during the whole journey over the Rocky Mountains +the following effusion:— + + Beautiful snow, + Beautiful snow, + B-e-e-e-eautiful snow, + How I’d like to have a revolver and go + For the beast that wrote about beautiful snow. + + + + +COPY OF A NOTICE. + + +The following is a verbatim copy of a notice exhibited at Welsh railway +station. It is, perhaps, only a little more incomprehensible than +Bradshaw. “List of Booking: You passengers must careful. For have them +level money for ticket and to apply at once for asking tickets when will +booking window open. No tickets to have after the departure of the +trains.” + + + + +SNOWED UP ON THE PACIFIC RAILWAY. + + +A writer in the _Leisure Hour_ remarks:—“It is no joke when a town like +New York or London is blocked up for a few hours by snow. Both labour +and capital have then to submit to a strike from nature; but it is a more +serious matter when a man is snowed up in the middle of the Pacific +Railway. He is not then kept at home, but kept away from it; he is not +in the midst of comforts, but most unpleasantly out of their reach. He +may, too, have to endure his privations and annoyances for a week, or +even a month. . . Avalanches, in spite of snow-sheds and galleries, +spring into ravines which the trains have to cross. . . . It was, +however, with some little alarm that the writer found himself caverned +for a considerable time under one of these dark snow-sheds. The +difficulty of running through the snow impediments had so exhausted the +fuel that it was necessary to go to a wood-station in the mountains. As +it was the favourite resort of avalanches, the prudent conductor of our +train directed the pilot to back the carriages into a snow-shed, and then +be off the more quickly with engine and tender for a supply of fuel. It +was bitterly cold and in the dead of night. The snow was piled up around +the gallery, and had in many places penetrated through the crevices. The +silence was profound. The sense of utter loneliness and desolation was +complete. The return of the engine after a lengthened absence was a +relief, like the spring sun following an arctic winter. + +“The first parties snowed up were wholly unprepared. They had had their +dollar meal at the last station, and were far enough from the next when +fixed in the bank. It was, however, a rare harvest for the nearest +store. The necessity of some was the opportunity of others. Food of +inferior quality brought fabulous prices. A dispute, involving a heavy +wager, arose about one article of fare. Was it antelope or not? The +vendor admitted that a very lean old cow had been sacrificed on the +pressing occasion. + +“For a little while some fun was got out of the trouble of snowed-up +trains. Delicate attentions were tendered by gentlemen as cooks’ mates +to the ladies. Oyster-cans were converted into culinary utensils, and +telegraph wire proved excellent material for gridirons. Many a joke was +passed in the train kitchen, and hearty was the appetite for the rude +viands thus rudely dressed. But when the food grew more difficult to +obtain, and the wood supply became less and less, the mirth was +considerably slackened. It is true that despatches were sent off for +help, and cargoes of provisions were steamed up as near as the snow would +permit; but it was hard work to carry over the snow, and insufficient was +the supply. Frightful growlings arose from the men and sad lamentations +from the women. Short allowance of food, with intense cold, could not be +positively enjoyed any time; but to be cooped up within snow walls in +such a desolate region, far from expecting friends or urgent business, +was most annoying. One spoke of absolute necessity to be at his office +within the week, as heavy bills had to be prepared for. Another was +going about an important speculation, which would utterly break down if +he were detained three days. Alas! he was there above three weeks. + +“The sorrows of the heart were worse. A mother was there hastening to +nurse a sick daughter. A father had been summoned to the dying bed of +his son. A husband was hoping to clasp again a wife from whom a long +voyage had separated him. One poor fellow was an especial object of +sympathy. He was hastening to an anxiously waiting bride. He had to +cool the ardour of his passion in the snow-bound car, and pass the day +appointed for his wedding in shivering reflections. In one of the snow +depths was detained an interesting couple who had casually met on the +western side and were obeying the mandate of the heart and of friends in +proceeding to the east to effect their happy union. The three weeks they +were compelled to pass together, under these cold and trying +circumstances, must have given them a famous insight into each other’s +character, and this before the knot was tied. + +“The story is told of one resolute man who, though but newly married, had +been compelled to take a business journey. He was most impatient to +return home, and was awhile confounded with his unfortunate imprisonment. +When he found that little chance existed for an early escape, his heart +prompted him to a bold enterprise. He was still two hundred miles from +home. He had no guide before him but the telegraph posts. He could +expect little provision on the way, as the stations were frozen up; but, +sustained by conjugal affection, the good fellow set off on his lonely +walk over the snow. Notwithstanding terrible sufferings, and some free +fighting with wolves, he did his march in five days only. What a +greeting he deserved! + +“Those who had not his courage and strength were compelled to endure the +cars. Americans are not folks to whine about a trouble; they succeed so +often that their faith is strong. Though the most luxurious of people, +the men—and the women too—can bear reverses nobly. But they never dream +of Oriental submissiveness. They struggle hard to rise, and make the +best of things till a change comes. So with those in the cars. They +soon found amusements; they chatted and laughed, played games and sang; +the best jokes were recollected and repeated, and the liveliest tales +were told; charades were acted; a judge and jury scene afforded much +amusement; lectures were given to approving assemblies. The Sundays were +decently observed, and services were held morning and evening; reading +was dispensed with, and the sermons were extempore perforce. + +“The worst part of their sufferings came when for forty-eight hours they +were under a snow-shed without light, and with the stoves empty. As, for +the maintenance of warmth, every crevice in the cars was stopped, the +misery of close and unwholesome atmosphere was added to their sorrows. +The writer, as an old traveller, has had some experience of odd sleeping +dens, and has been obliged at times to inhale a pestiferous air, though +he has never endured so much from this discomfort as in his winter +passage on the Pacific Railway. For hours in the long nights, as well as +in the day, he preferred standing outside on the platform, with the +thermometer from fifteen to twenty-five below zero, rather than encounter +the foul atmosphere and stifling heat within. + +“Meanwhile the brave Chinamen were summoned to the rescue. They are +capital fellows to withstand the cold, and work with a will to clear a +passage. For a distance of two hundred miles the blockade existed, and +several trains were thus caught on the way. Eight hundred freight wagons +were detained at Cheyenne. At one period the cold was 30° below zero. +The worst part of the road was toward Sherman, 8,252 feet above the sea. +Wyoming and West Nebraska were the coldest regions. + +“In this great blockade, strange to say, the mortality was but small. +Three died during the imprisonment, and two in consequence of cold. But +an interesting compensation was made, for five births took place in this +season of trial. The principal sufferers were those in the second-class +carriages. Room, however, was made for the more delicate in the already +crowded first-class cars.” + + + + +A SELL. + + +The _Indianapolis News_ is responsible for the following story. A +railroad official of Indianapolis had, among other passes, one purporting +to carry him freely over the Warren and Tonawanda Narrow-Gauge Railway. +Happening to be near Warren, he thought he would use this pass. Now, it +appears that some enterprising citizens of Pennsylvania once proposed to +lay a pipe-line for petroleum between Warren and Tonawanda. The +Legislature having refused to sanction their scheme, they “engineered” a +bill for building a narrow-gauge line, which passed, the oil capitalists +not conceiving that they had any interest in opposing it. It is needless +to say the narrow-gauge line was the “desiderated pipe-line.” The +enterprising citizens carried their joke so far as to issue annual passes +over the road, receiving others in return. When the traveller sought for +the Warren station on this line he found a chimney, and for the +narrow-gauge an iron-lined hole in the ground. It is hardly surprising +that now he is moved to anger at the slightest reference to the “Warren +and Tonawanda Narrow Gauge.” + + + + +AT FAULT. + + +It is rather a serious matter that our public companies, and especially +our railway companies, are doing their best to degrade our language. I +am not going to be squeamish and object strongly to the use of the word +_Metropolitan_, though I think it indefensible. Still, it is too bad of +them to persist in using the word _bye-laws_ for _by-laws_—so +establishing solidly a shocking error. The word _bye_ has no existence +in England except as short for _be with you_, in the phrase _Good-bye_. +The so called by-laws are simple laws by the other laws, and have nothing +to do with any form of salutation. In a bill of the Great Western +Railway I find the announcement that tickets obtained in London on any +day from December 20th to 24th will be available for use on _either_ of +those days—this _either_ meaning the five days from the 20th December to +the 24th inclusive. Either of five! After this I am not surprised that, +in a contribution of my own to a daily paper, the editor gravely altered +the phrase _the last-named_, applied to one of three people, to _latter_. +In a railway advertisement I read a day or two ago, “From whence.” Now, +what is the good of such fine words as _whence_ and _thence_ if they are +thus to be ill-used? Surely the railway companies might have some one +capable of seeing that their grammar has some pretence to correctness. + + —_Gentleman’s Magazine_. + + + + +A WIDOW’S CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION. + + +Some time ago a railway collision on one of the roads leading out of New +York killed, among others, a passenger living in an interior town. His +remains were sent home, and a few days after the funeral the attorney of +the road called upon the widow to effect a settlement. She placed her +figures at twenty thousand dollars. “Oh! that sum is unreasonable,” +replied the attorney. “Your husband was nearly fifty years old.” “Yes, +sir.” “And lame?” “Yes.” “And his general health was poor?” “Quite +poor.” “And he probably would not have lived over five years?” +“Probably not, sir.” “Then it seems to me that two or three thousand +dollars would be a fair compensation.” “Two or three thousand!” she +echoed. “Why, sir, I courted that man for ten years, run after him for +ten more, and then had to chase him down with a shotgun to get him before +a preacher! Do you suppose that I’m going to settle for the bare cost of +shoe leather and ammunition?” + + + + +THE LADY AND HER LAP-DOG. + + +The following scene occurred at the high-level Crystal Palace line:—“A +newspaper correspondent was amused at the indignation of a lady against +the porters who interfered to prevent her taking her dog into the +carriage. The lady argued that Parliament had compelled the companies to +find separate carriages for smokers, and they ought to be further +compelled to have a separate carriage for ladies with lap-dogs, and it +was perfectly scandalous that they should be separated, and a valuable +dog, worth perhaps thirty or forty guineas, should be put into a dog +compartment. I have some of the B stock of the railway, upon which not a +penny has ever been paid, and I could not help comparing my experience of +this particular line of railway with that of my fellow-traveller, and +wondering what sort of a train that would be which would provide +accommodation for all the wants and wishes of railway travellers.” + + + + +WHAT IS PASSENGERS’ LUGGAGE? + + +A gentleman removing took with him on the Great Western railway articles +consisting of six pairs of blankets, six pairs of sheets, and six +counterpanes, valued at £16, belonging to his household furniture. They +were in a box, which was put in the luggage van and lost. The question +at law was whether these articles came within the definition, “ordinary +passengers’ luggage,” for which, if lost, the passenger could claim +damages from the Company. + +The judges of the Court of Queen’s Bench sitting in Banco have decided +that such is not personal luggage. + +“Now,” (said the Lord Chief Justice) “although we are far from saying +that a pair of sheets or the like taken by a passenger for his use on a +journey might not fairly be considered as personal luggage, it appears to +us that a quantity of articles of that description intended, not for the +use of the traveller on the journey, but for the use of his household, +when permanently settled, cannot be held to be so.” + + —_Herepath’s Railway Journal_, Jan. 10, 1871. + + + + +CONVERSION OF THE GAUGE. + + +The conversion of the gauge on the South Wales section of the Great +Western railway in 1872 was of the heaviest description, the period of +labour lasting from seventeen to eighteen hours a day for several +successive days. It was the greatest work of its kind, and nothing +exactly like it will ever be done in England again. The lines of rail to +be connected would have made about 400 miles in single length, the number +of men employed was about 1500; and the time taken was two weeks nearly. +Oatmeal and barley water was made into a thin gruel and given to the men +as required. It was the only drink taken during the day. I had not a +single case of drunkenness or illness. I have often heard these men +speak with great approbation of the supporting power of oatmeal drink. + + —_J. W. Armstrong_, _C.E._ + + + + +FOURTH-OF-JULY FACTS. + + +At a banquet in Paris attended by Americans in celebration of the late +Fourth of July, Mr. Walker’s speech in reply to the toast of the material +prosperity of the United States and France, and the establishment of +closer commercial relations between them, was especially striking and +interesting. He remarked, “In 1870 the cost of transporting food and +merchandise between the Western and Eastern States was from a +cent-and-a-half to two cents a ton a mile. I well remember a +conversation which I had in 1870 or 1871 with Mr. William B. Ogden, of +Chicago, one of the modest railway kings of that primitive period. In a +vein of sanguine prophecy, Mr. Ogden exclaimed to me, ‘Mr. Walker, you +will live to see freight brought from Chicago to New York at a cent a ton +a mile!’ ‘Perhaps so,’ I replied; ‘but I fear this result will not be +reached in my time.’ In 1877 or 1878 the cost had fallen to +three-eighths of a cent a ton a mile, and although this price was not +remunerative, I was told by one of the highest authorities in railway +matters that five-eighths of a cent would be perfectly satisfactory. The +effect of this reduction in the cost of transportation is precisely as +though the unexhaustible grain fields and pastures across the Mississippi +had been moved bodily eastward to the longitude of Ohio and Western New +York. It is estimated that it takes a quarter of a ton of bread and meat +to feed a grown man in Massachusetts for a year. The bread and meat come +to him from the far west, and I have no doubt that it will astonish you +to be told, as it lately astonished me, that a single day of this man’s +labour, even if it be of the commonest sort, will pay for transporting +his year’s subsistence for a thousand miles.” + + + + +TAY BRIDGE ACCIDENT. + + +Dec. 28, 1879. A fearful disaster occurred in Scotland. As the train +from Edinburgh to Dundee was crossing the bridge, two miles in length, +which spans the mouth of the Tay, a terrible hurricane struck the bridge, +about four hundred yards of which was, with the train, dashed into the +sea below. About seventy persons were in the train, of whom not one +escaped, nor, when the divers were able to descend, could a single body +be found in the carriages, or among the bridge girders, and some days +elapsed before any were recovered. No conclusive evidence could be +produced to show whether the train was blown off the rails and so dragged +the girders down, or whether the bridge was blown away and the train ran +into the chasm thus made. The night was intensely dark, and the wind +more violent than had ever been known in the country. + + _Annual Register_, 1879. + + + + +AN EXTRAORDINARY WAIF. + + +The following is a translation from the Norwegian newspaper +_Morgenbledet_, dated Feb. 20th:—“By private letter from Utsue, an island +on the western coast of Norway, is communicated to Dapposten the +intelligence that on the 12th inst. some fishermen pulled on the Firth to +haul their nets, and had hardly finished their labour when they sighted +an extraordinary object some distance further out. The superstitious +fears of sea monsters which have been written a good deal about lately +held them back for some time, but their curiosity made them approach the +supposed sea monster, and, to their great surprise, they found that it +was something like a building. As the sea was calm they immediately +commenced to tow it to shore, where it was hauled up on the beach, and +was then found to be a damaged railway wagon. The wheels were off, the +windows smashed, and one door hanging on its hinges. By the name on it, +“Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway,” it was at once surmised that it must +have been one of the wagons separated from the train which met with the +disaster on the Tay Bridge. In the carriage was a portmanteau containing +garments, some of them marked ‘P.B.’ The wagon was sent, on the 14th, to +Hangesund, to be forwarded thence to Bergen.” + + + + +A RAILWAY SLEEPER. + + +A railway pointsman, caught napping at his post and convicted of wilful +negligence, said to the gaoler who was about to lock him up, “I always +supposed that the safety of a railroad depended on the soundness of its +sleepers?” “So it does,” replied the gaoler, “but such sleepers are +never safe unless they are bolted in.” + + + + +NOT TO BE CAUGHT. + + +The following incident is said to have occurred on the North London +Railway:—Some time ago a passenger remarked, in the hearing of one of the +company’s servants, how easy it was to “do” the company, and said, “I +often travel from Broad Street to Dalston Junction without a +ticket—anyone can do it—I did it yesterday.” When he alighted he was +followed by the official, who asked him how it was done. For a +consideration he agreed to tell him. This being given, “Now,” said the +inquirer, “how did you go from Broad Street to Dalston Junction yesterday +without a ticket?” “Oh,” was the reply, “I walked.” + + + + +THE DOCTOR AND THE OFFICERS. + + +The following is rather a good story from the Emerald Isle:—A doctor and +his wife got into a train near—well, we will not say where. In the same +carriage with the doctor were two strange officers. The doctor’s wife +got into another compartment of the same train, the doctor not having +seen his wife in the hurry, neither knew that they were travelling by the +same train until both had got into different carriages. Said one of the +officers to his companion, “That is the ugliest woman I ever saw.” “She +is,” replied the Son of Mars. “I should not like to be obliged to kiss +her,” responded the first speaker. “I should not mind doing it,” +sullenly said the doctor. “You never would, sir, think of such a thing,” +said the officer. “I’ll bet you a sovereign I will,” answered the man of +“pills and potions.” “Done,” said the officer. So when they all got out +at the station, the doctor went forward and kissed his wife, and won his +sovereign—the easiest-earned fee he had ever received. The officers +looked rather astonished when he presented his wife to them. + + + + +THE BOTHERED QUEEN’S COUNSEL. + + +Mr. Merewether, Q.C., got into the train one morning with a whole batch +of briefs and a talkative companion. He wanted to go through his briefs, +but his companion would not let him work. He tried silence, he tried +grunting, he tried sarcasm. At length, when they came to Hanwell, the +gossip hit upon the unfortunate remark, “How well the asylum looks from +the railway!” “Pray, sir,” replied Mr. Merewether, “how does the railway +look from the asylum?” The man was silent. + + + + +A BRAVE ENGINE DRIVER. + + +An American contemporary says:—“John Bull, of Galion (Ohio), ought to +have his name recorded in an enduring way, for few have ever behaved so +nobly as that engine driver of the New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio +railroad. As he was driving a passenger train last month he found that, +through somebody’s blunder, a freight train was approaching on the same +track, and a collision was inevitable. He could have saved his own life +by leaping from the engine, but, dismissing all thoughts of himself, he +resolved to try and save the passengers committed to his care. So he +reversed the engine and set the air-brakes, and then put on full steam, +started the locomotive ahead, broke the coupling attached to the train, +and dashed on to receive the shock of the collision. The passengers +escaped all injury, while the brave engineer was so badly hurt that he +died in a few hours. Such heroism as this should not go unnoticed.” The +_Cincinnati Inquirer_ says: “He remained in the car until the engine +leaped into the air and was dashed into the ditch, when he attempted to +spring to the ground, but had his foot caught between the frames of the +engine and tender, striking his head on the ground and causing the fatal +injuries. Railroad men say that the act of detaching the engine as he +did, not even derailing the baggage car with his engine at the high rate +of speed, and all in 150 feet, is without parallel in railroading. A +purse of 500 dollars was raised by the grateful passengers. The body has +been shipped to Galion for burial.” + + + + +AN INDUSTRIOUS BISHOP. + + +In noticing the “Life of the Rt. Rev. Samuel Wilberforce, D.D., Lord +Bishop of Oxford, and afterwards of Winchester,” a writer in the +_Athenæum_ remarks:—“Busy he was, both in Oxford and in London, and his +correspondence with all kinds of people was unusually large. A large +proportion of his letters were written in the railway train, and dated +from ‘near’ this town, or ‘between’ this and that. We remember to have +heard from one who was his companion in a railway carriage that before +the journey was half-finished the adjoining seat was littered with +envelopes of letters which he had read, and with the answers he had +written since he started. All this undeniably shows energy and +determination, and power to work.” + + + + +COOL IMPUDENCE AND DISHONESTY. + + +Some days since, the trains of the North London Railway were all late, +and consequently every platform was crowded. At one of the stations an +unfortunate passenger attempted to enter an already over-crowded +first-class compartment, but one of the occupants stoutly resisted the +intrusion. Thereupon, the unfortunate one said, “I will soon settle +this,” and called the guard to the carriage door. He then requested the +official to ask two of the occupants to produce their tickets, which +proved to be third-class ones. In spite of the delinquents protesting +there was no room in the train elsewhere, they were ejected, and the +unfortunate one took their place. The other passengers were naturally +rather indignant; and, seeing this, the successful intruder quietly said, +“I am very sorry to have had to turn those two gentlemen out, especially +as I have heard them say they were already late for an important +engagement in the city; and I am all the more sorry, seeing that I only +hold a third-class ticket myself.” + + —_Truth_. + + + + +THE BOOKING-CLERK AND BUCKLAND. + + +Mr. Frank Buckland had been in France and was returning via Southampton, +with an overcoat stuffed with natural history specimens of all sorts, +dead and alive. Among them was a monkey, which was domiciled in a large +inside breast-pocket. As Buckland was taking his ticket, Jocko thrust up +his head and attracted the attention of the booking-clerk, who +immediately—and very properly—said, “You must take a ticket for that dog, +if it’s going with you.” “Dog,” said Buckland, “it’s no dog, it’s a +monkey.” “It is a dog,” replied the clerk. “It’s a monkey,” retorted +Buckland, and proceeded to show the whole animal, but without convincing +the clerk, who insisted on five shillings for the dog-ticket to London. +Nettled at this, Buckland plunged his hand into another pocket and +produced a tortoise, and laying it on the sill of the ticket window said, +“Perhaps you’ll call that a dog too.” The clerk inspected the tortoise. +“No,” said he, “we make no charge for them—they’re insects.” + + + + +REMARKABLE RESCUE OF A CHILD. + + +An engineer on a locomotive going across the western prairie day after +day, saw a little child come out in front of a cabin and wave to him, so +he got in the habit of waving back to the child, and it was the day’s joy +to see this little one come out in front of the cabin door and wave to +him while he answered back. One day the train was belated, and it came +on to the dusk of the evening. As the engineer stood at his post he saw +by the headlight that little girl on the track, wondering why the train +did not come, looking for the train, knowing nothing of her peril. A +great horror seized upon the engineer. He reversed the engine. He gave +it in charge of the other man, and then he climbed over the engine, and +he came down on the cowcatcher. He said though he had reversed the +engine, it seemed as though it were going at lightning speed, faster and +faster, though it was really slowing up, and with almost supernatural +clutch he caught the child by the hair and lifted it up, and when the +train stopped, and the passengers gathered around to see what was the +matter, there the old engineer lay, fainted dead away, the little child +alive and in his swarthy arms. + + + + +FEMALE FRAGILITY. + + +There was a time when American women prided themselves on their +fragility. To be healthy, strong or plump was thought to be the height +of vulgarity, and refinement was held to be inseparable from leanness and +consumption. These views still obtain—so it is said—in Boston, and +especially in Bostonian literary circles; but elsewhere the American +woman is growing plump and healthy, and is actually proud of it. While +wise men are heartily glad of this change in female sentiment and tissue, +it must be admitted that there is one form of feminine fragility which +has its value. There is a rare condition of the bony system in which the +bones are so fragile that the slightest blow is sufficient to break them. +A baby thus afflicted cannot be handled, even by the most experienced +mother, without danger; and a man with fragile bones is so liable to be +broken, that there is sometimes no safety for him outside of a glass +case. The late Mrs. Baker—for that was her latest name—was not so +fragile that she could not be handled by a careful man, but still a very +light blow would usually break her. She did not share the Bostonian +opinion of the vulgarity of strength, but she was, nevertheless, very +proud of her fragility, and by its aid her husband managed to amass a +comfortable fortune within three years after their marriage. She is +perhaps the only fragile woman on record of whom it can be said that her +whole value consisted in her fragility, but, as her story shows, her +fragility was the sole capital invested in her husband’s business. In +January, 1870, Mrs. Baker—then a single woman, as to whose maiden name +there is some uncertainty—was married to Mr. Wheelwright—James G. +Wheelwright, of Worcester, Mass. Her husband married her on account of +her well-known fragility, but he treated her with such kindness that in +the whole course of their married life he never once broke her, even by +accident. In February, 1870, the Wheelwrights removed to Utica, N.Y., +and one day Mr. Wheelwright took his wife to the railway station, and had +her break her leg in a small hole on the platform. He at once sued the +railway company for 10,000 dols., being the value set by himself on his +wife’s leg, and ten days afterwards accepted 5,000 dols. as a compromise, +and withdrew the suit The Wheelwrights left Utica in June, 1870, and in +the following August the dutiful Mrs. Wheelwright, who now called herself +Mrs. Thomas, broke her other leg in a hole in the platform of the railway +station at Pittsburg. Again her husband sued the railway company for +15,000 dols., and compromised for 6,500 dols. The leg was mended +successfully, and in July, 1871, we find the Thomases, now passing under +the name of Mr. and Mrs. Smiley, at Cincinnati, where Mr. Smiley, after +long searching, discovered a piece of ragged and uneven sidewalk, upon +which his wife made a point of falling and breaking her right arm. This +time the city was sued for 15,000 dols., and Mr. Smiley proved that his +wife was a school teacher by profession, and that the breaking of her arm +rendered it impossible for her to teach, for there as on that she could +not wield a rod or even a slipper. The city paid the 15,000 dols. and +the Smileys, having by honest industry thus made 26,500 dols., removed to +Chicago, and entered their names on the hotel register as Mr. and Mrs. +McGinnis, of Portland, Me. On the second day after their arrival at the +hotel, Mr. McGinnis found an eligible place on the piazza for Mrs. +McGinnis to break another leg, which that excellent woman promptly did. +The usual suit of 15,000 dols. was brought, and the hotel-keeper, fearing +that the notoriety of the suit would injure his hotel, was glad to +compromise by paying 8,000 dols. By this time, it is understood, Mrs. +McGinnis was willing to retire from business, but her husband had set his +heart on making 50,000 dols., and like a good wife she consented to break +some more bones. It should be said that there was very little pain +attending a fracture of any one of the lady’s bones, and that she did not +in the least mind the monotony of lying in bed while the broken bones +knitted themselves together. There can, therefore, be no charge of +cruelty brought against her husband. Indeed, she herself entered with a +hearty goodwill into the scheme of making a living with her bones, and +would go out to break a leg with as much cheerfulness as if she was going +to a theatre. In March, 1872, Mrs. Wilkins—hitherto known as Mr. +McGinnis—walked into an open trench in a street in St. Louis and broke +another leg. This time the suit brought by Mr. Wilkins against the city +did not succeed, and the inquiries which were put on foot as to the +antecedents of the Wilkinses fairly frightened them out of the city. +They turned up a month later in Detroit, where the weather was still +cold, and much snow had recently fallen. There were still 16,000 dollars +to be made before the industrious pair would have the whole of their +desired 50,000 dollars, and it was decided that Mrs. Wilkins—who had +changed her name to Mrs. Baker—should fall on the icy pavement and break +both arms. This, it was estimated, would be worth at least 8,000 dols., +and it was hoped that the subsequent judicious breakage of two legs on +the premises of a Canadian railway would bring in 8,000 dols. more, after +which the Bakers intended to retire from business. Early one morning Mr. +Baker took his wife out and had her fall on a nice piece of ice, where +she broke both arms. Unfortunately, she fell more heavily than was +necessary, and, in addition, broke her neck and instantly expired. The +grief of Mr. Baker naturally knew no bounds, and he sued for 25,000 +dols., all of which he recovered. He had thus made 59,500 dols. by the +aid of his fragile wife, and demonstrated that as a source of steady +income a woman who breaks easily is almost priceless. Still, nothing +could console him for the loss of his beloved partner, and he is to-day a +lonely and unhappy man. + + —_New York Times_. + + + + +TAKING HIM DOWN A PEG. + + +A guard of a railway train, upon the late occasion of a _hitch_, which +detained the passengers for some time, gave himself so much importance in +commanding them, that one old gentleman took the wind out of his sails by +calling him to the carriage door, and saying, “May I take the liberty, +sir, of asking you what occupation you filled previous to being a railway +guard?” + + + + +A REMARKABLE NOTICE. + + +On a certain railway, the following notice appeared:—“Hereafter, when +trains moving in opposite directions are approaching each other on +separate lines, conductors and engineers will be required to bring their +respective trains to a dead halt before the point of meeting, and be very +careful not to proceed till each train has passed the other.” + + + + +FLUTTER CAUSED BY THE MURDER OF MR. BRIGGS. + + +My vocations led me to travel almost daily on one of the Great Eastern +lines—the Woodford Branch. Every one knows that Müller perpetrated his +detestable act on the North London Railway, close by. The English middle +class, of which I am myself a feeble unit, travel on the Woodford branch +in large numbers. Well, the demoralization of our class,—which (the +newspapers are constantly saying it, so I may repeat it without vanity) +has done all the great things which have ever been done in England,—the +demoralization of our class caused, I say, by the Bow tragedy, was +something bewildering. Myself a transcendentalist (as the _Saturday +Review_ knows), I escaped the infection; and day after day I used to ply +my agitated fellow-travellers with all the consolations which my +transcendentalism and my turn for French would naturally suggest to me. +I reminded them how Julius Cæsar refused to take precautions against +assassination, because life was not worth having at the price of an +ignoble solicitude for it. I reminded them what insignificant atoms we +all are in the life of the world. Suppose the worse to happen, I said, +addressing a portly jeweller from Cheapside,—suppose even yourself to be +the victim, _il n’y a pas d’homme nécessaire_. We should miss you for a +day or two on the Woodford Branch; but the great mundane movement would +still go on, the gravel walks of your villa would still be rolled, +dividends would still be paid at the bank, omnibuses would still run, +there would still be the old crush at the corner of Fenchurch street. +All was of no avail. Nothing could moderate in the bosom of the great +English middle class their passionate, absorbing, almost blood-thirsty +clinging to life. + + —Matthew Arnold’s _Essays in Criticism_. + + + + +AN EXTRAORDINARY BLUNDER. + + +A correspondent, writing from Amélia les Bains, says:—A very singular +blunder was committed the other day by the officials of a railway station +between Prepignan and Toulon. A gentleman who had been spending the +winter here with his family, left last week for Marseilles, taking with +him the body of his mother-in-law, who died six weeks ago, and who had +expressed a wish to be buried in the family vault at Marseilles. When he +reached Marseilles and went with the commissioner of police—whose +presence is required upon these occasions—to receive the body from the +railway officials, he noticed to his great surprise that the coffin was +of a different shape and construction from that which he had brought from +here. It turned out upon further inquiry that a mistake had been +committed by the officials, who had sent on to Toulon the coffin +containing his mother-in-law’s body, believing that it held the remains +of a deceased admiral, which was to be embarked for interment in Algeria, +while the coffin awaiting delivery was the one which should have been +sent on. The gentleman who was placed in this awkward predicament, +having requested the railway officials to communicate at once with Toulon +by telegraph, proceeded thither himself with the coffin of the admiral, +but the intimation had arrived too late. He ascertained when he got +there that the first coffin had been duly received, taken on board, amid +“the thunder of fort and of fleet,” the state vessel which was waiting +for it, and despatched to Algeria. He at once called upon the maritime +prefect of Toulon, and explained the circumstances of the case, but +though a despatch-boat was sent in pursuit, the other vessel was not +overtaken. He is now at Toulon awaiting her return, and I believe that +he declines to give up the coffin containing the deceased admiral until +he regains possession of his mother-in-law’s remains. + + + + +A CURIOUS RACE. + + +In July, 1877, a carrier-pigeon tried conclusions with a railway train. +The bird was a Belgian voyageur, bred at Woolwich, and “homed” to a house +in Cannon Street, City. The train was the Continental mail-express timed +not to stop between Dover and Cannon Street Station. The pigeon, +conveying an urgent message from the French police, was tossed through +the railway carriage window as the train moved from the Admiralty Pier, +the wind being west, the atmosphere hazy, but the sun shining. For more +than a minute the bird circled round till it attained an altitude of +about half-a-mile, and then it sailed away Londonwards. By this time the +engine had got full steam on, and the train was tearing away at the rate +of sixty miles an hour; but the carrier was more than a match for it. +Taking a line midway between Maidstone and Sittingbourne, it reached home +twenty minutes before the express dashed into the station; the train +having accomplished seventy-six-and-a-half miles to the pigeon’s seventy, +but being badly beaten for all that. + + —_All the Year Round_. + + + + +A GREENLANDER’S FIRST RAILWAY RIDE. + + +Hans Hendrik, a native of Greenland, thus describes his first journey by +rail in America:—“Then our train arrived and we took seats in it. When +we had started and looked at the ground, it appeared like a river, making +us dizzy, and the trembling of the carriage might give you headache. In +this way we proceeded, and whenever we approached houses they gave +warning by making big whistle sound, and on arriving at the houses they +rung a bell and we stopped for a little while. By the way we entered a +long cave through the earth, used as a road, and soon after we emerged +from it again. At length we reached our goal, and entered a large +mansion, in which numbers of people crowded together.” He likens the +people going out of the railway-station to a “crowd of church-goers, on +account of their number.” + + —_Good Words_, April, 1880. + + + + +A NOVEL ACTION. + + +Will bad table manners vitiate legal grounds of action? A collision +recently occurred while an Italian commercial traveller was eating a +Bologna sausage in a railway train. The shock of the collision drove the +knife so violently against his mouth as to widen it. He brought suit for +damages. The defence was that the injuries were caused by the knife; +that the knife should never be carried to the mouth, and that the +plaintiff, having injured himself by reason of his bad habit of eating, +must take the consequences and pay his own doctor’s bill. The case is +not yet finally decided. + + —_Echo_, Oct. 1st., 1880. + + + + +A KISS IN THE DARK. + + +On one of the seats in a railway train was a married lady with a little +daughter; opposite, facing them, was another child, a son, and a coloured +“lady” with a baby. The mother of these children was a beautiful matron +with sparkling eyes, in exuberant health and vivacious spirits. Near her +sat a young lieutenant, dressed to kill and seeking a victim. He scraped +up an acquaintance with the mother by attentions to the children. It was +not long before he was essaying to make himself very agreeable to her, +and by the time the sun began to decline, one would have thought they +were old familiar friends. The lieutenant felt that he had made an +impression—his elation manifested it. The lady, dreaming of no wrong, +suspecting no evil, was apparently pleased with her casual acquaintance. +By-and-by the train approached a tunnel. The gay lieutenant leaned over +and whispered something in the lady’s ear. It was noticed that she +appeared as thunderstruck, and her eyes immediately flamed with +indignation. A moment more and a smile lighted up her features. What +changes? That smile was not one of pleasure, but was sinister. It was +unperceived by the lieutenant. She made him a reply which apparently +rejoiced him very much. For the understanding properly this narrative, +we must tell the reader what was whispered and what was replied. “I mean +to kiss you when we get into the tunnel!” whispered the lieutenant. “It +will be dark; who will see it?” replied the lady. Into earth’s +bowels—into the tunnel ran the train. Lady and coloured nurse quickly +change seats. Gay lieutenant threw his arms around the lady sable, +pressed her cheek to his, and fast and furious rained kisses on her lips. +In a few moments the train came out into broad daylight. White lady +looked amazed—coloured lady, bashful, blushing—gay lieutenant befogged. +“Jane,” said the white lady, “what have you been doing?” “Nothing!” +responded the coloured lady. “Yes, you have,” said the white lady, not +in an undertone, but in a voice that attracted the attention of all in +the carriage. “See how your collar is rumpled and your bonnet smashed.” +Jane, poor coloured beauty, hung her head for a moment, the “observed of +all observers,” and then, turning round to the lieutenant, replied: +“_This man kissed me in the tunnel_!” Loud and long was the laugh that +followed among the passengers. The white lady enjoyed the joke +amazingly. Lieutenant looked like a sheep-stealing dog, left the +carriage at the next station, and was seen no more. + + —_Cape Argus_. + + + + +THE GRAVEDIGGER’S SUGGESTION. + + +The Midland Railway, on being extended to London, was the occasion of the +removal of a vast amount of house property, also it interfered to a +certain extent with the graveyard belonging to Old St. Pancras Church. +The company had purchased a new piece of ground in which to re-inter the +human remains discovered in the part they required. Amongst them was the +corpse of a high dignitary of the French Romish Church. Orders were +received for the transmission of the remains to his native land, and the +delicate work of exhuming the corpse was entrusted to some clever +gravediggers. On opening the ground they were surprised to find, not +bones of one man, but of several. Three skulls and three sets of bones +were yielded by the soil in which they had lain mouldering. The +difficulty was how to identify the bones of a French ecclesiastic amid so +many. After much discussion, the shrewdest gravedigger suggested that, +being a Frenchman, the darkest coloured skull must be his. Acting upon +this idea, the blackest bones were sorted and put together, until the +requisite number of rights and lefts were obtained. These were +reverently screwed up in a new coffin, conveyed to France, and buried +with all the pomp and circumstance of the Roman Catholic Church. + + + + +AN AMUSING INCIDENT. + + +An American correspondent writes:—“I have just finished reading a most +amusing incident, and, as it occurs in a book not likely to fall into the +hands of many of the members, I am tempted to relate it, although it +might prove to be ‘stale.’ Well, to begin: It tells of a maiden lady, +who, having arrived at the mature age of 51 without ever having seen a +railway train, decides to visit New York. The all-important day having +arrived, she seats herself calmly on the platform of the country station, +and gazes with amazement as the train draws up, takes on its passengers, +and pursues its journey. As she stares after it the stationmaster asks +her why she did not get on if she wishes to go to New York. ‘Get on,’ +says Miss Polly, in surprise, ‘get on! Why, bless me, if I didn’t think +this whole concern went!’ Being placed on the next train, she proceeds +on her way, when, finally, having seen so many wonderful things, she +concluded not to be astonished, whatever may happen. A collision occurs +and the gentleman next to her is thrown to the end of the car among a +heap of broken seats. She supposes it to be the usual manner of +stopping, and quietly remarks: ‘Ye fetch up rather sudden, don’t ye?’” + + + + +A LITTLE BOY’S COOLNESS. + + +The suit of William O’Connor against the Boston and Lowell Railroad at +Lawrence has resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff in $10,000, one-half +the amount sued for. This suit grew out of an accident which occurred +August 27th, 1880. The plaintiff was the father of a child then between +five and six years old. He and his brother, three years older, were +crossing a private way maintained by the railroad for the Essex Company, +and the younger boy, while walking backward, stepped between the rail and +planking of the roadway inside and was unable to extricate his foot. At +that moment the whistle of a train was heard within a few hundred feet +and out of sight around a curve, and it appeared from the evidence that +the older brother, finding himself unable to relieve his brother, ran +down the track toward the train; but finding that he could not attract +the attention of the trainmen to his brother’s condition, and that he +must be run over, ran back to him, and, telling him to lie down, pulled +him outward and down and held him there until the train had passed. Both +feet of the little fellow were cut off or mangled so that amputation was +necessary. The theory of the defence was that the boy was not caught, +but while running across the track, fell and was run over. But the +testimony of the older brother was unshaken in every particular. It +would be difficult to match the nerve, thoughtfulness, and disregard of +self displayed by this boy, who at that time was less than nine years +old. + + + + +PHOTOGRAPHING AN EXPRESS TRAIN. + + +An interesting application of the instantaneous method of photography was +recently made by a firm of photographers at Henley-on-Thames. These +artists were successful in photographing the Great Western Railway +express train familiarly known as the “Flying Dutchman,” while running +through Twyford station at a speed of nearly sixty miles an hour. The +definition of this lightning-like picture is truly wonderful, the details +of the mechanism on the flying locomotive standing out as sharply as the +immovable telegraph posts and palings beside the line. The photographers +are now engaged, we believe, in constructing a swift shutter for their +camera which will reduce the period of exposure of the photographic plate +to 1-500th of a second. The same artists have also executed some +charming pictures of the upper Thames, with floating swans and moving +boats, which cannot but win the admiration of artists and all lovers of +the picturesque. + + —_Cassell’s Family Magazine_, Nov. 1880. + + + + +NERVOUSNESS. + + +Surely people are far more _nervous_ now than they used to be some +generations back. The mental cultivation and the mental wear which we +have to go through tends to make that strange and inexplicable portion of +our physical construction a very great deal too sensitive for the work +and trial of daily life. A few days ago I drove a friend who had been +paying us a visit over to our railway station. He is a man of fifty, a +remarkably able and accomplished man. Before the train started, the +guard came round to look at the tickets. My friend could not find his; +he searched his pockets everywhere, and although the entire evil +consequence, had the ticket not turned up, could not possibly have been +more than the payment a second time of four or five shillings, he got +into a nervous tremor painful to see. He shook from head to foot; his +hand trembled so that he could not prosecute his search rightly, and +finally he found the missing ticket in a pocket which he had already +searched half-a-dozen times. Now contrast the condition of this +highly-civilized man, thrown into a painful flurry and confusion at the +demand of a railway ticket, with the impassive coolness of a savage, who +would not move a muscle if you hacked him in pieces. + + —_Fraser’s Magazine_. + + + + +A PROFITABLE RAILWAY. + + +The shortest and most profitable railway in the world is probably to be +seen at Coney Island, the famous suburban summer resort of New York. +This is the “Marine Railway,” which connects the Manhattan Beach Hotel +and the Brighton Beach Hotel. It is 2,000 feet in length, is laid with +steel rails, and has a handsome little station at each end. Its +equipment consists of two locomotives and four cars, open at the sides, +and having reversible seats; and a train of two cars is run each way +every five minutes. The cost of this miniature road, including stations +and equipment, was 27,000 dols., and it paid for itself in a few weeks +after it was opened for business. The operating expenses are 30 dols. a +day, and the average receipts are 450 dols. a day the entire season, 900 +dols. being sometime taken in. The fare charged is five cents. The +property paid a profit last year of 500 dols. per cent on its cost. + + + + +THE POLITE BRAHMIN. + + +Owing to the various dialects in the South of India, as a matter of +convenience the English language is much used for personal communication +by the natives of different parts of the Presidency of Madras. Mr. +Edward Lear, who has travelled much in that part of the country, gives +the following interesting account of a journey:—“I was in a second-class +railway carriage going from Madras to Bangalore. There was only one +other passenger beside myself and servant, and he was a Brahmin, dressed +all in white, with the string worn over the shoulder, by which you may +always recognise a Brahmin. He had a great many boxes and small +articles, which took up a great deal of room in the compartment, and when +at the next station the door was opened for another passenger to get in, +the guard said:— + +“‘You cannot have all those boxes inside the carriage; some of them must +be taken out.’ + +“‘Oh, sir,’ said the Brahmin in good English, ‘I assure you these +articles are by no means necessary to my comfort, and I hope you will not +hesitate to dispose of them as you please.’ + +“Accordingly, therefore, the boxes were taken away. Then the newcomer +stepped in; he was also a native, but dressed in quite a different manner +from the Brahmin, his clothing being blue, green, red, and all the +colours of the rainbow, so that one saw at once the two persons were from +different parts of India. Presently he surprised me by saying to the +Brahmin, + +“‘Pray, sir, excuse me for having given you the trouble of removing any +part of your luggage; I am really quite sorry to have given you any +inconvenience whatever.’ + +“To which the Brahmin replied, ‘I beg sir, you will make no apologies; it +is impossible you can have incommoded me by causing the removal of those +trifling articles; and, even if you have done so, the pleasure of your +society would afford me perfect compensation.’” + + + + +MR. FRANK BUCKLAND AND HIS BOOTS. + + +Mr. Spencer Walpole furnishes some interesting and amusing gossip about +the late Mr. Frank Buckland, describing some of his many eccentricities, +and telling many stories relative to his peculiar habits. He had, it +seems, a great objection to stockings and boots and coats, his favourite +attire consisting of nothing else than trousers and a flannel shirt. +Boots were his special aversion, and he never lost an opportunity of +kicking them off his feet. + +“On one occasion,” we are told, “travelling alone in a railway carriage, +he fell asleep with his feet resting on the window-sill. As usual, he +kicked off his boots, and they fell outside the carriage on the line. +When he reached his destination the boots could not, of course, be found, +and he had to go without them to his hotel. The next morning a +platelayer, examining the permanent way, came upon the boots, and +reported to the traffic manager that he had found a pair of gentleman’s +boots, but that he could not find the gentleman. Some one connected with +the railway recollected that Mr. Buckland had been seen in the +neighbourhood, and, knowing his eccentricities, inferred that the boots +must belong to him. They were accordingly sent to the Home Office, and +were at once claimed.” + + + + +DRINKING FROM THE WRONG BOTTLE. + + +An incident has occurred on one of the suburban lines which will +certainly be supposed by many to be only _ben trovato_, but it is a real +fact. A lady, who seemed perfectly well before the train entered a +tunnel, suddenly alarmed her fellow-passengers during the temporary +darkness by exclaiming, “I am poisoned!” On re-emerging into daylight, +an awkward explanation ensued. The lady carried with her two bottles, +one of methylated spirit, the other of cognac. Wishing, presumably, for +a refresher on the sly, she took advantage of the gloom; but she applied +the wrong bottle to her lips. Time pressed, and she took a good drain. +The consequence was she was nearly poisoned, and had to apply herself +honestly and openly to the brandy bottle as a corrective, amidst the +ironical condolence of the passengers she had previously alarmed. + + —_Once a Week_. + + + + +HORSES VERSUS RAILWAYS. + + +A horse for every mile of road was the allowance made by the best +coachmasters on the great routes. On the corresponding portions of the +railway system the great companies have put a locomotive engine per mile. +If a horse earned a hundred guineas a year, out of which his cost had to +be defrayed, he did well. A single locomotive on the Great Northern +Railway (and that company has 611 engines for 659 miles of line) was +stated by John Robinson, in 1873, to perform the work of 678 horses—work, +that is, as measured by resistance overcome; for the horses, whatever +their number, could not have reached the speed of fifty miles an hour, at +which the engines in questions whirled along a train of sixteen +carriages, weighing in all 225 tons. There are now upwards of 13,000 +locomotives at work in the United Kingdom, each of them earning on the +average, £4,750 per annum. But we have at the same time more horses +employed for the conveyance of passengers than we had in 1835. In +omnibus and station work—waiting upon the steam horse—there is more +demand for horseflesh than was made by our entire coaching system in +1835. + + + + +A SLIGHT MISTAKE. + + +An Irish newspaper is responsible for the following:—“A deaf man named +Taff was run down and killed by a passenger train on Wednesday morning. +He was injured in a similar way about a year ago.” + + + + +EXPENSIVE CONTRACTS. + + +An interesting glimpse into the inner working of State, and especially +Russian, Government railways was afforded in a recent discussion on +railway management in Russia, published by the _Journal_ of the German +Railroad Union. During this debate it appears that the details were +published of the famous contract of the late American Winans with the +Government concerning the Nicholas Railroad. By the use of considerable +money, Winans succeeded in making a contract, to extend from July 1st, +1866, for eight years, by which the Government was to pay him for oiling +cars and small car repairs at an agreed rate per passenger and per ton +mile. In addition to this he received a fixed sum of about £15,000 +(78,000 dols.) per year for painting and maintaining the interior of the +passenger cars; £6,000 for keeping up the shops, and finally £8,000 +yearly for renewing what rolling stock might be worn out. The St. +Nicholas line was eventually taken over by the Great Russian Company, +which in 1872 succeeded in making the Government annul the contract by +paying Winans a penalty of £750,000, which the Great Russian Company paid +back with interest within four years. If the contract had been continued +it would have cost the company more than one-third of its net earnings, +since the saving amounts to nearly £523,000 per annum. Another contract +which the Government had made for the same road with a sleeping-car +company was settled shortly afterward by the Government taking from the +company the few cars it had on hand, and paying £75,000 for them and +£10,000 a year for the unexpired seven years of the contract. + + + + +MR. BRASSEY’S STRICT ADHERENCE TO HIS WORD. + + +The following is one of such stories, illustrative of one phase of Mr. +Brassey’s character—his strict adherence to his word, under all +circumstances. + +When the “Sambre and Meuse” was drawing towards completion, Mr. Brassey +came along as usual with a staff of agents inspecting the progress of the +work. Stopping at Olloy, a small place between Mariembourg and Vireux, +near a large blacksmith’s shop, the man, a Frenchman or Belgian, came +out, and standing up on the bank, with much gesticulation and flourish, +proceeded to make Mr. Brassey a grand oration. Anxious to proceed, Mr. +Brassey paid him no particular attention, but good naturedly endeavoured +to cut the matter short, with “Oui, oui, oui,” and at length got away, +the Frenchman apparently expressing great delight. + +“Well, gentlemen, what are you laughing at, what is the joke?” said he to +his staff as they went along. + +“Why, sir, do you know what that fellow said, and for what he was +asking?” + +“No, indeed, I don’t; I supposed he was complimenting me in some way, or +thanking me for something.” + +“He _was_ complimenting you, sir, to some tune, and asking, as a souvenir +of his happy engagement under the Great Brassey, that you would of your +goodness make him a present of the shop, iron, tools, and all belonging!” + +“Did he, though! I did not understand that.” + +“No sir, but you kept on saying, ‘Oui, oui, oui,’ and the fellow’s +delighted, as he well may be, they’re worth £50 or £60.” + +“Oh, but I didn’t mean that, I didn’t mean that. Well, never mind, if I +said it, he must _have_ them.” + +It must be borne in mind, that at that time, at best, Mr. Brassey knew +very little French, and his staff were well aware of the fact.” + +Sep. 13, 1872. + + S. S. + + + + +EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT. + + +In a leading article in the _Birmingham Post_, Nov. 12th, 1880, the +writer remarks:—“The report of Major Marindin on the collision which took +place between two Midland trains, in Leicestershire, about a month ago, +has just been published, but it adds nothing to the information given at +the time when the accident happened. The case was, as the report says, +one of a remarkable, if not unprecedented nature, for the collision arose +from a passenger train running backwards instead of forwards nearly +half-a-mile, without either driver or stoker noticing that its movement +was in the wrong direction. Shortly after the train had passed the +village station of Kibworth, where it was not timed to stop, the driver +observed a knocking sound on his engine. He pulled up the train in order +to ascertain the cause of this, and finding that nothing serious was the +matter, proceeded on his journey again, or rather intended to do so, for, +by an extraordinary mistake, he turned the screw the wrong way, so as to +reverse the action of the engine, and to direct the train back to +Kibworth. There, a mineral train was making its way towards Leicester, +and as the line was on a sharp incline the result might have been a most +destructive collision. It was, however, reduced to one of a +comparatively mild description by the promptness and efficiency with +which the brakes were applied to both the trains. Had not the mineral +train been pulled up, and the passenger train lowered from a speed of +twenty to three or four miles an hour, probably the whole of the +passengers would have been crushed between the two engines. The +passengers, therefore, owed their safety to the excellent brake-power +which was at command. The excuse offered by the driver of the passenger +train for turning the engine backwards was the shape of the reversing +screw, which was of a construction not commonly used on the Midland line, +though many of the company’s engines were so fitted. The fireman had +also his apology for making the same oversight. He said he was at the +time stooping down to adjust the injector. Major Marindin, though +admitting that the men were experienced, careful, and sober, refuses to +accept either of these excuses; but he can supply no better reason +himself for the amazing oversight they committed. The only satisfactory +part of the report is that in which the working of the brake mechanism is +spoken of. The passenger train had the Westinghouse brake fitted to all +the carriages, and such was its efficiency that, had it extended to the +engine and tender as well, Major Marindin believes the accident would +have been entirely prevented.” + + + + +REMARKABLE MEMORY FOR SOUNDS. + + +Among strange mental feats the strangest perhaps yet recorded are the +following singular feats of memory for sound, related in the _Scientific +American_. In the city of Rochester, N. Y., resides a boy named Hicks, +who, though he has only lately removed from Buffalo to Rochester, has +already learned to distinguish three hundred locomotive engines by the +sound of their bells. During the day the boy is employed so far from the +railway that he seldom hears a passing train; but at night he can hear +every train, his house being near the railroad. To give an idea of his +wonderful memory for sounds (and his scarcely less wonderful memory for +numbers also) take the following cases. Not long ago young Hicks went to +Syracuse, and while there, he, hearing an engine coming out of the +round-house, remarked to a friend that he knew the bell, though he had +not heard it for five years: he gave the number of the engine, which +proved to be correct. Again, not long since, an old switch-engine, used +in the yards at Buffalo, was sent to Rochester for some special purpose. +It passed near Hicks’ house, and he remarked that the engine was number +so and so, and that he had not heard the bell for six years. A boarder +in the house ran to the railroad, and found the number given by Hicks was +the correct one. To most persons the bells on American locomotives seem +all much alike in sound and _timbre_, though, of course, a good ear will +readily distinguish differences, especially between bells which are +sounded within a short interval of time. But that anyone should be able +in the first place to discriminate between two or three hundred of these +bells, and in the second place to retain the recollection of the slight +peculiarities characterising each for several years, would seem +altogether incredible, had we not other instances—such as Bidder’s and +Colburn’s calculating feats, Morphy’s blindfold chess-play, etc.—of the +amazing degree in which one brain may surpass all others in some special +quality, though perhaps, in other respects, not exceptionally powerful, +or even relatively deficient. + + —_Gentleman’s Magazine_, March 1880. + + + + +A DISINGENUOUS BISHOP. + + +Max. O’Rell, the French author, in his book _John Bull at Home_, writes +English people are very great on words; lying is unknown. I was +travelling by rail one day with an English bishop. There were five in +our compartment. On arriving at a station we heard a cry, “Five minutes +here!” My lord bishop, with the greatest haste, set to work to spread +out travelling-bag, hat-box, rug, papers, &c. A lady appeared at the +door, and asked, “Is there room here?” “Madam,” replied the bishop, “all +the seats are full.” When the poor lady had been sent about her +business, we called his lordship’s attention to the fact that there were +only five of us in the carriage, and that, consequently all the seats +were not taken. “I did not say that they were,” answered my lord; “I +said that they were _full_.” + + + + +DROPPING THE LETTER “L.” + + +In an advertisement by a railway company of some unclaimed goods, the “l” +dropped from the word “lawful,” and it reads now, “People to whom these +packages are directed are requested to come forward and pay the _awful_ +charges on the same.” + + + + +THE SAFEST SEAT IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. + + +The _American Engineer_, as the result of scientific calculations and +protracted experience, says the safest seat is in the middle of the last +car but one. There are some chances of danger, which are the same +everywhere in the train, but others are least at the above-named place. + + + + +RAILWAYS A JUDGMENT. + + +In _White’s Warfare of Science_ there is an account of a worthy French +Archbishop who declared that railways were an evidence of the divine +displeasure against innkeepers, inasmuch that they would be punished for +supplying meat on fast days by seeing travellers carried by them past +their doors. + + + + +CLAIM FOR GOODWILL FOR COW KILLED ON THE RAILWAY. + + +A farmer living near the New York Central lost a cow by a collision with +a train on the line; anxious for compensation he waited upon the manager +and after stating his case, the manager said, “I understand she was thin +and sick.” “Makes no difference,” replied the farmer. “She was a cow, +and I want pay for her.” “How much?” asked the manager. “Two hundred +dollars!” replied the farmer. “Now look here,” said the manager, “how +much did the cow weigh?” “About four hundred, I suppose,” said the +farmer. “And we will say that beef is worth ten cents a pound on the +hoof.” “It’s worth a heap more than that on the cow-catcher!” replied +the indignant farmer. “But we’ll call it that, what then? That makes +forty dollars, shall I give you a cheque for forty dollars?” “I tell you +I want two hundred dollars,” persisted the farmer. “But how do you make +the difference? I’m willing to pay full value, forty dollars. How do +you make one hundred and sixty dollars?” “Well, sir,” replied the +farmer, waxing wroth, “I want this railroad to understand that I’m going +to have something special for the goodwill of that cow!” + + + + +THE INSURANCE AGENT. + + +An agent of an accident insurance company entered a smoking car on a +western railroad train a few days ago, and, approaching an exceedingly +gruff old man, asked him if he did not want to take out a policy. He was +told to get out with his policy, and passed on. A few minutes afterwards +an accident occurred to the train, causing a fearful shaking to the cars. +The old man jumped up, and seizing a hook at the side of the car to +steady himself, called out, “Where is that insurance man?” The question +caused a roar of laughter among the passengers, who for the time forgot +their dangers. + + —_Harper’s Weekly_, May 8th, 1880. + + + + +TOUTING FOR BUSINESS AND FRAUDS. + + +Sir Edward Watkin observed at the half-yearly meeting of the South +Eastern Railway Company, January, 1881:—“The result of this compensating +law under which the slightest neglect makes the company liable, and the +only thing to be considered is the amount of damages—the effect of this +unjust law is to create a new profession compounded of the worst elements +of the present professions—viz., expert doctors, expert attorneys, and +expert witnesses. You will get a doctor to swear that a man who has a +slight knock on the head to say that he has a diseased spine, and will +never be fit for anything again, and never be capable of being a man of +business or the father of a family. The result of that is all we can do +is to get some other expert to say exactly the contrary. Then you have a +class of attorneys who get up this business. We had an accident, I may +tell you, at Forrest-hill two years ago. Well, there was a gentleman—an +attorney in the train. He went round to all the people in the train and +gave them his card; and, having distributed all the cards in his +card-case, he went round and expressed extreme regret to the others that +he could not give them a card; but he gave them his name as ‘So and So,’ +his place was in ‘Such a street,’ and the ‘No, So and So’ in the City. +That was touting for business. Now, there is a very admirable body +called the “Law Association.” Why does not the Law Association take hold +of cases of that kind? Well, you saw in the paper the case of Roper _v._ +the South Eastern. Now that was a peculiar thing. Roper declared that +from an injury he had received in a slight accident at the Stoney-street +signal box, outside Cannon-street he was utterly incapacitated, and that, +for I don’t know how many weeks and months, he was in bed without +ceasing. The doctors, I believe, put pins and needles into him, but he +never flinched, and when the case came before the court we found that +some of the medical experts declared that it was just within the order of +Providence that in twenty years he might get better; but these witnesses +thought that the chances were against it, and that he would be a hopeless +cripple. So evidence was given as to his income; and the idea was to +capitalise it at £8,000. That man had paid 4d. for his ticket I think—I +forget the exact amount. Our counsel, the Attorney-General, went into +the thing, with the very able assistance of Mr. Willis, who deserves +every possible credit. We also had Mr. Le Gros Clarke, the eminent +consulting surgeon of the company, and Dr. Arkwright from the north of +England, and they told us that in their opinion it was a swindle. And it +was a swindle. The result of it was, the Attorney-General put his foot +down upon it, and declared that it was a swindle, and the jury +unanimously non-suited Mr. Roper. Well, singularly enough, when I say he +had paid 4d., I think it was not absolutely proved that he was in the +train at all. But although this was a case in which the jury said there +was no case, and where the Judge summed up strongly that it was a fraud, +and where the most eminent surgeon said it was an absolute delusion +altogether, and where, in point of fact, justice was done entirely to you +as regards the verdict, you have £2,300 to pay for costs of one kind or +another in defending a case of swindling, because when you try to recover +the costs the man becomes bankrupt, and you won’t get a farthing; and I +do mean to say I have described a state of the law and practice that +ought to excite the reprobation of every honest man in England.” + + + + +HEROISM OF A DRIVER. + + +An engine-driver on the Pennsylvania Railway yesterday saved the lives of +600 passengers by an extraordinary act of heroism. The furnace door was +opened by the fireman to replenish the fire while the train was going at +thirty-five miles an hour. The back draught forced the flames out so +that the car of the locomotive caught fire, and the engine-driver and the +fireman were driven back over the tender into the passenger car, leaving +the engine without control. The speed increased, and the volume of flame +with it. There was imminent danger that all the carriages would take +fire, and the whole be consumed. The passengers were panic-stricken. To +jump off was certain death; to remain was to be burned alive. The +engine-driver saw that the only way to save the passengers was to return +to the engine and stop the train. He plunged into the flames, climbed +back over the tender, and reversed the engine. When the train came to a +standstill, he was found in the water-tank, whither he had climbed, with +his clothes entirely burnt off, his face disfigured, his hands shockingly +burned, and his body blistered so badly that the flesh was stripped off +in many places. Weak and half-conscious he was taken to the hospital, +where his injuries were pronounced serious, with slight chance of +recovery. As soon as the train stopped the flames were easily +extinguished. The unanimous testimony of the passengers is that the +engine-driver saved their lives. His name is Joseph A. Sieg. + + —_Daily News_, Oct. 24th, 1882. + + + + +IT’S CROYDON. + + +As an early morning train drew up at a station, a pleasant looking +gentleman stepped out on the platform, and, inhaling the fresh air, +enthusiastically observed to the guard, “Isn’t this invigorating?” “No, +sir, it’s Croydon,” replied the conscientious employé. + + + + +YOUR TICKET. + + +On a Georgia railroad there is a conductor named Snell, a very clever, +sociable man, fond of a joke, quick at repartee, and faithful in the +discharge of his duties. One day as his train well filled with +passengers, was crossing a low bridge over a wide stream, some four or +five feet deep, the bridge broke down, precipitating the two passenger +cars into the stream. As the passengers emerged from the wreck they were +borne away by the force of the current. Snell had succeeded in catching +hold of some bushes that grew on the bank of the stream, to which he held +for dear life. A passenger less fortunate came rushing by. Snell +extended one hand, saying, “Your ticket, sir; give me your ticket!” The +effect of such a dry joke in the midst of the water may be imagined. + + —_Harper’s Magazine_. + + + + +AN OLD SCOTCH LADY ON THE LOSS OF HER BOX. + + +Dean Ramsay in his _Reminiscences_ remarks:—“Some curious stories are +told of ladies of this class, as connected with the novelties and +excitement of railway travelling. Missing their luggage, or finding that +something has gone wrong about it, often causing very terrible distress, +and might be amusing, were it not to the sufferer so severe a calamity. +I was much entertained with the earnestness of this feeling, and the +expression of it from an old Scottish lady, whose box was not forthcoming +at the station where she was to stop. When urged to be patient, her +indignant exclamation was, “I can bear ony pairtings that may be ca’ed +for in God’s providence; but I canna stan’ pairtin’ frae ma claes.” + + + + +RAILWAY MANNERS. + + +A gentleman was travelling by rail from Breslau to Oppeln and found +himself alone with a lady in a second-class compartment. He vainly +endeavoured to enter into conversation with the other occupant of the +carriage; her answers were invariably curt and snappish. Baffled in his +attempts, he proceeded to light a cigar to while away the time. Then the +lady said to him: “I suppose you have never travelled second-class +before, else you would know better manners.” Her travelling companion +quietly rejoined: “It is true, I have hitherto only studied the manners +of the first and third-classes. In the first-class the passengers are +rude to the porters, in the third-class the porters are rude to the +passengers. I now discover that in the second-class the passengers are +rude to each other.” + + + + +A BRAVE GIRL. + + +Kate Shelley, to whom the Iowa Legislature has just given a gold medal +and $200, is fifteen years old. She lives near Des Moines, at a point +where a railroad crosses a gorge at a great height. One night during a +furious storm the bridge was carried away. The first the Shelleys knew +of it was when they saw the headlight of a locomotive flash down into the +chasm. Kate climbed to the remains of the bridge with great difficulty, +using an improvised lantern. The engineer’s voice answered her calls, +but she could do nothing for him, and he was drowned. As an express +train was almost due, she then started for the nearest station, a mile +distant. A long, high bridge over the Des Moines River had to be crossed +on the ties—a perilous thing in stormy darkness. Kate’s light was blown +out, and the wind was so violent that she could not stand, so she crawled +across the bridge, from timber to timber, on her hands and knees. She +got to the station exhausted, but in time to give the warning, though she +fainted immediately. + + —_Detroit Free Press_, May 13th, 1882. + + + + +SHUT UP IN A LARGE BOX. + + +The Merv correspondent of the _Daily News_ in a letter dated the 30th of +April, 1881, remarks, “I was very much amused by the description given me +by some Tekkés of the Serdar’s departure for Russia. It seems that my +informants accompanied him up to the point where the trans-Caspian +railway is in working order. ‘They shut Tockmé Serdar and two others in +a large box (sanduk) and locked him in, and then dragged him away across +the Sahara. And,’ added the speakers, ‘Allah only knows what will happen +to them inside that box.’ The box, I need hardly say, was a railway +carriage.” + + + + +AWFUL DEATH ON A RAILROAD BRIDGE. + + +A man commonly known as “Billy” Cooper, of the town of Van Etten, was +walking on the railroad track at a point not far distant from his home. +In crossing the railroad bridge he made a miss-step, and, slipping, fell +between the ties, but his position was so cramped that he was unable to +get out of the way of danger. There, suspended in that awful manner, +with the body dangling below the bridge, he heard a train thundering +along in the distance, approaching every moment nearer and nearer. No +one will ever know the struggles for life which the poor fellow made, but +they were futile; with arms pinioned to his sides he was unable to signal +the engineer. The train came sweeping on upon its helpless victim until +within a few feet of the spot, when the engineer saw the man’s head and +endeavoured to stop his heavy train. But too late; the moving mass +passed over, cutting his head from the shoulders as clean as it could +have been done by the guillotine itself. Cooper was 60 years of age. + + —_Ithaca_ (N.Y.) _Journal_. + + + + +THAT ACCURSED DRINK. + + +An English traveller in Ireland, greedy for information and always +fingering the note-book in his breast pocket, got into the same railway +carriage with a certain Roman Catholic archbishop. Ignorant of his rank, +and only perceiving that he was a divine, he questioned him pretty +closely about the state of the country, whisky drinking, etc. At last he +said, “You are a parish priest, yourself, of course.” His grace drew +himself up. “I _was_ one, sir,” he answered, with icy gravity. “Dear, +dear,” was the sympathizing rejoinder. “That accursed drink, I suppose.” + + + + +RAILWAY UP VESUVIUS. + + +This railway, the last new project in mountain-climbing, is now finished. +It is 900 metres in length, and will enable tourists to ascend by it to +the very edge of the crater. The line has been constructed with great +care upon a solid pavement, and it is believed to be perfectly secure +from all incursions of lava. The mode of traction is by two steel ropes +put in motion by a steam engine at the foot of the cone. The wheels of +the carriages are so made as to be free from any danger of leaving the +rails, besides which each carriage is furnished with an exceedingly +powerful automatic brake, which, should the rope by any chance break, +will stop the train almost instantaneously. One of the chief +difficulties of the undertaking was the water supply; but that has been +obviated by the formation of two very large reservoirs, one at the +station, the other near the observatory. + + —_Railway Times_, 1879. + + + + +EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE OF BALLOONISTS. + + +Yesterday evening, Aug. 6th, 1883, a special train of “empties,” which +left Charing-cross at 5.55 to pick up returning excursionists from +Gravesend, had some extraordinary experiences, such as perhaps had hardly +ever occurred on a single journey. On leaving Dartford, where some +passengers were taken up, the train was proceeding towards Greenhithe, +when the driver observed on the line a donkey, which had strayed from an +adjoining field. An endeavour was made to stop the train before the +animal was reached, but without success, and the poor beast was knocked +down and dragged along by the firebox of the engine. The train was +stopped, and with great difficulty the body of the animal, which was +killed, was extricated from beneath the engine. While this was in +progress, a balloon called the “Sunbeam,” supposed to come either from +Sydenham or Tunbridge Wells, passed over the line, going in the direction +of Northfleet. The two æronauts in the car were observed to be short of +gas, and were throwing out ballast, but, notwithstanding this, the +balloon descended slowly, and when some distance ahead of the train was, +to the horror of the passengers, seen to drop suddenly into the railway +cutting two or three hundred yards only in advance of the approaching +train. The alarm whistle was sounded, and the brakes put on, and as the +balloon dragged the car and its occupants over the down line there seemed +nothing but certain death for them; but suddenly the inflated monster, +now swaying about wildly, took a sudden upward flight, and, dragging the +car clear of the line, fell into an adjoining field just when the train +was within a hundred yards of the spot. The escape was marvellous. + + + + +PULLING A TOOTH BY STEAM. + + +“Dummy,” is a deaf mute newsman on the Long Island Railroad. Lately he +had suffered much in mind and body from an aching tooth. He did not like +dentists, but he resolved that the tooth must go. He procured a piece of +twine, and tied one end of it to the tooth and the other end to the rear +of an express train. When the train started, Dummy ran along the +platform a short distance, and then dropped suddenly on his knees. The +engine whistled, and dummy cried, but the train took the tooth. + + + + +A HEAVY SLEEPER. + + +It happens, in numerous instances, that virtuous resolves are made +overnight with respect to early rising, which resolves, when put to the +test, are doomed only to be broken. Some years ago a clergyman, who had +occasion to visit the West of England on very important business, took up +his quarters, late at night, at a certain hotel adjacent to a railway, +with a view of starting by the early train on the following morning. +Previous to retiring to rest, he called the “boots” to him, told him that +he wished to be called for the early train, and said that it was of the +utmost importance that he should not oversleep himself. The reverend +gentleman at the same time confessed that he was a very heavy sleeper, +and as there would be probably the greatest difficulty in awakening him, +he (the “boots”) was to resort to any means he thought proper in order to +effect his object. And, further, that if the business were effectually +accomplished, the fee should be a liberal one. The preliminaries being +thus settled, the clergyman sought his couch, and “boots” left the room +with the air of a determined man. At a quarter to five on the following +morning, “boots” walked straight to “No. twenty-three,” and commenced a +vigorous rattling and hammering at the door, but the only answer he +received was “All right!” uttered in a very faint and drowsy tone. Five +minutes later, “boots” approached the door, placing his ear at the +keyhole, and detecting no other sound than a most unearthly snore, he +unceremoniously entered the room, and laying his brawny hands upon the +prostrate form of the sleeper, shook him violently and long. This attack +was replied to by a testy observation that he “knew all about it, and +there was not the least occasion to shake him so.” “Boots” thereupon +left the room, somewhat doubtingly, and only to return in a few minutes +afterwards and find the Rev. Mr. — as sound asleep as ever. This time +the clothes were stripped off, and a species of baptismal process was +adopted, familiarly known as “cold pig.” At this assault the enraged +gentleman sat bolt upright in bed, and with much other bitter remark, +denounced “boots” as a barbarous follow. An explanation was then come +to, and the drowsy man professed he understood it all, and was _about_ to +arise. But the gentleman who officiated at the — hotel, having had some +experience in these matters, placed no reliance upon the promise he had +just received, and shortly visited “No. twenty-three” again. There he +found that the occupant certainly had got up, but it was only to replace +the bedclothes and to lie down again. “Boots” now felt convinced that +this was one of those cases which required prompt and vigorous handling, +and without more ado, therefore, he again stripped off the upper +clothing, and seizing hold of the under sheet, he dragged its depository +bodily from off the bed. The sleeping man, sensible of the unusual +motion, and dreamily beholding a stalwart form bent over him, became +impressed with the idea that a personal attack was being made upon him, +probably with a view to robbery and murder. Under this conviction, he, +in his descent, grasped “boots” firmly by the throat, the result being +that both bodies thus came to the floor with a crash. Here the two +rolled about for some seconds in all the agonies of a death struggle, +until the unwonted noise and the cries of the assailants brought several +persons from all parts of the hotel, and they, seeing two men rolling +frantically about in each other’s arms, and with the hand of each +grasping the other’s throat, rushed in and separated them. An +explanation was of course soon given. The son of the church was +effectually awakened, he rewarded the “boots,” and went off by the train. + +Fortune subsequently smiled upon “boots,” and in the course of time he +became proprietor of a first-rate hotel. In the interval the Rev. Mr. — +had risen from a humble curate to the grade of a dean. Having occasion +to visit the town of —, he put up at the house of the ex-boots. The two +men saw and recognized each other, and the affair of the early train +reverted to the mind of both. “It was a most fortunate circumstance,” +said the dean, “that I did not oversleep myself on that morning, for from +the memorable journey that followed, I date my advancement in the Church. +But,” he continued, with an expression that betokened some tender +recollection, “if I ever should require you to wake me for an early train +again, would you mind placing a mattress or feather-bed on the floor?” + + —_The Railway Traveller’s Handy Book_. + + + + +A MAD ENGINE-DRIVER. + + +A startling event happened at an early hour yesterday morning (Jan. 8th, +1884), in connection with the mail train from Brest, which is due in +Paris at ten minutes to five o’clock. Whilst proceeding at full speed +the passengers observed the brakes to be put on with such suddenness that +fears were entertained that a collision was imminent, especially as the +spot at which the train was drawn up was in utter darkness. Upon the +guard reaching the engine he found the stoker endeavouring to overpower +the driver, who had evidently lost his reason. After blocking the line +the guard joined the stoker, and succeeded in securing the unfortunate +man, but not until he had offered a desperate resistance. The locomotive +was then put in motion, the nearest station was reached without further +misadventure, and the driver was placed in custody. The train ultimately +arrived in Paris after two hours’ delay. + + + + +A MEXICAN CHIEF’S RAILWAY IMPRESSIONS. + + +Steam and gunpowder have often proved the most eloquent apostles of +civilization, but the impressiveness of their arguments was, perhaps, +never more strikingly illustrated than at the little railway station of +Gallegos, in Northern Mexico. When the first passenger train crossed the +viaduct, and the Wizards of the North had covered the festive tables with +the dainties of all zones, the governor of Durango was not the most +distinguished visitor; for among the spectators on the platform the +natives were surprised to recognise the Cabo Ventura, the senior chief of +a hill-tribe, which had never formally recognised the sovereignty of the +Mexican Republic. The Cabo, indeed, considered himself the lawful ruler +of the entire _Comarca_, and preserved a document in which the Virey +Gonzales, _en nombre del Rey_—in the name of the King—appointed him +“Protector of all the loyal tribes of Castro and Sierra Mocha.” His +diploma had an archæological value, and several amateurs had made him a +liberal offer, but the old chieftain would as soon have sold his scalp. +His soul lived in the past. All the evils of the age he ascribed to the +demerits of the traitors who had raised the banner of revolt against the +lawful king; and as for the countrymen of Mr. Gould, the intrusive +_Yangueses_, his vocabulary hardly approached the measure of his contempt +when he called them _herexes y combusteros_—heretics and humbugs. + +“But it cannot be denied,” Yakoob Khan wrote to his father, “that it has +pleased Allah to endow those sinners with a good deal of brains;” and the +voice of nature gradually forced the Cabo to a similar conclusion, till +he resolved to come and see for himself. + +When the screech of the iron Behemoth at last resounded at the lower end +of the valley, and the train swept visibly around the curve of the +river-gap, the natives set up a yell that waked up the mountain echoes; +men and boys waved their hats and jumped to and fro, in a state of the +wildest excitement. Only the old Cabo stood stock-still. His gaze was +riveted upon the phenomenon that came thundering up the valley; his keen +eye enabled him to estimate the rate of speed, the trend of the up-grade, +the breadth, the length, the height of the car. When the train +approached the station, the crowd surged back in affright, but the Cabo +stood his ground, and as soon as the cars stopped he stepped down upon +the track. He examined the wheels, tapped the axles, and tried to move +the lever; and when the engine backed up for water, he closely watched +the process of locomotion, and walked to the end of the last car to +ascertain the length of the train. He then returned to the platform and +sat down, covering his face with both hands. + +Two hours later the Governor of Durango found him in still the same +position. + +“Hallo, Cabo,” he called out, “how do you like this? What do you think +now of America Nueva?” (“New America,” a collective term for the +republics of the American continent). + +The chieftain looked up. “_Sabe Dios_—the gods know—Senor Commandante, +but _I_ know this much: With Old America it’s all up.” + +“Is it? Well, look here: would you now like to sell that old diploma? I +still offer you the same price.” + +The Cabo put his hand in his bosom, drew forth a leather-shrouded old +parchment, and handed it to his interlocutor. “Vengale, Usted—it’s +worthless and you are welcome to keep it.” Nevertheless, he connived +when the Governor slipped a gold piece into the pouch and put it upon his +knees, minus the document. + +But just before the train started, the Governor heard his name called, +and stepped out upon the platform of the palace-car, when he saw the old +chieftain coming up the track. + +“I owe you a debt, senor,” said he, “_y le pagarè en consejo_, I want to +pay it off in good advice: Beware of those strangers.” + +“What strangers?” + +“The caballeros who invented this machine.” + +“Is that what you came to tell me?” laughed the Governor as the train +started. + +The old Cabo waved his hand in a military salute. “_Estamos ajustade_, +Senor Commandante, this squares our account.” + + —_Atlantic Monthly_, Jan., 1884. + + + + +MY ORDERS. + + +“Ticket, sir!” said an inspector at a railway terminus in the City to a +gentleman, who, having been a season ticket holder for some time, +believed his face was so well known that there was no need for him to +show his ticket. “My face is my ticket,” replied the gentleman a little +annoyed. “Indeed!” said the inspector, rolling back his wristband, and +displaying a most powerful wrist, “well, my orders are to punch all +tickets passing on to this platform.” + + + + +LUGGAGE IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES. + + +The question of the liability of railway companies in the event of +personal accident through parcels falling from a rack in the compartments +of passenger trains has been raised in the Midlands. In December last, a +tailor named Round was travelling from Dudley to Stourbridge, and, on the +train being drawn up at Round Oak Station, a hamper was jerked from the +racks and fell with such force as to cause him serious injury. Certain +medical charges were incurred, and Mr. Round alleged that he was unable +to attend to his business for five weeks in consequence of the accident. +He therefore claimed £50 by way of compensation. Sir Rupert Kettle, +before whom the case was tried, decided that the company was not liable, +and could not be held responsible for whatever happened in respect to +luggage directly under the control of passengers. The case is one of +some public interest, inasmuch as a parcel falling from a rack is not an +uncommon incident in a railway journey. Moreover, the hamper in question +belonged, not to the plaintiff, but to a glass engraver, and contained +four empty bottles, two razors, and a couple of knives. + + —_Daily News_, March 29th, 1884. + + + + +EFFECTS OF CONSTANT RAILWAY TRAVELLING. + + +A writer in _Cassell’s Magazine_ remarks:—“We hear individuals now and +then talking of the ease with which the season-ticket holder journeys +backwards and forwards daily from Brighton. By the young, healthy man, +no doubt, the journey is done without fatigue; but, after a certain time +of life, the process of being conveyed by express fifty miles night and +morning is anything but refreshing. The shaking and jolting of the best +constructed carriage is not such as we experience in a coach on an +ordinary road; but is made up of an infinite series of slight +concussions, which jar the spinal column and keep the muscles of the back +and sides in continued action.” Dr. Radcliff, who has witnessed many +cases of serious injury to the nervous system from this cause, +contributed the following conclusive case some years ago to the pages of +the _Lancet_:—“A hale and stout gentleman, aged sixty-three, came to me +complaining of inability to sleep, numbness in limbs, great depression, +and all the symptoms of approaching paralytic seizure. He was very +actively engaged in large monetary transactions, which were naturally a +source of anxiety. He had a house in town; but, having been advised by +the late Doctor Todd to live at Brighton, he had taken a house there, and +travelled to and fro daily by the express train. The symptoms of which +he complained began to appear about four months after taking up his +residence at Brighton, and he had undergone a variety of treatment +without benefit, and was just hesitating about trying homæopathy when I +saw him. I advised him to give up the journey for a month, and make the +experiment of living quietly in town. In a fortnight his rest was +perfectly restored, and the other symptoms rapidly disappeared, so that +at the end of the month he was as well as ever again. After three +months, he was persuaded to join his family at Brighton, and resumed his +daily journeys. In a few days his rest became broken and in two months +all the old symptoms returned. By giving up the journeys and again +residing in town, he was once more perfectly restored; but, it being the +end of the season, when the house at Brighton could not readily be +disposed of, and yielding to the wishes of his family, he again resumed +his journeys. In a month’s time he was rendered so seriously unwell that +he hesitated no longer in taking up his permanent abode in town; and +since that time—now more than two years ago—he has enjoyed perfect +health.” + + + + +AN ELECTRIC TRAMWAY INCIDENT. + + +The following appeared in the _Irish Times_ (Dublin, 1884): “It is not +generally known that the country people along the line of the electric +railway make strange uses of the insulated rails, which are the medium of +electricity on this tramway, in connection with one of which an +extraordinary and very remarkable occurrence is reported. People have no +objection to touch the rail and receive a smart shock, which is, however, +harmless, at least so far. On Thursday evening a ploughman, returning +from work, stood upon this rail in order to mount his horse. The rail is +elevated on insulators 18 inches above the level of the tramway. As soon +as the man placed his hands upon the back of the animal it received a +shock, which at once brought it down, and falling against the rail it +died instantly. The remarkable part is, that the current of electricity +which proved fatal to the brute must have passed through the body of the +man and proved harmless to him.” + + + + +DUTY IN DISGUISE. + + +A gate-keeper in the employ of the Hessian Railway Company was recently +the hero of an amusing incident. His wife being ill, he went himself to +milk the goat; but the stubborn creature would not let him come near it, +as it had always been accustomed to have this operation performed by its +mistress. After many fruitless efforts, he at length decided to put on +his wife’s clothes. The experiment succeeded admirably; but the man had +not time to doff his disguise before a train approached, and the +gatekeeper ran to his accustomed post. His appearance produced quite a +sensation among the officials of the passing train. The case was +reported and an inquiry instituted, which however resulted in his favour, +as the railway authorities granted the honest gate-keeper a gratuity of +ten marks for the faithful discharge of his duties. + + + + +THE MARQUIS OF HARTINGTON ON GEORGE STEPHENSON. + + +The Marquis of Hartington, when laying the foundation stone of a public +hall to be erected in memory of the inventor and practical introducer of +railway locomotion, expressed himself as follows:—“That almost all the +progress which this country has made in the last half-century is mainly +due to the development of the railway system. All the other vast +developments of the power of steam, all the developments of manufacturing +and mining industry would have availed but little for the greatness and +prosperity of this country—in fact they could hardly have existed at all +if there had been wanting those internal communications which have been +furnished by the locomotive engine to railways brought into use by +Stephenson. The changes which have been wrought in the history of our +country by the invention, the industry, and perseverance of one man are +something that we may call astounding. There are some things which +exceed the dreams of poetry and romance. We are justly proud of our +imperial possessions, but the steam engine, and especially the locomotive +steam-engine, the invention of George Stephenson—has not only increased +the number of the Queen’s subjects by millions, but has added more +millions to her Majesty’s revenues than have been produced by any tax +ever invented by any statesman. Comfort and happiness, prosperity and +plenty, have been brought to every one of her Majesty’s subjects by this +invention in far greater abundance than has ever been produced by any +law, the production of the wisest and most patriotic Parliament. The +results of the career of a man who began life as a herd boy, and who up +to eighteen did not know how to read or write, and yet was able to confer +such vast benefits upon his country and mankind for all time, is worthy +of a national and noble memorial.” + + + + +THE STEPHENSON CENTENARY. + + +Of all celebrations in the North of England there was never the like of +the centenary of the birth-day of George Stephenson, June 9th, 1881. The +enthusiastic crowds of people assembled to honour the occasion were never +before so numerous on any public holiday. Sir William Armstrong, C.B., +in his speech at the great banquet remarked:—“The memory of a great man +now dead is a solemn subject for a toast, and I approach the task of +proposing it with a full sense of its gravity. We are met to celebrate +the birth of George Stephenson, which took place just 100 years ago—a +date which nearly coincides with that at which the genius of Watt first +gave practical importance to the steam-engine. Up to that time the +inventive faculties of man had lain almost dormant, but with the advent +of the steam-engine there commenced that splendid series of discoveries +and inventions which have since, to use the words of Dr. Bruce, +revolutionised the state of the world. Amongst these the most momentous +in its consequences to the human race is the railway system—(cheers)—and +with that system including the locomotive engine as its essential +element, the name of George Stephenson will ever be pre-eminently +associated. In saying this, I do not mean to ignore the important parts +played by others in the development of the railway system; but it is not +my duty on this occasion to review the history of that system and to +assign to each person concerned his proper share of the general credit. +To do this would be an invidious task, and out of place at a festival +held in honour of George Stephenson only. I shall, therefore, pass over +all names but his, not even making an exception in favour of his +distinguished son. (Cheers.) It seldom or never happens that any great +invention can be exclusively attributed to any one man; but it is +generally the case that amongst those who contribute to the ultimate +success there is one conspicuous figure that towers above all the rest, +and such is the figure which George Stephenson presents in relation to +the railway system. (Cheers.) To be sensible of the benefits we have +derived from railways and locomotives let us consider for a moment what +would be our position if they were taken from us. The present business +of the country could not be carried on, the present population could not +be maintained, property would sink to half its value—(hear, hear)—and +instead of prosperity and progress we should have collapse and +retrogression on all sides. (Cheers.) What would Newcastle be if it +ceased to be a focus of railways? How would London be supplied if it had +to fall back upon turnpike roads and horse traffic? In short, England as +it is could not exist without railways and locomotives; and it is only +our familiarity with them that blunts our sense of their prodigious +importance. As to the future effects of railways, it is easy to see that +they are destined to diffuse industrial populations over those vast +unoccupied areas of the globe that abound in natural resources, and only +wait for facilities of access and transport to become available for the +wants of man. There is yet scope for an enormous extension of railways +all over the world, and the fame of Stephenson will continue to grow as +railways continue to spread. (Loud cheers.) But I should do scant +justice to the memory of George Stephenson if I dwelt only on the results +of his achievements. Many a great reputation has been marred by faults +of character, but this was not the case with George Stephenson. His +manly simplicity and frankness, and his kindly nature won for him the +respect and esteem of all who knew him both in the earlier and later +periods of his career—(cheers)—but the prominent feature in his character +was his indomitable perseverance, which broke down all obstacles, and +converted even his failures and disappointments into stepping stones to +success. It was not the desire for wealth that actuated him in the +pursuit of his objects, but it was a noble enthusiasm, far more conducive +to great ends than the hope of gain, that carried him forward to his +goal. Unselfish enthusiasm such as his always gives a tone of heroism to +a character, and heroism above all things commands the homage of mankind. +Newcastle may well be proud of its connection with George Stephenson, and +the proceedings of this day testify how much his memory is cherished in +this his native district. Any memorial dedicated to him would be +appropriate to this occasion, and if such memorial were connected with +scientific instruction it would be in harmony with his well-known +appreciation of the value of scientific education, and of the sacrifices +he made to give his son the advantage of such an education. (Cheers.) I +now, gentlemen, have to propose to you the toast which has been committed +to me, and which is ‘Honour to the memory of George Stephenson, and may +the college to be erected to his memory prove worthy of his fame.’ I +must ask you to drink this toast standing; and consider that the birth of +Stephenson is a subject of jubilation. I think that although he is dead +we may drink that toast with hearty cheering. (Hear, hear, and loud +cheers.) + +Mr. George Robert Stephenson, who was warmly cheered on rising to respond +to the toast, said: “Mr. Mayor and gentlemen,—Let me, in the first place +thank Sir William Armstrong for the many kind words he has uttered in +honour of the memory of George Stephenson. It is true that he was, as +Sir William said, one of the most kind-hearted and unselfish men that +ever lived; but I suppose that no man has had a more up-hill struggle +during the present century. (Cheers). I have now in my possession +documents that would show in his early life the extraordinary and +peculiar nature of the opposition that was brought against him as a poor +man. He was opposed by many of the leading engineers of the day; some of +these men using language which, it is not incorrect to say, was not only +injurious but wicked. This is not the proper occasion to weary you with +a long speech, but with the view of showing the peculiar mode of +engineers reporting against each other, I could very much wish, with your +permission, to read a few sentences from documents that I have in my +possession, dating back to 1823. (Hear, hear). This, gentlemen, will +clearly show the sort of opposition I have alluded to. It occurs at the +end of a report by an opponent upon some projected work on which the four +brothers were engaged:—‘But we cannot conclude without saying that such a +mechanic as Mr. Stephenson, who can neither calculate, nor lay his +designs on paper, or distinguish the effect from the cause, may do very +well for repairing engines when they are constructed, but for building +new ones, he must be at great loss to his employers, from the many +alterations that will take place in engine-building, when he goes by what +we call the rule of thumb.’ In a preceding sentence he is taunted with +being like the fly going round on a crank axle, and shouting ‘What a dust +I am kicking up.’ Gentlemen, the dust that George Stephenson kicked up +formed itself into a cloud, and in every part of the globe to which it +reached it carried with it and planted the seeds of civilization and +wealth. Notwithstanding the hard and illiberal treatment to which he was +exposed, he was not beaten; on the contrary, by his genius and his +never-failing spirit, he raised himself above the level of the very men +who opposed every effort he made towards the advancement of engineering +science—efforts which have resulted in a vast improvement of our means +for extracting the valuable products of the earth, and also of our means +of conveying them at a cheap rate to distant markets. It is not too much +to say that George Stephenson headed a movement by which alone could +employment have been found for an ever-increasing population.” + +In the town of Chesterfield the Centenary was celebrated most +befittingly. It was there the father of railways spent his latter days, +and there he died. Although there was not such a flood of oratory as at +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, many interesting speeches were delivered in +connection with the event. We give some extracts from an address +delivered by the Rev. Samuel C. Sarjant, B.A., Curate-in-Charge at that +time—delivered at Holy Trinity Church, Chesterfield. An address which, +for ability, nice discrimination of thought, and true appreciation of the +subject, would not disgrace any pulpit in Christendom:— + +“We meet to-day for the highest of all purposes, the worship of Almighty +God. But we also meet to show our regard for the memory of one of the +great and gifted dead. It is no small distinction of this town that the +last days of George Stephenson were spent in it. And it adds to the +interest of this church that it contains his mortal remains. With little +internally to appeal to the eye, or to gratify taste, this church has yet +a spell which will draw visitors from every part of the world. Men will +come hither from all lands to look with reverence upon the simple resting +place of him who was the father of the Locomotive and of the Railway +system. And perhaps the naked simplicity which marks that spot is in +keeping with a life, the grandeur of which was due solely to the man +himself, and not to outward helps and circumstances . . . + +“Toil has its roll of heroes, but few, if any, of them are greater than +he whose birth we commemorate to-day. He was pre-eminently a self-made +man, one who ‘achieved’ greatness by his own exertions. Granting that he +was gifted with powers of body and mind above the average, these were his +only advantages. The rest was due to hard work, patient, persistent +effort. He had neither wealth, schooling, patrons, nor favouring +circumstances. He comes into the arena like a naked athlete to wrestle +in his own strength with the difficulties before him. And these were +many and great! + +“I need not dwell upon the details of a life which is so well known to +most, and to some present so vividly, from personal intercourse and +friendship. We all know what a battle he fought, how nobly and well, +first striving by patient plodding effort to remove his own ignorance, +cheerfully bending himself to every kind of work that came in his way, +and seeking to gain not only manual expertness, but a mastery of +principles. We know how he went on toiling, observing, experimenting, +saying little—for he was never given to the ‘talk of the lips’—but doing +much, letting slip no chance of getting knowledge, and of turning it to +practical account. He was one of those, who + + While his companions slept + Was toiling upwards in the night. + +And in due time his quiet work bore fruit. He invented a safety-lamp +which alone should have entitled him to the gratitude of posterity. He +then set himself to improve the locomotive, and fit it for the future +which his prescient mind discerned, and on a fair field he vanquished all +competitors. He then sought to adapt the roadway to the engine and make +it fit for its new work. And then, hardest task of all, he had to +convince the public that railway travelling was a possible thing; that it +could he made safe, cheap, and rapid. In doing this he was compelled to +design, plan, and execute almost everything with his own mind and hand. +All classes and interests were against him, the engineers, the land +owners, the legislature, and the public. He had to encounter the +phantoms of ignorance and fear, the solid resistance of vested interests, +and the bottomless quagmires of Chat Moss. But he triumphed! And it was +a well-earned reward as he looked down from his pleasant retreat at +Tapton upon the iron bands which glistened below, to know that they were +part of a network which was spreading over the whole land and becoming +the one highway of transit and commerce. Nor was this all his +satisfaction. He knew that Europe and America were welcoming the +railway, and that it was promising to link together the whole civilized +world. + +“Of the ‘profit’ of his labours to humanity I scarcely venture to speak, +since it cannot possibly be told in a few words. The railway system has +revolutionised society. It has powerfully affected every class, every +interest and department of life. It has given an incredible impulse to +commerce, quickened human thought, created a new language, new habits, +tastes and pleasures. It has opened up fields of industry and enterprise +inaccessible and unknown before. It has cheapened the necessaries and +comforts of life, enhanced the value of property, promoted the fellowship +of class with class, and brought unnumbered benefits and advantages +within the reach of all. And it is yet, as to the world at large, but in +the infancy of its development. + +“How much, then, do we owe, under God, to George Stephenson. How much, +not merely to his energy and diligence, but to his courage, patience, and +uprightness? For these qualities, quite as much as gifts of genius and +insight, contributed to his final success. He was crowned because he +strove ‘lawfully.’ His patience was as great in waiting as his energy in +working. He did not work from greed or self-glorification; and therefore +the hour of success, when it came, found him the same modest, +self-restrained man as before. He neither overrated the value of the +system which he had set up, nor made it a means of speculation and +gambling. He was a man of sterling honesty and uprightness—of +self-control, simple in his habits and tastes, given to plain living and +high thinking. And yet he was most kindly, genial, and cheery, of strong +affections, considerate of his workpeople, tender to his family, full of +love to little children and pet animals, brimming with fun and good +humour. He had the gentleness of all noble natures, the largeness of +mind and heart which could recognise ability and worth in others, and +give rivals their due. For the young inventor, or for such of his +helpers as showed marked diligence or promise, he had ready sympathy and +aid. Nor ought we to pass unnoticed his love of nature and of natural +beauty. Strong throughout his whole life, this was especially +conspicuous at its close. Such leisure as his last days brought was +spent amidst flowers and fruits, gardens and greeneries which he had +planned and filled, and from the midst of whose treasures he could look +forth over venerable trees and green fields upon a wide and varied +landscape. And yet, even in this relaxation, the old energy and +earnestness of purpose asserted themselves. He toiled and experimented, +watching the growth of his plants and flowers with more than professional +pains. Nor is it improbable that the ardour which led him to confine +himself for hours together in a heated and unhealthy atmosphere led to +his fatal illness. + +“We are bound, then, to mark and admit how much the moral element in the +worker contributed to his success, and to the freshness of the regard +which is felt for his memory and name. England is proud of his works, +but prouder still of the man who did them. Far different would have been +the result if impatience, ungenerousness, and love of greed had marred +his life and work. The tributes of respect which we gladly lay upon his +tomb to-day, would probably have been placed elsewhere.” + + + + +REMARKABLE COINCIDENCES. + + +Many years ago the editor of this book and an elderly lady, the widow of +a well-known farmer, took tickets from Little Bytham for Edenham in +Lincolnshire. They were the only passengers, and as the railway passed +for nearly two miles through Grimsthorpe park, she asked the driver if he +would stop at a certain spot which would have saved us both perhaps +half-a-mile’s walk. The request was politely refused. After going a +good distance the train was suddenly pulled up. I opened the window and +found it had stopped at the very spot we desired. The stoker came +running by with a fine hare which the train had run over. I said we can +get out now and he said, Oh yes. And so through this strange +misadventure to poor pussy our walk was much shortened. + +Some years before the above occurrence I was travelling by the early +morning mail train from the Midlands to the West of England. At Taunton +I perceived a crowd of persons gathered at the front of the train. I +went forward and saw a corpse was being removed from the van to a hearse +outside the station. On reading the inscription on the coffin plate I +was somewhat taken aback to find my own name. So Richard Pike living and +Richard Pike dead had been travelling by the same train. Perhaps rarely, +if ever, have two more singular circumstances occurred in connection with +railway travelling. + + + + +LOSS OF TASTE. + + +Serjeant Ballantine in his _Experiences of a Barrister’s Life_, +says:—“There was a singular physical fact connected with him (Sir Edward +Belcher), he had entirely lost the sense of taste; this he frequently +complained of, and could not account for. A friend of mine, an eminent +member of the Bar, suffers in the same way, but is able to trace the +phenomenon to the shock that he suffered in a railway collision.” + + + + +INGENIOUS SWINDLING. + + +A party of gentlemen who had been to Doncaster to see the St. Leger run, +came back to the station and secured a compartment. As the train was +about to start, a well-dressed and respectable looking man entered and +took the only vacant seat. Shortly after they had started, he said, +“Well, gentlemen, I suppose you have all been to the races to-day?” They +replied they had. “Well,” said the stranger, “I have been, and have +unfortunately lost every penny I had, and have nothing to pay my fare +home, but if you promise not to split on me, I have a plan that I think +will carry me through.” They all consented. He then asked the gentleman +that sat opposite him if he would kindly lend him his ticket for a +moment; on its being handed to him he took it and wrote his own name and +address on the back of the ticket and returned it to the owner. Nothing +more was said until they arrived at the place where they collected +tickets; being the races, the train was very crowded, and the +ticket-collector was in a great hurry; the gentlemen all pushed their +tickets into his hands. The collector then asked the gentleman without a +ticket for his, who replied he had already given it him. The collector +stoutly denied it. The gentleman protested he had, and, moreover, would +not be insulted, and ordered him to call the station-master. On the +station-master coming, he said he wished to report the collector for +insulting him. “I make a practice to always write my name and address on +the back of my ticket, and if your man looks at his tickets he will find +one of that description.” The man looked and, of course, found the +ticket, whereupon he said he must have been mistaken, and both he and the +stationmaster apologised, and asked him not to report the case further. + + + + +DANGEROUS LUGGAGE. + + +Complaints are sometimes made of the want of due respect paid on the part +of porters to passengers’ luggage. It appears that occasionally a like +lack of caution is manifested by owners to their own property. It is +said that on a train lately on a western railway in America, some +passengers were discussing the carriage of explosives. One man contended +that it was impossible to prevent or detect this; if people were not +allowed to ship nitro-glycerine or dynamite legitimately, they’d smuggle +it through their baggage. This assertion was contradicted emphatically, +and the passenger was laughed at, flouted, and ignominiously put to +scorn. Rising up in his wrath, he produced a capacious valise from under +the seat, and, slapping it emphatically on the cover, said, “Oh, you +think they don’t, eh? Don’t carry explosives in cars? What’s this?” and +he gave the valise a resounding thump, “Thar’s two hundred good dynamite +cartridges in that air valise; sixty pounds of deadly material; enough to +blow this yar train and the whole township from Cook County to +Chimborazo. Thar’s dynamite enough,” he continued; but he was without an +auditor, for the passengers had fled incontinently, and he could have sat +down upon twenty-two seats if he had wanted to. And the respectful way +in which the baggage men on the out-going trains in the evening handled +the trunks and valises was pleasant to see. + +The neglect of carefulness appears, in one instance at least, to have +involved inconvenience to the offending official. “An unknown genius,” +says an American periodical, “the other day entrusted a trunk, with a +hive of bees in it, to the tender mercies of a Syracuse +‘baggage-smasher.’ The company will pay for the bees, and the doctor +thinks his patient will be round in a fortnight or so.” + + —Williams’s _Our Iron Roads_. + + + + +STUMPED. + + +Several Sundays ago a Philadelphia gentleman took his little son on a +railway excursion. The little fellow was looking out of the window, when +his father slipped the hat off the boy’s head. The latter was much +grieved at his supposed loss, when papa consoled him by saying that he +would “whistle it back.” A little later he whistled and the hat +reappeared. Not long after the little lad flung his hat out of the +window, shouting, “Now, papa, whistle it back again!” A roar of laughter +in the car served to enhance the confusion of perplexed papa. Moral: +Don’t attempt to deceive little boys with plausible stories. + + + + +EXCURSIONISTS PUT TO THE PROOF. + + +A good story is told of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln Railway +Company. A week or two since, the company ran an excursion train to +London and back, the excursion being intended for their workmen at Gorton +and Manchester. There was an enormous demand for the tickets; so +enormous that the officials began, to use an expressive term, “to smell a +rat.” But the sale of the tickets was allowed to proceed. The journey +to London was made, and a considerable number of the passengers +congratulated themselves upon the remarkably cheap outing they were +having. But on the return journey they made a most unpleasant discovery. +Their tickets were demanded at Retford, and then the ticket-collectors +insisted upon the holder of every ticket proving that he was in the +employ of the company. The result can be imagined. There were more +persons in the train who had no connection with the company than there +were of the company’s employés; and the former had either to pay a full +fare to and from London, or to give their names and addresses preparatory +to being summoned. We hear, from a reliable source, that the fares thus +obtained amount to about £300. + + —_Echo_, Sept. 23, 1880. + + + + +A MONKEY SIGNALMAN. + + +We learn from the _Colonies_ that a monkey signalman manages the railway +traffic at Witenhage, South Africa. The human signalman has had the +misfortune to lose both his legs, and has trained a baboon to discharge +his duties. Jacky pushes his master about on a trolly, and, under his +directions, works the lever to set the signals with a most ludicrous +imitation of humanity. He puts down the lever, looks round to see that +the correct signal is up, and then gravely watches the approaching train, +his master being at hand to correct any mistake. + + + + +A CURIOUS CLASSIFICATION. + + +The guard of an English railway carriage recently refused to allow a +naturalist to carry a live hedgehog with him. The traveller, indignant, +pulled a turtle from his wallet and said, “Take this too!” But the guard +replied good naturedly, “Ho, no, sir. It’s dogs you can’t carry; and +dogs is dogs, cats is dogs, and ’edge’ogs is dogs, but turtles is +hinsects.” + + + + +PULLMAN’S CARRIAGES. + + +In the discussion on Mr. C. Douglas Fox’s recent paper on the +Pennsylvania railway, Mr. Barlow, the engineer of the Midland, observed +that there was a certain attractive power about a Pullman’s carriage, +which ought not to be overlooked, a power which brought passengers to it +who would not otherwise travel by railway. A Pullman’s carriage weighed +somewhere about twenty tons. The cost of hauling that weight was about +1½d. per mile; that was the sum which the Midland Company proposed to +charge for first-class passengers, so that one first-class passenger +would pay the haulage of the carriage. If the attractive power of the +carriage brought more than one first-class passenger it would of course +pay itself. + + _Herepath’s Railway Journal_, Jan. 23, 1875. + + + + +PROFITABLE DAMAGES. + + +The Springfield _Republican_, of 1877, is responsible for the following +story:—“The industry of railroading has developed some thrifty +characters, among whom a former employé of the New York, New Haven, and +Hartford road deserves high rank. He was at one time at work in the +Springfield depot, and while taking a trunk out of a baggage car from +Boston he was thrown over and hurt, the baggage-smashing art being for a +time reversed. The injured employé suffered terribly, and crawled around +on crutches until the Boston and Albany and the New Haven roads united +and gave him 6000 dollars. He was cured the next day. Shortly +afterwards a man on the Boston and Albany road was killed, and the +Company gave his widow 3,000 dollars. The former cripple, who had scored +6,000 dollars already, soon married her, and thus counted 9,000 dollars. +He recovered his health so completely that he was able again to work on +the railroad, but finally, not being hurt again within a reasonable time, +he retired to a farm which he had bought with a part of the proceeds of +his former calamities.” + + + + +RAILWAY ENTERPRISE. + + +It would be difficult to close this series of Railway Anecdotes more +appropriately than in the words of George Stephenson’s celebrated son +Robert at a banquet given to him at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in August, 1850. +“It was but as yesterday,” he said, “that he was engaged as an assistant +in tracing the line of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Since that +period, the Liverpool and Manchester, the London and Birmingham, and a +hundred other great works had sprung into vigorous existence. So +suddenly, so promptly had they been accomplished, that it appeared to him +like the realization of fabled powers, or the magician’s wand. Hills had +been cut down, and valleys had been filled up; and where this simple +expedient was inapplicable, high and magnificent viaducts had been +erected; and where mountains intervened, tunnels of unexampled magnitude +had been unhesitatingly undertaken. Works had been scattered over the +face of our country, bearing testimony to the indomitable enterprise of +the nation and the unrivalled skill of its artists. In referring thus to +the railway works, he must refer also to the improvement of the +locomotive engine. This was as remarkable as the other works were +gigantic. They were, in fact, necessary to each other. The locomotive +engine, independent of the railway, would be useless. They had gone on +together, and they now realized all the expectations that were +entertained of them. It would be unseemly, as it would be unjust, if he +were to conceal the circumstances under which these works had been +constructed. No engineer could succeed without having men about him as +highly-gifted as himself. By such men he had been supported for many +years past; and, though he might have added his mite, yet it was to their +co-operation that all his success was owing.” + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAILWAY ADVENTURES AND ANECDOTES*** + + +******* This file should be named 31395-0.txt or 31395-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/3/9/31395 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Railway Adventures and Anecdotes + extending over more than fifty years + + +Author: Various + +Editor: Richard Pike + +Release Date: February 25, 2010 [eBook #31395] +[Last updated: October 3, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAILWAY ADVENTURES AND ANECDOTES*** +</pre> +<p>This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.</p> +<h1>RAILWAY ADVENTURES<br /> +AND ANECDOTES:<br /> +<span class="smcap">extending over more than fifty +years</span>.</h1> +<p style="text-align: center">EDITED BY RICHARD PIKE.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">THIRD EDITION.</p> +<div class="gapshortdoubleline"> </div> +<blockquote><p>“The only <i>bona fide</i> Railway Anecdote +Book published<br /> +on either side of the Atlantic.”—<i>Liverpool +Mercury</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<div class="gapshortdoubleline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">London</span>: +<span class="smcap">Hamilton</span>, <span +class="smcap">Adams</span>, <span class="smcap">and Co.</span><br +/> +<span class="smcap">Nottingham</span>: <span class="smcap">J. +Derry</span>.</p> +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">1888.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 2--><a +name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 2</span><span +class="smcap">nottingham</span>:<br /> +<span class="smcap">j. derby</span>, <span +class="smcap">printer</span>, <span class="smcap">wheeler gate +and hounds gate</span>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 3--><a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +3</span>PREFACE.</h2> +<p>Although railways are comparatively of recent date we are so +accustomed to them that it is difficult to realize the condition +of the country before their introduction. How different are +the present day ideas as to speed in travelling to those +entertained in the good old times. The celebrated +historian, Niebuhr, who was in England in 1798, thus describes +the rapid travelling of that period:—“Four horses +drawing a coach with six persons inside, four on the roof, a sort +of conductor besides the coachman, and overladen with luggage, +have to get over seven English miles in the hour; and as the +coach goes on without ever stopping except at the principal +stages, it is not surprising that you can traverse the whole +extent of the country in so few days. But for any length of +time this rapid motion is quite too unnatural. You can only +get a very piece-meal view of the country from the windows, and +with the tremendous speed at which you go can keep no object long +in sight; you are unable also to stop at any place.” +Near the same time the late Lord Campbell, travelling for the +first time by coach from Scotland to London, was seriously +advised to stay a day at York, as the rapidity of motion (eight +miles per hour) had caused several through-going passengers to +die of apoplexy.</p> +<p>It is stated in the year 1825, there was in the whole world, +only one railway carriage, built to convey passengers. It +was on the first railway between Stockton and Darlington, and +bore on its panels the motto—“Periculum privatum, +<!-- page 4--><a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +4</span>publica utilitas.” At the opening of this +line the people’s ideas of railway speed were scarcely +ahead of the canal boat. For we are told, “Strange to +say, a man on horseback carrying a flag headed the +procession. It was not thought so dangerous a place after +all. The locomotive was only supposed to go at the rate of +from four to six miles an hour; an ordinary horse could easily +keep ahead of that. A great concourse of people stood along +the line. Many of them tried to accompany the procession by +running, and some gentlemen on horseback galloped across the +fields to keep up with the engine. At a favourable part of +the road Stephenson determined to try the speed of the engine, +and he called upon the horseman with the flag to get out of his +way! The speed was at once raised to twelve miles an hour, +and soon after to fifteen, causing much excitement among the +passengers.”</p> +<p>George Stephenson was greatly impressed with the vast +possibilities belonging to the future of railway +travelling. When battling for the locomotive he seemed to +see with true prescience what it was destined to +accomplish. “I will do something in course of +time,” he said, “which will astonish all +England.” Years afterwards when asked to what he +alluded, he replied, “I meant to make the mail run between +London and Edinburgh by the locomotive before I died, and I have +done it.” Thus was a similar prediction fulfilled, +which at the time he uttered it was doubtless considered a very +wild prophecy, “Men shall take supper in London and +breakfast in Edinburgh.”</p> +<p>From a small beginning railways have spread over the four +quarters of the globe. Thousands of millions of pounds have +been spent upon their construction. Railway <!-- page +5--><a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +5</span>contractors such as Peto and Brassey at one time employed +armies of workmen, more numerous than the contending hosts +engaged in many a battle celebrated in history. Considering +the mighty revolutions that have been wrought in social affairs +and in the commerce of the world by railways, John Bright was not +far wrong when he said in the House of Commons “Who are the +greatest men of the present age? Not your warriors, not +your statesmen. They are your engineers.”</p> +<p>The Railway era, although of modern date, has been rich in +adventures and incidents. Numerous works have been written +upon Railways, also memoirs of Railway Engineers, relating their +struggles and triumphs, which have charmed multitudes of +readers. Yet no volume has been published consisting +exclusively of Railway Adventures and Anecdotes. Books +having the heading of Railway Anecdotes, or similar titles, +containing few of such anecdotes but many of a miscellaneous +character, have from time to time appeared. Anecdotes, racy +of the Railway calling and circumstances connected with it are +very numerous: they are to be found scattered in Parliamentary +Blue Books, Journals, Biographies, and many out-of-the-way +channels. Many of them are highly instructive, diverting, +and mirth-provoking, having reference to persons in all +conditions. The “Railway Adventures and +Anecdotes,” illustrating many a quaint and picturesque +scene of railway life, have been drawn from a great variety of +sources. I have for a long time been collecting them, and +am willing to believe they may prove entertaining and profitable +to the railway traveller and the general reader, relieving the +tedium of hours when the mind is not disposed to grapple with +profounder subjects.</p> +<p><!-- page 6--><a name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +6</span>The romance of railways is in the past and not in the +future. How desirable then it is that a well written +history of British Railways should speedily be produced, before +their traditions, interesting associations, and early workers +shall be forgotten. A work of such magnitude would need to +be entrusted to a band of expert writers. With an able man +like Mr. Williams, the author of <i>Our Iron Roads</i>, and the +<i>History of the Midland Railway</i>, presiding over the +enterprise, a history might be produced which would be +interesting to the present and to future generations. The +history although somewhat voluminous would be a necessity to +every public and private library. Many of our railway +companies might do worse than contribute £500 or +£1000 each to encourage such an important literary +undertaking. It would give an impetus to the study of +railway matters and it is not at all unlikely in the course of a +short time the companies would be recouped for their outlay.</p> +<p>Before concluding, it is only right I should express my +grateful acknowledgments to the numerous body of subscribers to +this work. Among them are noblemen of the highest rank and +distinction, cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, +magistrates, ministers of all sections of the Christian church, +merchants, farmers, tradesmen, and artisans. Through their +helpful kindness my responsibility has been considerably +lightened, and I trust they will have no reason to regret that +their confidence has been misplaced.</p> +<h2><!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +7</span>CONTENTS.</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p>A.B.C. and D.E.F.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page171">171</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Accident, Abergele, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page220">220</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Beneficial Effect of a Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page186">186</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Extraordinary</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page128">128</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, ,,</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page265">265</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Remarkable</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page172">172</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Versailles, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page96">96</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Action, A Novel</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page255">255</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Advantages of Railway Tunnels</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page126">126</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Advertisement, Remarkable</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page124">124</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Adventure, Remarkable</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page146">146</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Affrighted Toll Keeper</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page19">19</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Agent, The Insurance</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page269">269</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Air-ways, instead of Railways</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page83">83</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Alarmist Views</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page28">28</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Almost Dar Now</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page122">122</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>American Patience and Imperturbability</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page183">183</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>A’penny a Mile</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page170">170</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Army with Banners, An</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page207">207</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Atmospheric Railroad Anticipated</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page14">14</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Baby Law</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page216">216</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Balloonists, Extraordinary Escape of</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page275">275</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Bavarian Guards and Bavarian Beer</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page198">198</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Bill, Expensive Parliamentary</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page102">102</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, First Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page16">16</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Bishop, A Disingenuous</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page267">267</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, An Industrious</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page248">248</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Blunder, An Extraordinary</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page254">254</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Bookshops, Growth of Station</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page130">130</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Booking-Clerk and Buckland, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page248">248</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Bookstalls, Messrs. Smith’s</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page131">131</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Brahmin, The Polite</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page260">260</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Bride’s Lost Luggage, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page142">142</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Brassey’s, Mr., Strict Adherence to his Word</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page264">264</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Brougham’s, Lord, Speech</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page60">60</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Box, Shut up in a large</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page273">273</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Buckland’s, Mr. Frank, First Railway Journey</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page175">175</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Buckland, Mr. Frank, and his Boots</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page261">261</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Bridge, Awful Death on a Railroad</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page273">273</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Bully Rightly Served, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page190">190</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Burning the Road Clear</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page179">179</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Business, Railway Facilities for</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page118">118</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Calculation as to Railway Speed</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page28">28</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Capture, Clever</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page105">105</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Catastrophe</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page165">165</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Carlist Chief as a Sub-contractor, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page213">213</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Carriage, The Duke’s</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page60">60</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Casuality, Curious</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page193">193</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Chase after a Runaway Engine, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page136">136</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Child’s Idea on Railways, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page179">179</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Child, Remarkable Rescue of a</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page249">249</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Claim for goodwill for a Cow killed on the Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page268">268</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><!-- page 8--><a name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +8</span>Clergy, Appealing to the</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page83">83</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Clever, Quite too</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page181">181</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Coach <i>versus</i> Railway Accidents</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page198">198</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Compensation for Land</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page106">106</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, A Widow’s Claim for</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page242">242</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Competition, Early Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page27">27</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, For Passengers</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page167">167</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Goods</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page135">135</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Conductor, A Wide-awake</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page184">184</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Coincidences, Remarkable</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page291">291</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Cook’s Railway Excursions, Origin of</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page87">87</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Cool Impudence and Dishonesty</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page248">248</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Coolness, A Little Boy’s</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page258">258</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Constable, The Electric</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page92">92</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Contracts, Expensive</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page263">263</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Contractor, An Accommodating</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page113">113</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Contractors and the Blotting Pad, Rival</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page99">99</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Contrast, National</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page171">171</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Conversion of the Gauge</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page243">243</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Counsel, The bothered Queen’s</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page247">247</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Courting on a Railway thirty miles an hour</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page159">159</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Crimea, The First Railway in the</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page156">156</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Croydon. It’s</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page271">271</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Curious Classification, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page294">294</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Custom of the Country, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page234">234</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Cuvier’s Description of the Locomotive</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page21">21</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Damages easily adjusted</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page127">127</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Day. The Great Railway Mania</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page114">114</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Death. Faithful unto</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page153">153</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Decision. A Quick</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page95">95</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Decoy Trunk, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page224">224</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Deodand. The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page88">88</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Difficulties encountered in making Surveys</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page31">31</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Difficulty solved, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page181">181</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Discovery, A Great</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page144">144</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Discussion, An Unfortunate</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page89">89</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Disguise, Duty in</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page283">283</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Dissatisfied Passengers</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page236">236</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Doctor and the Officers, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page246">246</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Dog Ticket</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page91">91</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Down Brakes, or Force of Habit</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page192">192</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Drink. That accursed</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page274">274</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Drinking from the Wrong Bottle</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page262">262</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Driving a last spike</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page224">224</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Dropping the letter “L”</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page267">267</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Dukes and the traveller, The two</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page114">114</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Dying Engine Driver, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page191">191</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Early American Railway Enterprise</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page66">66</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Early Morning Ride</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page187">187</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Early Steam Carriages</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page15">15</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +9</span>Elevated Sight-seers Wishing to Descend</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page59">59</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Engine Driver, A Brave</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page247">247</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, A Mad</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page278">278</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Engine Driver’s Presence of Mind</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page232">232</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Driving</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page230">230</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Fascination</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page166">166</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Engineer and Scientific Witness</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page133">133</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Very Nice to be a Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page113">113</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Entertaining Companion</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page195">195</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Epigram, Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page124">124</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Epitaph, An Engine Driver’s</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page86">86</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, on the Victim of a Railway Accident</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page85">85</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Escape, Providential</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page128">128</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Escapes from being Lynched, Narrow</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page153">153</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Everett’s Reply to Wordsworth’s Protest</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page123">123</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Evidence of General Salesman</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page78">78</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Picture</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page111">111</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Evil, A Dreaded</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page145">145</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Excursionists put to the proof</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page294">294</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Extracts from Macready’s Diaries</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page138">138</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fares, Cheap</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page188">188</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fault, At</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page241">241</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Female Fragility</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page250">250</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Flutter caused by the murder of Mr. Briggs</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page253">253</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fog Signals</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page121">121</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Forged Tickets</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page217">217</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fourth of July Facts</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page244">244</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Fraud on the Great Northern Company, Immense</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page161">161</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Frauds, Attempted</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page140">140</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Freak, Singular</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page170">170</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Freaks of Concealed Bogs</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page138">138</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Frightened at a Red Light</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page223">223</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Girl, A Brave</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page273">273</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Goat and the Railway, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page155">155</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Good Things of Railway Accidents</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page186">186</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gravedigger’s Suggestion, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page257">257</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Gray, Thomas. A Railway Projector</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page22">22</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Greenlander’s First Railway Ride, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page255">255</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Growing Lad, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page217">217</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Hartington, The Marquis of, on George Stephenson</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page283">283</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Hair-Dresser, The anxious</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page79">79</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Heroism of a Driver</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page270">270</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Highlander and a Railway Engine, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page138">138</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Hoax, Accident</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page167">167</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Horses <i>versus</i> Railways</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page262">262</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>How to bear losses</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page214">214</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Impressions, A Mexican Chief’s Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page278">278</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Incident, An amusing</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page258">258</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, An Electric Tramway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page282">282</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Information, Obtaining</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page154">154</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><!-- page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 10</span>Insulted Woman, An</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page235">235</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Insured</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page202">202</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Judge’s feeling against Railways, A County Court</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page150">150</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kangaroo Attacking a Train, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page209">209</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kemble’s Letter, Fanny</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page35">35</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kid-Gloved Samson, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page184">184</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Kiss in the Dark, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page256">256</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Lady and her Lap-dog, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page242">242</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, An Exacting</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page183">183</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Legislation, Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page100">100</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Liabilities of Railway Engineers for Errors</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page127">127</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Liability of Companies for Delay of Trains</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page191">191</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Life upon a Railway, by a Conductor</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page148">148</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Loan Engineering, or Staking out a Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page172">172</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Locomotive, A Smuggling</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page234">234</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Dangerous</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page292">292</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Luggage, Lost</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page112">112</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, in Railway Carriages</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page281">281</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, What is Passengers’</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page243">243</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Madman in a Railway Carriage, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page201">201</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Marriage, A Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page139">139</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, and Railway Dividends</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page228">228</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Match, A Runaway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page93">93</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Merchant and his Clerk, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page160">160</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Mistake, A slight</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page263">263</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Monetary Difficulties in Spain</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page212">212</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Money. Lost and Found</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page87">87</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Monkey Signalman, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page294">294</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Navvy’s Reason for not going to Church, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page80">80</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Nervousness</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page259">259</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>New Trick. A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page203">203</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Newspaper Wonder, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page211">211</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Newton, Sir Isaac’s Prediction of Railway Speed</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page14">14</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Notice, Copy of a</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page237">237</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, A curious</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page154">154</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, A remarkable</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page252">252</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, to Defaulting Shareholders, A Novel</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page95">95</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Not to be caught</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page246">246</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Novel Attack, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page197">197</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Obstruction</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page215">215</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Objections, Sanitary</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page77">77</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Opposition, A Landowner’s</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page110">110</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, English and American</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page71">71</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Parliamentary</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page29">29</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, to Making Surveys</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page75">75</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Orders, My</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page280">280</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Parody upon the Railway Mania</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page118">118</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Passengers and other Cattle</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page158">158</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Third-class</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page143">143</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Peto, Sir Morton, and the Balaclava Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page156">156</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><!-- page 11--><a name="page11"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 11</span>Peto’s, Sir Morton, Railway +Mission</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page104">104</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Phillippe and the English Navvies, Louis</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page125">125</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Photographing an Express Train</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page259">259</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Polite Irishman, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page194">194</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Portmanteau, His</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page130">130</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Post Office and Railways. The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page119">119</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Power of Locomotive Engines, Gigantic</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page94">94</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Practice, Sharp</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page80">80</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Prejudice against carrying Coals by Railways</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page84">84</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Removed</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page81">81</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Presentiment, Mrs. Blackburne’s</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page56">56</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Profitable Damages</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page295">295</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Prognostications of Failure</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page73">73</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Pullman’s Carriages</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page295">295</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Race, A Curious</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page254">254</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Railway, An Early</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page20">20</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, An Early Ride on the Liverpool and Manchester</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page61">61</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Announcement</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page17">17</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Enterprise</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page296">296</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Travelling, Early</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page63">63</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Destroyers in the Franco-German War</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page223">223</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, from Merstham to Wandsworth</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page16">16</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Liverpool and Manchester</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page32">32</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Manners</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page272">272</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Merthyr Tydvil</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page17">17</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, A Profitable</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page260">260</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Opening of the Darlington and Stockton</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page26">26</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Romance</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page93">93</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Sleeper, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page246">246</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Signals</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page120">120</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Switch Tender and his Child</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page199">199</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Train turned into a Man-trap</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page185">185</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Up Vesuvius</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page274">274</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Railways, Elevated</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page214">214</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, A Judgment</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page268">268</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Origin of</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page13">13</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Railroad Incident</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page214">214</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Tracklayer</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page216">216</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Rails, Expansion of</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page158">158</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Rector and his Pig. The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page103">103</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Redstart, The Black</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page199">199</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Rejoinder, A smart</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page158">158</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Reproof for Swearing</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page189">189</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Request, A Polite</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page136">136</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Ride from Boston to Providence in 1835, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page81">81</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Robinson’s, Crabb, First Railway Journey</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page65">65</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Ruling Occupation strong on Sunday</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page186">186</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Safety on the Floor</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page147">147</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Seat, The Safest</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page268">268</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Scotch Lady and her Box</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page272">272</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Scene at a Railway Junction, Extraordinary</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page134">134</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Before a Sub-Committee on Standing Orders</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page176">176</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><!-- page 12--><a name="page12"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 12</span>Security for Travelling</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page229">229</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Sell, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page241">241</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Seizure of a Railway Train for Debt</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page208">208</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>She takes Fits</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page210">210</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Shrewd Observers</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page20">20</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Signalman, An Amateur</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page97">97</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Singular Circumstance</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page125">125</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Sleeper, A Heavy</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page276">276</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Sounds, Remarkable Memory for</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page266">266</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Snag’s Corners</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page210">210</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Snake’s Heads</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page81">81</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Snowed up on the Pacific Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page237">237</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Speed of Railway Engines</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page30">30</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Steam defined</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page137">137</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Pulling a Tooth by</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page276">276</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Steel Rails</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page193">193</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Stephenson Centenary, The</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page284">284</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, ,, George Robert Stephenson’s Address</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page286">286</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, ,, Rev. T. C. Sarjent’s Address at the</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page288">288</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, ,, Sir William Armstrong’s Address at the</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page284">284</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Stephenson’s Wedding Present, George</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page194">194</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Stopping a Runaway Couple</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page200">200</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Stumped</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page293">293</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Swindling, Ingenious</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page292">292</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Taken Aback</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page152">152</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Taking Him Down a Peg</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page252">252</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Taste, Loss of</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page291">291</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Tay Bridge Accident</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page245">245</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Telegraph, Extraordinary use of the Electric</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page111">111</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Ticket, A Lost</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page164">164</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Your</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page271">271</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Traffic-Taking</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page86">86</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Train Stopped by Caterpillars, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page204">204</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Travelling, Effects of Constant Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page281">281</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, in Russia</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page204">204</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>,, Improvement in Third-Class</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page143">143</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Trent Station</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page192">192</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Trip, An Unpleasant Trial</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page72">72</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Tunnel, In a Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page137">137</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Very Cool</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page199">199</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Waif, An Extraordinary</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page245">245</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Ward’s, Artemus, Suggestion</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page197">197</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Watkin, Sir Edward, on Touting for Business</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page269">269</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Way, A Quick</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page138">138</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Way-Leaves</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page13">13</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Wedding at a Railway Station</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page166">166</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>What are you going to do?</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page189">189</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Whistle, Steam</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page98">98</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Wolves on a Railway</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page197">197</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Wordsworth’s Protest</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page122">122</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Yankee Compensation Case, A</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page218">218</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><!-- page 13--><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +13</span>ORIGIN OF RAILWAYS</h2> +<p>The immediate parent of the railway was the wooden tram-road, +which existed at an early period in colliery districts. Mr. +Beaumont, of Newcastle, is said to have been the first to lay +down wooden rails as long ago as 1630. More than one +hundred and forty years elapsed before the invention was greatly +improved. Mr. John Carr, in 1776 (although not the first to +use iron rails), was the first to lay down a cast-iron railway, +nailed to wooden sleepers, for the Duke of Newcastle’s +colliery near Sheffield. This innovation was regarded with +great disfavour by the workpeople as an interference with the +vested rights of labour. Mr. Carr’s life, as a +consequence, was in much jeopardy and for four days he had to +conceal himself in a wood to avoid the violence of an indignant +and vindictive populace.</p> +<h2>WAY-LEAVES.</h2> +<p>Roger North, referring to a visit paid to Newcastle by his +brother, the Lord Keeper Guildford, in 1676, +writes:—“Another remarkable thing is their +<i>way-leaves</i>; for when men have pieces of ground between the +colliery and the river, they sell the leave to lead coal over the +ground, and so dear that the owner of a rood of ground will +expect £20 per annum for this leave. The manner of +the carriage is by laying rails of timber from the colliery down +to the river exactly straight and parallel, and bulky carts are +made with four rowlets fitting these rails, whereby the carriage +is so easy that one horse will draw four or five chaldron of +coals, and is an immense benefit to the coal +merchants.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 14--><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +14</span>SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S PREDICTION OF RAILWAY +SPEED.</h2> +<p>In a tract by the Rev. Mr. Craig, Vicar of Leamington, +entitled “Astral Wonders,” is to be found the +following remarkable passage:—“Let me narrate to you +an anecdote concerning Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire. Sir +Isaac wrote a book on the Prophet Daniel, and another on the +Revelations; and he said, in order to fulfil certain prophecies +before a certain date terminated, namely 1260 years, there would +be a certain mode of travelling of which the men in his time had +no conception; nay, that the knowledge of mankind would be so +increased that they would be able to travel at the rate of fifty +miles an hour. Voltaire, who did not believe in the Holy +Scriptures, got hold of this, and said, ‘Now look at that +mighty mind of Newton, who discovered gravity, and told us such +marvels for us all to admire, when he became an old man and got +into his dotage, he began to study that book called the Bible; +and it appears that in order to credit its fabulous nonsense, we +must believe that mankind’s knowledge will be so much +increased that we shall be able to travel fifty miles an +hour. The poor ‘dotard!’ exclaimed the +philosophic infidel, Voltaire, in the complaisancy of his +pity. But who is the dotard now?”</p> +<h2>THE ATMOSPHERIC RAILROAD ANTICIPATED.</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><i>First Voice</i>.</p> +<p>“But why drives on that ship so fast,<br /> +Without or wave or wind?”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Second Voice</i>.</p> +<p>“The air is cut away before,<br /> +And closes from behind.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>The Ancient +Mariner</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This is the exact principle of the atmospheric railroad, and +it is, perhaps, worthy of note as a curious fact that such a +means of locomotion should have occurred to Coleridge so long +ago.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">W. Y. Bernhard Smith, in <i>Notes +and Queries</i>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +15</span>EARLY STEAM CARRIAGES.</h2> +<p>Stuart, in his “Historical and Descriptive Anecdotes of +Steam Engines and of their Inventors and Improvers,” gives +a description of what was supposed to be the first model of a +steam carriage. The constructor was a Frenchman named +Cugnot, who exhibited it before the Marshal de Saxe in +1763. He afterwards built an engine on the same model at +the cost of the French monarch. But when set in motion it +projected itself onward with such force that it knocked down a +wall which stood in its way, and—its power being considered +too great for ordinary use—it was put aside as being a +dangerous machine, and was stowed away in the Arsenal Museum at +Paris. It is now to be seen in the Conservatoire des Arts +et Métiers.</p> +<p>Mr. Smiles also remarks that “An American inventor, +named Oliver Evans, was also occupied with the same idea, for, in +1772, he invented a steam carriage to travel on common roads; +and, in 1787, he obtained from the State of Maryland the +exclusive right to make and use steam carriages. The +invention, however, never came into practical use.</p> +<p>“It also appears that, in 1784, William Symington, the +inventor of the steamboat, conceived the idea of employing steam +power in the propulsion of carriages; and, in 1786, he had a +working model of a steam carriage constructed which he submitted +to the professors and other scientific gentlemen of +Edinburgh. But the state of the Scotch roads was at that +time so horrible that he considered it impracticable to proceed +further with his scheme, and he shortly gave it up in favour of +his project of steam navigation.</p> +<p>“The first English model of a steam carriage was made in +1784 by William Murdoch, the friend and assistant of Watt. +It was on the high-pressure principle and ran on three +wheels. The boiler was heated by a spirit lamp, and the +whole machine was of very diminutive dimensions, standing little +more than a foot high. Yet, on one occasion, the little +engine went so fast that it outran the speed of the +inventor. Mr. Buckle says that one night after returning +from his duties in the mine at Redruth, in Cornwall, Murdoch +determined to try the working of his model locomotive. <!-- +page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +16</span>For this purpose he had recourse to the walk leading to +the church, about a mile from the town. The walk was rather +narrow and was bounded on either side by high hedges. It +was a dark night, and Murdoch set out alone to try his +experiment. Having lit his lamp, the water shortly began to +boil, and off started the engine with the inventor after +it. He soon heard distant shouts of despair. It was +too dark to perceive objects, but he shortly found, on following +up the machine, that the cries for assistance proceeded from the +worthy pastor of the parish, who, going towards the town on +business, was met on this lonely road by the hissing and fiery +little monster, which he subsequently declared he had taken to be +the Evil One in <i>propriâ personâ</i>. No +further steps, however, were taken by Murdoch to embody his idea +of a locomotive carriage in a more practical form.”</p> +<h2>FIRST RAILWAY BILL.</h2> +<p>The first Railway Bill passed by Parliament was for a line +from Wandsworth to Croydon, in 1801, but a quarter of a century +elapsed before the first line was actually constructed for +carrying passengers between Stockton and Darlington. People +still living can remember the mail coaches that plied once a +month between Edinburgh and London, making the journey in twelve +or fourteen days. The <i>Annual Register</i> of 1820 boasts +that “English mail coaches run 7 miles an hour; French only +4½ miles; the former travelling, in the year, forty times +the length of miles that the French accomplish.” +These coaches were a great improvement on the previous method of +sending the mails. In 1783 a petition to Parliament stated +that “the mails are generally entrusted to some idle boy, +without character, mounted on a worn-out hack.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“<i>Progress of the +World</i>” by M. G. Mulhall.</p> +<h2>RAILWAY FROM MERSTHAM TO WANDSWORTH.</h2> +<p>Charles Knight thus describes this old line:—“The +earliest railway for public traffic in England was one passing +from Merstham to Wandsworth, through Croydon; a small, single +line, on which a miserable team of donkeys, some thirty years +ago, might be seen crawling at the rate <!-- page 17--><a +name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>of four miles +an hour, with several trucks of stone and lime behind them. +It was commenced in 1801, opened in 1803; and the men of science +of that day—we cannot say that the respectable name of +Stephenson was not among them, (Stephenson was then a brakesman +at Killingworth)—tested its capabilities and found that one +horse could draw some thirty-five tons at six miles an hour, and +then, with prophetic wisdom, declared that railways could never +be worked profitably. The old Croydon railway is no longer +used. The genius loci must look with wonder on the gigantic +offspring of the little railway, which has swallowed up its own +sire. Lean mules no longer crawl leisurely along the little +rails with trucks of stone through Croydon, once perchance during +the day, but the whistle and the rush of the locomotive are now +heard all day long. Not a few loads of lime, but all London +and its contents, by comparison—men, women, children, +horses, dogs, oxen, sheep, pigs, carriages, merchandise, +food,—would seem to be now-a-days passing through Croydon; +for day after day, more than 100 journeys are made by the great +railroads which pass the place.”</p> +<h2>RAILWAY ANNOUNCEMENT.</h2> +<p>The following announcement was published in a London +periodical, dated August 1, 1802:—“The Surrey Iron +Railway is now completed over the high road through Wandsworth +town. On Wednesday, June 8, several carriages of all +descriptions passed over the iron rails without meeting with the +least obstacle. Among these, the Portsmouth wagon, drawn by +eight horses and weighing from eight to ten tons, passed over the +rails, and did not appear to make the slightest impression upon +them.”</p> +<h2>MERTHYR TYDVIL RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>An Act of Parliament was granted for a railway to Merthyr +Tydvil in 1803, and the following year the first locomotive which +ran on a railway is described in a racy manner by the <i>Western +Mail</i>, as follows:—“Quaint, rattling, puffing, +asthmatic, and wheezy, the pioneer of ten thousand gilding +creations of beauty and strength made its way between the +white-washed houses of the old tramway at <!-- page 18--><a +name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +18</span>Merthyr. It has a dwarf body placed on a high +framework, constructed by the hedge carpenter of the place in the +roughest possible fashion. The wheels were equally rough +and large, and surmounting all was a huge stack, ugly enough when +it was new, but in after times made uglier by whitewash and +rust. Every movement was made with a hideous uproar, +snorting and clanking, and this, aided by the noise of the +escaping steam, formed a tableau from which, met in the byeway, +every old woman would run with affright. The Merthyr +locomotive was made jointly by Trevithick, a Cornishman, and Rees +Jones, of Penydarran. The day fixed for the trial was the +12th of February, 1804, and the track a tramway, lately formed +from Penydarran, at the back of Plymouth Works, by the side of +the Troedyrhiw, and so down to the navigation. Great was +the concourse assembled; villagers of all ages and sizes thronged +the spot; and the rumour of the day’s doings even +penetrated up the defiles of Taff Vawr and Taff Vach, bringing +down old apple-faced farmers and their wives, who were told of a +power and a speed that would alter everything, and do away with +horses altogether. Prim, cosy, apple-faced people, innocent +and primitive, little thought ye then of the changes which the +clanking monster was to yield; how Grey Dobbin would see flying +by a mass of wood and iron, thousands of tons of weight, bearing +not only the commerce of the country, but hundreds of people as +well; how rivers and mountains would afford no obstacle, as the +mighty azure waves leap the one and dash through the other. +On the first engine and trains that started on the memorable day +in February, twenty persons clustered like bees, anxious, we +learn in the ‘History of Merthyr,’ to win immortality +by being thus distinguished above all their fellows; the trains +were six in number, laden with iron, and amidst a concourse of +villagers, including the constable, the ‘druggister,’ +and the class generally dubbed ‘shopwors’ by the +natives, were Richard Crawshay and Mr. Samuel Homfray. The +driver was one William Richards, and on the engine were perched +Trevithick and Rees Jones, their faces black, but their eyes +bright with the anticipation of victory. Soon the signal +was given, and amidst a mighty roar from the people, the wheels +turned <!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 19</span>and the mass moved forward, going +steadily at the rate of five miles an hour until a bridge was +reached a little below the town that did not admit of the stack +going under, and as this was built of bricks, there was a great +crash and instant stoppage. Trevithick and Jones were of +the old-fashioned school of men who did not believe in +impossibilities. The fickle crowd, too, who had hurrahed +like mad, hung back and said ‘It won’t do’; but +these heroes, the advance-guard of a race who had done more to +make England famous than battles by land or sea, sprang to the +ground and worked like Britons, never ceasing until they had +repaired the mishap, and then they rattled on, and finally +reached their journey’s end. The return journey was a +failure, on account of gradients and curves, but the possibility +of success was demonstrated; and from this run on the Merthyr +tramway the railway age—marked with throes and suspense, +delays, accidents, and misadventures—finally +began.”</p> +<h2>AN AFFRIGHTED TOLL-KEEPER.</h2> +<p>There is a story told by Coleridge about the steam engine +which Trevithick exhibited at work on a temporary railroad in +London. Trevithick and his partner Captain Vivian, prior to +this exhibition were riding on the carriage on the turnpike road +near to Plymouth. It had committed sundry damage in its +course, knocking down the rails of a gentleman’s garden, +when Vivian saw the toll-bar in front of them closed he called to +Trevithick to slacken speed which he did just in time to save the +gate. The affrighted toll-keeper instantly opened it. +“What have us got to pay?” asked Captain Vivian, +careful as to honesty if reckless as to grammar.</p> +<p>“Na-na-na-na!” stammered the poor man, trembling +in every limb, with his teeth chattering as if he had got the +ague.</p> +<p>“What have us got to pay, I ask?”</p> +<p>“Na-noth-nothing to pay! My de-dear Mr. Devil, do +drive as fast as you can! Nothing to pay!”</p> +<h2><!-- page 20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +20</span>AN EARLY RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>More than twenty years before the opening of the Liverpool and +Manchester Railway, the celebrated engineer Trevithick +constructed, not only a locomotive engine, but also a railway, +that the London public might see with their own eyes what the new +high pressure steam engine could effect, and how greatly superior +a railway was to a common road for locomotion. The sister +of Davies Gilbert named this engine “Catch me who +can.” The following interesting account in a letter +to a correspondent was given by John Isaac Hawkins, an engineer +well known in his day.</p> +<p>“Sir,—Observing that it is stated in your last +number (No. 1232, dated the 20th instant, page 269), under the +head of ‘Twenty-one Years’ Retrospect of the Railway +System,’ that the greatest speed of Trevithick’s +engine was five miles an hour, I think it due to the memory of +that extraordinary man to declare that about the year 1808 he +laid down a circular railway in a field adjoining the New Road, +near or at the spot now forming the southern half of Euston +Square; that he placed a locomotive engine, weighing about ten +tons, on that railway—on which I rode, with my watch in +hand—at the rate of twelve miles an hour; that Mr. +Trevithick then gave his opinion that it would go twenty miles an +hour, or more, on a straight railway; that the engine was +exhibited at one shilling admittance, including a ride for the +few who were not too timid; that it ran for some weeks, when a +rail broke and occasioned the engine to fly off in a tangent and +overturn, the ground being very soft at the time. Mr. +Trevithick having expended all his means in erecting the works +and enclosure, and the shillings not having come in fast enough +to pay current expenses, the engine was not again set on the +rail.”</p> +<h2>SHREWD OBSERVERS.</h2> +<p>Sir Richard Phillips was a man of foresight, for, in the year +1813, he wrote the following words in his “Morning Walk to +Kew,” a book of some popularity in its day:—“I +found delight in witnessing at Wandsworth the economy of horse +labour on the iron railway. Yet a heavy sigh escaped me as +I thought of the inconceivable millions of <!-- page 21--><a +name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>money which +had been spent about Malta, four or five of which might have been +the means of extending double lines of iron railway from London +to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Holyhead, Milford, Falmouth, Yarmouth, +Dover, and Portsmouth. A reward of a single thousand would +have supplied coaches and other vehicles of various degrees of +speed, with the best tackle for readily turning out; and we might +ere this have witnessed our mail coaches running at the rate of +ten miles an hour, drawn by a single horse, or impelled fifteen +miles an hour by Blenkinsop’s steam engine. Such +would have been a legitimate motive for overstepping the income +of a nation; and the completion of so great and useful a work +would have afforded rational ground for public triumph in general +jubilee.” Mr. Edgeworth, writing to James Watt on the +7th of August, 1813, remarks, “I have always thought that +steam would become the universal lord, and that we should in time +scorn post-horses. An iron railroad would be a cheaper +thing than a road on the common construction.”</p> +<h2>CUVIER’S DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCOMOTIVE.</h2> +<p>The celebrated Cuvier, in an address delivered by him before +the French Institute in the year 1816, thus referred to the +nascent locomotive:—“A steam engine, mounted upon a +carriage whose wheels indent themselves along a road specially +prepared for it, is attached to a line of loaded vehicles. +A fire is lit underneath the boiler, by which the engine is +speedily set in motion, and in a short time the whole are brought +to their journey’s end. The traveller who, from a +distance, first sees this strange spectacle of a train of loaded +carriages traversing the country by the simple force of steam, +can with difficulty believe his eyes.”</p> +<p>The locomotive thus described by Cuvier was the first engine +of the kind regularly employed in the working of railway +traffic. It was impelled by means of a cogged wheel, which +worked into a cogged rail, after the method adopted by Mr. +Blenkinsop, upon the Middleton Coal Railway, near Leeds; and the +speed of the train which it dragged behind it was only from three +to four miles an hour.</p> +<p><!-- page 22--><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +22</span>Ten years later, the same power and speed of the +locomotive were still matters of wonderment, for, in 1825, we +find Mr. Mackenzie, in his “History of +Northumberland” thus describing the performances on the +Wylam Coal Railroad:—“A stranger,” said he, +“is struck with surprise and astonishment on seeing a +locomotive engine moving majestically along the road at the rate +of four or five miles an hour, drawing along from ten to fourteen +loaded wagons, weighing about twenty-one-and-a-half tons; and his +surprise is increased on witnessing the extraordinary facility +with which the engine is managed. This invention is indeed +a noble triumph of science.”</p> +<p>In the same year, the first attempt was made to carry +passengers by railway between Stockton and Darlington. A +machine resembling the yellow caravan still seen at country fairs +was built and fitted up with seats all round it, and set upon the +rails, along which it was drawn by a horse. It was found +exceedingly convenient to travel by, and the number of passengers +between the two towns so much increased that several bodies of +old stage coaches were bought up, mounted upon railway wheels, +and added to the carrying stock of the Stockton and Darlington +Company. At length the horse was finally discarded in +favour of the locomotive, and not only coals and merchandise, but +passengers of all classes, were drawn by steam.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Railway News</i>.</p> +<h2>A RAILWAY PROJECTOR.</h2> +<p>In the year 1819, Thomas Gray—a deep thinker with a mind +of comprehensive grasp—was travelling in the North of +England when he saw a train of coal-wagons drawn by steam along a +colliery tramroad. “Why,” he questioned the +engineer, “are not these tramroads laid down all over +England, so as to supersede our common roads, and steam engines +employed to convey goods and passengers along them, so as to +supersede horse power?” The engineer replied, +“Just propose you that to the nation, sir, and see what you +will get by it! Why, sir, you will be worried to death for +your pains.” Nothing daunted by this reply, Thomas +Gray could scarcely think or talk upon any other subject. +In vision he saw the country covered with a <!-- page 23--><a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>network of +tramroads. Before his time the famous Duke of Bridgewater +might have some misgivings about his canals. It is related +on a certain occasion some one said to him, “You must be +making handsomely out of your canals.” “Oh, +yes,” grumbled he in reply, “they will last my time, +but I don’t like the look of these tramroads; there’s +mischief in them.” Mr. Gray, with prophetic eye, saw +the great changes which the iron railway would make in the means +of transit throughout the civilized world. In 1820 he +brought out his now famous work, entitled “Observations on +a General Iron Railway, or Land Steam Conveyance, to supersede +the necessity of horses in all public vehicles; showing its vast +superiority in every respect over all the present pitiful methods +of conveyance by Turnpike-roads, Canals, and Coasting Traders: +containing every species of information relative to Railroads and +Locomotive Engines.” The book is illustrated by a +plate exhibiting different kinds of carriages drawn on the +railway by locomotives. He evidently anticipated that the +locomotive of the future would be capable of going at a +considerable speed, for on the plate is engraved these +lines:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“No speed with this can fleetest horse +compare;<br /> +No weight like this canal or vessel bear.<br /> +As this will commerce every way promote,<br /> +To this let sons of commerce grant their vote.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Mr. Gray in his book exhibits a marvellous insight into the +wants and requirements of the country. He remarks, +“The plan might be commenced between the towns of +Manchester and Liverpool, where a trial could soon be made, as +the distance is not very great, and the commercial part of +England would thereby be better able to appreciate its many +excellent properties and prove its efficacy. All the great +trading towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire would then eagerly +embrace the opportunity to secure so commodious and easy a +conveyance, and cause branch railways to be laid down in every +possible direction. The convenience and economy in the +carriage of the raw material to the numerous manufactories +established in these counties, the expeditious and cheap delivery +of piece goods bought by the merchants every week at the various +markets, and the despatch in forwarding bales and packages to the +outposts <!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 24</span>cannot fail to strike the merchant +and manufacturer as points of the first importance. +Nothing, for example, would be so likely to raise the ports of +Hull, Liverpool, and Bristol to an unprecedented pitch of +prosperity as the establishment of railways to those ports, +thereby rendering the communication from the east to the west +seas, and all intermediate places, rapid, cheap, and +effectual. Anyone at all conversant with commerce must feel +the vast importance of such an undertaking in forwarding the +produce of America, Brazils, the East and West Indies, etc., from +Liverpool and Bristol, <i>via</i> Hull, to the opposite shores of +Germany and Holland, and, <i>vice versa</i>, the produce of the +Baltic, <i>via</i> Hull, to Liverpool and Bristol. Again, +by the establishment of morning and evening mail steam carriages, +the commercial interest would derive considerable advantage; the +inland mails might be forwarded with greater despatch and the +letters delivered much earlier than by the extra post; the +opportunity of correspondence between London and all mercantile +places would be much improved, and the rate of postage might be +generally diminished without injuring the receipts of the post +office, because any deficiency occasioned by a reduction in the +postage would be made good by the increased number of journeys +which mail steam carriages might make. The London and +Edinburgh mail steam carriages might take all the mails and +parcels on the line of road between these two cities, which would +exceedingly reduce the expense occasioned by mail coaches on the +present footing. The ordinary stage coaches, caravans, or +wagons, running any considerable distance along the main railway, +might also be conducted on peculiarly favourable terms to the +public; for instance, one steam engine of superior power would +enable its proprietors to convey several coaches, caravans, or +wagons, linked together until they arrive at their respective +branches, when other engines might proceed on with them to their +destination. By a due regulation of the departure and +arrival of coaches, caravans, and wagons along these branches the +whole communication throughout the country would be so simple and +so complete as to enable every individual to partake of the +various productions of particular situations, and to enjoy, at a +moderate expense every improvement introduced into society. +The great <!-- page 25--><a name="page25"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 25</span>economy of such a measure must be +obvious to everyone, seeing that, instead of each coach changing +horses between London and Edinburgh, say twenty-five times, +requiring a hundred horses, besides the supernumerary ones kept +at every stage in case of accidents, the whole journey of several +coaches would be performed with the simple expense of one steam +engine. No animal strength will be able to give that +uniform and regular acceleration to our commercial intercourse +which may be accomplished by railways; however great animal +speed, there cannot be a doubt that it would be considerably +surpassed by mail steam carriages, and that the expense would be +infinitely less. The exorbitant charge now made for small +parcels prevents that natural intercourse of friendship between +families resident in different parts of the kingdom, in the same +manner as the heavy postage of letters prevents free +communication, and consequently diminishes very considerably the +consumption of paper which would take place under a less +burdensome taxation.”</p> +<p>Mr. Gray’s book would no doubt excite ridicule and +amazement when published sixty years ago. The farmers of +that day might well be excused for incredulity when perusing a +passage like the following:—“The present system of +conveyance,” says Mr. Gray, “affords but tolerable +accommodation to farmers, and the common way in which they attend +markets must always confine them within very limited +distances. It is, however, expected that the railway will +present a suitable conveyance for attending market-towns thirty +or forty miles off, as also for forwarding considerable supplies +of grain, hay, straw, vegetables, and every description of live +stock to the metropolis at a very easy expense, and with the +greatest celerity, from all parts of the kingdom.”</p> +<p>A writer in Chambers’s Journal, 1847, +remarks:—“It was not until after four or five years +of agitation, and several editions of Mr. Gray’s work had +been published and successively commented upon by many +newspapers, that commercial men were roused to give the proposed +scheme its first great trial on the road between Liverpool and +Manchester. The success of that experiment, insured by the +engineering skill of Stephenson, was the signal for all that <!-- +page 26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +26</span>has since been done both in this island and in other +parts of the world. Unfortunately, the public has been too +busy these many years in making railways to inquire to whom it +owes its gratitude for having first expounded and advocated their +claims; and probably there are few men now living who have served +the public as effectually, with so little return in the way of +thanks or applause, as Mr. Thomas Gray, the proposer in 1820 of a +general system of transit by railways.”</p> +<p>Poor Gray! He was far ahead of his times. Public +men called him a bore, and people in Nottingham, where he +resided, said he was cracked. The <i>Quarterly Review</i> +declared such persons are not worth our notice, and the +<i>Edinburgh Review</i> said “Put him in a straight +jacket.” Thus the world is often ignorant of its +greatest benefactors. Gray died in poverty. His widow +and daughters earned their living by teaching a small school at +Exeter.</p> +<h2>OPENING OF THE DARLINGTON AND STOCKTON RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>In the autumn of 1825 the <i>Times</i> gave an account of the +origin of one of the most gigantic enterprises of modern +times. In that year the Darlington and Stockton Railway was +formally opened by the proprietors for the use of the +public. It was a single railway, and the object of its +promoters was to open the London market to the Durham Collieries, +as well as to facilitate the obtaining of fuel to the country +along its line and certain parts of Yorkshire. The account +of the opening says:—</p> +<p>A train of carriages was attached to a locomotive engine of +the most improved construction, and built by Mr. George +Stephenson, in the following order:—(1) Locomotive engine, +with the engineer and assistants; (2) tender with coals and +water; next six wagons loaded with coals and flour; then an +elegant covered coach, with the committee and other proprietors +of the railway; then 21 wagons fitted up on the occasion for +passengers; and, last of all, six wagons loaded with coals, +making altogether a train of 38 carriages, exclusive of the +engine and tender. Tickets were distributed to the number +of nearly 300 for those whom it was intended should occupy the +coach and wagons; but such was the pressure and crowd that both +loaded and <!-- page 27--><a name="page27"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 27</span>empty carriages were instantly filled +with passengers. The signal being given, the engine started +off with this immense train of carriages. In some parts the +speed was frequently 12 miles per hour, and in one place, for a +short distance, near Darlington, 15 miles per hour, and at that +time the number of passengers was counted to 450, which, together +with the coals, merchandise, and carriages, would amount to +nearly 90 tons. After some little delay in arranging the +procession, the engine, with her load, arrived at Darlington a +distance of eight miles and three-quarters, in 65 minutes, +exclusive of stops, averaging about eight miles an hour. +The engine arrived at Stockton in three hours and seven minutes +after leaving Darlington, including stops, the distance being +nearly 12 miles, which is at the rate of four miles an hour, and +upon the level part of the railway the number of passengers in +the wagons was counted about 550, and several more clung to the +carriages on each side, so that the whole number could not be +less than 600.</p> +<h2>EARLY RAILWAY COMPETITION.</h2> +<p>The first Stockton and Darlington Act gave permission to all +parties to use the line on payment of certain rates. Thus +private individuals might work their own horses and carriages +upon the railway and be their own carriers. Mr. Clepham, in +the <i>Gateshead Observer</i>, gives an interesting account of +the competition induced by the system:—“There were +two separate coach companies in Stockton, and amusing collisions +sometimes occurred between the drivers—who found on the +rail a novel element for contention. Coaches cannot pass +each other on the rail as on the road; and at the more westward +public-house in Stockton (the Bay Horse, kept by Joe Buckton), +the coach was always on the line betimes, reducing its eastward +rival to the necessity of waiting patiently (or impatiently) in +the rear. The line was single, with four sidings in the +mile; and when two coaches met, or two trains, or coach and +train, the question arose which of the drivers must go +back? This was not always settled in silence. As to +trains, it came to be a sort of understanding that light wagons +should give way to loaded; as to trains and coaches, that the +passengers should <!-- page 28--><a name="page28"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 28</span>have preference over coals; while +coaches, when they met, must quarrel it out. At length, +midway between sidings a post was erected, and a rule was laid +down that he who had passed the pillar must go on, and the coming +man go back. At the Goose Pool and Early Nook, it was +common for these coaches to stop; and there, as Jonathan would +say, passengers and coachmen ‘liquored.’ One +coach, introduced by an innkeeper, was a compound of two mourning +coaches, an approximation to the real railway coach, which still +adheres, with multiplying exceptions, to the stage coach +type. One Dixon, who drove the ‘Experiment’ +between Darlington and Shildon, is the inventor of carriage +lighting on the rail. On a dark winter night, having +compassion on his passengers, he would buy a penny candle, and +place it lighted amongst them, on the table of the +‘Experiment’—the first railway coach (which, by +the way, ended its days at Shildon, as a railway cabin), being +also the first coach on the rail (first, second, and third class +jammed all into one) that indulged its customers with light in +darkness.”</p> +<h2>CALCULATION AS TO RAILWAY SPEED.</h2> +<p>The Editor of <i>The Scotsman</i>, having engaged in +researches into the laws of friction established by Vince and +Coloumb, published the results in a series of articles in his +journal in 1824 showing how twenty miles an hour was, on +theoretic grounds, within the limits of possibility; and it was +to his writings on this point that Mr. Nicholas Wood alluded when +he spoke of the ridiculous expectation that engines would ever +travel at the rate of twenty, or even twelve miles an hour.</p> +<h2>ALARMIST VIEWS.</h2> +<p>A writer in the <i>Quarterly Review</i>, in 1825, was quite +prophetical as to the dangers connected with railway +travelling. He observes:—“It is certainly some +consolation to those who are to be whirled at the rate of 18 or +20 miles an hour by means of a high-pressure engine, to be told +that there is no danger of being sea-sick while on shore, that +they are not to be scalded to death, nor drowned, nor dashed to +pieces by the bursting of a boiler; and that they need not <!-- +page 29--><a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +29</span>mind being struck by the flying off or breaking of a +wheel. What can be more palpably absurd or ridiculous than +the prospect held out of locomotives travelling <i>twice as +fast</i> as stage coaches! We should as soon expect the +people of Woolwich to suffer themselves to be fired off upon one +of Congreve’s Ricochet Rockets, as trust themselves to the +mercy of such a machine going at such a rate. We will back +old Father Thames against the Woolwich Railway for any sum. +We trust that Parliament will, in all railways it may sanction, +limit the speed to <i>eight or nine miles an hour</i>, which we +entirely agree with Mr. Sylvestor is as great as can be ventured +on with safety.”</p> +<h2>PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION.</h2> +<p>On the third reading of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway +Bill in the House of Commons, The Hon. Edward Stanley moved that +the bill be read that day six months, assigning, among other +reasons, that the railway trains worked by horses would take ten +hours to do the distance, and that they could not be worked by +locomotive engines. Sir Isaac Coffin seconded the motion, +indignantly denouncing the project as fraught with fraud and +imposition. He would not consent to see widows’ +premises invaded, and “how,” he asked, “would +any person like to have a railroad under his parlour window? . . +. What, he would like to know, was to be done with all +those who had advanced money in making and repairing +turnpike-roads? What with those who may still wish to +travel in their own or hired carriages, after the fashion of +their forefathers? What was to become of coach-makers and +harness-makers, coach-masters and coachmen, innkeepers, +horse-breeders, and horse-dealers? Was the House aware of +the smoke and noise, the hiss and whirl, which locomotive +engines, passing at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, +would occasion? Neither the cattle ploughing in the fields +or grazing in the meadows could behold them without dismay. . . +. Iron would be raised in price 100 per cent., or, more +probably, exhausted altogether! It would be the greatest +nuisance, the most complete disturbance of quiet and comfort in +all parts of the kingdom, that the ingenuity of man could +invent!”</p> +<h2><!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +30</span>SPEED OF RAILWAY ENGINES.</h2> +<p>At the present day it is amusing to read the speeches of the +counsel employed against an act of Parliament being passed in +favour of the railway between Liverpool and Manchester. Mr. +Harrison, who appeared on behalf of certain landowners against +the scheme, thus spoke with regard to the powers of the +locomotive engine:—“When we set out with the original +prospectus—I am sorry I have not got the paper with +me—we were to gallop, I know not at what rate, I believe it +was at the rate of twelve miles an hour. My learned friend, +Mr. Adam, contemplated, possibly in alluding to Ireland, that +some of the Irish members would arrive in wagons to a +division. My learned friend says, that they would go at the +rate of twelve miles an hour, with the aid of a devil in the form +of a locomotive, sitting as a postillion upon the fore-horse, and +an Honourable Member, whom I do not see here, sitting behind him +to stir up the fire, and to keep it up at full speed. But +the speed at which these locomotive engines are to go has +slackened; Mr. Adam does not now go faster than five miles per +hour. The learned Sergeant says, he should like to have +seven, but he would be content to go six. I will show you +he cannot go six; and probably, for any practical purposes, I may +be able to show, that I can keep up with him by the canal. +Now the real evidence to which you alone can pay attention shows, +that practically, and for useful purposes, upon the average, and +to keep up the rate of speed continually, they may go at +something more than four miles an hour. In one of the +collieries, there is a small engine with wheels four feet in +diameter, which, with moderate weights has gone six; but I will +not admit, because, in an experiment or two, they may have been +driven at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour—because +a small engine has been driven at the rate of six, that this is +the average rate at which they can carry goods upon a railroad +for the purpose of commerce, for that is the point to which the +Committee ought to direct their attention, and to which the +evidence is to be applied. It is quite idle to suppose, +that an experiment made to ascertain the speed, when the power is +worked up to the greatest extent, can afford a fair criterion of +that which an engine will do in <!-- page 31--><a +name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>all states of +the weather. In the first place, locomotive engines are +liable to be operated upon by the weather. You are told +that they are affected by rain, and an attempt has been made to +cover them; but the wind will affect them, and any gale of wind +which would affect the traffic on the Mersey, would render it +impossible to set off a locomotive engine, either by poking up +the fire, or keeping up the pressure of the steam till the boiler +is ready to burst. I say so, for a scientific person +happened to see a locomotive engine coming down an inclined +plane, with a tolerable weight behind it, and he found that the +strokes were reduced from fifty to twelve, as soon as the wind +acted upon it; so that every gale that would produce an +interruption to the intercourse by the canals, would prevent the +progress of a locomotive engine, so that they have no advantage +in that respect.”</p> +<h2>DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN MAKING RAILWAY SURVEYS.</h2> +<p>Difficulties connected with making surveys of land were +encountered from the very commencement of railway +enterprise. The following dialogue on the subject took +place in the Committee of the House of Commons, April 27, +1825. Mr. Sergeant Spankie was the questioner and George +Stephenson was the respondent.</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. “You were asked about the quality of the +soil through which you were to bore in order to ascertain the +strata, and you were rather taunted because you had not +ascertained the precise strata; had you any opportunity of +boring?”</p> +<p><i>A</i>. “I had none; I was threatened to be +driven off the ground, and severely used if I were found upon the +ground.”</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. “You were right, then, not to attempt to +bore?”</p> +<p><i>A</i>. “Of course, I durst not attempt to bore, +after those threats.”</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. “Were you exposed to any inconvenience +in taking your surveys in consequence of these +interruptions?”</p> +<p><i>A</i>. “We were.”</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. “On whose property?”</p> +<p><i>A</i>. “On my Lord Sefton’s, Lord +Derby’s, and particularly Mr. Bradshaw’s +part.”</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. “I believe you came near the coping of +some of the canals?”</p> +<p><!-- page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +32</span><i>A</i>. “I believe I was threatened to be +ducked in the pond if I proceeded; and, of course we had a great +deal of the survey to make by stealth, at the time the persons +were at dinner; we could not get it by night, and guns were +discharged over the grounds belonging to Captain Bradshaw, to +prevent us; I can state further, I was twice turned off the +ground myself (Mr. Bradshaw’s) by his men; and they said, +if I did not go instantly they would take me up, and carry me off +to Worsley.”</p> +<p>Committee. <i>Q</i>. “Had you ever asked +leave?”</p> +<p><i>A</i>. “I did, of all the gentlemen to whom I +have alluded; at least, if I did not ask leave of all myself, I +did of my Lord Derby, but I did not of Lord Sefton, but the +Committee had—at least I was so informed; and I last year +asked leave of Mr. Bradshaw’s tenants to pass there, and +they denied me; they stated that damage had been done, and I said +if they would tell me what it was, I would pay them, and they +said it was two pounds, and I paid it, though I do not believe it +amounted to one shilling.”</p> +<p><i>Q</i>. “Do you suppose it is a likely thing to +obtain leave from any gentleman to survey his land, when he knew +that your men had gone upon his land to take levels without his +leave, and he himself found them going through the corn, and +through the gardens of his tenants, and trampling down the +strawberry beds, which they were cultivating for the Liverpool +market?”</p> +<p><i>A</i>. “I have found it sometimes very +difficult to get through places of that kind.”</p> +<p>In some cases, Mr. Williams remarks, large bodies of navvies +were collected for the defence of the surveyors; and being +liberally provided with liquor, and paid well for the task, they +intimidated the rightful owners, who were obliged to be satisfied +with warrants of committal and charges of assault. The +navvies were the more willing to engage in such undertakings, +because the project, if carried out, afforded them the prospect +of increased labour.</p> +<h2>LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>Mr. C. F. Adams, jun., remarks:—“It was this +element of spontaneity, therefore,—the instant and dramatic +recognition of success, which gave a peculiar interest to +everything <!-- page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 33</span>connected with the Manchester and +Liverpool railroad. The whole world was looking at it, with +a full realizing sense that something great and momentous was +impending. Every day people watched the gradual development +of the thing, and actually took part in it. In doing so +they had sensations and those sensations they have +described. There is consequently an element of human nature +surrounding it. To their descriptions time has only lent a +new freshness. They are full of honest wonder. They +are much better and more valuable and more interesting now than +they were fifty years ago, and for that reason are well worth +exhuming.</p> +<p>“To introduce the contemporaneous story of the day, +however, it is not necessary even to briefly review the long +series of events which had slowly led up to it. The world +is tolerably familiar with the early life of George Stephenson, +and with the vexatious obstacles he had to overcome before he +could even secure a trial for his invention. The man +himself, however, is an object of a good deal more curiosity to +us, than he was to those among whom he lived and moved. A +living glimpse at him now is worth dwelling upon, and is the best +possible preface to any account of his great day of life +triumph. Just such a glimpse of the man has been given to +us at the moment when at last all difficulties had been +overcome—when the Manchester and Liverpool railroad was +completed; and, literally, not only the eyes of Great Britain but +those of all civilized countries were directed to it and to him +who had originated it. At just that time it chanced that +the celebrated actor, John Kemble, was fulfilling an engagement +at Liverpool with his daughter, since known as Mrs. Frances +Kemble Butler. The extraordinary social advantages the +Kemble family enjoyed gave both father and daughter opportunities +such as seldom come in the way of ordinary mortals. For the +time being they were, in fact, the lions of the stage, just as +George Stephenson was the lion of the new railroad. As was +most natural the three lions were brought together. The +young actress has since published her impressions, jotted down at +the time, of the old engineer. Her account of a ride side +by side with George Stephenson, on the seat of his locomotive, +over the as yet unopened road, is one of the most interesting and +life-like records we have of the <!-- page 34--><a +name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>man and the +enterprise. Perhaps it is the most interesting. The +introduction is Mrs. Kemble’s own, and written forty-six +years after the experience:—</p> +<p>“While we were acting at Liverpool, an experimental trip +was proposed upon the line of railway which was being constructed +between Liverpool and Manchester, the first mesh of that amazing +iron net which now covers the whole surface of England, and all +civilized portions of the earth. The Liverpool merchants, +whose far-sighted self-interest prompted to wise liberality, had +accepted the risk of George Stephenson’s magnificent +experiment, which the committee of inquiry of the House of +Commons had rejected for the Government. These men, of less +intellectual culture than the Parliament members, had the +adventurous imagination proper to great speculators, which is the +poetry of the counting house and wharf, and were better able to +receive the enthusiastic infection of the great projector’s +sanguine hope than the Westminster committee. They were +exultant and triumphant at the near completion of the work, +though, of course, not without some misgivings as to the eventual +success of the stupendous enterprise. My father knew +several of the gentlemen most deeply interested in the +undertaking, and Stephenson having proposed a trial trip as far +as the fifteen-mile viaduct, they, with infinite kindness, +invited him and permitted me to accompany them: allowing me, +moreover, the place which I felt to be one of supreme honour, by +the side of Stephenson. All that wonderful history, as much +more interesting than a romance as truth is stranger than +fiction, which Mr. Smiles’s biography of the projector has +given in so attractive a form to the world, I then heard from his +own lips. He was rather a stern-featured man, with a dark +and deeply marked countenance: his speech was strongly inflected +with his native Northumbrian accent, but the fascination of that +story told by himself, while his tame dragon flew panting along +his iron pathway with us, passed the first reading of the Arabian +Nights, the incidents of which it almost seemed to recall. +He was wonderfully condescending and kind, in answering all the +questions of my eager ignorance, and I listened to him with eyes +brimful of warm tears of sympathy and enthusiasm, as he told me +of all his alternations of hope <!-- page 35--><a +name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>and fear, of +his many trials and disappointments, related with fine scorn, how +the “Parliament men” had badgered and baffled him +with their book-knowledge, and how, when at last they had +smothered the irrepressible prophecy of his genius in the quaking +depths of Chat Moss, he had exclaimed, ‘Did ye ever see a +boat float on water? I will make my road float upon Chat +Moss!’ The well-read Parliament men (some of whom, +perhaps, wished for no railways near their parks and +pleasure-grounds) could not believe the miracle, but the shrewd +Liverpool merchants, helped to their faith by a great vision of +immense gain, did; and so the railroad was made, and I took this +memorable ride by the side of its maker, and would not have +exchanged the honour and pleasure of it for one of the shares in +the speculation.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“<span +class="smcap">Liverpool</span>, August 26th, 1830.</p> +<p>“<span class="smcap">My Dear H—</span>: A common +sheet of paper is enough for love, but a foolscap extra can only +contain a railroad and my ecstasies. There was once a man +born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who was a common coal-digger; this +man had an immense constructiveness, which displayed itself in +pulling his watch to pieces and putting it together again; in +making a pair of shoes when he happened to be some days without +occupation; finally—here there is a great gap in my +story—it brought him in the capacity of an engineer before +a Committee of the House of Commons, with his head full of plans +for constructing a railroad from Liverpool to Manchester. +It so happened that to the quickest and most powerful perceptions +and conceptions, to the most indefatigable industry and +perseverance, and the most accurate knowledge of the phenomena of +nature as they affect his peculiar labours, this man joined an +utter want of the ‘gift of gab;’ he could no more +explain to others what he meant to do and how he meant to do it, +than he could fly, and therefore the members of the House of +Commons, after saying ‘There is a rock to be excavated to a +depth of more than sixty feet, there are embankments to be made +nearly to the same height, there is a swamp of five miles in +length to be traversed, in which if you drop an iron rod it sinks +and disappears; how will you do all this?’ and <!-- page +36--><a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +36</span>receiving no answer but a broad Northumbrian, ‘I +can’t tell you how I’ll do it, but I can tell you I +<i>will</i> do it,’ dismissed Stephenson as a +visionary. Having prevailed upon a company of Liverpool +gentlemen to be less incredulous, and having raised funds for his +great undertaking, in December of 1826 the first spade was struck +in the ground. And now I will give you an account of my +yesterday’s excursion. A party of sixteen persons was +ushered into a large court-yard, where, under cover, stood +several carriages of a peculiar construction, one of which was +prepared for our reception. It was a long-bodied vehicle +with seats placed across it back to back; the one we were in had +six of these benches, and was a sort of uncovered <i>char +à banc</i>. The wheels were placed upon two iron +bands, which formed the road, and to which they are fitted, being +so constructed as to slide along without any danger of hitching +or becoming displaced, on the same principle as a thing sliding +on a concave groove. The carriage was set in motion by a +mere push, and, having received this impetus, rolled with us down +an inclined plane into a tunnel, which forms the entrance to the +railroad. This tunnel is four hundred yards long (I +believe), and will be lighted by gas. At the end of it we +emerged from darkness, and, the ground becoming level, we +stopped. There is another tunnel parallel with this, only +much wider and longer, for it extends from the place we had now +reached, and where the steam carriages start, and which is quite +out of Liverpool, the whole way under the town, to the +docks. This tunnel is for wagons and other heavy carriages; +and as the engines which are to draw the trains along the +railroad do not enter these tunnels, there is a large building at +this entrance which is to be inhabited by steam engines of a +stationary turn of mind, and different constitution from the +travelling ones, which are to propel the trains through the +tunnels to the terminus in the town, without going out of their +houses themselves. The length of the tunnel parallel to the +one we passed through is (I believe) two thousand two hundred +yards. I wonder if you are understanding one word I am +saying all this while? We were introduced to the little +engine which was to drag us along the rails. She (for they +make these curious little fire horses all mares) consisted of +<!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +37</span>a boiler, a stove, a platform, a bench, and behind the +bench a barrel containing enough water to prevent her being +thirsty for fifteen miles,—the whole machine not bigger +than a common fire engine. She goes upon two wheels, which +are her feet, and are moved by bright steel legs called pistons; +these are propelled by steam, and in proportion as more steam is +applied to the upper extremities (the hip-joints, I suppose) of +these pistons, the faster they move the wheels; and when it is +desirable to diminish the speed, the steam, which unless suffered +to escape would burst the boiler, evaporates through a safety +valve into the air. The reins, bit, and bridle of this +wonderful beast, is a small steel handle, which applies or +withdraws the steam from its legs or pistons, so that a child +might manage it.</p> +<p>“The coals, which are its oats, were under the bench, +and there was a small glass tube affixed to the boiler, with +water in it, which indicates by its fullness or emptiness when +the creature wants water, which is immediately conveyed to it +from its reservoirs. There is a chimney to the stove, but +as they burn coke there is none of the dreadful black smoke which +accompanies the progress of a steam vessel. This snorting +little animal, which I felt rather inclined to pat, was then +harnessed to our carriage, and Mr. Stephenson having taken me on +the bench of the engine with him, we started at about ten miles +an hour. The steam horse being ill adapted for going up and +down hill, the road was kept at a certain level, and appeared +sometimes to sink below the surface of the earth and sometimes to +rise above it. Almost at starting it was cut through the +solid rock, which formed a wall on either side of it, about sixty +feet high. You can’t imagine how strange it seemed to +be journeying on thus, without any visible cause of progress +other than the magical machine, with its flying white breath and +rhythmical, unvarying pace, between these rocky walls, which are +already clothed with moss and ferns and grasses; and when I +reflected that these great masses of stone had been cut asunder +to allow our passage thus far below the surface of the earth, I +felt as if no fairy tale was ever half so wonderful as what I +saw. Bridges were thrown from side to side across the top +of these cliffs, and the people looking down upon us from them +seemed like pigmies <!-- page 38--><a name="page38"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 38</span>standing in the sky. I must be +more concise, though, or I shall want room. We were to go +only fifteen miles, that distance being sufficient to show the +speed of the engine, and to take us to the most beautiful and +wonderful object on the road. After proceeding through this +rocky defile, we presently found ourselves raised upon +embankments ten or twelve feet high; we then came to a moss or +swamp, of considerable extent, on which no human foot could tread +without sinking, and yet it bore the road which bore us. +This had been the great stumbling-block in the minds of the +committee of the House of Commons; but Mr. Stephenson has +succeeded in overcoming it. A foundation of hurdles, or, as +he called it, basket-work, was thrown over the morass, and the +interstices were filled with moss and other elastic matter.</p> +<p>“Upon this the clay and soil were laid down, and the +road does float, for we passed over it at the rate of five and +twenty miles an hour, and saw the stagnant swamp water trembling +on the surface of the soil on either side of us. I hope you +understand me. The embankment had gradually been rising +higher and higher, and in one place where the soil was not +settled enough to form banks, Stephenson had constructed +artificial ones of woodwork, over which the mounds of earth were +heaped, for he said that though the woodwork would rot, before it +did so the banks of earth which covered it would have been +sufficiently consolidated to support the road. We had now +come fifteen miles, and stopped where the road traversed a wide +and deep valley. Stephenson made me alight and led me down +to the bottom of this ravine, over which, in order to keep his +road level, he has thrown a magnificent viaduct of nine arches, +the middle one of which is seventy feet high, through which we +saw the whole of this beautiful little valley. It was +lovely and wonderful beyond all words. He here told me many +curious things respecting this ravine; how he believed the Mersey +had once rolled through it; how the soil had proved so +unfavorable for the foundation of his bridge that it was built +upon piles, which had been driven into the earth to an enormous +depth; how while digging for a foundation he had come to a tree +bedded in the earth, fourteen feet below the surface of the +ground; how tides are caused, and how another flood <!-- page +39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>might +be caused; all of which I have remembered and noted down at much +greater length than I can enter upon here. He explained to +me the whole construction of the steam engine, and said he could +soon make a famous engineer of me, which, considering the +wonderful things he has achieved, I dare not say is +impossible. His way of explaining himself is peculiar, but +very striking, and I understood, without difficulty, all that he +said to me. We then rejoined the rest of the party, and the +engine having received its supply of water, the carriage was +placed behind it, for it cannot turn, and was set off at its +utmost speed, thirty-five miles an hour, swifter than a bird +flies (for they tried the experiment with a snipe). You +cannot conceive what that sensation of cutting the air was; the +motion is as smooth as possible, too. I could either have +read or written; and as it was, I stood up, and with my bonnet +off ‘drank the air before me.’ The wind, which +was strong, or perhaps the force of our own thrusting against it, +absolutely weighed my eyelids down.</p> +<p>“When I closed my eyes this sensation of flying was +quite delightful, and strange beyond description; yet strange as +it was, I had a perfect sense of security, and not the slightest +fear. At one time, to exhibit the power of the engine, +having met another steam-carriage which was unsupplied with +water, Mr. Stephenson caused it to be fastened in front of ours; +moreover, a wagon laden with timber was also chained to us, and +thus propelling the idle steam-engine, and dragging the loaded +wagon which was beside it and our own carriage full of people +behind, this brave little she-dragon of ours flew on. +Farther on she met three carts, which, being fastened in front of +her, she pushed on before her without the slightest delay or +difficulty; when I add that this pretty little creature can run +with equal facility either backwards or forwards, I believe I +have given you an account of all her capacities. Now for a +word or two about the master of all these marvels, with whom I am +most horribly in love. He is a man from fifty to fifty-five +years of age; his face is fine, though careworn, and bears an +expression of deep thoughtfulness; his mode of explaining his +ideas is peculiar and very original, striking, and forcible; and +although his accents indicates strongly his <!-- page 40--><a +name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>north country +birth, his language has not the slightest touch of vulgarity or +coarseness. He has certainly turned my head. Four +years have sufficed to bring this great undertaking to an +end. The railroad will be opened upon the fifteenth of next +month. The Duke of Wellington is coming down to be present +on the occasion, and, I suppose, what with the thousands of +spectators and the novelty of the spectacle, there will never +have been a scene of more striking interest. The whole cost +of the work (including the engines and carriages) will have been +eight hundred and thirty thousand pounds; and it is already worth +double that sum. The directors have kindly offered us three +places for the opening, which is a great favour, for people are +bidding almost anything for a place, I understand.”</p> +<p>Even while Miss Kemble was writing this letter, certainly +before it had reached her correspondent, the official programme +of that opening to which she was so eagerly looking forward was +thus referred to in the Liverpool papers:</p> +<p>“The day of opening still remains fixed for Wednesday +the fifteenth instant. The company by whom the ceremony is +to be performed, is expected to amount to eight or nine hundred +persons, including the Duke of Wellington and several others of +the nobility. They will leave Liverpool at an early hour in +the forenoon, probably ten o’clock, in carriages drawn by +eight or nine engines, including the new engine of Messrs. +Braithwaite and Ericsson, if it be ready in time. The other +engines will be those constructed by Mr. Stephenson, and each of +them will draw about a hundred persons. On their arrival at +Manchester, the company will enter the upper stories of the +warehouses by means of a spacious outside wooden staircase, which +is in course of erection for the purpose by Mr. Bellhouse. +The upper storey of the range of warehouses is divided into five +apartments, each measuring sixty-six feet by fifty-six. In +four of these a number of tables (which Mr. Bellhouse is also +preparing) will be placed, and the company will partake of a +splendid cold collation which is to be provided by Mr. Lynn, of +the Waterloo Hotel, Liverpool. A large apartment at the +east end of the warehouses will be reserved as a withdrawing room +for the ladies, and is partitioned off for that purpose. +After partaking of the hospitality of the <!-- page 41--><a +name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>directors, +the company will return to Liverpool in the same order in which +they arrive. We understand that each shareholder in the +railway will be entitled to a seat (transferable) in one of the +carriages, on this interesting and important occasion. It +may be proper to state, for the information of the public, that +no one will be permitted to go upon the railway between Ordsall +lane and the warehouses, and parties of the military and police +will be placed to preserve order, and prevent intrusion. +Beyond Ordsall lane, however, the public will be freely admitted +to view the procession as it passes: and no restriction will be +laid upon them farther than may be requisite to prevent them from +approaching too close to the rails, lest accidents should +occur. By extending themselves along either side of the +road towards Eccles any number of people, however great, may be +easily accommodated.”</p> +<p>Of the carrying out on the 15th the programme thus carefully +laid down, a contemporaneous reporter has left the following +account:—</p> +<p>“The town itself [Liverpool] was never so full of +strangers; they poured in during the last and the beginning of +the present week from almost all parts of the three kingdoms, and +we believe that through Chester alone, which is by no means a +principal road to Liverpool, four hundred extra passengers were +forwarded on Tuesday. All the inns in the town were crowded +to overflowing, and carriages stood in the streets at night, for +want of room in the stable yards.</p> +<p>“On the morning of Wednesday the population of the town +and of the country began very early to assemble near the +railway. The weather was favourable, and the +Company’s station at the boundary of the town was the +rendezvous of the nobility and gentry who attended, to form the +procession at Manchester. Never was there such an +assemblage of rank, wealth, beauty, and fashion in this +neighbourhood. From before nine o’clock until ten the +entrance in Crown street was thronged by the splendid equipages +from which the company was alighting, and the area in which the +railway carriages were placed was gradually filling with gay +groups eagerly searching for their respective places, as +indicated by numbers corresponding with those on their +tickets. The large and elegant car constructed for <!-- +page 42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +42</span>the nobility, and the accompanying cars for the +Directors and the musicians were seen through the lesser tunnel, +where persons moving about at the far end appeared as diminutive +as if viewed through a concave glass. The effect was +singular and striking. In a short time all those cars were +brought along the tunnel into the yard which then contained all +the carriages, which were to be attached to the eight locomotive +engines which were in readiness beyond the tunnel in the great +excavation at Edge-hill. By this time the area presented a +beautiful spectacle, thirty-three carriages being filled by +elegantly dressed persons, each train of carriages being +distinguished by silk flags of different colours; the band of the +fourth King’s Own Regiment, stationed in the adjoining +area, playing military airs, the Wellington Harmonic Band, in a +Grecian car for the procession, performing many beautiful +miscellaneous pieces; and a third band occupying a stage above +Mr. Harding’s Grand Stand, at William the Fourth’s +Hotel, spiritedly adding to the liveliness of the hour whenever +the other bands ceased.</p> +<p>“A few minutes before ten, the discharge of a gun and +the cheers of the assembly announced the arrival of the Duke of +Wellington, who entered the area with the Marquis and Marchioness +of Salisbury and a number of friends, the band playing ‘See +the conquering hero comes.’ He returned the +congratulations of the company, and in a few moments the grand +car, which he and the nobility and the principal gentry occupied, +and the cars attached to it, were permitted to proceed; we say +permitted, because no applied power, except a slight impulse at +first, is requisite to propel carriages along the tunnel, the +slope being just sufficient to call into effect the principle of +gravitation. The tunnel was lighted with gas, and the +motion in passing through it must have been as pleasing as it was +novel to all the party. On arriving at the engine station, +the cars were attached to the <i>Northumbrian</i> locomotive +engine, on the southern of the two lines of rail; and immediately +the other trains of carriages started through the tunnel and were +attached to their respective engines on the northern of the +lines.</p> +<p>“We had the good fortune to have a place in the first +train after the grand cars, which train, drawn by the +<i>Phoenix</i>, <!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 43</span>consisted of three open and two close +carriages, each carrying twenty-six ladies and gentlemen. +The lofty banks of the engine station were crowded with thousands +of spectators, whose enthusiastic cheering seemed to rend the +air. From this point to Wavertree-lane, while the +procession was forming, the grand cars passed and repassed the +other trains of carriages several times, running as they did in +the same direction on the two parallel tracks, which gave the +assembled thousands and tens of thousands the opportunity of +seeing distinctly the illustrious strangers, whose presence gave +extraordinary interest to the scene. Some soldiers of the +4th Regiment assisted the railway police in keeping the way clear +and preserving order, and they discharged their duty in a very +proper manner. A few minutes before eleven all was ready +for the journey, and certainly a journey upon a railway is one of +the most delightful that can be imagined. Our first +thoughts it might be supposed, from the road being so level, were +that it must be monotonous and uninteresting. It is +precisely the contrary; for as the road does not rise and fall +like the ground over which we pass, but proceeds nearly at a +level, whether the land be high or low, we are at one moment +drawn through a hill, and find ourselves seventy feet below the +surface, in an Alpine chasm, and at another we are as many feet +above the green fields, traversing a raised path, from which we +look down upon the roofs of farm houses, and see the distant +hills and woods. These variations give an interest to such +a journey which cannot be appreciated until they are +witnessed. The signal gun being fired, we started in +beautiful style, amidst the deafening plaudits of the well +dressed people who thronged the numerous booths, and all the +walls and eminences on both sides the line. Our speed was +gradually increased till, entering the Olive Mountain excavation, +we rushed into the awful chasm at the rate of twenty-four miles +an hour. The banks, the bridges over our heads, and the +rude projecting corners along the sides, were covered with masses +of human beings past whom we glided as if upon the wings of the +wind. We soon came into the open country of Broad Green, +having fine views of Huyton and Prescot on the left, and the +hilly grounds of Cheshire on the right. Vehicles of every +description stood in the fields on both sides, and <!-- page +44--><a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +44</span>thousands of spectators still lined the margin of the +road; some horses seemed alarmed, but after trotting with their +carriages to the farther hedges, they stood still as if their +fears had subsided. After passing Whiston, sometimes going +slowly, sometimes swiftly, we observed that a vista formed by +several bridges crossing the road gave a pleasing effect to the +view. Under Rainhill Bridge, which, like all the others, +was crowded with spectators, the Duke’s car stopped until +we passed, and on this, as on similar occasions, we had excellent +opportunities of seeing the whole of the noble party, +distinguishing the Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury, the Earl +and Countess of Wilton, Lord Stanley, and others, in the fore +part of the car; alongside of the latter part was Mr. Huskisson, +standing with his face always toward us; and further behind was +Lord Hill, and others, among whom the Mayor of Liverpool took his +station. At this place Mr. Bretherton had a large party of +friends in a field, overlooking the road. As we approached +the Sutton inclined plane the Duke’s car passed us again at +a most rapid rate—it appeared rapid even to us who were +travelling then at, probably, fifteen miles an hour. We had +a fine view of Billings Hill from this neighbourhood, and of a +thousand various coloured fields. A grand stand was here +erected, beautifully decorated, and crowded with ladies and +gentlemen from St. Helen’s and the neighbourhood. +Entering upon Parr Moss we had a good view of Newton Race Course +and the stands, and at this time the Duke was far ahead of us; +the grand cars appeared actually of diminutive dimensions, and in +a short time we saw them gliding beautifully over the Sankey +Viaduct, from which a scene truly magnificent lay before us.</p> +<p>“The fields below us were occupied by thousands who +cheered us as we passed over the stupendous edifice; carriages +filled the narrow lanes, and vessels in the water had been +detained in order that their crews might gaze up at the gorgeous +pageant passing far above their masts heads. Here again was +a grand stand, and here again enthusiastic plaudits almost +deafened us. Shortly, we passed the borough of Newton, +crossing a fine bridge over the Warrington road, and reached +Parkside, seventeen miles from Liverpool, in about four minutes +under the hour. At <!-- page 45--><a +name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>this place +the engines were ranged under different watering stations to +receive fresh water, the whole extending along nearly half a mile +of road. Our train and two others passed the Duke’s +car, and we in the first train had had our engine supplied with +water, and were ready to start, some time before we were aware of +the melancholy cause of our apparently great delay. We had +most of us, alighted, and were walking about, congratulating each +other generally, and the ladies particularly, on the truly +delightful treat we were enjoying, all hearts bounding with +joyous excitement, and every tongue eloquent in the praise of the +gigantic work now completed, and the advantages and pleasures it +afforded. A murmur and an agitation at a little distance +betokened something alarming and we too soon learned the nature +of that lamentable event, which we cannot record without the most +agonized feelings. On inquiring, we learnt the dreadful +particulars. After three of the engines with their trains +had passed the Duke’s carriage, although the others had to +follow, the company began to alight from all the carriages which +had arrived. The Duke of Wellington and Mr. Huskisson had +just shaken hands, and Mr. Huskisson, Prince Esterhazy, Mr. +Birch, Mr. H. Earle, Mr. William Holmes, M.P., and others were +standing in the road, when the other carriages were +approaching. An alarm being given, most of the gentlemen +sprang into the carriage, but Mr. Huskisson seemed flurried, and +from some cause, not clearly ascertained, he fell under the +engine of the approaching carriages, the wheel of which shattered +his leg in the most dreadful manner. On being raised from +the ground by the Earl of Wilton, Mr. Holmes, and other +gentlemen, his only exclamations were:—“Where is Mrs. +Huskisson? I have met my death. God forgive +me.” Immediately after he swooned. Dr. +Brandreth, and Dr. Southey, of London, immediately applied +bandages to the limb. In a short time the engine was +detached from the Duke’s carriage, and the musician’s +car being prepared for the purpose, the Right Honourable +gentleman was placed in it, accompanied by his afflicted lady, +with Dr. Brandreth, Dr. Southey, Earl of Wilton, and Mr. +Stephenson, who set off in the direction of Manchester.</p> +<p><!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +46</span>“The whole of the procession remained at least +another hour uncertain what course to adopt. A consultation +was held on the open part of the road, and the Duke of Wellington +was soon surrounded by the Directors, and a mournful group of +gentlemen. At first it was thought advisable to return to +Liverpool, merely despatching one engine and a set of carriages, +to convey home Lady Wilton, and others who did not wish to return +to Liverpool. The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel +seemed to favour this course; others thought it best to proceed +as originally intended: but no decision was made till the +Boroughreeve of Manchester stated, that if the procession did not +reach Manchester, where an unprecedented concourse of people +would be assembled, and would wait for it, he should be fearful +of the consequences to the peace of the town. This turned +the scale, and his Grace then proposed that the whole party +should proceed, and return as soon as possible, all festivity at +Manchester being avoided. The <i>Phœnix</i>, with its +train, was then attached to the <i>North Star</i> and its train, +and from the two united a long chain was affixed to his +Grace’s car, and although it was on the other line of rail, +it was found to draw the whole along exceedingly well. +About half-past one, we resumed our journey; and we should here +mention that the Wigan Branch Railway Company had erected near +Parkside bridge a grand stand, which they and their friends +occupied, and from which they enthusiastically cheered the +procession. On reaching the twentieth mile post we had a +beautiful view of Rivington Pike and Blackstone Edge, and at the +twenty-first the smoke of Manchester appeared to be directly at +the termination of our view. Groups of people continued to +cheer us, but we could not reply; our enjoyment was over. +Tyldesley Church, and a vast region of smiling fields here met +the eye, as we traversed the flat surface of Chat Moss, in the +midst of which a vast crowd was assembled to greet us with their +plaudits; and from the twenty-fourth mile post we began to find +ourselves flanked on both sides by spectators extending in a +continuous and thickening body all the way to Manchester. +At the twenty-fifth mile post we met Mr. Stephenson returning +with the <i>Northumbrian</i> engine. In answer to +innumerable and eager inquiries, <!-- page 47--><a +name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>Mr. +Stephenson said he had left Mr. Huskisson at the house of the +Rev. Mr. Blackburne, Vicar of Eccles, and had then proceeded to +Manchester, whence he brought back medical assistance, and that +the surgeons, after seeing Mr. Huskisson, had expressed a hope +that there was no danger. Mr. Stephenson’s speed had +been at the rate of thirty-four miles an hour during this painful +errand. The engine being then again attached to the +Duke’s car, the procession dashed forward, passing +countless thousands of people upon house tops, booths, high +ground, bridges, etc., and our readers must imagine, for we +cannot describe, such a movement through an avenue of living +beings, and extending six miles in length. Upon one bridge +a tri-colored flag was displayed; near another the motto of +“Vote by ballot” was seen; in a field near Eccles, a +poor and wretchedly dressed man had his loom close to the +roadside, and was weaving with all his might; cries of “No +Corn Laws,” were occasionally heard, and for about two +miles the cheerings of the crowd were interspersed with a +continual hissing and hooting from the minority. On +approaching the bridge which crosses the Irwell, the 59th +regiment was drawn up, flanking the road on each side, and +presenting arms as his Grace passed along. We reached the +warehouses at a quarter before three, and those who alighted were +shown into the large upper rooms where a most elegant cold +collation had been prepared by Mr. Lynn, for more than one +thousand persons. The greater portion of the company, as +the carriages continued to arrive, visited the rooms and partook +in silence of some refreshment. They then returned to their +carriages which had been properly placed for returning. His +Grace and the principal party did not alight; but he went through +a most fatiguing office for more than an hour and a half, in +shaking hands with thousands of people, to whom he stooped over +the hand rail of the carriage, and who seemed insatiable in their +desire to join hands with him. Many women brought their +children to him, lifting them up that he might bless them, which +he did, and during the whole time he had scarcely a +minute’s respite. At half-past four the Duke’s +car began to move away for Liverpool.</p> +<p><!-- page 48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +48</span>“They would have been detained a little longer, in +order that three of the engines, which had been to Eccles for +water, might have dropped into the rear to take their places; but +Mr. Lavender represented that the crowd was so thickening in upon +all sides, and becoming so clamorous for admission into the area, +that he would not answer for the peace of the town, if further +delay took place. The three engines were on the same line +of rail as the Duke, and they could not cross to the other line +without getting to a turning place, and as the Duke could not be +delayed on account of his keeping the crowd together, there was +no alternative but to send the engines forward. One of the +other engines was then attached to our train, and we followed the +Duke rapidly, while the six trains behind had only three engines +left to bring them back. Of course, we kept pace with the +Duke, who stopped at Eccles to inquire after Mr. Huskisson. +The answer received was that there was now no hope of his life +being saved; and this intelligence plunged the whole party into +still deeper distress. We proceeded without meeting any +fresh incident until we passed Prescot, where we found two of the +three engines at the 6½ mile post, where a turning had +been effected, but the third had gone on to Liverpool; we then +detached the one we had borrowed, and the three set out to meet +the six remaining trains of carriages. Our carriages were +then connected with the grand cars, the engine of which now drew +the whole number of nine carriages, containing nearly three +hundred persons, at a very smart rate. We were now getting +into vast crowds of people, most of them ignorant of the dreadful +event which had taken place, and all of them giving us +enthusiastic cheers which we could not return.</p> +<p>“At Roby, his Grace and the Childwalls alighted and +proceeded home; our carriages then moved forward to Liverpool, +where we arrived about seven o’clock, and went down the +great tunnel, under the town, a part of the work which, more than +any other, astonished the numerous strangers present. It +is, indeed, a wonderful work, and makes an impression never to be +effaced from the memory. The Company’s yard, from St. +James’s Street to Wapping, was filled with carriages +waiting for the returning parties, who separated with feelings of +mingled gratification and <!-- page 49--><a +name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>distress, to +which we shall not attempt to give utterance. We afterwards +learnt that the parties we left at Manchester placed the three +remaining engines together, and all the carriages together, so as +to form one grand procession, including twenty-four carriages, +and were coming home at a steady pace, when they were met near +Newton, by the other three engines, which were then attached to +the rest, and they arrived in Liverpool about ten +o’clock.</p> +<p>“Thus ended a pageant which, for importance as to its +object and grandeur in its details, is admitted to have exceeded +anything ever witnessed. We conversed with many gentlemen +of great experience in public life, who spoke of the scene as +surpassing anything they had ever beheld, and who computed, upon +data which they considered to be satisfactory, that not fewer +than 500,000 persons must have been spectators of the +procession.”</p> +<p>So far from being a success, the occasion was, after the +accident to Mr. Huskisson, such a series of mortifying +disappointments and the Duke of Wellington’s experience at +Manchester had been so very far removed from gratifying that the +directors of the company felt moved to exonerate themselves from +the load of censure by an official explanation. This they +did in the following language:—</p> +<p>“On the subject of delay which took place in the +starting from Manchester, and consequently in the arrival at +Liverpool, of the last three engines, with twenty-four carriages +and six hundred passengers, being the train allotted to six of +the engines, we are authorized to state that the directors think +it due to the proprietors and others constituting the large +assemblage of company in the above trains to make known the +following particulars:</p> +<p>“Three out of the six locomotive engines which belonged +to the above trains had proceeded on the south road from +Manchester to Eccles, to take in water, with the intention of +returning to Manchester, and so getting out of that line of road +before any of the trains should start on their return home. +Before this, however, was accomplished, the following +circumstances seemed to render it imperative for the train of +carriages containing the Duke of Wellington and a great many of +the distinguished visitors to leave Manchester. The +eagerness on the part of the crowd to see the Duke, <!-- page +50--><a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>and +to shake hands with him, was very great, so much so that his +Grace held out both his hands to the pressing multitude at the +same time; the assembling crowd becoming more dense every minute, +closely surrounded the carriages, as the principal attraction was +this particular train. The difficulty of proceeding at all +increased every moment and consequently the danger of accident +upon the attempt being made to force a way through the throng +also increased. At this juncture Mr. Lavender, the head of +the police establishment of Manchester, interfered, and entreated +that the Duke’s train should move on, or he could not +answer for the consequences. Under these circumstances, and +the day being well advanced, it was thought expedient at all +events to move forward while it was still practicable to do +so. The order was accordingly given, and the train passed +along out of the immediate neighbourhood of Manchester without +accident to anyone. When they had proceeded a few miles +they fell in with the engines belonging to the trains left at +Manchester, and these engines being on the same line as the +carriages of the procession, there was no alternative but +bringing the Duke’s train back through the dense multitude +to Manchester, or proceeding with three extra engines to the +neighbourhood of Liverpool (all passing places from one road to +the other being removed, with a view to safety, on the occasion), +and afterwards sending them back to the assistance of the trains +unfortunately left behind. It was determined to proceed +towards Liverpool, as being decidedly the most advisable course +under the circumstances of the case; and it may be mentioned for +the satisfaction of any party who may have considered that he was +in some measure left in the lurch, that Mr. Moss, the Deputy +Chairman, had left Mrs. Moss and several of his family to come +with the trains which had been so left behind. Three +engines having to draw a load calculated for six, their progress +was of course much retarded, besides a considerable delay which +took place before the starting of the last trains, owing to the +uncertainty which existed as to what had become of the three +missing engines. These engines, after proceeding to within +a few miles of Liverpool, were enabled to return to Park-side, in +the neighbourhood of Newton, where they were attached to the +other three and the whole proceeding safely to Liverpool, where +they arrived at ten in the evening.”</p> +<p><!-- page 51--><a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +51</span>The case was, however, here stated, to say the least, in +the mildest possible manner. The fact was that the +authorities at Manchester had, and not without reason, passed a +very panic-stricken hour on account of the Duke of +Wellington. That personage had been in a position of no +inconsiderable peril. Though the reporter preserved a +decorous silence on that point, the ministerial car had on the +way been pelted, as well as hooted; and at Manchester a vast mass +of not particularly well disposed persons had fairly overwhelmed +both police and soldiery, and had taken complete possession of +the tracks. They were not riotous but they were very rough; +and they insisted on climbing upon the carriages and pressing +their attentions on the distinguished inmates in a manner +somewhat at variance with English ideas of propriety. The +Duke’s efforts at conciliatory manners, as evinced through +much hand-shaking, were not without significance. It was +small matter for wonder, therefore, that the terrified +authorities, before they got him out of their town, heartily +regretted that they had not allowed him to have his own way after +the accident to Mr. Huskisson, when he proposed to turn back +without coming to it. Having once got him safely started +back to Liverpool, therefore, they preferred to leave the other +guests to take care of themselves, rather than have the Duke face +the crowd again. As there were no sidings on that early +road, and the connections between the tracks had, as a measure of +safety, been temporarily removed, the ministerial train in moving +towards Liverpool had necessarily pushed before it the engines +belonging to the other trains. The unfortunate guests on +those other trains, thus left to their fate, had for the rest of +the day a very dreary time of it. To avoid accidents, the +six trains abandoned at Manchester were united into one, to which +were attached the three locomotives remaining. In this form +they started. Presently the strain broke the +couplings. Pieces of rope were then put in requisition, and +again they got in motion. In due time the three other +engines came along, but they could only be used by putting them +on in front of the three already attached to the train. Two +of them were used in that way, and the eleven cars thus drawn by +five locomotives, and preceded at a short distance by one other, +<!-- page 52--><a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +52</span>went on towards Liverpool. It was dark, and to +meet the exigencies of the occasion the first germ of the present +elaborate system of railroad night signals was improvised on the +spot. From the foremost and pioneer locomotive obstacles +were signalled to the train locomotives by the very primitive +expedient of swinging the lighted end of a tar-rope. At +Rainhill the weight of the train proved too much for the combined +motive-power, and the thoroughly wearied passengers had to leave +their carriages and walk up the incline. When they got to +the summit and, resuming their seats, were again in motion, fresh +delay was occasioned by the leading locomotive running into a +wheel-barrow, maliciously placed on the track to obstruct +it. Not until ten o’clock did they enter the tunnel +at Liverpool. Meanwhile all sorts of rumours of general +disaster had for hours been circulating among the vast concourse +of spectators who were assembled waiting for their friends, and +whose relief expressed itself in hearty cheers as the train at +last rolled safely into the station.</p> +<p>We have also Miss Kemble’s story of this day, to which +in her letter of August 25th she had looked forward with such +eager interest. With her father and mother she had been +staying at a country place in Lancashire, and in her account of +the affair, written in 1876, she says:—</p> +<p>“The whole gay party assembled at Heaton, my mother and +myself included, went to Liverpool for the opening of the +railroad. The throng of strangers gathered there for the +same purpose made it almost impossible to obtain a night’s +lodging for love or money; and glad and thankful were we to put +up with and be put up in a tiny garret by an old friend, Mr. +Radley, of the Adelphi, which many would have given twice what we +paid to obtain. The day opened gloriously, and never was an +innumerable concourse of sight-seers in better humour than the +surging, swaying crowd that lined the railroad with living faces. +. . After this disastrous event [the accident to Mr. +Huskisson] the day became overcast, and as we neared Manchester +the sky grew cloudy and dark, and it began to rain. The +vast concourse of people who had assembled to witness the +triumphant arrival of the successful travellers was of the lowest +order of mechanics and artisans, among whom great <!-- page +53--><a name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +53</span>distress and a dangerous spirit of discontent with the +government at that time prevailed. Groans and hisses +greeted the carriage, full of influential personages, in which +the Duke of Wellington sat. High above the grim and grimy +crowd of scowling faces a loom had been erected, at which sat a +tattered, starved-looking weaver, evidently set there as a +<i>representative man</i>, to protest against this triumph of +machinery, and the gain and glory which the wealthy Liverpool and +Manchester men were likely to derive from it. The contrast +between our departure from Liverpool and our arrival at +Manchester was one of the most striking things I ever +witnessed.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Manchester</span>, <i>September</i> 20<i>th</i>, +1830.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">My Dearest H—</span>:</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>“You probably have by this time heard and read accounts +of the opening of the railroad, and the fearful accident which +occurred at it, for the papers are full of nothing else. +The accident you mention did occur, but though the unfortunate +man who was killed bore Mr. Stephenson’s name, he was not +related to him. [Besides Mr. Huskisson, another man named +Stephenson had about this time been killed on the +railroad]. I will tell you something of the events on the +fifteenth, as though you may be acquainted with the circumstances +of poor Mr. Huskisson’s death, none but an eye-witness of +the whole scene can form a conception of it. I told you +that we had had places given to us, and it was the main purpose +of our returning from Birmingham to Manchester to be present at +what promised to be one of the most striking events in the +scientific annals of our country. We started on Wednesday +last, to the number of about eight hundred people, in carriages +constructed as I before described to you. The most intense +curiosity and excitement prevailed, and though the weather was +uncertain, enormous masses of densely packed people lined the +road, shouting and waving hats and handkerchiefs as we flew by +them. What with the sight and sound of these cheering +multitudes and the tremendous velocity with which we were borne +past them, my spirits rose to the true champagne height, and I +never enjoyed anything so much as the first hour of <!-- page +54--><a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 54</span>our +progress. I had been unluckily separated from my mother in +the first distribution of places, but by an exchange of seats +which she was enabled to make she rejoined me, when I was at the +height of my ecstasy, which was considerably damped by finding +that she was frightened to death, and intent upon nothing but +devising means of escaping from a situation which appeared to her +to threaten with instant annihilation herself and all her +travelling companions. While I was chewing the cud of this +disappointment, which was rather bitter, as I expected her to be +as delighted as myself with our excursion, a man flew by us, +calling out through a speaking trumpet to stop the engine, for +that somebody in the directors’ car had sustained an +injury. We were all stopped accordingly and presently a +hundred voices were heard exclaiming that Mr. Huskisson was +killed. The confusion that ensued is indescribable; the +calling out from carriage to carriage to ascertain the truth, the +contrary reports which were sent back to us, the hundred +questions eagerly uttered at once, and the repeated and urgent +demands for surgical assistance, created a sudden turmoil that +was quite sickening. At last we distinctly ascertained that +the unfortunate man’s thigh was broken.</p> +<p>“From Lady W—, who was in the duke’s +carriage, and within three yards of the spot where the accident +happened, I had the following details, the horror of witnessing +which we were spared through our situation behind the great +carriage. The engine had stopped to take in a supply of +water, and several of the gentlemen in the directors’ +carriage had jumped out to look about them. Lord W—, +Count Batthyany, Count Matuscenitz, and Mr. Huskisson among the +rest were standing talking in the middle of the road, when an +engine on the other line, which was parading up and down merely +to show its speed, was seen coming down upon them like +lightning. The most active of those in peril sprang back +into their seats; Lord W— saved his life only by rushing +behind the duke’s carriage, Count Matuscenitz had but just +leaped into it, with the engine all but touching his heels as he +did so; while poor Mr. Huskisson, less active from the effects of +age and ill health, bewildered too by the frantic cries of +‘Stop the engine: Clear the track!’ <!-- page 55--><a +name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>that +resounded on all sides, completely lost his head, looked +helplessly to the right and left, and was instantaneously +prostrated by the fatal machine, which dashed down like a +thunderbolt upon him, and passed over his leg, smashing and +mangling it in the most horrible way. (Lady W— said +she distinctly heard the crushing of the bone). So terrible +was the effect of the appalling accident that except that ghastly +‘crushing’ and poor Mrs. Huskisson’s piercing +shriek, not a sound was heard or a word uttered among the +immediate spectators of the catastrophe. Lord W— was +the first to raise the poor sufferer, and calling to his aid his +surgical skill, which is considerable, he tied up the severed +artery, and for a time at least, prevented death by a loss of +blood. Mr. Huskisson was then placed in a carriage with his +wife and Lord W—, and the engine having been detached from +the directors’ carriage, conveyed them to Manchester. +So great was the shock produced on the whole party by this event +that the Duke of Wellington declared his intention not to +proceed, but to return immediately to Liverpool. However, +upon its being represented to him that the whole population of +Manchester had turned out to witness the procession, and that a +disappointment might give rise to riots and disturbances, he +consented to go on, and gloomily enough the rest of the journey +was accomplished. We had intended returning to Liverpool by +the railroad, but Lady W—, who seized upon me in the midst +of the crowd, persuaded us to accompany her home, which we gladly +did. Lord W— did not return till past ten +o’clock, at which hour he brought the intelligence of Mr. +Huskisson’s death. I need not tell you of the sort of +whispering awe which this event threw over our circle; and yet +great as was the horror excited by it, I could not help feeling +how evanescent the effect of it was, after all. The +shuddering terror of seeing our fellow-creature thus struck down +by our side, and the breathless thankfulness for our own +preservation, rendered the first evening of our party at Heaton +almost solemn; but the next day the occurrence became a subject +of earnest, it is true, but free discussion; and after that was +alluded to with almost as little apparent feeling as if it had +not passed under our eyes, and within the space of a few +hours.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 56--><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +56</span>MRS. BLACKBURNE’S PRESENTIMENT.</h2> +<p>Miss Kemble was mistaken in stating Mr. Huskisson after his +accident was removed to Manchester. He was conveyed to the +vicarage, at Eccles, near Manchester. Of the vicar’s +wife, Dean Stanley’s mother thus writes, (January 17, +1832,):—“There is one person who interests me very +much, Mrs. Tom Blackburne, the Vicaress of Eccles, who received +poor Mr. Huskisson, and immortalised herself by her activity, +sense, and conduct throughout.” A writer in the +<i>Cornhill Magazine</i>, for March, 1884, referring to the +opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, +remarks:—“In celebration of this experiment, for even +then most people only looked upon it as a doubtful thing, the +houses of the adjacent parts of Lancashire were filled with +guests. Mr. John Blackburne, M.P., asked his brother and +sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Blackburne, to stay at Hale +Hall, near Liverpool, (which his ancestors in the direct line had +possessed since 1199,) and to go with his party to the ceremony +and fetes of the day.</p> +<p>The invitation was accepted, and Mr. and Mrs. Blackburne went +to Hale. Now, however, occurred one of those strange +circumstances utterly condemned by critics of fiction as +‘unreal,’ ‘unnatural,’ or +‘impossible;’ only in this case it happened to be +true, in spite of all these epithets. Mrs. Blackburne, +rather strong-minded than otherwise, at all events one of the +last women in the world to be affected by imagination, became +possessed by an unmistakable presentiment, which made her feel +quite sure <i>that her presence was required at home</i>; <i>and +she went home at once</i>. There were difficulties in her +way; every carriage was required, but she would go. She +drove to Warrington, and from thence ‘took boat’ up +the Irwell to Eccles. Canal boats were then regular +conveyances, divided into first and second classes. There +were no mobs or excitement anywhere on the 14th, and Mrs. +Blackburne got quickly to Eccles without any adventures. +When there, except that one of her children was unwell, she could +find nothing wrong, or in the least likely to account for the +presentiment which had driven her home in spite of all the +natural enough, ridicule of her husband and friends at Hale.</p> +<p><!-- page 57--><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +57</span>Early on the morning of the 15th, an incident occurred, +the narration of which may throw some light on the temper of the +times. Mr. Barton, of Swinton, came to say that a mob was +expected to come from Oldham to attack the Duke of Wellington, +then at the height of his unpopularity among the masses; for just +by Eccles three miles of the line was left unguarded, +‘Could Mr. Blackburne say what was to be done?’</p> +<p>‘My husband is away,’ said the Vicaress, +‘but I know that about fifty special constables were out +last year, the very men for this work, if their licenses have not +expired.’</p> +<p>‘Never mind licenses,’ replied Mr. Barton, with a +superb indifference to form, quite natural under the +circumstances. ‘Where can I find the men?’</p> +<p>‘Oh,’ replied Mrs. Blackburne, ‘I can get +the men for you.’</p> +<p>Mr. Barton hesitated, but soon with gratitude accepted the +offer, and with the help of the churchwardens and constables +‘a guard for the Duke’ was soon collected on the +bridge of Eccles, armed with staves and clubs to be dispersed +along the line.</p> +<p>This done, she had a tent put up for herself and children, +with whom were Lord Wilton’s little daughters, the Ladies +Elizabeth and Katherine Egerton, and their governess. The +tent was just above the cutting and looked down on to it, and +they would have a good view of the first train, expected to pass +about eleven o’clock. The morning wore on, the crowds +were increasing, and low murmurs of wonder were heard. It +was thought that the experiment had failed. A few of the +villagers came into the field, but none troubled the little band +of watchers. The bright sunshine had passed away, and it +had become dark, with large hot drops of rain, forerunners of a +coming thunderstorm. The people lined the whole of the way +from Manchester to Liverpool, and, as far as the eye could reach, +faces were seen anxiously looking towards Liverpool. +Suddenly a strange roar was heard from the crowd, not a cheer of +triumph, but a prolonged wail, beginning at the furthest point of +travelling along the swarming banks like the incoming swirl of a +breaker as it runs upon a gravelled beach.</p> +<p><!-- page 58--><a name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +58</span>Like a true woman, her first thought was for her +husband, as Mrs. Blackburne heard the words repeated on all +sides, ‘An accident!’ ‘The +Vicarage!’ She flew across the field to the gate and +met a sad procession bringing in a sorely-wounded yet quite +conscious man. She saw in a moment that he had medals on +his coat, and had been very tall, so that it could not be as she +feared. The relief of that moment may be imagined. +Then the quiet presence of mind, by practice habitual to her, and +the ready flow of sympathy left her no time to think of anything +but the sufferer, who said to her pathetically, ‘I shall +not trouble you long!’ She had not only the will but +the power to help, even to supplying from her own medicine chest +and stores, kept for the poor, everything that the surgeons +required.</p> +<p>It was Lord Wilton who suggested the removal of Mr. Huskisson +to Eccles Vicarage and improvised a tourniquet on the spot, while +soon the medical men who were in the train did what they could +for him. Mr. Blackburne, as will be remembered, was not +with his wife, and only the presentiment which had brought Mrs. +Blackburne home had given the means of so readily and quickly +obtaining surgical necessaries and rest. Mr. Blackburne, +writing to his mother-in-law the day after this accident, +referring to Mr. Huskisson, remarks:—“To the last he +retained his senses. Lord Granville says when the dying man +heard Wilton propose to take him to this house he exclaimed, +‘Pray take me there; there I shall indeed be taken care +of.’</p> +<p>But fancy my horror! <i>Not one word did I know of his +being here till I had passed the place</i>, <i>and was literally +eating my luncheon at Manchester</i>! In vain did I try to +get a conveyance, till at last the Duke of Wellington sent to me +and ordered his car to start, and I came with him back, he +intending to come here; but the crowd was so <i>immense</i> that +the police dared not let him get out. To be sure, when my +people on the bridge saw me standing with him, they did shout, +‘That’s as it should be—Vicar for +us!’ He said, ‘These people seem to know you +well.’</p> +<p><i>Entre nous</i>, at the door I met my love, and after a good +cry (I don’t know which was the greatest fool!) set to +work. The poor fellow was glad to see me, and never shall I +forget the scene, his poor wife holding his head, and the great +<!-- page 59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +59</span>men weeping, for they all wept! He then received +the Sacrament, added some codocils to his will, and seemed +perfectly resigned. But his agonies were dreadful! +Ransome says they must have been so. He expired at +nine. We never left him till he breathed his last. +Poor woman! How she lamented his loss; yet her struggles to +bear with fortitude are wonderful. I wish you could have +heard him exclaim, after my petition ‘Forgive us our +trespasses as we forgive . . . ’ ‘I have not +the smallest ill-will to any one person in the whole +world.’ They stay here until Saturday, when they +begin the sad journey to convey him to Sussex. They wanted +to bury him at Liverpool, but she refused. I forgot to tell +you that he told Lawrence before starting that he <i>wished he +were safe back</i>.”</p> +<p>Mr. Huskisson was not buried at Chichester, for at last Mrs. +Huskisson consented to the popular wish that his body might have +a public funeral at Liverpool, where a statue of him by Gibson +now stands in the cemetery.”</p> +<h2>ELEVATED SIGHT-SEERS WISHING TO DESCEND.</h2> +<p>Sir J. A. Picton, in his <i>Memorials of Liverpool</i>, +relates an amusing incident connected with the opening of the +railway at that town. “On the opening of the +railway,” he remarks, “of course, every point and +‘coin of vantage’ from whence the procession could be +best seen was eagerly availed of. A tolerably high chimney +had recently been built upon the railway ground, affording a +sufficient platform on the scaffolding at the top for the +accommodation of two or three persons. Two gentlemen +connected with the engineer’s department took advantage of +this crowning eminence to obtain a really ‘bird’s eye +view’ of the whole proceedings. They were wound up by +the tackle used in hoisting the bricks, and enjoyed the +perspective from their airy height to their hearts’ +content. When all was over they, of course, wished to +descend, and gave the signal to be let down again, but alas! +there was no response. The man in charge, excited by the +events of the day, confused by the sorrowful news by which it was +closed, and, it may be, oblivious from other causes, had utterly +forgotten his engagement and gone home. Here was a +prospect! The shades of evening were gathering, the +multitudes departing, <!-- page 60--><a name="page60"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 60</span>and every probability of being +obliged to act the part of St. Simeon of Stylites very +involuntarily. Despair added force and strength to their +lungs, and at length—their condition and difficulty having +attracted attention—they were relieved from their +unpleasant predicament.”</p> +<h2>THE DUKE’S CARRIAGE.</h2> +<p>A correspondent of the <i>Athenæum</i>, in 1830, +speaking of the carriage prepared for the Duke of Wellington at +the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, remarks: +“It rather resembled an eastern pavilion than anything our +northern idea considers a carriage. The floor is 32 feet +long by 8 wide, gilt pillars support a crimson canopy 24 feet +long, and it might for magnitude be likened to the car of +Juggernaut; yet this huge machine, with the preceding steam +engine, moved along at its own fiery will even more swimmingly, a +‘thing of heart and mind,’ than a ship on the +ocean.”</p> +<h2>LORD BROUGHAM’S SPEECH.</h2> +<p>At a dinner given at Liverpool in celebration of the opening +of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Lord Brougham thus +discourses upon the memorable event and the death of Mr. +Huskisson:—“When I saw the difficulties of space, as +it were, overcome; when I beheld a kind of miracle exhibited +before my astonished eyes; when I saw the rocks excavated and the +gigantic power of man penetrating through miles of the solid +mass, and gaining a great, a lasting, an almost perennial +conquest over the powers of nature by his skill and industry; +when I contemplated all this, was it possible for me to avoid the +reflections which crowded into my mind, not in praise of +man’s great success, not in admiration of the genius and +perseverance he had displayed, or even of the courage he had +shown in setting himself against the obstacles that matter +afforded to his course—no! but the melancholy reflection +that these prodigious efforts of the human race, so fruitful of +praise but so much more fruitful of lasting blessing to mankind, +have forced a tear from my eye by that unhappy casualty which +deprived me of a friend and you of a representative!”</p> +<h2><!-- page 61--><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +61</span>AN EARLY RIDE ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER +RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>No account of its first beginnings would, however, be complete +for our time, which did not also give an idea of the impressions +produced on one travelling over it before yet the novelty of the +thing had quite worn away. It was a long time, +comparatively, after September, 1830, before the men who had made +a trip over the railroad ceased to be objects of deep +curiosity. Here is the account of his experience by one of +these far-travelled men, with all its freshness still lingering +about it:—</p> +<p>“Although the whole passage between Liverpool and +Manchester is a series of enchantments, surpassing any in the +Arabian Nights, because they are realities, not fictions, yet +there are epochs in the transit which are peculiarly +exciting. These are the startings, the ascents, the +descents, the tunnels, the Chat Moss, the meetings. At the +instant of starting, or rather before, the automaton belches +forth an explosion of steam, and seems for a second or two +quiescent. But quickly the explosions are reiterated, with +shorter and shorter intervals, till they become too rapid to be +counted, though still distinct. These belchings or +explosions more nearly resemble the pantings of a lion or tiger, +than any sound that has ever vibrated on my ear. During the +ascent they become slower and slower, till the automaton actually +labours like an animal out of breath, from the tremendous efforts +to gain the highest point of elevation. The progression is +proportionate; and before the said point is gained, the train is +not moving faster than a horse can pace. With the slow +motion of the mighty and animated machine, the breathing becomes +more laborious, the growl more distinct, till at length the +animal appears exhausted and groans like the tiger, when +overpowered in combat by the buffalo.</p> +<p>“The moment that the height is reached and the descent +commences, the pantings rapidly increase; the engine with its +train starts off with augmenting velocity; and in a few seconds +it is flying down the declivity like lightning, and with a +uniform growl or roar, like a continuous discharge of distant +artillery.</p> +<p>“At this period, the whole train is going at the rate of +thirty-five or forty miles an hour! I was on the outside, +<!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +62</span>and in front of the first carriage, just over the +engine. The scene was magnificent, I had almost said +terrific. Although it was a dead calm the wind appeared to +be blowing a hurricane, such was the velocity with which we +darted through the air. Yet all was steady; and there was +something in the precision of the machinery that inspired a +degree of confidence over fear—of safety over danger. +A man may travel from the Pole to the Equator, from the Straits +of Malacca to the Isthmus of Darien, and he will see nothing so +astonishing as this. The pangs of Etna and Vesuvius excite +feelings of horror as well as of terror; the convulsion of the +elements during a thunderstorm carries with it nothing but pride, +much less of pleasure, to counteract the awe inspired by the +fearful workings of perturbed nature; but the scene which is here +presented, and which I cannot adequately describe, engenders a +proud consciousness of superiority in human ingenuity, more +intense and convincing than any effort or product of the poet, +the painter, the philosopher, or the divine. The +projections or transits of the train through the tunnels or +arches are very electrifying. The deafening peal of +thunder, the sudden immersion in gloom, and the clash of +reverberated sounds in confined space combine to produce a +momentary shudder or idea of destruction—a thrill of +annihilation, which is instantly dispelled on emerging into the +cheerful light.</p> +<p>“The meetings or crossings of the steam trains flying in +opposite directions are scarcely less agitating to the nerves +than their transits through the tunnels. The velocity of +their course, the propinquity or apparent identity of the iron +orbits along which these meteors move, call forth the involuntary +but fearful thought of a possible collision, with all its +horrible consequences. The period of suspense, however, +though exquisitely painful, is but momentary; and in a few +seconds the object of terror is far out of sight behind.</p> +<p>“Nor is the rapid passage across Chat Moss unworthy of +notice. The ingenuity with which two narrow rods of iron +are made to bear whole trains of wagons, laden with many hundred +tons of commerce, and bounding across a wide, semi-fluid morass, +previously impassable by man or beast, is beyond all praise and +deserving of eternal record. <!-- page 63--><a +name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 63</span>Only conceive +a slender bridge of two minute iron rails, several miles in +length, level as Waterloo, elastic as whalebone, yet firm as +adamant! Along this splendid triumph of human +genius—this veritable <i>via triumphalis</i>—the +train of carriages bounds with the velocity of the stricken deer; +the vibrations of the resilient moss causing the ponderous engine +and its enormous suite to glide along the surface of an extensive +quagmire as safely as a practiced skater skims the icy mirror of +a frozen lake.</p> +<p>“The first class or train is the most fashionable, but +the second or third are the most amusing. I travelled one +day from Liverpool to Manchester in the lumber train. Many +of the carriages were occupied by the swinish multitude, and +others by a multitude of swine. These last were naturally +vociferous if not eloquent. It is evident that the other +passengers would have been considerably annoyed by the orators of +this last group, had there not been stationed in each carriage an +officer somewhat analogous to the Usher of the Black Rod, but +whose designation on the railroad I found to be +‘Comptroller of the Gammon.’ No sooner did one +of the long-faced gentlemen raise his note too high, or wag his +jaw too long, than the ‘Comptroller of the Gammon’ +gave him a whack over the snout with the butt end of his +shillelagh; a snubber which never failed to stop his oratory for +the remainder of the journey.”</p> +<p>To one familiar with the history of railroad legislation the +last paragraph is peculiarly significant. For years after +the railroad system was inaugurated, and until legislation was +invoked to compel something better, the companies persisted in +carrying passengers of the third class in uncovered carriages, +exposed to all weather, and with no more decencies or comforts +than were accorded to swine.</p> +<h2>EARLY RAILWAY TRAVELLING.</h2> +<p>A writer in <i>Notes and Queries</i> remarks:—“On +looking over a diary kept by my father during two journeys +northward in 1830–31, I thought the readers might be amused +with his account of what he saw of railway travelling, then in +its infancy:—</p> +<p><!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +64</span>“Monday, Oct. 11, 1830, Darlington.—Walked +to the railroad, which comes within half-a-mile of the +town. Saw a steam engine drawing about twenty-five wagons, +each containing about two tons and a half of coals. A +single horse draws four such wagons. I went to Stockton at +four o’clock by coach on the railroad; one horse draws +about twenty-four passengers. I did not like it at all, for +the road is very ugly in appearance, and, being only one line +with occasional turns for passing, we were sometimes obliged to +wait, and at other times to be drawn back, so that we were full +two hours going eleven miles, and they are often more than three +hours. There is no other conveyance, as the cheapness has +driven the stage-coaches off the road. I only paid 1s. for +eleven miles. The motion was very unpleasant—a +continual jolting and disagreeable noise.”</p> +<p>On Sept. 1, 1831, he remarks:—“The railroad to +Stockton has been improved since I was here, as they are now +laying down a second line.”</p> +<p>“Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1830.—Left Manchester at ten +o’clock by the railroad for Liverpool. We enter upon +it by a staircase through the office from the street at present, +but there will, I suppose, be an open entrance, by-and-bye; they +have built extensive warehouses adjoining. We were two +hours and a half going to Liverpool (about thirty-two miles), and +I must think the advantages have been a good deal overrated, for, +prejudice apart, I think most people will allow that expedition +is the only real advantage gained; the road itself is ugly, +though curious and wonderful as a work of art. Near +Liverpool it is cut very deeply through rock, and there is a long +tunnel which leads into a yard where omnibusses wait to convey +passengers to the inns. The tunnel is too low for the +engines at present in use, and the carriages are drawn through it +by donkeys. The engines are calculated to draw fifty tons. +. . I cannot say that I at all liked it; the speed was too +great to be pleasant, and makes you rather giddy, and certainly +it is not smoother and easier than a good turnpike road. +When the carriages stop or go on, a very violent jolting takes +place, from the ends of the carriages jostling together. I +have heard many say they prefer a horse-coach, but the majority +are in favour of the railroad, and they will, no doubt, knock up +the coaches.”</p> +<p><!-- page 65--><a name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +65</span>“Monday, Sept. 12, 1831.—Left Manchester by +coach at ten o’clock, and arrived in Liverpool at half-past +two. . . The railroad is not supposed to answer vastly +well, but they are making a branch to Warrington, which will hurt +the Sankey Navigation, and throw 1,500 men out of employment; +these people are said to be loud in their execrations of it, and +to threaten revenge. It is certain the proprietors do not +all feel easy about it, as one living at Warrington has +determined never to go by it, and was coming to Liverpool by our +coach if there had been room. He would gladly sell his +shares. A dividend of 4 per cent. had been paid for six +months, but money had been borrowed. . . . Charge for +tonnage of goods, 10s. for thirty-two miles, which appears very +dear to me.”</p> +<h2>CRABB ROBINSON’S FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY.</h2> +<p>“June 9th, 1833.—(Liverpool). At twelve +o’clock I got upon an omnibus, and was driven up a steep +hill to the place where the steam carriages start. We +travelled in the second class of carriages. There were five +carriages linked together, in each of which were placed open +seats for the travellers, four or five facing each other; but not +all were full; and, besides, there was a close carriage, and also +a machine for luggage. The fare was four shillings for the +thirty-one miles. Everything went on so rapidly that I had +scarcely the power of observation. The road begins at an +excavation through a rock, and is to a certain extent insulated +from the adjacent country. It is occasionally placed on +bridges, and frequently intersected by ordinary roads. Not +quite a perfect level is preserved. On setting off there is +a slight jolt, arising from the chain catching each carriage, +but, once in motion, we proceeded as smoothly as possible. +For a minute or two the pace is gentle, and is constantly +varying. The machine produces little smoke or steam. +First in order is the tall chimney; then the boiler, a +barrel-like vessel; then an oblong reservoir of water; then a +vehicle for coals; and then comes, of a length infinitely +extendible, the train of carriages. If all the seats had +been filled, our train would have carried about 150 passengers; +but a gentleman assured me at Chester that he went with a +thousand persons to Newton fair. There must have <!-- page +66--><a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 66</span>been +two engines then. I have heard since that two thousand +persons or more went to and from the fair that day. But two +thousand only, at three shillings each way, would have produced +£600! But, after all, the expense is so great that it +is considered uncertain whether the establishment will ultimately +remunerate the proprietors. Yet I have heard that it +already yields the shareholders a dividend of nine per +cent. And Bills have passed for making railroads between +London and Birmingham, and Birmingham and Liverpool. What a +change it will produce in the intercourse! One conveyance +will take between 100 and 200 passengers, and the journey will be +made in a forenoon! Of the rapidity of the journey I had +better experience on my return; but I may say now that, stoppages +included, it may certainly be made at the rate of twenty miles an +hour.</p> +<p>“I should have observed before that the most remarkable +movements of the journey are those in which trains pass one +another. The rapidity is such that there is no recognizing +the features of a traveller. On several occasions, the +noise of the passing engine was like the whizzing of a +rocket. Guards are stationed in the road, holding flags, to +give notice to the drivers when to stop. Near Newton I +noticed an inscription recording the memorable death of +Huskisson.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Crabb Robinson’s +Diary</i>.</p> +<h2>EARLY AMERICAN RAILWAY ENTERPRISE.</h2> +<p>Mr. C. F. Adams, in his work on <i>Railroads</i>: <i>Their +Origin and Problems</i>, remarks:—“There is, indeed, +some reason for believing that the South Carolina Railroad was +the first ever constructed in any country with a definite plan of +operating it exclusively by locomotive steam power. But in +America there was not—indeed, from the very circumstances +of the case, there could not have been—any such dramatic +occasions and surprises as those witnessed at Liverpool in 1829 +and 1830. Nevertheless, the people of Charleston were +pressing close on the heels of those at Liverpool, for on the +15th of January, 1831—exactly four months after the formal +opening of the Manchester and Liverpool road—the first +anniversary of the South Carolina <!-- page 67--><a +name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span>Railroad was +celebrated with due honor. A queer-looking machine, the +outline of which was sufficient in itself to prove that the +inventor owed nothing to Stephenson, had been constructed at the +West Point Foundry Works in New York during the summer of +1830—a first attempt to supply that locomotive power which +the Board had, with sublime confidence in possibilities, +unanimously voted on the 14th of the preceding January should +alone be used on the road. The name of <i>Best Friend</i> +was given to this very simple product of native genius. The +idea of the multitubular boiler had not yet suggested itself in +America. The <i>Best Friend</i>, therefore, was supplied +with a common vertical boiler, ‘in form of an old-fashioned +porter-bottle, the furnace at the bottom surrounded with water, +and all filled inside of what we call teats running out from the +sides and tops.’ By means of the projections or +‘teats’ a portion at least of the necessary heating +surface was provided. The cylinder was at the front of the +platform, the rear end of which was occupied by the boiler, and +it was fed by means of a connecting pipe. Thanks to the +indefatigable researches of an enthusiast on railroad +construction, we have an account of the performances of this and +all the other pioneers among American locomotives, and the +pictures with which Mr. W. H. Brown has enriched his book would +alone render it both curious and valuable. Prior to the +stockholders’ anniversary of January 15th, 1831, it seems +that the <i>Best Friend</i> had made several trips ‘running +at the rate of sixteen to twenty-one miles an hour, with forty or +fifty passengers in some four or five cars, and without the cars, +thirty to thirty-five miles an hour.’ The +stockholders’ day was, however, a special occasion, and the +papers of the following Monday, for it happened on a Saturday, +gave the following account of it:—</p> +<p>“Notice having been previously given, inviting the +stockholders, about one hundred and fifty assembled in the course +of the morning at the company’s buildings in Line Street, +together with a number of invited guests. The weather the +day and night previous had been stormy, and the morning was cold +and cloudy. Anticipating a postponement of the ceremonies, +the locomotive engine had been taken to pieces for cleaning, but +upon the assembling of <!-- page 68--><a name="page68"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 68</span>the company she was put in order, the +cylinders new packed and at the word the apparatus was ready for +movement. The first trip was performed with two pleasure +cars attached, and a small carriage, fitted for the occasion, +upon which was a detachment of United States troops and a +field-piece which had been politely granted by Major Belton for +the occasion. . . The number of passengers brought down, +which was performed in two trips, was estimated at upward of two +hundred. A band of music enlivened the scene, and great +hilarity and good humour prevailed throughout the day.”</p> +<p>It was not long, however, before the <i>Best Friend</i> came +to serious grief. Naturally, and even necessarily, inasmuch +as it was a South Carolina institution, it was provided with a +negro fireman. It so happened that this functionary while +in the discharge of his duties was much annoyed by the escape of +steam from the safety valve, and, not having made himself +complete master of the principles underlying the use of steam as +a source of power, he took advantage of a temporary absence of +the engineer in charge to effect a radical remedy of this cause +of annoyance. He not only fastened down the valve lever, +but further made the thing perfectly sure by sitting upon +it. The consequences were hardly less disastrous to the +<i>Best Friend</i> than to the chattel fireman. Neither +were of much further practical use. Before this mishap +chanced, however in June, 1831, a second locomotive, called the +<i>West Point</i>, had arrived in Charleston, and this last was +constructed on the principle of Stephenson’s +<i>Rocket</i>. In its general aspect, indeed, it greatly +resembled that already famous prototype. There is a very +characteristic and suggestive cut representing a trial trip made +with this locomotive on March 5th, 1831. The nerves of the +Charleston people had been a good deal disturbed and their +confidence in steam as a safe motor shaken by the disaster which +had befallen the <i>Best Friend</i>. Mindful of this fact, +and very properly solicitous for the safety of their guests, the +directors now had recourse to a very simple and ingenious +expedient. They put what they called a ‘barrier +car’ between the locomotive and passenger coaches of the +train. This barrier car consisted of a platform on wheels +upon which were piled six bales of <!-- page 69--><a +name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>cotton. +A fortification was thus provided between the passengers and any +future negro sitting on the safety valve. We are also +assured that ‘the safety valve being out of the reach of +any person but the engineer, will contribute to the prevention of +accidents in the future, such as befel the <i>Best +Friend</i>.’ Judging by the cut which represents the +train, this occasion must have been even more marked for its +‘hilarity’ than the earlier one which has already +been described. Besides the locomotive and the barrier car +there are four passenger coaches. In the first of these was +a negro band, in general appearance very closely resembling the +minstrels of a later day, the members of which are energetically +performing on musical instruments of various familiar +descriptions. Then follow three cars full of the saddest +looking white passengers, who were present as we were informed to +the number of one hundred and seventeen. The excursion was, +however, highly successful, and two-and-a-quarter miles of road +were passed over in the short space of eight minutes—about +the speed at which a good horse would trot for the same +distance.</p> +<p>This was in March, 1831. About six months before, +however, there had actually been a trial of speed between a horse +and one of the pioneer locomotives, which had not resulted in +favour of the locomotive. It took place on the present +Baltimore and Ohio road upon the 28th of August, 1830. The +engine in this case was contrived by no other than Mr. Peter +Cooper. And it affords a striking illustration of how +recent those events which now seem so remote really were, that +here is a man until very recently living, and amongst the most +familiar to the eyes of the present generation, who was a +contemporary of Stephenson, and himself invented a locomotive +during the Rainhill year, being then nearly forty years of +age. The Cooper engine, however, was scarcely more than a +working model. Its active-minded inventor hardly seems to +have aimed at anything more than a demonstration of +possibilities. The whole thing weighed only a ton, and was +of one horse power; in fact it was not larger than those handcars +now in common use with railroad section-men. The boiler, +about the size of a modern kitchen boiler, stood upright and was +fitted above the furnace—which occupied the lower +section—with <!-- page 70--><a name="page70"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 70</span>vertical tubes. The cylinder +was but three-and-a-half inches in diameter, and the wheels were +moved by gearing. In order to secure the requisite pressure +of steam in so small a boiler, a sort of bellows was provided +which was kept in action by means of a drum attached to one of +the car-wheels over which passed a cord which worked a pulley, +which in turn worked the bellows. Thus, of +Stephenson’s two great devices, without either of which his +success at Rainhill would have been impossible—the waste +steam blast and the multitubular boiler—Peter Cooper had +only got hold of the last. He owed his defeat in the race +between his engine and a horse to the fact that he had not got +hold of the first. It happened in this wise. Several +experimental trips had been made with the little engine on the +Baltimore and Ohio road, the first sections of which had recently +been completed and were then operated upon by means of +horses. The success of these trips was such that at last, +just seventeen days before the formal opening of the Manchester +and Liverpool road on the other side of the Atlantic, a small +open car was attached to the engine—the name of which, by +the way, was <i>Tom Thumb</i>—and upon this a party of +directors and their friends were carried from Baltimore to +Ellicott’s Mills and back, a distance of some twenty-six +miles.</p> +<p>The trip out was made in an hour, and was very +successful. The return was less so, and for the following +reason:—</p> +<p>“The great stage proprietors of the day were Stockton +and Stokes; and on that occasion a gallant grey, of great beauty +and power, was driven by them from town, attached to another car +on the second track—for the company had begun by making two +tracks to the Mills—and met the engine at the Relay House +on its way back. From this point it was determined to have +a race home, and the start being even, away went horse and +engine, the snort of the one and the puff of the other keeping +tune and time.</p> +<p>“At first the grey had the best of it, for his +<i>steam</i> would be applied to the greatest advantage on the +instant, while the engine had to wait until the rotation of the +wheels set the blower to work. The horse was perhaps a +quarter of a mile ahead when the safety valve of the engine +lifted, and the thin blue vapour issuing from it showed an excess +of <!-- page 71--><a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +71</span>steam. The blower whistled, the steam blew off in +vapoury clouds, the pace increased, the passengers shouted, the +engine gained on the horse, soon it lapped him—the silk was +plied—the race was neck and neck, nose and nose—then +the engine passed the horse, and a great hurrah hailed the +victory. But it was not repeated, for, just at this time, +when the grey’s master was about giving up, the band which +draws the pulley which moved the blower slipped from the drum, +the safety valve ceased to scream, and the engine—for want +of breath—began to wheeze and pant. In vain Mr. +Cooper, who was his own engineer and fireman, lacerated his hands +in attempting to replace the band upon the wheel; the horse +gained upon the machine and passed it, and although the band was +presently replaced, and the steam again did its best, the horse +was too far ahead to be overtaken, and came in the winner of the +race.”</p> +<h2>ENGLISH AND AMERICAN OPPOSITION.</h2> +<p>What wonder that such an innovation as railways was +strenuously opposed, threatening, as it did, the coaching +interest, and the posting interest, the canal interest, and the +sporting interest, and private interests of every variety. +“Gentlemen, as an individual,” said a sporting M.P. +for Cheltenham, “I hate your railways; I detest them +altogether; I wish the concoctors of the Cheltenham and Oxford, +and the concoctors of every other scheme, including the +solicitors and engineers, were at rest in Paradise. +Gentlemen, I detest railroads; nothing is more distasteful to me +than to hear the echo of our hills reverberating with the noise +of hissing railroad engines, running through the heart of our +hunting country, and destroying that noble sport to which I have +been accustomed from my childhood.” And at +Tewkesbury, one speaker contended that “any railway would +be injurious;” compared engines to “war-horses and +fiery meteors;” and affirmed that “the evils +contained in Pandora’s box were but trifles compared with +those that would be consequent on railways.” Even in +go-aheadative America, some steady jog trotting opponents raised +their voices against the nascent system; one of whom (a canal +stockholder, by the way) chronicled the following objective +arguments. “He saw what would be the effect of it; +that <!-- page 72--><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +72</span>it would set the whole world a-gadding. Twenty +miles an hour, sir! Why you will not be able to keep an +apprentice-boy at his work; every Saturday evening he must take a +trip to Ohio, to spend the Sabbath with his sweetheart. +Grave plodding citizens will be flying about like comets. +All local attachments must be at an end. It will encourage +flightiness of intellect. Veracious people will turn into +the most immeasurable liars; all their conceptions will be +exaggerated by their magnificent notions of distance. +‘Only a hundred miles off! Tut, nonsense, I’ll +step across, madam, and bring your fan!’ ‘Pray, +sir, will you dine with me to-day at my little box at +Alleghany?’ ‘Why, indeed, I don’t +know. I shall be in town until twelve. Well, I shall +be there; but you must let me off in time for the +theatre.’ And then, sir, there will be barrels of +pork, and cargoes of flour, and chaldrons of coals, and even lead +and whiskey, and such-like sober things that have always been +used to sober travelling, whisking away like a set of +sky-rockets. It will upset all the gravity of the +nation. If two gentlemen have an affair of honour, they +have only to steal off to the Rocky Mountains, and there no +jurisdiction can touch them. And then, sir, think of flying +for debt! A set of bailiffs, mounted on bomb-shells, would +not overtake an absconded debtor, only give him a fair +start. Upon the whole, sir, it is a pestilential, +topsy-turvy, harum-scarum whirligig. Give me the old, +solemn, straightforward, regular Dutch canal—three miles an +hour for expresses, and two for ordinary journeys, with a yoke of +oxen for a heavy load! I go for beasts of burthen: it is +more primitive and scriptural, and suits a moral and religious +people better. None of your hop-skip-and-jump whimsies for +me.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Sharpe’s London +Journal</i>.</p> +<h2>AN UNPLEASANT TRIAL TRIP.</h2> +<p>Mr. O. F. Adams remarks:—“A famous trial trip with +a new locomotive engine was that made on the 9th of August, 1831, +on the new line from Albany to Schenectady over the Mohawk Valley +road. The train was made up of a locomotive, the <i>De Witt +Clinton</i>, its tender, and five or six passenger +coaches—which were, indeed, nothing but the bodies of stage +coaches placed upon trucks. The first two <!-- page 73--><a +name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>of these +coaches were set aside for distinguished visitors; the others +were surmounted with seats of plank to accommodate as many as +possible of the great throng of persons who were anxious to +participate in the trip. Inside and out the coaches were +crowded; every seat was full. What followed the starting of +the train has thus been described by one who took part in the +affair:—</p> +<p>“‘The trucks were coupled together with chains or +chain-links, leaving from two to three feet slack, and when the +locomotive started it took up the slack by jerks, with sufficient +force to jerk the passengers who sat on seats across the tops of +the coaches, out from under their hats, and in stopping they came +together with such force as to send them flying from their +seats.</p> +<p>“They used dry pitch-pine for fuel, and, there being no +smoke or spark-catcher to the chimney or smoke stack, a volume of +black smoke, strongly impregnated with sparks, coal, and cinders, +came pouring back the whole length of the train. Each of +the outside passengers who had an umbrella raised it as a +protection against the smoke and fire. They were found to +be but a momentary protection, for I think in the first mile the +last one went overboard, all having their covers burnt off from +the frames, when a general mêlée took place among +the deck passengers, each whipping his neighbour to put out the +fire. They presented a very motley appearance on arriving +at the first station.” Here, “a short stop was +made, and a successful experiment tried to remedy the unpleasant +jerks. A plan was soon hit upon and put into +execution. The three links in the couplings of the cars +were stretched to their utmost tension, a rail from a fence in +the neighbourhood was placed between each pair of cars and made +fast by means of the packing yarn from the cylinders. This +arrangement improved the order of things, and it was found to +answer the purpose when the signal was again given and the engine +started.’”</p> +<h2>PROGNOSTICATIONS OF FAILURE.</h2> +<p>In the year 1831, the writer of a pamphlet, who styled himself +<i>Investigator</i>, essayed the task of “proving by facts +and arguments” that a railway between London and <!-- page +74--><a name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +74</span>Birmingham would be a “burden upon the trade of +the country and would never pay.” The difficulties +and dangers of the enterprise he thus sets forth:—</p> +<p>“The causes of greater danger on the railway are +several. A velocity of fifteen miles an hour is in itself a +great source of danger, as the smallest obstacle might produce +the most serious consequences. If, at that rate, the engine +or any forward part of the train should suddenly stop, the whole +would be cracked by the collision like nutshells. At all +turnings there is a danger that the latter part of the train may +swing off the rails; and, if that takes place, the most serious +consequences must ensue before the whole train can be +stopped. The line, too, upon which the train must be +steered admits of little lateral deviation, while a stage coach +has a choice of the whole roadway. Independently of the +velocity, which in coaches is the chief source of danger, there +are many perils on the railway, the rails stand up like so many +thick knives, and any one alighting on them would have but a +slight chance of his life . . . Another consideration which +would deter travellers, more especially invalids, ladies, and +children, from making use of the railways, would be want of +accommodation along the line, unless the directors of the railway +choose to build inns as commodious as those on the present line +of road. But those inns the directors would have in part to +support also, because they would be out of the way of any +business except that arising from the railway, and that would be +so trifling and so accidental that the landlords could not afford +to keep either a cellar or a larder.</p> +<p>“Commercial travellers, who stop and do business in all +the towns and by so doing render commerce much cheaper than it +otherwise would be, and who give that constant support to the +houses of entertainment which makes them able to supply the +occasional traveller well and at a cheap rate, would, as a matter +of course, never by any chance go by the railroad; and the +occasional traveller, who went the same route for pleasure, would +go by the coach road also, because of the cheerful company and +comfortable dinner. Not one of the nobility, the gentry, or +those who travel in their own carriages, would by any chance go +by the railway. A nobleman would really not like to be +drawn at the <!-- page 75--><a name="page75"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 75</span>tail of a train of wagons, in which +some hundreds of bars of iron were jingling with a noise that +would drown all the bells of the district, and in the momentary +apprehension of having his vehicle broke to pieces, and himself +killed or crippled by the collision of those thirty-ton +masses.”</p> +<h2>SIR ASTLEY COOPER’S OPPOSITION TO THE LONDON AND +BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>Robert Stephenson, while engaged in the survey of the above +line, encountered much opposition from landed proprietors. +Many years after its completion, when recalling the past, he +said:—“I remember that we called one day on Sir +Astley Cooper, the eminent surgeon, in the hope of overcoming his +aversion to the railway. He was one of our most inveterate +and influential opponents. His country house at +Berkhampstead was situated near the intended line, which passed +through part of his property. We found a courtly, +fine-looking old gentleman, of very stately manners, who received +us kindly and heard all we had to say in favour of the +project. But he was quite inflexible in his opposition to +it. No deviation or improvement that we could suggest had +any effect in conciliating him. He was opposed to railways +generally, and to this in particular. ‘Your +scheme,’ said he, ‘is preposterous in the +extreme. It is of so extravagant a character as to be +positively absurd. Then look at the recklessness of your +proceedings! You are proposing to cut up our estates in all +directions for the purpose of making an unnecessary road. +Do you think, for one moment, of the destruction of property +involved by it? Why, gentlemen, if this sort of thing be +permitted to go on you will in a very few years <i>destroy the +nobility</i>!’”</p> +<h2>OPPOSITION TO MAKING SURVEYS.</h2> +<p>A great deal of opposition was encountered in making the +surveys for the London and Birmingham Railway, and although, in +every case, as little damage was done as possible, simply because +it was the interest of those concerned to conciliate all parties +along the line, yet, in several instances, the opposition was of +a most violent nature; in one case no skill or ingenuity could +evade the watchfulness <!-- page 76--><a name="page76"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 76</span>and determination of the lords of the +soil, and the survey was at last accomplished at night by means +of dark lanterns.</p> +<p>On another occasion, when Mr. Gooch was taking levels through +some of the large tracts of grazing land, a few miles from +London, two brothers, occupying the land came to him in a great +rage, and insisted on his leaving their property +immediately. He contrived to learn from them that the +adjoining field was not theirs and he therefore remonstrated but +very slightly with them, and then walked quietly through the gap +in the hedge into the next field, and planted his level on the +highest ground he could find—his assistant remaining at the +last level station, distant about a hundred and sixty yards, +apparently quite unconscious of what had taken place, although +one of the brothers was moving very quickly towards him, for the +purpose of sending him off. Now, if the assistant had moved +his staff before Mr. Gooch had got his sight at it through the +telescope of his level, all his previous work would have been +completely lost, and the survey must have been completed in +whatever manner it could have been done—the great object, +however, was to prevent this serious inconvenience. The +moment Mr. Gooch commenced looking through his telescope at the +staff held by his assistant, the grazier nearest him, spreading +out the tails of his coat, tried to place himself between the +staff and the telescope, in order to intercept all vision, and at +the same time commenced shouting violently to his comrade, +desiring him to make haste and knock down the staff. +Fortunately for Mr. Gooch, although nature had made this amiable +being’s ears longer than usual, yet they performed their +office very badly, and as he could not see distinctly what Mr. +Gooch was about—the hedge being between them—he very +simply asked the man at the staff what his (the enquirer’s) +brother said. “Oh,” replied the man, “he +is calling to you to stop that horse there which is galloping out +of the fold yard.” Away went Clodpole, as fast as he +could run, to restrain the unruly energies of Smolensko the +Ninth, or whatever other name the unlucky quadruped might be +called, and Mr. Gooch in the meanwhile quietly took the sight +required—he having, with great judgment, planted his level +on ground sufficiently high to enable him to see over the head of +any grazier in <!-- page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 77</span>the land; but his clever assistant, +as soon as he perceived that all was right, had to take to his +heels and make the shortest cut to the high road.</p> +<p>In another instance, a reverend gentleman of the Church of +England made such alarming demonstrations of his opposition that +the extraordinary expedient was resorted to of surveying his +property during the time he was engaged in the pulpit, preaching +to his flock. This was accomplished by having a strong +force of surveyors all in readiness to commence their operations, +by entering the clergyman’s grounds on the one side at the +same moment that they saw him fairly off them on the other, and, +by a well organised and systematic arrangement, each man coming +to a conclusion with his allotted task just as the reverend +gentleman came to a conclusion with his sermon; and before he +left the church to return to his home, the deed was done.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—Roscoe’s <i>London and +Birmingham Railway</i>.</p> +<h2>SANITARY OBJECTIONS.</h2> +<p>Mr. Smiles, in his <i>Life of George Stephenson</i>, +remarks:—“Sanitary objections were also urged in +opposition to railways, and many wise doctors strongly inveighed +against tunnels. Sir Anthony Carlisle insisted that +“tunnels would expose healthy people to colds, catarrhs, +and consumption.” The noise, the darkness, and the +dangers of tunnel travelling were depicted in all their +horrors. Worst of all, however, was ‘the destruction +of the atmospheric air,’ as Dr. Lardner termed it. +Elaborate calculations were made by that gentleman to prove that +the provision of ventilating shafts would be altogether +insufficient to prevent the dangers arising from the combustion +of coke, producing carbonic acid gas, which in large quantities +was fatal to life. He showed, for instance, that in the +proposed Box tunnel, on the Great Western Railway, the passage of +100 tons would deposit about 3090 lbs. of noxious gases, +incapable of supporting life! Here was an uncomfortable +prospect of suffocation for passengers between London and +Bristol. But steps were adopted to allay these formidable +sources of terror. Solemn documents, in the form of +certificates, were got up and published, signed by several of the +most <!-- page 78--><a name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +78</span>distinguished physicians of the day, attesting the +perfect wholesomeness of tunnels, and the purity of the air in +them. Perhaps they went further than was necessary in +alleging, what certainly subsequent experience has not verified, +that the atmosphere of the tunnel was ‘dry, of an agreeable +temperature, and free from smell.’ Mr. Stephenson +declared his conviction that a tunnel twenty miles long could be +worked safely and without more danger to life than a railway in +the open air; but, at the same time, he admits that tunnels were +nuisances, which he endeavoured to avoid wherever +practicable.”</p> +<h2>ELEVATED RAILWAYS.</h2> +<p>In the <i>Gentleman’s Magazine</i> for June, 1830, it is +stated:—“There are at present exhibiting in Edinburgh +three large models, accompanied with drawings of railways and +their carriages, invented by Mr. Dick, who has a patent. +These railways are of a different nature from those hitherto in +use, inasmuch as they are not laid along the surface of the +ground, but elevated to such a height as, when necessary, to pass +over the tops of houses and trees. The principal supports +are of stone, and, being placed at considerable distances, have +cast-iron pillars between them. The carriages are to be +dragged along with a velocity hitherto unparalleled, by means of +a rope drawn by a steam engine or other prime mover, a series +being placed at intervals along the railway. From the +construction of the railway and carriages the friction is very +small.”</p> +<h2>EVIDENCE OF A GENERAL SALESMAN.</h2> +<p>The advantages London derives from railways, in regard to its +supply of good meat, may be gathered from the evidence given by +Mr. George Rowley in 1834, on behalf of the Great Western Railway +Company.</p> +<p>“You have been a general salesman of live and dead stock +of all descriptions in Newgate Market 32 +years?”—“Yes.”</p> +<p>“What is about the annual amount of your +sales?”—“I turn over £300,000 in a +year.”</p> +<p><!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +79</span>“Would a railway that facilitated the +communication between London and Bristol be an advantage to your +business?”—“I think it would be a special +advantage to London altogether.”</p> +<p>“In what way?”—“The facility of having +goods brought in reference to live stock is very important; I +have been in the habit of paying Mr. Bowman, of Bristol, +£1,000 a-week for many weeks; that has been for sending +live hogs to me to be sold, to be slaughtered in London; and I +have, out of that £1,000 a-week as many as 40 or 50 pigs +die on the road, and they have sold for little or nothing. +The exertion of the pigs kills them.”</p> +<p>“The means of conveying pigs on a railway would be a +great advantage?”—“Yes, as far as having the +pigs come good to market, without being subject to a distemper +that creates fever, and they die as red as that bag before you, +and when they are killed in good health they die a natural +colour.”</p> +<p>“Then do I understand you that those who are fortunate +enough to survive the journey are the worse for +it?”—“Yes, in weight.”</p> +<p>“And in quality?”—“Yes! All meat +killed in the country, and delivered in the London market dead, +in a good state, will make from 6d. to 8d. a stone more than what +is slaughtered in London.”</p> +<h2>THE ANXIOUS HAIR-DRESSER.</h2> +<p>“Clanwilliam mentioned this evening an incident which +proves the wonderful celerity of the railroads. Mr. +Isidore, the Queen’s coiffeur, who receives £2,000 a +year for dressing Her Majesty’s hair twice-a-day, had gone +to London in the morning to return to Windsor in time for her +toilet; but on arriving at the station he was just five minutes +too late, and saw the train depart without him. His horror +was great, as he knew that his want of punctuality would deprive +him of his place, as no train would start for the next two +hours. The only resource was to order a special train, for +which he was obliged to pay £18; but the establishment +feeling the importance of his business, ordered extra steam to be +put on, and convoyed the anxious hair-dresser 18 miles in 18 +minutes, which extricated him from all his +difficulties.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Raike’s Diary from</i> 1831 +<i>to</i> 1847.</p> +<h2><!-- page 80--><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +80</span>SHARP PRACTICE.</h2> +<p>Sir Francis Head, Bart., in his <i>Stokers and Pokers</i>, +remarks:—“During the construction of the present +London and North Western Railway, a landlady at Hillmorton, near +Rugby, of very sharp practice, which she had imbibed in dealings +for many years with canal boatmen, was constantly remarking aloud +that no navvy should ever “do” her; and although the +railway was in her immediate neighbourhood, and although the +navvies were her principal customers, she took pleasure on every +opportunity in repeating the invidious remark.</p> +<p>“It had, however, one fine morning scarcely left her +large, full-blown, rosy lips, when a fine-looking young fellow, +walking up to her, carrying in both hands a huge stone bottle, +commonly called a ‘grey-neck,’ briefly asked her for +‘half a gallon of gin;’ which was no sooner measured +and poured in than the money was rudely demanded before it could +be taken away.</p> +<p>“On the navvy declining to pay the exorbitant price +asked, the landlady, with a face like a peony, angrily told him +he must either pay for the gin or <i>instantly</i> return it.</p> +<p>“He silently chose the latter, and accordingly, while +the eyes of his antagonist were wrathfully fixed upon his, he +returned into her measure the half gallon, and then quietly +walked off; but having previously put into his grey-neck half a +gallon of water, each party eventually found themselves in +possession of half a gallon of gin and water; and, however either +may have enjoyed the mixture, it is historically recorded at +Hillmorton that the landlady was never again heard unnecessarily +to boast that no navvy could <i>do</i> her.”</p> +<h2>A NAVVY’S REASON FOR NOT GOING TO CHURCH.</h2> +<p>A navvy at Kilsby, being asked why he did not go to church? +duly answered in geological language—“<i>Why</i>, +<i>Soonday hasn’t cropped out here yet</i>!” By +which he meant that the clergyman appointed to the new village +had not yet arrived.</p> +<h2><!-- page 81--><a name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +81</span>SNAKES’ HEADS.</h2> +<p>One of the earliest forms of rails used by the Americans +consisted of a flat bar half-an-inch thick spiked down to +longitudinal timbers. In the process of running the train, +the iron was curved, the spikes loosened, and the ends of the +bars turned up, and were known by the name of snakes’ +heads. Occasionally they pierced the bottoms of the +carriages and injured passengers, and it was no uncommon thing to +hear passengers speculate as to which line they would go by, as +showing fewest snakes’ heads.</p> +<h2>PREJUDICE REMOVED.</h2> +<p>Mr. William Reed, a land agent, was called, in 1834, to give +evidence in favour of the Great Western Railway. He was +questioned as to the benefits conferred upon the localities +passed through by the Manchester and Liverpool Railway. He +was asked, “From your knowledge of the property in the +neighbourhood, can you say that the houses have not decreased in +value?” “Yes; I know an instance of a gentleman +who had a house very near, and, though he quarrelled very much +with the Company when they came there, and said, ‘Very +well, if you will come let me have a high wall to keep you out of +sight,’ and a year-and-a-half ago he petitioned the Company +to take down the wall, and he has put up an iron railing, so that +he may see them.”</p> +<h2>A RIDE FROM BOSTON TO PROVIDENCE IN 1835.</h2> +<p>The early railway enterprise in America was not regarded by +all persons with feelings of unmixed satisfaction. Thus we +read of the railway journey taken by a gentleman of the old +school, whose experience and sensations—if not very +satisfactory to himself—are worth +recording:—“July 22, 1835.—This morning at nine +o’clock I took passage in a railroad car (from Boston) for +Providence. Five or six other cars were attached to the +locomotive, and uglier boxes I do not wish to travel in. +They were made to stow away some thirty human beings, who sit +cheek by jowl as best they can. Two poor fellows who were +not much in the habit of making their toilet squeezed me into a +corner, while the hot sun drew from their garments a villanous +compound <!-- page 82--><a name="page82"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 82</span>of smells made up of salt fish, tar, +and molasses. By and bye, just twelve—only +twelve—bouncing factory girls were introduced, who were +going on a party of pleasure to Newport. ‘Make room +for the ladies!’ bawled out the superintendent, +‘Come, gentlemen, jump up on the top; plenty of room +there.’ ‘I’m afraid of the bridge +knocking my brains out,’ said a passenger. Some made +one excuse and some another. For my part, I flatly told him +that since I had belonged to the corps of Silver Greys I had lost +my gallantry, and did not intend to move. The whole twelve +were, however, introduced, and soon made themselves at home, +sucking lemons and eating green apples. . . The rich and +the poor, the educated and the ignorant, the polite and the +vulgar, all herd together in this modern improvement of +travelling. The consequence is a complete +amalgamation. Master and servant sleep heads and points on +the cabin floor of the steamer, feed at the same table, sit in +each other’s laps, as it were, in the cars; and all this +for the sake of doing very uncomfortably in two days what would +be done delightfully in eight or ten. Shall we be much +longer kept by this toilsome fashion of hurrying, hurrying, from +starting (those who can afford it) on a journey with our own +horses, and moving slowly, surely, and profitably through the +country, with the power of enjoying its beauty, and be the means +of creating good inns. Undoubtedly, a line of post-horses +and post-chaises would long ago have been established along our +great roads had not steam monopolized everything. . . . +Talk of ladies on board a steamboat or in a railroad car. +There are none! I never feel like a gentleman there, and I +cannot perceive a semblance of gentility in any one who makes +part of the travelling mob. When I see women whom, in their +drawing rooms or elsewhere, I have been accustomed to respect and +treat with every suitable deference—when I see them, I say, +elbowing their way through a crowd of dirty emigrants or lowbred +homespun fellows in petticoats or breeches in our country, in +order to reach a table spread for a hundred or more, I lose sight +of their pretensions to gentility and view them as belonging to +the plebeian herd. To restore herself to her caste, let a +lady move in select company at five miles an hour, and take her +meals in comfort at a good inn, where <!-- page 83--><a +name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>she may dine +decently. . . . After all, the old-fashioned way of five or +six miles, with liberty to dine in a decent inn and be master of +one’s movements, with the delight of seeing the country and +getting along rationally, is the mode to which I cling, and which +will be adopted again by the generations of after +times.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Recollections of Samuel +Breck</i>.</p> +<h2>APPEALING TO THE CLERGY.</h2> +<p>Mr. C. F. Adams remarks:—“During the periods of +discouragement which, a few years later, marked certain stages of +the construction of the Western road, connecting Worcester with +Albany—when both money and courage seemed almost +exhausted—Mr. De Grand never for a moment faltered. +He might almost be said to have then had Western railroad on the +brain. Among other things, he issued a circular which +caused much amusement and not improbably some scandal among the +more precise. The Rev. S. K. Lothrop, then a young man, had +preached a sermon in Brattle Street Church which attracted a good +deal of attention, on the subject of the moral and Christianizing +influence of railroads. Mr. De Grand thought he saw his +occasion, and he certainly availed himself of it. He at +once had a circular printed, a copy of which he sent to every +clergyman in Massachusetts, suggesting the propriety of a +discourse on ‘The moral and Christianizing influence of +railroads in general and of the Western railroad in +particular.’”</p> +<h2>AIR-WAYS INSTEAD OF RAILWAYS.</h2> +<p>In the <i>Mechanics’ Magazine</i> for July 22nd, 1837, +is to be found the following remarkable +suggestion:—“In many parts of the new railroads, +where there has been some objection to the locomotive engines, +stationary ones are resorted to, as everyone knows to draw the +vehicles along. Why might not these vehicles be +balloons? Why, instead of being dragged on the surface of +the ground, along costly viaducts or under disagreeable tunnels, +might they not travel two or three hundred feet high? By +balloons, I mean, of course, anything raised in the air by means +of a gas lighter than the air. They might be of all shapes +and <!-- page 84--><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +84</span>sizes to suit convenience. The practicability of +this plan does not seem to be doubtful. Its advantages are +obvious. Instead of having to purchase, as for a railway, +the whole line of track passed over, the company for a +balloon-way would only have to procure those spots of ground on +which they proposed to erect stationary engines; and these need +in no case be of peculiar value, since their being a hundred +yards one way or the other would make little difference. +Viaducts of course would never be necessary, cuttings in very few +occasions indeed, if at all. The chief expense of balloons +is their inflation, which is renewed at every new ascent; but in +these balloons the gas once in need never to be let out, and one +inflation would be enough.”</p> +<p>The same writer a few years later on +observes:—“One feature of the air-way to supersede +the railway would be, that besides preventing the destruction of +the architectural beauties of the metropolis, now menaced by the +multitudinous network of viaducts and subways at war with the +existing thoroughfares, it would occasion the construction of +numerous lofty towers as stations of arrival and departure, which +would afford an opportunity of architectural effect hitherto +undreamed of.”</p> +<h2>PREJUDICE AGAINST CARRYING COALS BY RAILWAYS.</h2> +<p>Rev. F. S. Williams in an article upon “Railway +Revolutions,” remarks:—“When railways were +first established it was never imagined that they would be so far +degraded as to carry coals; but George Stephenson and others soon +saw how great a service railways might render in developing and +distributing the mineral wealth of the country. Prejudice +had, however, to be timidly and vigorously overcome. When +it was mentioned to a certain eminent railway authority that +George Stephenson had spoken of sending coals by railway: +‘Coals!’ he exclaimed, ‘they will want us to +carry dung next.’ The remark was reported to +‘Old George,’ who was not behind his critic in the +energy of his expression. ‘You tell B—,’ +he said, ‘that when he travels by railway, they carry dung +now!’ The strength of the feeling against the traffic +is sufficiently illustrated by the fact that, when the London and +Birmingham Railway began to carry coal, the wagons that contained +it <!-- page 85--><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +85</span>were sheeted over that their contents might not be seen; +and when a coal wharf was first made at Crick station, a screen +was built to hide the work from the observation of passengers on +the line. Even the possibility of carrying coal at a +remunerative price was denied. ‘I am very +sorry,’ said Lord Eldon, referring to this subject, +‘to find the intelligent people of the north country gone +mad on the subject of railways;’ and another eminent +authority declared: ‘It is all very well to spend money; it +will do some good; but I will eat all the coals your railway will +carry.’</p> +<p>“George Stephenson, however, and other friends of coal, +held on their way; and he declared that the time would come when +London would be supplied with coal by railway. ‘The +strength of Britain,’ he said, ‘is in her coal beds; +and the locomotive is destined, above all other agencies, to +bring it forth. The Lord Chancellor now sits upon a bag of +wool; but wool has long ceased to be emblematical of the staple +commodity of England. He ought rather to sit upon a bag of +coals, though it might not prove quite so comfortable a +seat. Then think of the Lord Chancellor being addressed as +the noble and learned lord on the coal-sack? I’m +afraid it wouldn’t answer, after all.’”</p> +<h2>AN EPITAPH ON THE VICTIM OF A RAILWAY ACCIDENT.</h2> +<p>A correspondent writes to the <i>Pall Mall +Gazette</i>:—“Our poetic literature, so rich in other +respects, is entirely wanting in epitaphs on the victims of +railway accidents. A specimen of what may be turned in this +line is to be seen on a tombstone in the picturesque churchyard +of Harrow-on-the-Hill. It was, I observe, written as long +ago as 1838, so that it can be reproduced without much danger of +hurting the feelings of those who may have known and loved the +subject of this touching elegy. The name of the victim was +Port, and the circumstances of his death are thus set +forth:—</p> +<blockquote><p>Bright was the morn, and happy rose poor Port;<br +/> +Gay on the train he used his wonted sport.<br /> +Ere noon arrived his mangled form they bore<br /> +With pain distorted and overwhelmed with gore.<br /> +When evening came and closed the fatal day,<br /> +A mutilated corpse the sufferer lay.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page 86--><a name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +86</span>AN ENGINE-DRIVER’S EPITAPH.</h2> +<p>In the cemetery at Alton, Illinois, there is a tombstone +bearing the following inscription:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“My engine is now cold and still.<br /> +No water does my boiler fill.<br /> +My coke affords its flame no more,<br /> +My days of usefulness are o’er;<br /> +My wheels deny their noted speed,<br /> +No more my guiding hand they heed;<br /> +My whistle—it has lost its tone,<br /> +Its shrill and thrilling sound is gone;<br /> +My valves are now thrown open wide,<br /> +My flanges all refuse to glide;<br /> +My clacks—alas! though once so strong,<br /> +Refuse their aid in the busy throng;<br /> +No more I feel each urging breath,<br /> +My steam is now condensed in death;<br /> +Life’s railway o’er, each station past,<br /> +In death I’m stopped, and rest at last.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This epitaph was written by an engineer on the old Chicago and +Mississippi Railroad, who was fatally injured by an accident on +the road; and while he lay awaiting the death which he knew to be +inevitable, he wrote the lines which are engraved upon his +tombstone.</p> +<h2>TRAFFIC-TAKING.</h2> +<p>Between the years 1836 and 1839, when there were many railway +acts applied for, traffic-taking became a lucrative +calling. It was necessary that some approximate estimate +should be made as to the income which the lines might be expected +to yield. Arithmeticians, who calculated traffic receipts, +were to be found to prove what promoters of railways required to +satisfy shareholders and Parliamentary Committees. The +Eastern Counties Railway was estimated to pay a dividend of +23½ per cent.; the London and Cambridge, 14½ per +cent.; the Sheffield and Manchester, 18½ per cent. +One shareholder of this company was so sanguine as to the success +of the line that in a letter to the <i>Railway Magazine</i> he +calculated on a dividend of 80 per cent. Bitter indeed must +have been the disappointment of those railway shareholders who +pinned their faith to the estimates of traffic-takers, when +instead of receiving large dividends, little was received, and in +some instances the lines paid no dividend at all.</p> +<h2><!-- page 87--><a name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +87</span>MONEY LOST AND FOUND.</h2> +<p>On Friday night, a servant of the Birmingham Railway Company +found in one of the first-class carriages, after the passengers +had left, a pocket book containing a check on a London Bank for +£2,000 and £2,500 in bank notes. He delivered +the book and its contents to the principal officer, and it was +forwarded to the gentleman to whom it belonged, his address being +discovered from some letters in the pocket book. He had +gone to bed, and risen and dressed himself next morning without +discovering his loss, which was only made known by the +restoration of the property. He immediately tendered +£20 to the party who had found his money, but this being +contrary to the regulations of the directors, the party, though a +poor man, could not receive the reward. As the temptation, +however, was so great to apply the money to his own use, the +matter is to be brought before a meeting of the directors.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Aris’s Gazette</i>, +1839.</p> +<h2>ORIGIN OF COOK’S RAILWAY EXCURSIONS.</h2> +<p>Mr. Thomas Cook, the celebrated excursionist, in an article in +the <i>Leisure Hour</i> remarks:—“As a pioneer in a +wide field of thought and action, my course can never be +repeated. It has been mine to battle against inaugural +difficulties, and to place the system on a basis of consolidated +strength. It was mine to lay the foundations of a system on +which others, both individuals and companies, have builded, and +there is not a phase of the tourist plans of Europe and America +that was not embodied in my plans or foreshadowed in my +ideas. The whole thing seemed to come to me as by +intuition, and my spirit recoiled at the idea of imitation.</p> +<p>“The beginning was very small, and was on this +wise. I believe that the Midland Railway from Derby to +Rugby <i>via</i> Leicester was opened in 1840. At that time +I knew but little of railways, having only travelled over the +Leicester and Swannington line from Leicester to Long Lane, a +terminus near to the Leicestershire collieries. The reports +in the papers of the opening of the new line created astonishment +in Leicestershire, and I had read of an interchange <!-- page +88--><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 88</span>of +visits between the Leicester and Nottingham Mechanics’ +Institutes. I was an enthusiastic temperance man, and the +secretary of a district association, which embraced parts of the +two counties of Leicester and Northampton. A great meeting +was to be held at Leicester, over which Lawrence Heyworth, Esq., +of Liverpool—a great railway as well as temperance +man—was advertised to preside. From my residence at +Market Harborough I walked to Leicester (fifteen miles) to attend +that meeting. About midway between Harborough and +Leicester—my mind’s eye has often reverted to the +spot—a thought flashed through my brain, what a glorious +thing it would be if the newly-developed powers of railways and +locomotion could be made subservient to the promotion of +temperance. That thought grew upon me as I travelled over +the last six or eight miles. I carried it up to the +platform, and, strong in the confidence of the sympathy of the +chairman, I broached the idea of engaging a special train to +carry the friends of temperance from Leicester to Loughborough +and back to attend a quarterly delegate meeting appointed to be +held there in two or three weeks following. The chairman +approved, the meeting roared with excitement, and early next day +I proposed my grand scheme to John Fox Bell, the resident +secretary of the Midland Counties Railway Company. Mr. +Paget, of Loughborough, opened his park for a gala, and on the +day appointed about five hundred passengers filled some twenty or +twenty-five open carriages—they were called +‘tubs’ in those days—and the party rode the +enormous distance of eleven miles and back for a shilling, +children half-price. We carried music with us, and music +met us at the Loughborough station. The people crowded the +streets, filled windows, covered the house-tops, and cheered us +all along the line, with the heartiest welcome. All went +off in the best style and in perfect safety we returned to +Leicester; and thus was struck the keynote of my excursions, and +the social idea grew upon me.”</p> +<h2>THE DEODAND.</h2> +<p>It was a principle of English common law derived from the +feudal period, that anything through the instrumentality of which +death occurred was forfeited to the <!-- page 89--><a +name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 89</span>crown as a +deodand; accordingly down to the year 1840 and even later, we +find, in all cases where persons were killed, records of deodands +levied by the coroners’ juries upon locomotives. +These appear to have been arbitrarily imposed and graduated in +amount accordingly as circumstances seemed to excite in greater +or less degree the sympathies or the indignation of the +jury. In November, 1838, for instance, a locomotive +exploded upon the Liverpool and Manchester line, killing its +engineer and fireman; and for this escapade a deodand of twenty +pounds was assessed upon it by the coroner’s jury; while +upon another occasion, in 1839, when the locomotive struck and +killed a man and horse at a street crossing, the deodand was +fixed at no less a sum than fourteen hundred pounds, the full +value of the engine. Yet in this last case there did not +appear to be any circumstances rendering the company liable in +civil damages. The deodand seems to have been looked upon +as a species of rude penalty imposed on the use of dangerous +appliances, a sharp reminder to the companies to look sharply +after their locomotives and employés. Thus upon the +24th of December, 1841, on the Great Western Railway, a train, +while moving through a thick fog at a high rate of speed, came +suddenly in contact with a mass of earth which had slid from the +embankment at the side on to the track. Instantly the whole +rear of the train was piled up on the top of the first carriage, +which happened to be crowded with passengers, eight of whom were +killed on the spot, while seventeen others were more or less +injured. The coroner’s jury returned a verdict of +accidental death, and at the same time, as if to give the company +a forcible hint to look closer to the condition of its +embankment, a deodand of one hundred pounds was levied on the +locomotive and tender.</p> +<h2>AN UNFORTUNATE DISCUSSION.</h2> +<p>Two gentlemen sitting opposite each other in a railway +carriage got into a political argument; one was elderly and a +staunch Conservative, the other was young and an +ultra-Radical. It may be readily conceived that, as the +argument went on, the abuse became fast and furious; all sorts of +unpleasant phrases and epithets were bandied about, <!-- page +90--><a name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +90</span>personalities were freely indulged in, and the other +passengers were absolutely compelled to interfere to prevent a +<i>fracas</i>. At the end of the journey the disputants +parted in mutual disgust, and looking unutterable things. +It so happened that the young man had a letter of introduction to +an influential person in the neighbourhood respecting a legal +appointment which was then vacant, which the young man desired to +obtain, and which the elderly gentleman had the power to +secure. The young petitioner, first going to his hotel and +making himself presentable, sallied forth on his errand. He +reached the noble mansion of the person to whom his letter of +introduction was addressed, was ushered into an ante-room, and +there awaited, with mingled hope and fear, the all-important +interview. After a few minutes the door opened and, +horrible to relate! he who entered was the young man’s +travelling opponent, and thus the opponents of an hour since +stood face to face. The confusion and humiliation on the +one side, and the hauteur and coldness on the other, may be +readily imagined. Sir Edward C—, however—for +such he was—although he instantly recognized his recent +antagonist, was too well-bred to make any allusion to the +transaction. He took the letter of introduction in silence, +read it, folded it up, and returned it to the presenter with a +bitter smile and the following speech: “Sir, I am +infinitely obliged to my friend, Mr. —, for recommending to +my notice a gentleman whom he conceives to be so well fitted for +the vacant post as yourself; but permit me to say that, inasmuch +as the office you are desirous to fill exists upon a purely +Conservative tenure, and can only be appropriately administered +by a person of Conservative tendency, I could not think of doing +such violence to your well-known political principles as to +recommend you for the post in question.” With these +words and another smile more grim than before, Sir Edward +C— bowed the chapfallen petitioner out, and he quickly took +his way to the railway station, secretly vowing never again to +enter into political argument with an unknown railway +traveller.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>The Railway +Traveller’s Handy Book</i>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 91--><a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +91</span>DOG TICKET.</h2> +<p>Shortly after telegraphs were laid alongside of railways, a +principal officer of a railway company got into a compartment of +a stopping train at an intermediate station. The train had +hardly left, when an elderly gentleman, in terms of endearment, +invited what turned out to be a little Skye terrier to come out +of its concealment under the seat. The dog came out, jumped +up, and appeared to enjoy his journey until the speed of the +train slackened previous to stopping at a station, the dog then +instinctively retreated to its hiding place, and came out again +in due course after the train had started. The officer of +the company left the train at a station or two afterwards. +On its arrival at the London ticket platform the gentleman +delivered up the tickets for his party. “Dog ticket, +sir, please.” “Dog ticket, what dog +ticket?” “Ticket, sir, for Skye terrier, black +and tan, with his ears nearly over his eyes; travelling, for +comfort’s sake, under the seat opposite to you, sir, in a +large carpet bag, red ground with yellow cross-bars.” +The gentleman found resistance useless; he paid the fare +demanded, when the ticket-collector—who throughout the +scene had never changed a muscle—handed him a ticket that +he had prepared beforehand. “Dog ticket, sir; +gentlemen not allowed to travel with a dog without a dog ticket; +you will have to give it up in London.” “Yes, +but how did you know I had a dog? That’s what puzzles +me!” “Ah, sir,” said the +ticket-collector, relaxing a little, but with an air of +satisfaction, “the telegraph is laid on our railway. +Them’s the wires you see on the outside; we find them very +useful in our business, etc. Thank you, sir, good +morning.” It is needless to tell what part the +principal officer played in this little drama. On arrival +in London the dog ticket was duly claimed, a little word to that +effect having been sent up by a previous train to be sure to have +it demanded, although, as a usual practice, dog tickets are +collected at the same time as those of passengers.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Roney’s Rambles on +Railways</i>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +92</span>THE ELECTRIC CONSTABLE.</h2> +<p>The first application of the telegraph to police purposes took +place in 1844, on the Great Western Railway, and, as it was the +first intimation thieves got of the electric constable being on +duty, it is full of interest. The following extracts are +from the telegraph book kept at the Paddington +Station:—</p> +<p>“Eton Montem Day, August 28, 1844.—The +Commissioners of Police having issued orders that several +officers of the detective force shall be stationed at Paddington +to watch the movements of suspicious persons, going by the down +train, and give notice by the electric telegraph to the Slough +station of the number of such suspected persons, and dress, their +names (if known), also the carriages in which they +are.”</p> +<p>Now come the messages following one after the other, and +influencing the fate of the marked individuals with all the +celerity, certainty, and calmness of the Nemesis of the Greek +drama:—</p> +<p>“Paddington, 10.20 a.m.—Mail train just +started. It contains three thieves, named Sparrow, Burrell, +and Spurgeon, in the first compartment of the fourth first-class +carriage.”</p> +<p>“Slough, 10.50 a.m.—Mail train arrived. +<i>The officers have cautioned the three thieves</i>.”</p> +<p>“Paddington, 10.50 a.m.—Special train just +left. It contained two thieves; one named Oliver Martin, +who is dressed in black, <i>crape on his hat</i>; the other named +Fiddler Dick, in black trousers and light blouse. Both in +the third compartment of the first second-class +carriage.”</p> +<p>“Slough, 11.16 a.m.—Special train arrived. +Officers have taken the two thieves into custody, a lady having +lost her bag, containing a purse with two sovereigns and some +silver in it; one of the sovereigns was sworn to by the lady as +having been her property. It was found in Fiddler +Dick’s watch fob.”</p> +<p>It appears that, on the arrival of the train, a policeman +opened the door of the “third compartment of the first +second-class carriage,” and asked the passengers if they +had missed anything? A search in pockets and bags +accordingly ensued, until one lady called out that her purse was +gone.</p> +<p><!-- page 93--><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +93</span>“Fiddler Dick, you are wanted,” was the +immediate demand of the police officer, beckoning to the culprit, +who came out of the carriage thunder-struck at the discovery, and +gave himself up, together with the booty, with the air of a +completely beaten man. The effect of the capture so +cleverly brought about is thus spoken of in the telegraph +book:—</p> +<p>“Slough, 11.51 a.m.—Several of the suspected +persons who came by the various down-trains are lurking about +Slough, uttering bitter invectives against the telegraph. +Not one of those cautioned has ventured to proceed to the +Montem.”</p> +<h2>RUNAWAY MATCH.</h2> +<p>Sir Francis Head in his account of the London and +North-Western Railway remarks:—“During a marriage +which very lately took place at —, one of the bridesmaids +was so deeply affected by the ceremony that she took the +opportunity of the concentrated interest excited by the bride to +elope from church with an admirer. The instant her parents +discovered their sad loss, messengers were sent to all the +railway stations to stop the fugitives. The telegraph also +went to work, and with such effect that, before night, no less +than four affectionate couples legitimately married that morning +were interrupted on their several marriage jaunts and most +seriously bothered, inconvenienced, and impeded by policemen and +magistrates.”</p> +<h2>A RAILWAY ROMANCE.</h2> +<p>An incident of an amusing though of a rather serious nature +occurred some years ago on the London and South-Western +Railway. A gentleman, whose place of residence was Maple +Derwell, near Basingstoke, got into a first-class carriage at the +Waterloo terminus, with the intention of proceeding home by one +of the main line down trains. His only fellow-passengers in +the compartment were a lady and an infant, and another gentleman, +and thus things remained until the arrival of the train at +Walton, where the other gentleman left the carriage, leaving the +first gentleman with the lady and child. Shortly after this +the train reached the Weybridge station, and on its stopping <!-- +page 94--><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +94</span>the lady, under the pretence of looking for her servant +or carriage, requested her male fellow-passenger to hold the +infant for a few minutes while she went to search for what she +wanted. The bell rang for the starting of the train and the +gentleman thus strangely left with the baby began to get rather +fidgety, and anxious to return his charge to the mother. +The lady, however, did not again put in any appearance, and the +train went on without her, the child remaining with the +gentleman, who, on arriving at his destination took the child +home to his wife and explained the circumstance under which it +came into his possession. No application has, at present, +it is understood, been made for the “lost child,” +which has for the nonce been adopted by the gentleman and his +wife, who, it is said, are without any family of their own.</p> +<h2>GIGANTIC POWER OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES.</h2> +<p>Sir Francis Head remarks:—“The gigantic power of +the locomotive engines hourly committed to the charge of these +drivers was lately strangely exemplified in the large engine +stable at the Camden Station. A passenger engine, whose +furnace-fire had but shortly been lighted, was standing in this +huge building surrounded by a number of artificers, who, in +presence of the chief superintendent, were working in various +directions around it. While they were all busily occupied, +the fire in the furnace—by burning up faster than was +expected—suddenly imparted to the engine the breath of +life; and no sooner had the minimum of steam necessary to move it +been thus created, than this infant Hercules not only walked +<i>off</i>, but without the smallest embarrassment walked +<i>through</i> the 14-inch brick wall of the great building which +contained it, to the terror of the superintendent and workmen, +who expected every instant that the roof above their heads would +fall in and extinguish them. In consequence of the spindle +of the regulator having got out of its socket the very same +accident occurred shortly afterwards with another engine, which, +in like manner, walked through another portion of this 14-inch +wall of the stable that contained it, just as a thorough-bred +horse would have walked out of the door. And if such be the +irresistible power of the locomotive engine when feebly walking +in its new-born <!-- page 95--><a name="page95"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 95</span>state, unattended or unassisted even +by its tender, is it not appalling to reflect what must be its +momentum when, in the full vigour of its life, it is flying down +a steep gradient at the rate of 50 miles an hour, backed up by, +say, 30 passenger carriages, each weighing on an average +5½ tons? If ordinary houses could suddenly be placed +in its path, it would, passengers and all, run through them as a +musket-ball goes through a keg of butter; but what would be the +result if, at this full speed, the engine by any accident were to +be diverted against a mass of solid rock, such as sometimes is to +be seen at the entrance of a tunnel, it is impossible to +calculate or even to conjecture. It is stated by the +company’s superintendent, who witnessed the occurrence, +that some time ago an ordinary accident happening to a luggage +train near Loughborough, the wagons overrode each other until the +uppermost one was found piled 40 feet above the rails!”</p> +<h2>NOVEL NOTICE TO DEFAULTING SHAREHOLDERS.</h2> +<p>In the early days of railway enterprise there was often much +difficulty in obtaining the punctual payment of calls from the +shareholders. The Leicester and Swannington line was thus +troubled. The Secretary, adopting a rather novel way to +collect the calls, wrote to the defaulters:—“I am +therefore necessitated to inform you, that unless the sum of +£2 is paid on or before the 22nd instant, your name will be +furnished to one of the principal and most pressing creditors of +the company.” The missives of the Secretary generally +had the desired effect.</p> +<h2>A QUICK DECISION.</h2> +<p>The elder Brunel was habitually absent in society, but no man +was more remarkable for presence of mind in an emergency. +Numerous instances are recorded of this latter quality, but none +more striking than that of his adventure in the act of inspecting +the Birmingham Railway. Suddenly in a confined part of the +road a train was seen approaching from either end of the line, +and at a speed which it was difficult to calculate. The +spectators were horrified; there was not an instant to be lost; +but an instant sufficed to the experienced engineer to determine +the safest course <!-- page 96--><a name="page96"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 96</span>under the circumstances. +Without attempting to cross the road, which would have been +almost certain destruction, he at once took his position exactly +midway between the up and down lines, and drawing the skirts of +his coat close around him, allowed the two trains to sweep past +him; when to the great relief of those who witnessed the exciting +scene, he was found untouched upon the road. Without the +engineer’s experience which enabled him to form so rapid a +decision, there can be no doubt that he must have perished.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>The Temple +Anecdotes</i>.</p> +<h2>THE VERSAILLES ACCIDENT IN 1842.</h2> +<p>Mr. Charles F. Adams thus describes it:—“On the +8th of May, 1842, there happened in France one of the most famous +and horrible railroad slaughters ever recorded. It was the +birthday of the king, Louis Phillipe, and, in accordance with the +usual practice, the occasion had been celebrated at Versailles by +a great display of the fountains. At half-past five +o’clock these had stopped playing, and a general rush +ensued for the trains then about to leave for Paris. That +which went by the road along the left bank of the Seine was +densely crowded, and was so long that it required two locomotives +to draw it. As it was moving at a high rate of speed +between Bellevue and Menden, the axle of the foremost of these +two locomotives broke, letting the body of the engine drop to the +ground. It instantly stopped, and the second locomotive was +then driven by its impetus on top of the first, crushing its +engineer and fireman, while the contents of both the fire-boxes +were scattered over the roadway and among the +<i>debris</i>. Three carriages crowded with passengers were +then piled on top of this burning mass, and there crushed +together into each other. The doors of the train were all +locked, as was then, and indeed is still, the custom in Europe, +and it so chanced that the carriages had all been newly +painted. They blazed up like pine kindlings. Some of +the carriages were so shattered that a portion of those in them +were enabled to extricate themselves, but no less than forty were +held fast; and of these such as were not so fortunate as to be +crushed to death in the first shock perished hopelessly in the +flames before the eyes of <!-- page 97--><a +name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>a throng of +impotent lookers-on. Some fifty-two or fifty-three persons +were supposed to have lost their lives in this disaster, and more +than forty others were injured; the exact number of the killed, +however, could never be ascertained, as the telescoping of the +carriages on top of the two locomotives had made of the destroyed +portion of the train a visible holocaust of the most hideous +description. Not only did whole families perish +together—in one case no less than eleven members of the +same family sharing a common fate—but the remains of such +as were destroyed could neither be identified nor +separated. In one case a female foot was alone +recognisable, while in others the bodies were calcined and fused +into an undistinguishable mass. The Academy of Sciences +appointed a committee to inquire whether Admiral D’Urville, +a distinguished French navigator, was among the victims. +His body was thought to be found, but it was so terribly +mutilated that it could be recognized only by a sculptor, who +chanced some time before to have taken a phrenological cast of +his skull. His wife and only son had perished with him.</p> +<p>“It is not easy now to conceive the excitement and +dismay which this catastrophe caused throughout France. The +new invention was at once associated in the minds of an excitable +people with novel forms of imminent death. France had at +best been laggard enough in its adoption of the new appliance, +and now it seemed for a time as if the Versailles disaster was to +operate as a barrier in the way of all further railroad +development. Persons availed themselves of the steam roads +already constructed as rarely as possible, and then in fear and +trembling, while steps were taken to substitute horse for steam +power on other roads then in process of construction.”</p> +<h2>AN AMATEUR SIGNALMAN.</h2> +<p>Mr. Williams in his book, <i>Our Iron Roads</i>, gives an +account of a foolish act of signalling to stop a train; he +says:—“An Irishman, who appears to have been in some +measure acquainted with the science of signalling, was on one +occasion walking along the Great Western line without permission, +when he thought he might reduce his information <!-- page 98--><a +name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 98</span>to practical +use. Accordingly, on seeing an express train approach, he +ran a short distance up the side of the cutting, and began to +wave a handkerchief very energetically, which he had secured to a +stick, as a signal to stop. The warning was not to be +disregarded, and never was command obeyed with greater +alacrity. The works of the engine were reversed—the +tender and van breaks were applied—and soon, to the alarm +of the passengers, the train came to a ‘dead +halt.’ A hundred heads were thrust out of the +carriage windows, and the guard had scarcely time to exclaim, +‘What’s the matter?’ when Paddy, with a knowing +touch of his ‘brinks,’ asked his ‘honour if he +would give him a bit of a ride?’ So polite and +ingenuous a request was not to be denied, and, though biting his +lips with annoyance, the officer replied ‘Oh, certainly; +jump in here,’ and the pilgrim was ensconced in the luggage +van. But instead of having his ride ‘for his +thanks,’ the functionary duly handed him over to the +magisterial authorities, that he might be taught the important +lesson, that railway companies did not keep express trains for +Irish beggars, and that such costly machinery was not to be +imperilled with impunity, either by their freaks or their +ignorance.”</p> +<h2>STEAM WHISTLE.</h2> +<p>In the early days of railways, the signal of alarm was given +by the blowing of a horn. In the year, 1833, an accident +occurred on the Leicester and Swannington railway near Thornton, +at a level crossing, through an engine running against a horse +and cart. Mr. Bagster, the manager, after narrating the +circumstance to George Stephenson, asked “Is it not +possible to have a whistle fitted on the engine, which the steam +can blow?” “A very good thought,” replied +Stephenson. “You go to Mr. So-and-So, a musical +instrument maker, and get a model made, and we will have a steam +whistle, and put it on the next engine that comes on the +line.” When the model was made it was sent to the +Newcastle factory and future engines had the whistle fitted on +them.</p> +<h2><!-- page 99--><a name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +99</span>EXEMPTION FROM ACCIDENTS.</h2> +<p>Mr. C. F. Adams, remarks:—“Indeed, from the time +of Mr. Huskisson’s death, during the period of over eleven +years, railroads enjoyed a remarkable and most fortunate +exemption from accidents. During all that time there did +not occur a single disaster resulting in any considerable loss of +life. This happy exemption was probably due to a variety of +causes. Those early roads were in the first place, +remarkably well and thoroughly built, and were very cautiously +operated under a light volume of traffic. The precautions +then taken and the appliances in use would, it is true, strike +the modern railroad superintendent as both primitive and comical; +for instance, they involve the running of independent pilot +locomotives in advance of all night passenger trains, and it was, +by the way, on a pioneer locomotive of this description, on the +return trip of the excursion party from Manchester after the +accident to Mr. Huskisson, that the first recorded attempt was +made in the direction of our present elaborate system of night +signals. On that occasion obstacles were signalled to those +in charge of the succeeding trains by a man on the pioneer +locomotive, who used for that purpose a bit of lighted tarred +rope. Through all the years between 1830 and 1841, +nevertheless, not a single serious railroad disaster had to be +recorded. Indeed, the luck—for it was nothing +else—of these earlier times was truly amazing. Thus +on this same Liverpool and Manchester road, as a first-class +train on the morning of April 17, 1836, was moving at a speed of +some thirty miles an hour, an axle broke under the first +passenger carriage, causing the whole train to leave the rails +and throwing it down the embankment, which at that point was +twenty feet high. The carriages were rolled over, and the +passengers in them turned topsy-turvy; nor, as they were securely +locked in, could they even extricate themselves when at last the +wreck of the train reached firm bearings. And yet no one +was killed.”</p> +<h2>RIVAL CONTRACTORS AND THE BLOTTING PAD.</h2> +<p>In rails, the same system has prevailed. Ironmasters +have been pitted against each other, as to which should produce +an apparent rail at the lowest price. At the outset <!-- +page 100--><a name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +100</span>of railways the rails were made of iron. +Competition gradually produced rails in which a core, of what is +technically called “cinder,” is covered up with a +skin of iron; and the cleverest foreman for an ironmaster was the +man who could make rails with the maximum of cinder and the +minimum of iron. In more than one instance has it been +known in relaying an old line the worn-out rails have been sold +at a higher price per ton than the new ones were bought for; yet +this would hardly open the eyes of the buyers. The +contrivances which are resorted to to get hold of one +another’s prices beforehand by competing contractors are +manifold; and, when they attend in person, they commonly put off +the filling up of their tender till the last moment. Once a +shrewd contractor found himself at the same inn with a rival who +always trod close on his heels. He was followed about and +cross-questioned incessantly, and gave vague answers. +Within half-an-hour of the last moment he went into the coffee +room and sat himself down in a corner where his rival could not +overlook him. There and then he filled up his tender, and, +as he rose from the table, left behind him the paper on which he +had blotted it. As he left the room his rival caught up the +blotting paper, and, with the exulting glee of a consciously +successful rival, read off the amount backwards. +“Done this time!” was his mental thought, as he +filled up his own tender a dollar lower, and hastened to deposit +it. To his utter surprise, the next day he found that he +had lost the contract, and complainingly asked his rival how it +was, for he had tendered below him. “How did you know +you were below me?” “Because I found your +blotting paper.” “I thought so. I left it +on purpose for you, and wrote another tender in my bedroom. +You had better make your own calculations next time!”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Roads and Rails</i>, by W. +B. Adams.</p> +<h2>RAILWAY LEGISLATION.</h2> +<p>A writer in the <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i> +remarks:—“The expenses, direct and incidental, of +obtaining an Act of Parliament have been in many cases enormous, +and generally are excessive. The adherence to useless and +expensive forms of Parliamentary Committees in what are <!-- page +101--><a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +101</span>called the standing orders, or general regulations for +the observance of promoters of railway bills, on the one part, +and the itching for opposition of railway companies, to resist +fancied inroads on vested rights, supposed injurious competition, +on the other part, have been amongst the sources of excessive +expenditure. Mr. Stephenson mentioned an instance showing +how Parliament has entailed expense upon railway companies by the +system complained of. The Trent Valley Railway was under +other titles originally proposed in 1836. It was, however, +thrown out by the standing orders committee, in consequence of a +barn of the value of £10, which was shown upon the general +plan, not having been exhibited upon an enlarged sheet. In +1840, the line again went before Parliament. It was opposed +by the Grand Junction Railway Company, now part of the London and +North-Western. No less than 450 allegations were made +against it before the standing orders subcommittee, which was +engaged twenty-two days in considering those objections. +They ultimately reported that four or five of the allegations +were proved, but the committee nevertheless allowed the bill to +proceed. It was read a second time and then went into +committee, by whom it was under consideration for sixty-three +days; and ultimately Parliament was prorogued before the report +could be made. Such were the delays and consequent expenses +which the forms of the House occasioned in this case, that it may +be doubted if the ultimate cost of constructing the whole line +was very much more than was expended in obtaining permission from +Parliament to make it. This example serves to show the +expensive formalities, the delays, and difficulties, with which +Parliament surround railway legislation. Another instance, +quoted by the same authority, will show not only the absurdity of +the system of legislation, but also the afflicting spirit of +competition and opposition with which railway bills are canvassed +in Parliament, and the expensive outlay incurred by companies +themselves.</p> +<p>“In 1845, a bill for a line now existing went before +Parliament with eighteen competitors, each party relying on the +wisdom of Parliament to allow their bill at least to pass a +second reading! Nineteen different parties condemned to +<!-- page 102--><a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +102</span>one scene of contentious litigation! They each +and all had to pay not only the costs of promoting their own +line, but also the costs of opposing eighteen other bills. +And yet conscious as government must have been of this fact, +Parliament deliberately abandoned the only step it ever took on +any occasion of subjecting railway projects to investigation by a +preliminary tribunal. Parliamentary committees generally +satisfied themselves with looking on and watching the ruinous +game of competition for which the public are ultimately to +pay. In fact, railway legislation became a mere scramble, +conducted on no system or principle. Schemes of sound +character were allowed to be defeated on merely technical +grounds, and others of very inferior character were sanctioned by +public act, after enormous Parliamentary expenses had been +incurred. Competing lines were granted, sometimes parallel +lines through the same district, and between the same +towns.”</p> +<h2>AN EXPENSIVE PARLIAMENTARY BILL.</h2> +<p>A writer in the <i>Popular Encyclopædia</i> +observes:—“But the most conspicuous example in recent +times, which overshadowed all others, of excessive expenditure in +Parliamentary litigation as well as in land and compensation, is +supplied in the history of the Great Northern Company. The +preliminary expenses of surveys, notices to landowners, etc., +commenced in 1844, and the Bill was introduced into the House of +Commons in 1845, when it was opposed by the London and +North-Western, the Eastern Counties, and the Midland +Railways. It was further opposed successively by two other +schemes, called the London and York and the Direct +Northern. The contest lasted eighty-two days before the +House of Commons, more than half the time having been consumed by +opposition to the Bill. The Bill was allowed to stand over +till next year (1846), when it began, before the Committee of the +House of Lords, where it left off in the Lower House in the year +1845 on account of the magnitude of the case. The Bill was +before the Upper House between three and four weeks, and in the +same year (1846) it was granted. The promoters of the rival +projects were bought off, and all their expenses paid, including +the costs of the opposition of the neighbouring <!-- page +103--><a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +103</span>lines already named, before the Great Northern bill was +passed; and the ‘preliminary expenses,’ comprising +the whole expenditure of every kind up to the passing of the bill +was £590,355, or more than half-a-million sterling, +incurred at the end of two years of litigation. +Subsequently to the passing of the Act an additional sum of +£172,722 was expended for law engineering expenses in +Parliament to 31st December, 1857, which was spent almost wholly +in obtaining leave from Parliament to make various +alterations. Thus it would appear that a sum total of +£763,077 was spent as Parliamentary charges for obtaining +leave to construct 245 miles, being at the rate of £3,118 +per mile.”</p> +<h2>THE RECTOR AND HIS PIG.</h2> +<p>“I have been a rector for many years,” writes a +clergyman, “and have often heard and read of tithe-pigs, +though I have never met with a specimen of them. But I had +once a little pig given to me which was of a choice breed, and +only just able to leave his mother. I had to convey him by +carriage to the X station; from thence, twenty-three miles to Y +station, and from thence, eighty-two miles to Z station, and from +there, eight miles by carriage. I had a comfortable +rabbit-hutch of a box made for him, with a supply of fresh +cabbages for his dinner on the road. I started off with my +wife, children, and nurse; and of these impediments piggy proved +to be the most formidable. First, a council of war was held +over him at X station by the railway officials, who finally +decided that this small porker must travel as ‘two +dogs.’ Two dog tickets were therefore procured for +him; and so we journeyed on to Y station. There a second +council of war was held, and the officials of Y said that the +officials of X (another line) might be prosecuted for charging my +piggy as two dogs, but that he must travel to Z as a horse, and +that he must have a huge horse-box entirely to himself for the +next eighty-two miles. I declined to pay for the +horse-box—they refused to let me have my +pig—officials swarmed around me—the station master +advised me to pay for the horse-box and probably the company +would return the extra charge. I scorned the probability, +having no faith in the company—the train (it was a London +express) was <!-- page 104--><a name="page104"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 104</span>already detained ten minutes by this +wrangle; and finally I whirled away bereft of my pig. I +felt sure that he would be forwarded by the next train, but as +that would not reach Z till a late hour in the evening, and it +was Saturday, I had to tell my pig tale to the officials; and not +only so, but to go to the adjacent hotel and hire a pig-stye till +the Monday, and fee a porter for seeing to the pig until I could +send a cart for him on that day. Of course the pig was sent +after me by the next train; and as the charge for him was less +than a halfpenny a mile, I presume he was not considered to be a +horse. Yet this fact remains—and it is worth the +attention of the Zoological Society, if not of railway +officials—that this small porker was never recognised as a +pig, but began his railway journey as two dogs, and was then +changed into a horse.”</p> +<h2>SIR MORTON PETO’S RAILWAY MISSION.</h2> +<p>Mr., afterwards Sir S. Morton Peto, having undertaken the +construction of certain railways in East Anglia, was at this time +in the habit of spending a considerable part of the year in the +neighbourhood of Norwich, and, with his family, joined Mr. +Brock’s congregation. It will afterwards appear how +many important movements turned upon the friendship which was +thus formed; but it is only now to be noted that, in the course +of frequent conversations, the practicability was discussed of +attempting something which might serve to interest and improve +the large number of labourers employed on the works in +progress. They were part of that peculiar body of men which +had been gradually formed during a long course of years for +employment in the construction, first of navigable canals, and +then of railways, and called, from their earlier occupation, +“navvies.” They were drawn from diverse parts +of the British Islands, and professed, in some instances, hostile +forms of religion, but were distinguished chiefly by extreme +ignorance and all but total spiritual insensibility. They +had, at the same time, a common life and an unwritten law, +affecting their relations to each other, their employers, and the +rest of the world. That they were accessible to kind +attentions—clearly disinterested—followed from their +being men, but they required to be approached with the greatest +caution and patience. <!-- page 105--><a +name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 105</span>Mr. +Brock’s wide and various sympathy, joined with his +friend’s steady support, led—under the divine +blessing—to measures which proved very successful. +Mr. Peto constructed commodious halls capable of being moved +onward as the line of railway advanced, and affording comfortable +shelter for the men in their leisure hours, and furnished with +books and publications supplying amusement, useful information, +and religious knowledge. To give life to this apparatus, +Christian men, carefully selected, mingled familiarly with the +rude but grateful toilers, helping them to read and write, +encouraging them to acquire self-command, and above all, +especially when they were convened on Sundays, presenting and +pressing home upon them the words of eternal life.</p> +<p>Mr. Brock had liberty to draw on the “Railway Mission +Account,” at the Norwich Bank, to any extent that he found +necessary, and in a short time he had a body of the best men, he +was accustomed to say, that he ever knew at work upon all the +chief points of the lines. No part of his now extended +labours gave him greater delight than in superintending these +missionaries, reading their weekly journals, arranging their +periodical movements, counselling and comforting them in their +difficulties, and visiting them, sometimes apart and at other +times at conferences for united consultation and prayer, held at +Yarmouth, Ely, or March.</p> +<p>Results of the best character, of which the record is on high, +arose out of these operations.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—Birrell’s <i>Life of +the Rev. W. Brock</i>, <i>D.D.</i></p> +<h2>CLEVER CAPTURE.</h2> +<p>A few days ago (1845), a gentleman left Glasgow in one of the +day trains, with a large sum of money about his person. On +the train arriving at the Edinburgh terminus, the gentleman left +it, along with the other passengers, on foot for some +distance. It was not long, however, before he discovered +that his pocket book, containing £700, in bank notes was +missing. He immediately returned to the terminus, where the +first person he happened to find was the stoker of the train that +had brought him to Edinburgh, who, on being spoken to, remembered +seeing the gentleman leaving the terminus, and another person +following close behind him, whom he supposed to be his servant; +he further <!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 106</span>stated, that the supposed servant +had started to return with the train which had just left for +Glasgow. The gentleman immediately ordered an express +train, but as some time elapsed before the steam could be got up, +it was feared the gentleman and the stoker would not reach +Glasgow in time to secure the culprit. However, having gone +the distance in about an hour, they had the satisfaction of +seeing the train before them close to the Cowlairs station, just +about to descend the inclined plane and tunnel, and thus within a +mile and a half of the end of their journey. The stoker +immediately sounded his whistle, which induced the conductor of +the passenger train to conclude that some danger was in the way, +who had his train removed to the other line of rails, which left +the road then quite clear for the express train, which drove past +the other with great speed, and arrived at the terminus in +sufficient time to get everything ready for the apprehension of +the robber. The stoker, who thought he could identify the +robber, assisted the police in searching the passenger train, +when the person whom he had taken for the gentleman’s +servant was found with the pocket book and also the £700 +safe and untouched. The gentleman then offered a handsome +reward to the stoker, who refused it on the plea that he had only +done his duty; not satisfied, however, with this answer, he left +£100 with the manager, requesting him to pay the expenses +of the express train, and particularly to reward the stoker for +his activity, and to remit the remainder to his address. +Shortly after he received the whole £100, accompanied with +a polite note, declining any payment for the express train, and +stating that it was the duty of the company to reward the stoker, +which they would not omit to do.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Stirling Journal</i>.</p> +<h2>COMPENSATION FOR LAND.</h2> +<p>Mr. Williams, in <i>Our Iron Roads</i>, gives much interesting +information upon the subject of compensation for land and buying +off opposition to railway schemes. He +says:—“One noble lord had an estate near a proposed +line of railway, and on this estate was a beautiful +mansion. Naturally averse to the desecration of his home +and its neighbourhood, he gave his most uncompromising opposition +to the Bill, <!-- page 107--><a name="page107"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 107</span>and found, in the Committee of both +Houses, sympathizing listeners. Little did it aid the +projectors that they urged that the line did not pass within six +miles of that princely domain; that the high road was much closer +to his dwelling; and that, as the spot nearest the house would be +passed by means of a tunnel, no unsightliness would arise. +But no; no worldly consideration affected the decision of the +proprietor; and, arguments failing, it was found that an appeal +must be made to other means. His opposition was ultimately +bought off for twenty-eight thousand pounds, to be paid when the +railway reached his neighbourhood. Time wore on, funds +became scarce, and the company found that it would be best to +stop short at a particular portion of their line, long before +they reached the estate of the noble lord who had so violently +opposed their Bill, by which they sought to be released from the +obligation of constructing the line which had been so obnoxious +to him. What was their surprise at finding this very man +their chief opponent, and then fresh means had to be adopted for +silencing his objections!</p> +<p>“A line had to be brought near to the property of a +certain Member of Parliament. It threatened no injury to +the estate, either by affecting its appearance or its intrinsic +worth; and, on the other hand, it afforded him a cheap, +convenient, and expeditious means of communication with the +metropolis. But the proprietor, being a legislator, had +power at head-quarters, and by his influence he nearly turned the +line of railway aside; and this deviation would have cost the +projectors the sum of <i>sixty thousand pounds</i>. Now it +so happened that the house of this honourable member, who had +thus insisted on such costly deference to his peculiar feelings +respecting his property, was afflicted with the dry rot, and +threatened every hour to fall upon the head of its owner. +To pull down and rebuild it, would require the sum of thirty +thousand pounds. The idea of compromise, beneficial to both +parties, suggested itself. If the railway company rebuilt +the house, or paid £30,000 to the owner of the estate, and +were allowed to pursue their original line, it was clear that +they would be £30,000 the richer, as the enforced deviation +would cost £60,000; and, on the other hand, the owner of +the estate <!-- page 108--><a name="page108"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 108</span>would obtain a secure house, or +receive £30,000 in money. The proposed bargain was +struck, and £30,000 was paid by the Company. +‘How can you live in that house,’ said some friend to +him afterwards, ‘with the railroad coming so +near?’ ‘Had it not done so,’ was the +reply, ‘I could not have lived in it at all.’</p> +<p>“One rather original character sold some land to the +London and Birmingham Company, and was loud and long in his +outcries for compensation, expatiating on the damages which the +formation of the line would inevitably bring to his +property. His complaints were only stopped by the payment +of his demands. A few months afterwards, a little +additional land was required from the same individual, when he +actually demanded a much larger price for the new land than was +given him before; and, on surprise being expressed at the charge +for that which he had declared would inevitably be greatly +deteriorated in value from the proximity of the railway, he +coolly replied: ‘Oh, I made a mistake <i>then</i>, in +thinking the railway would injure my property; it has increased +its value, and of course you must pay me an increased price for +it.’</p> +<p>“On one occasion, a trial occurred in which an eminent +land valuer was put into the witness box to swell the amount of +damages, and he proceeded to expatiate on the injury committed by +railroads in general, and especially by the one in question, in +<i>cutting up</i> the properties they invaded. When he had +finished the delivery of this weighty piece of evidence, the +counsel for the Company put a newspaper into his hand, and asked +him whether he had not inserted a certain advertisement +therein. The fact was undeniable, and on being read aloud, +it proved to be a declaration by the land valuer himself, that +the approach of the railway which he had come there to oppose, +would prove exceedingly beneficial to some property in its +immediate vicinity then on sale.</p> +<p>“An illustration of the difference between the +exorbitant demands made by parties for compensation, and the real +value of the property, may be mentioned. The first claim +made by the Directors of the Glasgow Lunatic Asylum on the +Edinburgh and Glasgow railway is stated to have been no less than +£44,000. Before the trial came on, this sum was +reduced to £10,000; the amount awarded by the jury was +£873.</p> +<p><!-- page 109--><a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +109</span>“The opposition thus made, whether feigned or +real, it was always advisable to remove; and the money paid for +this purpose, though ostensibly in the purchase of the ground, +has been on many occasions immense. Sums of £35,000, +£40,000, £50,000, £100,000, and £120,000, +have thus been paid; while various ingenious plans have been +adopted of removing the opposition of influential men. An +honourable member is said to have received £30,000 to +withdraw his opposition to a Bill before the House; and +‘not far off the celebrated year 1845, a lady of title, so +gossip talks, asked a certain nobleman to support a certain Bill, +stating that, if he did, she had the authority of the secretary +of a great company to inform him that fifty shares in a certain +railway, then at a considerable premium, would be at his +disposal.’</p> +<p>“One pleasing circumstance, however, highly honourable +to the gentleman concerned, must not be omitted. The late +Mr. Labouchere had made an agreement with the Eastern Counties +Company for a passage through his estate near Chelmsford, for the +price of £35,000; his son and successor, the Right +Honourable Henry Labouchere, finding that the property was not +deteriorated to the anticipated extent, voluntarily returned +£15,000.</p> +<p>“The practice of buying off opposition has not been +confined to the proprietors of land. We learn from one of +the Parliamentary Reports that in a certain district a +pen-and-ink warfare between two rival companies ran so high, and +was, at least on one side, rewarded with such success, that the +friends of the older of the two projected lines thought it +expedient to enter into treaty with their literary opponent, and +its editor very soon retired on a fortune. It is also +asserted, on good authority, that, in a midland county, the facts +and arguments of an editor were wielded with such vigour that the +opposing company found it necessary to adopt extraordinary means +on the occasion. Bribes were offered, but refused; an +opposition paper was started, but its conductors quailed before +the energy of their opponent, and it produced little effect; +every scheme that ingenuity could devise, and money carry out, +was attempted, but they successively and utterly failed. At +length a Director hit on a truly Machiavellian plan—he was +introduced to the proprietor of <!-- page 110--><a +name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 110</span>the +journal, whom he cautiously informed that he wished to risk a few +thousands in newspaper property, and actually induced his +unconscious victim to sell the property, unknown to the +editor. When the bargain was concluded, the plot was +discovered; but it was then too late, and the wily Director took +possession of the copyright of the paper and the printing office +on behalf of the company. The services of the editor, +however, were not to be bought, he refused to barter away his +independence, and retired—taking with him the respect of +both friends and enemies.”</p> +<h2>A LANDOWNER’S OPPOSITION.</h2> +<p>In <i>Herepath’s Railway Journal</i> for 1845 we meet +with the following:—“A learned counsel, the other +day, gave as a reason for a wealthy and aristocratic +landowner’s opposition to a great line of railway +approaching his residence by something more than a mile distance, +that ‘His Lordship rode horses that would not bear the puff +of a steam engine.’ Truly this was a most potent +reason, and one that should weigh heavily against the scheme in +the minds of the Committee. His Lordship has a wood some +two miles off, between which and his residence this railway is +intended to pass. His lordship is fond of amusing himself +there in hunting down little animals called hares, and sometimes +treats himself to a stag hunt. Not the slightest +interference is contemplated with his lordship’s pastime, +or rather pursuit, for such it is, occupying nearly his whole +time, and exercising all the ability of which he is possessed; +but still he objects to the intrusion. The bridge that is +to be constructed by the Company to give access to the wood, or +forest, is in itself all that could be wished, forming, rather +than otherwise, an ornamental structure to his lordship’s +grounds; but then he fears that should an engine chance (of +course, these chances are not within his control) to pass under +the bridge at the same moment as he is passing over, his high +blood horses would prance and rear, and suffer injury +therefrom. His lordship is very careful and proud of his +horse-flesh, and thinks it hard, and what the legislature ought +not to tolerate, that they (his horses) are to be worried, or +subjected to the chance of it, by making a railway to serve the +public wants!</p> +<p><!-- page 111--><a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +111</span>“This <i>noble</i> man is of opinion, too, that, +should the railway be made, he is entitled to an enormous amount +of compensation; and, through his agent, assigns as a reason for +his extravagant demand—we do not exaggerate the +fact—that he is averse to railways in general, and +considers the system as an unjustifiable invasion of the province +of horse-flesh. This horse jockey lord thereby excuses his +conscience in opposing and endeavouring to plunder the railway +company as far as he possibly can.”</p> +<h2>PICTURE EVIDENCE.</h2> +<p>Amongst laughable occurrences that enlivened the committee +rooms during the gauge contest, was a scene occasioned by a +parliamentary counsel putting in as evidence, before the +committee on the Southampton and Manchester line, a printed +picture of troubles consequent on a break of gauge. The +picture was a forcible sketch that had appeared a few days before +in the pages of the <i>Illustrated London News</i>. +Opposing counsel of course argued against the production of the +work of art as testimony for the consideration of the +committee. After much argument on both sides the chairman +decided in favour of receiving the illustration, which was +forthwith put, amidst much laughter, into the hands of a witness, +who was asked if it was a fair picture of the evils that arose +from a break of gauge. The witness replying in the +affirmative, the engraving was then laid before the committee for +inspection.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Railway Chronicle</i>, +June 13, 1846.</p> +<h2>EXTRAORDINARY USE OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.</h2> +<p>Oct. 7, 1847. An extraordinary instance has occurred of +the application of the electric telegraph at the London Bridge +terminus of the South Eastern Railway.</p> +<p>Hutchings, the man found guilty and sentenced to death for +poisoning his wife, was to have been executed at Maidstone Goal +at twelve o’clock. Shortly before the appointed hour +for carrying the sentence into effect, a message was received at +the London Bridge terminus, from the Home Office, requesting that +an order should be sent by the electric telegraph instructing the +Under-Sheriff at <!-- page 112--><a name="page112"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 112</span>Maidstone to stay the execution two +hours. By the agency of the electric telegraph the +communication was received in Maidstone with the usual rapidity, +and the execution was for a time stayed. Shortly after the +transmission of the order deferring the execution, a messenger +from the Home Office conveyed to the railway the Secretary of +State’s order, that the law was to take its course, and +that the culprit was to be at once executed. The telegraph +clerk hesitated to sending such a message without instructions +from his principals. The messenger from the Home Office +could not be certain that the order for Hutchings’s +execution was signed by the Home Secretary, although it bore his +name; and Mr. Macgregor, the chairman, with great judgment and +humanity, instantly decided that it was not a sufficient +authority in such a momentous matter.</p> +<p>An officer of confidence was immediately sent to the Secretary +of State, to state their hesitation and its cause, as the message +was, in fact, a death warrant, and that Mr. Walter must have +undoubted evidence of its correctness. On Mr. Walter +drawing the attention of the Secretary of State to the fact, that +the transmission of such a message was, in effect, to make him +the Sheriff, the conduct of the railway company, in requiring +unquestionable evidence and authority, was warmly approved. +The proper signature was affixed in Mr. Walter’s presence; +and the telegraph then conveyed to the criminal the sad news, +that the suspension of the awful sentence was only +temporary. Hutchings was executed soon after it reached +Maidstone.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Annual Register</i>, +1847.</p> +<h2>LOST LUGGAGE.</h2> +<p>Sir Francis Head, giving an account of the contents of the +Lost Luggage Office, at Euston Station, +observes:—“But there were a few articles that +certainly we were not prepared to meet with, and which but too +clearly proved that the extraordinary terminus-excitement which +had suddenly caused so many virtuous ladies to elope from their +red shawls—in short, to be all of a sudden not only in +‘a bustle’ behind, but all over—had equally +affected men of all sorts and conditions.</p> +<p><!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +113</span>“One gentleman had left behind him a pair of +leather hunting breeches! another his boot-jacks! A soldier +of the 22nd regiment had left his knapsack containing his +kit. Another soldier of the 10th, poor fellow, had left his +scarlet regimental coat! Some cripple, probably overjoyed +at the sight of his family, had left behind him his +crutches!! But what astonished us above all was, that some +honest Scotchman, probably in the ecstasy of suddenly seeing +among the crowd the face of his faithful <i>Jeanie</i>, had +actually left behind him the best portion of his bagpipes!!!</p> +<p>“Some little time ago the superintendent, on breaking +open, previous to a general sale, a locked leather hat-box, which +had lain in this dungeon two years, found in it, under the hat, +£65 in Bank of England notes, with one or two private +letters, which enabled him to restore the money to the owner, +who, it turned out, had been so positive that had left his +hat-box at an hotel at Birmingham that he made no inquiry for it +at the railway office.”</p> +<h2>VERY NICE TO BE A RAILWAY ENGINEER.</h2> +<p>A lady in conversation with a railway engineer observed, +“It must be very nice to be a railway engineer, and be able +to travel about anywhere you want to go to for +nothing.”</p> +<p>“Yes, madam,” was the reply, “It would, as +you say, be very nice to travel about for nothing, <i>if we were +not paid for it</i>. But you see,” he remarked, +“railway engineers are like the cabman’s horse. +The cabman has a very thin horse. ‘Doesn’t your +horse have enough to eat?’ inquired a benevolent lady +passenger. ‘Oh yes, ma’am,’ replied +cabby, ‘I give him lots o’ victuals to eat, only, you +see, he hasn’t any time to eat ’em.’ So +it is with the railway engineer; he has lots of pleasure of all +kinds, only he has not any time to take it.”</p> +<h2>AN ACCOMMODATING CONTRACTOR.</h2> +<p>One railway of some scores of miles hung fire; the directors +were congested with their fears of exceeding the estimates, and +so a shrewd man of business, a contractor, i.e., a man with a +mind contracted to profit and a keen eye to discern the paths of +profit, called on them. This man <!-- page 114--><a +name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 114</span>had made +his way upward, and passing through the process of +sub-contracting, had obtained a glimpse of the upper +glories. And thus he relieved the directors from their +difficulties, by proffering to make the railway complete in all +its parts, buy the land at the commencement, and, if required, to +engage the station-clerks at the conclusion, with all the staff +complete, so that his patrons might have no trouble, but begin +business off-hand. But the latter condition—the staff +and clerks—being simply a matter of patronage, the +directors kept that trouble in their own hands.</p> +<p>Our contractor loomed on the directors’ minds as a +guardian angel, a guarantee against responsibilities, backed by +sufficient sureties, so the matter was without delay handed over +to him, and he knew what to do with it.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Roads and Rails</i>, by W. +B. Adams.</p> +<h2>THE TWO DUKES AND THE TRAVELLER.</h2> +<p>The following amusing anecdote is related of a commercial +traveller who happened to get into the same railway carriage in +which the Dukes of Argyle and Northumberland were +travelling. The three chatted familiarly until the train +stopped at Alnwick Junction, where the Duke of Northumberland got +out, and was met by a train of flunkeys and servants. +“That must be a great swell,” said the +“commercial,” to his remaining companion. +“Yes,” responded the Duke of Argyle, “he is the +Duke of Northumberland.” “Bless my soul!” +exclaimed the “commercial.” “And to think +that he should have been so condescending to two little snobs +like us!”</p> +<h2>THE GREAT RAILWAY MANIA DAY.</h2> +<p>Never had there occurred, in the history of joint-stock +enterprise, such another day as the 30th of November, 1845. +It was the day on which a madness for speculation arrived at its +height, to be followed by a collapse terrible to many thousand +families. Railways had been gradually becoming successful, +and the old companies had, in many cases, bought off, on very +high terms, rival lines which threatened to interfere with their +profits. Both of these circumstances tended <!-- page +115--><a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 115</span>to +encourage the concoction of new schemes. There is always +floating capital in England waiting for profitable employment; +there are always professional men looking out for employment in +great engineering works; and there are always scheming moneyless +men ready to trade on the folly of others. Thus the bankers +and capitalists were willing to supply the capital; the +engineers, surveyors, architects, contractors, builders, +solicitors, barristers, and Parliamentary agents were willing to +supply the brains and fingers; while, too often, cunning schemers +pulled the strings. This was especially the case in 1845, +when plans for new railways were brought forward literally by +hundreds, and with a recklessness perfectly marvellous.</p> +<p>By an enactment in force at that time, it was necessary, for +the prosecution of any railway scheme in Parliament, that a mass +of documents should be deposited with the Board of Trade, on or +before the 30th of November in the preceding year. The +multitude of these schemes in 1845 was so great that there could +not be found surveyors enough to prepare the plans and sections +in time. Advertisements were inserted in the newspapers +offering enormous pay for even a smattering of this kind of +skill. Surveyors and architects from abroad were attracted +to England; young men at home were tempted to break the articles +into which they had entered with their masters; and others were +seduced from various professions into that of railway +engineers. Sixty persons in the employment of the Ordnance +Department left their situations to gain enormous earnings in +this way. There were desperate fights in various parts of +England between property-owners who were determined that their +land should not be entered upon for the purpose of railway +surveying, and surveyors who knew that the schemes of their +companies would be frustrated unless the surveys were made and +the plans deposited by the 30th of November. To attain this +end, force, fraud, and bribery were freely made use of. The +30th of November, 1845, fell on a Sunday; but it was no Sunday at +the office near the Board of Trade. Vehicles were driving +up during the whole of the day, with agents and clerks bringing +plans and sections. In country districts, as the day +approached, and on the morning of the day, coaches-and-four were +in <!-- page 116--><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +116</span>greater request than even at race-time, galloping at +full speed to the nearest railway station. On the Great +Western Railway an express train was hired by the agents of one +new scheme. The engine broke down; the train came to a +stand-still at Maidenhead, and, in this state, was run into by +another express train hired by the agents of a rival project; the +opposite parties barely escaped with their lives, but contrived +to reach London at the last moment. On this eventful Sunday +there were no fewer than ten of these express trains on the Great +Western Railway, and eighteen on the Eastern Counties! One +railway company was unable to deposit its papers because another +company surreptitiously bought, for a high sum, twenty of the +necessary sheets from the lithographic printer, and horses were +killed in madly running about in search of the missing documents +before the fraud was discovered. In some cases the +lithographic stones were stolen; and in one instance the printer +was bribed, by a large sum, not to finish in proper time the +plans for a rival line. One eminent house brought over four +hundred lithographic printers from Belgium, and even then, and +with these, all the work ordered could not be executed. +Some of the plans were only two-thirds lithographed, the rest +being filled up by hand. However executed, the problem was +to get these documents to Whitehall before midnight on the 30th +of November. Two guineas a mile were in one instance paid +for post-horses. One express train steamed up to London 118 +miles in an hour-and-a-half, nearly 80 miles an hour. An +established company having refused an express train to the +promoters of a rival scheme, the latter employed persons to get +up a mock funeral cortege, and engage an express train to convey +it to London; they did so, and the plans and sections came <i>in +the hearse</i>, with solicitors and surveyors as mourners!</p> +<p>Copies of many of the documents had to be deposited with the +clerks of the peace of the counties to which the schemes +severally related, as well as with the Board of Trade; and at +some of the offices of these clerks, strange scenes occurred on +the Sunday. At Preston, the doors of the office were not +opened, as the officials considered the orders which had been +issued to keep open on that particular Sunday, to apply only to +the Board of Trade; but a crowd of law agents and surveyors +assembled, broke the <!-- page 117--><a name="page117"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 117</span>windows, and threw their plans and +sections into the office. At the Board of Trade, extra +clerks were employed on that day, and all went pretty smoothly +until nine o’clock in the evening. A rule was laid +down for receiving the plans and sections, hearing a few words of +explanation from the agents, and making certain entries in +books. But at length the work accumulated more rapidly than +the clerks could attend to it, and the agents arrived in greater +number than the entrance hall could hold. The anxiety was +somewhat allayed by an announcement, that whoever was inside the +building before the clock struck twelve should be deemed in good +time. Many of the agents bore the familiar name of Smith; +and when ‘Mr. Smith’ was summoned by the messenger to +enter and speak concerning some scheme, the name of which was not +announced, in rushed several persons, of whom, of course, only +one could be the right Mr. Smith at that particular moment. +One agent arrived while the clock was striking twelve, and was +admitted. Soon afterwards, a carriage with reeking horses +drove up; three agents rushed out, and finding the door closed, +rang furiously at the bell; no sooner did a policeman open the +door to say that the time was past, than the agents threw their +bundles of plans and sections through the half-opened door into +the hall; but this was not permitted, and the policeman threw the +documents out into the street. The baffled agents were +nearly maddened with vexation; for they had arrived in London +from Harwich in good time, and had been driven about Pimlico +hither and thither, by a post-boy who did not, or would not, know +the way to the office of the Board of Trade.</p> +<p>The <i>Times</i> newspaper, in the same month, devoted three +whole pages to an elaborate analysis, by Mr. Spackman, of the +various railway schemes brought forward in 1845. +“There were no less than 620 in number, involving an +(hypothetical) expenditure of 560 millions sterling; besides 643 +other schemes which had not gone further than issuing +prospectuses. More than 500 of the schemes went through all +the stages necessary for being brought before Parliament; and 272 +of these became Acts of Parliament in 1846—to the ruin of +thousands who had afterwards to find the money to fulfil the +engagements into which they had so rashly entered.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Chambers’s Book of +Days</i>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 118--><a name="page118"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 118</span>PARODY UPON THE RAILWAY MANIA.</h2> +<p>About the time of the bursting of the railway bubble, or the +collapse of the mania of 1844–5, the following clever lines +appeared:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“There was a sound of revelry by +night.”—<i>Childe Harold</i>.</p> +<p>“There was a sound that ceased not day or night,<br /> + Of speculation. London gathered then<br /> +Unwonted crowds, and moved by promise bright,<br /> + To Capel-court rushed women, boys, and men,<br /> + All seeking railway shares and scrip; and when<br /> +The market rose, how many a lad could tell,<br /> + With joyous glance, and eyes that spake again,<br /> +’Twas e’en more lucrative than marrying +well;—<br /> +When, hark! that warning voice strikes like a rising knell.</p> +<p>Nay, it is nothing, empty as the wind,<br /> + But a ‘bear’ whisper down +Throgmorton-street;<br /> +Wild enterprise shall still be unconfined;<br /> + No rest for us, when rising premiums greet<br /> + The morn to pour their treasures at our feet;<br /> +When, hark! that solemn sound is heard once more,<br /> + The gathering ‘bears’ its echoes yet +repeat—<br /> +’Tis but too true, is now the general roar,<br /> +The Bank has raised her rate, as she has done before.</p> +<p>And then and there were hurryings to and fro,<br /> + And anxious thoughts, and signs of sad distress<br +/> +Faces all pale, that but an hour ago<br /> + Smiled at the thoughts of their own craftiness.<br +/> + And there were sudden partings, such as press<br /> +The coin from hungry pockets—mutual sighs<br /> + Of brokers and their clients. Who can guess<br +/> +How many a stag already panting flies,<br /> +When upon times so bright such awful panics rise?”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>RAILWAY FACILITIES FOR BUSINESS.</h2> +<p>A gentleman went to Liverpool in the morning, purchased, and +took back with him to Manchester, 150 tons of cotton, which he +sold, and afterwards obtained an order for a similar +quantity. He went again, and actually, that same evening, +delivered the second quantity in Manchester, “having +travelled 120 miles in four separate journeys, and bought, sold, +and delivered, 30 miles off, at two distinct deliveries, 300 tons +of goods, in about 12 hours.” The occurrence is +perfectly astounding; and, had it been hinted at fifty years ago, +would have been deemed impossible.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Railway Magazine</i>, +1840.</p> +<h2><!-- page 119--><a name="page119"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 119</span>RAILWAYS AND THE POST-OFFICE.</h2> +<p>It might naturally be thought that the new and quicker means +of transport afforded by the railway would be eagerly utilised by +the Post-office. There were, however, difficulties on both +sides. The railway companies objected to running trains +during the night, and the old stage-coach offered the advantage +of greater regularity. The railway was quicker, but was at +least occasionally uncertain. Thus, in November, 1837, the +four daily mail trains between Liverpool and Birmingham on ten +occasions arrived before the specified time, on eight occasions +were exact to time, and on 102 occasions varied in lateness of +arrival from five minutes to five hours and five minutes. +There were all sorts of mishaps and long delays by train. +The mail guard, like the passenger guard, rode outside the train +with a box before him called an “imperial,” which +contained the letters and papers entrusted to his charge. +In very stormy weather the mail guard would prop up the lid of +his imperial and get inside for shelter. On one occasion +when the mail arrived at Liverpool the guard was found imprisoned +in his letter-box. The lid had fallen and fastened in the +male travesty of “Ginevra.” Fortunately for him +it was a burlesque and not a tragedy. Bags thrown to the +guards at wayside stations not unfrequently got under the wheels +of the train and the contents were cut to pieces. On one +occasion, on the Grand Junction, an engine failed through the +fire-bars coming out. The mails were removed from the train +and run on a platelayer’s “trolly,” but +unfortunately the contents of the bags took fire and were +destroyed. But many of these mishaps were obviated by the +invention of Mr. Nathaniel Worsdell, a Liverpool coachbuilder, in +the service of the railway, who took out a patent in 1838 for an +appliance for picking up and dropping mail bags while the train +was at full speed. This is still used. The loads of +railway vehicles, it may be mentioned, were limited by law to +four tons until the passage of the 5 and 6 Vic., c. 55. In +1837, when the weight of the mails passing daily on the London +and Birmingham line was only about 14cwt., the late Sir Hardman +Earle suggested that a special compartment should be reserved for +the mail guard in which he could sort the letters <i>en +route</i>. The first vehicle specially <!-- page 120--><a +name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 120</span>set apart +for mail purposes was put upon the Grand Junction in 1838. +From this humble beginning has gradually developed the express +mails, in which the chief consideration is the swift transit of +correspondence, and which are therefore limited in the number of +the passengers they are allowed to carry. The cost of +carrying the mails in 1838 and 1839 between Manchester and +Liverpool by rail, including the guard’s fare, averaged +about £1 a trip, or half of the cost of sending them by +coach. The price paid to the Grand Junction for carriage of +mails between Manchester and Liverpool and Birmingham was 1d. a +mile for the guard and ¾d. per cwt. per mile for the +mails. This brought a revenue of about £3,000 a +year. When the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed and +carried the imposition of the passenger duty, in 1832, the +company intimated to the Post-office that they should advance the +mail guard’s fare ½d. per mile. In 1840 an +agreement was negotiated between the Post-office and railway +authorities to convey the mails between Lancashire and Birmingham +four times daily for £19 10s. a day, with a penalty of +£500 on the railway company in case of bad time +keeping. This agreement was not carried into effect.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Manchester +Guardian</i>.</p> +<h2>RAILWAY SIGNALS.</h2> +<p>The history of railway signals is a curious page in the annals +of practical science. For some years signals seem scarcely +to have been dreamt of. Holding up a hat or an umbrella was +at first sufficient to stop a train at an intermediate +station. At level crossings the gates had to stand closed +across the line of rails, and on the top bar hung a lamp to +indicate to drivers that the way was blocked. In 1839, +Colonel Landman, of the Croydon line, said that he should avoid +the danger at a junction during a fog by going slowly, tolling a +bell, beating a drum, or sounding a whistle. The first +junction signal was denominated a lighthouse. The +difficulties attending junctions may be judged of by the fact +that when the Bolton and Preston line was ready for opening it +was agreed that no train should attempt to enter or leave the +North Union line at Euxton junction <!-- page 121--><a +name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>within +fifteen minutes of a train being due on the main line which might +interfere with it. The movable rails at junctions had to be +removed by hand and fixed into position by hammer and pin. +Mr. Watts, engineer to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, is +believed to have been one of the first to use the tapering +movable switch. One of Mr. Watts’s men invented the +back weight, another designed the crank, while a third suggested +the long rod. These improvements were all about the year +1846. The first fixed signal set up at stations was an +ordinary round flag pole having a pulley on the top, upon which +was hoisted a green flag to stop a train and a red one to +indicate danger on the road. The night signal was a hand +lamp hoisted in the same way. These were superseded by a +signal on which an arm was worked at the end of a rod, and a +square lamp with two sides, red and white, having blinkers +working on hinges to shut out the light. These were used +until 1848. The semaphores only came into practical use +some 20 years ago, and it is remarkable that the first time they +were used on the Liverpool and Manchester line they were the +cause of a slight collision. The use of signal lights on +trains was much advanced by two accidents which occurred on the +North Union line on the 7th September, 1841. One of these +happened at Farrington, where two passenger trains came into +collision. The other happened at Euxton, where a coal train +ran into a stage coach which was taking passengers to +Southport. The Rev. Mr. Joy was killed, and several others, +including the station master, who lost one leg, were +injured. These were the first serious accidents +investigated by the now Government Inspector of Railways, Sir +Frederic Smith, who was appointed by the Board of Trade under +Lord Seymour’s Act.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Manchester +Guardian</i>.</p> +<h2>FOG-SIGNALS.</h2> +<p>During the prevalence of fogs, when neither signal-posts nor +lights are of any use, detonating signals are frequently +employed, which are affixed to the rails, and exploded by the +iron tread of the advancing locomotive. All guards, +policemen, and pointsmen who are not appointed <!-- page 122--><a +name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 122</span>to +stations, and all enginemen, gatemen, gangers and platelayers, +and tunnel-men, are provided with packets of these signals, which +they are required always to have ready for use whilst on duty; +and every engine, on passing over one of these signals, is to be +immediately stopped, and the guards are to protect their train by +sending back and placing a similar signal on the line behind them +every two hundred yards, to the distance of six hundred yards; +the train may then proceed slowly to the place of +obstruction. When these detonating signals were first +invented, it was resolved to ascertain whether they acted +efficiently, and especially whether the noise they produced was +sufficient to be distinctly heard by the engine driver. One +of them was accordingly fixed to the rails on a particular line +by the authority of the company, and in due time the train having +passed over it, reached its destination. Here the engine +driver and his colleague were found to be in a state of great +alarm, in consequence of a supposed attack being made on them by +an assassin, who, they said, lay down beside the line of rails on +which they had passed, and deliberately fired at them. The +efficiency of the means having thus been tested, the +apprehensions of the enginemen were removed, though there was at +first evident mortification manifested that they had been made +the subjects of such a successful experiment.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—F. S. Williams’s <i>Our +Iron Roads</i>.</p> +<h2>“ALMOST DAR NOW.”</h2> +<p>The following anecdote, illustrative of railroad facility, is +very pointed. A traveller inquired of a negro the distance +to a certain point. “Dat ’pends on +circumstances,” replied darkey. “If you gwine +afoot, it’ll take you about a day; if you gwine in de stage +or homneybus, you make it half a day; but if you get in one of +<i>dese smoke wagons</i>, you be almost dar now.”</p> +<h2>WORDSWORTH’S PROTEST.</h2> +<p>Lines written by Wordsworth as a protest against making a +railway from Kendal to Windermere:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Is there no nook of English ground +secure<br /> +From rash assault? Schemes of retirement sown<br /> +<!-- page 123--><a name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +123</span>In youth, and ’mid the world kept pure<br /> +As when their earliest flowers of hope were blown,<br /> +Must perish; how can they this blight endure?<br /> +And must he, too, his old delights disown,<br /> +Who scorns a false, utilitarian lure<br /> +’Mid his paternal fields at random thrown?<br /> +Baffle the threat, bright scene, from Orrest-head,<br /> +Given to the pausing traveller’s rapturous glance!<br /> +Plead for thy peace, thou beautiful romance<br /> +Of nature; and if human hearts be dead,<br /> +Speak, passing winds; ye torrents, with your strong<br /> +And constant voice, protest against the wrong!”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>THE HON. EDWARD EVERETT’S REPLY TO WORDSWORTH’S +PROTEST.</h2> +<p>The Hon. Edward Everett in the course of his speech at the +Boston Railroad Jubilee in commemoration of the opening of +railroad communication between Boston and Canada, observed, +“But, sir, as I have already said, it is not the material +results of this railroad system in which its happiest influences +are seen. I recollect that seven or eight years ago there +was a project to carry a railroad into the lake country in +England—into the heart of Westmoreland and +Cumberland. Mr. Wordsworth, the lately deceased poet, a +resident in the centre of this region, opposed the project. +He thought that the retirement and seclusion of this delightful +region would be disturbed by the panting of the locomotive and +the cry of the steam whistle. If I am not mistaken, he +published one or two sonnets in deprecation of the +enterprise. Mr. Wordsworth was a kind-hearted man, as well +as a most distinguished poet, but he was entirely mistaken, as it +seems to me, in this matter. The quiet of a few spots may +be disturbed, but a hundred quiet spots are rendered +accessible. The bustle of the station-house may take the +place of the Druidical silence of some shady dell; but, Gracious +Heavens, sir, how many of those verdant cathedral arches, +entwined by the hand of God in our pathless woods, are opened to +the grateful worship of man by these means of communication?</p> +<p>“How little of rural beauty you lose, even in a country +of comparatively narrow dimensions like England—how less +than little in a country so vast as this—by works of this +<!-- page 124--><a name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +124</span>description. You lose a little strip along the +line of the road, which partially changes its character; while, +as the compensation, you bring all this rural beauty,</p> +<blockquote><p>‘The warbling woodland, the resounding +shore,<br /> +The pomp of groves, the garniture of fields,’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>within the reach, not of a score of luxurious, sauntering +tourists, but of the great mass of the population, who have +senses and tastes as keen as the keenest. You throw it +open, with all its soothing and humanizing influences, to +thousands who, but for your railways and steamers, would have +lived and died without ever having breathed the life-giving air +of the mountains; yes, sir, to tens of thousands who would have +gone to their graves, and the sooner for the prevention, without +ever having caught a glimpse of the most magnificent and +beautiful spectacle which nature presents to the eye of man, that +of a glorious curving wave, a quarter-of-a-mile long, as it comes +swelling and breasting toward the shore, till its soft green +ridge bursts into a crest of snow, and settles and digs along the +whispering sands.”</p> +<h2>REMARKABLE ADVERTISEMENT.</h2> +<p>The most astonishing kind of property to leave behind at a +railway station is mentioned in an advertisement which appeared +in the newspapers dated Swindon, April 27th, 1844. It gave +notice “That a pair of bright bay horses, about sixteen +hands high, with black switch tails and manes,” had been +left in the name of Hibbert; and notice was given that unless the +horses were claimed on or before the 12th day of May, they would +be sold to pay expenses. Accordingly on that day they were +sold.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Household Words</i>.</p> +<h2>RAILWAY EPIGRAM.</h2> +<p>In 1845, during the discussions on the Midland lines before +the Committee of the House of Commons, Mr. Hill, the Counsel, was +addressing the Committee, when Sir John Rae Reid, who was a +member of it, handed the following lines to the +chairman:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Ye railway men, who mountains lower,<br /> +Who level locks and valleys fill;<br /> +Who thro’ the <i>hills</i> vast tunnels <i>bore</i>;<br /> +Must now in turn be <i>bored by Hill</i>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page 125--><a name="page125"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 125</span>SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE.</h2> +<p>A certain gentleman of large property, and who had figured, if +he does not now figure, as a Railway Director, applied for shares +in a certain projected railway. Fifty, it seems were +allotted to him. Whether that was the number he applied for +or not, deponent saith not; but by some means nothing (0) got +added to the 50 and made it 500. The deposit for the said +500 was paid into the bankers’, the scrip obtained, and +before the mistake could be detected and corrected—for no +doubt it was only a mistake, or at most a <i>lapsus +pennæ</i>—the shares were sold, and some £2000 +profit by this very fortunate accident found its way into the +pocket of the gentleman.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Herepath’s +Journal</i>, 1845.</p> +<h2>LOUIS PHILIPPE AND THE ENGLISH NAVVIES.</h2> +<p>Whittlesea Will, William Elthorpe, from Cambridgeshire, had a +large railway experience; during the construction of Longton +Tunnel, he told me the following story:—“Ye see, Mr. +Smith (Samuel Smith, of Woodberry Down), I was a ganger for Mr. +Price on the Marseilles and Avignon Line in France, and I’d +gangs of all nations to deal with. Well, I could not manage +’em nohow mixed—there were the Jarman Gang, the +French Gang, the English, Scotch, and Irish Gangs, of course; the +Belgic Gang, the Spanish Gang, and the Peamounter +Gang—that’s a Gang, d’ye see, that comes off +the mountains somewhere towards Italy.” “Oh, +the Piedmontese, you mean.” “Well, you may call +’em Peedmanteeze if you like, but we call’d ’em +Peamounters—and so at last I hit on the plan of putting +each gang by itself; gangs o’ nations, the Peamounter gang +here, the Jarman gang there, and the Belgic gang there, and so +on, and it worked capital, each gang worked against the other +gang like good ’uns.</p> +<p>“Well one day our master, Mr. Price, gave the English +gang a great entertainment at a sort of Tea Garden place, near +Paris, called Maison Lafitte, and we were coming home along the +road before dark—it was a summer’s +evening—singing and shouting pretty loud, I dare say, when +a fat, oldish gentleman rode into the midst of us and <!-- page +126--><a name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +126</span>pulling up said, taking off his hat—‘I +think you are English Navigators.’ ‘Well, and +what if we are, old fellow, what’s that to +you?’ ‘Why, you are making a very great noise, +and I noticed you did not make way for me, or salute me as we +met, which is not polite—every one in France salutes a +gentleman. I’ve been in England, I like the +English,’ by this time his military attendants rode up, and +seeing him alone in the midst of us were going to ride us down at +once but the old boy beckoned with his hand for them to hold +back, and continued his sarmont. ‘I should wish +you,’ says he, quite pleasant, ‘whilst you remain in +France to be orderly, obliging, civil, and polite; it’s +always the best—now remember this: and here’s +something for you to remember Louis Philippe by;’ putting +his hand into his pocket, he pulled out what silver he had, I +suppose, threw it among us, and rode off—but, my eyes, +didn’t we give him a cheer!”</p> +<h2>ADVANTAGES OF RAILWAY-TUNNELS.</h2> +<p>We cannot help repeating a narrative which we heard on one +occasion, told with infinite gravity by a clergyman whose name we +at once inquired about, and of whom we shall only say, that he is +one of the worthiest and best sons of the kirk, and knows when to +be serious as well as when to jest. “Don’t tell +me,” said he to a simple-looking Highland brother, who had +apparently made his first trial of railway travelling in coming +up to the Assembly—“don’t tell me that tunnels +on railways are an unmitigated evil: they serve high moral and +æsthetical purposes. Only the other day I got into a +railway carriage, and I had hardly taken my seat, when the train +started. On looking up, I saw sitting opposite to me two of +the most rabid dissenters in Scotland. I felt at once that +there could be no pleasure for me in that journey, and with +gloomy heart and countenance I leaned back in my corner. +But all at once we plunged into a deep tunnel, black as night, +and when we emerged at the other end, my brow was clear and my +ill-humour was entirely dissipated. Shall I tell you how +this came to be? All the way through the tunnel I was +shaking <!-- page 127--><a name="page127"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 127</span>my fists in the dissenters’ +faces, and making horrible mouths at them, and <i>that</i> +relieved me, and set me all right. Don’t speak +against tunnels again, my dear friend.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Fraser’s +Magazine</i>.</p> +<h2>DAMAGES EASILY ADJUSTED.</h2> +<p>It is related that the President of the Fitchburg Railroad, +some thirty years ago, settled with a number of passengers who +had been wet but not seriously injured by the running off of a +train into the river, by paying them from $5 to $20 each. +One of them, a sailor, when his terms were asked, +said:—“Well, you see, mister, when I was down in the +water, I looked up to the bridge and calculated that we had +fallen fifteen feet, so if you will pay me a dollar a foot I will +call it square.”</p> +<h2>LIABILITIES OF RAILWAY ENGINEERS FOR THEIR ERRORS.</h2> +<p>An action was tried before Mr. Justice Maule, July 30, +1846—the first case of the kind—which established the +liability of railway engineers for the consequences of any errors +they commit.</p> +<p>The action was brought by the Dudley and Madeley Company +against Mr. Giles, the engineer. They had paid him +£4,000 for the preparation of the plans, etc., but when the +time arrived for depositing them with the Board of Trade they +were not completely ready. The scheme had consequently +failed. This conduct of the defendant it was estimated had +injured the company to the extent of £40,000. The +counsel for the plaintiff did not claim damages to this amount, +but would be content with such a sum as the jury should, under +the circumstances, think the defendant ought to pay, as a penalty +for the negligence of which he had been guilty. For Mr. +Giles, it was contended, that the jury ought not, at the worst, +to find a verdict for more than £1,700, alleging that the +remainder £2,300 had been paid by him in wages for work +done, and materials used.</p> +<p>The jury, however, returned a verdict to the tune of +£4,500, or £500 beyond the full sum paid him.</p> +<p>But, what said the judge? That “it was clear that +the defendant had undertaken more work than he could <!-- page +128--><a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +128</span>complete, and that he should not be allowed to gratify +with impunity, and to the injury of the plaintiffs, his desire to +realise in a few months a fortune which should only be the result +of the labour of years.”</p> +<h2>EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT.</h2> +<p>Yesterday afternoon, as the Leeds train, which left that +terminus at a quarter-past one o’clock, was approaching +Rugby, and within four miles of that station, an umbrella behind +the private carriage of Earl Zetland took fire, in consequence of +a spark from the engine falling on it, and presently the imperial +on the roof and the upper part of the carriage were in a +blaze. Seated within it were the Countess of Zetland and +her maid. The train was proceeding at the rate of forty +miles an hour. Under these circumstances, Her Ladyship and +maid descended from the carriage to the truck, when—despite +the caution to hold on given by a gentleman from a window of one +of the railway carriages—the maid threw herself headlong on +the rail, and was speedily lost sight of. On the arrival of +the train at Rugby an engine was despatched along the line, when +the young woman was found severely injured, and taken to the +Infirmary at Leicester. Lady Zetland remained at Rugby, +where she was joined by His Lordship and the family physician +last night, by an express train from Euston-square. How +long will railway companies delay establishing a means of +communication between passengers and the guard?</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Times</i>, Dec. 9th, +1847.</p> +<h2>PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE.</h2> +<p>On Monday, at the New Bailey, two men, named William Hatfield +and Mark Clegg, the former an engine-driver and the latter a +fireman in the employ of the London and North-Western Railway, +were brought up before Mr. Trafford, the stipendiary magistrate, +and Captain Whittaker, charged with drunkenness and gross +negligence in the discharge of their duty. Mr. Wagstaff, +solicitor, of Warrington, appeared on behalf of the Company, and +from his statement and the evidence of the witnesses it appeared +that the prisoners had charge of the night mail train from <!-- +page 129--><a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +129</span>Liverpool to London, on Saturday, December 25, +1847. The number of carriages and passengers was not +stated, but the pointsman at the Warrington junction being at his +post, waiting for the train, was surprised to hear it coming at a +very rapid rate. He had been preparing to turn the points +in order to shunt the train on to the Warrington junction, but as +the train did not diminish in speed, but rather increased as it +approached, he, anticipating great danger if he should turn the +points, determined on the instant upon letting the train take its +course, and not turning them. Most fortunate was it that he +exercised so much judgment and sagacity, for, in consequence of +the acuteness of the curve at Warrington junction and the +tremendous rate at which the train was proceeding—not less +than forty miles an hour—it does not appear that anything +could have otherwise prevented the train from being overturned, +and a frightful sacrifice of human life ensuing. Meantime +the train continued its frightful progress; but the mail guard +seated at the end of the train, perceiving that it was going on +towards Manchester, instead of staying at the junction, signalled +to the engine-driver and fireman, but without effect, no notice +whatever being taken of the signal. Finding this to be the +case, he, at very considerable risk, passed over from carriage to +carriage till he reached the engine, where he found both the +prisoners lying drunk. At length, at Patricroft, however, +he succeeded in stopping the train just before it reached that +station, a distance of 14 miles from Warrington. This again +appears to be almost a miraculous circumstance, for at the +Patricroft station, on the same line as that on which the mail +train was running was another train, containing a number of +passengers, who thus escaped from the consequences of a dreadful +collision. The prisoners were, of course, immediately given +into custody, and convoyed to the New Bailey prison, while, other +assistance being obtained, the train was taken back again to +Warrington junction. The regulation is in consequence of +the sharp curve at this junction, that the trains shall not run +more than five miles an hour. The bench sentenced both +prisoners to two months hard labour.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Manchester +Examiner</i>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 130--><a name="page130"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 130</span>HIS PORTMANTEAU.</h2> +<p>An English traveller in Germany entered a first-class carriage +in which there was only one seat vacant, a middle one. A +corner seat was occupied by a German, who evidently had placed +his portmanteau on the opposite one—at least the traveller +suspected that this was the case. The latter asked, +“Is this seat engaged?” “Yes,” was +the reply. When the time for the departure of the train had +almost arrived, the Englishman said, “Your friend is going +to miss the train, if he is not quick.” “Oh, +that is all right. I’ll keep it for him.” +Soon the signal came and the train started, when the passenger +seized the portmanteau, and threw it out of the window, +exclaiming, “He’s missed his train but he +mustn’t lose his baggage!” That portmanteau was +the German’s.</p> +<h2>GROWTH OF STATION BOOKSHOPS.</h2> +<p>The gradual rise of the railway book-trade is a singular +feature of our marvellous railway era. In the first +instance, when the scope and capabilities of the rail had yet to +be ascertained, the privilege of selling books, newspapers, etc., +at the several stations was freely granted to any who might think +proper to claim it. Vendors came and went, when and how +they chose, their trade was of the humblest, and their profits +were as varying as their punctuality. By degrees the +business assumed shape, the newspaper man found it his interest +to maintain a <i>locus standi</i> in the establishment, and the +establishment, in its turn, discerned a substantial means of +helping the poor or the deserving among its servants. A +cripple maimed in the company’s service, or a married +servant of a director or secretary, superseded the first batch of +stragglers and assumed responsibility by express +appointment. The responsibility, in truth, was not very +great at starting. Railway travelling, at the time referred +to, occupied but a very small portion of a man’s +time. The longest line reached only thirty miles, and no +traveller required anything more solid than his newspaper for his +hour’s steaming. But as the iron lengthened, and as +cities remote from each other were brought closer, the time spent +in the railway carriage <!-- page 131--><a +name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>extended, +travellers multiplied, and the newspaper ceased to be sufficient +for the journey. At this period reading matter for the rail +sensibly increased; the tide of cheap literature set in. +French novels, unfortunately, of questionable character were +introduced by the newsman, simply because he could buy them at +one-third less than any other publication selling at the same +price. The public purchased the wares they saw before them, +and very soon the ingenious caterers for railway readers +flattered themselves that there was a general demand amongst all +classes for the peculiar style of literature upon which it had +been their good fortune to hit. The more eminent +booksellers and publishers stood aloof, whilst others, less +scrupulous, finding a market open and ready-made to their hands +were only too eager to supply it. It was then that the +<i>Parlour Library</i> was set on foot. Immense numbers of +this work were sold to travellers, and every addition to the +stock was positively made on the assumption that persons of the +better class, who constitute the larger portion of railway +readers, lose their accustomed taste the moment they smell the +engine and present themselves to the railway librarian.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—Preface to a Reprinted +Article from the <i>Times</i>, 1851.</p> +<h2>MESSRS. SMITHS’ BOOKSTALLS.</h2> +<p>The following appeared in the <i>Athenæum</i>, 27th +Jan., 1849. “The new business in bookselling which +the farming of the line of the North-Western Railway by Mr. +Smith, of the Strand, is likely to open up, engages a good deal +of attention in literary circles. This new shop for books +will, it is thought, seriously injure many of the country +booksellers, and remove at the same time a portion of the +business transacted by London tradesmen. For instance, a +country gentleman wishing to purchase a new book will give his +order, not as heretofore, to the Lintot or Tonson of his +particular district, but to the agent of the bookseller on the +line of railway—the party most directly in his way. +Instead of waiting, as he was accustomed to do, till the +bookseller of his village or of the nearest town, can get his +usual monthly parcel down from his agent ‘in the +Row’—he will find his book at the locomotive library, +and so be enabled to read the last new novel before it is a +little flat <!-- page 132--><a name="page132"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 132</span>or the last new history in the same +edition as the resident in London. A London gentleman +hurrying from town with little time to spare will buy the book he +wants at the railway station where he takes his ticket—or +perhaps at the next, or third, or fourth, or at the last station +(just as the fancy takes him) on his journey. It is quite +possible to conceive such a final extension of this principle +that the retail trade in books may end in a great +monopoly:—nay, instead of seeing the <i>imprimatur</i> of +the Row or of Albermarle Street upon a book, the great +recommendation hereafter may be ‘Euston Square,’ +‘Paddington,’ ‘The Nine Elms,’ or even +‘Shoreditch.’ Whatever may be the effect to the +present race of booksellers of this change in their +business—it is probable that this new mart for books will +raise the profits of authors. How many hours are wasted at +railway stations by people well to do in the world, with a taste +for books but no time to read advertisements or to drop in at a +bookseller’s to see what is new. Already it is found +that the sale at these places is not confined to cheap or even +ephemeral publications;—that it is not the novel or light +work alone that is asked for and bought.</p> +<p>“The prophecy of progress contained in the above +paragraph has been fulfilled so far as the North-Western and Mr. +Smith are concerned. His example, however, was not +infectious for other lines; and till within the last three +months, when the Great Northern copied the good precedent, and +entered into a contract with Mr. Smith and his son, the greenest +literature in dress and in digestion was all that was offered to +the wants of travellers by the directors of the South-Western, +the Great Western, and other trunk and branch lines with which +England is intersected. A traveller in the eastern, +western, and southern counties who does not bring his book with +him can satisfy his love of reading only by the commonest and +cheapest trash—for the pretences to the appearance of a +bookseller’s shop made at Waterloo, at Shoreditch, at +Paddington, and at London Bridge, are something ridiculous. +This should not be. It shows little for the public spirit +of the directors of our railways that such a system should +remain. Mr. Smith has, we believe, as many as thirty-five +shops at railway stations, extending from London to Liverpool, +Chester and Edinburgh. His <!-- page 133--><a +name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 133</span>great +stations are at Euston Square, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool +and Edinburgh. He has a rolling stock of books valued at +£10,000. We call his stock rolling, because he moves +his wares with the inclinations of his readers. If he finds +a religious feeling on the rise at Bangor, he withdraws Dickens +and sends down Henry of Exeter or Mr. Bennett; if a love for +lighter reading is on the increase at Rugby, he withdraws Hallam +and sends down Thackeray and Jerrold. He never undersells +and he gives no credit. His business is a ready-money one, +and he finds it his interest to maintain the dignity of +literature by resolutely refusing to admit pernicious +publications among his stock. He can well afford to pay the +heavy fee he does for his privilege; for his novel speculation +has been a decided hit—of solid advantage to himself and of +permanent utility to the public.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Athanæum</i>, Sept. +5, 1851.</p> +<h2>A RESIDENT ENGINEER AND SCIENTIFIC WITNESS.</h2> +<p>Shortly after the first locomotives were placed on the London +and Birmingham Railway, a scientific civilian, who had given very +positive evidence before Parliament as to the injury to health +and other intolerable evils that must arise from the construction +of tunnels, paid a visit to the line. The resident engineer +accompanied him in a first-class carriage over the newly-finished +portion of the works. As they drew near Chalk Farm the +engineer attracted the attention of his visitor to the lamp at +the top of the carriage. “I should like to have your +opinion on this,” he said. “The matter seems +simple, but it requires a deal of thought. You see it is +essential to keep the oil from dropping on the passengers. +The cup shape effectually prevents this. Then the lamps +would not burn. We had to arrange an up-cast and down-cast +chimney, in order to ensure the circulation of air in the +lamp. Then there was the question of +shadow;”—and so he continued, to the great +edification of his listener, for five or six minutes. When +a satisfactory conclusion as to the lamp had been arrived at, the +learned man looked out of the window. “What place is +this?” said he. “Kensal Green.” +“But,” said the other, “how is that? I +thought there was one of your great tunnels to <!-- page 134--><a +name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 134</span>pass before +we came to Kensal Green.” “Oh,” replied +the Resident, carelessly, “did you not observe? We +came through Chalk Farm Tunnel very steadily.” The +man of science felt himself caught. He made no more reports +upon tunnels.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Personal Recollections of +English Engineers</i>.</p> +<h2>EXTRAORDINARY SCENE AT A RAILWAY JUNCTION.</h2> +<p>A most extraordinary and unprecedented scene occurred on +Monday morning at the Clifton station, about five miles from +Manchester, where the East Lancashire line forms a junction with +the Lancashire and Yorkshire. The East Lancashire are in +the habit of running up-trains to Manchester, past the Clifton +junction, without stopping, afterwards making a declaration to +the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company of the number of passengers +the trains contain, and for whom they will have to pay +toll. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company object to this +plan, and demand that the trains shall stop at Clifton, so that +the number of passengers can be counted, and give up their +tickets. The East Lancashire Company say that in addition +to their declaration, the other parties have access to all their +books, and to the returns of their (the East Lancashire +Company’s) servants; and that the demand to take tickets, +or to count, is only one of annoyance and detention, adopted +since the two companies have become competitors for the traffic +to Bradford. Towards the close of last week, the dispute +assumed a serious aspect, by one of the Lancashire and Yorkshire +Company’s agents at Manchester (Mr. Blackmore) threatening +that he would blockade or stop up the East Lancashire line, at +the point of junction, with a large balk of timber. The +East Lancashire Company got out a summons against Mr. Blackmore +on Saturday; but, notwithstanding this, the Lancashire and +Yorkshire Company’s manager proceeded on Monday to carry +the threat into execution, despite the presence of a large body +of the county police. The East Lancashire early trains were +allowed to pass upon the Lancashire and Yorkshire line without +obstruction; but at half-past 10 o’clock in the morning, as +the next East Lancashire train to Manchester was one which would +not stop at Clifton, but attempt to <!-- page 135--><a +name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 135</span>pass on to +Manchester, a number of labourers, under the direction of Captain +Laws, laid a large balk of timber, secured by two long iron +crowbars, across the down rails to Manchester of the Lancashire +and Yorkshire line, behind which was brought up a train of six +empty carriages, with its engine at the Manchester end. +When the East Lancashire train came in sight, it was signalled to +stop, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company’s servants +went and demanded the tickets from the passengers. This +demand, however, was fruitless, inasmuch as the East Lancashire +parties had taken the tickets from the passengers at the previous +station—Ringley. The first act of the East Lancashire +Company’s servants was to remove the balk of timber, and +this they did without hindrance. They next attempted to +force before them the Lancashire and Yorkshire blockading +train. This they were not able to do. The East +Lancashire Company then brought up a heavy train laden with +stone, and took up a position on the top line to +Manchester. Thus the Lancashire and Yorkshire +Company’s double line of rails was completely blocked +up—one line by their own train, and the other by the stone +train of the East Lancashire Company. In this position +matters remained till near 12 o’clock. There were +altogether eight trains on the double lines of rails of the two +companies, extending more than half a mile. After which the +blockade was broken up, and the various trains were allowed to +pass onwards—fortunately without accident or injury to the +passengers.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Manchester Examiner</i>, +March 13th, 1849.</p> +<h2>GOODS’ COMPETITION.</h2> +<p>Within the last fortnight, we understand, the London and +North-Western, in conjunction with the Lancashire and Yorkshire, +have commenced carrying goods between Liverpool and Manchester, a +distance of 31 miles, at the ruinously low figure of 6d. per ton, +where they used to have 8s. We further hear that the 6d. +includes the expenses of collection and delivery. The cause +is a competition with the East Lancashire and the canal. At +a very low estimate it has been calculated that every ton costs +6s. 3d., so that they are losing 5s. 9d. on every 6d. earned, or +860 per cent.</p> +<p><!-- page 136--><a name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +136</span>How long this monstrous competition is to continue the +directors only know, but the loss must be frightful on both +sides. Chaplin and Horne had 10s. a ton for collecting and +delivering the goods at the London end of the London and +North-Western Railway, and, though the expense must be less in +such comparatively small towns as Liverpool and Manchester, it +can hardly be less than a half that, 5s. Therefore, +allowing only 1s. 3d. for the bare railway carriage, which is +under a halfpenny a ton a mile, we have 6s. 3d., the estimate +showing the above-mentioned loss of 5s. 9d. on every 6d. +earned.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Herepath’s +Journal</i>, Sept. 29th, 1849.</p> +<h2>A POLITE REQUEST.</h2> +<p>An amusing illustration of the formal politeness of a railway +guard occurred some years ago at the Reigate station. He +went to the window of a first class carriage, and said: “If +you please, sir, will you have the goodness to change your +carriage here?” “What for?” was the gruff +reply of Mr. Bull within. “Because, sir, if you +please, the wheel has been on fire since half-way from the last +station!” John looked out; the wheel was sending +forth a cloud of smoke, and without waiting to require any +further “persuasive influences,” he lost no time in +condescending to comply with the request.</p> +<h2>A CHASE AFTER A RUNAWAY ENGINE.</h2> +<p>Mr. Walker, the superintendent of the telegraphs of the +South-Eastern Railway Company, remarks:—“On New +Year’s Day, 1850, a collision had occurred to an empty +train at Gravesend, and the driver having leaped from his engine, +the latter darted alone at full speed for London. Notice +was immediately given by telegraph to London and other stations; +and, while the line was kept clear, an engine and other +arrangements were prepared as a buttress to receive the runaway, +while all connected with the station awaited in awful suspense +the expected shock. The superintendent of the railway also +started down the line on an engine, and on passing the runaway he +reversed his engine and had it transferred at the next crossing +to the up-line, so as to be <!-- page 137--><a +name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 137</span>in the rear +of the fugitive; he then started in chase, and on overtaking the +other he ran into it at speed, and the driver of the engine took +possession of the fugitive, and all danger was at an end. +Twelve stations were passed in safety; it passed Woolwich at +fifteen miles an hour; it was within a couple of miles of London +when it was arrested. Had its approach been unknown, the +money value of the damage it would have caused might have +equalled the cost of the whole line of telegraph.”</p> +<h2>STEAM DEFINED.</h2> +<p>At a railway station, an old lady said to a very pompous +looking gentleman, who was talking about steam +communication. “Pray, sir, what is +steam?” “Steam, ma’am, is +ah!—steam, is ah! ah! steam is—steam!” +“I knew that chap couldn’t tell ye,” said a +rough-looking fellow standing by; “but steam is a bucket of +water in a tremendous perspiration.”</p> +<h2>IN A RAILWAY TUNNEL.</h2> +<p>Mr. Osborne in the <i>Sunday at Home</i>, says, “I have +heard from a friend a strange story of a tunnel, which I will try +to tell you as it was told to me. A well-known engineer was +walking one day through a tunnel, a narrow one, and as he was +going along, supposing himself safe, he thought his ear caught +the far-off rumble of a train <i>in the tunnel</i>. After +stopping and listening for a moment, he became sure it was so, +and that he was caught, and could not possibly get out in +time. What was he to do? Should he draw himself up +close to the side wall, making himself as small as possible, that +the train might not touch him. Or should he lie down flat +between the rails and let the train pass over him. Being an +engineer, and knowing well the shape of things, he decided to lie +down between the rails as his best chance. He had to make +up his mind quickly, for in a minute or so the whole train came +to where he lay, and went thundering over him, and—did him +no harm whatever. But he afterwards told his friends, that +in that brief moment of time, while the train was passing over, +he saw his whole past life spread out like a map, like an +illuminated transparency, with every particular circumstance +standing out plain.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 138--><a name="page138"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 138</span>A QUICK WAY.</h2> +<p>Some years ago, when a new railway was opened in the +Highlands, a Highlander heard of it, and bought a ticket for the +first excursion. The train was about half the distance to +the next station when a collision took place, and poor Donald was +thrown unceremoniously into an adjacent park. After +recovering his senses, he made the best of his way home, when the +neighbours asked him how he liked his ride. +“Oh,” replied Donald, “I liked it fine; but +they have an awfu’ nasty quick way in puttin’ ane +oot.”</p> +<h2>HIGHLANDER AND A RAILWAY ENGINE.</h2> +<p>We remember hearing a story of an old Highland peasant who +happened to see a railway engine for the first time. He was +coming down from the Grampians into Perthshire, and he thus +described the novel monster as it appeared in his astounded +Celtic imagination:—“I was looking doon the glens, +when I saw a funny beast blowing off his perspiration; an’ +I ran doon, an’ I tried to stop him, but he just gave an +awfu’ skirl an’ disappeared into a +hole.”—(meaning, of course, a tunnel).</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Once a Week</i>.</p> +<h2>EXTRACTS FROM MACREADY’S DIARIES.</h2> +<p>“July 3rd, 1845.—Brewster called to cut my hair; +he told me the tradesmen could not get paid in London, for all +the money was employed in railroads.”</p> +<p>“June 19th, 1850.—We were surprised by the +entrance of Carlyle and Mrs. C—. I was delighted to +see them. Carlyle inveighed against railroads—he was +quite in one of his exceptious moods.”</p> +<h2>FREAKS OF CONCEALED BOGS.</h2> +<p>Great difficulties have often been encountered by engineers in +carrying earth embankments across low grounds, which, under a +fair, green surface, concealed the remains of ancient bogs, +sometimes of great depth. Thus, on the Leeds and Bradford +Extension, about 600 tons of stone and earth were daily cast into +an embankment near Bingley, <!-- page 139--><a +name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 139</span>and each +morning the stuff thrown in on the preceding day was found to +have disappeared. This went on for many weeks, the bank, +however, gradually advancing, and forcing up on either side a +spongy black ridge of moss. On the South-Western Railway a +heavy embankment, about fifty feet high, crossed a piece of +ground near Newham, the surface of which seemed to be perfectly +sound and firm. Twenty feet, however, beneath the surface +an old bog lay concealed; and the ground giving way, the fluid, +pressed from beneath the embankment, raised the adjacent meadows +in all directions like waves of the sea. A culvert, which +permitted the flow of a brook under the bank, was forced down, +the passage of the water entirely stopped, and several thousand +acres of the finest land in Hampshire would have been flooded but +for the exertions of the engineer, who completed a new culvert +just as the other had become completely closed. The +Newton-green embankment, on the Sheffield and Manchester line, +gave way in like manner, and to such an extent as to spread out +two or three times its original width. In this case it was +found necessary to carry the line across the parts which yielded, +under strong timber shores. On the Dundalk and Enniskillen +line a heavy embankment twenty feet high suddenly disappeared one +night in the bog of Meghernakill, nearly adjoining the river +Fane. The bed of the river was forced up, and the flow of +the water for the time was stopped, and the surrounding country +heavily flooded. A concealed bog of even greater extent, on +the Durham and Sunderland Railway, near Aycliff, was crossed by +means of a double-planked road, about two miles in length. +A few weeks after the line had been opened, part of the road sank +one night entirely out of sight. The defect was made good +merely by extending the floating surface of the road at this +portion of the bog.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Quarterly Review</i>.</p> +<h2>A RAILWAY MARRIAGE.</h2> +<p>In Maine, a conductor—too busy, we suggest, saying +“Go ahead!” to be particular about wedding +formalities—invited his betrothed and a minister into a +car, and while <!-- page 140--><a name="page140"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 140</span>the train was in motion was married; +leaving that station a bachelor, at this station he was a married +man! It is but one of a thousand examples of life as it +goes in this fast country.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>New York Nation</i>.</p> +<h2>ATTEMPTED FRAUDS.</h2> +<p>Feb. 29, 1849, <i>Central Criminal Court</i>.—Robert +Duncan, aged 47, staymaker, Mary Duncan, his wife, who +surrendered to take her trial, and Pierce Wall O’Brien, +aged 30, printer, were indicted for conspiring together to obtain +money from the London and North-Western Railway Company by false +pretences.</p> +<p>From the statement of Mr. Clarkson and the evidence, it +appeared that the charges made against the prisoners involved a +most impudent attempt at fraud. It appears that on the 5th +of September last year an accident occurred to the up mail train +from York, near the Leighton Buzzard station, but, although some +injury was occasioned to the train, it seemed that none of the +passengers received any personal injury. On the 26th of +October following, however, the company received a communication +from Mr. Harrison, requiring compensation on behalf of defendant, +Robert Duncan, for an injury alleged to have been sustained by +his wife upon the occasion of the collision referred to, it being +represented, also, that her brother, the defendant O’Brien, +who was travelling with her at the time from York, had likewise +received serious injury by the same accident. The company +immediately sent a medical gentleman to the place described as +the residence of these persons, No. 59, George Street, Southwark, +and he there saw the man Robert Duncan, who represented that his +wife was dangerously ill, and that the result of the accident on +the railway was a premature confinement, and that her life was in +danger. Mr. Porter was then introduced to the female +defendant, whom he found in bed, apparently in great pain, and +she confirmed her husband’s statement. In the same +house the prisoner O’Brien was found in bed, and he also +told the same story about the accident on the railway. It +appeared that some suspicion was entertained by the company of +the general character of the transaction, and they <!-- page +141--><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +141</span>had been instituting inquiries. On the 2nd of +November they received another letter from the prisoner Robert +Duncan, in which he made an offer to accept £60 for the +injury his wife had received, and also stating that Mr. +O’Brien was willing to accept a similar amount for the +damage he had sustained. At this it appeared Mr. Harrison +resolved not to have anything further to do with the matter, +unless he received satisfactory proof of the truth of the story +told by the parties; and another solicitor was employed by the +defendants, who brought an action against the company for damages +for the alleged injury, and he proceeded so far as to give notice +of trial. The case, however, never went before a jury in +that shape, and by this time it was discovered that there was no +truth in the story told by the defendants. It was proved at +the period when the accident was alleged to have occurred to the +female defendant, she was residing with her husband, and was in +her usual health. With regard to O’Brien, there was +no evidence to show that he was upon the train at the time the +accident happened, but, according to the testimony of a witness +named Darke, during the period when the negotiation was going on +with the company, O’Brien requested him to write a letter +to Mr. Harrison to the effect that he was riding in the same +carriage with Mrs. Duncan and her brother at the time of the +accident, and he was aware of her having been injured, and gave +him a written statement to that effect, which he copied. +This witness, in cross-examination, admitted that at the time he +wrote the statement he was perfectly well aware it was false, and +he also said that notwithstanding this, he made no difficulty in +doing what O’Brien requested, and also that he should have +been ready to make a solemn declaration of the truth of the +statement if he had been required to do so.</p> +<p>A verdict of “Not Guilty” was taken as to the +female prisoner, on the ground that she was acting under the +control of her husband. The jury returned a verdict of +“Guilty” against the two male defendants.</p> +<p>Mr. Clarkson said he was instructed to state that, at the +period of the catastrophe on board the Cricket steam-boat, <!-- +page 142--><a name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +142</span>the prisoners obtained a sum of £70 from the +company to which that vessel belonged, by the false pretence that +they had received injury upon the occasion.</p> +<p>The Recorder sentenced Duncan to be imprisoned for twelve, and +O’Brien for six months.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Annual Register</i>.</p> +<h2>A BRIDE’S LOST LUGGAGE.</h2> +<p>The trouble which is bestowed by railway companies to cause +the restitution of lost property is incalculable. Some +years ago, a young lady lost a portmanteau from the rest of her +luggage—a pardonable oversight, for she was a bride +starting on a honeymoon trip. The bridegroom—never on +such occasions an accountable being—had not noticed the +misfortune. When the loss was discovered, and application +made respecting it, the lady spoke positively of having seen it +at the station whence they started, then again at a station where +they had to change carriages; she saw it also when they left the +railway; it was all safe, she averred, at the hotel where they +stopped for a few days. She was also certain that it was +among the rest of the “things” when they again +started for a watering-place; but, when they arrived there, it +was missing. It contained a new riding habit, value fifteen +pounds. The search that was instituted for this portmanteau +recalled that of Telemachus for Ulysses; the railway officials +sent one of their clerks with a <i>carte blanche</i> to trace the +bride’s journey to the end of the last mile, till some +tidings of the strayed trunk could be traced. He went to +every station, to every coach-office in connection with every +station, to every town, to every hotel, and to every lodging that +the happy couple had visited. His expenses actually +amounted to fifteen pounds. He came back without +success. At length the treasure was found; but where? +At the by-station on another line, whence the bride had started +from home a maiden. Yet she had positively declared, +without doubt or reservation, that she had, “with her own +eyes,” seen the trunk on the various stages of her tour; +this can only be accounted for by the peculiar flustration of a +young lady just plunged into the vortex of matrimony. The +husband paid the whole of the costs.</p> +<h2><!-- page 143--><a name="page143"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 143</span>THIRD-CLASS PASSENGERS.</h2> +<p>The conveyance of passengers at cheap fares was from the +commencement of railways a great public concern, and it was soon +found necessary that the legislature should take action in the +matter. Accordingly, by the Regulation of Railways Act, +1844, all passenger railways were required to run one train every +day from end to end of their line, carrying third-class +passengers at a rate not exceeding one penny a mile, stopping at +all stations, starting at hours approved by the Board of Trade, +travelling at least twelve miles an hour, and with carriages +protected from weather. This enactment greatly encouraged +the poorer classes in railway travelling; but the companies were +slow to carry out the new regulations cheerfully. The +trains were timed at most inconvenient hours; to undertake a +journey of any considerable length in one day at third-class fare +was almost out of the question. In fact, a short-sighted +policy of doing almost everything to discourage third-class +travelling was adopted by the Companies.</p> +<p>A traveller having started on a long journey, thinking to be +able to travel all the way third-class, would find at some stage +of the route that he had arrived, only a few minutes perhaps, +after the departure of the cheap train to his destination, with +no alternative but to wait for hours or proceed by the express +and pay accordingly. Moreover, the third-class carriages +were provided with the very minimum of comfort. It was not +seen by the railway executive of that time that the policy +adopted was actually prejudicial to their own interests.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Our Railways</i>, by Joseph +Parsloe.</p> +<h2>IMPROVEMENT IN THIRD-CLASS TRAVELLING.</h2> +<p>The Rev. F. S. Williams, in an article in the <i>Contemporary +Review</i>, entitled “Railway Revolutions,” +remarks:—“We need not go back so far as the time when +third-class passengers had to stand in a sort of cattle-pen +placed on wheels; it is only a few years since the Parliamentary +trains were run in bare fulfilment of the obligations of +Parliament, and when a journey by one of them could never be +looked upon as anything better than a necessary evil. To +start in the <!-- page 144--><a name="page144"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 144</span>darkness of a winter’s morning +to catch the only third-class train that ran; to sit, after a +slender breakfast, in a vehicle the windows of which were +compounded of the largest amount of wood and the smallest amount +of glass, and which were carefully adjusted to exactly those +positions in which the fewest travellers could see out of them; +to stop at every roadside station, however insignificant; and to +accomplish a journey of 200 miles in about ten hours—such +were the ordinary conditions which Parliament in its bounty +provided for the people. Occasionally, moreover, the +monotony of progress was interrupted by the shunting of the train +into a siding, where it might wait for more respectable passenger +trains and fast goods to pass.”</p> +<p>“We remember,” says a writer, “once standing +on the platform at Darlington when the Parliamentary train +arrived. It was detained for a considerable time to allow a +more favoured train to pass, and, on the remonstrance of several +of the passengers at the unexpected detention, they were coolly +informed, “Ye mun bide till yer betters gaw past, ye are +only the nigger train.”</p> +<p>“If there is one part of my public life,” recently +said Mr. Allport (Midland Railway) to the writer, “in which +I look back with more satisfaction than anything else, it is with +reference to the boon we conferred on third-class +passengers. When the rich man travels, or if he lies in bed +all day, his capital remains undiminished, and perhaps his income +flows in all the same. But when a poor man travels he has +not only to pay his fare, but to sink his capital, for his time +is his capital; and if he now consumes only five hours instead of +ten in making a journey, he has saved five hours of time for +useful labour—useful to himself, to his family, and to +society. And I think with even more pleasure of the comfort +in travelling we have been able to confer upon women and +children. But it took,” he added, +“five-and-twenty years’ work to get it +done.”</p> +<h2>A GREAT DISCOVERY.</h2> +<p>Confound that Pope Gregory who changed the style! He, or +some one else, has robbed the month of February, in ordinary +years, of no less than three days, for Mr. George Sutton, the +solicitor, has discovered and established by the <!-- page +145--><a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +145</span>last Brighton Act of Parliament that February has +<i>really thirty-one days</i>, while that good-for-nothing Pope +led us to believe it had only twenty-eight. The language of +the 45th clause of the Act or of the bill which went into the +Lords is:—</p> +<p>“That so much of the said Consolidation Act as enacts +that the ordinary meetings of the company, subsequent to the +first ordinary meeting thereof, shall be held half-yearly on the +31st day of July, and <i>thirty-first day of February</i> in each +year, or within one month before or after these days shall be, +and the same is hereby repealed.”</p> +<p>The next clause enacts, we suppose by reason of “the +31st of February” being an inconvenient day, that the +meetings shall be held on the 31st of January and the 31st of +July, a month before or a month after.</p> +<p>On account of the great value of an addition of three days to +our years, and, therefore, an annual addition to our lives of +three days, we beg to propose that a handsome testimonial be +given to Mr. George Sutton, the eminent solicitor of the Brighton +Railway Company, the author of the Act and the discoverer of the +Pope’s wicked conduct. We further propose that it be +given him on “the 31st day of February” next year, +and that his salary be paid on that day, and no other, every +year.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Herepath’s +Journal</i>, June 24th, 1854.</p> +<h2>A DREADED EVIL.</h2> +<p>When the old Sheffield and Rotherham line was contemplated, +“A hundred and twenty inhabitants of Rotherham, headed by +their vicar, petitioned against the bill, because they thought +the canal and turnpike furnished sufficient accommodation between +the two towns, and because they dreaded an incursion of the idle, +drunken, and dissolute portion of the Sheffield people as a +consequence of increasing the facilities of transit.” +For a time the opposition was successful but eventually the +Lord’s Committee yielded to the perseverance of the +promoters of the bill.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Sheffield and Rotherham +Independent</i>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 146--><a name="page146"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 146</span>REMARKABLE ADVENTURE.</h2> +<p>A young lady some years ago thus related an adventure she met +with in travelling. “After I had taken my seat one +morning at Paddington, in an empty carriage, I was joined, just +as the train was moving off, by a strange-looking young man, with +remarkably long flowing hair. He was, of course, a little +hurried, but he seemed besides to be so disturbed and wild that I +was quite alarmed, for fear of his not being in his right mind, +nor did his subsequent conduct at all reassure me. Our +train was an express, and he inquired eagerly, at once, which was +the first station we were advertised to stop. I consulted +my Bradshaw and furnished him with the required +information. It was Reading. The young man looked at +his watch.</p> +<p>“‘Madam,’ said he, ‘I have but +half-an-hour between me and, it may be, ruin. Excuse, +therefore, my abruptness. You have, I perceive, a pair of +scissors in your workbag. Oblige me, if you please, by +cutting off all my hair.’</p> +<p>“‘Sir,’ said I, ‘it is +impossible.’</p> +<p>“‘Madam,’ he urged, and a look of severe +determination crossed his features; ‘I am a desperate +man. Beware how you refuse me what I ask. Cut my hair +off—short, close to the roots—immediately; and here +is a newspaper to hold the ambrosial curls.’</p> +<p>“I thought he was mad, of course; and believing that it +would be dangerous to thwart him, I cut off all his hair to the +last lock.</p> +<p>“‘Now, madam,’ said he, unlocking a small +portmanteau, ‘you will further oblige me by looking out of +the window, as I am about to change my clothes.’</p> +<p>“Of course I looked out of the window for a very +considerable time, and when he observed, ‘Madam, I need no +longer put you to any inconvenience,’ I did not recognise +the young man in the least.</p> +<p>“Instead of his former rather gay costume, he was +attired in black, and wore a grey wig and silver spectacles; he +looked like a respectable divine of the Church of England, of +about sixty-four years of age; to complete that character, he +held a volume of sermons in his hand, which—they appeared +so to absorb him—might have been his own.</p> +<p><!-- page 147--><a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +147</span>“‘I do not wish to threaten you, young +lady,’ he resumed, ‘and I think, besides, that I can +trust your kind face. Will you promise me not to reveal +this metamorphosis until your journey’s end?’</p> +<p>“‘I will,’ said I, ‘most +certainly.’</p> +<p>“At Reading, the guard and a person in plain clothes +looked into our carriage.</p> +<p>“‘You have the ticket, my love,’ said the +young man, blandly, and looking to me as though he were my +father.</p> +<p>“‘Never mind, sir; we don’t want +them,’ said the official, as he withdrew his companion.</p> +<p>“‘I shall now leave you, madam,’ observed my +fellow-traveller, as soon as the coast was clear; ‘by your +kind and courageous conduct you have saved my life and, perhaps, +even your own.’</p> +<p>“In another minute he was gone, and the train was in +motion. Not till the next morning did I learn from the +<i>Times</i> newspaper that the gentleman on whom I had operated +as hair cutter had committed a forgery to an enormous amount, in +London, a few hours before I met him, and that he had been +tracked into the express train from Paddington; but +that—although the telegraph had been put in motion and +described him accurately—at Reading, when the train was +searched, he was nowhere to be found.”</p> +<h2>SAFETY ON THE FLOOR.</h2> +<p>Many concussions give no warning of their approach, while +others do, the usual premonitory symptoms being a kind of +bouncing or leaping of the train. It is well to know that +the bottom of the carriage is the safest place, and, therefore, +when a person has reason to anticipate a concussion, he should, +without hesitation, throw himself on the floor of the +carriage. It was by this means that Lord Guillamore saved +his life and that of his fellow passengers some years since, when +a concussion took place on one of the Irish railways. His +Lordship feeling a shock, which he knew to be the forerunner of a +concussion, without more ado sprang upon the two persons sitting +opposite to him, and dragged them with him to the bottom of the +carriage; the astonished persons at first imagined that they had +been set <!-- page 148--><a name="page148"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 148</span>upon by a maniac, and commenced +struggling for their liberty, but in a few seconds they but too +well understood the nature of the case; the concussion came, and +the upper part of the carriage in which Lord Guillamore and the +other two persons were was shattered to pieces, while the floor +was untouched, and thus left them lying in safety; while the +other carriages of the train presented nothing but a ghastly +spectacle of dead and wounded.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>The Railway +Traveller’s Handy Book</i>.</p> +<h2>LIFE UPON THE RAILWAY, BY A CONDUCTOR.</h2> +<p>The Western Division of our road runs through a very +mountainous part of Virginia, and the stations are few and far +between. About three miles from one of these stations, the +road runs through a deep gorge of the Blue Ridge, and near the +centre is a small valley, and there, hemmed in by the everlasting +hills, stood a small one-and-a-half-story log cabin. The +few acres that surrounded it were well cultivated as a garden, +and upon the fruits thereof lived a widow and her three children, +by the name of Graff. They were, indeed, untutored in the +cold charities of an outside world—I doubt much if they +ever saw the sun shine beyond their own native hills. In +the summer time the children brought berries to the nearest +station to sell, and with the money they bought a few of the +necessities of the outside refinement.</p> +<p>The oldest of these children I should judge to be about twelve +years, and the youngest about seven. They were all girls, +and looked nice and clean, and their healthful appearance and +natural delicacy gave them a ready welcome. They appeared +as if they had been brought up to fear God and love their humble +home and mother. I had often stopped my train and let them +get off at their home, having found them at the station some +three miles from home, after disposing of their berries.</p> +<p>I had children at home, and I knew their little feet would be +tired in walking three miles, and therefore felt that it would be +the same with these fatherless little ones. They seemed so +pleased to ride, and thanked me with such hearty thanks, after +letting them off near home. They frequently <!-- page +149--><a name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +149</span>offered me nice, tempting baskets of fruit for my +kindness; yet I never accepted any without paying their full +value.</p> +<p>Now, if you remember, the winter of ’54 was very cold in +that part of the State, and the snow was nearly three feet deep +on the mountains.</p> +<p>On the night of the 26th of December, of that year, it turned +around warm, and the rain fell in torrents. A terrible +storm swept the mountain tops, and almost filled the valleys with +water. Upon that night my train was winding its way, at its +usual speed, around the hills and through the valleys, and as the +road-bed was all solid rock, I had no fear of the banks giving +out. The night was intensely dark, and the winds moaned +piteously through the deep gorges of the mountains. Some of +my passengers were trying to sleep, others were talking in a low +voice, to relieve the monotony of the scene. Mothers had +their children upon their knees, as if to shield them from some +unknown danger without.</p> +<p>It was near midnight, when a sharp whistle from the engine +brought me to my feet. I knew there was danger by that +whistle, and sprang to the brakes at once, but the brakesmen were +all at their posts, and soon brought the train to a stop. I +seized my lantern and found my way forward as soon as possible, +when what a sight met my gaze! A bright fire of pine logs +illuminated the track for some distance, and not over forty rods +ahead of our train a horrible gulf had opened its maw to receive +us!</p> +<p>The snow, together with the rain, had torn the whole side of +the mountain out, and eternity itself seemed spread out before +us. The widow Graff and her children had found it out, and +had brought light brush from their home below, and built a large +fire to warn us of our danger. They had been there more +than two hours watching beside that beacon of safety. As I +went up where that old lady stood drenched through by the rain +and sleet, she grasped my arm and cried:</p> +<p>“Thank God! Mr. Sherbourn, we stopped you in time. +I would have lost my life before one hair of your head should +have been hurt. Oh, I prayed to heaven that we might stop +the train, and, my God, I thank thee!”</p> +<p><!-- page 150--><a name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +150</span>The children were crying for joy. I confess I +don’t very often pray, but I did then and there. I +kneeled down by the side of that good old woman, and offered up +thanks to an All Wise Being for our safe deliverance from a most +terrible death, and called down blessings without number upon +that good old woman and her children. Near by stood the +engineer, fireman, and brakesmen, the tears streaming down their +bronzed cheeks.</p> +<p>I immediately prevailed upon Mrs. Graff and the children to go +back into the cars out of the storm and cold. After +reaching the cars I related our hair-breadth escape, and to whom +we were indebted for our lives, and begged the men passengers to +go forward and see for themselves. They needed no further +urging, and a great many of the ladies went also, regardless of +the storm. They soon returned, and their pale faces gave +full evidence of the frightful death we had escaped. The +ladies and gentlemen vied with each other in their thanks and +heartfelt gratitude towards Mrs. Graff and her children, and +assured her that they would never, never forget her, and before +the widow left the train she was presented with a purse of four +hundred and sixty dollars, the voluntary offering of a whole +train of grateful passengers. She refused the proffered +gift for some time, and said she had only done her duty, and the +knowledge of having done so was all the reward she asked. +However, she finally accepted the money, and said it should go to +educate her children.</p> +<p>The railway company built her a new house, gave her and her +children a life pass over the road, and ordered all trains to +stop and let her get off at home when she wished, but the +employés needed no such orders, they can appreciate all +such kindness—more so than the directors themselves.</p> +<p>The old lady frequently visits my home at H— and she is +at all times a welcome visitor at my fireside. Two of the +children are attending school at the same place.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Appleton’s American +Railway Anecdote Book</i>.</p> +<h2>A COUNTY COURT JUDGE’S FEELING AGAINST RAILWAYS.</h2> +<p>In a County Court case at Carlisle, reported in the +<i>Carlisle Journal</i>, of October 31st, 1851, the judge (J. K. +Knowles, Esq.) is represented to have said:—“You may +depend upon it, if <!-- page 151--><a name="page151"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 151</span>I could do anything for you, I +would, for I detest all railways. If they get a verdict in +this case it will be the first, and I hope it will be the +last.”</p> +<h2>RAILWAY TICKETS.</h2> +<p>A writer in that valuable miscellany <i>Household Words</i>, +remarks:—“About thirteen years ago, a Quaker was +walking in a field in Northumberland, when a thought struck +him. The man who was walking was named Thomas +Edmonson. He had been, though a Friend, not a very +successful man in life. He was a man of integrity and +honour, as he afterwards abundantly proved, but he had been a +bankrupt, and was maintaining himself as a clerk at a small +station on the Newcastle and Carlisle line. In the course +of his duties in this situation, he found it irksome to have to +write on every railway ticket that he delivered. He saw the +clumsiness of the method of tearing the bit of paper off the +printed sheet as it was wanted, and filling it up with pen and +ink. He perceived how much time, trouble, and error might +be saved by the process being done in a mechanical way; and it +was when he set his foot down on a particular spot on the before +mentioned field that the idea struck him how all that he wished +might be done by a machine—how tickets might be printed +with the names of stations, the class of carriage, the dates of +the month, and all of them from end to end of the kingdom, on one +uniform system. Most inventors accomplish their great deeds +by degrees—one thought suggesting another from time to +time; but, when Thomas Edmonson showed his family the spot in the +field where his invention occurred to him, he used to say that it +came to his mind complete, in its whole scope and all its +details. Out of it has grown the mighty institution of the +Railway Clearing House; and with it the grand organization by +which the Railways of the United Kingdom act, in regard to the +convenience of individuals, as a unity. We may see at a +glance the difference to every one of us of the present organized +system—by which we can take our tickets from almost any +place to another, and get into a carriage on almost any of our +great lines, to be conveyed without further care to the opposite +end of the kingdom—<!-- page 152--><a +name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 152</span>and the +unorganized condition of affairs from which Mr. Edmonson rescued +us, whereby we should have been compelled to shift ourselves and +our luggage from time to time, buying new tickets, waiting while +they were filled up, waiting at almost every point of the +journey, and having to do it with divers companies who had +nothing to do with each other but to find fault and be +jealous.</p> +<p>“On Mr. Edmonson’s machines may be seen the name +of Blaycock; Blaycock was a watchmaker, and an acquaintance of +Edmonson’s, and a man whom he knew to be capable of working +out his idea. He told him what he wanted; and Blaycock +understood him, and realized his thought. The third machine +that they made was nearly as good as those now in use. The +one we saw had scarcely wanted five shillings worth of repairs in +five years; and, when it needs more, it will be from sheer +wearing away of the brass-work, by constant hard friction. +The Manchester and Leeds Railway Company were the first to avail +themselves of Mr. Edmonson’s invention; and they secured +his services at their station at Oldham Road, for a time. +He took out a patent; and his invention became so widely known +and appreciated, that he soon withdrew himself from all other +engagements, to perfect its details and provide tickets to meet +the daily growing demand. He let out his patent on +profitable terms—ten shillings per mile per annum; that is, +a railway of thirty miles long paid him fifteen pounds a year for +a license to print its own tickets by his apparatus; and a +railway of sixty miles long paid him thirty pounds, and so +on. As his profits began to come in, he began to spend +them; and it is not the least interesting part of his history to +see how. It has been told that he was a bankrupt early in +life. The very first use he made of his money was to pay +every shilling that he ever owed. Ho was forty-six when he +took that walk in the field in Northumberland. He was +fifty-eight when he died, on the twenty-second of June last +year.”</p> +<h2>TAKEN ABACK.</h2> +<p>Four young cavalry officers, travelling by rail, from Boulogne +to Paris, were joined at Amiens by a quiet, elderly gentleman, +who shortly requested that a little of <!-- page 153--><a +name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 153</span>one window +might be opened—a not unreasonable demand, as both were +shut, and all four gentlemen were smoking. But it was +refused, and again refused on being preferred a second time, very +civilly; whereupon the elderly gentleman put his umbrella through +the glass. “Shall we stand the impertinence of this +bourgeois?” said the officers to one another. +“Never.” And they thrust four cards into his +hand, which he received methodically, and looked carefully at all +four; producing his own, one of which he tendered to each officer +with a bow. Imagine their feelings when they read on +each—“Marshal Randon, Ministre de Guerre.”</p> +<h2>FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH.</h2> +<p>The engineer of a train near Montreal saw a large dog on the +track. He was barking furiously. The engineer blew +the whistle at him, but he did not stir, and crouching low, he +was struck by the locomotive and killed. There was a bit of +white muslin on the locomotive, and it attracted the attention of +the engineer, who stopped the train and went back. There +lay the dead dog, and a dead child, which had wandered upon the +track and gone to sleep. The dog had given his signal to +stop the train, and had died at his post.</p> +<h2>NARROW ESCAPES FROM BEING LYNCHED.</h2> +<p>A writer in <i>All the Year Round</i>, +observes:—“A dreadful accident down in +‘Illonoy,’ had particularly struck me as a warning; +for there, while the shattered bodies were still being drawn from +under the piles of shivered carriages, the driver on being +expostulated with, had replied:</p> +<p>‘I suppose this ain’t the first railway accident +by long chalks!’</p> +<p>Upon which the indignant passengers were with difficulty +prevented from lynching the wretch; but he fled into the woods, +and there for a time escaped pursuit.</p> +<p>But, two other railway journeys pressed more peculiarly on my +mind; one was that of eight or ten weeks ago, from Canandaigua to +Antrim. It was there a gentleman from Baltimore, fresh from +Chicago, told me of a railway accident he had himself been +witness to, only two days before I met <!-- page 154--><a +name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 154</span>him. +The 2.40 (night) train from Toledo to Chicago, in which he rode, +was upset near Pocahontas by two logs that had evidently been +wilfully laid across the rails. On inquiry at the next +station, it was discovered that a farmer who had had, a week +before, two stray calves killed near the same place, had been +heard at a liquor store to say he would ‘pay them out for +his calves.’ This was enough for the excited +passengers, vexed at the detention, and enraged at the malice +that had exposed them to danger and death. A posse of them +instantly sallied out, beleaguered the farmer’s house, +seized him after some resistance, put a rope round his neck, +dragged him to the nearest tree, and would have then and there +lynched him, had not two or three of the passengers rescued him, +revolver in hand, and given him up to the nearest +magistrate.”</p> +<h2>CURIOUS NOTICE.</h2> +<p>The following notice, for the benefit of English travellers, +was exhibited some years ago in the carriage of a Dutch +railway:—“You are requested not to put no heads nor +arms out of te windows.”</p> +<h2>OBTAINING INFORMATION.</h2> +<p>But one of the most difficult things in the world is the +levity with which people talk about “obtaining +information.” As if information were as easy to pick +up as stones! “It ain’t so hard to nuss the +sick,” said a hired nurse, “as some people might +think; the most of ’em doesn’t want nothing, and them +as does doesn’t get it.” Parodying this, one +might say, it is much harder to “obtain information” +than some people think; the most don’t know anything, and +those who do don’t say what they know. Here is a real +episode from the history of an inquiry, which took place four or +five years ago, into the desirability of making a new line of +railway on the Border. A witness was giving what is called +“traffic evidence,” in justification of the alleged +need of the railway, and this is what occurred:—</p> +<p><!-- page 155--><a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +155</span><i>Mr. Brown</i> (the cross-examining counsel for the +opponents of the new line)—Do you mean to tell the +committee that you ever saw an inhabited house in that +valley?</p> +<p><i>Witness</i>—Yes I do.</p> +<p><i>Mr. Brown</i>—Did you ever see a vehicle there in +your life?</p> +<p><i>Witness</i>—Yes, I did.</p> +<p><i>Mr. Brown</i>—Very good.</p> +<p>Some other questions were put, which led to nothing +particular: but, just as the witness—a Scotchman—was +leaving the box, the learned gentleman put one more +question:—</p> +<p><i>Q</i>.—I am instructed to ask you, if the vehicle you +saw was not the hearse of the last inhabitant?</p> +<p><i>Answer</i>—It was.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Cornhill Magazine</i>.</p> +<h2>THE GOAT AND THE RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>In Prussian Poland the goods and cattle trains are prohibited +from carrying passengers under any conditions, and, however +urgent their necessities, the only exception allowed being the +herd-keepers in charge of cattle. So strictly is this +regulation enforced that even medical men are not allowed to go +by them when called for on an emergency, and where life and death +may be the result of their quick transit. This is generally +considered a great hardship, the more so as there are only two +passenger trains daily on the above railroads. But the +inventive genius of a small German innkeeper at Lissa has hit +upon a clever plan of circumventing the government regulations in +a perfectly legitimate manner. He keeps a goat, which he +hires out to persons wanting to proceed in a hurry by a cattle +train, at the rate of 6d. per station, the passenger then +applying for a ticket as the person in charge of the goat, which +he obtains without any difficulty. In this manner a +well-known nobleman, residing at Lissa, is frequently seen +travelling by the cattle train to Posen, in the passenger’s +carriage, and the goat is so tame that a very slender silk ribbon +suffices to keep it from straying.</p> +<h2><!-- page 156--><a name="page156"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 156</span>THE FIRST RAILWAY IN THE +CRIMEA.</h2> +<p>During the Russian War, in 1854, when the whole country was +horror-struck with the report of the sufferings endured by our +brave soldiers in the Crimea, Mr. Peto, in the most noble and +disinterested manner, and at the cost of his seat in the House of +Commons for Norwich—which city he had represented for +several years—constructed for the Government a line of +railway from Balaclava to the English camp before Sebastopol, +which at the end of the war, with its various branches, was 37 +English miles in length and had 10 locomotives on it. In +recognition of this patriotic service the honour of a baronetcy +was, in the following year, conferred upon him by Her +Majesty.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Old Jonathan</i>.</p> +<h2>THE BALACLAVA RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>The following interesting extract from a communication to the +<i>Times</i>, by Sir Morton Peto, Bart., respecting the +construction of the railway from Balaclava to the British camp is +worthy of preservation. Sir Morton remarks:—“It +was in the midst of the dreary winter of 1854, when the British +army was suffering unparalleled hardships before Sebastopol, that +it was resolved to construct a railway from Balaclava to the +British camp. Let honour be given where honour is +due.—The idea emanated from the Duke of Newcastle. +His Grace applied to our firm to assist in carrying out the +design. The sympathies of all England were excited at the +time by the sufferings of our troops. Every one was emulous +to contribute all that could be contributed to their succour and +support. The firm of which I am a partner was anxious to +take its share in the good work, and, on the Duke of +Newcastle’s application, we cheerfully undertook to make +all the arrangements for carrying his Grace’s views into +execution, on the understanding that the work should be +considered National; and that we should be permitted to execute +it without any charge for profit.</p> +<p>We accordingly placed at the disposal of Her Majesty’s +Government the whole of our resources. We fitted out +transports with the stores necessary for the construction of the +railway; employed and equipped hundreds of men to <!-- page +157--><a name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +157</span>execute the works; provided a commissariat exclusively +for their use; engaged medical officers to attend to their +health, and placed the whole service under the direction of the +most experienced agents on our staff. These important +preliminaries were arranged so effectually, and with so much +despatch, that the Emperor of the French sent an agent to this +country to instruct himself as to the mode in which we equipped +the expedition.</p> +<p>Every item shipped by us for the works was valued before +shipment at its selling price; and for all these items of +valuation, as well as for the payments which we made for labour, +we received the certificate of the most eminent engineer of the +day (the late lamented Mr. Robert Stephenson). We undertook +the execution of the Balaclava Railway as a +‘National’ work, agreeing to execute it without +profit. We performed our contract to the letter. We +never profited by it to the extent of a single shilling.</p> +<p>The works (nearly seven miles of railway) were executed in +less than a month; an incredibly short space of time, considering +the season of the year, the severity of the climate, and the +difficulties to which, considering the distance from home, we +were all of us exposed. It is a matter of history that they +eventuated in the taking of the great fortress of +Sebastopol. Before the railway was made, all the shot, all +the shell, and all the ammunition necessary for the siege, had to +be carried from Balaclava to the camp, a distance of five miles +up hill, through mud and sludge, upon the backs of the +soldiers. An immense proportion of our troops was told off +for this most laborious service; of whom no less than 25 per cent +per month perished in its execution. On the day the railway +was opened, it carried to the camp of the British army, in 24 +hours, more shot and shell than had been brought from Balaclava +for six weeks previously.</p> +<p>To our principal agent in the Crimea, the late Mr. Beattie, +the greatest credit was due for the way in which the arrangements +were made, and the work executed on that side. Mr. +Beattie’s labours were so arduous, and his efforts so +untiring, that he died of fatigue within six weeks after the +completion of the work—a victim, absolutely, to his +unparalleled exertions. The only favour in connection <!-- +page 158--><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +158</span>with these works which the Duke of Newcastle ever +granted at our request, he granted to the family of this lamented +gentleman. Mr. Beattie left a widow and four children to +deplore his loss, and through the favour of the Duke of +Newcastle, the widow, who now resides with her father, an +estimable clergyman in the North of Ireland, enjoys a pension as +the widow of a colonel falling in the field.”</p> +<h2>PASSENGERS AND OTHER CATTLE.</h2> +<p>At the Eastern Counties meeting (1854) the solicitor cut short +a clause about passengers, animals, and cattle, by reading it +“passengers and other cattle.” We do not +recollect passengers having been classed with cattle +before. Perhaps the learned gentleman’s eyesight was +defective, or the print was not very clear.</p> +<h2>EXPANSION OF RAILS.</h2> +<p>Robert Routledge, in his article upon railways, +remarks:—“It may easily be seen on looking at a line +of rails that they are not laid with the ends quite touching each +other, or, at least, they are not usually in contact. The +reason of this is that space must be allowed for the expansion +which takes place when a rise in the temperature occurs. +The neglect of this precaution has sometimes led to damage and +accidents. A certain railway was opened in June, and, after +an excursion train had in the morning passed over it, the midday +heat so expanded the iron that the rails became, in some places, +elevated to two feet above the level, and the sleepers were torn +up; so that in order to admit the return of the train, the rails +had to be fully relaid in a kind of zigzag. In June, 1856, +a train was thrown off the metals of the North-Eastern Railway, +in consequence of the rails rising up through +expansion.”</p> +<h2>A SMART REJOINDER.</h2> +<p>An American railway employé asked for a pass down to +visit his family. “You are in the employ of the +railway?” asked the gentleman applied to. +“Yes.” “You receive your pay +regularly?” “Yes.” “Well, +now, suppose you were working for a farmer, instead of a railway, +would you <!-- page 159--><a name="page159"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 159</span>expect your employer to hitch up his +team every Saturday night and carry you home?” This +seemed a poser, but it wasn’t. “No,” said +the man promptly, “I wouldn’t expect that; but if the +farmer had his team hitched up and was going my way, I should +call him a contemptible fellow if he would not let me +ride.” Mr. Employé came out three minutes +afterwards with a pass good for three months.</p> +<h2>COURTING ON A RAILWAY THIRTY MILES AN HOUR.</h2> +<p>An incident occurred on the Little Miami Railway which +outstrips, in point of speed and enterprise, although in a +somewhat different field, the lightning express, +“fifty-cents-a-mile” special train achievement which +attended the delivery of the recent famous “defalcation +report” in this city. The facts are about thus: A +lady, somewhat past that period of life which <i>the world</i> +would term “young”—although she might differ +from them—was on her way to this city, for purposes +connected with active industry. At a point on the road a +traveller took the train, who happened to enter the car in which +the young lady occupied a seat. After walking up and down +between the seats, the gentleman found no unoccupied seat, except +the one-half of that upon which the lady had deposited her +precious self and crinoline—the latter very modestly +expansive. Making a virtue of necessity—a +“stand-ee” berth or a little self-assurance—he +modestly inquired if the lady had a fellow-traveller, and took a +seat.</p> +<p>As the train flew along with express speed, the strangers +entered into a cosy conversation, and mutual explanations. +The gentleman was pleased, and the lady certainly did not +pout. After other subjects had been discussed, and worn +thread-bare, the lady made inquiries as to the price of a sewing +machine, and where such an article could be purchased in this +city. The gentleman ventured the opinion that she had +“better secure a husband first.” This opened +the way for another branch of conversation, and the broken field +was industriously cultivated.</p> +<p>By the time the train arrived at the depot in this city, the +gentleman had proposed and been accepted (although the lady +afterwards declared she regarded it all as a good joke). +The party separated; the gentleman, all in good <!-- page +160--><a name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +160</span>earnest, started for a license, and the lady made her +way to a boarding-house on Broadway, above Third, for +dinner. At two o’clock the gentleman returned with a +license and a Justice, to the great astonishment of the fair one, +and after a few tears and half-remonstrative expressions, she +submitted with becoming modesty, and the Squire performed the +little ceremony in a twinkling. If this is not a fast +country, a search-warrant would hardly succeed in finding +one.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Cincinnati +Commercial</i>.</p> +<h2>THE MERCHANT AND HIS CLERK.</h2> +<p>A London merchant resided a few miles from the City, in an +elegant mansion, to and from which he journeyed daily, and +invariably by third class. It happened that one of the +clerks in his employ lived in a cottage accessible by the same +line of railway, but he always travelled first class; the same +train thus presenting the anomaly of the master being in that +place which one would naturally assign to the man, and the man +appearing to usurp the position of the master. One day +these two alighted at the terminus in full view of each +other. “Well,” said Mr. B—, in that tone +of banter which a superior so frequently thinks it becoming to +adopt, “I don’t know how you manage to ride +first-class, when in these hard times I find third-class fare as +much as I can afford.” “Sir,” replied the +clerk, “you, who are known to be a person of wealth and +position, may adopt the most economical mode of travelling at no +more risk than being thought eccentric, and even with the +applause of some for your manifest absence of pride. But, +as for myself, I cannot afford to indulge in such +irregularities. Among the persons I travel with I am +reported to be a well-paid <i>employé</i>, and am +respected accordingly; to maintain this reputation I am compelled +to travel in the same manner as they do, and were I to adopt an +inferior mode, it would be attributed to some serious falling off +of income; a circumstance which would occasion me not only loss +of consideration among my <i>quondam</i> fellow-travellers, but +one which, upon coming to the ears of my butcher, baker, and +grocer, might seriously injure my credit with those highly <!-- +page 161--><a name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +161</span>respectable, but certainly worldly minded +tradesmen.” Mr. B— was not slow in recognizing +the full force of the argument, more particularly as the question +of his own liberality was involved, nor did he hesitate to give +it a practical application by immediately increasing the salary +of his clerk; not only to the amount of a first-class season +ticket, but something over.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>The Railway +Traveller’s Handy Book</i>.</p> +<h2>REMARKABLE WILL.</h2> +<p>Some years ago an old gentleman of very eccentric habits, Mr. +John Younghusband, of Abbey Holme, Cumberland, died, and his will +has proved to be of the most eccentric character. The +Silloth Railway runs through part of his property, an arrangement +to which he was most passionately averse; and though years have +elapsed since then, his bitterness was in no way assuaged. +In his will he leaves near £1000 to a solicitor who opposed +the making of the railway; the rest of his money he bequeaths to +a comparative stranger upon these conditions—that the +legatee never speaks to one of the directors of the railway, that +he never travels upon it, that he never sends cattle or other +traffic by it; and should he violate any of these conditions, the +estate reverts to the ordinary succession. To Mr. John +Irving and the other directors of the Silloth line Mr. +Younghusband has sarcastically bequeathed a <i>farthing</i>.</p> +<h2>IMMENSE FRAUD ON THE GREAT-NORTHERN RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>In the <i>Annual Register</i> for 1856, November 14th, we +read, “Another fraud connected with the transfer of shares +and stock, but on a far grander scale, and by a much more +pretentious criminal, has been discovered.</p> +<p>“Of late some strange discrepancies had been observed in +the accounts of the Great-Northern Railway Company, and in +particular that the amount paid for dividends considerably +exceeded the rateable proportion to the capital stock. An +investigation was directed. The registrar of shares, Mr. +Leopold Redpath, expressed a decided opinion that the +investigation into his department would be useless, and, on its +being pressed, absconded. The investigation developed a +long-continued system of frauds of vast amount, to the amount, it +was said, of nearly £250,000.</p> +<p><!-- page 162--><a name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +162</span>“Mr. Leopold Redpath passed in society as a +gentleman of ample means, great taste, and possessed of the +Christian virtue of charity in no common degree. He had a +house in Chester Terrace, handsomely furnished, and a +“place” at Weybridge complete with every luxury that +wealth could procure; gave good dinners with excellent wines; +kept good horses and neat carriages. He was a governor of +Christ’s Hospital, the St. Ann’s Schools, and +subscribed freely to the most useful charities of London. +His appointment on the Great-Northern was worth £300 per +annum; but it was supposed that this was only of consequence to +Mr. Redpath as affording him a regular occupation and an +opportunity of operating in the share-market, in which he was +known to have extensive dealings. The directors of the +railway appear to have been perfectly aware that their servant +was living far beyond his salary, but they considered him to be a +very successful speculator. Upon this splendid bubble being +blown up, Redpath fled to Paris; but, finding that the French +authorities were not inclined to protect him, he returned to +London and surrendered himself.</p> +<p>“The mode in which this gigantic swindler had committed +his frauds is simple enough. Having charge of the books in +which the stock of the company is registered, he altered the sum +standing in the name of some <i>bonâ fide</i> stockholder +to a much larger sum, generally by placing a figure before it, by +which simple means £500 became £1,500, or +£2,500, or any larger number of thousands. The +surplus stock thus <i>created</i> Redpath sold in the +stock-market, forging the name of the supposed transferer, +transferring the sum to the account of the supposed transferee in +the register, and either attesting it himself, or causing it to +be attested by a young man, his protegé and tool, but who +appears to have been free from guilty cognizance. In some +instances the fraud was but the more direct course of making a +fictitious entry of stock, and then selling it. By these +processes the number of shareholders and the amount of stock on +the company’s register became greatly magnified, while, as +the <i>bonâ fide</i> holders of stock remained credited +with their proper investments, there was no occasion for +suspicion on their part. How Redpath dealt with subsequent +transfers of the fictitious stock does not appear. The +prisoner was subjected <!-- page 163--><a +name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 163</span>to repeated +examination before the police magistrates, when this prodigious +falsification was thoroughly sifted, and the prisoner was finally +committed for trial at the Central Criminal Court in the +following year. It is said that the value of the leases, +furniture, and articles of taste in Redpath’s house in +Chester Terrace is estimated at £30,000, and at Weybridge +at a still larger sum. It is also said that Redpath and +Robson, whose forged transfer of Crystal Palace shares has been +recorded in this chronicle, were formerly fellow clerks.</p> +<p>“Lionel Redpath was tried, January 16th, 1857, at the +Central Criminal Court, and, being found guilty, was sentenced to +transportation for life. At the same time a junior clerk in +his office, Charles Kent, was also charged as his partner in the +crime. It appeared that Kent had acted on many occasions as +attesting witness to the forged transfers which Redpath had +employed to carry out his ends; but, as no guilty knowledge on +the part of the former was shown, he was acquitted.</p> +<p>“The railway company at first attempted to repudiate the +forged stock which Redpath had put into circulation, but pressing +remonstrances, not unaccompanied by threats, having been made by +the Committee of the Stock Exchange, they consented to +acknowledge it. Then came the question by whom the loss was +to be borne; a question which was not solved until after +considerable litigation. The directors asserted that it +ought to be paid out of the current income of the year, and so it +was ultimately decided. This led to a further question +between the guaranteed shareholders and the rest of the +company. For the diminution of the year’s earnings +caused by taking up the fictitious stock being so great as to +render it impossible to satisfy the guaranteed dividends out of +the residue, it was contended on the part of the holders of those +shares that, by the provisions of the deed of settlement, the +deficiency ought to be made up out of the next year’s +profits, so that the guarantee that they should receive their +specified dividends was not clogged with the condition in case a +sufficient amount of earnings in each year was made to pay +them. This dispute led to a Chancery suit, the decree in +which was in favour of the holders of the guaranteed +shares.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 164--><a name="page164"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 164</span>A LOST TICKET.</h2> +<p>“Now, then, make haste there, will you, an’ give +up your ticket,” exclaimed a railway guard to a bandsman in +the Volunteers returning from a review. “Didna I tell +ye I’ve lost it?” “Nonsense, man; feel in +your pockets, you cannot hae lost it.” “Can I +no?” was the drunken reply; “man, that’s +naething, I’ve lost the big drum!”</p> +<h2>MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.—SINGULAR ACTION.</h2> +<p>The <i>Annual Register</i> contains the following interesting +case. July 25, 1857.—At the Maidstone Assizes an +action arising out of a singular and melancholy accident was +tried. The action, Shilling <i>v.</i> The Accidental +Insurance Company, was brought by Charlotte Shilling, widow and +administratrix of Thomas Shilling, to recover from the defendants +the sum of £2000, upon a policy effected by the deceased on +the life of her father-in-law, James Shilling. The husband +of the plaintiff, Thomas Shilling, carried on the business of a +builder at Malling, a short distance from Maidstone. His +father, James Shilling, lived with him; he was nearly 80 years +old, and very infirm, and his son used to drive him about +occasionally in his pony chaise. In the month of March, +last year, an application was made to the defendants to effect +two policies for £2000 each upon the lives of Thomas +Shilling and James Shilling, and to secure that sum in the event +of either of them dying from an accident, and the policies were +completed and delivered in the following month of June. On +the evening of the 11th of July, 1856, about half-past 7 +o’clock, the father and son went from Malling with a pony +and chaise, for the purpose of proceeding to a stone quarry at +Aylesford, where Thomas Shilling had business to transact, and +they never returned home again alive. There where two roads +by which they could have got to the quarry from Malling, one of +which was rather a dangerous one to be taken with a vehicle and +horse, on account of a steep bank leading to the river Medway +being on one side and the railway passing close to the other; but +this route, it appears, was much shorter than the other, which +was nearly two miles round, and it was consequently constantly +used both by pedestrians and <!-- page 165--><a +name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +165</span>carriages. About 8 o’clock the pony and +chaise and the father and son were seen on this road, and upon +arriving at the gate leading to the quarry, Thomas Shilling got +out, leaving the pony and chaise in charge of his father. +Mr. Garnham, the owner of the quarry, was not at home, and while +one of the labourers was conversing with Thomas Shilling, the +sound of an approaching train was heard, and the men advised him +to go back to his pony, for fear it should take fright at the +train, and he said he would do so, as it had been frightened by a +train on a previous occasion. He accordingly went towards +the gate where he had left the pony and chaise, and from that +time there was no evidence to show what took place. The +family sat up the whole night awaiting the return of their +relatives in the utmost possible alarm at their absence; but +nothing was heard of them until the following morning, when a +bargeman found the drowned pony and the chaise and the dead +bodies of the father and son floating in the Medway, near the +spot where the chaise had been last seen on the previous +evening. They were taken home, and a coroner’s +inquest was held, and the only conclusion that could be arrived +at was that the pony had taken fright at the noise of the train, +which appeared to have passed about the time, and that he had +jumped into the river, which at this spot was from 12 to 14 feet +deep.</p> +<p>The policy on the life of the father had been assigned to the +son, whose widow claimed the two sums insured from the +defendants. That payable on the death of the son they paid: +but they refused to pay that due on the father’s policy, +and pleaded to the action several pleas, alleging certain +violations of the conditions; and singularly enough, considering +that they had not disputed the son’s policy on the same +ground, they now pleaded that the death was not the result of +accident, but arose from wanton and voluntary exposure to +unnecessary danger.</p> +<p>The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff.</p> +<h2>A CATASTROPHE.</h2> +<p>An old lady was going from Brookfield to Stamford, and took a +seat in the train for the first and last time in her life. +During the ride the train was thrown down an <!-- page 166--><a +name="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +166</span>embankment. Crawling from beneath the +<i>débris</i> unhurt, she spied a man sitting down, but +with his legs laid down by some heavy timber. “Is +this Stamford?” she anxiously inquired. “No, +madam,” was the reply, “this is a +catastrophe.” “Oh!” she cried, +“then I hadn’t oughter got off here.”</p> +<h2>WEDDING AT A RAILWAY STATION.</h2> +<p>Baltimore has had what it calls a romantic wedding at Camden +Station. A few moments before the departure of the outbound +Washington train, a gentleman accompanied by a lady and another +gentleman, whose clerical appearance indicated his profession, +alighted from a carriage and entered the depot. Upon the +locks of the leader of the party the snows of fifty winters had +evidently fallen, while the lady had apparently reached that age +when she is supposed to have lain aside her matrimonial +cap. Quietly approaching the officer on duty within the +station, they asked for a room where a marriage ceremony might be +privately performed. The request was readily granted, and +under the leadership of the obliging officer, the party was +conducted to the despatch room, a small lobby in the eastern part +of the building, where in a few minutes the twain were made man +and wife. With pleasant smiles, and a +would-be-congratulated look upon their countenances, they mingled +with the crowd in waiting; and when the gates were thrown open, +arm in arm they boarded the train, their fellow-passengers all +the while ignorant of the interesting ceremony.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Illustrated World</i>.</p> +<h2>ENGINE FASCINATION.</h2> +<p>The fascination which engines and their human satellites +exercise over some minds is very great; and while speaking on the +subject, I am reminded of a young man who haunted for years one +of our chief termini: he was the son of a leading west end +confectioner, so that his early training had in no way disposed +him to an engineering life; but he was the most remarkable +accumulation of statistics in connection therewith I ever +knew. The line employed several <!-- page 167--><a +name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 167</span>hundreds of +engines, and he not only knew the names of all of them, but when +they were made, and who had made them; when each one had last +been supplied with a new set of tubes at the factory—this +last, of course only referred to the engines employed on the main +line, which he had an opportunity of seeing, and would miss when +they were laid up for repair—and how this had had the +pressure on its safety-valve increased, and this had been +diminished. He had such a retentive memory for these and +kindred facts, that I have seen the foreman of the works appeal +to him for information, which was never lacking. His +penchant was so well known that he had special permission for +access to the works.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Chambers’s +Journal</i>.</p> +<h2>COMPETITION FOR PASSENGERS.</h2> +<p>Mr. Galt remarks:—“In the summer of 1857 the +London and North-Western and Great Northern railways contended +with each other for the passenger traffic from London to +Manchester. First-class and second-class passengers were +conveyed at fares, there and back, of seven and sixpence and five +shillings respectively, the distance being 400 miles, and four +clear days were allowed in Manchester. As might have been +expected, trains were well filled, and, but for the fact that the +other traffic was much interfered with, the fares would, it is +said, have been remunerative. As it was, it is said the +shareholders lost 1 per cent. dividend.</p> +<p>“Another memorable contest was carried on about the year +1853 between the Caledonian and the Edinburgh and Glasgow +Companies. The latter suddenly reduced the fares between +Edinburgh and Glasgow for the three classes from eight shillings, +six shillings, and four shillings, to one shilling, ninepence, +and sixpence. The contest was continued for +a-year-and-a-half, and cost the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company +nearly 1 per cent. in their dividends.”</p> +<h2>ACCIDENT HOAX.</h2> +<p>The following impudent hoax, contained in a letter which +appeared in the <i>Times</i> in 1860, was most annoying to the +officials of the Great Northern Company. It is +headed:—</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 168--><a +name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +168</span>“Accident on the Great Northern Railway.<br /> +“To the Editor of the <i>Times</i>.</p> +<p>“Sir,—I beg to inform you of a serious accident, +attended by severe injury, if not loss of life, which occured +to-day to the 8 o’clock a.m. train from Wakefield, on the +Great Northern railway, near Doncaster, by which I was a +passenger. As the train approached Doncaster, about 9 +o’clock, the passengers were suddenly alarmed by the +vehement oscillation of the carriages. In a few seconds the +engine had run off the line, dragging the greater part of the +train with it across the opposite line of rails. By this +time the concussion had become so vehement that the grappling +chains connecting the engine, tender, and first carriage with the +rest of the train providentially snapped. This circumstance +saved the lives of many. But the engine, tender, and first +carriage were hurled over the embankment, all three being +together overturned, and the latter (a second-class one) nearly +crushed. The stoker was severely injured on the head, and +his recovery is more than doubtful; the engine driver contrived +to leap off in time to save himself with a few bruises. The +shrieks of the passengers in the overturned carriage (three women +and five men) were fearful; and for some time their extrication +was impossible. One middle-aged woman had her thigh broken, +another her arm fractured. One old man had one, if not two +of his ribs broken. The passengers in the other carriages, +in one of which I was travelling, were less seriously injured, +though sufficiently so to talk about compensation, instead of +assisting in earnest those with broken limbs. The line of +rails was torn up for a considerable distance. Owing to the +telegraph being out of gear, some delay in communicating with +Doncaster was experienced. A surgeon and various hands at +length arrived with a special train for the injured passengers, +who, after long delay, were removed to Doncaster. I, of +course, as a medical man, rendered what assistance I could. +Those worst injured were conveyed to the Railway Arms, the +recovery of more than one being doubted by myself. At +length a fresh train started from Doncaster, and we reached +London nearly two hours after due.</p> +<p><!-- page 169--><a name="page169"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +169</span>The carelessness of the Company will, I hope, be the +subject of your severest animadversion. The accident was +caused by the tire of one of the right wheels of the engine +having flown off; and it is clear that the engine was not in a +condition to ply between the stations of the Great Northern +railway.</p> +<p>I have no objection to your use of my name if you think fit to +publish it.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Your obedient servant,<br /> +Thomas Waddington, M.D., of Wakefield.<br /> +Morley’s Hotel, Charing Cross, March 26.</p> +<p>To the above letter the following reply was sent to the +<i>Times</i>.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">“Alleged Accident on the +Great Northern.<br /> +“To the Editor of the <i>Times</i>.</p> +<p>“Sir,—The Directors of the Great Northern railway +will feel much obliged by the insertion of the following +statement in the <i>Times</i> to-morrow relative to a letter +which appeared therein to-day, signed ‘Thomas Waddington, +M.D., of Wakefield,’ and headed, ‘Accident on the +Great Northern railway.’</p> +<p>There was no accident whatever yesterday on the Great Northern +railway.</p> +<p>The trains all reached King’s Cross with punctuality, +the most irregular in the whole day being only five minutes +late. No such person as Thomas Waddington is known at +Morley’s Hotel, whence the letter in question is dated.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">I am, Sir, yours faithfully,<br /> +Seymour Clark, General Manager,<br /> +King’s Cross, March 27.</p> +<p>In the <i>Times</i> on the day following appeared a letter +from the real Dr. Waddington, of Wakefield, (Edward not +“Thomas”) confirmatory of the impudence of the +hoax.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">“The alleged Accident on the +Great Northern railway.<br /> +“To the Editor of the <i>Times</i>.</p> +<p>“Sir,—My attention has been called to a letter in +the <i>Times</i> of yesterday (signed ‘Thomas Waddington, +M.D., of Wakefield’) the signature of which is as gross and +impudent a fabrication as the circumstances which the writer +professes to detail. I need only say there is no +‘M.D.’ here <!-- page 170--><a +name="page170"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 170</span>named +Waddington but myself, and that I was not on the Great Northern +or any other Railway on the 26th inst, when the accident is +alleged to have occured.</p> +<p>Having obtained possession of the original letter, I have +handed it to my solicitors, in the hope that they may be enabled +to discover and bring to justice the perpetrator of this very +stupid hoax.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">I am, Sir, your obedient servant,<br +/> +Edward Waddington, M.D.</p> +<p> Wakefield, March 28.</p> +<h2>A’PENNY A MILE.</h2> +<p>Two costers were looking at a railway time-table.</p> +<p>“Say, Jem,” said one of them, “vot’s +P.M. mean?”</p> +<p>“Vy, penny a mile, to be sure.”</p> +<p>“Vell, vot’s A.M.?”</p> +<p>“A’penny a mile, to be sure.”</p> +<h2>SINGULAR FREAK.</h2> +<p>In October, 1857, Mr. Tindal Atkinson applied to Mr. Hammill, +at Worship Street Police Court, to obtain a summons under the +following strange circumstances:—</p> +<p>“Mr. Atkinson stated that he was instructed on behalf of +the Directors of the Eastern Counties Railway Company to apply to +the magistrate under the terms of their Act of Incorporation, for +a summons against Mr. Henry Hunt, of Waltham-Cross, Essex, for +having unlawfully used and worked a certain locomotive upon a +portion of their line, without having previously obtained the +permission or approval of the engineers or agents of the company, +whereby he had rendered himself liable to a penalty of +£20. He should confine himself to that by stating +that in the dark, on the night of Thursday, the 1st instant, a +locomotive engine belonging to Mr. Hunt was suddenly discovered +by some of the company’s servants to be running along the +rails in close proximity to one of the regular passenger trains +on the North Woolwich line. So great was the danger of a +collision, that they were obliged to instantly stop the train +till the stranger engine could get out of the way, to the great +terror of the passengers by the train, and <!-- page 171--><a +name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 171</span>as he was +instructed it was almost the result of a merciful interposition +of Providence that a collision had not occurred between them, in +which event it would probably have terminated fatally, to a +greater or lesser extent. He now desired that summonses +might be granted not only against the owner of the engine so +used, but also against the driver and stoker of it, both of whom, +it was obvious, must have been well aware of their committing an +unlawful act, and of the perilous nature of the service in which +they were engaged when they were running an engine at such a time +and place.</p> +<p>“Mr. Hammill said it certainly was a most extraordinary +proceeding for anyone to adopt, and after the learned +gentleman’s statement he had no hesitation whatever in +granting summonses against the whole of the persons engaged in +it.”</p> +<h2>A.B.C. AND D.E.F.</h2> +<p>A gentleman travelling in a railway carriage was endeavouring, +with considerable earnestness, to impress some argument upon a +fellow-traveller who was seated opposite to him, and who appeared +rather dull of apprehension. At length, being slightly +irritated, he exclaimed in a louder tone, “Why, sir, +it’s as plain as A.B.C.” “That may +be,” quietly replied the other, “but I am +D.E.F.”</p> +<h2>NATIONAL CONTRAST.</h2> +<p>The contrast which exists between the character of the French +and English navvy may be briefly exemplified by the following +trifling anecdote:—</p> +<p>“In excavating a portion of the first tunnel east of +Rouen towards Paris, a French miner dressed in his blouse, and an +English “navvy” in his white smock jacket, were +suddenly buried alive together by the falling in of the earth +behind them. Notwithstanding the violent commotion which +the intelligence of the accident excited above ground, Mr. Meek, +the English engineer who was constructing the work, after having +quietly measured the distance from the shaft to the sunken +ground, satisfied himself that if the men, at the moment of the +accident, were at the head of “the drift” at which +they were working, they would be safe.</p> +<p><!-- page 172--><a name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +172</span>Accordingly, getting together as many French and +English labourers as he could collect, he instantly commenced +sinking a shaft, which was accomplished to the depth of 50 feet +in the extraordinary short space of eleven hours, and the men +were thus brought up to the surface alive.</p> +<p>The Frenchman, on reaching the top, suddenly rushing forward, +hugged and saluted on both cheeks his friends and acquaintances, +many of whom had assembled, and then, almost instantly +overpowered by conflicting feelings—by the recollection of +the endless time he had been imprisoned and by the joy of his +release—he sat down on a log of timber, and, putting both +his hands before his face, he began to cry aloud most +bitterly.</p> +<p>The English “navvy” sat himself down on the very +same piece of timber—took his pit-cap off his +head—slowly wiped with it the perspiration from his hair +and face—and then, looking for some seconds into the hole +or shaft close beside him through which he had been lifted, as if +he were calculating the number of cubic yards that had been +excavated, he quite coolly, in broad Lancashire dialect, said to +the crowd of French and English who were staring at him, as +children and nursery-maids in our London Zoological Gardens stand +gazing half-terrified at the white bear, “<span +class="smcap">Yaw’ve bean a darmnation short toime abaaowt +it</span>!”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Sir F. Head’s <i>Stokers and +Pokers</i>.</p> +<h2>REMARKABLE ACCIDENT.</h2> +<p>The most remarkable railway accident on record happened some +years ago on the North-Western road between London and +Liverpool. A gentleman and his wife were travelling in a +compartment alone, when—the train going at the rate of +forty miles an hour—an iron rail projecting from a car on a +side-track cut into the carriage and took the head of the lady +clear off, and rolled it into the husband’s lap. He +subsequently sued the company for damages, and created great +surprise in court by giving his age at thirty-six years, although +his hair was snow white. It had been turned from jet black +by the horror of that event.</p> +<h2>ENGINEERING LOAN, OR STAKING OUT A RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>“Beau” Caldwell was a sporting genius of an +extremely versatile character. Like all his fraternity, he +was possessed <!-- page 173--><a name="page173"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 173</span>of a pliancy of adaptation to +circumstances that enabled him to succumb with true philosophy to +misfortunes, and also to grace the more exalted sphere of +prosperity with that natural ease attributed to gentlemen with +bloated bank accounts.</p> +<p>Fertile in ingenuity and resources, Beau was rarely at his +wit’s end for that nest egg of the gambler, a stake. +His providence, when in luck, was such as to keep him continually +on the <i>qui vive</i> for a nucleus to build upon.</p> +<p>Beau, having exhausted the pockets and liberality of his +contemporaries in Charleston, S.C., was constrained to +“pitch his tent” in fresh pastures. He +therefore selected Abbeville, whither he was immediately +expedited by the agency of a “free pass.”</p> +<p>Snugly ensconced in his hotel, Beau ruminated over the means +to raise the “plate.” The bar-keeper was +assailed, but he was discovered to have scruples (anomalous +barkeeper!) The landlord was a “grum wretch,” +with no soul for speculation. The cornered +“sport” was finally reduced to the alternative of +“confidence of operation.” Having arranged his +scheme, he rented him a precious negro boy, and borrowed an old +theodolite. Thus equipped, Beau betook himself to the abode +of a neighbouring planter, notorious for his wealth, obstinacy, +and ignorance. Operations were commenced by sending the +nigger into the planter’s barn-yard with a flagpole. +Beau got himself up into a charming tableau, directly in front of +the house. He now roared at the top of his voice, +“72,000,000—51—8—11.”</p> +<p>After which he went to driving small stakes, in a very +promiscuous manner, about the premises.</p> +<p>The planter hearing the shouting, and curious to ascertain the +cause, put his head out of the window.</p> +<p>“Now,” said Beau, again assuming his civil +engineering <i>pose</i>, “go to the right a little +further—there, that’ll do. +47,000—92—5.”</p> +<p>“What the d---l are you doing in my barn-yard?” +roared the planter.</p> +<p>Beau would not consent to answer this interrogation, but +pursuing his business, hallooed out to his +“nigger”—</p> +<p>“Now go to the house, place your pole against the +kitchen door, higher—stop at that. +86—45—6.”</p> +<p><!-- page 174--><a name="page174"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +174</span>“I say there,” again vociferated the +planter, “get out of my yard.”</p> +<p>“I’m afraid we will have to go right through the +house,” soliloquized Beau.</p> +<p>“I’m d--d if you do,” exclaimed the +planter.</p> +<p>Beau now looked up for the first time, accosting the planter +with a courteous—</p> +<p>“Good day, sir.”</p> +<p>“Good d---l, sir; you are committing a +trespass.”</p> +<p>“My dear friend,” replied Beau, “public +duty, imperative—no trespass—surveying +railroad—State job—your house in the way. Must +take off one corner, sir,—the kitchen part—least +value—leave the parlour—delightful room to see the +cars rush by twelve times a day—make you accessible to +market.”</p> +<p>Beau, turning to the nigger, cried out—</p> +<p>“Put the pole against the kitchen door again—so, +85.”</p> +<p>“I say, stranger,” interrupted the planter, +“I guess you ain’t dined. As dinner’s up, +suppose you come in, and we’ll talk the matter +over.”</p> +<p>Beau, delighted with the proposition, immediately acceded, not +having tasted cooked provisions that day.</p> +<p>“Now,” said the planter, while Beau was paying +marked attention to a young turkey, “it’s mighty +inconvenient to have one’s homestead smashed up, without so +much as asking the liberty. And more than that, if +there’s law to be had, it shan’t be did +either.”</p> +<p>“Pooh! nonsense, my dear friend,” replied Beau, +“it’s the law that says the railroad must be laid +through kitchens. Why, we have gone through seventeen +kitchens and eight parlours in the last eight miles—people +don’t like it, but then it’s law, and there’s +no alternative, except the party persuades the surveyor to move a +little to the left, and as curves costs money most folks let it +go through the kitchen.”</p> +<p>“Cost something, eh?” said the planter, eagerly +catching at the bait thrown out for him. “Would not +mind a trifle. You see I don’t oppose the road, but +if you’ll turn to the left and it won’t be much +expense, why I’ll stand it.”</p> +<p>“Let me see,” said Beau, counting his fingers, +“forty and forty is eighty, and one hundred. Yes, two +hundred <!-- page 175--><a name="page175"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 175</span>dollars will do it.” +Unrolling a large map, intersected with lines running in every +direction, he continued—“There is your house, and +here’s the road. Air line. You see to move to +the left we must excavate this hill. As we are desirous of +retaining the goodwill of parties residing on the route, +I’ll agree on the part of the company to secure the +alteration, and prevent your house from being +molested.”</p> +<p>The planter revolved the matter in his mind for a moment and +exclaimed:—</p> +<p>“You’ll guarantee the alteration?”</p> +<p>“Give a written document.”</p> +<p>“Then it’s a bargain.”</p> +<p>The planter without more delay gave Beau an order on his city +factor for the stipulated sum, and received in exchange a written +document, guaranteeing the freedom of the kitchen from any +encroachment by the C. L. R. R. Co.</p> +<p>Before leaving, Beau took the planter on one side and +requested him not to disclose their bargain until after the +railroad was built.</p> +<p>“You see, it mightn’t exactly suit the views of +some people—partiality, you know.”</p> +<p>The last remark, accompanied by a suggestive wink, was +returned by the planter in a similar demonstration of +<i>owlishness</i>.</p> +<p>Beau resumed his theodolite, drove a few stakes on the hill +opposite, and proceeded onward in the fulfilment of his +duties. As his light figure receded into obscurity and the +distance, the planter caught a sound vastly like +40—40—120—200.—And that was the last he +ever heard of the railroad.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Appleton’s American Railway +Anecdote Book</i>.</p> +<h2>MR. FRANK BUCKLAND’S FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY.</h2> +<p>Mr. Spencer Walpole remarks:—“Of Mr. +Buckland’s Christ Church days many good stories are +told. Almost every one has heard of the bear which he kept +at his rooms, of its misdemeanours, and its rustication. +Less familiar, perhaps, is the story of his first journey by the +Great Western. The dons, alarmed at the possible +consequences of a railway to London, would not allow Brunel to +bring the line nearer than to Didcot. Dean Buckland in vain +<!-- page 176--><a name="page176"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +176</span>protested against the folly of this decision, and the +line was kept out of harm’s way at Didcot. But, the +very day on which it was opened, Mr. Frank Buckland, with one or +two other undergraduates, drove over to Didcot, travelled up to +London, and returned in time to fulfil all the regulations of the +university. The Dean, who was probably not altogether +displeased at the joke, told the story to his friends who had +prided themselves in keeping the line from Oxford. +‘Here,’ he said, ‘you have deprived us of the +advantage of a railway, and my son has been up to +London.’”</p> +<h2>SCENE BEFORE A SUB-COMMITTEE ON STANDING ORDERS.<br /> +<span class="smcap">petitioning against a railway bill</span>, +1846.</h2> +<p>“Well, Snooks,” began the Agent for the Promoters, +in cross-examination, “you signed the petition against the +Bill—aye?”</p> +<p>“Yees, zur. I zined summit, zur.”</p> +<p>“But that petition—did you sign that +petition?”</p> +<p>“I do’ant nar, zur; I zined zummit, +zur.”</p> +<p>“But don’t you know the contents of the +petition?”</p> +<p>“The what, zur?”</p> +<p>“The contents; what’s in it.”</p> +<p>“Oa! Noa, zur.”</p> +<p>“You don’t know what’s in the +petition!—Why, ain’t you the petitioner +himself?”</p> +<p>“Noa, zur, I doan’t nar that I be, zur.”</p> +<p>[“Snooks! Snooks! Snooks!” issued a +voice from a stout and benevolent-looking elderly gentleman from +behind, “how can you say so, Snooks? It’s your +petition.” The prompting, however, seemed to produce +but little impression upon him for whom it was intended, whatever +effect it may have had upon the minds of those whose ears it +reached, but for whose service it was not intended].</p> +<p>“Really, Mr. Chairman,” observed the Agent for the +Bill, who appeared to have no idea of <i>Burking</i> the inquiry, +“this is growing interesting.”</p> +<p>“The interest is all on your side,” remarked the +Agent for the petition (against the Bill).</p> +<p>“Now, Snooks,” continued the Agent for the Bill, +“apply your mind to the questions I shall put to you, and +let me <!-- page 177--><a name="page177"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 177</span>caution you to reply to them truly +and honestly. Now, tell me—who got you to sign this +petition?”</p> +<p>“I object to the question,” interposed the Agent +for the petition. “The matter altogether is +descending into mean, trivial, and unnecessary details, which I +am surprised my friend opposite should attempt to trouble the +Committee with.”</p> +<p>“I can readily understand, sir,” replied the +other, “why my friend is so anxious to get rid of this +inquiry—simple and short as it will be; but I trust, sir, +that you will consider it of sufficient importance to allow it to +proceed. I purpose to put only a few questions more on this +extraordinary petition against the Bill (the bare meaning of the +name of which the petitioner does not seem to understand) for the +purpose of eliciting some further information respecting +it.”</p> +<p>The Committee being thus appealed to by both parties, inclined +their heads for a few moments in order to facilitate a +communication in whispers, and then decided that the inquiry +might proceed. It was evident that the matter had excited +an interest in the minds and breasts of the honourable members of +the Committee; created as much perhaps by the extreme mean and +poverty-stricken appearance of the witness—a miserable, +dirty, and decrepit old man—as by the disclosures he had +already made.</p> +<p>“Well, Snooks, I was about to ask you (when my friend +interrupted me) who got you to sign the petition, or that zummit +as you call it?”</p> +<p>“Some genelmen, zur.”</p> +<p>“Who were they—do you know their names?”</p> +<p>“Noa, zur, co’ant say I do nar ’em a’, +zur.”</p> +<p>“But do you know any of them, was that gentleman behind +you one?”</p> +<p>[The gentleman referred to was the fine benevolent-looking +individual who had previously kindly endeavoured to assist the +witness in his answers, and who stood the present scrutiny with +marked composure and complaisance].</p> +<p>“Yees, zur, he war one on ’em.”</p> +<p>“Do you know his name?”</p> +<p>“Noa, zur, I doant; but he be one of the railway +genelmen.”</p> +<p><!-- page 178--><a name="page178"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +178</span>“What did he say to you, when he requested you to +sign the petition?”</p> +<p>“He said I ware to zine (pointing to the petition) that +zummit.”</p> +<p>“When and where, pray, did you sign it?”</p> +<p>“A lot o’ railway genelmen kum to me on Sunday +night last; and they wo’ make me do it, zur.”</p> +<p>“On Sunday night last, aye!”</p> +<p>“What, on Sunday night!” exclaimed one honourable +member on the extreme right of the Chairman, with horror depicted +on his countenance; “are you sure, witness, that it was +done in the evening of a Sabbath?”</p> +<p>“The honourable member asks you, whether you are certain +that you were called upon by the railway gentlemen to sign the +petition on a Sunday evening? I think you told me last +Sunday evening.”</p> +<p>“Oa, yees, zur; they kum just as we war a garing to +chapel.”</p> +<p>“Disgraceful, and wrong in the extreme!” +ejaculated the honourable member.</p> +<p>“And did not that gentleman” (continued the Agent +for the Bill), “nor any of the railway gentlemen, as you +call them, when they requested you to sign, explain the nature +and contents of the petition?”</p> +<p>“Noa, zur.”</p> +<p>“Then you don’t know at this moment what +it’s for?”</p> +<p>“Noa, zur.”</p> +<p>“Of course, therefore, it’s not your petition as +set forth?”</p> +<p>“I doant nar, zur. I zined zummit.”</p> +<p>“Now, answer me, do you object to this line of +railway? Have you any dislike to it?”</p> +<p>“O, noa, zur. I shud loak to zee it +kum.”</p> +<p>“Exactly, you should like to see it made. So you +have been led to petition against it, though you are favourable +to it?”</p> +<p>The petitioner against the Bill did not appear to comprehend +the precise drift of the remark, and his only reply to the wordy +fix into which the learned agent had drawn him was made in the +dumb-show of scratching with his one disengaged hand (the other +being employed in holding his hat) his uncombed head—an +operation that created much <!-- page 179--><a +name="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 179</span>laughter, +which was not damped by the Agent’s putting, with a serious +face, a concluding question or remark to him to the effect that +he presumed he (the witness) had not paid, or engaged to pay, so +many guineas a day to his friend on the other side for the +prosecution of the opposition against the Bill—had he; yes, +or no? The witness’s appearance was the only and best +answer.</p> +<p>The petition, of course, upon this <i>exposé</i>, was +withdrawn.</p> +<p>This, the substance of what actually took place before one of +the Sub-Committees on Standing orders will give some idea of the +nature of many of the petitions against Railway Bills, especially +on technical points. It will serve to show in some measure +what heartless mockeries these petitions mostly are; the moral +evils they give birth to—and that, even while complaining +of errors, they are themselves made up of falsehood.</p> +<h2>AN IDEA ON RAILWAYS.</h2> +<p>A happy comment on the annihilation of time and space by +locomotive agency, is as follows:—A little child who rode +fifty miles in a railway train, and then took a coach to her +uncle’s house, some five miles further, was asked on her +arrival if she came by the cars. “We came a little +way in the cars, and all the rest of the way in a +carriage.”</p> +<h2>BURNING THE ROAD CLEAR.</h2> +<p>It is related of Colonel Thomas A. Scott, that on one +occasion, when making one of his swift trips over the American +lines under his control, his train was stopped by the wreck of a +goods train. There was a dozen heavily loaded covered +trucks piled up on the road, and it would take a long time to get +help from the nearest accessible point, and probably hours more +to get the track cleared by mere force of labour. He +surveyed the difficulty, made a rough calculation of the cost of +a total destruction of the freight, and promptly made up his mind +to burn the road clear. By the time the relief train came +the flames had done their work and nothing remained but to patch +up a few injuries done to the track so as to enable him to pursue +his way.</p> +<h2><!-- page 180--><a name="page180"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 180</span>HARSH TREATMENT OF A MAN OF +COLOUR.</h2> +<p>My treatment in the use of public conveyances about these +times was extremely rough, especially on “The Eastern +Railroad,” from Boston to Portland. On the road, as +on many others, there was a mean, dirty, and uncomfortable car +set apart for coloured travellers, called the “Jim +Crow” car. Regarding this as the fruit of +slaveholding prejudice, and being determined to fight the spirit +of slavery wherever I might find it, I resolved to avoid this +car, though it sometimes required some courage to do so. +The coloured people generally accepted the situation, and +complained of me as making matters worse rather than better, by +refusing to submit to this proscription. I, however, +persisted, and sometimes was soundly beaten by the conductor and +brakeman. On one occasion, six of these “fellows of +the baser sort,” under the direction of the conductor, set +out to eject me from my seat. As usual, I had purchased a +first-class ticket, and paid the required sum for it, and on the +requirement of the conductor to leave, refused to do so, when he +called on these men “to snake me out.” They +attempted to obey with an air which plainly told me they relished +the job. They, however, found me <i>much attached</i> to my +seat, and in removing me tore away two or three of the +surrounding ones, on which I held with a firm grasp, and did the +car no service in some respects. I was strong and muscular, +and the seats were not then so firmly attached or of as solid +make as now. The result was that Stephen A. Chase, +superintendent of the road, ordered all passenger trains to pass +through Lynn, where I then lived, without stopping. This +was a great inconvenience to the people, large numbers of whom +did business in Boston, and at other points of the road. +Led on, however, by James N. Buffum, Jonathon Buffum, Christopher +Robinson, William Bassett, and others, the people of Lynn stood +bravely by me, and denounced the railway management in emphatic +terms. Mr. Chase made reply that a railroad corporation was +neither a religious nor a reformatory body; and that the road was +run for the accommodation of the public; and that it required the +exclusion of the coloured people from its cars. With an air +of triumph he told us that we ought not to expect a railroad <!-- +page 181--><a name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +181</span>company to be better than the Evangelical Church, and +that until the churches abolished the “negro pew,” we +ought not to expect the railroad company to abolish the negro +car. This argument was certainly good enough as against the +Church, but good for nothing as against the demands of justice +and equity. My old and dear friend, J. N. Buffum, made a +point against the company that they “often allowed dogs and +monkeys to ride in first-class cars, and yet excluded a man like +Frederick Douglass!” In a very few years this +barbarous practice was put away, and I think there have been no +instances of such exclusion during the past thirty years; and +coloured people now, everywhere in New England, ride upon equal +terms with other passengers.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Life and Times of +Frederick Douglass</i>.</p> +<h2>QUITE TOO CLEVER</h2> +<p>The elder Dumas was at the railway station, just starting to +join his yacht at Marseilles. Several friends had +accompanied him, to say good-bye. Suddenly he was informed +that he had a hundred and fifty kilogrammes excess of +luggage. “Ho, ho!” cried Dumas. +“How many kilogrammes are allowed?” +“Thirty for each person,” was the reply. +Silently he made a mental calculation, and then in a tone of +triumph bade his secretary take places for five. “In +that way,” he explained, “we shall have no +excess.”</p> +<h2>A DIFFICULTY SOLVED.</h2> +<p>Among the improvements that have been carried out at Windsor +during the autumn, has been an entire alteration in the draining +of the Home Park about Frogmore. New drains have been laid, +and the waste earth has been used to level the ground. This +portion of the Royal domain was almost wild at the beginning of +the present reign. It consisted of fields, with low hedges +and deep ditches, and was intersected by a road, on which stood +several cottages and a public-house. It was quite an +eyesore, and Prince Albert was at his wit’s end to know how +to convert it into a park and exclude the public, as before this +could be done, it was <!-- page 182--><a name="page182"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 182</span>necessary to make a new road in +place of the one it was desired to abolish, and altogether a +large outlay was inevitable; and even in those days, it was out +of the question to apply to Parliament for the amount required, +which, I believe, was about £80,000.</p> +<p>The difficulty, however, was solved in rather a strange +way. In the early days of railroads they were looked upon +as nuisances, and the authorities at Windsor Castle were firmly +resolved that no line should approach the Royal borough, in which +resolution they were warmly supported by the equally stupid and +short-sighted managers of Eton College. Although the +inhabitants sighed for a railway, none was brought nearer than +Slough. At this moment, when the park question was being +agitated, the South Western Directors brought forward a +proposition that they should make a line into Windsor, running +along one side of the Home Park, and right under the +Castle. This audacious idea was regarded with indignation +at the Castle, until a hint was received that possibly, if Royal +interest were forthcoming to support the plan, the Company might +be able to facilitate the proposed alterations; and it then came +out, strangely enough, they had fixed the precise sum needed +(£80,000) as compensation for the disturbance of the Royal +property. No more was heard of the objections to the +scheme, which had been so vehemently denounced a few days before, +but, no sooner did it transpire that the South-Western plan was +not opposed by the Castle interest than down came the +Great-Western authorities in a fever of indignation, for it +appeared they had received an explicit promise that, if Windsor +was ever desecrated by a railway, they should have the +preference. So resolute was their attitude, that so far as +I remember, the sitting of Parliament was actually protracted in +order that their Bill might be passed; not that they got it +without paying, for they gave £20,000 for an old stable and +yard which were required for their station, and which happened to +stand on Crown property. Things were sometimes managed +strangely enough in those days.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Truth</i>, Dec. 29, +1881.</p> +<h2><!-- page 183--><a name="page183"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 183</span>AN EXACTING LADY.</h2> +<p>A lady of fashion with a pugdog and a husband entered the +train at Paddington the other day. There were in the +carriage but two persons, a well-known Professor and his wife; +yet the lady of fashion coveted, not indeed his chair, but his +seat. “I wish to sit by the window, sir,” she +said, imperiously, and he had to move accordingly. +“No, sir, that won’t do,” she said, as he +meekly took the next place. “I can’t have a +stranger sitting close to me. My husband must sit where you +are.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Gentleman’s +Magazine</i>.</p> +<h2>AMERICAN PATIENCE AND IMPERTURBABILITY.</h2> +<p>About an hour after midnight, on our journey from Boston to +Albany, we came to a sudden pause where no station was visible; +and immediately, very much to my surprise, the engine-driver, +conductor, and several passengers were seen sallying forth with +lanterns, and hastening down the embankment on our right. +“What are they going to do now?” said I to a +gentleman, who, like myself, kept his seat. “Only to +take a look at some cars that were smashed this morning,” +was the reply. On opening the window to observe the state +of affairs, as well as the darkness would allow, there, to be +sure, at the bottom and along the side of the high bank, lay an +unhappy train, just as it had been upset. The locomotive on +its side was partly buried in the earth; and the cars which had +followed it in its descent lay in a confused heap behind. +On the top of the bank, near to us, the last car of all stood +obliquely on end, with its hind wheels in the air in a somewhat +grotesque and threatening attitude. All was now still and +silent. The killed and wounded, if there were any, had been +removed. No living thing was visible but the errant +engineer and others from our train clambering with lanterns in +their hands over a prostrate wreck, and with heedless levity +passing critical remarks on the catastrophe. Curiosity +being satisfied all resumed their places, and the train moved on +without a murmur of complaint as to the unnecessary, and, +considering the hour, very undesirable delay. I allude to +the circumstance, as one of a variety of facts that fell <!-- +page 184--><a name="page184"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +184</span>within my observation, illustrative of the singular +degree of patience and imperturbability with which railway +travellers in America submit uncomplainingly to all sorts of +detentions on their journey.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Things as they are in +America</i>, by W. Chambers, 1853.</p> +<h2>A WIDE-AWAKE CONDUCTOR.</h2> +<p>Dana Krum, one of the conductors on the Erie Railway, was +approached before train time by an unknown man, who spoke to him +as if he had known him for years. “I say, +Dana,” said he, “I have forgotten my pass, and I want +to go to Susquehanna; I am a fireman on the road, you +know.” But the conductor told him he ought to have a +pass with him. It was the safest way. Pretty soon, +Dana came along to collect tickets. Seeing his man, he +spoke when he reached him. “Say, my friend, have you +got the time with you?” “Yes,” said he, +as he pulled out a watch, “it is twenty minutes past +nine.” “Oh, it is, is it? Now, if you +don’t show me your pass or fare, I will stop the +train. There is no railway man that I ever saw who would +say ‘Twenty minutes past nine.’ He would say, +‘Nine-twenty.’” He settled.</p> +<h2>A KID-GLOVED SAMSON.</h2> +<p>A correspondent of the <i>Chicago Journal</i> relates the +following feat of strength, to which he was witness:—</p> +<p>“On Sunday, about nine o’clock A.M., as the train +westward was within three or four miles of Chicago, on the Fort +Wayne road, a horse was discovered on the stilt-work between the +rails. The train was stopped, and workmen were sent to +clear the track. It was then discovered that the body of +the horse was resting on the sleepers. His legs having +passed through the open spaces, were too short to reach the +ground. Boards and rails were brought, and the open space +in front of the horse filled up, making a plank road for him in +case he should be got up, and by means of ropes one of his fore +feet was raised, and there matters came to a halt. It +seemed that no strength or stratagem could avail to release the +animal. Levers of boards were splintered, and the men +tugged at the ropes in vain, when a passenger, <!-- page 185--><a +name="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 185</span>who was +looking quietly on, stepped forward, leisurely slipped off a pair +of tinted kids, seized the horse by the tail, and with tremendous +force hurled him forward on the plank road. No one +assisted, and, indeed, the whole thing was done so quickly that +assistance was impossible. The horse walked away looking +foolish, and casting suspicious side-glances towards his caudal +extremity. The lookers-on laughed and shouted, while the +stranger resumed his kids, muttering something about the +inconvenience of railway delays, lit a cigar, and walked slowly +into the smoking car. He was finely formed, of muscular +appearance, was very fashionably dressed, wore a moustache and +whiskers of an auburn or reddish colour, and to all questions as +to who he was, only answered that he was a Pennsylvanian +travelling westward for his health. The horse would +certainly weigh at least twelve hundred.”</p> +<h2>A RAILWAY TRAIN TURNED INTO A MAN-TRAP.</h2> +<p>A branch of the Bombay presidency runs through a wild region, +the inhabitants of which are unsophisticated savages, addicted to +thievery. The first day the line was opened a number of +these Arcadians conspired to intercept the train, and have a +glorious loot. To accomplish their object they placed some +trunks of trees across the rails; but the engine driver, keeping +a very sharp look out, as it happened to be his first trip on the +line in question, descried the trunks while yet they were at a +considerable distance from him. The breaks were then put +on, and when the locomotive had approached within a couple of +feet of the trunks it was brought to a standstill. Then, +instantaneously, like Roderick Dhu’s clansmen starting from +the heather, natives, previously invisible, swarmed up on all +sides, and, crowding into the carriages, began to pillage and +plunder everything they could lay their hands upon. While +they were thus engaged, the guard gave the signal to the driver, +who at once reversed his engine and put it to the top of its +speed. The reader may judge of the consternation of the +robbers when they found themselves whirled backwards at a pace +that rendered escape impossible. Some poor fellows that +attempted it were killed on the spot.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Central India Times</i>, +June 22, 1867.</p> +<h2><!-- page 186--><a name="page186"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 186</span>THE RULING OCCUPATION STRONG ON +SUNDAY.</h2> +<p>In an Episcopal church in the north, not one hundred miles +from Keith, a porter employed during the week at the railway +station, does duty on Sunday by blowing the bellows of the +organ. The other Sunday, wearied by the long hours of +railway attendance, combined, it may be, with the soporific +effects of a dull sermon, he fell sound asleep during the +service, and so remained when the pealing of the organ was +required. He was suddenly and rather rudely awakened by +another official when apparently dreaming of an approaching +train, as he started to his feet and roared out, with all the +force and shrillness of stentorian lungs and habit, “Change +here for Elgin, Lossiemouth, and Burghead.” The +effect upon the congregation, sitting in expectation of a concord +of sweet sounds, may be imagined—it is unnecessary to +describe it.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Dumfries Courier</i>, +1866.</p> +<h2>THE GOOD THINGS OF RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.</h2> +<p>We have always thought that, except to lawyers and railway +carriage and locomotive builders, railway accidents were great +misfortunes, but it is evident we were wrong and we hasten to +acknowledge our error. Speaking on Thursday with a +respectable broker about the heavy damages (£2,000) given +the day before on account of the Tottenham accident against the +Eastern Counties Company in the Court of Exchequer, he observed, +“It is rather good when these things happen as it moves the +stock. I have had an order for some days to buy Eastern +Counties at 56 and could not do it, but this verdict has sent +them down one per cent., and enabled me now to buy +it.” With all our railway experience we never dreamt +of such a benefit as this accruing from railway accidents, but it +is evidently among the possibilities.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Herepath’s Railway +Journal</i>, June 7th, 1860.</p> +<h2>BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF A RAILWAY ACCIDENT.</h2> +<p>A gentleman who was in a railway collision in 1869, wrote to +the <i>Times</i> in November of that year. After stating +that he had been threatened with a violent attack of rheumatic +<!-- page 187--><a name="page187"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +187</span>fever; in fact, he observed, “my condition so +alarmed me, and my dread of a sojourn in a Manchester hotel bed +for two or three months was so great, that I resolved to make a +bold sortie and, well wrapped up, start for London by the 3.30 +p.m. Midland fast train. From the time of leaving that +station to the time of the collision, my heart was going at +express speed; my weak body was in a profuse perspiration; +flashes of pain announced that the muscular fibres were under the +tyrannical control of rheumatism, and I was almost beside myself +with toothache. From the moment of the collision to the +present hour no ache, pain, sweat, or tremor has troubled me in +the slightest degree, and instead of being, as I expected, and +indeed intended, in bed drinking <i>tinct. aurantii</i>, or +absorbing through my pores oil of horse-chestnut, I am +conscientiously bound to be at my office bodily sound. +Don’t print my name and address, or the Midland Company may +come down upon me for compensation.”</p> +<h2>AN EARLY MORNING RIDE TO THE RAILWAY STATION.</h2> +<p>In the course of his peregrinations, the railway traveller may +find himself in some out-of-the-way place, where no regular +vehicle can be obtained to convey him to the station, and this +<i>contretemps</i> is aggravated when the time of departure +happens to be early in the morning. Captain B—, a man +of restless energy and adventurous spirit, emerged early one +morning from a hovel in a distant village, where from stress of +weather he had been compelled to pass the night. It was +just dawn of day, and within an hour of the train he wished to go +by would start from the station, about six miles distant. +He had with him a portmanteau, which it would be impossible for +him to carry within the prescribed time, but which he could not +very well leave behind. Pondering on what he should do, his +eye lighted on a likely looking horse grazing in a field hard by, +while in the next field there was a line extended between two +posts, for the purpose of drying clothes upon. The sight of +these objects soon suggested the plan for him to adopt. In +an instant he detached the line, and then taking a piece of bread +from his pocket, coaxed the animal to approach him. Captain +<!-- page 188--><a name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +188</span>B— was an adept in the management of horses, and +as a rough rider, perhaps, had no equal. In a few seconds +he had, by the aid of a portion of the line, arranged his +portmanteau pannier-wise across the horse’s back, and +forming a bridle with the remaining portion of the line, he led +his steed into the lane, and sprang upon his back. The +horse rather relished the trip than otherwise, and what with the +unaccustomed burden, and the consciousness that he was being +steered by a knowing hand, he sped onwards at a terrific +pace. While in mid career, one of the mounted police espied +the captain coming along the road at a distance; recognizing the +horse, but not knowing the rider, and noticing also the +portmanteau, and the uncouth equipment, this rural guardian of +the peace came to the conclusion that this was a case of robbery +and horse stealing; and as the captain neared him, he endeavoured +to stop him, and stretched forth his hand to seize the improvised +bridle, but the gallant equestrian laughed to scorn the impotent +attempt, and shook him off, and shot by him. Thus foiled, +the policeman had nothing to do than to give chase; so turning +his horse’s head he followed in full cry. The clatter +and shouts of pursuer and pursued brought forth the inhabitants +of the cottages as they passed, and many of these joined in the +chase. Never since Turpin’s ride to York, or Johnny +Gilpin’s ride to Edmonton, had there been such a commotion +caused by an equestrian performance. To make a long story +short, the captain reached the station in ample time; an +explanation ensued; a handsome apology was tendered to the +patrol, and a present equally handsome was forwarded, together +with the abstracted property, to the joint owner of the horse and +the clothes-line.</p> +<h2>CHEAP FARES.</h2> +<p>In the year 1868, Mr. Raphael Brandon brought out a book +called <i>Railways and the Public</i>. In it he proposes +that the railways should be purchased and worked by the +government; and that passengers, like letters, should travel any +distance at a fixed charge. He calculates that a threepenny +stamp for third-class, a sixpenny stamp for second-class, and a +shilling stamp for first-class, should take a passenger any +distance whether long or short. With the <!-- page 189--><a +name="page189"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 189</span>adoption of +the scheme, he believes, such an impetus would be given to +passenger traffic that the returns would amount to more than +double what they are at present. There may be flaws in Mr. +Brandon’s theory, yet it may be within the bounds of +possibility that some great innovator may rise up and do for the +travelling public by way of organization what Sir Rowland Hill +has done for the postage of the country by the penny stamp.</p> +<h2>WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?</h2> +<p>The above question was asked by a man of his friend who had +been injured in a railway accident, “I am first going in +for repairs, and then for <i>damages</i>,” was the +answer.</p> +<h2>REPROOF FOR SWEARING.</h2> +<p>The manager of one of the great Indian railways, in addressing +a European subordinate given to indulge in needless strong +language, wrote as follows:—“Dear sir, it is with +extreme regret that I have to bring to your notice that I +observed very unprofessional conduct on your part this morning +when making a trial trip. I allude to the abusive language +you used to the drivers and others. This I consider an +unwarrantable assumption of my duties and functions, and, I may +say, rights and privileges. Should you wish to abuse any of +our employés, I think it will be best in future to do so +in regular form, and I beg to point out what I consider this to +be. You will please to submit to me, in writing, the form +of oath you wish to use, when, if it meets my approval, I shall +at once sanction it; but if not, I shall refer the same to the +directors; and, in the course of a few weeks, their decision will +be known. Perhaps, to save time, it might be as well for +you to submit a list of the expletives generally in use by you, +and I can then at once refer those to which I object to the +directors for their decision. But, pending that, you will +please to understand that all cursing and swearing at drivers and +others engaged on the traffic arrangements in which you may wish +to indulge must be done in writing, and through me. By +adopting this course you will perceive how much responsibility +you will save yourself, and how very much the business of the +company will be expedited, and its interests promoted.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 190--><a name="page190"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 190</span>THE BULLY RIGHTLY SERVED.</h2> +<p>In the <i>Railway Traveller’s Handy Book</i>, there is +an account of an occurrence which took place on the Eastern +Counties line:—“A big hulking fellow, with bully +written on his face, took his seat in a second-class carriage, +and forthwith commenced insulting everybody by his words and +gestures. He was asked to desist, but only responded with +language more abusive. The guard was then appealed to, who +told him to mind what he was about, shut the door, and cried +‘all right.’ Thus encouraged the miscreant +continued his disgraceful conduct, and became every moment more +outrageous. In one part of the carriage were four farmers +sitting who all came from the same neighbourhood, and to whom +every part along the line was well known. One of these +wrote on a slip of paper these words, ‘Let us souse him in +Chuckley Slough.’ This paper was handed from one to +the other, and each nodded assent. Now, Chuckley Slough was +a pond near one of the railway stations, not very deep, but the +waters of which were black, muddy, and somewhat repellent to the +olfactory nerves. The station was neared and arrived at; in +the meantime the bully’s conduct became worse and +worse. As they emerged from the station, one of the +farmers, aforesaid, said to the fellow, ‘Now, will you he +quiet?’ ‘No, I won’t,’ was the +answer. ‘You won’t, won’t you?’ +asked a second farmer. ‘You’re determined you +won’t?’ inquired a third. ‘You’re +certain you won’t?’ asked the fourth. To all of +which queries the response was in negatives, with certain +inelegant expletives added thereto. ‘Then,’ +said the four farmers speaking as one man, and rising in a body, +‘out you go.’ So saying, they seized the giant +form of the wretch, who struggled hard to escape but to no +purpose; they forced him to the window, and while the train was +still travelling at a slow pace, and Chuckley Slough appeared to +view, they without more ado thrust the huge carcass through the +window, and propelling it forward with some force, landed it +exactly in the centre of the black, filthy slough. The +mingled cries and oaths of the man were something fearful to +hear; his attempts at extrication and incessant slipping still +deeper in the mire, something ludicrous to witness; all the +passengers watched him with feelings of gratified revenge, and +<!-- page 191--><a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +191</span>the last that was seen of him was a huge black mass, +having no traces of humanity about it, crawling up the bank in a +state of utter prostration. In this instance the remedy was +rather a violent one; but less active measures had been found to +fail, and there can be little doubt that this man took care ever +afterwards not to run the risk of a similar punishment by +indulging in conduct of a like nature.”</p> +<h2>LIABILITY OF COMPANIES FOR DELAY OF TRAINS.</h2> +<p>There have been cases where claims have been made and +recovered in courts of law for loss arising from delay in the +arrival of trains, but the law does not render the +company’s liability unlimited. A remarkable case +occurred not long since. A Mr. Le Blanche sued the London +and North-Western Company for the cost of a special train to +Scarborough, which he had ordered in consequence of his being +brought from Liverpool to Leeds, too late for the ordinary train +from Leeds to Scarborough. A judgment in the county court +was given in favour of the applicant.</p> +<p>The railway company appealed to the superior court, and the +points raised were argued by able counsel, when the decision of +the county court judge was confirmed. The company was +determined to put the case to the utmost possible test, and on +appealing to the Supreme Court of Judicature the judgment was +reversed, the decision being to the effect that, whilst there was +some evidence of wilful delay, the measure of damage was +wrong.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Our Railways</i>, by +Joseph Parsloe.</p> +<h2>THE DYING ENGINE DRIVER.</h2> +<p>Doubts have been expressed whether our iron ships will ever be +regarded in the same affectionate way as “liners” +used to be regarded by our “old salts.” It has +been supposed that the latest creations of science will not +nourish sentiment. The following anecdote shows, however, +as romantic an attachment to iron as was ever manifested towards +wood. On the Great Western Railway, the broad gauge and the +narrow gauge are mixed; the former still existing to the delight +of travellers by the “Flying <!-- page 192--><a +name="page192"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +192</span>Dutchman,” whatever economical shareholders may +have to say to the contrary. The officials who have been +longest on the staff also cling to the broad gauge, like faithful +royalists to a fast disappearing dynasty. The other day an +ancient guard on this line was knocked down and run over by an +engine; and though good enough medical attendance was at hand, +had skill been of any use, the dying man wished to see “the +company’s” doctor. The gentleman, a man much +esteemed by all the employés, was accordingly sent +for. “I am glad you came to see me start, doctor, (as +I hope) by the up-train,” said the poor man. “I +am only sorry I can do nothing for you, my good fellow,” +answered the other. “I know that; it is all over with +me. But there!—I’m glad it was <i>not one of +them narrow-gauge engines that did it</i>!”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Gentleman’s +Magazine</i>.</p> +<h2>“DOWN BRAKES,” OR FORCE OF HABIT.</h2> +<p>An Illinois captain, lately a railroad conductor, was drilling +a squad, and while marching them by flank, turned to speak to a +friend for a moment. On looking again toward his squad, he +saw they were in the act of “butting up” against a +fence. In his hurry to halt them, he cried, “Down +brakes! Down brakes!”</p> +<h2>TRENT STATION.</h2> +<p>This station on the Midland system is often a source of no +little perplexity to strangers. Sir Edward Beckett thus +humorously describes it:—“You arrive at Trent. +Where that is I cannot tell. I suppose it is somewhere near +the river Trent, but then the Trent is a very long river. +You get out of your train to obtain refreshment, and having taken +it, you endeavour to find your train and your carriage. But +whether it is on this side or that, and whether it is going north +or south, this way or that way, you cannot tell. +Bewildered, you frantically rush into your carriage; the train +moves off round a curve, and then you are horrified to see some +lights glaring in front of you, and you are in immediate +expectation of a collision, when your fellow-passenger calms your +fears by telling you that they are only the tail lamps of your +own train.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 193--><a name="page193"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 193</span>STEEL RAILS.</h2> +<p>The first steel rail was made in 1857, by Mushet, at the +Ebbw-Vale Iron Co.’s works in South Wales. It was +rolled from cast blooms of Bessemer steel and laid down at Derby, +England, and remained sixteen years, during which time 250 trains +and at least 250 detached engines and tenders passed over it +daily. Taking 312 working days in each year, we have the +total of 1,252,000 trains and 1,252,000 detached engines and +tenders which passed over it from the time it was first laid +before it was removed to be worked over.</p> +<p>The substitution of steel for iron, to an extent rendered +possible by the Bessemer process, has worked a great and abiding +change in the condition of our ways, giving greater endurance +both in respect of wear and in resistance to breaking strains and +jars.</p> +<p>Two steel rails of twenty-one feet in length were laid on the +2nd of May, 1862, at the Chalk Farm Bridge, side by side with two +ordinary rails. After having outlasted sixteen faces of the +ordinary rails, the steel ones were taken up and examined, and it +was found that at the expiration of three years and three months, +the surface was evenly worn to the extent of only a little more +than a quarter of an inch, and to all appearance they were +capable of enduring a great deal more work. The result of +this trial was to induce the London and North Western to enter +very extensively into the employment of steel rails.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Knight’s Dictionary of +Mechanics</i>.</p> +<h2>CURIOUS CASUALTY.</h2> +<p>Out of three truck loads of cattle on the Great Western +Railway two of the animals were struck dead by the lightning on +Monday afternoon, July 5, 1852, not very far from Swindon. +What renders it remarkable is, that one animal only in each of +the two trucks was struck, and five or six animals in each +escaped uninjured. The animal killed in one of the trucks +was a bull, the cows escaping injury, and in the other truck it +was a bull or an ox that was killed.</p> +<h2><!-- page 194--><a name="page194"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 194</span>GEORGE STEPHENSON’S WEDDING +PRESENT.</h2> +<p>A correspondent, writing to the <i>Derbyshire Courier</i> the +week following the Stephenson Centenary celebration at +Chesterfield, remarks:—“The other day I met a kindly +and venerable gentleman who possesses quite a fund of anecdotes +relating to the Stephensons, father and son. It appears we +have, or had, relations of old George residing in Derby. +Years ago, says my friend, an old gentleman, who by his +appearance and carriage was stamped as a man distinguished among +his fellow-men, was inquiring on Derby platform for a certain +engine-driver in the North Midland or the Birmingham and Derby +service, whose name he gave. On the driver being pointed +out, the gentleman, with the rough but pleasing north-country +burr in his voice, said, after asking his name, “Did you +marry —?” “Yes, sir.” +“Then she’s my niece, and I hope you’ll make +her a good husband. I have not had the chance of giving you +a wedding present until now.” Then slipping into his +hand a bank note for £50, he talked of other matters. +The joy of the engine-driver at receiving so welcome a present +was not greater than being recognised and kindly received by his +wife’s illustrious uncle, George Stephenson.”</p> +<h2>THE POLITE IRISHMAN.</h2> +<p>It’s a small matter, but a gentleman always feels angry +at himself after he has given up his seat, in a railway car, to a +female who lacks the good manners to acknowledge the +favour. The following “hint” to the ladies will +show that a trifle of politeness properly spread on, often has a +happy effect.</p> +<p>The seats were all full, one of which was occupied by a +rough-looking Irishman; and at one of the stations a couple of +evidently well-bred and intelligent young ladies came in to +procure seats, but seeing no vacant ones, were about to go into a +back car, when Patrick rose hastily, and offered them his seat, +with evident pleasure. “But you will have no seat +yourself?” responded one of the young ladies with a smile, +hesitating, with true politeness, as to accepting it. +“Never ye mind <i>that</i>!” said the Hibernian, +“ye’r welcome to ’t! I’d ride upon +the cow-catcher till New York, any time, for a smile from such +<i>jintlemanly</i> ladies;” and retreated hastily to the +next car, amid the cheers of those who had witnessed the +affair.</p> +<h2><!-- page 195--><a name="page195"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 195</span>AN ENTERTAINING COMPANION.</h2> +<p>Once, during a tour in the Western States, writes Mr. +Florence, the actor, an incident occurred in which I rather think +I played the victim. We were <i>en route</i> from Cleveland +to Cincinnati, an eight or ten-hour journey. After seeing +my wife comfortably seated, I walked forward to the smoking car, +and, taking the only unoccupied place, pulled out my cigar case, +and offered a cigar to my next neighbour. He was about +sixty years of age, gentlemanly in appearance, and of a somewhat +reserved and bashful mien. He gracefully accepted the +cigar, and in a few minutes we were engaged in conversation.</p> +<p>“Are you going far west?” I inquired.</p> +<p>“Merely so far as Columbus.” (Columbus, I +may explain is the capital of Ohio.) “And you, +sir?” he added, interrogatively.</p> +<p>“I am journeying toward Cincinnati. I am a +theatrical man, and play there to-morrow night.” I +was a young man then, and fond of avowing my profession.</p> +<p>“Oh, indeed! Your face seemed familiar to me as +you entered the car. I am confident we have met +before.”</p> +<p>“I have acted in almost every State in the Union,” +said I. “Mrs. Florence and I are pretty generally +known throughout the north-west.”</p> +<p>“Bless me?” said the stranger in surprise, +“I have seen you act many times, sir, and the recollection +of Mrs. Florence’s ‘Yankee Girl,’ with her +quaint songs, is still fresh in my memory.”</p> +<p>“Do you propose remaining long in Columbus?”</p> +<p>“Yes, for seven years,” replied my companion.</p> +<p>Thus we chatted for an hour or two. At length my +attention was attracted to a little, red-faced man, with small +sharp eyes, who sat immediately opposite us and amused himself by +sucking the knob of a large walking stick which he carried +caressingly in his hand. He had more than once glanced at +me in a knowing manner, and now and then gave a sly wink and +shake of the head at me, as much as to say, “Ah, old +fellow, I know you, too.”</p> +<p>These attentions were so marked that I finally asked my +companion if he had noticed them.</p> +<p>“That poor man acts like a lunatic,” said I, +<i>sotto voce</i>.</p> +<p><!-- page 196--><a name="page196"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +196</span>“A poor half-witted fellow, possibly,” +replied my fellow-traveller. “In your travels through +the country, however, Mr. Florence, you must have often met such +strange characters.”</p> +<p>We had now reached Crestline, the dinner station, and, after +thanking the stranger for the agreeable way in which he had +enabled me to pass the journey up to this point, I asked him if +he would join Mrs. Florence and myself at dinner. This +produced an extraordinary series of grimaces and winks from the +red-faced party aforesaid. The invitation to dinner was +politely declined.</p> +<p>The repast over, our train sped on toward Cincinnati. I +told my wife that in the smoking car I had met a most +entertaining gentleman, who was well posted in theatricals, and +was on his way to Columbus. She suggested that I should +bring him into our car, and present him to her. I returned +to the smoking car and proposed that the gentleman should +accompany me to see Mrs. Florence. The proposal made the +red-faced man undergo a species of spasmodic convulsions which +set the occupants of the car into roars of laughter.</p> +<p>“No, I thank you,” said my friend, “I feel +obliged to you for the courtesy, but I prefer the smoking +car. Have you another cigar?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” said I, producing another Partaga.</p> +<p>I again sat by his side, and once more our conversation began, +and we were quite fraternal. We talked about theatres and +theatricals, and then adverted to political economy, the state of +the country, finance and commerce in turn, our intimacy evidently +affording intense amusement to the foxy-faced party near us.</p> +<p>Finally the shrill sound of the whistle and the entrance of +the conductor indicated that we had arrived at Columbus, and the +train soon arrived at the station.</p> +<p>“Come,” said the red-faced individual, now rising +from his seat and tapping my companion on the shoulder, +“This is your station, old man.”</p> +<p>My friend rose with some difficulty, dragging his hitherto +concealed feet from under the seat, when, for the first time, I +discovered that he was shackled, and was a prisoner in charge of +the Sheriff, going for seven years to the state prison at +Columbus.</p> +<h2><!-- page 197--><a name="page197"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 197</span>NOVEL ATTACK.</h2> +<p>Auxerre, November 15th, 1851.—Last week, at the moment +when a railway tender was passing along the line from Saint +Florentin to Tonnerre, a wolf boldly leaped upon it and attacked +the stoker. The man immediately seized his shovel and +repulsed the aggressor, who fell upon the rail and was instantly +crushed to pieces.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>National</i>.</p> +<h2>WOLVES ON A RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>In 1867, “A cattle train on the Luxemburg Railway was +stopped,” says the <i>Nord</i>, “two nights back, +between Libramont and Poix by the snow. The brakesman was +sent forward for aid to clear the line, and while the guard, +fireman, engine-driver, and a customs officer were engaged in +getting the snow from under the engine they were alarmed by +wolves, of which there were five, and which were attracted, no +doubt, by the scent of the oxen and sheep cooped up in railed-in +carriages. The men had no weapons save the fire utensils +belonging to the engine. The wolves remained in a +semicircle a few yards distant, looking keenly on. The +engine-driver let off the steam and blew the whistle, and +lanterns were waved to and fro, but the savage brutes did not +move. The men then made their way, followed by the wolves, +to the guard’s carriage. Three got in safe; whilst +the fourth was on the step one of the animals sprang on him, but +succeeded only in tearing his coat. They all then made an +attack, but were beaten off, one being killed by a blow on the +head. Two hours elapsed before assistance arrived, and +during that time the wolves made several attacks upon the sheep +trucks, but failed to get in. None of the cattle were +injured.”</p> +<h2>ARTEMUS WARD’S SUGGESTION.</h2> +<p>“I was once,” he remarks, “on a slow +California train, and I went to the conductor and suggested that +the cowketcher was on the wrong end of the train; for I said, +‘You will never overtake a cow, you know; but if +you’d put it on the other end it might be useful, for now +there’s nothin’ on earth to hinder a cow from +walkin’ right in and bitin’ the folks!”</p> +<h2><!-- page 198--><a name="page198"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 198</span>COACH VERSUS RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.</h2> +<p>A coachman once remarked, “Why you see, sir, if a coach +goes over and spills you in the road there you are; but if you +are blown up by an engine, where are you?”</p> +<h2>BAVARIAN GUARDS AND BAVARIAN BEER.</h2> +<p>“In England,” says Mr. Wilberforce, “the +guard is content to be the servant of the train; in Germany he is +in command of the passengers. ‘When is the train +going on?’ asked an Englishman once of a foreign +guard. ‘Whenever I choose,’ was the +answer. To judge from the delays the trains make at some of +the stations, one would suppose that the guard had uncontrolled +power of causing stoppages. You see him chatting with the +station-master for several minutes after all the carriages have +been shut up, and at last, when the topics of conversation are +exhausted, he gives a condescending whistle to the +engine-driver. Time seems never to be considered by either +guards or passengers. Bavarians always go to the station +half-an-hour before the train is due, and their indifference to +delay is so well known that the directors can put on their time +book ‘As the time of departure from small stations cannot +be guaranteed, the travellers must be there twenty-five minutes +beforehand.’” Mr. Wilberforce should not have +omitted to mention the main cause of these delays, which appears +at the same time to constitute the final cause of a +Bavarian’s existence—Beer. Guards and +passengers alike require alcoholic refreshment at least at every +other station. At Culmbach, the fountain of the choicest +variety of Bavarian beer, the practice had risen to such a head +that, as we found last summer, government had been forced to +interfere. To prevent trains from dallying if there was +beer to drink at Culmbach was obviously impossible. The +temptation itself was removed; and no beer was any longer allowed +to be sold at that fated railway station, by reason of its being +so superlatively excellent.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Saturday Review</i>, +1864.</p> +<h2><!-- page 199--><a name="page199"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 199</span>THE RAILWAY SWITCH-TENDER AND HIS +CHILD.</h2> +<p>On one of the railroads in Prussia, a few years ago, a +switch-tender was just taking his place, in order to turn a +coming train approaching in a contrary direction. Just at +this moment, on turning his head, he discerned his little son +playing on the track of the advancing engine. What could he +do? Thought was quick at such a moment of peril! He +might spring to his child and rescue him, but he could not do +this and turn the switch in time, and for want of that hundreds +of lives might be lost. Although in sore trouble, he could +not neglect his greater duty, but exclaiming with a loud voice to +his son, “Lie down,” he laid hold of the switch, and +saw the train safely turned on to its proper track. His +boy, accustomed to obedience, did as his father commanded him, +and the fearful heavy train thundered over him. Little did +the passengers dream, as they found themselves quietly resting on +that turnout, what terrible anguish their approach had that day +caused to one noble heart. The father rushed to where his +boy lay, fearful lest he should find only a mangled corpse, but +to his great joy and thankful gratitude he found him alive and +unharmed. Prompt obedience had saved him. Had he +paused to argue, to reason whether it were best—death, and +fearful mutilation of body, would have resulted. The +circumstances connected with this event were made known to the +King of Prussia, who the next day sent for the man and presented +him with a medal of honour for his heroism.</p> +<h2>VERY COOL.</h2> +<p>Some years ago at a railway station a gentleman actually +followed a person with a portmanteau, which he thought to be his, +but the fellow, unabashed, maintaining it to be his own property, +the gentleman returned to inquire after his, and found, when too +late, that his first suspicions were correct.</p> +<h2>THE BLACK REDSTART.</h2> +<p>A railway carriage had been left for some weeks out of use in +the station at Giessen, Hesse Darmstadt, in the month of May, +1852, and when the superintendent came to <!-- page 200--><a +name="page200"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 200</span>examine the +carriage he found that a black redstart had built her nest upon +the collision spring; he very humanely retained the carriage in +its shed until its use was imperatively demanded, and at last +attached it to the train which ran to Frankfort-on-the-Maine, a +distance of nearly forty miles. It remained at Frankfort +for thirty-six hours, and was then brought back to Giessen, and +after one or two short journeys came back again to rest at +Giessen, after a period of four days. The young birds were +by this time partly fledged, and finding that the parent bird had +not deserted her offspring, the superintendent carefully removed +the nest to a place of safety, whither the parent soon +followed. The young were, in process of time, full fledged +and left the nest to shift for themselves. It is evident +that one at least of the parent birds must have accompanied the +nest in all its journeys, for, putting aside the difficulty which +must have been experienced by the parents in watching for every +carriage that arrived at Giessen, the nestlings would have +perished from hunger during their stay at Frankfort, for everyone +who has reared young birds is perfectly aware that they need food +every two hours. Moreover, the guard of the train +repeatedly saw a red-tailed bird flying about that part of the +carriage on which the nest was placed.</p> +<h2>STOPPING A RUNAWAY COUPLE.</h2> +<p>Captain Galton who some years ago was the government railway +inspector, in one of his reports relates the following singular +circumstance. “A girl who was in love with the +engine-driver of a train, had engaged to run away from her +father’s house in order to be married. She arranged +to leave by a train this man was driving. Her father and +brother got intelligence of her intended escape; and having +missed catching her as she got into the train, they contrived, +whether with or without the assistance of a porter is not very +clear, to turn the train through facing points, as it left the +station, into a bog.” The captain does not pursue the +subject further in his report, so that we are left in ignorance +as to the success of the plan for stopping a contemplated runaway +marriage.</p> +<h2><!-- page 201--><a name="page201"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 201</span>A MADMAN IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE.</h2> +<p>We subjoin from the <i>Annual Register</i> for 1864 an account +of an alarming occurrence which took place July 4th of that +year:—“In one of the third-class compartments of the +express train leaving King’s Cross Station at 9.15 p.m., a +tall and strongly-built man, dressed as a sailor, and having a +wild and haggard look, took his seat about three minutes before +the train started. He was accompanied to the carriage by a +woman, whom he afterwards referred to as his wife, and by a man, +apparently a cab-driver, of both of whom he took leave when the +train was about to start. It had scarcely done so, when, on +putting his hand to his pocket, he called out that he had been +robbed of his purse, containing £17, and at once began to +shout and gesticulate in a manner which greatly alarmed his +fellow-travellers, four in number, in the same compartment. +He continued to roar and swear with increasing violence for some +time, and then made an attempt to throw himself out of the +window. He threw his arms and part of his body out of the +window, and had just succeeded in placing one of his legs out, +when the other occupants of the carriage, who had been +endeavouring to keep him back, succeeded in dragging him from the +window. Being foiled in this attempt, he turned round upon +those who had been instrumental in keeping him back. After +a long and severe struggle, which—notwithstanding the speed +the train was running at—was heard in the adjoining +compartments, the sailor was overcome by the united exertions of +the party, and was held down in a prostrate position by two of +their number. Though thus secured, he still continued to +struggle and shout vehemently, and it was not till some time +afterwards, when they managed to bind his hands and strap him to +the seat, that the passengers in the compartment felt themselves +secure. This train, it may be explained, makes the journey +from London to Peterborough, a distance little short of eighty +miles, without a single stoppage; and as the scene we have been +describing began immediately after the train left London, the +expectation of having to pass the time usually occupied between +the two stations (one hour and fifty minutes) with such a +companion must have been far from agreeable. While the +struggle was going on, and <!-- page 202--><a +name="page202"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 202</span>even for +some time afterwards, almost frantic attempts were made to get +the train stopped. The attention of those in the adjoining +compartment was readily gained by waving handkerchiefs out of the +window, and by-and-by a full explanation of the circumstances was +communicated through the aperture in which the lamp that lights +both compartments is placed. A request to communicate with +the guard was made from one carriage to another for a short +distance, but it was found impossible to continue it, and so the +occupants of the compartments beyond the one nearest the scene of +the disturbance could learn nothing as to its nature, a vague +feeling of alarm seized them, and all the way along to +Peterborough a succession of shouts of ‘Stop the +train,’ mixed with the frantic screams of female +passengers, was kept up. On the arrival of the train at +Peterborough the man was released by his captors and placed on +the platform. No sooner was he there, however, than he +rushed with a renewed outburst of fury on those who had taken the +chief part in restraining his violence, and as he kept +vociferating that they had robbed him of his money, it was some +time before the railway officials could be got to +interfere—indeed, it seemed likely for some time that he +would be allowed to go on in the train. As remonstrances +were made from all quarters to the station-master to take the +fellow into custody, he at length agreed, after being furnished +with the names and addresses of the other occupants of the +carriage, to hand him over to the police. The general +impression on those who witnessed the sailor’s fury seemed +to be that he was labouring under a violent attack of delirium +tremens, and he had every appearance of having been drinking hard +for some days. Had there been only one or even two +occupants of the compartment besides himself, there seems every +reason to believe that a much more deadly struggle would have +ensued, as he displayed immense strength.”</p> +<h2>INSURED.</h2> +<p>The engine of an ordinary railway train broke down midway +between two stations. As an express train was momentarily +expected to arrive at the spot, the passengers were urgently +called upon to get out of the carriages. A countryman in +leather breeches and top-boots, who sat in a <!-- page 203--><a +name="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 203</span>corner of +one of the carriages, comfortably swathed in a travelling +blanket, obstinately refused to budge. In vain the porter +begged him to come out, saying the express would reach the spot +in a minute, and the train would in all probability be dashed to +pieces. The traveller pulled an insurance ticket out of his +breeches pocket, exclaiming, “Don’t you see +I’ve insured my life?” and with that he set up a +horse laugh, and sunk back into his corner. They had to +force him out of the train, and an instant afterwards the express +ran into it.</p> +<h2>A NEW TRICK.</h2> +<p>A novel illustration of the ingenuity of thieves has been +afforded by an incident reported from the continent. For +some time past a North German railway company had been suffering +from the repeated loss of goods which were sent by luggage train, +and which, notwithstanding all research and precautions, +continued to disappear in a very mysterious manner. The +secret which the inquiries set on foot had failed to discover was +at length revealed by a rather amusing accident. A long +box, on one side of which were words equivalent to “This +side up,” had, in disregard of this caution, been set up on +end in the goods shed. Some time afterwards the +employés were not a little startled to hear a voice, +apparently proceeding from the box in question, begging the +hearers to let the speaker out. On opening the lid, the +railway officials were surprised and amused to find a man inside +standing on his head. In the explanation which followed, +the fellow wanted to account for his appearance under such +unusual circumstances as due to the result of a wager, but he was +given into custody, and it was soon found that the thieves had +adopted this method of conveying themselves on to the railway +premises, and that during the absence of the employés they +had let themselves out of the box which they at once filled with +any articles they could lay their hands on, refastened the lid, +and then decamped. But for the unfortunate inability of +human nature to endure an inverted position for an indefinite +period, the ingenious authors of the scheme might have flourished +a long time without detection.</p> +<h2><!-- page 204--><a name="page204"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 204</span>A TRAIN STOPPED BY +CATERPILLARS.</h2> +<p><i>Colonies and India</i> quotes from a New Zealand paper the +following story:—In the neighbourhood of Turakina an army +of caterpillars, hundreds of thousands strong, was marching +across the railway line, bound for a new field of oats, when the +train came along. Thousands of the creeping vermin were +crushed by the wheels of the engine, and suddenly the train came +to a dead stop. On examination it was found that the wheels +of the engine had become so greasy that they kept on revolving +without advancing—they could not grip the rails. The +guard and the engine driver procured sand and strewed it on the +rails, and the train made a fresh start, but it was found that +during the stoppage caterpillars in thousands had crawled all +over the engine, and all over the carriages inside and out.</p> +<h2>TRAVELLING IN RUSSIA.</h2> +<p>Of course, travelling in Russia is no longer what it +was. During the last quarter of a century a vast network of +railways has been constructed and one can now travel in a +comfortable first-class carriage from Berlin to St. Petersburg or +Moscow, and thence to Odessa, Sebastopol, the Lower Volga, or +even the foot of the Caucasus; and, on the whole, it must be +admitted that the railways are tolerably comfortable. The +carriages are decidedly better than in England, and in winter +they are kept warm by small iron stoves, such as we sometimes see +in steamers, assisted by double windows and double doors—a +very necessary precaution in a land where the thermometer often +descends to 30 degrees below zero. The trains never attain, +it is true, a high rate of speed—so at least English and +Americans think—but then we must remember that Russians are +rarely in a hurry, and like to have frequent opportunities of +eating and drinking. In Russia time is not money; if it +were, nearly all the subjects of the Tsar would always have a +large stock of ready money on hand, and would often have great +difficulty in spending it. In reality, be it +parenthetically remarked, a Russian with a superabundance of +ready money is a phenomenon rarely met with in real life.</p> +<p><!-- page 205--><a name="page205"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +205</span>In conveying passengers at the rate of from fifteen to +thirty miles an hour, the railway companies do at least all that +they promise, but in one very important respect they do not +always strictly fulfil their engagements. The traveller +takes a ticket for a certain town, and on arriving at what he +imagines to be his destination, he may merely find a railway +station surrounded by fields. On making inquiries he finds +to his disappointment, that the station is by no means identical +with the town bearing the same name, and that the railway has +fallen several miles short of fulfilling the bargain, as he +understood the terms of the contract. Indeed, it might +almost be said as a general rule railways in Russia, like camel +drivers in certain Eastern countries, studiously avoid the +towns. This seems at first a strange fact. It is +possible to conceive that the Bedouin is so enamoured of tent +life and nomadic habits, that he shuns a town as he would a +man-trap; but surely civil engineers and railway contractors have +no such dread of brick and mortar. The true reason, I +suspect, is that land within or immediately without the municipal +barrier is relatively dear, and that the railways, being +completely beyond the invigorating influence of healthy +competition, can afford to look upon the comfort and convenience +of passengers as a secondary consideration.</p> +<p>It is but fair to state that in one celebrated instance +neither engineers nor railway contractors were to blame. +From St. Petersburg to Moscow the locomotive runs for a distance +of 400 miles, almost as “the crow” is supposed to +fly, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. For +fifteen weary hours the passenger in the express train looks out +on forest and morass and rarely catches sight of human +habitation. Only once he perceives in the distance what may +be called a town; it is Tver which has been thus favoured, not +because it is a place of importance, but simply because it +happened to be near the straight line. And why was the +railway constructed in this extraordinary fashion? For the +best of all reasons—because the Tsar so ordered it. +When the preliminary survey was being made, Nicholas learned that +the officers intrusted with the task—and the Minister of +Ways and Roads in the number—were being influenced more by +personal than by technical considerations, <!-- page 206--><a +name="page206"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 206</span>and he +determined to cut the Gordian knot in true Imperial style. +When the Minister laid before him the map with the intention of +explaining the proposed route, he took a ruler, drew a straight +line from the one terminus to the other, and remarked in a tone +that precluded all discussion, “You will construct the line +so!” And the line was so constructed—remaining +to all future ages, like St. Petersburg and the Pyramids, a +magnificent monument of autocratic power.</p> +<p>Formerly this well-known incident was often cited in whispered +philippics to illustrate the evils of the autocratic form of +government. Imperial whims, it was said, override grave +economic considerations. In recent years, however, a change +seems to have taken place in public opinion, and some people now +venture to assert that this so-called Imperial whim was an act of +far-seeing policy. As by far the greater part of the goods +and passengers are carried the whole length of the line, it is +well that the line should be as short as possible, and that +branch lines should be constructed to the towns lying to the +right and left. Apart from political considerations, it +must be admitted that a great deal may be said in support of this +view.</p> +<p>In the development of the railway system there has been +another disturbing cause, which is not likely to occur to the +English mind. In England, individuals and companies +habitually act according to their private interests, and the +State interferes as little as possible; private initiative acts +as it pleases, unless the authorities can prove that important +bad consequences will necessarily result. In Russia, the +<i>onus probandi</i> lies on the other side; private initiative +is allowed to do nothing until it gives guarantees against all +possible bad consequences. When any great enterprise is +projected, the first question is—“How will this new +scheme affect the interests of the State?” Thus, when +the course of a new railway has to be determined, the military +authorities are always consulted, and their opinion has a great +influence on the ultimate decision. The consequence of this +is that the railway map of Russia presents to the eye of the +tactician much that is quite unintelligible to the ordinary +observer—a fact that will become apparent to the +uninitiated as soon as a war breaks out in Eastern Europe. +<!-- page 207--><a name="page207"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +207</span>Russia is no longer what she was in the days of the +Crimean war, when troops and stores had to be conveyed hundreds +of miles by the most primitive means of transport. At that +time she had only about 750 miles of railway; now she has more +than 11,000 miles, and every year new lines are constructed.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Russia</i>, by D. M. Wallace, +M.A.</p> +<h2>AN ARMY WITH BANNERS.</h2> +<p>As giving an idea of the old way of signalling and precautions +employed to ensure safety on the Hudson River Railroad nearly +forty years ago, we append the following from the <i>Albany +Journal</i>. It should be premised that this road extends +from New York to East Albany, a distance of only 144 +miles:—</p> +<p>“<span class="smcap">an army with +banners</span>.—As you are whirled along over the Hudson +River Railroad at the rate of 40 miles an hour, you catch a +glimpse, every minute or two, of a man waving something like a +white pocket handkerchief on the end of a stick, with a +satisfactory sort of expression of countenance. If you take +the trouble to count, you will find that it happens some two +hundred times between East Albany and Thirty-first street. +It looks like rather a useless ceremony, at first glance, but is +a pretty important one, nevertheless.</p> +<p>“There are 225 of these ‘flagmen’ stationed +at intervals along the whole length of the line. Just +before a train is to pass, each one walks over his +“beat,” and looks to see that every track and tie, +every tunnel, switch, rail, clamp, and rivet, is in good order +and free from obstruction. If so, he takes his stand with a +white flag and waves it to the approaching train as a signal to +‘come on’—and come on it does, at full +speed. If there is anything wrong, he waves a red flag, or +at night a red lamp, and the engineer, on seeing it, promptly +shuts off the steam, and sounds the whistle to ‘put down +the brakes.’ Every inch of the road is carefully +examined after the passage of each train. Austrian +espionage is hardly more strict.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 208--><a name="page208"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 208</span>SEIZURE OF A RAILWAY TRAIN FOR +DEBT.</h2> +<p>The financial difficulties under which some railway companies +have recently laboured were brought to a crisis lately in the +case of the Potteries, Shrewsbury, and North Wales Railway, a +line running from Llanymynech to Shrewsbury, with a projected +continuation to the Potteries. A debenture holder having +obtained a judgment against the company, a writ was forthwith +issued, and a few days back the sheriff’s officers +unexpectedly presented themselves at the company’s +principal station in Shrewsbury, and formally entered upon +possession. The down train immediately after entered the +station, and the bailiffs, without having given any previous +intimation to the manager, whose office adjoins the station, +seized the engines and carriages, and refused to permit the +outgoing train to start, although many passengers had taken +tickets. Ultimately the manager obtained the requisite +permission, and it was arranged that the train should make the +journey, one of the bailiffs meanwhile remaining in charge. +The acting-sheriff refused a similar concession with regard to +the further running of the trains, and it being fair day at +Shrewsbury, and a large number of persons from various stations +along the line having taken return tickets, much inconvenience to +the public was likely to ensue. The North Wales section of +this line was completed in August last at a cost of a little over +£1,100,000, and was opened for passenger and goods traffic +on the 13th of that month. As has already been stated, the +ordinary traffic of the line was, after the enforcement of the +writ, permitted to be continued, with the proviso that a bailiff +should accompany each train. This condition was naturally +very galling to the officials of the railway company, but they +nevertheless treated the representative of the civil law with a +marked politeness. On the night of his first becoming a +constant passenger by the line he rode in a first-class carriage +to Llanymynech, and on the return journey the attentive guard +conducted him to a similar compartment which was devoted to his +sole occupation. On arriving at Kennerly the bailiff became +conscious of the progress of an elaborate process of shunting, +followed by an entire stoppage of the train. After sitting +patiently for some minutes it occurred to him to put his head out +of <!-- page 209--><a name="page209"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +209</span>the window and inquire the reason for the delay, and in +carrying out the idea he discovered that the train of which his +carriage had lately formed a part was vanishing from sight round +a distant curve in the line. He lost no time in getting out +and making his way into the station, which he found locked up, +according to custom, after the passage through of the last down +train. Kennerly is a small roadside station about 12 miles +from Shrewsbury, and offers no accommodation for chance guests; +and, had it been otherwise, it was of course the first duty of +the bailiff to look after the train, of which he at that moment +was supposed to be in “possession.” There being +no alternative, he started on foot for Shrewsbury, where he +arrived shortly after midnight, having accomplished a perilous +passage along the line. It appeared, on inquiry, that in +the course of the shunting the coupling-chain which connected the +tail coach with the body of the train had by some means become +unlinked; hence the accident. The bailiff accepted the +explanation, but on subsequent journeys he carefully avoided the +tail-coach.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Railway News</i>, 1866.</p> +<h2>A KANGAROO ATTACKING A TRAIN.</h2> +<p>The latest marsupial freak is thus given by a thoroughly +reliable correspondent of the <i>Courier</i> (an Australian +paper):—A rather exciting race took place between the train +and a large kangaroo on Wednesday night last. When about +nine miles from Dalby a special surprised the kangaroo, who was +inside the fences. The animal ran for some distance in +front, but getting exhausted he suddenly turned to face his +opponent, and jumped savagely at the stoker on the engine, who, +not being able to run, gamely faced the “old man” +with a handful of coal. The kangaroo, however, only reached +the side of the tender, when, the step striking him, he was +“knocked clean out of it” in the one round. No +harm happened beyond a bit of a scare to the stoker, as the +kangaroo picked himself up quickly and cleared the fence.</p> +<h2><!-- page 210--><a name="page210"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 210</span>SHE TAKES FITS.</h2> +<p>Some time ago, an old lady and gentleman were coming from +Devenport when the train was crowded. A young man got up +and gave the old lady a seat, while his companion, another young +gent, remained stedfast and let the old gent stand. This +did not suit the old gentleman, so he concluded to get a seat in +some way, and quickly turning to the young man on the seat beside +his wife, he said:—“Will you be so kind as to watch +that woman while I get a seat in another carriage? She +takes fits!” This startled the young gent. He +could not bear the idea of taking charge of a fitty woman, so the +old gentleman got a seat, and his wife was never known to take a +fit afterwards.</p> +<h2>SNAGS’ CORNERS.</h2> +<p>The officials of a Michigan railroad that was being extended +were waited upon the other day by a person from the pine woods +and sand hills who announced himself as Mr. Snags, and who wanted +to know if it could be possible that the proposed line was not to +come any nearer than three miles to the hamlet named in his +honour.</p> +<p>“Is Snags’ Corners a place of much +importance?” asked the President.</p> +<p>“Is it? Well, I should say it was! We made +over a ton of maple sugar there last spring!”</p> +<p>“Does business flourish there?”</p> +<p>“Flourish! Why, business is on the gallop there +every minute in the whole twenty-four hours. We had three +false alarms of fire there in one week. How’s that +for a town which is to be left three miles off your +railroad?”</p> +<p>Being asked to give the names of the business houses, he +scratched his head for awhile, and then replied—</p> +<p>“Well, there’s me, to start on. I run a big +store, own eight yokes of oxen, and shall soon have a dam and a +sawmill. Then there’s a blacksmith shop, a +post-office, a doctor, and last week over a dozen patent-right +men passed through there. In one brief year we’ve +increased from a squatter and two dogs to our present standing, +and we’ll have a lawyer there before long.”</p> +<p><!-- page 211--><a name="page211"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +211</span>“I’m afraid we won’t be able to come +any nearer the Corners than the present survey,” finally +remarked the President.</p> +<p>“You won’t! It can’t be possible that +you mean to skip a growing place like Snags’ +Corners!”</p> +<p>“I think we’ll have to.”</p> +<p>“Wouldn’t come if I’d clear you out a place +in the store for a ticket office?”</p> +<p>“I don’t see how we could.”</p> +<p>“May be I’d subscribe 25 dols.,” continued +the delegate.</p> +<p>“No, we cannot change.”</p> +<p>“Can’t do it nohow?”</p> +<p>“No.”</p> +<p>“Very well,” said Mr. Snags as he put on his +hat. “If this ’ere railroad thinks it can stunt +or cripple Snags’ Corners by leaving it out in the cold it +has made a big mistake. Before I leave town to-day +I’m going to buy a windmill and a melodeon, and your old +locomotives may toot and be hanged, sir—toot and be +hanged!”</p> +<h2>A NEWSPAPER WONDER.</h2> +<p>The <i>Railway Journal</i>, an American newspaper, containing +the latest intelligence with respect to home and foreign +politics, the money market, Congress debates, and theatrical +events, is now printed and published daily in the trains running +between New York and San Francisco. All the news with which +its columns are filled is telegraphed from different parts of the +States to certain stations on the line, there collected by the +editorial staff travelling in the train, and set up, printed, and +circulated among the subscribing passengers while the iron horse +is persistently traversing plains and valleys, crossing rivers, +and ascending mountain ranges. Every morning the traveller +may have his newspaper served up with his coffee, and thus keep +himself informed of all that is going on in the wide world during +a seven days’ journey covering over three thousand miles of +ground. He who pays his subscription at New York, which he +can do at the railway ticket-office, receives the last copy of +his paper on the summit of the Sierra Nevada. The +production of a news-sheet from a flying printing office <!-- +page 212--><a name="page212"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +212</span>at an elevation of some ten thousand feet above the +level of the sea is most assuredly a performance worthy of +conspicuous record in journalistic annals, and highly creditable +to American enterprise.</p> +<h2>MONETARY DIFFICULTIES IN SPAIN.</h2> +<p>Sir Arthur Helps, in his life of Mr. Brassey, +remarks:—“There were few, if any, of the great +undertakings in which Mr. Brassey embarked that gave him so much +trouble in respect of the financial arrangements as the Spanish +railway from Bilbao to Tudela. The secretary, Mr. Tapp, +thus recounts the difficulties which they had to +encounter:—</p> +<p>“‘The great difficulty in Spain was in getting +money to pay the men for doing the work—a very great +difficulty. The bank was not in the habit of having large +cheques drawn upon it to pay money; for nearly all the merchants +kept their cash in safes in their offices, and it was a very +debased kind of money, coins composed of half copper and half +silver, and very much defaced. You had to take a good many +of them on faith. I had to send down fifteen days before +the pay day came round, to commence getting the money from the +bank, obtaining perhaps £2,000 or £3,000 a day. +It was brought to the office, recounted, and put into my +safe. In that way I accumulated a ton-and-a-half of money +every month during our busy season. When pay week came, I +used to send a carriage or a large coach, drawn by four or six +mules, with a couple of civil guards, one on each side, together +with one of the clerks from the office, a man to drive, and +another—a sort of stableman—who went to help them out +of their difficulty in case the mules gave any trouble up the +hilly country. I was at the office at six o’clock, +and I was always in a state of anxiety until I knew that the +money had arrived safely at the end of the journey. More +than once the conveyance broke down in the mountains. On +one occasion the axle of our carriage broke in half from the +weight of the money, and I had to send off two omnibuses to +relieve them. I had the load divided, and sent one to one +section of the line and one to the other.</p> +<p>“‘Q.—Was any attempt made to rob the +carriage?</p> +<p><!-- page 213--><a name="page213"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +213</span>“‘A.—Never; we always sent a clerk +armed with a revolver as the principal guard. We heard once +of a conspiracy to rob us; but, to avoid that, we went by another +road. We were told that some men had been seen loitering +about the mountain the night before.’”</p> +<h2>A CARLIST CHIEF AS A SUB-CONTRACTOR.</h2> +<p>The natural financial difficulties of constructing a railway +in Spain were added to by the strange kind of people Mr. +Brassey’s agents were obliged to employ. One of the +sub-contractors was a certain Carlist chief whom the government +dared not arrest on account of his great influence. Mr. +Tapp thus relates the Carlist chief’s mode of settling a +financial dispute:—</p> +<p>“When he got into difficulties, Mr. Small, the district +agent, offered him the amount which was due to him according to +his measured work. He had over 100 men to pay, and Mr. +Small offered him the money that was coming to him, according to +the measurement, but he would not have it, nor would he let the +agent pay the men. He said he would have the money he +demanded; and he brought all his men into the town of Orduna, and +the men regularly bivouacked round Mr. Small’s +office. They slept in the streets and stayed there all +night, and would not let Mr. Small come out of the office till he +had paid them the money. He attempted to get on his horse +to go out—his horses were kept in the house (that is the +practice in the houses of Spain); but when he rode out they +pulled him off his horse and pushed him back, and said that he +should not go until he had paid them the money. He passed +the night in terror, with loaded pistols and guns, expecting that +he and his family would be massacred every minute, but he +contrived eventually to send his staff-holder to Bilbao on +horseback. The man galloped all the way to Bilbao, a +distance of twenty-five miles, and went to Mr. Bartlett in the +middle of the night, and told him what had happened. Mr. +Bartlett immediately sent a detachment up to the place to +disperse the men. This Carlist threatened that if Mr. Small +did not pay the money he would kill every person in the +house. When he was asked, ‘Would you kill a man <!-- +page 214--><a name="page214"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +214</span>for that?’ he replied, ‘Yes, like a +fly,’ and this coming from a man who, as I was told, had +already killed fourteen men with his own hand, was rather +alarming. Mr. Brassey and his partners suffer a great +amount of loss by their contracts for the Bilbao +railway.”</p> +<h2>HOW TO BEAR LOSSES.</h2> +<p>During the construction of the Bilbao line, shortly before the +proposed opening, it set in to rain in such an exceptional manner +that some of the works were destroyed. The agent +telegraphed to Mr. Brassey to come immediately, as a certain +bridge had been washed down. About three hours afterwards +another telegram was sent, stating that a large bank was washed +away; and next morning, another, stating the rain continued, and +more damage had been done. Mr. Brassey, turning to a +friend, said, laughingly: “I think I had better wait until +I hear that the rain has ceased, so that when I do go, I may see +what is left of the works, and estimate all the disasters at +once, and so save a second journey.”</p> +<p>No doubt Mr. Brassey felt these great losses that occasionally +came upon him much as other men do; but he had an excellent way +of bearing them, and, like a great general, never, if possible, +gave way to despondency in the presence of his officers.</p> +<h2>RAILROAD INCIDENT.</h2> +<p>An Englishwoman who travelled some years ago in America +writes:—“I had found it necessary to study +physiognomy since leaving England, and was horrified by the +appearance of my next neighbour. His forehead was low, his +deep-set and restless eyes significant of cunning, and I at once +set him down as a swindler or a pickpocket. My conviction +of the truth of my inference was so strong that I removed my +purse—in which, however, acting by advice, I never carried +more than five dollars—from my pocket, leaving in it only +my handkerchief and the checks for my baggage, knowing that I +could not possibly keep awake the whole morning. In spite +of my endeavours to <!-- page 215--><a name="page215"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 215</span>the contrary, I soon sunk into an +oblivious state, from which I awoke to the consciousness that my +companion was withdrawing his hand from my pocket. My first +impulse was to make an exclamation; my second, which I carried +into execution, to ascertain my loss, which I found to be the +very alarming one of my baggage checks; my whole property being +thereby placed at this vagabond’s disposal, for I knew +perfectly well that if I claimed my trunks without my checks the +acute baggage-master would have set me down as a bold +swindler. The keen-eyed conductor was not in the car, and, +had he been there, the necessity for habitual suspicion +incidental to his position would so far have removed his original +sentiments of generosity as to make him turn a deaf ear to my +request; and there was not one of my fellow-travellers whose +physiognomy would have warranted me in appealing to him. +So, recollecting that my checks were marked Chicago, and seeing +that the thief’s ticket bore the same name, I resolved to +wait the chapter of accidents, or the reappearance of my +friends. With a whoop like an Indian war-whoop the cars ran +into a shed—they stopped—the pickpocket got +up—I got up too—the baggage-master came to the +door. ‘This gentleman has the checks for my +baggage,’ said I, pointing to the thief. Bewildered, +he took them from his waistcoat pocket, gave them to the +baggage-master, and went hastily away. I had no inclination +to cry ‘stop thief!’ and had barely time to +congratulate myself on the fortunate impulse which had led me to +say what I did, when my friends appeared from the next +carriage. They were too highly amused with my recital to +sympathize at all with my feelings of annoyance, and one of them, +a gentleman filling a high situation in the east, laughed +heartily, saying, in a thoroughly American tone, ‘The +English ladies must be cute customers if they can outwit Yankee +pickpockets.’”</p> +<h2>NOVEL OBSTRUCTION.</h2> +<p>On a certain railroad in Louisiana the alligators have the bad +habit of crawling upon the track to sun themselves, and to such +an extent have they pushed this practice that the drivers of the +locomotives are frequently compelled to sound the engine whistle +in order to scare the interlopers away.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Railway News</i>, +1867.</p> +<h2><!-- page 216--><a name="page216"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 216</span>BABY LAW.</h2> +<p>The railways generously permit a baby to be carried without +charge; but not, it seems, without incurring +responsibility. It has been lately decided, in +“Austin <i>v.</i> the Great Western Railway Company,” +16 L. T. Rep., N. S., 320, that where a child in arms, not paid +for as a passenger, is injured by an accident caused by +negligence, the company is liable in damages under Lord +Campbell’s Act. Three of the judges were clearly of +opinion that the company had, by permitting the mother to take +the child in her arms, contracted to carry safely both mother and +child; and Blackburn, J., went still further, and was of opinion +that, independently of any such contract, express or implied, the +law cast upon the company a duty to use proper and reasonable +care in carrying the child, though unpaid for. It may +appear somewhat hard upon railway companies to incur liabilities +through an act of liberality, but they have chosen to do +so. The law is against them, that is clear; but they have +the remedy in their own hands. There was some reason for +exempting a child in arms, for it occupies no place in the +carriage, and is but a trifling addition of weight. But now +it is established that the company is responsible for the +consequences of accident to that child, the company is clearly +entitled to make such a charge as will secure them against the +risk. The right course would be to have a tariff, say +one-fifth or one-fourth of the full fare, for a child in arms; +and if strict justice was done, this would be deducted from the +fares of the passengers who have the ill-luck to face and flank +the squaller.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Law Times</i>, 1867.</p> +<h2>RAILROAD TRACKLAYER.</h2> +<p>The railroad tracklayer is now working along regularly at the +rate of a mile a day. The machine is a car 60 feet long and +10 feet wide. It has a small engine on board for handling +the ties and rails. The ties are carried on a common +freight car behind, and conveyed by an endless chain over the top +of the machinery, laid down in their places on the track, and, +when enough are laid, a rail is put down on each side in proper +position and spiked down. <!-- page 217--><a +name="page217"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 217</span>The +tracklayer then advances, and keeps on its work until the load of +ties and rails is exhausted, when other car loads are +brought. The machine is driven ahead by a locomotive, and +the work is done so rapidly that 60 men are required to wait on +it, but they do more work than twice as many could do by the old +system, and the work is done quite as well. The chief +contractor of the road gives it as his opinion that when the +machine is improved by making a few changes in the method of +handling rails and ties it will be able to put down five or six +miles per day. This will render it possible to lay down +track twelve times as fast as the usual rate by hand, and it will +do the work at less expense. The invention will be of +immense importance to the country in connection with the Pacific +railroad, which it was calculated could be built as fast as the +track could be laid, and no faster; but hereafter the speed will +be determined by the grading, which cannot advance more than five +miles a day. Thirty millions of dollars have already been +invested on the Pacific railroad, and if the time of completion +is hastened one year by this tracklayer, as it will be if Central +and Union Companies have money enough to grade each five miles a +day, there will be a saving of three million dollars on interest +alone on that one road.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Alla California</i>, +1868.</p> +<h2>A GROWING LAD.</h2> +<p>“This your boy, ma’am?” inquired a collector +of a country woman, “he’s too big for a ’alf +ticket.” “Oh, is he?” replied the +mother. “Well, perhaps he is now, mister; but he +wasn’t when he started. The train is ever so much +behind time—has been so long on the road—and +he’s a growing lad!”</p> +<h2>FORGED TICKETS.</h2> +<p>Attempts to defraud railway companies by means of forged +tickets are seldom made, and still more seldom successful. +In 1870, a man who lived in a toll-house near Dudley, and who +rented a large number of tolls on the different turnpikes, in +almost every part of the country, <!-- page 218--><a +name="page218"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 218</span>devised a +plan for travelling cheaply. He set up a complete fount of +type, composing stick, and every requisite for printing tickets, +and provided himself with coloured papers, colours, and paints to +paint them, and plain cards on which to paste them; and he +prepared tickets for journeys of great length, and available to +and from different stations on the London and North-Western, +Great Western, and Midland lines. On arriving one day at +the ticket platform at Derby, he presented a ticket from +Masbro’ to Smethwick. The collector, who had been +many years in the service of the company, thought there was +something unusual in the ticket. On examination he found it +to be a forgery, and when the train arrived at the platform gave +the passenger into custody. On searching his house, upwards +of a thousand railway tickets were discovered in a drawer in his +bedroom, and the apparatus with which the forgeries were +accomplished was also secured. On the prisoner himself was +the sum of £199 10s., and it appeared that he came to be +present at the annual letting of the tolls on the different roads +leading out of Derby. The punishment he received was +sufficiently condign to serve as a warning to all who might be +inclined to emulate such attempts after cheap locomotion.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—Williams’s <i>Midland +Railway</i>.</p> +<h2>A YANKEE COMPENSATION CASE.</h2> +<p>A horny-handed old farmer entered the offices of one of the +railroad companies, and inquired for the man who settled for +hosses which was killed by locomotives. They referred him +to the company’s counsel, whom, having found, he thus +addressed:—</p> +<p>“Mister, I was driving home one evening last +week—”</p> +<p>“Been drinking?” sententiously questioned the +lawyer.</p> +<p>“I’m centre pole of the local Tent of +Rechabites,” said the farmer.</p> +<p>“That doesn’t answer my question,” replied +the man of law; “I saw a man who was drunk vote for the +prohibition ticket last year.”</p> +<p>“Hadn’t tasted liquor since the big flood of +1846,” said the old man.</p> +<p><!-- page 219--><a name="page219"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +219</span>“Go ahead.”</p> +<p>“I will, ’Squire. And when I came to the +crossing of your line—it was pretty dark, and—zip! +along came your train, no bells rung, no whistles tooted, +contrary to the statutes in such cases made and provided, +and—whoop! away went my off-hoss over the telegraph +wires. When I had dug myself out’n a swamp some +distance off and pacified the other critter, I found that thar +off-hoss was dead, nothing valuable about him but his shoes, +which mout have brought, say, a penny for old iron. +Well—”</p> +<p>“Well, you want pay for that ’ere off-hoss?” +said the lawyer, with a scarcely repressed sneer.</p> +<p>“I should, you see,” replied the farmer, frankly; +“and I don’t care about going to law about it, though +possibly I’d get a verdict, for juries out in our town is +mostly made up of farmers, and they help each other as a matter +of principle in these cases of stock killed by +railroads.”</p> +<p>“And this ’ere off-hoss,” said the counsel, +mockingly, “was well bred, wasn’t he? He was +rising four years, as he had been several seasons past. And +you had been offered £500 for him the day he was killed, +but wouldn’t take it because you were going to win all the +prizes in the next race with him? Oh, I’ve heard of +that off-horse before.”</p> +<p>“I guess there’s a mistake somewhere,” said +the old farmer, with an air of surprise; “my hoss was got +by old man Butt’s roan-pacing hoss, Pride of Lemont, +out’n a wall-eyed no account mare of my own, and, now that +he’s dead, I may say that he was twenty-nine next +grass. Trot? Why, Fred Erby’s hoss that he was +fined for furious driving of was old Dexter alongside of +him! Five hundred pounds! Bless your soul, do you +think I’m a fool, or anyone else? It is true I was +made an offer for him the last time I was in town, and, for the +man looked kinder simple, and you know how it is yourself with +hoss trading, I asked the cuss mor’n the animal might have +been worth. I asked him forty pounds, but I’d have +taken thirty.”</p> +<p>“Forty?” gasped the lawyer; +“forty?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” replied the farmer, meekly and +apologetically; “it kinder looks a big sum, I know, for an +old hoss; but that ’ere off-hoss could pull a mighty good +load, considering. Then I was kinder shook up, and the pole +of my waggon <!-- page 220--><a name="page220"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 220</span>was busted, and I had to get the +harness fixed, and there’s my loss of time, and all that +counts. Say fifty pounds, and it’s about +square.”</p> +<p>The lawyer whispered softly to himself, “Well, +I’ll be hanged!” and filled out a cheque for fifty +pounds.</p> +<p>“Sir,” said he, covering the old man’s hand, +“you are the first honest man I have met in the course of a +legal experience of twenty-three years; the first farmer whose +dead horse was worth less than a thousand pounds, and could trot +better without training. Here, also, is a free pass for +yourself and your male heirs in a direct line for three +generations; and if you have a young boy to spare we will teach +him telegraphing, and find him steady and lucrative +employment.”</p> +<p>The honest old farmer took the cheque, and departed, smiting +his brawny leg with his horny hand in triumph as he did so, with +the remark—</p> +<p>“I knew I’d ketch him on the honest tack! +Last hoss I had killed I swore was a trotter, and all I got was +thirty pounds and interest. Honesty is the best +policy.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Once a Week</i>.</p> +<h2>ABERGELE ACCIDENT.</h2> +<p>The Irish mail leaving London at shortly after seven A.M., it +was timed in 1868 to make the distance to Chester, one hundred +and sixty-six miles, in four hours and eighteen minutes; from +Chester to Holyhead is eighty-five miles, for running which the +space of one hundred and twenty-five minutes was allowed. +Abergele is a point on the seacoast in North Wales, nearly midway +between these two places. On the 20th of August, 1868, the +Irish mail left Chester as usual. It was made up of +thirteen carriages in all, which were occupied—as the +carriages of that train usually were—by a large number of +persons whose names, at least, were widely known. Among +these, on this particular occasion, were the Duchess of Abercorn, +wife of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with five +children. Under the running arrangements of the London and +North-Western line a goods train left Chester half-an-hour before +the mail, and was placed upon the siding at Llanddulas, a station +about a mile-and-a-half beyond Abergele, to allow the mail <!-- +page 221--><a name="page221"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +221</span>to pass. From Abergele to Llanddulas the track +ascended by a gradient of some sixty feet to the mile. On +the day of the accident it chanced that certain wagons between +the engine and the rear end of the goods train had to be taken +out to be left at Llanddulas, and, in doing this, it became +necessary to separate the train and to leave five or six of the +last wagons in it standing on the main line, while those which +were to be left were backed on to a siding. The +employé whose duty it was to have done so, neglected to +set the brake on the wagons thus left standing, and consequently +when the engine and the rest of the train returned for them, the +moment they were touched, and before a coupling could be +effected, the jar set them in motion down the incline toward +Abergele. They started so slowly that a brakeman of the +train ran after them, fully expecting to catch and stop them, but +as they went down the grade they soon outstripped him, and it +became clear that there was nothing to check them until they +should meet the Irish mail, then almost due. It also +chanced that the wagons thus loosened were oil wagons.</p> +<p>The mail train was coming up the line at a speed of about +thirty miles an hour, when its engine-driver suddenly perceived +the loose wagons coming down upon it around the curve, and then +but a few yards off. Seeing that they were oil wagons, he +almost instinctively sprang from his engine, and was thrown down +by the impetus and rolled to the side of the road-bed. +Picking himself up, bruised but not seriously hurt, he saw that +the collision had already taken place, that the tender had ridden +directly over the engine, that the colliding wagons were +demolished, and that the front carriages of the train were +already on fire. Running quickly to the rear of the train, +he succeeded in uncoupling six carriages and a van, which were +drawn away from the rest before the flames extended to them by an +engine which most fortunately was following the train. All +the other carriages were utterly destroyed, and every person in +them perished.</p> +<p>The Abergele was probably a solitary instance, in the record +of railway accidents, in which but one single survivor sustained +any injury. There was no maiming. It was death or +entire escape. The collision was not a particularly <!-- +page 222--><a name="page222"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +222</span>severe one, and the engine driver of the mail train +especially stated that at the moment it occurred the loose wagons +were still moving so slowly that he would not have sprung from +his engine had he not seen that they were loaded with oil. +The very instant the collision took place, however, the fluid +seemed to ignite and to flash along the train like lightning, so +that it was impossible to approach a carriage when once it caught +fire. The fact was that the oil in vast quantities was +spilled upon the track and ignited by the fire of the locomotive, +and then the impetus of the mail train forced all of its leading +carriages into the dense mass of smoke and flame. All those +who were present concurred in positively stating that not a cry, +nor a moan, nor a sound of any description was heard from the +burning carriages, nor did any one in them apparently make an +effort to escape.</p> +<p>Though the collision took place before one o’clock, in +spite of the efforts of a large gang of men who were kept +throwing water on the line, the perfect sea of flame which +covered the line for a distance of some forty or fifty yards +could not be extinguished until nearly eight o’clock in the +evening, for the petroleum had flowed down into the ballasting of +the road, and the rails were red-hot. It was, therefore, +small occasion for surprise that when the fire was at last gotten +under, the remains of those who lost their lives were in some +cases wholly undistinguishable, and in others almost so. +Among the thirty-three victims of the disaster, the body of no +single one retained any traces of individuality; the faces of all +were wholly destroyed, and in no case were there found feet or +legs or anything approaching to a perfect head. Ten corpses +were finally identified as those of males, and thirteen as those +of females, while the sex of ten others could not be +determined. The body of one passenger, Lord Farnham, was +identified by the crest on his watch, and, indeed, no better +evidence of the wealth and social position of the victims of this +accident could have been asked for than the collection of +articles found on its site. It included diamonds of great +size and singular brilliancy; rubies, opals, emeralds; gold tops +of smelling bottles, twenty-four watches—of which but two +or three were not gold—chains, clasps of bags, and very +<!-- page 223--><a name="page223"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +223</span>many bundles of keys. Of these, the diamonds +alone had successfully resisted the intense heat of the flame; +the settings were nearly all destroyed.</p> +<h2>RAILWAY DESTROYERS IN THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR.</h2> +<p>One obvious means of hampering the military operations of the +Germans was the cutting of railroads, so as to interrupt and +overthrow on-coming trains. This method was resorted to by +bands of volunteers, calling themselves “The Wild Boars of +Ardennes,” and “Railway Destroyers.” Here +again the invaders incurred great odium by announcing that, on +the departure of a train in the disaffected districts, the mayor +and principal inhabitants should be made to take their places on +the engine, so that if the peasants chose to upset the +conveyance, their surest victims would be their own +compatriots.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Annual Register</i>, +1870.</p> +<h2>FRIGHTENED AT A RED LIGHT.</h2> +<p>A driver, not on duty, had been drinking, and was, in company +with his fireman, walking in the vicinity of the Edgware Road, +when he suddenly started violently, and seizing his mate’s +arm, shouted—</p> +<p>“Hold hard, mate—hold hard!”</p> +<p>“What’s the matter?” cried the fireman.</p> +<p>“Matter!” roared the driver, “why, +you’re a-running by the red light;” and he pointed to +the crimson glare which streamed through a glass bottle in a +chemist’s window.</p> +<p>“Come along; that’s nothing,” said the +fireman, trying to drag him on.</p> +<p>“What, run by the red light, and go afore Dannel in the +morning?” retorted the driver, and no persuasion could or +did get him to pass the shop. He was a Great Western man, +and the “Dannel” whom he held in such wholesome awe +was the celebrated engineer, now Sir Daniel Gooch, and chairman +of that line. He was then the locomotive chief, and +renowned above all other things for maintaining discipline among +his staff, while they cherished a feeling for him very much akin +to what we hear of the clannish enthusiasm of the ancient +Scotch.</p> +<h2><!-- page 224--><a name="page224"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 224</span>THE DECOY TRUNK.</h2> +<p>August 27, 1875. The Metropolitan magistrates have had +before them a case which seems likely to show how some, at least, +of the robberies at railway stations are accomplished. Some +ingenious persons, it appears, have devised a way by which a +trunk can be made to steal a trunk, and a portmanteau to annex a +portmanteau. The thieves lay a trunk artfully contrived on +a smaller trunk; the latter clings to the former, and the owner +of the larger carries both away. The decoy trunk is said to +be fitted with a false bottom, which goes up when it is laid on a +smaller trunk, and with mechanism inside which does for the +innocent trunk what Polonius recommended Laertes to do for his +friend, and grapples it to its heart with hooks of steel. +In fact, the decoy duck—we do not know how better to +describe it—is made to perform an office like that of +certain flowers, which suddenly close at the pressure of a fly or +other insect within their cup and imprison him there.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Annual Register</i>, +1875.</p> +<h2>DRIVING A LAST SPIKE.</h2> +<p>There are now two lines crossing the American continent. +The western section of the new route goes through on the +thirty-parallel—far enough south from the Rocky Mountains +for the current of the train’s own motion to be acceptable +even in December, and to be a grateful relief in June. +Beginning at San Francisco, the additional line runs south +through California to Fort Yuma on the Colorado river; thence +along the southern border of the territories of Arizona and New +Mexico, and across the centre of Kansas, until it joins the lines +connecting the Southern States with New York. The +undertaking is a vast one, and has been one of some difficulty; +but its completion has been the occasion of very little +display. Never was a great project of any kind brought to a +successful result with so much of active work and so little of +actual talk. A cable message a line in length told the +story a month ago to European readers, and none of the American +papers appear to have dealt with the matter as anything out of +the ordinary run of daily events.</p> +<p><!-- page 225--><a name="page225"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +225</span>Far otherwise was it with the finishing touch twelve +years ago to the other Transcontinental line. The whole +world heard of what was then done. All the bells in all the +great cities of the United States rang out jubilant peals as the +last stroke sent home the last spike on the last rail of the new +highway of travel. The news was flashed by telegraph +everywhere throughout the Union, and that there might be no delay +in its transmission and no hindrance to its simultaneous +reception, a certain pre-arranged signal was given and all the +wires were for the time being kept free of other business. +There were cases in which, to save time in ringing out the glad +news, the message was conveyed on special wires right up to the +bell towers; and everywhere there was a feeling that a great +victory had been won. Preceding the consummation, there had +been some wonderful feats in railroad construction. From +the Missouri river on the one side and from the Sacramento on the +other, the two companies—the Union Pacific and the Central +Pacific—advanced against each other in friendly +rivalry. The popular idea was that the length of the line +of each company would be measured to the point at which it joined +rails with the other. This was hardly the case; but an +arrangement was come to after the completion of the work which +has given this notion the strength of a tradition. The +greater part of the Union Pacific route was over comparatively +even ground, and it was not until the Salt Lake region was being +approached that any serious constructive difficulties presented +themselves. It was otherwise with the company advancing +eastward. The line had to be carried over the Sierra +Nevada, the ascent beginning almost from the starting point, and +rising seven thousand feet in a hundred miles. On the other +side of the mountain range, the descent was in turn +formidable. Over this part of the road it was impossible to +proceed rapidly. The work was surrounded with difficulties, +and there were competent engineers who had no confidence that it +could be carried out. Progress could only be made at the +outset at the rate of about twenty miles each year; but in this +slow work there was time to profit by experience, so that +eventually, when it became a question simply of many hands, the +platelayer went forward with the swing of an army on the +march. Then it was <!-- page 226--><a +name="page226"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 226</span>that the +two companies went vigorously into the race of +construction. In one day, in 1868, the Union men were able +to inform the Central men by telegraph that they had laid as many +as six miles since morning. A few days afterwards the +response came from the Central men that they had just finished as +their day’s work a stretch of seven miles. Spurred to +fresh activity by this display, the Union men next reported to +the other side a complete stretch for a day’s work of seven +and a half miles! The answer came back in the extraordinary +announcement that the workers for the Central Company were +prepared to lay ten miles in one day! The Union people were +inclined to regard this as mere boasting, and the Vice-President +of the company implied as much when he made an offer to bet ten +thousand dollars that in one day such a stretch of railroad could +not be well and truly laid. It is not on record that the +bet was taken up. But the fact remains that it was made, +that the Central army of workers heard of it, and that they +determined to make good the pledge given in their name. So +a day was fixed for the attempt. From the Union side men +came to take note of the work and to measure it, and their +verdict at the close of the day’s toil was that not only +had the promised ten miles been constructed, but that the +measurement showed two hundred feet over! And this, on the +words of an authority, is how it was done:—When the car +loaded with rails came to the end of the track, the two outer +rails on either side were seized with iron nippers, hauled +forward off the car, and laid on the ties by four men who +attended exclusively to this work. Over these rails the +cars were pushed forward and the process repeated. Then +came a gang of men who half-drove the spikes and screwed on the +fish-plates on the dropped rails. At a short interval +behind these came a gang of Chinamen, who drove home the spikes +already inserted and added the rest. A second squad of +Chinamen followed, two deep, on each side of the single track, +the inner men carrying shovels and the outer men wielding picks, +their duty being to ballast the track. Every movement was +thus carefully arranged, and there was no loss of time. The +average rate of speed at which the work was done was 1 min. +47½ secs. to every 240 feet of perfected track. +There was, of course, an army of <!-- page 227--><a +name="page227"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 227</span>disciplined +helpers, whose duty it was to bring up the materials. In +this great feat of construction more than four thousand men found +employment in various capacities. When they had carried +their line four miles further east, the Central and the Union men +met each other, the point of connection being known as +Promontory. Afterwards the two companies made an +arrangement whereby the Union Pacific relinquished fifty-three +miles of road to the Central, thus fixing on Ogden as the western +terminus of the one line and the eastern terminus of the +other. The popular belief is that the fifty-three miles +were obtained by the Central Pacific directors as an +acknowledgement of the greater engineering difficulties they had +to overcome in laying their part of the track, and that they +served a handicapping purpose at the end of this wonderful +railroad competition.</p> +<p>The placing of the final tie on the Pacific lines, as has been +hinted, was a ceremonious undertaking. The event took place +on Monday, March 10th, 1869. Representatives were present +from almost every part of the Union, and the construction +parties, not yet wholly dispersed, made up a greater crowd than +had been seen at Promontory before or is likely ever to be seen +there again—for, with the fixing of the termini at another +point, the glory of the place has departed. The connecting +tie had been made of California laurel. It was beautifully +polished, and bore a series of inscribed silver plates. The +tie was carefully placed, and over it the rails were laid by +picked men on behalf of each company. The spikes were then +inserted—one of gold, silver, and iron, from Arizona; +another of silver, from Nevada; and a third of gold, from +California. President Stanford, of the Central Pacific, +armed with a hammer of solid silver, drove the last spike, the +blow falling precisely at noon, and the news of the completion of +the road being flashed abroad as it fell. Then the two +locomotives, one from the west and the other from the east, drew +up to each other on the single line, coming into gentle +collision, that they in their way, in the pleasing conceit of +their drivers, might symbolise the fraternisation that went +on. It does not spoil the story of the ceremony to state +that the laurel tie, with its inscriptions and its magnificent +mountings, <!-- page 228--><a name="page228"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 228</span>was only formally laid, and that it +became from that day a relic to be officially cherished; and it +should be added that the more serviceable tie which replaced it +was cut into fragments by men eager to have some memento of the +occasion. Other ties for a time shared the same fate, until +splinters of what was claimed to be “the last tie +laid” became as common as pieces of the Wellington boots +the great commander is said to have left behind him at +Waterloo.</p> +<p>With the junction of the two lines, it became possible to make +safely in one week an overland journey that not many years before +required months in its execution, and was attended by many +hardships and dangers. It was, however, a route better +known even in the days when the legend of the pilgrims over it +was “Pike’s Peak or bust!” than is the region +crossed by the new southern line. This line opens up what +is practically an undiscovered and an unsettled country, but the +region traversed has been ascertained to be so rich in resources +as to fully justify the heavy expenditure involved in the +construction of the line. In another year the line will +become a powerful agent in the development of the Union, for it +will then be connected with the lines that run through Texas into +Louisiana, and New Orleans and San Francisco will be brought into +direct communication with each other. This, in fact, has +been a prominent object in the undertaking. The effect of +it will be to cheapen the tariff on goods from the Pacific Coast +to Europe, and will, it is believed, have the effect of +controlling a large share of the Asiatic trade.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Leeds Mercury</i>, April +23rd, 1881.</p> +<h2>MARRIAGE AND RAILWAY DIVIDENDS.</h2> +<p>Marriage would not seem to have any close connection with +railroad traffic, but we find an officer of an East Indian +railroad company explaining a falling off in the passenger +receipts of the year (1874) by the fact that it was a +“twelfth year,” which is regarded by the Hindoos as +so unfavourable to marriage that no one, or scarcely any one, is +married. And, as weddings are the great occasions in Hindoo +life when there is great pomp and a general gathering together of +friends, they cause a great deal of travelling.</p> +<h2><!-- page 229--><a name="page229"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 229</span>SECURITY FOR TRAVELLING.</h2> +<p>A civil engineer, of long experience in connection with +railways, gives some reassuring statements as to the precautions +taken in keeping the lines in order. The majority of +accidents occur, not from defects in the line, but from +imperfections in the living agents who have charge of the signals +and other arrangements of trains in transit. The engineer +says:—“To begin at the bottom, we have the ganger of +the ‘beat,’ a man selected from the waymen after +several years’ service for his aptitude and steadiness, +whose duty it is to patrol his length of two or three miles every +morning, and to make good fastenings, etc., afterwards +superintending his gang in packing, replacing rails, sleepers, +and other necessary repairs. Over the ganger is the +inspector of permanent way, responsible for the gangers doing +their duty, who generally goes over all his district once a day +on the engine, and walks one or more gangers’ beats. +The inspectors, again, are under the district superintendent or +engineer, who makes frequent inspections both by walking and on +the engine. The ganger, if in want of men or materials, +reports to his inspector, who, if they are required, sends a +requisition to the engineer, keeping a small stock at his +head-quarters to supply urgent demands. The engineer in his +turn keeps the whole in harmony, sanctioning the employment of +the necessary men, and ordering the materials, the only check +upon the number of men or quantity of materials being the total +half-yearly expenditure. Directors never within my +experience grudge an outlay necessary to keep the line in good +order; but, should they limit the expenditure from financial +motives, it would then clearly be the duty of the engineer to +recommend a reduction of speed to a safe point. +Occasionally, idle gangers are met with, who are always asking +for more men, and as naturally meeting with refusal.</p> +<h2>THE NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY.</h2> +<p>Lord Lymington, M.P., relates the following amusing tale of +his experience with an inquiring and hospitable gentleman in +Arkansas:—“He introduced himself to me very kindly on +learning that I was a traveller and an Englishman, <!-- page +230--><a name="page230"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +230</span>and offered me the hospitalities of the town. It +was very obliging of him, but unfortunately I could not stay, so +we had a chat while I was waiting for the train. During +this chat his eye fell on a portmanteau of mine which I had +caused to be marked, for convenience sake and easy +identification, with the cabalistic figures 120. This he +scanned for some time with ill-concealed curiosity, and finally, +turning to me, said rather abruptly, ‘If I am not mistaken, +you are a nobleman, are you not?’ I admitted that +such was my unhappy lot. ‘Then,’ he said, +‘I presume that number there on your valise is what they +call in the nobility armorial bearings, is it not—in fact, +your crest?’ ‘Hardly that,’ I modestly +replied. ‘A number is only borne as a crest, I +believe, by much more illustrious persons—for example, the +Beast in the Apocalypse.’ ‘Oh!’ he +replied, and then, after meditating a moment or two, asked, +‘Have your family been long in England?’ +‘Yes,’ I said, ‘they have been there for some +time. But why do you ask?’ ‘Perhaps the +number refers,’ he replied, ‘to the number of +generations, just as they recite them in the Old Testament, you +know?’ ‘Yes,’ I unhesitatingly and with +prompt mendacity replied, ‘that is exactly it, and I +don’t see how you hit it so cleverly.’ He +smiled all over with delight as the train rushed up, and waved +kind farewells to me as long as we were in sight.”</p> +<h2>ENGINE DRIVING.</h2> +<p>But the regulator once in his hand, the engine-driver has only +begun his experience. He goes through an apprenticeship +with different varieties of engines. He must pick up what +knowledge he can himself, and he must always be on the alert to +benefit from the experience of others. The locomotive in +its varying “moods” must be his constant study, and +he must work it so that he shall not infringe more than an +average share of a multiplicity of rules and regulations. +The best position in the service, apart from that of +superintendence, is in the driving of an express engine, and the +greatest honour that can be conferred on an engine-driver is to +select him to take charge of the locomotive on a Royal +train. Only the best men are picked out to drive the Queen, +and the best engine on the road is <!-- page 231--><a +name="page231"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 231</span>detailed +for the Royal service; and although on those occasions railway +officials, who are the superiors of the driver, get on the +foot-boards, the latter is for the time being master of the +situation. Should the locomotive superintendent dictate to +him, it would be to confess that the driver was unworthy of his +high trust, and so the superintendent is content to look on; but +it is the contentment born of the conviction that he has chosen +for the task a driver whose experience is great, and whose +watchfulness and care and knowledge of enginery have given him a +claim to the chief service his company has for him. Not +that there is any more risk in running the Queen’s train +than in running an ordinary passenger express. In fact, the +risk is reduced to a minimum. A pilot engine has gone +before to keep the way clear. The pilot engine is fifteen +minutes in advance of the Royal carriages at every station, and +the space travelled over in that fifteen minutes is kept free and +unobstructed. The speed of the train is carefully +regulated, and amongst other provisions for security the siding +points are for the moment spiked. Every crossing gate is +guarded from the time of the passage of the advance engine until +the train follows in its wake. Everything is done to make +the Royal journey over a railroad a safe one. Such +arrangements, however, if they add to the responsibility, +heighten also the pride a man feels in being the Queen’s +driver.</p> +<p>So far as the companies are concerned, it may be said that +there is a fair field and no favour all the way from the fire-box +in the cleaning-shed up to the footboard on the locomotive that +takes Her Majesty from Windsor to Ballater. Promotion comes +practically as a result of competitive examination. The +mistake of a weak appointment is soon rectified, and the +precautions taken to test a man’s capacity in one grade +before raising him to another are an absolute barrier to +incompetence. But there are circumstances under which a +man’s chances are weakened. His responsibilities make +him liable for the faults of others, and mistakes of this kind go +to his discredit. Then if he is not companionable, or is +over-confident, tricks may be played which will prevent his going +forward as rapidly as he otherwise would. Mr. Reynolds +tells the story of a <!-- page 232--><a name="page232"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 232</span>driver who had come to a dead stop +on a journey because he was short of steam. The cause was a +mystery. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the engine +or the fire, and apparently the boiler was also in trim. It +was eventually found that some one had put soft soap in the +tender, and the water there being hot, the soap was gradually +dissolved and introduced into the boiler, with the result that +the grease covered the tubes, and together with the suds +prevented the transmission of heat to the water. An enemy +had done this, but under the rules the driver was responsible for +his engine, and he was suspended; only, however, to be reinstated +when once the mischief was traced to the perpetrator. Even +an act which to the ordinary spectator is a marvellous example of +presence of mind may, interpreted by the company’s rules, +be an offence on the part of the engine-driver. An engine +attached to a train broke from the tender in the course of its +journey, and became separated. Noticing the mishap, the +driver slackened speed, allowed the tender and carriages to come +up, and while the train was still in motion he and the fireman +adroitly secured the runaway, and no harm was done. The men +interested did not think it advisable to report the +occurrence. But the clever management of the engine had +been noticed by a peasant in a field, and Hodge, in his +wonderment, began to talk about the affair all round the +country-side. Then the story found its way to a station +master, and thence to headquarters, and an inquiry brought the +matter to light, and ended in the two men being advised not to do +the same thing again. It was held that under the +circumstances the train should have been stopped.</p> +<h2>ENGINE DRIVERS’ PRESENCE OF MIND.</h2> +<p>An able writer upon railway topics remarks:—“I +have alluded to a driver’s coolness and resolution in an +accident, but no chronicle ever has or ever will be written which +will tell one tithe of the accidents which the courage and +presence of mind of these men have averted. A railway ran +over a river—indeed, it might be called an arm of the sea: +as it was the inlet to an important harbour, provision was +obliged to be made for the shipping, and so the piece of line +which crossed the water, at a height of seventy feet, was, in +fact, <!-- page 233--><a name="page233"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 233</span>a bridge which swung round when +large vessels had to pass. I need hardly say that such a +point was carefully guarded. At each end, at a fitting +distance, a man was placed specially to indicate whether the +bridge was open or shut. One day, as the express was +tearing along on its up journey, the driver received the usual +‘all right’ signal; but to his horror, on coming in +full sight of the bridge, he found it was wide open, and a gulf +of fatal depth yawning before him. He sounded his +brake-whistle, that deep-toned scream which signals the guard, +and he and his fireman held on, as before described, to the brake +and regulator. The speed of the train was, of course, +checked; but so short was the interval, so great had been the +impetus, that it seemed almost impossible to prevent the whole +train from going over into the chasm. Had the rails been in +the least degree slippery, any of the brakes out of order, or the +driver less determined, there would then have occurred the most +fearful railway accident ever known in England; but by dint of +quick decision and cool courage the danger was averted; the train +was brought to a standstill when the buffers of the engine +absolutely and literally overhung the chasm. Three yards +more, and a different result might have had to be chronicled.</p> +<p>“Some of my readers may remember an incident in railway +history which dates back to our first great Exhibition. I +mention it here for its singularity, and for my having known the +driver whose coolness was so marked. In ascending a very +long gradient, the hindmost carriages of the train snapped their +couplings when at the top; the engine rattled on with the +remainder, while these ran down the slope, which was several +miles in length, with a velocity which, of course, increased +every moment. To make matters worse, the next train on the +same line was comparatively close behind, and, in fact, shortly +came in sight. The driver of this second train, a watchful +and experienced hand, saw the carriages rushing towards him, and +divined that they were on the same line. If he continued +steaming on, of course, in a couple of minutes he would come into +direct collision with them, while, on the other hand, if he ran +back, the carriages would probably gather such way that they +would leap from the bank. So, with great presence <!-- page +234--><a name="page234"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 234</span>of +mind and wonderful judgment of speed, he ran back at a pace not +quite as fast as the carriages were approaching, so that +eventually they overtook him, and struck his moving engine with a +blow that was scarcely more perceptible than the jar usually +communicated by coupling on a fresh carriage. When this was +done, all the rest was easy; he resumed his down journey, and +pushed the frightened passengers safely before him until they +reached their destination, where the officials, as may readily be +supposed, were in a state of frantic despair at the loss of half +the train.”</p> +<h2>A SMUGGLING LOCOMOTIVE.</h2> +<p>A singular adaptation of the locomotive has just been made in +Russia. Information having been given to the authorities at +Alexandrovo, on the Polish frontier, that the locomotive of the +express leaving that station for Warsaw had been ingeniously +converted into a receptacle for smuggled goods, it was carefully +examined during its sojourn at the station. Though nothing +was found wrong, it was deemed advisable that a custom-house +official should accompany the train to its destination, when the +engine furnace and boiler were emptied and deliberately taken to +pieces. In the interior was discovered a secret compartment +containing one hundred and twenty-three pounds of foreign cigars +and several parcels of valuable silk. Several arrests were +made, including that of the driver; but his astonishment at +finding the engine to which he had been so long accustomed +converted into a hardened offender against the laws was so +genuine that he was released and allowed to return to his +duties.</p> +<h2>THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY.</h2> +<p>An English lady accustomed to travelling abroad, and able to +converse fluently in the languages of the countries she visited, +recently found herself alone in a railway carriage in Germany, +when two foreigners entered with pipes in their mouths, smoking +strong tobacco furiously. She quietly told them in their +own language that it was not a smoking carriage, but they +persisted in continuing to <!-- page 235--><a +name="page235"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 235</span>smoke, +remarking that it was “the custom of the country,” +upon which the lady took from her pocket a pair of gloves and +commenced cleaning them with benzoline. Her +fellow-passengers expressed their disgust at the nauseous +effluvium, when she remarked that it was the custom of her +country. She was soon left in the sole possession of the +carriage.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Truth</i>.</p> +<h2>AN INSULTED WOMAN.</h2> +<p>Mark Twain in his interesting work “A Tramp +Abroad,” thus refers to a railroad +incident:—“We left Turin at 10 the next morning by a +railway, which was profusely decorated with tunnels. We +forgot to take a lantern along, consequently we missed all the +scenery. Our compartment was full. A ponderous, +tow-headed, Swiss woman, who put on many fine-lady airs, but was +evidently more used to washing linen than wearing it, sat in a +corner seat and put her legs across into the opposite one, +propping them intermediately with her up-ended valise. In +the seat thus pirated sat two Americans, greatly incommoded by +that woman’s majestic coffin-clad feet. One of them +begged her, politely, to remove them. She opened her wide +eyes and gave him a stare, but answered nothing. By-and-by +he preferred his request again, with great respectfulness. +She said, in good English, and in a deeply offended tone, that +she had paid her passage and was not going to be bullied out of +her ‘rights’ by ill-bred foreigners, even if she +<i>was</i> alone and unprotected.</p> +<p>“‘But I have rights also, madam. My ticket +entitles me to a seat, but you are occupying half of +it.’</p> +<p>“‘I will not talk with you, sir. What right +have you to speak to me? I do not know you. One would +know that you come from a land where there are no +gentlemen. No <i>gentleman</i> would treat a lady as you +have treated me.’</p> +<p>“‘I come from a land where a lady would hardly +give me the same provocation.’</p> +<p>“‘You have insulted me, sir! You have +intimated that I am not a lady—and I hope I am <i>not</i> +one, after the pattern of your country.’</p> +<p><!-- page 236--><a name="page236"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +236</span>“‘I beg that you will give yourself no +alarm on that head, madam but at the same time I must +insist—always respectfully—that you let me have my +seat.’</p> +<p>“Here the fragile laundress burst into tears and +sobs.</p> +<p>“‘I never was so insulted before! Never, +never! It is shameful, it is brutal, it is base, to bully +and abuse an unprotected lady who has lost the use of her limbs +and cannot put her feet to the floor without agony!’</p> +<p>“‘Good heavens, madam, why didn’t you say +that at first! I offer a thousand pardons. And I +offer them most sincerely. I did not know—I +<i>could</i> not know—that anything was the matter. +You are most welcome to the seat, and would have been from the +first if I had only known. I am truly sorry it all +happened, I do assure you.’</p> +<p>“But he couldn’t get a word of forgiveness out of +her. She simply sobbed and snuffled in a subdued but wholly +unappeasable way for two long hours, meantime crowding the man +more than ever with her undertaker-furniture, and paying no sort +of attention to his frequent and humble little efforts to do +something for her comfort. Then the train halted at the +Italian line, and she hopped up and marched out of the car with +as firm a leg as any washerwoman of all her tribe! And how +sick I was to see how she had fooled me!”</p> +<h2>DISSATISFIED PASSENGERS.</h2> +<p>Any one wanting a fair and yet amusing account of what really +occurs to a person travelling in America should read G. A. +Sala’s book called <i>America Revisited</i>. He +speaks of a gentleman from the Eastern States whom he met in the +train across the continent, and who thus held forth upon the +difference between reality and guide-books:—</p> +<p>“There ain’t no bottling up of things about +me. This overland journey’s a fraud, and you oughter +know it. Don’t tell me. It’s a +fraud. This Ring must be busted up. Where are your +buffalers? Perhaps you’ll tell me that them cows is +buffalers. They ain’t. Where are your prairie +dogs? They ain’t dogs to begin with, they’re +squirrels. Ain’t you ashamed to call the mean little +cusses dogs? But where are they? There ain’t +none. Where are your grizzlies? You might have +imported a few grizzlies <!-- page 237--><a +name="page237"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 237</span>to keep up +the name of your railroad. Where are your herds of +antelopes scudding before the advancing train? Nary an +antelope have you got for to scud. Rocky Mountains, +sir? They ain’t rocky at all—they’re as +flat as my hand. Where are your savage gorges? I +can’t see none. Where are your wild injuns? Do +you call them loafing tramps in dirty blankets, injuns? My +belief is that they are greasers looking out for an engagement as +song and dance men. They’re ‘beats,’ sir, +‘dead beats,’ they’re ‘pudcocks,’ +and you oughter be told so.”</p> +<p>Another passenger in the train with Mr. Sala was of a poetic +mind, and he softly sang to himself during the whole journey over +the Rocky Mountains the following effusion:—</p> +<blockquote><p> Beautiful +snow,<br /> + Beautiful snow,<br /> + B-e-e-e-eautiful snow,<br /> +How I’d like to have a revolver and go<br /> +For the beast that wrote about beautiful snow.</p> +</blockquote> +<h2>COPY OF A NOTICE.</h2> +<p>The following is a verbatim copy of a notice exhibited at +Welsh railway station. It is, perhaps, only a little more +incomprehensible than Bradshaw. “List of Booking: You +passengers must careful. For have them level money for +ticket and to apply at once for asking tickets when will booking +window open. No tickets to have after the departure of the +trains.”</p> +<h2>SNOWED UP ON THE PACIFIC RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>A writer in the <i>Leisure Hour</i> remarks:—“It +is no joke when a town like New York or London is blocked up for +a few hours by snow. Both labour and capital have then to +submit to a strike from nature; but it is a more serious matter +when a man is snowed up in the middle of the Pacific +Railway. He is not then kept at home, but kept away from +it; he is not in the midst of comforts, but most unpleasantly out +of their reach. He may, too, have to endure his privations +and annoyances for a week, or even a month. . . Avalanches, +in spite of snow-sheds and galleries, spring into ravines which +the trains have to cross. . . . It was, however, with some +little alarm <!-- page 238--><a name="page238"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 238</span>that the writer found himself +caverned for a considerable time under one of these dark +snow-sheds. The difficulty of running through the snow +impediments had so exhausted the fuel that it was necessary to go +to a wood-station in the mountains. As it was the favourite +resort of avalanches, the prudent conductor of our train directed +the pilot to back the carriages into a snow-shed, and then be off +the more quickly with engine and tender for a supply of +fuel. It was bitterly cold and in the dead of night. +The snow was piled up around the gallery, and had in many places +penetrated through the crevices. The silence was +profound. The sense of utter loneliness and desolation was +complete. The return of the engine after a lengthened +absence was a relief, like the spring sun following an arctic +winter.</p> +<p>“The first parties snowed up were wholly +unprepared. They had had their dollar meal at the last +station, and were far enough from the next when fixed in the +bank. It was, however, a rare harvest for the nearest +store. The necessity of some was the opportunity of +others. Food of inferior quality brought fabulous +prices. A dispute, involving a heavy wager, arose about one +article of fare. Was it antelope or not? The vendor +admitted that a very lean old cow had been sacrificed on the +pressing occasion.</p> +<p>“For a little while some fun was got out of the trouble +of snowed-up trains. Delicate attentions were tendered by +gentlemen as cooks’ mates to the ladies. Oyster-cans +were converted into culinary utensils, and telegraph wire proved +excellent material for gridirons. Many a joke was passed in +the train kitchen, and hearty was the appetite for the rude +viands thus rudely dressed. But when the food grew more +difficult to obtain, and the wood supply became less and less, +the mirth was considerably slackened. It is true that +despatches were sent off for help, and cargoes of provisions were +steamed up as near as the snow would permit; but it was hard work +to carry over the snow, and insufficient was the supply. +Frightful growlings arose from the men and sad lamentations from +the women. Short allowance of food, with intense cold, +could not be positively enjoyed any time; but to be cooped up +within snow walls in such a desolate region, far from expecting +friends or urgent business, was most annoying. One spoke of +absolute <!-- page 239--><a name="page239"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 239</span>necessity to be at his office within +the week, as heavy bills had to be prepared for. Another +was going about an important speculation, which would utterly +break down if he were detained three days. Alas! he was +there above three weeks.</p> +<p>“The sorrows of the heart were worse. A mother was +there hastening to nurse a sick daughter. A father had been +summoned to the dying bed of his son. A husband was hoping +to clasp again a wife from whom a long voyage had separated +him. One poor fellow was an especial object of +sympathy. He was hastening to an anxiously waiting +bride. He had to cool the ardour of his passion in the +snow-bound car, and pass the day appointed for his wedding in +shivering reflections. In one of the snow depths was +detained an interesting couple who had casually met on the +western side and were obeying the mandate of the heart and of +friends in proceeding to the east to effect their happy +union. The three weeks they were compelled to pass +together, under these cold and trying circumstances, must have +given them a famous insight into each other’s character, +and this before the knot was tied.</p> +<p>“The story is told of one resolute man who, though but +newly married, had been compelled to take a business +journey. He was most impatient to return home, and was +awhile confounded with his unfortunate imprisonment. When +he found that little chance existed for an early escape, his +heart prompted him to a bold enterprise. He was still two +hundred miles from home. He had no guide before him but the +telegraph posts. He could expect little provision on the +way, as the stations were frozen up; but, sustained by conjugal +affection, the good fellow set off on his lonely walk over the +snow. Notwithstanding terrible sufferings, and some free +fighting with wolves, he did his march in five days only. +What a greeting he deserved!</p> +<p>“Those who had not his courage and strength were +compelled to endure the cars. Americans are not folks to +whine about a trouble; they succeed so often that their faith is +strong. Though the most luxurious of people, the +men—and the women too—can bear reverses nobly. +But they never dream of Oriental submissiveness. They +struggle hard to rise, and make the best of things till a change +comes. <!-- page 240--><a name="page240"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 240</span>So with those in the cars. +They soon found amusements; they chatted and laughed, played +games and sang; the best jokes were recollected and repeated, and +the liveliest tales were told; charades were acted; a judge and +jury scene afforded much amusement; lectures were given to +approving assemblies. The Sundays were decently observed, +and services were held morning and evening; reading was dispensed +with, and the sermons were extempore perforce.</p> +<p>“The worst part of their sufferings came when for +forty-eight hours they were under a snow-shed without light, and +with the stoves empty. As, for the maintenance of warmth, +every crevice in the cars was stopped, the misery of close and +unwholesome atmosphere was added to their sorrows. The +writer, as an old traveller, has had some experience of odd +sleeping dens, and has been obliged at times to inhale a +pestiferous air, though he has never endured so much from this +discomfort as in his winter passage on the Pacific Railway. +For hours in the long nights, as well as in the day, he preferred +standing outside on the platform, with the thermometer from +fifteen to twenty-five below zero, rather than encounter the foul +atmosphere and stifling heat within.</p> +<p>“Meanwhile the brave Chinamen were summoned to the +rescue. They are capital fellows to withstand the cold, and +work with a will to clear a passage. For a distance of two +hundred miles the blockade existed, and several trains were thus +caught on the way. Eight hundred freight wagons were +detained at Cheyenne. At one period the cold was 30° +below zero. The worst part of the road was toward Sherman, +8,252 feet above the sea. Wyoming and West Nebraska were +the coldest regions.</p> +<p>“In this great blockade, strange to say, the mortality +was but small. Three died during the imprisonment, and two +in consequence of cold. But an interesting compensation was +made, for five births took place in this season of trial. +The principal sufferers were those in the second-class +carriages. Room, however, was made for the more delicate in +the already crowded first-class cars.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 241--><a name="page241"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 241</span>A SELL.</h2> +<p>The <i>Indianapolis News</i> is responsible for the following +story. A railroad official of Indianapolis had, among other +passes, one purporting to carry him freely over the Warren and +Tonawanda Narrow-Gauge Railway. Happening to be near +Warren, he thought he would use this pass. Now, it appears +that some enterprising citizens of Pennsylvania once proposed to +lay a pipe-line for petroleum between Warren and Tonawanda. +The Legislature having refused to sanction their scheme, they +“engineered” a bill for building a narrow-gauge line, +which passed, the oil capitalists not conceiving that they had +any interest in opposing it. It is needless to say the +narrow-gauge line was the “desiderated +pipe-line.” The enterprising citizens carried their +joke so far as to issue annual passes over the road, receiving +others in return. When the traveller sought for the Warren +station on this line he found a chimney, and for the narrow-gauge +an iron-lined hole in the ground. It is hardly surprising +that now he is moved to anger at the slightest reference to the +“Warren and Tonawanda Narrow Gauge.”</p> +<h2>AT FAULT.</h2> +<p>It is rather a serious matter that our public companies, and +especially our railway companies, are doing their best to degrade +our language. I am not going to be squeamish and object +strongly to the use of the word <i>Metropolitan</i>, though I +think it indefensible. Still, it is too bad of them to +persist in using the word <i>bye-laws</i> for +<i>by-laws</i>—so establishing solidly a shocking +error. The word <i>bye</i> has no existence in England +except as short for <i>be with you</i>, in the phrase +<i>Good-bye</i>. The so called by-laws are simple laws by +the other laws, and have nothing to do with any form of +salutation. In a bill of the Great Western Railway I find +the announcement that tickets obtained in London on any day from +December 20th to 24th will be available for use on <i>either</i> +of those days—this <i>either</i> meaning the five days from +the 20th December to the 24th inclusive. Either of +five! After this I am not surprised that, in a contribution +of my own to a daily paper, the editor gravely altered the <!-- +page 242--><a name="page242"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +242</span>phrase <i>the last-named</i>, applied to one of three +people, to <i>latter</i>. In a railway advertisement I read +a day or two ago, “From whence.” Now, what is +the good of such fine words as <i>whence</i> and <i>thence</i> if +they are thus to be ill-used? Surely the railway companies +might have some one capable of seeing that their grammar has some +pretence to correctness.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Gentleman’s +Magazine</i>.</p> +<h2>A WIDOW’S CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION.</h2> +<p>Some time ago a railway collision on one of the roads leading +out of New York killed, among others, a passenger living in an +interior town. His remains were sent home, and a few days +after the funeral the attorney of the road called upon the widow +to effect a settlement. She placed her figures at twenty +thousand dollars. “Oh! that sum is +unreasonable,” replied the attorney. “Your +husband was nearly fifty years old.” “Yes, +sir.” “And lame?” +“Yes.” “And his general health was +poor?” “Quite poor.” “And he +probably would not have lived over five years?” +“Probably not, sir.” “Then it seems to me +that two or three thousand dollars would be a fair +compensation.” “Two or three thousand!” +she echoed. “Why, sir, I courted that man for ten +years, run after him for ten more, and then had to chase him down +with a shotgun to get him before a preacher! Do you suppose +that I’m going to settle for the bare cost of shoe leather +and ammunition?”</p> +<h2>THE LADY AND HER LAP-DOG.</h2> +<p>The following scene occurred at the high-level Crystal Palace +line:—“A newspaper correspondent was amused at the +indignation of a lady against the porters who interfered to +prevent her taking her dog into the carriage. The lady +argued that Parliament had compelled the companies to find +separate carriages for smokers, and they ought to be further +compelled to have a separate carriage for ladies with lap-dogs, +and it was perfectly scandalous that they should be separated, +and a valuable dog, worth perhaps thirty or forty guineas, should +be put into a dog compartment. <!-- page 243--><a +name="page243"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 243</span>I have some +of the B stock of the railway, upon which not a penny has ever +been paid, and I could not help comparing my experience of this +particular line of railway with that of my fellow-traveller, and +wondering what sort of a train that would be which would provide +accommodation for all the wants and wishes of railway +travellers.”</p> +<h2>WHAT IS PASSENGERS’ LUGGAGE?</h2> +<p>A gentleman removing took with him on the Great Western +railway articles consisting of six pairs of blankets, six pairs +of sheets, and six counterpanes, valued at £16, belonging +to his household furniture. They were in a box, which was +put in the luggage van and lost. The question at law was +whether these articles came within the definition, +“ordinary passengers’ luggage,” for which, if +lost, the passenger could claim damages from the Company.</p> +<p>The judges of the Court of Queen’s Bench sitting in +Banco have decided that such is not personal luggage.</p> +<p>“Now,” (said the Lord Chief Justice) +“although we are far from saying that a pair of sheets or +the like taken by a passenger for his use on a journey might not +fairly be considered as personal luggage, it appears to us that a +quantity of articles of that description intended, not for the +use of the traveller on the journey, but for the use of his +household, when permanently settled, cannot be held to be +so.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Herepath’s Railway +Journal</i>, Jan. 10, 1871.</p> +<h2>CONVERSION OF THE GAUGE.</h2> +<p>The conversion of the gauge on the South Wales section of the +Great Western railway in 1872 was of the heaviest description, +the period of labour lasting from seventeen to eighteen hours a +day for several successive days. It was the greatest work +of its kind, and nothing exactly like it will ever be done in +England again. The lines of rail to be connected would have +made about 400 miles in single length, the number of men employed +was about 1500; and the time taken was two weeks nearly. +Oatmeal and barley water was made into a thin gruel and given to +the men as required. It was the only drink taken during the +day. I <!-- page 244--><a name="page244"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 244</span>had not a single case of drunkenness +or illness. I have often heard these men speak with great +approbation of the supporting power of oatmeal drink.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>J. W. Armstrong</i>, +<i>C.E.</i></p> +<h2>FOURTH-OF-JULY FACTS.</h2> +<p>At a banquet in Paris attended by Americans in celebration of +the late Fourth of July, Mr. Walker’s speech in reply to +the toast of the material prosperity of the United States and +France, and the establishment of closer commercial relations +between them, was especially striking and interesting. He +remarked, “In 1870 the cost of transporting food and +merchandise between the Western and Eastern States was from a +cent-and-a-half to two cents a ton a mile. I well remember +a conversation which I had in 1870 or 1871 with Mr. William B. +Ogden, of Chicago, one of the modest railway kings of that +primitive period. In a vein of sanguine prophecy, Mr. Ogden +exclaimed to me, ‘Mr. Walker, you will live to see freight +brought from Chicago to New York at a cent a ton a +mile!’ ‘Perhaps so,’ I replied; +‘but I fear this result will not be reached in my +time.’ In 1877 or 1878 the cost had fallen to +three-eighths of a cent a ton a mile, and although this price was +not remunerative, I was told by one of the highest authorities in +railway matters that five-eighths of a cent would be perfectly +satisfactory. The effect of this reduction in the cost of +transportation is precisely as though the unexhaustible grain +fields and pastures across the Mississippi had been moved bodily +eastward to the longitude of Ohio and Western New York. It +is estimated that it takes a quarter of a ton of bread and meat +to feed a grown man in Massachusetts for a year. The bread +and meat come to him from the far west, and I have no doubt that +it will astonish you to be told, as it lately astonished me, that +a single day of this man’s labour, even if it be of the +commonest sort, will pay for transporting his year’s +subsistence for a thousand miles.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 245--><a name="page245"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 245</span>TAY BRIDGE ACCIDENT.</h2> +<p>Dec. 28, 1879. A fearful disaster occurred in +Scotland. As the train from Edinburgh to Dundee was +crossing the bridge, two miles in length, which spans the mouth +of the Tay, a terrible hurricane struck the bridge, about four +hundred yards of which was, with the train, dashed into the sea +below. About seventy persons were in the train, of whom not +one escaped, nor, when the divers were able to descend, could a +single body be found in the carriages, or among the bridge +girders, and some days elapsed before any were recovered. +No conclusive evidence could be produced to show whether the +train was blown off the rails and so dragged the girders down, or +whether the bridge was blown away and the train ran into the +chasm thus made. The night was intensely dark, and the wind +more violent than had ever been known in the country.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Annual Register</i>, 1879.</p> +<h2>AN EXTRAORDINARY WAIF.</h2> +<p>The following is a translation from the Norwegian newspaper +<i>Morgenbledet</i>, dated Feb. 20th:—“By private +letter from Utsue, an island on the western coast of Norway, is +communicated to Dapposten the intelligence that on the 12th inst. +some fishermen pulled on the Firth to haul their nets, and had +hardly finished their labour when they sighted an extraordinary +object some distance further out. The superstitious fears +of sea monsters which have been written a good deal about lately +held them back for some time, but their curiosity made them +approach the supposed sea monster, and, to their great surprise, +they found that it was something like a building. As the +sea was calm they immediately commenced to tow it to shore, where +it was hauled up on the beach, and was then found to be a damaged +railway wagon. The wheels were off, the windows smashed, +and one door hanging on its hinges. By the name on it, +“Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway,” it was at once +surmised that it must have been one of the wagons separated from +the train which met with the disaster on the Tay Bridge. In +the carriage was a portmanteau containing garments, some of them +marked ‘P.B.’ The wagon was sent, on the 14th, +to Hangesund, to be forwarded thence to Bergen.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 246--><a name="page246"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 246</span>A RAILWAY SLEEPER.</h2> +<p>A railway pointsman, caught napping at his post and convicted +of wilful negligence, said to the gaoler who was about to lock +him up, “I always supposed that the safety of a railroad +depended on the soundness of its sleepers?” “So +it does,” replied the gaoler, “but such sleepers are +never safe unless they are bolted in.”</p> +<h2>NOT TO BE CAUGHT.</h2> +<p>The following incident is said to have occurred on the North +London Railway:—Some time ago a passenger remarked, in the +hearing of one of the company’s servants, how easy it was +to “do” the company, and said, “I often travel +from Broad Street to Dalston Junction without a +ticket—anyone can do it—I did it +yesterday.” When he alighted he was followed by the +official, who asked him how it was done. For a +consideration he agreed to tell him. This being given, +“Now,” said the inquirer, “how did you go from +Broad Street to Dalston Junction yesterday without a +ticket?” “Oh,” was the reply, “I +walked.”</p> +<h2>THE DOCTOR AND THE OFFICERS.</h2> +<p>The following is rather a good story from the Emerald +Isle:—A doctor and his wife got into a train +near—well, we will not say where. In the same +carriage with the doctor were two strange officers. The +doctor’s wife got into another compartment of the same +train, the doctor not having seen his wife in the hurry, neither +knew that they were travelling by the same train until both had +got into different carriages. Said one of the officers to +his companion, “That is the ugliest woman I ever +saw.” “She is,” replied the Son of +Mars. “I should not like to be obliged to kiss +her,” responded the first speaker. “I should +not mind doing it,” sullenly said the doctor. +“You never would, sir, think of such a thing,” said +the officer. “I’ll bet you a sovereign I +will,” answered the man of “pills and +potions.” “Done,” said the officer. +So when they all got out at the station, the doctor went forward +and kissed his wife, and won his sovereign—the +easiest-earned fee he had ever received. The officers +looked rather astonished when he presented his wife to them.</p> +<h2><!-- page 247--><a name="page247"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 247</span>THE BOTHERED QUEEN’S +COUNSEL.</h2> +<p>Mr. Merewether, Q.C., got into the train one morning with a +whole batch of briefs and a talkative companion. He wanted +to go through his briefs, but his companion would not let him +work. He tried silence, he tried grunting, he tried +sarcasm. At length, when they came to Hanwell, the gossip +hit upon the unfortunate remark, “How well the asylum looks +from the railway!” “Pray, sir,” replied +Mr. Merewether, “how does the railway look from the +asylum?” The man was silent.</p> +<h2>A BRAVE ENGINE DRIVER.</h2> +<p>An American contemporary says:—“John Bull, of +Galion (Ohio), ought to have his name recorded in an enduring +way, for few have ever behaved so nobly as that engine driver of +the New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio railroad. As he was +driving a passenger train last month he found that, through +somebody’s blunder, a freight train was approaching on the +same track, and a collision was inevitable. He could have +saved his own life by leaping from the engine, but, dismissing +all thoughts of himself, he resolved to try and save the +passengers committed to his care. So he reversed the engine +and set the air-brakes, and then put on full steam, started the +locomotive ahead, broke the coupling attached to the train, and +dashed on to receive the shock of the collision. The +passengers escaped all injury, while the brave engineer was so +badly hurt that he died in a few hours. Such heroism as +this should not go unnoticed.” The <i>Cincinnati +Inquirer</i> says: “He remained in the car until the engine +leaped into the air and was dashed into the ditch, when he +attempted to spring to the ground, but had his foot caught +between the frames of the engine and tender, striking his head on +the ground and causing the fatal injuries. Railroad men say +that the act of detaching the engine as he did, not even +derailing the baggage car with his engine at the high rate of +speed, and all in 150 feet, is without parallel in +railroading. A purse of 500 dollars was raised by the +grateful passengers. The body has been shipped to Galion +for burial.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 248--><a name="page248"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 248</span>AN INDUSTRIOUS BISHOP.</h2> +<p>In noticing the “Life of the Rt. Rev. Samuel +Wilberforce, D.D., Lord Bishop of Oxford, and afterwards of +Winchester,” a writer in the <i>Athenæum</i> +remarks:—“Busy he was, both in Oxford and in London, +and his correspondence with all kinds of people was unusually +large. A large proportion of his letters were written in +the railway train, and dated from ‘near’ this town, +or ‘between’ this and that. We remember to have +heard from one who was his companion in a railway carriage that +before the journey was half-finished the adjoining seat was +littered with envelopes of letters which he had read, and with +the answers he had written since he started. All this +undeniably shows energy and determination, and power to +work.”</p> +<h2>COOL IMPUDENCE AND DISHONESTY.</h2> +<p>Some days since, the trains of the North London Railway were +all late, and consequently every platform was crowded. At +one of the stations an unfortunate passenger attempted to enter +an already over-crowded first-class compartment, but one of the +occupants stoutly resisted the intrusion. Thereupon, the +unfortunate one said, “I will soon settle this,” and +called the guard to the carriage door. He then requested +the official to ask two of the occupants to produce their +tickets, which proved to be third-class ones. In spite of +the delinquents protesting there was no room in the train +elsewhere, they were ejected, and the unfortunate one took their +place. The other passengers were naturally rather +indignant; and, seeing this, the successful intruder quietly +said, “I am very sorry to have had to turn those two +gentlemen out, especially as I have heard them say they were +already late for an important engagement in the city; and I am +all the more sorry, seeing that I only hold a third-class ticket +myself.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Truth</i>.</p> +<h2>THE BOOKING-CLERK AND BUCKLAND.</h2> +<p>Mr. Frank Buckland had been in France and was returning via +Southampton, with an overcoat stuffed with natural history +specimens of all sorts, dead and alive. <!-- page 249--><a +name="page249"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 249</span>Among them +was a monkey, which was domiciled in a large inside +breast-pocket. As Buckland was taking his ticket, Jocko +thrust up his head and attracted the attention of the +booking-clerk, who immediately—and very +properly—said, “You must take a ticket for that dog, +if it’s going with you.” “Dog,” +said Buckland, “it’s no dog, it’s a +monkey.” “It is a dog,” replied the +clerk. “It’s a monkey,” retorted +Buckland, and proceeded to show the whole animal, but without +convincing the clerk, who insisted on five shillings for the +dog-ticket to London. Nettled at this, Buckland plunged his +hand into another pocket and produced a tortoise, and laying it +on the sill of the ticket window said, “Perhaps +you’ll call that a dog too.” The clerk +inspected the tortoise. “No,” said he, +“we make no charge for them—they’re +insects.”</p> +<h2>REMARKABLE RESCUE OF A CHILD.</h2> +<p>An engineer on a locomotive going across the western prairie +day after day, saw a little child come out in front of a cabin +and wave to him, so he got in the habit of waving back to the +child, and it was the day’s joy to see this little one come +out in front of the cabin door and wave to him while he answered +back. One day the train was belated, and it came on to the +dusk of the evening. As the engineer stood at his post he +saw by the headlight that little girl on the track, wondering why +the train did not come, looking for the train, knowing nothing of +her peril. A great horror seized upon the engineer. +He reversed the engine. He gave it in charge of the other +man, and then he climbed over the engine, and he came down on the +cowcatcher. He said though he had reversed the engine, it +seemed as though it were going at lightning speed, faster and +faster, though it was really slowing up, and with almost +supernatural clutch he caught the child by the hair and lifted it +up, and when the train stopped, and the passengers gathered +around to see what was the matter, there the old engineer lay, +fainted dead away, the little child alive and in his swarthy +arms.</p> +<h2><!-- page 250--><a name="page250"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 250</span>FEMALE FRAGILITY.</h2> +<p>There was a time when American women prided themselves on +their fragility. To be healthy, strong or plump was thought +to be the height of vulgarity, and refinement was held to be +inseparable from leanness and consumption. These views +still obtain—so it is said—in Boston, and especially +in Bostonian literary circles; but elsewhere the American woman +is growing plump and healthy, and is actually proud of it. +While wise men are heartily glad of this change in female +sentiment and tissue, it must be admitted that there is one form +of feminine fragility which has its value. There is a rare +condition of the bony system in which the bones are so fragile +that the slightest blow is sufficient to break them. A baby +thus afflicted cannot be handled, even by the most experienced +mother, without danger; and a man with fragile bones is so liable +to be broken, that there is sometimes no safety for him outside +of a glass case. The late Mrs. Baker—for that was her +latest name—was not so fragile that she could not be +handled by a careful man, but still a very light blow would +usually break her. She did not share the Bostonian opinion +of the vulgarity of strength, but she was, nevertheless, very +proud of her fragility, and by its aid her husband managed to +amass a comfortable fortune within three years after their +marriage. She is perhaps the only fragile woman on record +of whom it can be said that her whole value consisted in her +fragility, but, as her story shows, her fragility was the sole +capital invested in her husband’s business. In +January, 1870, Mrs. Baker—then a single woman, as to whose +maiden name there is some uncertainty—was married to Mr. +Wheelwright—James G. Wheelwright, of Worcester, Mass. +Her husband married her on account of her well-known fragility, +but he treated her with such kindness that in the whole course of +their married life he never once broke her, even by +accident. In February, 1870, the Wheelwrights removed to +Utica, N.Y., and one day Mr. Wheelwright took his wife to the +railway station, and had her break her leg in a small hole on the +platform. He at once sued the railway company for 10,000 +dols., being the value set by himself on his wife’s leg, +and ten days <!-- page 251--><a name="page251"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 251</span>afterwards accepted 5,000 dols. as a +compromise, and withdrew the suit The Wheelwrights left Utica in +June, 1870, and in the following August the dutiful Mrs. +Wheelwright, who now called herself Mrs. Thomas, broke her other +leg in a hole in the platform of the railway station at +Pittsburg. Again her husband sued the railway company for +15,000 dols., and compromised for 6,500 dols. The leg was +mended successfully, and in July, 1871, we find the Thomases, now +passing under the name of Mr. and Mrs. Smiley, at Cincinnati, +where Mr. Smiley, after long searching, discovered a piece of +ragged and uneven sidewalk, upon which his wife made a point of +falling and breaking her right arm. This time the city was +sued for 15,000 dols., and Mr. Smiley proved that his wife was a +school teacher by profession, and that the breaking of her arm +rendered it impossible for her to teach, for there as on that she +could not wield a rod or even a slipper. The city paid the +15,000 dols. and the Smileys, having by honest industry thus made +26,500 dols., removed to Chicago, and entered their names on the +hotel register as Mr. and Mrs. McGinnis, of Portland, Me. +On the second day after their arrival at the hotel, Mr. McGinnis +found an eligible place on the piazza for Mrs. McGinnis to break +another leg, which that excellent woman promptly did. The +usual suit of 15,000 dols. was brought, and the hotel-keeper, +fearing that the notoriety of the suit would injure his hotel, +was glad to compromise by paying 8,000 dols. By this time, +it is understood, Mrs. McGinnis was willing to retire from +business, but her husband had set his heart on making 50,000 +dols., and like a good wife she consented to break some more +bones. It should be said that there was very little pain +attending a fracture of any one of the lady’s bones, and +that she did not in the least mind the monotony of lying in bed +while the broken bones knitted themselves together. There +can, therefore, be no charge of cruelty brought against her +husband. Indeed, she herself entered with a hearty goodwill +into the scheme of making a living with her bones, and would go +out to break a leg with as much cheerfulness as if she was going +to a theatre. In March, 1872, Mrs. Wilkins—hitherto +known as Mr. McGinnis—walked into an open trench in a +street in St. Louis and broke another leg. This <!-- page +252--><a name="page252"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +252</span>time the suit brought by Mr. Wilkins against the city +did not succeed, and the inquiries which were put on foot as to +the antecedents of the Wilkinses fairly frightened them out of +the city. They turned up a month later in Detroit, where +the weather was still cold, and much snow had recently +fallen. There were still 16,000 dollars to be made before +the industrious pair would have the whole of their desired 50,000 +dollars, and it was decided that Mrs. Wilkins—who had +changed her name to Mrs. Baker—should fall on the icy +pavement and break both arms. This, it was estimated, would +be worth at least 8,000 dols., and it was hoped that the +subsequent judicious breakage of two legs on the premises of a +Canadian railway would bring in 8,000 dols. more, after which the +Bakers intended to retire from business. Early one morning +Mr. Baker took his wife out and had her fall on a nice piece of +ice, where she broke both arms. Unfortunately, she fell +more heavily than was necessary, and, in addition, broke her neck +and instantly expired. The grief of Mr. Baker naturally +knew no bounds, and he sued for 25,000 dols., all of which he +recovered. He had thus made 59,500 dols. by the aid of his +fragile wife, and demonstrated that as a source of steady income +a woman who breaks easily is almost priceless. Still, +nothing could console him for the loss of his beloved partner, +and he is to-day a lonely and unhappy man.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>New York Times</i>.</p> +<h2>TAKING HIM DOWN A PEG.</h2> +<p>A guard of a railway train, upon the late occasion of a +<i>hitch</i>, which detained the passengers for some time, gave +himself so much importance in commanding them, that one old +gentleman took the wind out of his sails by calling him to the +carriage door, and saying, “May I take the liberty, sir, of +asking you what occupation you filled previous to being a railway +guard?”</p> +<h2>A REMARKABLE NOTICE.</h2> +<p>On a certain railway, the following notice +appeared:—“Hereafter, when trains moving in opposite +directions are approaching each other on separate lines, +conductors and <!-- page 253--><a name="page253"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 253</span>engineers will be required to bring +their respective trains to a dead halt before the point of +meeting, and be very careful not to proceed till each train has +passed the other.”</p> +<h2>FLUTTER CAUSED BY THE MURDER OF MR. BRIGGS.</h2> +<p>My vocations led me to travel almost daily on one of the Great +Eastern lines—the Woodford Branch. Every one knows +that Müller perpetrated his detestable act on the North +London Railway, close by. The English middle class, of +which I am myself a feeble unit, travel on the Woodford branch in +large numbers. Well, the demoralization of our +class,—which (the newspapers are constantly saying it, so I +may repeat it without vanity) has done all the great things which +have ever been done in England,—the demoralization of our +class caused, I say, by the Bow tragedy, was something +bewildering. Myself a transcendentalist (as the <i>Saturday +Review</i> knows), I escaped the infection; and day after day I +used to ply my agitated fellow-travellers with all the +consolations which my transcendentalism and my turn for French +would naturally suggest to me. I reminded them how Julius +Cæsar refused to take precautions against assassination, +because life was not worth having at the price of an ignoble +solicitude for it. I reminded them what insignificant atoms +we all are in the life of the world. Suppose the worse to +happen, I said, addressing a portly jeweller from +Cheapside,—suppose even yourself to be the victim, <i>il +n’y a pas d’homme nécessaire</i>. We +should miss you for a day or two on the Woodford Branch; but the +great mundane movement would still go on, the gravel walks of +your villa would still be rolled, dividends would still be paid +at the bank, omnibuses would still run, there would still be the +old crush at the corner of Fenchurch street. All was of no +avail. Nothing could moderate in the bosom of the great +English middle class their passionate, absorbing, almost +blood-thirsty clinging to life.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—Matthew Arnold’s +<i>Essays in Criticism</i>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 254--><a name="page254"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 254</span>AN EXTRAORDINARY BLUNDER.</h2> +<p>A correspondent, writing from Amélia les Bains, +says:—A very singular blunder was committed the other day +by the officials of a railway station between Prepignan and +Toulon. A gentleman who had been spending the winter here +with his family, left last week for Marseilles, taking with him +the body of his mother-in-law, who died six weeks ago, and who +had expressed a wish to be buried in the family vault at +Marseilles. When he reached Marseilles and went with the +commissioner of police—whose presence is required upon +these occasions—to receive the body from the railway +officials, he noticed to his great surprise that the coffin was +of a different shape and construction from that which he had +brought from here. It turned out upon further inquiry that +a mistake had been committed by the officials, who had sent on to +Toulon the coffin containing his mother-in-law’s body, +believing that it held the remains of a deceased admiral, which +was to be embarked for interment in Algeria, while the coffin +awaiting delivery was the one which should have been sent +on. The gentleman who was placed in this awkward +predicament, having requested the railway officials to +communicate at once with Toulon by telegraph, proceeded thither +himself with the coffin of the admiral, but the intimation had +arrived too late. He ascertained when he got there that the +first coffin had been duly received, taken on board, amid +“the thunder of fort and of fleet,” the state vessel +which was waiting for it, and despatched to Algeria. He at +once called upon the maritime prefect of Toulon, and explained +the circumstances of the case, but though a despatch-boat was +sent in pursuit, the other vessel was not overtaken. He is +now at Toulon awaiting her return, and I believe that he declines +to give up the coffin containing the deceased admiral until he +regains possession of his mother-in-law’s remains.</p> +<h2>A CURIOUS RACE.</h2> +<p>In July, 1877, a carrier-pigeon tried conclusions with a +railway train. The bird was a Belgian voyageur, bred at +Woolwich, and “homed” to a house in Cannon Street, +City. The train was the Continental mail-express timed <!-- +page 255--><a name="page255"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +255</span>not to stop between Dover and Cannon Street +Station. The pigeon, conveying an urgent message from the +French police, was tossed through the railway carriage window as +the train moved from the Admiralty Pier, the wind being west, the +atmosphere hazy, but the sun shining. For more than a +minute the bird circled round till it attained an altitude of +about half-a-mile, and then it sailed away Londonwards. By +this time the engine had got full steam on, and the train was +tearing away at the rate of sixty miles an hour; but the carrier +was more than a match for it. Taking a line midway between +Maidstone and Sittingbourne, it reached home twenty minutes +before the express dashed into the station; the train having +accomplished seventy-six-and-a-half miles to the pigeon’s +seventy, but being badly beaten for all that.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>All the Year +Round</i>.</p> +<h2>A GREENLANDER’S FIRST RAILWAY RIDE.</h2> +<p>Hans Hendrik, a native of Greenland, thus describes his first +journey by rail in America:—“Then our train arrived +and we took seats in it. When we had started and looked at +the ground, it appeared like a river, making us dizzy, and the +trembling of the carriage might give you headache. In this +way we proceeded, and whenever we approached houses they gave +warning by making big whistle sound, and on arriving at the +houses they rung a bell and we stopped for a little while. +By the way we entered a long cave through the earth, used as a +road, and soon after we emerged from it again. At length we +reached our goal, and entered a large mansion, in which numbers +of people crowded together.” He likens the people +going out of the railway-station to a “crowd of +church-goers, on account of their number.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Good Words</i>, April, +1880.</p> +<h2>A NOVEL ACTION.</h2> +<p>Will bad table manners vitiate legal grounds of action? +A collision recently occurred while an Italian commercial +traveller was eating a Bologna sausage in a railway train. +The shock of the collision drove the knife so violently against +<!-- page 256--><a name="page256"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +256</span>his mouth as to widen it. He brought suit for +damages. The defence was that the injuries were caused by +the knife; that the knife should never be carried to the mouth, +and that the plaintiff, having injured himself by reason of his +bad habit of eating, must take the consequences and pay his own +doctor’s bill. The case is not yet finally +decided.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Echo</i>, Oct. 1st., +1880.</p> +<h2>A KISS IN THE DARK.</h2> +<p>On one of the seats in a railway train was a married lady with +a little daughter; opposite, facing them, was another child, a +son, and a coloured “lady” with a baby. The +mother of these children was a beautiful matron with sparkling +eyes, in exuberant health and vivacious spirits. Near her +sat a young lieutenant, dressed to kill and seeking a +victim. He scraped up an acquaintance with the mother by +attentions to the children. It was not long before he was +essaying to make himself very agreeable to her, and by the time +the sun began to decline, one would have thought they were old +familiar friends. The lieutenant felt that he had made an +impression—his elation manifested it. The lady, +dreaming of no wrong, suspecting no evil, was apparently pleased +with her casual acquaintance. By-and-by the train +approached a tunnel. The gay lieutenant leaned over and +whispered something in the lady’s ear. It was noticed +that she appeared as thunderstruck, and her eyes immediately +flamed with indignation. A moment more and a smile lighted +up her features. What changes? That smile was not one +of pleasure, but was sinister. It was unperceived by the +lieutenant. She made him a reply which apparently rejoiced +him very much. For the understanding properly this +narrative, we must tell the reader what was whispered and what +was replied. “I mean to kiss you when we get into the +tunnel!” whispered the lieutenant. “It will be +dark; who will see it?” replied the lady. Into +earth’s bowels—into the tunnel ran the train. +Lady and coloured nurse quickly change seats. Gay +lieutenant threw his arms around the lady sable, pressed her +cheek to his, and fast and furious rained kisses on her +lips. In a few moments the train came out into broad +daylight. White lady looked amazed—coloured <!-- page +257--><a name="page257"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +257</span>lady, bashful, blushing—gay lieutenant +befogged. “Jane,” said the white lady, +“what have you been doing?” +“Nothing!” responded the coloured lady. +“Yes, you have,” said the white lady, not in an +undertone, but in a voice that attracted the attention of all in +the carriage. “See how your collar is rumpled and +your bonnet smashed.” Jane, poor coloured beauty, +hung her head for a moment, the “observed of all +observers,” and then, turning round to the lieutenant, +replied: “<i>This man kissed me in the +tunnel</i>!” Loud and long was the laugh that +followed among the passengers. The white lady enjoyed the +joke amazingly. Lieutenant looked like a sheep-stealing +dog, left the carriage at the next station, and was seen no +more.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Cape Argus</i>.</p> +<h2>THE GRAVEDIGGER’S SUGGESTION.</h2> +<p>The Midland Railway, on being extended to London, was the +occasion of the removal of a vast amount of house property, also +it interfered to a certain extent with the graveyard belonging to +Old St. Pancras Church. The company had purchased a new +piece of ground in which to re-inter the human remains discovered +in the part they required. Amongst them was the corpse of a +high dignitary of the French Romish Church. Orders were +received for the transmission of the remains to his native land, +and the delicate work of exhuming the corpse was entrusted to +some clever gravediggers. On opening the ground they were +surprised to find, not bones of one man, but of several. +Three skulls and three sets of bones were yielded by the soil in +which they had lain mouldering. The difficulty was how to +identify the bones of a French ecclesiastic amid so many. +After much discussion, the shrewdest gravedigger suggested that, +being a Frenchman, the darkest coloured skull must be his. +Acting upon this idea, the blackest bones were sorted and put +together, until the requisite number of rights and lefts were +obtained. These were reverently screwed up in a new coffin, +conveyed to France, and buried with all the pomp and circumstance +of the Roman Catholic Church.</p> +<h2><!-- page 258--><a name="page258"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 258</span>AN AMUSING INCIDENT.</h2> +<p>An American correspondent writes:—“I have just +finished reading a most amusing incident, and, as it occurs in a +book not likely to fall into the hands of many of the members, I +am tempted to relate it, although it might prove to be +‘stale.’ Well, to begin: It tells of a maiden +lady, who, having arrived at the mature age of 51 without ever +having seen a railway train, decides to visit New York. The +all-important day having arrived, she seats herself calmly on the +platform of the country station, and gazes with amazement as the +train draws up, takes on its passengers, and pursues its +journey. As she stares after it the stationmaster asks her +why she did not get on if she wishes to go to New York. +‘Get on,’ says Miss Polly, in surprise, ‘get +on! Why, bless me, if I didn’t think this whole +concern went!’ Being placed on the next train, she +proceeds on her way, when, finally, having seen so many wonderful +things, she concluded not to be astonished, whatever may +happen. A collision occurs and the gentleman next to her is +thrown to the end of the car among a heap of broken seats. +She supposes it to be the usual manner of stopping, and quietly +remarks: ‘Ye fetch up rather sudden, don’t +ye?’”</p> +<h2>A LITTLE BOY’S COOLNESS.</h2> +<p>The suit of William O’Connor against the Boston and +Lowell Railroad at Lawrence has resulted in a verdict for the +plaintiff in $10,000, one-half the amount sued for. This +suit grew out of an accident which occurred August 27th, +1880. The plaintiff was the father of a child then between +five and six years old. He and his brother, three years +older, were crossing a private way maintained by the railroad for +the Essex Company, and the younger boy, while walking backward, +stepped between the rail and planking of the roadway inside and +was unable to extricate his foot. At that moment the +whistle of a train was heard within a few hundred feet and out of +sight around a curve, and it appeared from the evidence that the +older brother, finding himself unable to relieve his brother, ran +down the track toward the train; but finding that he could not +attract the <!-- page 259--><a name="page259"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 259</span>attention of the trainmen to his +brother’s condition, and that he must be run over, ran back +to him, and, telling him to lie down, pulled him outward and down +and held him there until the train had passed. Both feet of +the little fellow were cut off or mangled so that amputation was +necessary. The theory of the defence was that the boy was +not caught, but while running across the track, fell and was run +over. But the testimony of the older brother was unshaken +in every particular. It would be difficult to match the +nerve, thoughtfulness, and disregard of self displayed by this +boy, who at that time was less than nine years old.</p> +<h2>PHOTOGRAPHING AN EXPRESS TRAIN.</h2> +<p>An interesting application of the instantaneous method of +photography was recently made by a firm of photographers at +Henley-on-Thames. These artists were successful in +photographing the Great Western Railway express train familiarly +known as the “Flying Dutchman,” while running through +Twyford station at a speed of nearly sixty miles an hour. +The definition of this lightning-like picture is truly wonderful, +the details of the mechanism on the flying locomotive standing +out as sharply as the immovable telegraph posts and palings +beside the line. The photographers are now engaged, we +believe, in constructing a swift shutter for their camera which +will reduce the period of exposure of the photographic plate to +1-500th of a second. The same artists have also executed +some charming pictures of the upper Thames, with floating swans +and moving boats, which cannot but win the admiration of artists +and all lovers of the picturesque.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Cassell’s Family +Magazine</i>, Nov. 1880.</p> +<h2>NERVOUSNESS.</h2> +<p>Surely people are far more <i>nervous</i> now than they used +to be some generations back. The mental cultivation and the +mental wear which we have to go through tends to make that +strange and inexplicable portion of our physical construction a +very great deal too sensitive for the work and trial of daily +life. A few days ago I drove a friend who <!-- page +260--><a name="page260"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +260</span>had been paying us a visit over to our railway +station. He is a man of fifty, a remarkably able and +accomplished man. Before the train started, the guard came +round to look at the tickets. My friend could not find his; +he searched his pockets everywhere, and although the entire evil +consequence, had the ticket not turned up, could not possibly +have been more than the payment a second time of four or five +shillings, he got into a nervous tremor painful to see. He +shook from head to foot; his hand trembled so that he could not +prosecute his search rightly, and finally he found the missing +ticket in a pocket which he had already searched half-a-dozen +times. Now contrast the condition of this highly-civilized +man, thrown into a painful flurry and confusion at the demand of +a railway ticket, with the impassive coolness of a savage, who +would not move a muscle if you hacked him in pieces.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Fraser’s +Magazine</i>.</p> +<h2>A PROFITABLE RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>The shortest and most profitable railway in the world is +probably to be seen at Coney Island, the famous suburban summer +resort of New York. This is the “Marine +Railway,” which connects the Manhattan Beach Hotel and the +Brighton Beach Hotel. It is 2,000 feet in length, is laid +with steel rails, and has a handsome little station at each +end. Its equipment consists of two locomotives and four +cars, open at the sides, and having reversible seats; and a train +of two cars is run each way every five minutes. The cost of +this miniature road, including stations and equipment, was 27,000 +dols., and it paid for itself in a few weeks after it was opened +for business. The operating expenses are 30 dols. a day, +and the average receipts are 450 dols. a day the entire season, +900 dols. being sometime taken in. The fare charged is five +cents. The property paid a profit last year of 500 dols. +per cent on its cost.</p> +<h2>THE POLITE BRAHMIN.</h2> +<p>Owing to the various dialects in the South of India, as a +matter of convenience the English language is much used for +personal communication by the natives of different parts of the +Presidency of Madras. Mr. Edward Lear, who has <!-- page +261--><a name="page261"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +261</span>travelled much in that part of the country, gives the +following interesting account of a journey:—“I was in +a second-class railway carriage going from Madras to +Bangalore. There was only one other passenger beside myself +and servant, and he was a Brahmin, dressed all in white, with the +string worn over the shoulder, by which you may always recognise +a Brahmin. He had a great many boxes and small articles, +which took up a great deal of room in the compartment, and when +at the next station the door was opened for another passenger to +get in, the guard said:—</p> +<p>“‘You cannot have all those boxes inside the +carriage; some of them must be taken out.’</p> +<p>“‘Oh, sir,’ said the Brahmin in good +English, ‘I assure you these articles are by no means +necessary to my comfort, and I hope you will not hesitate to +dispose of them as you please.’</p> +<p>“Accordingly, therefore, the boxes were taken +away. Then the newcomer stepped in; he was also a native, +but dressed in quite a different manner from the Brahmin, his +clothing being blue, green, red, and all the colours of the +rainbow, so that one saw at once the two persons were from +different parts of India. Presently he surprised me by +saying to the Brahmin,</p> +<p>“‘Pray, sir, excuse me for having given you the +trouble of removing any part of your luggage; I am really quite +sorry to have given you any inconvenience whatever.’</p> +<p>“To which the Brahmin replied, ‘I beg sir, you +will make no apologies; it is impossible you can have incommoded +me by causing the removal of those trifling articles; and, even +if you have done so, the pleasure of your society would afford me +perfect compensation.’”</p> +<h2>MR. FRANK BUCKLAND AND HIS BOOTS.</h2> +<p>Mr. Spencer Walpole furnishes some interesting and amusing +gossip about the late Mr. Frank Buckland, describing some of his +many eccentricities, and telling many stories relative to his +peculiar habits. He had, it seems, a great objection to +stockings and boots and coats, his favourite attire consisting of +nothing else than trousers and a flannel shirt. Boots were +his special aversion, and he never lost an opportunity of kicking +them off his feet.</p> +<p><!-- page 262--><a name="page262"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +262</span>“On one occasion,” we are told, +“travelling alone in a railway carriage, he fell asleep +with his feet resting on the window-sill. As usual, he +kicked off his boots, and they fell outside the carriage on the +line. When he reached his destination the boots could not, +of course, be found, and he had to go without them to his +hotel. The next morning a platelayer, examining the +permanent way, came upon the boots, and reported to the traffic +manager that he had found a pair of gentleman’s boots, but +that he could not find the gentleman. Some one connected +with the railway recollected that Mr. Buckland had been seen in +the neighbourhood, and, knowing his eccentricities, inferred that +the boots must belong to him. They were accordingly sent to +the Home Office, and were at once claimed.”</p> +<h2>DRINKING FROM THE WRONG BOTTLE.</h2> +<p>An incident has occurred on one of the suburban lines which +will certainly be supposed by many to be only <i>ben trovato</i>, +but it is a real fact. A lady, who seemed perfectly well +before the train entered a tunnel, suddenly alarmed her +fellow-passengers during the temporary darkness by exclaiming, +“I am poisoned!” On re-emerging into daylight, +an awkward explanation ensued. The lady carried with her +two bottles, one of methylated spirit, the other of cognac. +Wishing, presumably, for a refresher on the sly, she took +advantage of the gloom; but she applied the wrong bottle to her +lips. Time pressed, and she took a good drain. The +consequence was she was nearly poisoned, and had to apply herself +honestly and openly to the brandy bottle as a corrective, amidst +the ironical condolence of the passengers she had previously +alarmed.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Once a Week</i>.</p> +<h2>HORSES VERSUS RAILWAYS.</h2> +<p>A horse for every mile of road was the allowance made by the +best coachmasters on the great routes. On the corresponding +portions of the railway system the great companies have put a +locomotive engine per mile. If a horse earned a hundred +guineas a year, out of which his cost had to be defrayed, he did +well. A single locomotive <!-- page 263--><a +name="page263"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 263</span>on the +Great Northern Railway (and that company has 611 engines for 659 +miles of line) was stated by John Robinson, in 1873, to perform +the work of 678 horses—work, that is, as measured by +resistance overcome; for the horses, whatever their number, could +not have reached the speed of fifty miles an hour, at which the +engines in questions whirled along a train of sixteen carriages, +weighing in all 225 tons. There are now upwards of 13,000 +locomotives at work in the United Kingdom, each of them earning +on the average, £4,750 per annum. But we have at the +same time more horses employed for the conveyance of passengers +than we had in 1835. In omnibus and station +work—waiting upon the steam horse—there is more +demand for horseflesh than was made by our entire coaching system +in 1835.</p> +<h2>A SLIGHT MISTAKE.</h2> +<p>An Irish newspaper is responsible for the +following:—“A deaf man named Taff was run down and +killed by a passenger train on Wednesday morning. He was +injured in a similar way about a year ago.”</p> +<h2>EXPENSIVE CONTRACTS.</h2> +<p>An interesting glimpse into the inner working of State, and +especially Russian, Government railways was afforded in a recent +discussion on railway management in Russia, published by the +<i>Journal</i> of the German Railroad Union. During this +debate it appears that the details were published of the famous +contract of the late American Winans with the Government +concerning the Nicholas Railroad. By the use of +considerable money, Winans succeeded in making a contract, to +extend from July 1st, 1866, for eight years, by which the +Government was to pay him for oiling cars and small car repairs +at an agreed rate per passenger and per ton mile. In +addition to this he received a fixed sum of about £15,000 +(78,000 dols.) per year for painting and maintaining the interior +of the passenger cars; £6,000 for keeping up the shops, and +finally £8,000 yearly for renewing what rolling stock might +be worn out. The St. Nicholas line <!-- page 264--><a +name="page264"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 264</span>was +eventually taken over by the Great Russian Company, which in 1872 +succeeded in making the Government annul the contract by paying +Winans a penalty of £750,000, which the Great Russian +Company paid back with interest within four years. If the +contract had been continued it would have cost the company more +than one-third of its net earnings, since the saving amounts to +nearly £523,000 per annum. Another contract which the +Government had made for the same road with a sleeping-car company +was settled shortly afterward by the Government taking from the +company the few cars it had on hand, and paying £75,000 for +them and £10,000 a year for the unexpired seven years of +the contract.</p> +<h2>MR. BRASSEY’S STRICT ADHERENCE TO HIS WORD.</h2> +<p>The following is one of such stories, illustrative of one +phase of Mr. Brassey’s character—his strict adherence +to his word, under all circumstances.</p> +<p>When the “Sambre and Meuse” was drawing towards +completion, Mr. Brassey came along as usual with a staff of +agents inspecting the progress of the work. Stopping at +Olloy, a small place between Mariembourg and Vireux, near a large +blacksmith’s shop, the man, a Frenchman or Belgian, came +out, and standing up on the bank, with much gesticulation and +flourish, proceeded to make Mr. Brassey a grand oration. +Anxious to proceed, Mr. Brassey paid him no particular attention, +but good naturedly endeavoured to cut the matter short, with +“Oui, oui, oui,” and at length got away, the +Frenchman apparently expressing great delight.</p> +<p>“Well, gentlemen, what are you laughing at, what is the +joke?” said he to his staff as they went along.</p> +<p>“Why, sir, do you know what that fellow said, and for +what he was asking?”</p> +<p>“No, indeed, I don’t; I supposed he was +complimenting me in some way, or thanking me for +something.”</p> +<p>“He <i>was</i> complimenting you, sir, to some tune, and +asking, as a souvenir of his happy engagement under the Great +Brassey, that you would of your goodness make him a present of +the shop, iron, tools, and all belonging!”</p> +<p><!-- page 265--><a name="page265"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +265</span>“Did he, though! I did not understand +that.”</p> +<p>“No sir, but you kept on saying, ‘Oui, oui, +oui,’ and the fellow’s delighted, as he well may be, +they’re worth £50 or £60.”</p> +<p>“Oh, but I didn’t mean that, I didn’t mean +that. Well, never mind, if I said it, he must <i>have</i> +them.”</p> +<p>It must be borne in mind, that at that time, at best, Mr. +Brassey knew very little French, and his staff were well aware of +the fact.”</p> +<p>Sep. 13, 1872.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">S. S.</p> +<h2>EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT.</h2> +<p>In a leading article in the <i>Birmingham Post</i>, Nov. 12th, +1880, the writer remarks:—“The report of Major +Marindin on the collision which took place between two Midland +trains, in Leicestershire, about a month ago, has just been +published, but it adds nothing to the information given at the +time when the accident happened. The case was, as the +report says, one of a remarkable, if not unprecedented nature, +for the collision arose from a passenger train running backwards +instead of forwards nearly half-a-mile, without either driver or +stoker noticing that its movement was in the wrong +direction. Shortly after the train had passed the village +station of Kibworth, where it was not timed to stop, the driver +observed a knocking sound on his engine. He pulled up the +train in order to ascertain the cause of this, and finding that +nothing serious was the matter, proceeded on his journey again, +or rather intended to do so, for, by an extraordinary mistake, he +turned the screw the wrong way, so as to reverse the action of +the engine, and to direct the train back to Kibworth. +There, a mineral train was making its way towards Leicester, and +as the line was on a sharp incline the result might have been a +most destructive collision. It was, however, reduced to one +of a comparatively mild description by the promptness and +efficiency with which the brakes were applied to both the +trains. Had not the mineral train been pulled up, and the +passenger train lowered from a speed of twenty to three or four +miles an hour, probably the whole of the passengers would have +been crushed between the two engines. The <!-- page +266--><a name="page266"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +266</span>passengers, therefore, owed their safety to the +excellent brake-power which was at command. The excuse +offered by the driver of the passenger train for turning the +engine backwards was the shape of the reversing screw, which was +of a construction not commonly used on the Midland line, though +many of the company’s engines were so fitted. The +fireman had also his apology for making the same oversight. +He said he was at the time stooping down to adjust the +injector. Major Marindin, though admitting that the men +were experienced, careful, and sober, refuses to accept either of +these excuses; but he can supply no better reason himself for the +amazing oversight they committed. The only satisfactory +part of the report is that in which the working of the brake +mechanism is spoken of. The passenger train had the +Westinghouse brake fitted to all the carriages, and such was its +efficiency that, had it extended to the engine and tender as +well, Major Marindin believes the accident would have been +entirely prevented.”</p> +<h2>REMARKABLE MEMORY FOR SOUNDS.</h2> +<p>Among strange mental feats the strangest perhaps yet recorded +are the following singular feats of memory for sound, related in +the <i>Scientific American</i>. In the city of Rochester, +N. Y., resides a boy named Hicks, who, though he has only lately +removed from Buffalo to Rochester, has already learned to +distinguish three hundred locomotive engines by the sound of +their bells. During the day the boy is employed so far from +the railway that he seldom hears a passing train; but at night he +can hear every train, his house being near the railroad. To +give an idea of his wonderful memory for sounds (and his scarcely +less wonderful memory for numbers also) take the following +cases. Not long ago young Hicks went to Syracuse, and while +there, he, hearing an engine coming out of the round-house, +remarked to a friend that he knew the bell, though he had not +heard it for five years: he gave the number of the engine, which +proved to be correct. Again, not long since, an old +switch-engine, used in the yards at Buffalo, was sent to +Rochester for some special purpose. It passed near +Hicks’ house, and he remarked that the engine was number +<!-- page 267--><a name="page267"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +267</span>so and so, and that he had not heard the bell for six +years. A boarder in the house ran to the railroad, and +found the number given by Hicks was the correct one. To +most persons the bells on American locomotives seem all much +alike in sound and <i>timbre</i>, though, of course, a good ear +will readily distinguish differences, especially between bells +which are sounded within a short interval of time. But that +anyone should be able in the first place to discriminate between +two or three hundred of these bells, and in the second place to +retain the recollection of the slight peculiarities +characterising each for several years, would seem altogether +incredible, had we not other instances—such as +Bidder’s and Colburn’s calculating feats, +Morphy’s blindfold chess-play, etc.—of the amazing +degree in which one brain may surpass all others in some special +quality, though perhaps, in other respects, not exceptionally +powerful, or even relatively deficient.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Gentleman’s +Magazine</i>, March 1880.</p> +<h2>A DISINGENUOUS BISHOP.</h2> +<p>Max. O’Rell, the French author, in his book <i>John Bull +at Home</i>, writes English people are very great on words; lying +is unknown. I was travelling by rail one day with an +English bishop. There were five in our compartment. +On arriving at a station we heard a cry, “Five minutes +here!” My lord bishop, with the greatest haste, set +to work to spread out travelling-bag, hat-box, rug, papers, +&c. A lady appeared at the door, and asked, “Is +there room here?” “Madam,” replied the +bishop, “all the seats are full.” When the poor +lady had been sent about her business, we called his +lordship’s attention to the fact that there were only five +of us in the carriage, and that, consequently all the seats were +not taken. “I did not say that they were,” +answered my lord; “I said that they were +<i>full</i>.”</p> +<h2>DROPPING THE LETTER “L.”</h2> +<p>In an advertisement by a railway company of some unclaimed +goods, the “l” dropped from the word +“lawful,” and it reads now, “People to whom +these packages are directed are requested to come forward and pay +the <i>awful</i> charges on the same.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 268--><a name="page268"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 268</span>THE SAFEST SEAT IN A RAILWAY +CARRIAGE.</h2> +<p>The <i>American Engineer</i>, as the result of scientific +calculations and protracted experience, says the safest seat is +in the middle of the last car but one. There are some +chances of danger, which are the same everywhere in the train, +but others are least at the above-named place.</p> +<h2>RAILWAYS A JUDGMENT.</h2> +<p>In <i>White’s Warfare of Science</i> there is an account +of a worthy French Archbishop who declared that railways were an +evidence of the divine displeasure against innkeepers, inasmuch +that they would be punished for supplying meat on fast days by +seeing travellers carried by them past their doors.</p> +<h2>CLAIM FOR GOODWILL FOR COW KILLED ON THE RAILWAY.</h2> +<p>A farmer living near the New York Central lost a cow by a +collision with a train on the line; anxious for compensation he +waited upon the manager and after stating his case, the manager +said, “I understand she was thin and sick.” +“Makes no difference,” replied the farmer. +“She was a cow, and I want pay for her.” +“How much?” asked the manager. “Two +hundred dollars!” replied the farmer. “Now look +here,” said the manager, “how much did the cow +weigh?” “About four hundred, I suppose,” +said the farmer. “And we will say that beef is worth +ten cents a pound on the hoof.” “It’s +worth a heap more than that on the cow-catcher!” replied +the indignant farmer. “But we’ll call it that, +what then? That makes forty dollars, shall I give you a +cheque for forty dollars?” “I tell you I want +two hundred dollars,” persisted the farmer. +“But how do you make the difference? I’m +willing to pay full value, forty dollars. How do you make +one hundred and sixty dollars?” “Well, +sir,” replied the farmer, waxing wroth, “I want this +railroad to understand that I’m going to have something +special for the goodwill of that cow!”</p> +<h2><!-- page 269--><a name="page269"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 269</span>THE INSURANCE AGENT.</h2> +<p>An agent of an accident insurance company entered a smoking +car on a western railroad train a few days ago, and, approaching +an exceedingly gruff old man, asked him if he did not want to +take out a policy. He was told to get out with his policy, +and passed on. A few minutes afterwards an accident +occurred to the train, causing a fearful shaking to the +cars. The old man jumped up, and seizing a hook at the side +of the car to steady himself, called out, “Where is that +insurance man?” The question caused a roar of +laughter among the passengers, who for the time forgot their +dangers.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Harper’s Weekly</i>, +May 8th, 1880.</p> +<h2>TOUTING FOR BUSINESS AND FRAUDS.</h2> +<p>Sir Edward Watkin observed at the half-yearly meeting of the +South Eastern Railway Company, January, 1881:—“The +result of this compensating law under which the slightest neglect +makes the company liable, and the only thing to be considered is +the amount of damages—the effect of this unjust law is to +create a new profession compounded of the worst elements of the +present professions—viz., expert doctors, expert attorneys, +and expert witnesses. You will get a doctor to swear that a +man who has a slight knock on the head to say that he has a +diseased spine, and will never be fit for anything again, and +never be capable of being a man of business or the father of a +family. The result of that is all we can do is to get some +other expert to say exactly the contrary. Then you have a +class of attorneys who get up this business. We had an +accident, I may tell you, at Forrest-hill two years ago. +Well, there was a gentleman—an attorney in the train. +He went round to all the people in the train and gave them his +card; and, having distributed all the cards in his card-case, he +went round and expressed extreme regret to the others that he +could not give them a card; but he gave them his name as +‘So and So,’ his place was in ‘Such a +street,’ and the ‘No, So and So’ in the +City. That was touting for business. Now, there is a +very admirable body called the “Law +Association.” Why does not the Law Association take +hold <!-- page 270--><a name="page270"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 270</span>of cases of that kind? Well, +you saw in the paper the case of Roper <i>v.</i> the South +Eastern. Now that was a peculiar thing. Roper +declared that from an injury he had received in a slight accident +at the Stoney-street signal box, outside Cannon-street he was +utterly incapacitated, and that, for I don’t know how many +weeks and months, he was in bed without ceasing. The +doctors, I believe, put pins and needles into him, but he never +flinched, and when the case came before the court we found that +some of the medical experts declared that it was just within the +order of Providence that in twenty years he might get better; but +these witnesses thought that the chances were against it, and +that he would be a hopeless cripple. So evidence was given +as to his income; and the idea was to capitalise it at +£8,000. That man had paid 4d. for his ticket I +think—I forget the exact amount. Our counsel, the +Attorney-General, went into the thing, with the very able +assistance of Mr. Willis, who deserves every possible +credit. We also had Mr. Le Gros Clarke, the eminent +consulting surgeon of the company, and Dr. Arkwright from the +north of England, and they told us that in their opinion it was a +swindle. And it was a swindle. The result of it was, +the Attorney-General put his foot down upon it, and declared that +it was a swindle, and the jury unanimously non-suited Mr. +Roper. Well, singularly enough, when I say he had paid 4d., +I think it was not absolutely proved that he was in the train at +all. But although this was a case in which the jury said +there was no case, and where the Judge summed up strongly that it +was a fraud, and where the most eminent surgeon said it was an +absolute delusion altogether, and where, in point of fact, +justice was done entirely to you as regards the verdict, you have +£2,300 to pay for costs of one kind or another in defending +a case of swindling, because when you try to recover the costs +the man becomes bankrupt, and you won’t get a farthing; and +I do mean to say I have described a state of the law and practice +that ought to excite the reprobation of every honest man in +England.”</p> +<h2>HEROISM OF A DRIVER.</h2> +<p>An engine-driver on the Pennsylvania Railway yesterday saved +the lives of 600 passengers by an extraordinary act of +heroism. The furnace door was opened by the fireman <!-- +page 271--><a name="page271"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +271</span>to replenish the fire while the train was going at +thirty-five miles an hour. The back draught forced the +flames out so that the car of the locomotive caught fire, and the +engine-driver and the fireman were driven back over the tender +into the passenger car, leaving the engine without control. +The speed increased, and the volume of flame with it. There +was imminent danger that all the carriages would take fire, and +the whole be consumed. The passengers were +panic-stricken. To jump off was certain death; to remain +was to be burned alive. The engine-driver saw that the only +way to save the passengers was to return to the engine and stop +the train. He plunged into the flames, climbed back over +the tender, and reversed the engine. When the train came to +a standstill, he was found in the water-tank, whither he had +climbed, with his clothes entirely burnt off, his face +disfigured, his hands shockingly burned, and his body blistered +so badly that the flesh was stripped off in many places. +Weak and half-conscious he was taken to the hospital, where his +injuries were pronounced serious, with slight chance of +recovery. As soon as the train stopped the flames were +easily extinguished. The unanimous testimony of the +passengers is that the engine-driver saved their lives. His +name is Joseph A. Sieg.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Daily News</i>, Oct. 24th, +1882.</p> +<h2>IT’S CROYDON.</h2> +<p>As an early morning train drew up at a station, a pleasant +looking gentleman stepped out on the platform, and, inhaling the +fresh air, enthusiastically observed to the guard, +“Isn’t this invigorating?” “No, +sir, it’s Croydon,” replied the conscientious +employé.</p> +<h2>YOUR TICKET.</h2> +<p>On a Georgia railroad there is a conductor named Snell, a very +clever, sociable man, fond of a joke, quick at repartee, and +faithful in the discharge of his duties. One day as his +train well filled with passengers, was crossing a low bridge over +a wide stream, some four or five feet deep, the bridge broke +down, precipitating the two passenger cars into the stream. +As the passengers emerged from the <!-- page 272--><a +name="page272"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 272</span>wreck they +were borne away by the force of the current. Snell had +succeeded in catching hold of some bushes that grew on the bank +of the stream, to which he held for dear life. A passenger +less fortunate came rushing by. Snell extended one hand, +saying, “Your ticket, sir; give me your +ticket!” The effect of such a dry joke in the midst +of the water may be imagined.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Harper’s +Magazine</i>.</p> +<h2>AN OLD SCOTCH LADY ON THE LOSS OF HER BOX.</h2> +<p>Dean Ramsay in his <i>Reminiscences</i> +remarks:—“Some curious stories are told of ladies of +this class, as connected with the novelties and excitement of +railway travelling. Missing their luggage, or finding that +something has gone wrong about it, often causing very terrible +distress, and might be amusing, were it not to the sufferer so +severe a calamity. I was much entertained with the +earnestness of this feeling, and the expression of it from an old +Scottish lady, whose box was not forthcoming at the station where +she was to stop. When urged to be patient, her indignant +exclamation was, “I can bear ony pairtings that may be +ca’ed for in God’s providence; but I canna +stan’ pairtin’ frae ma claes.”</p> +<h2>RAILWAY MANNERS.</h2> +<p>A gentleman was travelling by rail from Breslau to Oppeln and +found himself alone with a lady in a second-class +compartment. He vainly endeavoured to enter into +conversation with the other occupant of the carriage; her answers +were invariably curt and snappish. Baffled in his attempts, +he proceeded to light a cigar to while away the time. Then +the lady said to him: “I suppose you have never travelled +second-class before, else you would know better +manners.” Her travelling companion quietly rejoined: +“It is true, I have hitherto only studied the manners of +the first and third-classes. In the first-class the +passengers are rude to the porters, in the third-class the +porters are rude to the passengers. I now discover that in +the second-class the passengers are rude to each +other.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 273--><a name="page273"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 273</span>A BRAVE GIRL.</h2> +<p>Kate Shelley, to whom the Iowa Legislature has just given a +gold medal and $200, is fifteen years old. She lives near +Des Moines, at a point where a railroad crosses a gorge at a +great height. One night during a furious storm the bridge +was carried away. The first the Shelleys knew of it was +when they saw the headlight of a locomotive flash down into the +chasm. Kate climbed to the remains of the bridge with great +difficulty, using an improvised lantern. The +engineer’s voice answered her calls, but she could do +nothing for him, and he was drowned. As an express train +was almost due, she then started for the nearest station, a mile +distant. A long, high bridge over the Des Moines River had +to be crossed on the ties—a perilous thing in stormy +darkness. Kate’s light was blown out, and the wind +was so violent that she could not stand, so she crawled across +the bridge, from timber to timber, on her hands and knees. +She got to the station exhausted, but in time to give the +warning, though she fainted immediately.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Detroit Free Press</i>, +May 13th, 1882.</p> +<h2>SHUT UP IN A LARGE BOX.</h2> +<p>The Merv correspondent of the <i>Daily News</i> in a letter +dated the 30th of April, 1881, remarks, “I was very much +amused by the description given me by some Tekkés of the +Serdar’s departure for Russia. It seems that my +informants accompanied him up to the point where the +trans-Caspian railway is in working order. ‘They shut +Tockmé Serdar and two others in a large box (sanduk) and +locked him in, and then dragged him away across the Sahara. +And,’ added the speakers, ‘Allah only knows what will +happen to them inside that box.’ The box, I need +hardly say, was a railway carriage.”</p> +<h2>AWFUL DEATH ON A RAILROAD BRIDGE.</h2> +<p>A man commonly known as “Billy” Cooper, of the +town of Van Etten, was walking on the railroad track at a point +not far distant from his home. In crossing the railroad +bridge he made a miss-step, and, slipping, fell between the ties, +but his position was so cramped that he was unable to <!-- page +274--><a name="page274"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +274</span>get out of the way of danger. There, suspended in +that awful manner, with the body dangling below the bridge, he +heard a train thundering along in the distance, approaching every +moment nearer and nearer. No one will ever know the +struggles for life which the poor fellow made, but they were +futile; with arms pinioned to his sides he was unable to signal +the engineer. The train came sweeping on upon its helpless +victim until within a few feet of the spot, when the engineer saw +the man’s head and endeavoured to stop his heavy +train. But too late; the moving mass passed over, cutting +his head from the shoulders as clean as it could have been done +by the guillotine itself. Cooper was 60 years of age.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Ithaca</i> (N.Y.) +<i>Journal</i>.</p> +<h2>THAT ACCURSED DRINK.</h2> +<p>An English traveller in Ireland, greedy for information and +always fingering the note-book in his breast pocket, got into the +same railway carriage with a certain Roman Catholic +archbishop. Ignorant of his rank, and only perceiving that +he was a divine, he questioned him pretty closely about the state +of the country, whisky drinking, etc. At last he said, +“You are a parish priest, yourself, of course.” +His grace drew himself up. “I <i>was</i> one, +sir,” he answered, with icy gravity. “Dear, +dear,” was the sympathizing rejoinder. “That +accursed drink, I suppose.”</p> +<h2>RAILWAY UP VESUVIUS.</h2> +<p>This railway, the last new project in mountain-climbing, is +now finished. It is 900 metres in length, and will enable +tourists to ascend by it to the very edge of the crater. +The line has been constructed with great care upon a solid +pavement, and it is believed to be perfectly secure from all +incursions of lava. The mode of traction is by two steel +ropes put in motion by a steam engine at the foot of the +cone. The wheels of the carriages are so made as to be free +from any danger of leaving the rails, besides which each carriage +is furnished with an exceedingly powerful automatic brake, which, +should the rope by any chance break, will stop the train almost +instantaneously. One of <!-- page 275--><a +name="page275"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 275</span>the chief +difficulties of the undertaking was the water supply; but that +has been obviated by the formation of two very large reservoirs, +one at the station, the other near the observatory.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Railway Times</i>, +1879.</p> +<h2>EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE OF BALLOONISTS.</h2> +<p>Yesterday evening, Aug. 6th, 1883, a special train of +“empties,” which left Charing-cross at 5.55 to pick +up returning excursionists from Gravesend, had some extraordinary +experiences, such as perhaps had hardly ever occurred on a single +journey. On leaving Dartford, where some passengers were +taken up, the train was proceeding towards Greenhithe, when the +driver observed on the line a donkey, which had strayed from an +adjoining field. An endeavour was made to stop the train +before the animal was reached, but without success, and the poor +beast was knocked down and dragged along by the firebox of the +engine. The train was stopped, and with great difficulty +the body of the animal, which was killed, was extricated from +beneath the engine. While this was in progress, a balloon +called the “Sunbeam,” supposed to come either from +Sydenham or Tunbridge Wells, passed over the line, going in the +direction of Northfleet. The two æronauts in the car +were observed to be short of gas, and were throwing out ballast, +but, notwithstanding this, the balloon descended slowly, and when +some distance ahead of the train was, to the horror of the +passengers, seen to drop suddenly into the railway cutting two or +three hundred yards only in advance of the approaching +train. The alarm whistle was sounded, and the brakes put +on, and as the balloon dragged the car and its occupants over the +down line there seemed nothing but certain death for them; but +suddenly the inflated monster, now swaying about wildly, took a +sudden upward flight, and, dragging the car clear of the line, +fell into an adjoining field just when the train was within a +hundred yards of the spot. The escape was marvellous.</p> +<h2><!-- page 276--><a name="page276"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 276</span>PULLING A TOOTH BY STEAM.</h2> +<p>“Dummy,” is a deaf mute newsman on the Long Island +Railroad. Lately he had suffered much in mind and body from +an aching tooth. He did not like dentists, but he resolved +that the tooth must go. He procured a piece of twine, and +tied one end of it to the tooth and the other end to the rear of +an express train. When the train started, Dummy ran along +the platform a short distance, and then dropped suddenly on his +knees. The engine whistled, and dummy cried, but the train +took the tooth.</p> +<h2>A HEAVY SLEEPER.</h2> +<p>It happens, in numerous instances, that virtuous resolves are +made overnight with respect to early rising, which resolves, when +put to the test, are doomed only to be broken. Some years +ago a clergyman, who had occasion to visit the West of England on +very important business, took up his quarters, late at night, at +a certain hotel adjacent to a railway, with a view of starting by +the early train on the following morning. Previous to +retiring to rest, he called the “boots” to him, told +him that he wished to be called for the early train, and said +that it was of the utmost importance that he should not oversleep +himself. The reverend gentleman at the same time confessed +that he was a very heavy sleeper, and as there would be probably +the greatest difficulty in awakening him, he (the +“boots”) was to resort to any means he thought proper +in order to effect his object. And, further, that if the +business were effectually accomplished, the fee should be a +liberal one. The preliminaries being thus settled, the +clergyman sought his couch, and “boots” left the room +with the air of a determined man. At a quarter to five on +the following morning, “boots” walked straight to +“No. twenty-three,” and commenced a vigorous rattling +and hammering at the door, but the only answer he received was +“All right!” uttered in a very faint and drowsy +tone. Five minutes later, “boots” approached +the door, placing his ear at the keyhole, and detecting no other +sound than a most unearthly snore, he unceremoniously entered the +room, and laying his brawny hands upon the prostrate form of the +sleeper, shook <!-- page 277--><a name="page277"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 277</span>him violently and long. This +attack was replied to by a testy observation that he “knew +all about it, and there was not the least occasion to shake him +so.” “Boots” thereupon left the room, +somewhat doubtingly, and only to return in a few minutes +afterwards and find the Rev. Mr. — as sound asleep as +ever. This time the clothes were stripped off, and a +species of baptismal process was adopted, familiarly known as +“cold pig.” At this assault the enraged +gentleman sat bolt upright in bed, and with much other bitter +remark, denounced “boots” as a barbarous +follow. An explanation was then come to, and the drowsy man +professed he understood it all, and was <i>about</i> to +arise. But the gentleman who officiated at the — +hotel, having had some experience in these matters, placed no +reliance upon the promise he had just received, and shortly +visited “No. twenty-three” again. There he +found that the occupant certainly had got up, but it was only to +replace the bedclothes and to lie down again. +“Boots” now felt convinced that this was one of those +cases which required prompt and vigorous handling, and without +more ado, therefore, he again stripped off the upper clothing, +and seizing hold of the under sheet, he dragged its depository +bodily from off the bed. The sleeping man, sensible of the +unusual motion, and dreamily beholding a stalwart form bent over +him, became impressed with the idea that a personal attack was +being made upon him, probably with a view to robbery and +murder. Under this conviction, he, in his descent, grasped +“boots” firmly by the throat, the result being that +both bodies thus came to the floor with a crash. Here the +two rolled about for some seconds in all the agonies of a death +struggle, until the unwonted noise and the cries of the +assailants brought several persons from all parts of the hotel, +and they, seeing two men rolling frantically about in each +other’s arms, and with the hand of each grasping the +other’s throat, rushed in and separated them. An +explanation was of course soon given. The son of the church +was effectually awakened, he rewarded the “boots,” +and went off by the train.</p> +<p>Fortune subsequently smiled upon “boots,” and in +the course of time he became proprietor of a first-rate +hotel. In the interval the Rev. Mr. — had risen from +a humble <!-- page 278--><a name="page278"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 278</span>curate to the grade of a dean. +Having occasion to visit the town of —, he put up at the +house of the ex-boots. The two men saw and recognized each +other, and the affair of the early train reverted to the mind of +both. “It was a most fortunate circumstance,” +said the dean, “that I did not oversleep myself on that +morning, for from the memorable journey that followed, I date my +advancement in the Church. But,” he continued, with +an expression that betokened some tender recollection, “if +I ever should require you to wake me for an early train again, +would you mind placing a mattress or feather-bed on the +floor?”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>The Railway +Traveller’s Handy Book</i>.</p> +<h2>A MAD ENGINE-DRIVER.</h2> +<p>A startling event happened at an early hour yesterday morning +(Jan. 8th, 1884), in connection with the mail train from Brest, +which is due in Paris at ten minutes to five o’clock. +Whilst proceeding at full speed the passengers observed the +brakes to be put on with such suddenness that fears were +entertained that a collision was imminent, especially as the spot +at which the train was drawn up was in utter darkness. Upon +the guard reaching the engine he found the stoker endeavouring to +overpower the driver, who had evidently lost his reason. +After blocking the line the guard joined the stoker, and +succeeded in securing the unfortunate man, but not until he had +offered a desperate resistance. The locomotive was then put +in motion, the nearest station was reached without further +misadventure, and the driver was placed in custody. The +train ultimately arrived in Paris after two hours’ +delay.</p> +<h2>A MEXICAN CHIEF’S RAILWAY IMPRESSIONS.</h2> +<p>Steam and gunpowder have often proved the most eloquent +apostles of civilization, but the impressiveness of their +arguments was, perhaps, never more strikingly illustrated than at +the little railway station of Gallegos, in Northern Mexico. +When the first passenger train crossed the viaduct, and the +Wizards of the North had covered the festive tables with the +dainties of all zones, the governor of Durango was not the most +distinguished visitor; for <!-- page 279--><a +name="page279"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 279</span>among the +spectators on the platform the natives were surprised to +recognise the Cabo Ventura, the senior chief of a hill-tribe, +which had never formally recognised the sovereignty of the +Mexican Republic. The Cabo, indeed, considered himself the +lawful ruler of the entire <i>Comarca</i>, and preserved a +document in which the Virey Gonzales, <i>en nombre del +Rey</i>—in the name of the King—appointed him +“Protector of all the loyal tribes of Castro and Sierra +Mocha.” His diploma had an archæological value, +and several amateurs had made him a liberal offer, but the old +chieftain would as soon have sold his scalp. His soul lived +in the past. All the evils of the age he ascribed to the +demerits of the traitors who had raised the banner of revolt +against the lawful king; and as for the countrymen of Mr. Gould, +the intrusive <i>Yangueses</i>, his vocabulary hardly approached +the measure of his contempt when he called them <i>herexes y +combusteros</i>—heretics and humbugs.</p> +<p>“But it cannot be denied,” Yakoob Khan wrote to +his father, “that it has pleased Allah to endow those +sinners with a good deal of brains;” and the voice of +nature gradually forced the Cabo to a similar conclusion, till he +resolved to come and see for himself.</p> +<p>When the screech of the iron Behemoth at last resounded at the +lower end of the valley, and the train swept visibly around the +curve of the river-gap, the natives set up a yell that waked up +the mountain echoes; men and boys waved their hats and jumped to +and fro, in a state of the wildest excitement. Only the old +Cabo stood stock-still. His gaze was riveted upon the +phenomenon that came thundering up the valley; his keen eye +enabled him to estimate the rate of speed, the trend of the +up-grade, the breadth, the length, the height of the car. +When the train approached the station, the crowd surged back in +affright, but the Cabo stood his ground, and as soon as the cars +stopped he stepped down upon the track. He examined the +wheels, tapped the axles, and tried to move the lever; and when +the engine backed up for water, he closely watched the process of +locomotion, and walked to the end of the last car to ascertain +the length of the train. He then returned to the platform +and sat down, covering his face with both hands.</p> +<p>Two hours later the Governor of Durango found him in still the +same position.</p> +<p><!-- page 280--><a name="page280"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +280</span>“Hallo, Cabo,” he called out, “how do +you like this? What do you think now of America +Nueva?” (“New America,” a collective term +for the republics of the American continent).</p> +<p>The chieftain looked up. “<i>Sabe +Dios</i>—the gods know—Senor Commandante, but +<i>I</i> know this much: With Old America it’s all +up.”</p> +<p>“Is it? Well, look here: would you now like to +sell that old diploma? I still offer you the same +price.”</p> +<p>The Cabo put his hand in his bosom, drew forth a +leather-shrouded old parchment, and handed it to his +interlocutor. “Vengale, Usted—it’s +worthless and you are welcome to keep it.” +Nevertheless, he connived when the Governor slipped a gold piece +into the pouch and put it upon his knees, minus the document.</p> +<p>But just before the train started, the Governor heard his name +called, and stepped out upon the platform of the palace-car, when +he saw the old chieftain coming up the track.</p> +<p>“I owe you a debt, senor,” said he, “<i>y le +pagarè en consejo</i>, I want to pay it off in good +advice: Beware of those strangers.”</p> +<p>“What strangers?”</p> +<p>“The caballeros who invented this machine.”</p> +<p>“Is that what you came to tell me?” laughed the +Governor as the train started.</p> +<p>The old Cabo waved his hand in a military salute. +“<i>Estamos ajustade</i>, Senor Commandante, this squares +our account.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, +Jan., 1884.</p> +<h2>MY ORDERS.</h2> +<p>“Ticket, sir!” said an inspector at a railway +terminus in the City to a gentleman, who, having been a season +ticket holder for some time, believed his face was so well known +that there was no need for him to show his ticket. +“My face is my ticket,” replied the gentleman a +little annoyed. “Indeed!” said the inspector, +rolling back his wristband, and displaying a most powerful wrist, +“well, my orders are to punch all tickets passing on to +this platform.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 281--><a name="page281"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 281</span>LUGGAGE IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES.</h2> +<p>The question of the liability of railway companies in the +event of personal accident through parcels falling from a rack in +the compartments of passenger trains has been raised in the +Midlands. In December last, a tailor named Round was +travelling from Dudley to Stourbridge, and, on the train being +drawn up at Round Oak Station, a hamper was jerked from the racks +and fell with such force as to cause him serious injury. +Certain medical charges were incurred, and Mr. Round alleged that +he was unable to attend to his business for five weeks in +consequence of the accident. He therefore claimed £50 +by way of compensation. Sir Rupert Kettle, before whom the +case was tried, decided that the company was not liable, and +could not be held responsible for whatever happened in respect to +luggage directly under the control of passengers. The case +is one of some public interest, inasmuch as a parcel falling from +a rack is not an uncommon incident in a railway journey. +Moreover, the hamper in question belonged, not to the plaintiff, +but to a glass engraver, and contained four empty bottles, two +razors, and a couple of knives.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Daily News</i>, March +29th, 1884.</p> +<h2>EFFECTS OF CONSTANT RAILWAY TRAVELLING.</h2> +<p>A writer in <i>Cassell’s Magazine</i> +remarks:—“We hear individuals now and then talking of +the ease with which the season-ticket holder journeys backwards +and forwards daily from Brighton. By the young, healthy +man, no doubt, the journey is done without fatigue; but, after a +certain time of life, the process of being conveyed by express +fifty miles night and morning is anything but refreshing. +The shaking and jolting of the best constructed carriage is not +such as we experience in a coach on an ordinary road; but is made +up of an infinite series of slight concussions, which jar the +spinal column and keep the muscles of the back and sides in +continued action.” Dr. Radcliff, who has witnessed +many cases of serious injury to the nervous system from this +cause, contributed the following conclusive case some years ago +to the pages of the <i>Lancet</i>:—“A hale and stout +gentleman, aged sixty-three, came to me complaining <!-- page +282--><a name="page282"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 282</span>of +inability to sleep, numbness in limbs, great depression, and all +the symptoms of approaching paralytic seizure. He was very +actively engaged in large monetary transactions, which were +naturally a source of anxiety. He had a house in town; but, +having been advised by the late Doctor Todd to live at Brighton, +he had taken a house there, and travelled to and fro daily by the +express train. The symptoms of which he complained began to +appear about four months after taking up his residence at +Brighton, and he had undergone a variety of treatment without +benefit, and was just hesitating about trying homæopathy +when I saw him. I advised him to give up the journey for a +month, and make the experiment of living quietly in town. +In a fortnight his rest was perfectly restored, and the other +symptoms rapidly disappeared, so that at the end of the month he +was as well as ever again. After three months, he was +persuaded to join his family at Brighton, and resumed his daily +journeys. In a few days his rest became broken and in two +months all the old symptoms returned. By giving up the +journeys and again residing in town, he was once more perfectly +restored; but, it being the end of the season, when the house at +Brighton could not readily be disposed of, and yielding to the +wishes of his family, he again resumed his journeys. In a +month’s time he was rendered so seriously unwell that he +hesitated no longer in taking up his permanent abode in town; and +since that time—now more than two years ago—he has +enjoyed perfect health.”</p> +<h2>AN ELECTRIC TRAMWAY INCIDENT.</h2> +<p>The following appeared in the <i>Irish Times</i> (Dublin, +1884): “It is not generally known that the country people +along the line of the electric railway make strange uses of the +insulated rails, which are the medium of electricity on this +tramway, in connection with one of which an extraordinary and +very remarkable occurrence is reported. People have no +objection to touch the rail and receive a smart shock, which is, +however, harmless, at least so far. On Thursday evening a +ploughman, returning from work, stood upon this rail in order to +mount his horse. The rail is elevated on insulators 18 +inches above the level of the tramway. <!-- page 283--><a +name="page283"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 283</span>As soon as +the man placed his hands upon the back of the animal it received +a shock, which at once brought it down, and falling against the +rail it died instantly. The remarkable part is, that the +current of electricity which proved fatal to the brute must have +passed through the body of the man and proved harmless to +him.”</p> +<h2>DUTY IN DISGUISE.</h2> +<p>A gate-keeper in the employ of the Hessian Railway Company was +recently the hero of an amusing incident. His wife being +ill, he went himself to milk the goat; but the stubborn creature +would not let him come near it, as it had always been accustomed +to have this operation performed by its mistress. After +many fruitless efforts, he at length decided to put on his +wife’s clothes. The experiment succeeded admirably; +but the man had not time to doff his disguise before a train +approached, and the gatekeeper ran to his accustomed post. +His appearance produced quite a sensation among the officials of +the passing train. The case was reported and an inquiry +instituted, which however resulted in his favour, as the railway +authorities granted the honest gate-keeper a gratuity of ten +marks for the faithful discharge of his duties.</p> +<h2>THE MARQUIS OF HARTINGTON ON GEORGE STEPHENSON.</h2> +<p>The Marquis of Hartington, when laying the foundation stone of +a public hall to be erected in memory of the inventor and +practical introducer of railway locomotion, expressed himself as +follows:—“That almost all the progress which this +country has made in the last half-century is mainly due to the +development of the railway system. All the other vast +developments of the power of steam, all the developments of +manufacturing and mining industry would have availed but little +for the greatness and prosperity of this country—in fact +they could hardly have existed at all if there had been wanting +those internal communications which have been furnished by the +locomotive engine to railways brought into use by +Stephenson. The changes which have been wrought in the +history of our country by the invention, the industry, and +perseverance of one man <!-- page 284--><a +name="page284"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 284</span>are +something that we may call astounding. There are some +things which exceed the dreams of poetry and romance. We +are justly proud of our imperial possessions, but the steam +engine, and especially the locomotive steam-engine, the invention +of George Stephenson—has not only increased the number of +the Queen’s subjects by millions, but has added more +millions to her Majesty’s revenues than have been produced +by any tax ever invented by any statesman. Comfort and +happiness, prosperity and plenty, have been brought to every one +of her Majesty’s subjects by this invention in far greater +abundance than has ever been produced by any law, the production +of the wisest and most patriotic Parliament. The results of +the career of a man who began life as a herd boy, and who up to +eighteen did not know how to read or write, and yet was able to +confer such vast benefits upon his country and mankind for all +time, is worthy of a national and noble memorial.”</p> +<h2>THE STEPHENSON CENTENARY.</h2> +<p>Of all celebrations in the North of England there was never +the like of the centenary of the birth-day of George Stephenson, +June 9th, 1881. The enthusiastic crowds of people assembled +to honour the occasion were never before so numerous on any +public holiday. Sir William Armstrong, C.B., in his speech +at the great banquet remarked:—“The memory of a great +man now dead is a solemn subject for a toast, and I approach the +task of proposing it with a full sense of its gravity. We +are met to celebrate the birth of George Stephenson, which took +place just 100 years ago—a date which nearly coincides with +that at which the genius of Watt first gave practical importance +to the steam-engine. Up to that time the inventive +faculties of man had lain almost dormant, but with the advent of +the steam-engine there commenced that splendid series of +discoveries and inventions which have since, to use the words of +Dr. Bruce, revolutionised the state of the world. Amongst +these the most momentous in its consequences to the human race is +the railway system—(cheers)—and with that system +including the locomotive engine as its essential element, the +name of George Stephenson will ever be pre-eminently +associated. In saying this, I do not mean to ignore the +<!-- page 285--><a name="page285"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +285</span>important parts played by others in the development of +the railway system; but it is not my duty on this occasion to +review the history of that system and to assign to each person +concerned his proper share of the general credit. To do +this would be an invidious task, and out of place at a festival +held in honour of George Stephenson only. I shall, +therefore, pass over all names but his, not even making an +exception in favour of his distinguished son. +(Cheers.) It seldom or never happens that any great +invention can be exclusively attributed to any one man; but it is +generally the case that amongst those who contribute to the +ultimate success there is one conspicuous figure that towers +above all the rest, and such is the figure which George +Stephenson presents in relation to the railway system. +(Cheers.) To be sensible of the benefits we have derived +from railways and locomotives let us consider for a moment what +would be our position if they were taken from us. The +present business of the country could not be carried on, the +present population could not be maintained, property would sink +to half its value—(hear, hear)—and instead of +prosperity and progress we should have collapse and retrogression +on all sides. (Cheers.) What would Newcastle be if it +ceased to be a focus of railways? How would London be +supplied if it had to fall back upon turnpike roads and horse +traffic? In short, England as it is could not exist without +railways and locomotives; and it is only our familiarity with +them that blunts our sense of their prodigious importance. +As to the future effects of railways, it is easy to see that they +are destined to diffuse industrial populations over those vast +unoccupied areas of the globe that abound in natural resources, +and only wait for facilities of access and transport to become +available for the wants of man. There is yet scope for an +enormous extension of railways all over the world, and the fame +of Stephenson will continue to grow as railways continue to +spread. (Loud cheers.) But I should do scant justice +to the memory of George Stephenson if I dwelt only on the results +of his achievements. Many a great reputation has been +marred by faults of character, but this was not the case with +George Stephenson. His manly simplicity and frankness, and +his kindly nature won for him the respect <!-- page 286--><a +name="page286"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 286</span>and esteem +of all who knew him both in the earlier and later periods of his +career—(cheers)—but the prominent feature in his +character was his indomitable perseverance, which broke down all +obstacles, and converted even his failures and disappointments +into stepping stones to success. It was not the desire for +wealth that actuated him in the pursuit of his objects, but it +was a noble enthusiasm, far more conducive to great ends than the +hope of gain, that carried him forward to his goal. +Unselfish enthusiasm such as his always gives a tone of heroism +to a character, and heroism above all things commands the homage +of mankind. Newcastle may well be proud of its connection +with George Stephenson, and the proceedings of this day testify +how much his memory is cherished in this his native +district. Any memorial dedicated to him would be +appropriate to this occasion, and if such memorial were connected +with scientific instruction it would be in harmony with his +well-known appreciation of the value of scientific education, and +of the sacrifices he made to give his son the advantage of such +an education. (Cheers.) I now, gentlemen, have to +propose to you the toast which has been committed to me, and +which is ‘Honour to the memory of George Stephenson, and +may the college to be erected to his memory prove worthy of his +fame.’ I must ask you to drink this toast standing; +and consider that the birth of Stephenson is a subject of +jubilation. I think that although he is dead we may drink +that toast with hearty cheering. (Hear, hear, and loud +cheers.)</p> +<p>Mr. George Robert Stephenson, who was warmly cheered on rising +to respond to the toast, said: “Mr. Mayor and +gentlemen,—Let me, in the first place thank Sir William +Armstrong for the many kind words he has uttered in honour of the +memory of George Stephenson. It is true that he was, as Sir +William said, one of the most kind-hearted and unselfish men that +ever lived; but I suppose that no man has had a more up-hill +struggle during the present century. (Cheers). I have +now in my possession documents that would show in his early life +the extraordinary and peculiar nature of the opposition that was +brought against him as a poor man. He was opposed by many +of the leading engineers of the day; some of these men using <!-- +page 287--><a name="page287"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +287</span>language which, it is not incorrect to say, was not +only injurious but wicked. This is not the proper occasion +to weary you with a long speech, but with the view of showing the +peculiar mode of engineers reporting against each other, I could +very much wish, with your permission, to read a few sentences +from documents that I have in my possession, dating back to +1823. (Hear, hear). This, gentlemen, will clearly +show the sort of opposition I have alluded to. It occurs at +the end of a report by an opponent upon some projected work on +which the four brothers were engaged:—‘But we cannot +conclude without saying that such a mechanic as Mr. Stephenson, +who can neither calculate, nor lay his designs on paper, or +distinguish the effect from the cause, may do very well for +repairing engines when they are constructed, but for building new +ones, he must be at great loss to his employers, from the many +alterations that will take place in engine-building, when he goes +by what we call the rule of thumb.’ In a preceding +sentence he is taunted with being like the fly going round on a +crank axle, and shouting ‘What a dust I am kicking +up.’ Gentlemen, the dust that George Stephenson +kicked up formed itself into a cloud, and in every part of the +globe to which it reached it carried with it and planted the +seeds of civilization and wealth. Notwithstanding the hard +and illiberal treatment to which he was exposed, he was not +beaten; on the contrary, by his genius and his never-failing +spirit, he raised himself above the level of the very men who +opposed every effort he made towards the advancement of +engineering science—efforts which have resulted in a vast +improvement of our means for extracting the valuable products of +the earth, and also of our means of conveying them at a cheap +rate to distant markets. It is not too much to say that +George Stephenson headed a movement by which alone could +employment have been found for an ever-increasing +population.”</p> +<p>In the town of Chesterfield the Centenary was celebrated most +befittingly. It was there the father of railways spent his +latter days, and there he died. Although there was not such +a flood of oratory as at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, many interesting +speeches were delivered in connection with the event. We +give some extracts from an address delivered <!-- page 288--><a +name="page288"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 288</span>by the Rev. +Samuel C. Sarjant, B.A., Curate-in-Charge at that +time—delivered at Holy Trinity Church, Chesterfield. +An address which, for ability, nice discrimination of thought, +and true appreciation of the subject, would not disgrace any +pulpit in Christendom:—</p> +<p>“We meet to-day for the highest of all purposes, the +worship of Almighty God. But we also meet to show our +regard for the memory of one of the great and gifted dead. +It is no small distinction of this town that the last days of +George Stephenson were spent in it. And it adds to the +interest of this church that it contains his mortal +remains. With little internally to appeal to the eye, or to +gratify taste, this church has yet a spell which will draw +visitors from every part of the world. Men will come hither +from all lands to look with reverence upon the simple resting +place of him who was the father of the Locomotive and of the +Railway system. And perhaps the naked simplicity which +marks that spot is in keeping with a life, the grandeur of which +was due solely to the man himself, and not to outward helps and +circumstances . . .</p> +<p>“Toil has its roll of heroes, but few, if any, of them +are greater than he whose birth we commemorate to-day. He +was pre-eminently a self-made man, one who ‘achieved’ +greatness by his own exertions. Granting that he was gifted +with powers of body and mind above the average, these were his +only advantages. The rest was due to hard work, patient, +persistent effort. He had neither wealth, schooling, +patrons, nor favouring circumstances. He comes into the +arena like a naked athlete to wrestle in his own strength with +the difficulties before him. And these were many and +great!</p> +<p>“I need not dwell upon the details of a life which is so +well known to most, and to some present so vividly, from personal +intercourse and friendship. We all know what a battle he +fought, how nobly and well, first striving by patient plodding +effort to remove his own ignorance, cheerfully bending himself to +every kind of work that came in his way, and seeking to gain not +only manual expertness, but a mastery of principles. We +know how he went on toiling, observing, experimenting, saying +little—for he was <!-- page 289--><a +name="page289"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 289</span>never given +to the ‘talk of the lips’—but doing much, +letting slip no chance of getting knowledge, and of turning it to +practical account. He was one of those, who</p> +<blockquote><p>While his companions slept<br /> +Was toiling upwards in the night.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And in due time his quiet work bore fruit. He invented a +safety-lamp which alone should have entitled him to the gratitude +of posterity. He then set himself to improve the +locomotive, and fit it for the future which his prescient mind +discerned, and on a fair field he vanquished all +competitors. He then sought to adapt the roadway to the +engine and make it fit for its new work. And then, hardest +task of all, he had to convince the public that railway +travelling was a possible thing; that it could he made safe, +cheap, and rapid. In doing this he was compelled to design, +plan, and execute almost everything with his own mind and +hand. All classes and interests were against him, the +engineers, the land owners, the legislature, and the +public. He had to encounter the phantoms of ignorance and +fear, the solid resistance of vested interests, and the +bottomless quagmires of Chat Moss. But he triumphed! +And it was a well-earned reward as he looked down from his +pleasant retreat at Tapton upon the iron bands which glistened +below, to know that they were part of a network which was +spreading over the whole land and becoming the one highway of +transit and commerce. Nor was this all his +satisfaction. He knew that Europe and America were +welcoming the railway, and that it was promising to link together +the whole civilized world.</p> +<p>“Of the ‘profit’ of his labours to humanity +I scarcely venture to speak, since it cannot possibly be told in +a few words. The railway system has revolutionised +society. It has powerfully affected every class, every +interest and department of life. It has given an incredible +impulse to commerce, quickened human thought, created a new +language, new habits, tastes and pleasures. It has opened +up fields of industry and enterprise inaccessible and unknown +before. It has cheapened the necessaries and comforts of +life, enhanced the value of property, promoted the fellowship of +class with class, and brought unnumbered benefits and advantages +within the reach of all. And it is yet, as to the world at +large, but in the infancy of its development.</p> +<p><!-- page 290--><a name="page290"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +290</span>“How much, then, do we owe, under God, to George +Stephenson. How much, not merely to his energy and +diligence, but to his courage, patience, and uprightness? +For these qualities, quite as much as gifts of genius and +insight, contributed to his final success. He was crowned +because he strove ‘lawfully.’ His patience was +as great in waiting as his energy in working. He did not +work from greed or self-glorification; and therefore the hour of +success, when it came, found him the same modest, self-restrained +man as before. He neither overrated the value of the system +which he had set up, nor made it a means of speculation and +gambling. He was a man of sterling honesty and +uprightness—of self-control, simple in his habits and +tastes, given to plain living and high thinking. And yet he +was most kindly, genial, and cheery, of strong affections, +considerate of his workpeople, tender to his family, full of love +to little children and pet animals, brimming with fun and good +humour. He had the gentleness of all noble natures, the +largeness of mind and heart which could recognise ability and +worth in others, and give rivals their due. For the young +inventor, or for such of his helpers as showed marked diligence +or promise, he had ready sympathy and aid. Nor ought we to +pass unnoticed his love of nature and of natural beauty. +Strong throughout his whole life, this was especially conspicuous +at its close. Such leisure as his last days brought was +spent amidst flowers and fruits, gardens and greeneries which he +had planned and filled, and from the midst of whose treasures he +could look forth over venerable trees and green fields upon a +wide and varied landscape. And yet, even in this +relaxation, the old energy and earnestness of purpose asserted +themselves. He toiled and experimented, watching the growth +of his plants and flowers with more than professional +pains. Nor is it improbable that the ardour which led him +to confine himself for hours together in a heated and unhealthy +atmosphere led to his fatal illness.</p> +<p>“We are bound, then, to mark and admit how much the +moral element in the worker contributed to his success, and to +the freshness of the regard which is felt for his memory and +name. England is proud of his works, but prouder still of +the man who did them. Far different would have <!-- page +291--><a name="page291"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +291</span>been the result if impatience, ungenerousness, and love +of greed had marred his life and work. The tributes of +respect which we gladly lay upon his tomb to-day, would probably +have been placed elsewhere.”</p> +<h2>REMARKABLE COINCIDENCES.</h2> +<p>Many years ago the editor of this book and an elderly lady, +the widow of a well-known farmer, took tickets from Little Bytham +for Edenham in Lincolnshire. They were the only passengers, +and as the railway passed for nearly two miles through +Grimsthorpe park, she asked the driver if he would stop at a +certain spot which would have saved us both perhaps +half-a-mile’s walk. The request was politely +refused. After going a good distance the train was suddenly +pulled up. I opened the window and found it had stopped at +the very spot we desired. The stoker came running by with a +fine hare which the train had run over. I said we can get +out now and he said, Oh yes. And so through this strange +misadventure to poor pussy our walk was much shortened.</p> +<p>Some years before the above occurrence I was travelling by the +early morning mail train from the Midlands to the West of +England. At Taunton I perceived a crowd of persons gathered +at the front of the train. I went forward and saw a corpse +was being removed from the van to a hearse outside the +station. On reading the inscription on the coffin plate I +was somewhat taken aback to find my own name. So Richard +Pike living and Richard Pike dead had been travelling by the same +train. Perhaps rarely, if ever, have two more singular +circumstances occurred in connection with railway travelling.</p> +<h2>LOSS OF TASTE.</h2> +<p>Serjeant Ballantine in his <i>Experiences of a +Barrister’s Life</i>, says:—“There was a +singular physical fact connected with him (Sir Edward Belcher), +he had entirely lost the sense of taste; this he frequently +complained of, and could not account for. A friend of mine, +an eminent member of the Bar, suffers in the same way, but is +able to trace the phenomenon to the shock that he suffered in a +railway collision.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 292--><a name="page292"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 292</span>INGENIOUS SWINDLING.</h2> +<p>A party of gentlemen who had been to Doncaster to see the St. +Leger run, came back to the station and secured a +compartment. As the train was about to start, a +well-dressed and respectable looking man entered and took the +only vacant seat. Shortly after they had started, he said, +“Well, gentlemen, I suppose you have all been to the races +to-day?” They replied they had. +“Well,” said the stranger, “I have been, and +have unfortunately lost every penny I had, and have nothing to +pay my fare home, but if you promise not to split on me, I have a +plan that I think will carry me through.” They all +consented. He then asked the gentleman that sat opposite +him if he would kindly lend him his ticket for a moment; on its +being handed to him he took it and wrote his own name and address +on the back of the ticket and returned it to the owner. +Nothing more was said until they arrived at the place where they +collected tickets; being the races, the train was very crowded, +and the ticket-collector was in a great hurry; the gentlemen all +pushed their tickets into his hands. The collector then +asked the gentleman without a ticket for his, who replied he had +already given it him. The collector stoutly denied +it. The gentleman protested he had, and, moreover, would +not be insulted, and ordered him to call the +station-master. On the station-master coming, he said he +wished to report the collector for insulting him. “I +make a practice to always write my name and address on the back +of my ticket, and if your man looks at his tickets he will find +one of that description.” The man looked and, of +course, found the ticket, whereupon he said he must have been +mistaken, and both he and the stationmaster apologised, and asked +him not to report the case further.</p> +<h2>DANGEROUS LUGGAGE.</h2> +<p>Complaints are sometimes made of the want of due respect paid +on the part of porters to passengers’ luggage. It +appears that occasionally a like lack of caution is manifested by +owners to their own property. It is said that on a train +<!-- page 293--><a name="page293"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +293</span>lately on a western railway in America, some passengers +were discussing the carriage of explosives. One man +contended that it was impossible to prevent or detect this; if +people were not allowed to ship nitro-glycerine or dynamite +legitimately, they’d smuggle it through their +baggage. This assertion was contradicted emphatically, and +the passenger was laughed at, flouted, and ignominiously put to +scorn. Rising up in his wrath, he produced a capacious +valise from under the seat, and, slapping it emphatically on the +cover, said, “Oh, you think they don’t, eh? +Don’t carry explosives in cars? What’s +this?” and he gave the valise a resounding thump, +“Thar’s two hundred good dynamite cartridges in that +air valise; sixty pounds of deadly material; enough to blow this +yar train and the whole township from Cook County to +Chimborazo. Thar’s dynamite enough,” he +continued; but he was without an auditor, for the passengers had +fled incontinently, and he could have sat down upon twenty-two +seats if he had wanted to. And the respectful way in which +the baggage men on the out-going trains in the evening handled +the trunks and valises was pleasant to see.</p> +<p>The neglect of carefulness appears, in one instance at least, +to have involved inconvenience to the offending official. +“An unknown genius,” says an American periodical, +“the other day entrusted a trunk, with a hive of bees in +it, to the tender mercies of a Syracuse +‘baggage-smasher.’ The company will pay for the +bees, and the doctor thinks his patient will be round in a +fortnight or so.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—Williams’s <i>Our Iron +Roads</i>.</p> +<h2>STUMPED.</h2> +<p>Several Sundays ago a Philadelphia gentleman took his little +son on a railway excursion. The little fellow was looking +out of the window, when his father slipped the hat off the +boy’s head. The latter was much grieved at his +supposed loss, when papa consoled him by saying that he would +“whistle it back.” A little later he whistled +and the hat reappeared. Not long after the little lad flung +his hat out of the window, shouting, “Now, papa, whistle it +back again!” A roar of laughter in the car served to +enhance the confusion of perplexed papa. Moral: Don’t +attempt to deceive little boys with plausible stories.</p> +<h2><!-- page 294--><a name="page294"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 294</span>EXCURSIONISTS PUT TO THE PROOF.</h2> +<p>A good story is told of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln +Railway Company. A week or two since, the company ran an +excursion train to London and back, the excursion being intended +for their workmen at Gorton and Manchester. There was an +enormous demand for the tickets; so enormous that the officials +began, to use an expressive term, “to smell a +rat.” But the sale of the tickets was allowed to +proceed. The journey to London was made, and a considerable +number of the passengers congratulated themselves upon the +remarkably cheap outing they were having. But on the return +journey they made a most unpleasant discovery. Their +tickets were demanded at Retford, and then the ticket-collectors +insisted upon the holder of every ticket proving that he was in +the employ of the company. The result can be +imagined. There were more persons in the train who had no +connection with the company than there were of the +company’s employés; and the former had either to pay +a full fare to and from London, or to give their names and +addresses preparatory to being summoned. We hear, from a +reliable source, that the fares thus obtained amount to about +£300.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Echo</i>, Sept. 23, +1880.</p> +<h2>A MONKEY SIGNALMAN.</h2> +<p>We learn from the <i>Colonies</i> that a monkey signalman +manages the railway traffic at Witenhage, South Africa. The +human signalman has had the misfortune to lose both his legs, and +has trained a baboon to discharge his duties. Jacky pushes +his master about on a trolly, and, under his directions, works +the lever to set the signals with a most ludicrous imitation of +humanity. He puts down the lever, looks round to see that +the correct signal is up, and then gravely watches the +approaching train, his master being at hand to correct any +mistake.</p> +<h2>A CURIOUS CLASSIFICATION.</h2> +<p>The guard of an English railway carriage recently refused to +allow a naturalist to carry a live hedgehog with him. The +traveller, indignant, pulled a turtle from his wallet and said, +“Take this too!” But the guard replied good +naturedly, “Ho, no, sir. It’s dogs you +can’t carry; and dogs is dogs, cats is dogs, and +’edge’ogs is dogs, but turtles is +hinsects.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 295--><a name="page295"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 295</span>PULLMAN’S CARRIAGES.</h2> +<p>In the discussion on Mr. C. Douglas Fox’s recent paper +on the Pennsylvania railway, Mr. Barlow, the engineer of the +Midland, observed that there was a certain attractive power about +a Pullman’s carriage, which ought not to be overlooked, a +power which brought passengers to it who would not otherwise +travel by railway. A Pullman’s carriage weighed +somewhere about twenty tons. The cost of hauling that +weight was about 1½d. per mile; that was the sum which the +Midland Company proposed to charge for first-class passengers, so +that one first-class passenger would pay the haulage of the +carriage. If the attractive power of the carriage brought +more than one first-class passenger it would of course pay +itself.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Herepath’s Railway +Journal</i>, Jan. 23, 1875.</p> +<h2>PROFITABLE DAMAGES.</h2> +<p>The Springfield <i>Republican</i>, of 1877, is responsible for +the following story:—“The industry of railroading has +developed some thrifty characters, among whom a former +employé of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford road +deserves high rank. He was at one time at work in the +Springfield depot, and while taking a trunk out of a baggage car +from Boston he was thrown over and hurt, the baggage-smashing art +being for a time reversed. The injured employé +suffered terribly, and crawled around on crutches until the +Boston and Albany and the New Haven roads united and gave him +6000 dollars. He was cured the next day. Shortly +afterwards a man on the Boston and Albany road was killed, and +the Company gave his widow 3,000 dollars. The former +cripple, who had scored 6,000 dollars already, soon married her, +and thus counted 9,000 dollars. He recovered his health so +completely that he was able again to work on the railroad, but +finally, not being hurt again within a reasonable time, he +retired to a farm which he had bought with a part of the proceeds +of his former calamities.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 296--><a name="page296"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 296</span>RAILWAY ENTERPRISE.</h2> +<p>It would be difficult to close this series of Railway +Anecdotes more appropriately than in the words of George +Stephenson’s celebrated son Robert at a banquet given to +him at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in August, 1850. “It was +but as yesterday,” he said, “that he was engaged as +an assistant in tracing the line of the Stockton and Darlington +Railway. Since that period, the Liverpool and Manchester, +the London and Birmingham, and a hundred other great works had +sprung into vigorous existence. So suddenly, so promptly +had they been accomplished, that it appeared to him like the +realization of fabled powers, or the magician’s wand. +Hills had been cut down, and valleys had been filled up; and +where this simple expedient was inapplicable, high and +magnificent viaducts had been erected; and where mountains +intervened, tunnels of unexampled magnitude had been +unhesitatingly undertaken. Works had been scattered over +the face of our country, bearing testimony to the indomitable +enterprise of the nation and the unrivalled skill of its +artists. In referring thus to the railway works, he must +refer also to the improvement of the locomotive engine. +This was as remarkable as the other works were gigantic. +They were, in fact, necessary to each other. The locomotive +engine, independent of the railway, would be useless. They +had gone on together, and they now realized all the expectations +that were entertained of them. It would be unseemly, as it +would be unjust, if he were to conceal the circumstances under +which these works had been constructed. No engineer could +succeed without having men about him as highly-gifted as +himself. By such men he had been supported for many years +past; and, though he might have added his mite, yet it was to +their co-operation that all his success was owing.”</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAILWAY ADVENTURES AND ANECDOTES***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 31395-h.htm or 31395-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/3/9/31395 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Railway Adventures and Anecdotes + extending over more than fifty years + + +Author: Various + +Editor: Richard Pike + +Release Date: February 25, 2010 [eBook #31395] +[Last updated: October 3, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAILWAY ADVENTURES AND ANECDOTES*** + + +This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler. + + + + + + RAILWAY ADVENTURES + AND ANECDOTES: + EXTENDING OVER MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS. + + + EDITED BY RICHARD PIKE. + + THIRD EDITION. + + * * * * * + + "The only _bona fide_ Railway Anecdote Book published + on either side of the Atlantic."--_Liverpool Mercury_. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. + NOTTINGHAM: J. DERRY. + + * * * * * + + 1888. + + NOTTINGHAM: + J. DERBY, PRINTER, WHEELER GATE AND HOUNDS GATE. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Although railways are comparatively of recent date we are so accustomed +to them that it is difficult to realize the condition of the country +before their introduction. How different are the present day ideas as to +speed in travelling to those entertained in the good old times. The +celebrated historian, Niebuhr, who was in England in 1798, thus describes +the rapid travelling of that period:--"Four horses drawing a coach with +six persons inside, four on the roof, a sort of conductor besides the +coachman, and overladen with luggage, have to get over seven English +miles in the hour; and as the coach goes on without ever stopping except +at the principal stages, it is not surprising that you can traverse the +whole extent of the country in so few days. But for any length of time +this rapid motion is quite too unnatural. You can only get a very +piece-meal view of the country from the windows, and with the tremendous +speed at which you go can keep no object long in sight; you are unable +also to stop at any place." Near the same time the late Lord Campbell, +travelling for the first time by coach from Scotland to London, was +seriously advised to stay a day at York, as the rapidity of motion (eight +miles per hour) had caused several through-going passengers to die of +apoplexy. + +It is stated in the year 1825, there was in the whole world, only one +railway carriage, built to convey passengers. It was on the first +railway between Stockton and Darlington, and bore on its panels the +motto--"Periculum privatum, publica utilitas." At the opening of this +line the people's ideas of railway speed were scarcely ahead of the canal +boat. For we are told, "Strange to say, a man on horseback carrying a +flag headed the procession. It was not thought so dangerous a place +after all. The locomotive was only supposed to go at the rate of from +four to six miles an hour; an ordinary horse could easily keep ahead of +that. A great concourse of people stood along the line. Many of them +tried to accompany the procession by running, and some gentlemen on +horseback galloped across the fields to keep up with the engine. At a +favourable part of the road Stephenson determined to try the speed of the +engine, and he called upon the horseman with the flag to get out of his +way! The speed was at once raised to twelve miles an hour, and soon +after to fifteen, causing much excitement among the passengers." + +George Stephenson was greatly impressed with the vast possibilities +belonging to the future of railway travelling. When battling for the +locomotive he seemed to see with true prescience what it was destined to +accomplish. "I will do something in course of time," he said, "which +will astonish all England." Years afterwards when asked to what he +alluded, he replied, "I meant to make the mail run between London and +Edinburgh by the locomotive before I died, and I have done it." Thus was +a similar prediction fulfilled, which at the time he uttered it was +doubtless considered a very wild prophecy, "Men shall take supper in +London and breakfast in Edinburgh." + +From a small beginning railways have spread over the four quarters of the +globe. Thousands of millions of pounds have been spent upon their +construction. Railway contractors such as Peto and Brassey at one time +employed armies of workmen, more numerous than the contending hosts +engaged in many a battle celebrated in history. Considering the mighty +revolutions that have been wrought in social affairs and in the commerce +of the world by railways, John Bright was not far wrong when he said in +the House of Commons "Who are the greatest men of the present age? Not +your warriors, not your statesmen. They are your engineers." + +The Railway era, although of modern date, has been rich in adventures and +incidents. Numerous works have been written upon Railways, also memoirs +of Railway Engineers, relating their struggles and triumphs, which have +charmed multitudes of readers. Yet no volume has been published +consisting exclusively of Railway Adventures and Anecdotes. Books having +the heading of Railway Anecdotes, or similar titles, containing few of +such anecdotes but many of a miscellaneous character, have from time to +time appeared. Anecdotes, racy of the Railway calling and circumstances +connected with it are very numerous: they are to be found scattered in +Parliamentary Blue Books, Journals, Biographies, and many out-of-the-way +channels. Many of them are highly instructive, diverting, and +mirth-provoking, having reference to persons in all conditions. The +"Railway Adventures and Anecdotes," illustrating many a quaint and +picturesque scene of railway life, have been drawn from a great variety +of sources. I have for a long time been collecting them, and am willing +to believe they may prove entertaining and profitable to the railway +traveller and the general reader, relieving the tedium of hours when the +mind is not disposed to grapple with profounder subjects. + +The romance of railways is in the past and not in the future. How +desirable then it is that a well written history of British Railways +should speedily be produced, before their traditions, interesting +associations, and early workers shall be forgotten. A work of such +magnitude would need to be entrusted to a band of expert writers. With +an able man like Mr. Williams, the author of _Our Iron Roads_, and the +_History of the Midland Railway_, presiding over the enterprise, a +history might be produced which would be interesting to the present and +to future generations. The history although somewhat voluminous would be +a necessity to every public and private library. Many of our railway +companies might do worse than contribute 500 or 1000 pounds each to +encourage such an important literary undertaking. It would give an +impetus to the study of railway matters and it is not at all unlikely in +the course of a short time the companies would be recouped for their +outlay. + +Before concluding, it is only right I should express my grateful +acknowledgments to the numerous body of subscribers to this work. Among +them are noblemen of the highest rank and distinction, cabinet ministers, +members of Parliament, magistrates, ministers of all sections of the +Christian church, merchants, farmers, tradesmen, and artisans. Through +their helpful kindness my responsibility has been considerably lightened, +and I trust they will have no reason to regret that their confidence has +been misplaced. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +A.B.C. and D.E.F. 171 +Accident, Abergele, The 220 +,, Beneficial Effect of a Railway 186 +,, Extraordinary 128 +,, ,, 265 +,, Remarkable 172 +,, Versailles, The 96 +Action, A Novel 255 +Advantages of Railway Tunnels 126 +Advertisement, Remarkable 124 +Adventure, Remarkable 146 +Affrighted Toll Keeper 19 +Agent, The Insurance 269 +Air-ways, instead of Railways 83 +Alarmist Views 28 +Almost Dar Now 122 +American Patience and Imperturbability 183 +A'penny a Mile 170 +Army with Banners, An 207 +Atmospheric Railroad Anticipated 14 +Baby Law 216 +Balloonists, Extraordinary Escape of 275 +Bavarian Guards and Bavarian Beer 198 +Bill, Expensive Parliamentary 102 +,, First Railway 16 +Bishop, A Disingenuous 267 +,, An Industrious 248 +Blunder, An Extraordinary 254 +Bookshops, Growth of Station 130 +Booking-Clerk and Buckland, The 248 +Bookstalls, Messrs. Smith's 131 +Brahmin, The Polite 260 +Bride's Lost Luggage, A 142 +Brassey's, Mr., Strict Adherence to his Word 264 +Brougham's, Lord, Speech 60 +Box, Shut up in a large 273 +Buckland's, Mr. Frank, First Railway Journey 175 +Buckland, Mr. Frank, and his Boots 261 +Bridge, Awful Death on a Railroad 273 +Bully Rightly Served, The 190 +Burning the Road Clear 179 +Business, Railway Facilities for 118 +Calculation as to Railway Speed 28 +Capture, Clever 105 +Catastrophe 165 +Carlist Chief as a Sub-contractor, A 213 +Carriage, The Duke's 60 +Casuality, Curious 193 +Chase after a Runaway Engine, A 136 +Child's Idea on Railways, A 179 +Child, Remarkable Rescue of a 249 +Claim for goodwill for a Cow killed on the Railway 268 +Clergy, Appealing to the 83 +Clever, Quite too 181 +Coach _versus_ Railway Accidents 198 +Compensation for Land 106 +,, A Widow's Claim for 242 +Competition, Early Railway 27 +,, For Passengers 167 +,, Goods 135 +Conductor, A Wide-awake 184 +Coincidences, Remarkable 291 +Cook's Railway Excursions, Origin of 87 +Cool Impudence and Dishonesty 248 +Coolness, A Little Boy's 258 +Constable, The Electric 92 +Contracts, Expensive 263 +Contractor, An Accommodating 113 +Contractors and the Blotting Pad, Rival 99 +Contrast, National 171 +Conversion of the Gauge 243 +Counsel, The bothered Queen's 247 +Courting on a Railway thirty miles an hour 159 +Crimea, The First Railway in the 156 +Croydon. It's 271 +Curious Classification, A 294 +Custom of the Country, The 234 +Cuvier's Description of the Locomotive 21 +Damages easily adjusted 127 +Day. The Great Railway Mania 114 +Death. Faithful unto 153 +Decision. A Quick 95 +Decoy Trunk, The 224 +Deodand. The 88 +Difficulties encountered in making Surveys 31 +Difficulty solved, A 181 +Discovery, A Great 144 +Discussion, An Unfortunate 89 +Disguise, Duty in 283 +Dissatisfied Passengers 236 +Doctor and the Officers, The 246 +Dog Ticket 91 +Down Brakes, or Force of Habit 192 +Drink. That accursed 274 +Drinking from the Wrong Bottle 262 +Driving a last spike 224 +Dropping the letter "L" 267 +Dukes and the traveller, The two 114 +Dying Engine Driver, The 191 +Early American Railway Enterprise 66 +Early Morning Ride 187 +Early Steam Carriages 15 +Elevated Sight-seers Wishing to Descend 59 +Engine Driver, A Brave 247 +,, A Mad 278 +Engine Driver's Presence of Mind 232 +,, Driving 230 +,, Fascination 166 +Engineer and Scientific Witness 133 +,, Very Nice to be a Railway 113 +Entertaining Companion 195 +Epigram, Railway 124 +Epitaph, An Engine Driver's 86 +,, on the Victim of a Railway Accident 85 +Escape, Providential 128 +Escapes from being Lynched, Narrow 153 +Everett's Reply to Wordsworth's Protest 123 +Evidence of General Salesman 78 +,, Picture 111 +Evil, A Dreaded 145 +Excursionists put to the proof 294 +Extracts from Macready's Diaries 138 +Fares, Cheap 188 +Fault, At 241 +Female Fragility 250 +Flutter caused by the murder of Mr. Briggs 253 +Fog Signals 121 +Forged Tickets 217 +Fourth of July Facts 244 +Fraud on the Great Northern Company, Immense 161 +Frauds, Attempted 140 +Freak, Singular 170 +Freaks of Concealed Bogs 138 +Frightened at a Red Light 223 +Girl, A Brave 273 +Goat and the Railway, The 155 +Good Things of Railway Accidents 186 +Gravedigger's Suggestion, A 257 +Gray, Thomas. A Railway Projector 22 +Greenlander's First Railway Ride, A 255 +Growing Lad, A 217 +Hartington, The Marquis of, on George Stephenson 283 +Hair-Dresser, The anxious 79 +Heroism of a Driver 270 +Highlander and a Railway Engine, The 138 +Hoax, Accident 167 +Horses _versus_ Railways 262 +How to bear losses 214 +Impressions, A Mexican Chief's Railway 278 +Incident, An amusing 258 +,, An Electric Tramway 282 +Information, Obtaining 154 +Insulted Woman, An 235 +Insured 202 +Judge's feeling against Railways, A County Court 150 +Kangaroo Attacking a Train, A 209 +Kemble's Letter, Fanny 35 +Kid-Gloved Samson, A 184 +Kiss in the Dark, A 256 +Lady and her Lap-dog, The 242 +,, An Exacting 183 +Legislation, Railway 100 +Liabilities of Railway Engineers for Errors 127 +Liability of Companies for Delay of Trains 191 +Life upon a Railway, by a Conductor 148 +Loan Engineering, or Staking out a Railway 172 +Locomotive, A Smuggling 234 +,, Dangerous 292 +Luggage, Lost 112 +,, in Railway Carriages 281 +,, What is Passengers' 243 +Madman in a Railway Carriage, A 201 +Marriage, A Railway 139 +,, and Railway Dividends 228 +Match, A Runaway 93 +Merchant and his Clerk, The 160 +Mistake, A slight 263 +Monetary Difficulties in Spain 212 +Money. Lost and Found 87 +Monkey Signalman, A 294 +Navvy's Reason for not going to Church, A 80 +Nervousness 259 +New Trick. A 203 +Newspaper Wonder, A 211 +Newton, Sir Isaac's Prediction of Railway Speed 14 +Notice, Copy of a 237 +,, A curious 154 +,, A remarkable 252 +,, to Defaulting Shareholders, A Novel 95 +Not to be caught 246 +Novel Attack, A 197 +,, Obstruction 215 +Objections, Sanitary 77 +Opposition, A Landowner's 110 +,, English and American 71 +,, Parliamentary 29 +,, to Making Surveys 75 +Orders, My 280 +Parody upon the Railway Mania 118 +Passengers and other Cattle 158 +,, Third-class 143 +Peto, Sir Morton, and the Balaclava Railway 156 +Peto's, Sir Morton, Railway Mission 104 +Phillippe and the English Navvies, Louis 125 +Photographing an Express Train 259 +Polite Irishman, The 194 +Portmanteau, His 130 +Post Office and Railways. The 119 +Power of Locomotive Engines, Gigantic 94 +Practice, Sharp 80 +Prejudice against carrying Coals by Railways 84 +,, Removed 81 +Presentiment, Mrs. Blackburne's 56 +Profitable Damages 295 +Prognostications of Failure 73 +Pullman's Carriages 295 +Race, A Curious 254 +Railway, An Early 20 +,, An Early Ride on the Liverpool and Manchester 61 +,, Announcement 17 +,, Enterprise 296 +,, Travelling, Early 63 +,, Destroyers in the Franco-German War 223 +,, from Merstham to Wandsworth 16 +,, Liverpool and Manchester 32 +,, Manners 272 +,, Merthyr Tydvil 17 +,, A Profitable 260 +,, Opening of the Darlington and Stockton 26 +,, Romance 93 +,, Sleeper, A 246 +,, Signals 120 +,, Switch Tender and his Child 199 +,, Train turned into a Man-trap 185 +,, Up Vesuvius 274 +Railways, Elevated 214 +,, A Judgment 268 +,, Origin of 13 +Railroad Incident 214 +,, Tracklayer 216 +Rails, Expansion of 158 +Rector and his Pig. The 103 +Redstart, The Black 199 +Rejoinder, A smart 158 +Reproof for Swearing 189 +Request, A Polite 136 +Ride from Boston to Providence in 1835, A 81 +Robinson's, Crabb, First Railway Journey 65 +Ruling Occupation strong on Sunday 186 +Safety on the Floor 147 +Seat, The Safest 268 +Scotch Lady and her Box 272 +Scene at a Railway Junction, Extraordinary 134 +,, Before a Sub-Committee on Standing Orders 176 +Security for Travelling 229 +Sell, A 241 +Seizure of a Railway Train for Debt 208 +She takes Fits 210 +Shrewd Observers 20 +Signalman, An Amateur 97 +Singular Circumstance 125 +Sleeper, A Heavy 276 +Sounds, Remarkable Memory for 266 +Snag's Corners 210 +Snake's Heads 81 +Snowed up on the Pacific Railway 237 +Speed of Railway Engines 30 +Steam defined 137 +,, Pulling a Tooth by 276 +Steel Rails 193 +Stephenson Centenary, The 284 +,, ,, George Robert Stephenson's Address 286 +,, ,, Rev. T. C. Sarjent's Address at the 288 +,, ,, Sir William Armstrong's Address at the 284 +Stephenson's Wedding Present, George 194 +Stopping a Runaway Couple 200 +Stumped 293 +Swindling, Ingenious 292 +Taken Aback 152 +Taking Him Down a Peg 252 +Taste, Loss of 291 +Tay Bridge Accident 245 +Telegraph, Extraordinary use of the Electric 111 +Ticket, A Lost 164 +,, Your 271 +Traffic-Taking 86 +Train Stopped by Caterpillars, A 204 +Travelling, Effects of Constant Railway 281 +,, in Russia 204 +,, Improvement in Third-Class 143 +Trent Station 192 +Trip, An Unpleasant Trial 72 +Tunnel, In a Railway 137 +Very Cool 199 +Waif, An Extraordinary 245 +Ward's, Artemus, Suggestion 197 +Watkin, Sir Edward, on Touting for Business 269 +Way, A Quick 138 +Way-Leaves 13 +Wedding at a Railway Station 166 +What are you going to do? 189 +Whistle, Steam 98 +Wolves on a Railway 197 +Wordsworth's Protest 122 +Yankee Compensation Case, A 218 + + + +ORIGIN OF RAILWAYS + + +The immediate parent of the railway was the wooden tram-road, which +existed at an early period in colliery districts. Mr. Beaumont, of +Newcastle, is said to have been the first to lay down wooden rails as +long ago as 1630. More than one hundred and forty years elapsed before +the invention was greatly improved. Mr. John Carr, in 1776 (although not +the first to use iron rails), was the first to lay down a cast-iron +railway, nailed to wooden sleepers, for the Duke of Newcastle's colliery +near Sheffield. This innovation was regarded with great disfavour by the +workpeople as an interference with the vested rights of labour. Mr. +Carr's life, as a consequence, was in much jeopardy and for four days he +had to conceal himself in a wood to avoid the violence of an indignant +and vindictive populace. + + + + +WAY-LEAVES. + + +Roger North, referring to a visit paid to Newcastle by his brother, the +Lord Keeper Guildford, in 1676, writes:--"Another remarkable thing is +their _way-leaves_; for when men have pieces of ground between the +colliery and the river, they sell the leave to lead coal over the ground, +and so dear that the owner of a rood of ground will expect 20 pounds per +annum for this leave. The manner of the carriage is by laying rails of +timber from the colliery down to the river exactly straight and parallel, +and bulky carts are made with four rowlets fitting these rails, whereby +the carriage is so easy that one horse will draw four or five chaldron of +coals, and is an immense benefit to the coal merchants." + + + + +SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S PREDICTION OF RAILWAY SPEED. + + +In a tract by the Rev. Mr. Craig, Vicar of Leamington, entitled "Astral +Wonders," is to be found the following remarkable passage:--"Let me +narrate to you an anecdote concerning Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire. Sir +Isaac wrote a book on the Prophet Daniel, and another on the Revelations; +and he said, in order to fulfil certain prophecies before a certain date +terminated, namely 1260 years, there would be a certain mode of +travelling of which the men in his time had no conception; nay, that the +knowledge of mankind would be so increased that they would be able to +travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. Voltaire, who did not believe +in the Holy Scriptures, got hold of this, and said, 'Now look at that +mighty mind of Newton, who discovered gravity, and told us such marvels +for us all to admire, when he became an old man and got into his dotage, +he began to study that book called the Bible; and it appears that in +order to credit its fabulous nonsense, we must believe that mankind's +knowledge will be so much increased that we shall be able to travel fifty +miles an hour. The poor 'dotard!' exclaimed the philosophic infidel, +Voltaire, in the complaisancy of his pity. But who is the dotard now?" + + + + +THE ATMOSPHERIC RAILROAD ANTICIPATED. + + + _First Voice_. + + "But why drives on that ship so fast, + Without or wave or wind?" + + _Second Voice_. + + "The air is cut away before, + And closes from behind." + + --_The Ancient Mariner_. + +This is the exact principle of the atmospheric railroad, and it is, +perhaps, worthy of note as a curious fact that such a means of locomotion +should have occurred to Coleridge so long ago. + + W. Y. Bernhard Smith, in _Notes and Queries_. + + + + +EARLY STEAM CARRIAGES. + + +Stuart, in his "Historical and Descriptive Anecdotes of Steam Engines and +of their Inventors and Improvers," gives a description of what was +supposed to be the first model of a steam carriage. The constructor was +a Frenchman named Cugnot, who exhibited it before the Marshal de Saxe in +1763. He afterwards built an engine on the same model at the cost of the +French monarch. But when set in motion it projected itself onward with +such force that it knocked down a wall which stood in its way, and--its +power being considered too great for ordinary use--it was put aside as +being a dangerous machine, and was stowed away in the Arsenal Museum at +Paris. It is now to be seen in the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers. + +Mr. Smiles also remarks that "An American inventor, named Oliver Evans, +was also occupied with the same idea, for, in 1772, he invented a steam +carriage to travel on common roads; and, in 1787, he obtained from the +State of Maryland the exclusive right to make and use steam carriages. +The invention, however, never came into practical use. + +"It also appears that, in 1784, William Symington, the inventor of the +steamboat, conceived the idea of employing steam power in the propulsion +of carriages; and, in 1786, he had a working model of a steam carriage +constructed which he submitted to the professors and other scientific +gentlemen of Edinburgh. But the state of the Scotch roads was at that +time so horrible that he considered it impracticable to proceed further +with his scheme, and he shortly gave it up in favour of his project of +steam navigation. + +"The first English model of a steam carriage was made in 1784 by William +Murdoch, the friend and assistant of Watt. It was on the high-pressure +principle and ran on three wheels. The boiler was heated by a spirit +lamp, and the whole machine was of very diminutive dimensions, standing +little more than a foot high. Yet, on one occasion, the little engine +went so fast that it outran the speed of the inventor. Mr. Buckle says +that one night after returning from his duties in the mine at Redruth, in +Cornwall, Murdoch determined to try the working of his model locomotive. +For this purpose he had recourse to the walk leading to the church, about +a mile from the town. The walk was rather narrow and was bounded on +either side by high hedges. It was a dark night, and Murdoch set out +alone to try his experiment. Having lit his lamp, the water shortly +began to boil, and off started the engine with the inventor after it. He +soon heard distant shouts of despair. It was too dark to perceive +objects, but he shortly found, on following up the machine, that the +cries for assistance proceeded from the worthy pastor of the parish, who, +going towards the town on business, was met on this lonely road by the +hissing and fiery little monster, which he subsequently declared he had +taken to be the Evil One in _propria persona_. No further steps, +however, were taken by Murdoch to embody his idea of a locomotive +carriage in a more practical form." + + + + +FIRST RAILWAY BILL. + + +The first Railway Bill passed by Parliament was for a line from +Wandsworth to Croydon, in 1801, but a quarter of a century elapsed before +the first line was actually constructed for carrying passengers between +Stockton and Darlington. People still living can remember the mail +coaches that plied once a month between Edinburgh and London, making the +journey in twelve or fourteen days. The _Annual Register_ of 1820 boasts +that "English mail coaches run 7 miles an hour; French only 4.5 miles; +the former travelling, in the year, forty times the length of miles that +the French accomplish." These coaches were a great improvement on the +previous method of sending the mails. In 1783 a petition to Parliament +stated that "the mails are generally entrusted to some idle boy, without +character, mounted on a worn-out hack." + + "_Progress of the World_" by M. G. Mulhall. + + + + +RAILWAY FROM MERSTHAM TO WANDSWORTH. + + +Charles Knight thus describes this old line:--"The earliest railway for +public traffic in England was one passing from Merstham to Wandsworth, +through Croydon; a small, single line, on which a miserable team of +donkeys, some thirty years ago, might be seen crawling at the rate of +four miles an hour, with several trucks of stone and lime behind them. +It was commenced in 1801, opened in 1803; and the men of science of that +day--we cannot say that the respectable name of Stephenson was not among +them, (Stephenson was then a brakesman at Killingworth)--tested its +capabilities and found that one horse could draw some thirty-five tons at +six miles an hour, and then, with prophetic wisdom, declared that +railways could never be worked profitably. The old Croydon railway is no +longer used. The genius loci must look with wonder on the gigantic +offspring of the little railway, which has swallowed up its own sire. +Lean mules no longer crawl leisurely along the little rails with trucks +of stone through Croydon, once perchance during the day, but the whistle +and the rush of the locomotive are now heard all day long. Not a few +loads of lime, but all London and its contents, by comparison--men, +women, children, horses, dogs, oxen, sheep, pigs, carriages, merchandise, +food,--would seem to be now-a-days passing through Croydon; for day after +day, more than 100 journeys are made by the great railroads which pass +the place." + + + + +RAILWAY ANNOUNCEMENT. + + +The following announcement was published in a London periodical, dated +August 1, 1802:--"The Surrey Iron Railway is now completed over the high +road through Wandsworth town. On Wednesday, June 8, several carriages of +all descriptions passed over the iron rails without meeting with the +least obstacle. Among these, the Portsmouth wagon, drawn by eight horses +and weighing from eight to ten tons, passed over the rails, and did not +appear to make the slightest impression upon them." + + + + +MERTHYR TYDVIL RAILWAY. + + +An Act of Parliament was granted for a railway to Merthyr Tydvil in 1803, +and the following year the first locomotive which ran on a railway is +described in a racy manner by the _Western Mail_, as follows:--"Quaint, +rattling, puffing, asthmatic, and wheezy, the pioneer of ten thousand +gilding creations of beauty and strength made its way between the +white-washed houses of the old tramway at Merthyr. It has a dwarf body +placed on a high framework, constructed by the hedge carpenter of the +place in the roughest possible fashion. The wheels were equally rough +and large, and surmounting all was a huge stack, ugly enough when it was +new, but in after times made uglier by whitewash and rust. Every +movement was made with a hideous uproar, snorting and clanking, and this, +aided by the noise of the escaping steam, formed a tableau from which, +met in the byeway, every old woman would run with affright. The Merthyr +locomotive was made jointly by Trevithick, a Cornishman, and Rees Jones, +of Penydarran. The day fixed for the trial was the 12th of February, +1804, and the track a tramway, lately formed from Penydarran, at the back +of Plymouth Works, by the side of the Troedyrhiw, and so down to the +navigation. Great was the concourse assembled; villagers of all ages and +sizes thronged the spot; and the rumour of the day's doings even +penetrated up the defiles of Taff Vawr and Taff Vach, bringing down old +apple-faced farmers and their wives, who were told of a power and a speed +that would alter everything, and do away with horses altogether. Prim, +cosy, apple-faced people, innocent and primitive, little thought ye then +of the changes which the clanking monster was to yield; how Grey Dobbin +would see flying by a mass of wood and iron, thousands of tons of weight, +bearing not only the commerce of the country, but hundreds of people as +well; how rivers and mountains would afford no obstacle, as the mighty +azure waves leap the one and dash through the other. On the first engine +and trains that started on the memorable day in February, twenty persons +clustered like bees, anxious, we learn in the 'History of Merthyr,' to +win immortality by being thus distinguished above all their fellows; the +trains were six in number, laden with iron, and amidst a concourse of +villagers, including the constable, the 'druggister,' and the class +generally dubbed 'shopwors' by the natives, were Richard Crawshay and Mr. +Samuel Homfray. The driver was one William Richards, and on the engine +were perched Trevithick and Rees Jones, their faces black, but their eyes +bright with the anticipation of victory. Soon the signal was given, and +amidst a mighty roar from the people, the wheels turned and the mass +moved forward, going steadily at the rate of five miles an hour until a +bridge was reached a little below the town that did not admit of the +stack going under, and as this was built of bricks, there was a great +crash and instant stoppage. Trevithick and Jones were of the +old-fashioned school of men who did not believe in impossibilities. The +fickle crowd, too, who had hurrahed like mad, hung back and said 'It +won't do'; but these heroes, the advance-guard of a race who had done +more to make England famous than battles by land or sea, sprang to the +ground and worked like Britons, never ceasing until they had repaired the +mishap, and then they rattled on, and finally reached their journey's +end. The return journey was a failure, on account of gradients and +curves, but the possibility of success was demonstrated; and from this +run on the Merthyr tramway the railway age--marked with throes and +suspense, delays, accidents, and misadventures--finally began." + + + + +AN AFFRIGHTED TOLL-KEEPER. + + +There is a story told by Coleridge about the steam engine which +Trevithick exhibited at work on a temporary railroad in London. +Trevithick and his partner Captain Vivian, prior to this exhibition were +riding on the carriage on the turnpike road near to Plymouth. It had +committed sundry damage in its course, knocking down the rails of a +gentleman's garden, when Vivian saw the toll-bar in front of them closed +he called to Trevithick to slacken speed which he did just in time to +save the gate. The affrighted toll-keeper instantly opened it. "What +have us got to pay?" asked Captain Vivian, careful as to honesty if +reckless as to grammar. + +"Na-na-na-na!" stammered the poor man, trembling in every limb, with his +teeth chattering as if he had got the ague. + +"What have us got to pay, I ask?" + +"Na-noth-nothing to pay! My de-dear Mr. Devil, do drive as fast as you +can! Nothing to pay!" + + + + +AN EARLY RAILWAY. + + +More than twenty years before the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester +Railway, the celebrated engineer Trevithick constructed, not only a +locomotive engine, but also a railway, that the London public might see +with their own eyes what the new high pressure steam engine could effect, +and how greatly superior a railway was to a common road for locomotion. +The sister of Davies Gilbert named this engine "Catch me who can." The +following interesting account in a letter to a correspondent was given by +John Isaac Hawkins, an engineer well known in his day. + +"Sir,--Observing that it is stated in your last number (No. 1232, dated +the 20th instant, page 269), under the head of 'Twenty-one Years' +Retrospect of the Railway System,' that the greatest speed of +Trevithick's engine was five miles an hour, I think it due to the memory +of that extraordinary man to declare that about the year 1808 he laid +down a circular railway in a field adjoining the New Road, near or at the +spot now forming the southern half of Euston Square; that he placed a +locomotive engine, weighing about ten tons, on that railway--on which I +rode, with my watch in hand--at the rate of twelve miles an hour; that +Mr. Trevithick then gave his opinion that it would go twenty miles an +hour, or more, on a straight railway; that the engine was exhibited at +one shilling admittance, including a ride for the few who were not too +timid; that it ran for some weeks, when a rail broke and occasioned the +engine to fly off in a tangent and overturn, the ground being very soft +at the time. Mr. Trevithick having expended all his means in erecting +the works and enclosure, and the shillings not having come in fast enough +to pay current expenses, the engine was not again set on the rail." + + + + +SHREWD OBSERVERS. + + +Sir Richard Phillips was a man of foresight, for, in the year 1813, he +wrote the following words in his "Morning Walk to Kew," a book of some +popularity in its day:--"I found delight in witnessing at Wandsworth the +economy of horse labour on the iron railway. Yet a heavy sigh escaped me +as I thought of the inconceivable millions of money which had been spent +about Malta, four or five of which might have been the means of extending +double lines of iron railway from London to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Holyhead, +Milford, Falmouth, Yarmouth, Dover, and Portsmouth. A reward of a single +thousand would have supplied coaches and other vehicles of various +degrees of speed, with the best tackle for readily turning out; and we +might ere this have witnessed our mail coaches running at the rate of ten +miles an hour, drawn by a single horse, or impelled fifteen miles an hour +by Blenkinsop's steam engine. Such would have been a legitimate motive +for overstepping the income of a nation; and the completion of so great +and useful a work would have afforded rational ground for public triumph +in general jubilee." Mr. Edgeworth, writing to James Watt on the 7th of +August, 1813, remarks, "I have always thought that steam would become the +universal lord, and that we should in time scorn post-horses. An iron +railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road on the common +construction." + + + + +CUVIER'S DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCOMOTIVE. + + +The celebrated Cuvier, in an address delivered by him before the French +Institute in the year 1816, thus referred to the nascent locomotive:--"A +steam engine, mounted upon a carriage whose wheels indent themselves +along a road specially prepared for it, is attached to a line of loaded +vehicles. A fire is lit underneath the boiler, by which the engine is +speedily set in motion, and in a short time the whole are brought to +their journey's end. The traveller who, from a distance, first sees this +strange spectacle of a train of loaded carriages traversing the country +by the simple force of steam, can with difficulty believe his eyes." + +The locomotive thus described by Cuvier was the first engine of the kind +regularly employed in the working of railway traffic. It was impelled by +means of a cogged wheel, which worked into a cogged rail, after the +method adopted by Mr. Blenkinsop, upon the Middleton Coal Railway, near +Leeds; and the speed of the train which it dragged behind it was only +from three to four miles an hour. + +Ten years later, the same power and speed of the locomotive were still +matters of wonderment, for, in 1825, we find Mr. Mackenzie, in his +"History of Northumberland" thus describing the performances on the Wylam +Coal Railroad:--"A stranger," said he, "is struck with surprise and +astonishment on seeing a locomotive engine moving majestically along the +road at the rate of four or five miles an hour, drawing along from ten to +fourteen loaded wagons, weighing about twenty-one-and-a-half tons; and +his surprise is increased on witnessing the extraordinary facility with +which the engine is managed. This invention is indeed a noble triumph of +science." + +In the same year, the first attempt was made to carry passengers by +railway between Stockton and Darlington. A machine resembling the yellow +caravan still seen at country fairs was built and fitted up with seats +all round it, and set upon the rails, along which it was drawn by a +horse. It was found exceedingly convenient to travel by, and the number +of passengers between the two towns so much increased that several bodies +of old stage coaches were bought up, mounted upon railway wheels, and +added to the carrying stock of the Stockton and Darlington Company. At +length the horse was finally discarded in favour of the locomotive, and +not only coals and merchandise, but passengers of all classes, were drawn +by steam. + + --_Railway News_. + + + + +A RAILWAY PROJECTOR. + + +In the year 1819, Thomas Gray--a deep thinker with a mind of +comprehensive grasp--was travelling in the North of England when he saw a +train of coal-wagons drawn by steam along a colliery tramroad. "Why," he +questioned the engineer, "are not these tramroads laid down all over +England, so as to supersede our common roads, and steam engines employed +to convey goods and passengers along them, so as to supersede horse +power?" The engineer replied, "Just propose you that to the nation, sir, +and see what you will get by it! Why, sir, you will be worried to death +for your pains." Nothing daunted by this reply, Thomas Gray could +scarcely think or talk upon any other subject. In vision he saw the +country covered with a network of tramroads. Before his time the famous +Duke of Bridgewater might have some misgivings about his canals. It is +related on a certain occasion some one said to him, "You must be making +handsomely out of your canals." "Oh, yes," grumbled he in reply, "they +will last my time, but I don't like the look of these tramroads; there's +mischief in them." Mr. Gray, with prophetic eye, saw the great changes +which the iron railway would make in the means of transit throughout the +civilized world. In 1820 he brought out his now famous work, entitled +"Observations on a General Iron Railway, or Land Steam Conveyance, to +supersede the necessity of horses in all public vehicles; showing its +vast superiority in every respect over all the present pitiful methods of +conveyance by Turnpike-roads, Canals, and Coasting Traders: containing +every species of information relative to Railroads and Locomotive +Engines." The book is illustrated by a plate exhibiting different kinds +of carriages drawn on the railway by locomotives. He evidently +anticipated that the locomotive of the future would be capable of going +at a considerable speed, for on the plate is engraved these lines:-- + + "No speed with this can fleetest horse compare; + No weight like this canal or vessel bear. + As this will commerce every way promote, + To this let sons of commerce grant their vote." + +Mr. Gray in his book exhibits a marvellous insight into the wants and +requirements of the country. He remarks, "The plan might be commenced +between the towns of Manchester and Liverpool, where a trial could soon +be made, as the distance is not very great, and the commercial part of +England would thereby be better able to appreciate its many excellent +properties and prove its efficacy. All the great trading towns of +Lancashire and Yorkshire would then eagerly embrace the opportunity to +secure so commodious and easy a conveyance, and cause branch railways to +be laid down in every possible direction. The convenience and economy in +the carriage of the raw material to the numerous manufactories +established in these counties, the expeditious and cheap delivery of +piece goods bought by the merchants every week at the various markets, +and the despatch in forwarding bales and packages to the outposts cannot +fail to strike the merchant and manufacturer as points of the first +importance. Nothing, for example, would be so likely to raise the ports +of Hull, Liverpool, and Bristol to an unprecedented pitch of prosperity +as the establishment of railways to those ports, thereby rendering the +communication from the east to the west seas, and all intermediate +places, rapid, cheap, and effectual. Anyone at all conversant with +commerce must feel the vast importance of such an undertaking in +forwarding the produce of America, Brazils, the East and West Indies, +etc., from Liverpool and Bristol, _via_ Hull, to the opposite shores of +Germany and Holland, and, _vice versa_, the produce of the Baltic, _via_ +Hull, to Liverpool and Bristol. Again, by the establishment of morning +and evening mail steam carriages, the commercial interest would derive +considerable advantage; the inland mails might be forwarded with greater +despatch and the letters delivered much earlier than by the extra post; +the opportunity of correspondence between London and all mercantile +places would be much improved, and the rate of postage might be generally +diminished without injuring the receipts of the post office, because any +deficiency occasioned by a reduction in the postage would be made good by +the increased number of journeys which mail steam carriages might make. +The London and Edinburgh mail steam carriages might take all the mails +and parcels on the line of road between these two cities, which would +exceedingly reduce the expense occasioned by mail coaches on the present +footing. The ordinary stage coaches, caravans, or wagons, running any +considerable distance along the main railway, might also be conducted on +peculiarly favourable terms to the public; for instance, one steam engine +of superior power would enable its proprietors to convey several coaches, +caravans, or wagons, linked together until they arrive at their +respective branches, when other engines might proceed on with them to +their destination. By a due regulation of the departure and arrival of +coaches, caravans, and wagons along these branches the whole +communication throughout the country would be so simple and so complete +as to enable every individual to partake of the various productions of +particular situations, and to enjoy, at a moderate expense every +improvement introduced into society. The great economy of such a measure +must be obvious to everyone, seeing that, instead of each coach changing +horses between London and Edinburgh, say twenty-five times, requiring a +hundred horses, besides the supernumerary ones kept at every stage in +case of accidents, the whole journey of several coaches would be +performed with the simple expense of one steam engine. No animal +strength will be able to give that uniform and regular acceleration to +our commercial intercourse which may be accomplished by railways; however +great animal speed, there cannot be a doubt that it would be considerably +surpassed by mail steam carriages, and that the expense would be +infinitely less. The exorbitant charge now made for small parcels +prevents that natural intercourse of friendship between families resident +in different parts of the kingdom, in the same manner as the heavy +postage of letters prevents free communication, and consequently +diminishes very considerably the consumption of paper which would take +place under a less burdensome taxation." + +Mr. Gray's book would no doubt excite ridicule and amazement when +published sixty years ago. The farmers of that day might well be excused +for incredulity when perusing a passage like the following:--"The present +system of conveyance," says Mr. Gray, "affords but tolerable +accommodation to farmers, and the common way in which they attend markets +must always confine them within very limited distances. It is, however, +expected that the railway will present a suitable conveyance for +attending market-towns thirty or forty miles off, as also for forwarding +considerable supplies of grain, hay, straw, vegetables, and every +description of live stock to the metropolis at a very easy expense, and +with the greatest celerity, from all parts of the kingdom." + +A writer in Chambers's Journal, 1847, remarks:--"It was not until after +four or five years of agitation, and several editions of Mr. Gray's work +had been published and successively commented upon by many newspapers, +that commercial men were roused to give the proposed scheme its first +great trial on the road between Liverpool and Manchester. The success of +that experiment, insured by the engineering skill of Stephenson, was the +signal for all that has since been done both in this island and in other +parts of the world. Unfortunately, the public has been too busy these +many years in making railways to inquire to whom it owes its gratitude +for having first expounded and advocated their claims; and probably there +are few men now living who have served the public as effectually, with so +little return in the way of thanks or applause, as Mr. Thomas Gray, the +proposer in 1820 of a general system of transit by railways." + +Poor Gray! He was far ahead of his times. Public men called him a bore, +and people in Nottingham, where he resided, said he was cracked. The +_Quarterly Review_ declared such persons are not worth our notice, and +the _Edinburgh Review_ said "Put him in a straight jacket." Thus the +world is often ignorant of its greatest benefactors. Gray died in +poverty. His widow and daughters earned their living by teaching a small +school at Exeter. + + + + +OPENING OF THE DARLINGTON AND STOCKTON RAILWAY. + + +In the autumn of 1825 the _Times_ gave an account of the origin of one of +the most gigantic enterprises of modern times. In that year the +Darlington and Stockton Railway was formally opened by the proprietors +for the use of the public. It was a single railway, and the object of +its promoters was to open the London market to the Durham Collieries, as +well as to facilitate the obtaining of fuel to the country along its line +and certain parts of Yorkshire. The account of the opening says:-- + +A train of carriages was attached to a locomotive engine of the most +improved construction, and built by Mr. George Stephenson, in the +following order:--(1) Locomotive engine, with the engineer and +assistants; (2) tender with coals and water; next six wagons loaded with +coals and flour; then an elegant covered coach, with the committee and +other proprietors of the railway; then 21 wagons fitted up on the +occasion for passengers; and, last of all, six wagons loaded with coals, +making altogether a train of 38 carriages, exclusive of the engine and +tender. Tickets were distributed to the number of nearly 300 for those +whom it was intended should occupy the coach and wagons; but such was the +pressure and crowd that both loaded and empty carriages were instantly +filled with passengers. The signal being given, the engine started off +with this immense train of carriages. In some parts the speed was +frequently 12 miles per hour, and in one place, for a short distance, +near Darlington, 15 miles per hour, and at that time the number of +passengers was counted to 450, which, together with the coals, +merchandise, and carriages, would amount to nearly 90 tons. After some +little delay in arranging the procession, the engine, with her load, +arrived at Darlington a distance of eight miles and three-quarters, in 65 +minutes, exclusive of stops, averaging about eight miles an hour. The +engine arrived at Stockton in three hours and seven minutes after leaving +Darlington, including stops, the distance being nearly 12 miles, which is +at the rate of four miles an hour, and upon the level part of the railway +the number of passengers in the wagons was counted about 550, and several +more clung to the carriages on each side, so that the whole number could +not be less than 600. + + + + +EARLY RAILWAY COMPETITION. + + +The first Stockton and Darlington Act gave permission to all parties to +use the line on payment of certain rates. Thus private individuals might +work their own horses and carriages upon the railway and be their own +carriers. Mr. Clepham, in the _Gateshead Observer_, gives an interesting +account of the competition induced by the system:--"There were two +separate coach companies in Stockton, and amusing collisions sometimes +occurred between the drivers--who found on the rail a novel element for +contention. Coaches cannot pass each other on the rail as on the road; +and at the more westward public-house in Stockton (the Bay Horse, kept by +Joe Buckton), the coach was always on the line betimes, reducing its +eastward rival to the necessity of waiting patiently (or impatiently) in +the rear. The line was single, with four sidings in the mile; and when +two coaches met, or two trains, or coach and train, the question arose +which of the drivers must go back? This was not always settled in +silence. As to trains, it came to be a sort of understanding that light +wagons should give way to loaded; as to trains and coaches, that the +passengers should have preference over coals; while coaches, when they +met, must quarrel it out. At length, midway between sidings a post was +erected, and a rule was laid down that he who had passed the pillar must +go on, and the coming man go back. At the Goose Pool and Early Nook, it +was common for these coaches to stop; and there, as Jonathan would say, +passengers and coachmen 'liquored.' One coach, introduced by an +innkeeper, was a compound of two mourning coaches, an approximation to +the real railway coach, which still adheres, with multiplying exceptions, +to the stage coach type. One Dixon, who drove the 'Experiment' between +Darlington and Shildon, is the inventor of carriage lighting on the rail. +On a dark winter night, having compassion on his passengers, he would buy +a penny candle, and place it lighted amongst them, on the table of the +'Experiment'--the first railway coach (which, by the way, ended its days +at Shildon, as a railway cabin), being also the first coach on the rail +(first, second, and third class jammed all into one) that indulged its +customers with light in darkness." + + + + +CALCULATION AS TO RAILWAY SPEED. + + +The Editor of _The Scotsman_, having engaged in researches into the laws +of friction established by Vince and Coloumb, published the results in a +series of articles in his journal in 1824 showing how twenty miles an +hour was, on theoretic grounds, within the limits of possibility; and it +was to his writings on this point that Mr. Nicholas Wood alluded when he +spoke of the ridiculous expectation that engines would ever travel at the +rate of twenty, or even twelve miles an hour. + + + + +ALARMIST VIEWS. + + +A writer in the _Quarterly Review_, in 1825, was quite prophetical as to +the dangers connected with railway travelling. He observes:--"It is +certainly some consolation to those who are to be whirled at the rate of +18 or 20 miles an hour by means of a high-pressure engine, to be told +that there is no danger of being sea-sick while on shore, that they are +not to be scalded to death, nor drowned, nor dashed to pieces by the +bursting of a boiler; and that they need not mind being struck by the +flying off or breaking of a wheel. What can be more palpably absurd or +ridiculous than the prospect held out of locomotives travelling _twice as +fast_ as stage coaches! We should as soon expect the people of Woolwich +to suffer themselves to be fired off upon one of Congreve's Ricochet +Rockets, as trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such +a rate. We will back old Father Thames against the Woolwich Railway for +any sum. We trust that Parliament will, in all railways it may sanction, +limit the speed to _eight or nine miles an hour_, which we entirely agree +with Mr. Sylvestor is as great as can be ventured on with safety." + + + + +PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION. + + +On the third reading of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill in the +House of Commons, The Hon. Edward Stanley moved that the bill be read +that day six months, assigning, among other reasons, that the railway +trains worked by horses would take ten hours to do the distance, and that +they could not be worked by locomotive engines. Sir Isaac Coffin +seconded the motion, indignantly denouncing the project as fraught with +fraud and imposition. He would not consent to see widows' premises +invaded, and "how," he asked, "would any person like to have a railroad +under his parlour window? . . . What, he would like to know, was to be +done with all those who had advanced money in making and repairing +turnpike-roads? What with those who may still wish to travel in their +own or hired carriages, after the fashion of their forefathers? What was +to become of coach-makers and harness-makers, coach-masters and coachmen, +innkeepers, horse-breeders, and horse-dealers? Was the House aware of +the smoke and noise, the hiss and whirl, which locomotive engines, +passing at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, would occasion? +Neither the cattle ploughing in the fields or grazing in the meadows +could behold them without dismay. . . . Iron would be raised in price +100 per cent., or, more probably, exhausted altogether! It would be the +greatest nuisance, the most complete disturbance of quiet and comfort in +all parts of the kingdom, that the ingenuity of man could invent!" + + + + +SPEED OF RAILWAY ENGINES. + + +At the present day it is amusing to read the speeches of the counsel +employed against an act of Parliament being passed in favour of the +railway between Liverpool and Manchester. Mr. Harrison, who appeared on +behalf of certain landowners against the scheme, thus spoke with regard +to the powers of the locomotive engine:--"When we set out with the +original prospectus--I am sorry I have not got the paper with me--we were +to gallop, I know not at what rate, I believe it was at the rate of +twelve miles an hour. My learned friend, Mr. Adam, contemplated, +possibly in alluding to Ireland, that some of the Irish members would +arrive in wagons to a division. My learned friend says, that they would +go at the rate of twelve miles an hour, with the aid of a devil in the +form of a locomotive, sitting as a postillion upon the fore-horse, and an +Honourable Member, whom I do not see here, sitting behind him to stir up +the fire, and to keep it up at full speed. But the speed at which these +locomotive engines are to go has slackened; Mr. Adam does not now go +faster than five miles per hour. The learned Sergeant says, he should +like to have seven, but he would be content to go six. I will show you +he cannot go six; and probably, for any practical purposes, I may be able +to show, that I can keep up with him by the canal. Now the real evidence +to which you alone can pay attention shows, that practically, and for +useful purposes, upon the average, and to keep up the rate of speed +continually, they may go at something more than four miles an hour. In +one of the collieries, there is a small engine with wheels four feet in +diameter, which, with moderate weights has gone six; but I will not +admit, because, in an experiment or two, they may have been driven at the +rate of seven or eight miles an hour--because a small engine has been +driven at the rate of six, that this is the average rate at which they +can carry goods upon a railroad for the purpose of commerce, for that is +the point to which the Committee ought to direct their attention, and to +which the evidence is to be applied. It is quite idle to suppose, that +an experiment made to ascertain the speed, when the power is worked up to +the greatest extent, can afford a fair criterion of that which an engine +will do in all states of the weather. In the first place, locomotive +engines are liable to be operated upon by the weather. You are told that +they are affected by rain, and an attempt has been made to cover them; +but the wind will affect them, and any gale of wind which would affect +the traffic on the Mersey, would render it impossible to set off a +locomotive engine, either by poking up the fire, or keeping up the +pressure of the steam till the boiler is ready to burst. I say so, for a +scientific person happened to see a locomotive engine coming down an +inclined plane, with a tolerable weight behind it, and he found that the +strokes were reduced from fifty to twelve, as soon as the wind acted upon +it; so that every gale that would produce an interruption to the +intercourse by the canals, would prevent the progress of a locomotive +engine, so that they have no advantage in that respect." + + + + +DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN MAKING RAILWAY SURVEYS. + + +Difficulties connected with making surveys of land were encountered from +the very commencement of railway enterprise. The following dialogue on +the subject took place in the Committee of the House of Commons, April +27, 1825. Mr. Sergeant Spankie was the questioner and George Stephenson +was the respondent. + +_Q_. "You were asked about the quality of the soil through which you +were to bore in order to ascertain the strata, and you were rather +taunted because you had not ascertained the precise strata; had you any +opportunity of boring?" + +_A_. "I had none; I was threatened to be driven off the ground, and +severely used if I were found upon the ground." + +_Q_. "You were right, then, not to attempt to bore?" + +_A_. "Of course, I durst not attempt to bore, after those threats." + +_Q_. "Were you exposed to any inconvenience in taking your surveys in +consequence of these interruptions?" + +_A_. "We were." + +_Q_. "On whose property?" + +_A_. "On my Lord Sefton's, Lord Derby's, and particularly Mr. Bradshaw's +part." + +_Q_. "I believe you came near the coping of some of the canals?" + +_A_. "I believe I was threatened to be ducked in the pond if I +proceeded; and, of course we had a great deal of the survey to make by +stealth, at the time the persons were at dinner; we could not get it by +night, and guns were discharged over the grounds belonging to Captain +Bradshaw, to prevent us; I can state further, I was twice turned off the +ground myself (Mr. Bradshaw's) by his men; and they said, if I did not go +instantly they would take me up, and carry me off to Worsley." + +Committee. _Q_. "Had you ever asked leave?" + +_A_. "I did, of all the gentlemen to whom I have alluded; at least, if I +did not ask leave of all myself, I did of my Lord Derby, but I did not of +Lord Sefton, but the Committee had--at least I was so informed; and I +last year asked leave of Mr. Bradshaw's tenants to pass there, and they +denied me; they stated that damage had been done, and I said if they +would tell me what it was, I would pay them, and they said it was two +pounds, and I paid it, though I do not believe it amounted to one +shilling." + +_Q_. "Do you suppose it is a likely thing to obtain leave from any +gentleman to survey his land, when he knew that your men had gone upon +his land to take levels without his leave, and he himself found them +going through the corn, and through the gardens of his tenants, and +trampling down the strawberry beds, which they were cultivating for the +Liverpool market?" + +_A_. "I have found it sometimes very difficult to get through places of +that kind." + +In some cases, Mr. Williams remarks, large bodies of navvies were +collected for the defence of the surveyors; and being liberally provided +with liquor, and paid well for the task, they intimidated the rightful +owners, who were obliged to be satisfied with warrants of committal and +charges of assault. The navvies were the more willing to engage in such +undertakings, because the project, if carried out, afforded them the +prospect of increased labour. + + + + +LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY. + + +Mr. C. F. Adams, jun., remarks:--"It was this element of spontaneity, +therefore,--the instant and dramatic recognition of success, which gave a +peculiar interest to everything connected with the Manchester and +Liverpool railroad. The whole world was looking at it, with a full +realizing sense that something great and momentous was impending. Every +day people watched the gradual development of the thing, and actually +took part in it. In doing so they had sensations and those sensations +they have described. There is consequently an element of human nature +surrounding it. To their descriptions time has only lent a new +freshness. They are full of honest wonder. They are much better and +more valuable and more interesting now than they were fifty years ago, +and for that reason are well worth exhuming. + +"To introduce the contemporaneous story of the day, however, it is not +necessary even to briefly review the long series of events which had +slowly led up to it. The world is tolerably familiar with the early life +of George Stephenson, and with the vexatious obstacles he had to overcome +before he could even secure a trial for his invention. The man himself, +however, is an object of a good deal more curiosity to us, than he was to +those among whom he lived and moved. A living glimpse at him now is +worth dwelling upon, and is the best possible preface to any account of +his great day of life triumph. Just such a glimpse of the man has been +given to us at the moment when at last all difficulties had been +overcome--when the Manchester and Liverpool railroad was completed; and, +literally, not only the eyes of Great Britain but those of all civilized +countries were directed to it and to him who had originated it. At just +that time it chanced that the celebrated actor, John Kemble, was +fulfilling an engagement at Liverpool with his daughter, since known as +Mrs. Frances Kemble Butler. The extraordinary social advantages the +Kemble family enjoyed gave both father and daughter opportunities such as +seldom come in the way of ordinary mortals. For the time being they +were, in fact, the lions of the stage, just as George Stephenson was the +lion of the new railroad. As was most natural the three lions were +brought together. The young actress has since published her impressions, +jotted down at the time, of the old engineer. Her account of a ride side +by side with George Stephenson, on the seat of his locomotive, over the +as yet unopened road, is one of the most interesting and life-like +records we have of the man and the enterprise. Perhaps it is the most +interesting. The introduction is Mrs. Kemble's own, and written +forty-six years after the experience:-- + +"While we were acting at Liverpool, an experimental trip was proposed +upon the line of railway which was being constructed between Liverpool +and Manchester, the first mesh of that amazing iron net which now covers +the whole surface of England, and all civilized portions of the earth. +The Liverpool merchants, whose far-sighted self-interest prompted to wise +liberality, had accepted the risk of George Stephenson's magnificent +experiment, which the committee of inquiry of the House of Commons had +rejected for the Government. These men, of less intellectual culture +than the Parliament members, had the adventurous imagination proper to +great speculators, which is the poetry of the counting house and wharf, +and were better able to receive the enthusiastic infection of the great +projector's sanguine hope than the Westminster committee. They were +exultant and triumphant at the near completion of the work, though, of +course, not without some misgivings as to the eventual success of the +stupendous enterprise. My father knew several of the gentlemen most +deeply interested in the undertaking, and Stephenson having proposed a +trial trip as far as the fifteen-mile viaduct, they, with infinite +kindness, invited him and permitted me to accompany them: allowing me, +moreover, the place which I felt to be one of supreme honour, by the side +of Stephenson. All that wonderful history, as much more interesting than +a romance as truth is stranger than fiction, which Mr. Smiles's biography +of the projector has given in so attractive a form to the world, I then +heard from his own lips. He was rather a stern-featured man, with a dark +and deeply marked countenance: his speech was strongly inflected with his +native Northumbrian accent, but the fascination of that story told by +himself, while his tame dragon flew panting along his iron pathway with +us, passed the first reading of the Arabian Nights, the incidents of +which it almost seemed to recall. He was wonderfully condescending and +kind, in answering all the questions of my eager ignorance, and I +listened to him with eyes brimful of warm tears of sympathy and +enthusiasm, as he told me of all his alternations of hope and fear, of +his many trials and disappointments, related with fine scorn, how the +"Parliament men" had badgered and baffled him with their book-knowledge, +and how, when at last they had smothered the irrepressible prophecy of +his genius in the quaking depths of Chat Moss, he had exclaimed, 'Did ye +ever see a boat float on water? I will make my road float upon Chat +Moss!' The well-read Parliament men (some of whom, perhaps, wished for +no railways near their parks and pleasure-grounds) could not believe the +miracle, but the shrewd Liverpool merchants, helped to their faith by a +great vision of immense gain, did; and so the railroad was made, and I +took this memorable ride by the side of its maker, and would not have +exchanged the honour and pleasure of it for one of the shares in the +speculation." + + "LIVERPOOL, August 26th, 1830. + +"MY DEAR H--: A common sheet of paper is enough for love, but a foolscap +extra can only contain a railroad and my ecstasies. There was once a man +born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who was a common coal-digger; this man had +an immense constructiveness, which displayed itself in pulling his watch +to pieces and putting it together again; in making a pair of shoes when +he happened to be some days without occupation; finally--here there is a +great gap in my story--it brought him in the capacity of an engineer +before a Committee of the House of Commons, with his head full of plans +for constructing a railroad from Liverpool to Manchester. It so happened +that to the quickest and most powerful perceptions and conceptions, to +the most indefatigable industry and perseverance, and the most accurate +knowledge of the phenomena of nature as they affect his peculiar labours, +this man joined an utter want of the 'gift of gab;' he could no more +explain to others what he meant to do and how he meant to do it, than he +could fly, and therefore the members of the House of Commons, after +saying 'There is a rock to be excavated to a depth of more than sixty +feet, there are embankments to be made nearly to the same height, there +is a swamp of five miles in length to be traversed, in which if you drop +an iron rod it sinks and disappears; how will you do all this?' and +receiving no answer but a broad Northumbrian, 'I can't tell you how I'll +do it, but I can tell you I _will_ do it,' dismissed Stephenson as a +visionary. Having prevailed upon a company of Liverpool gentlemen to be +less incredulous, and having raised funds for his great undertaking, in +December of 1826 the first spade was struck in the ground. And now I +will give you an account of my yesterday's excursion. A party of sixteen +persons was ushered into a large court-yard, where, under cover, stood +several carriages of a peculiar construction, one of which was prepared +for our reception. It was a long-bodied vehicle with seats placed across +it back to back; the one we were in had six of these benches, and was a +sort of uncovered _char a banc_. The wheels were placed upon two iron +bands, which formed the road, and to which they are fitted, being so +constructed as to slide along without any danger of hitching or becoming +displaced, on the same principle as a thing sliding on a concave groove. +The carriage was set in motion by a mere push, and, having received this +impetus, rolled with us down an inclined plane into a tunnel, which forms +the entrance to the railroad. This tunnel is four hundred yards long (I +believe), and will be lighted by gas. At the end of it we emerged from +darkness, and, the ground becoming level, we stopped. There is another +tunnel parallel with this, only much wider and longer, for it extends +from the place we had now reached, and where the steam carriages start, +and which is quite out of Liverpool, the whole way under the town, to the +docks. This tunnel is for wagons and other heavy carriages; and as the +engines which are to draw the trains along the railroad do not enter +these tunnels, there is a large building at this entrance which is to be +inhabited by steam engines of a stationary turn of mind, and different +constitution from the travelling ones, which are to propel the trains +through the tunnels to the terminus in the town, without going out of +their houses themselves. The length of the tunnel parallel to the one we +passed through is (I believe) two thousand two hundred yards. I wonder +if you are understanding one word I am saying all this while? We were +introduced to the little engine which was to drag us along the rails. +She (for they make these curious little fire horses all mares) consisted +of a boiler, a stove, a platform, a bench, and behind the bench a barrel +containing enough water to prevent her being thirsty for fifteen +miles,--the whole machine not bigger than a common fire engine. She goes +upon two wheels, which are her feet, and are moved by bright steel legs +called pistons; these are propelled by steam, and in proportion as more +steam is applied to the upper extremities (the hip-joints, I suppose) of +these pistons, the faster they move the wheels; and when it is desirable +to diminish the speed, the steam, which unless suffered to escape would +burst the boiler, evaporates through a safety valve into the air. The +reins, bit, and bridle of this wonderful beast, is a small steel handle, +which applies or withdraws the steam from its legs or pistons, so that a +child might manage it. + +"The coals, which are its oats, were under the bench, and there was a +small glass tube affixed to the boiler, with water in it, which indicates +by its fullness or emptiness when the creature wants water, which is +immediately conveyed to it from its reservoirs. There is a chimney to +the stove, but as they burn coke there is none of the dreadful black +smoke which accompanies the progress of a steam vessel. This snorting +little animal, which I felt rather inclined to pat, was then harnessed to +our carriage, and Mr. Stephenson having taken me on the bench of the +engine with him, we started at about ten miles an hour. The steam horse +being ill adapted for going up and down hill, the road was kept at a +certain level, and appeared sometimes to sink below the surface of the +earth and sometimes to rise above it. Almost at starting it was cut +through the solid rock, which formed a wall on either side of it, about +sixty feet high. You can't imagine how strange it seemed to be +journeying on thus, without any visible cause of progress other than the +magical machine, with its flying white breath and rhythmical, unvarying +pace, between these rocky walls, which are already clothed with moss and +ferns and grasses; and when I reflected that these great masses of stone +had been cut asunder to allow our passage thus far below the surface of +the earth, I felt as if no fairy tale was ever half so wonderful as what +I saw. Bridges were thrown from side to side across the top of these +cliffs, and the people looking down upon us from them seemed like pigmies +standing in the sky. I must be more concise, though, or I shall want +room. We were to go only fifteen miles, that distance being sufficient +to show the speed of the engine, and to take us to the most beautiful and +wonderful object on the road. After proceeding through this rocky +defile, we presently found ourselves raised upon embankments ten or +twelve feet high; we then came to a moss or swamp, of considerable +extent, on which no human foot could tread without sinking, and yet it +bore the road which bore us. This had been the great stumbling-block in +the minds of the committee of the House of Commons; but Mr. Stephenson +has succeeded in overcoming it. A foundation of hurdles, or, as he +called it, basket-work, was thrown over the morass, and the interstices +were filled with moss and other elastic matter. + +"Upon this the clay and soil were laid down, and the road does float, for +we passed over it at the rate of five and twenty miles an hour, and saw +the stagnant swamp water trembling on the surface of the soil on either +side of us. I hope you understand me. The embankment had gradually been +rising higher and higher, and in one place where the soil was not settled +enough to form banks, Stephenson had constructed artificial ones of +woodwork, over which the mounds of earth were heaped, for he said that +though the woodwork would rot, before it did so the banks of earth which +covered it would have been sufficiently consolidated to support the road. +We had now come fifteen miles, and stopped where the road traversed a +wide and deep valley. Stephenson made me alight and led me down to the +bottom of this ravine, over which, in order to keep his road level, he +has thrown a magnificent viaduct of nine arches, the middle one of which +is seventy feet high, through which we saw the whole of this beautiful +little valley. It was lovely and wonderful beyond all words. He here +told me many curious things respecting this ravine; how he believed the +Mersey had once rolled through it; how the soil had proved so unfavorable +for the foundation of his bridge that it was built upon piles, which had +been driven into the earth to an enormous depth; how while digging for a +foundation he had come to a tree bedded in the earth, fourteen feet below +the surface of the ground; how tides are caused, and how another flood +might be caused; all of which I have remembered and noted down at much +greater length than I can enter upon here. He explained to me the whole +construction of the steam engine, and said he could soon make a famous +engineer of me, which, considering the wonderful things he has achieved, +I dare not say is impossible. His way of explaining himself is peculiar, +but very striking, and I understood, without difficulty, all that he said +to me. We then rejoined the rest of the party, and the engine having +received its supply of water, the carriage was placed behind it, for it +cannot turn, and was set off at its utmost speed, thirty-five miles an +hour, swifter than a bird flies (for they tried the experiment with a +snipe). You cannot conceive what that sensation of cutting the air was; +the motion is as smooth as possible, too. I could either have read or +written; and as it was, I stood up, and with my bonnet off 'drank the air +before me.' The wind, which was strong, or perhaps the force of our own +thrusting against it, absolutely weighed my eyelids down. + +"When I closed my eyes this sensation of flying was quite delightful, and +strange beyond description; yet strange as it was, I had a perfect sense +of security, and not the slightest fear. At one time, to exhibit the +power of the engine, having met another steam-carriage which was +unsupplied with water, Mr. Stephenson caused it to be fastened in front +of ours; moreover, a wagon laden with timber was also chained to us, and +thus propelling the idle steam-engine, and dragging the loaded wagon +which was beside it and our own carriage full of people behind, this +brave little she-dragon of ours flew on. Farther on she met three carts, +which, being fastened in front of her, she pushed on before her without +the slightest delay or difficulty; when I add that this pretty little +creature can run with equal facility either backwards or forwards, I +believe I have given you an account of all her capacities. Now for a +word or two about the master of all these marvels, with whom I am most +horribly in love. He is a man from fifty to fifty-five years of age; his +face is fine, though careworn, and bears an expression of deep +thoughtfulness; his mode of explaining his ideas is peculiar and very +original, striking, and forcible; and although his accents indicates +strongly his north country birth, his language has not the slightest +touch of vulgarity or coarseness. He has certainly turned my head. Four +years have sufficed to bring this great undertaking to an end. The +railroad will be opened upon the fifteenth of next month. The Duke of +Wellington is coming down to be present on the occasion, and, I suppose, +what with the thousands of spectators and the novelty of the spectacle, +there will never have been a scene of more striking interest. The whole +cost of the work (including the engines and carriages) will have been +eight hundred and thirty thousand pounds; and it is already worth double +that sum. The directors have kindly offered us three places for the +opening, which is a great favour, for people are bidding almost anything +for a place, I understand." + +Even while Miss Kemble was writing this letter, certainly before it had +reached her correspondent, the official programme of that opening to +which she was so eagerly looking forward was thus referred to in the +Liverpool papers: + +"The day of opening still remains fixed for Wednesday the fifteenth +instant. The company by whom the ceremony is to be performed, is +expected to amount to eight or nine hundred persons, including the Duke +of Wellington and several others of the nobility. They will leave +Liverpool at an early hour in the forenoon, probably ten o'clock, in +carriages drawn by eight or nine engines, including the new engine of +Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson, if it be ready in time. The other +engines will be those constructed by Mr. Stephenson, and each of them +will draw about a hundred persons. On their arrival at Manchester, the +company will enter the upper stories of the warehouses by means of a +spacious outside wooden staircase, which is in course of erection for the +purpose by Mr. Bellhouse. The upper storey of the range of warehouses is +divided into five apartments, each measuring sixty-six feet by fifty-six. +In four of these a number of tables (which Mr. Bellhouse is also +preparing) will be placed, and the company will partake of a splendid +cold collation which is to be provided by Mr. Lynn, of the Waterloo +Hotel, Liverpool. A large apartment at the east end of the warehouses +will be reserved as a withdrawing room for the ladies, and is partitioned +off for that purpose. After partaking of the hospitality of the +directors, the company will return to Liverpool in the same order in +which they arrive. We understand that each shareholder in the railway +will be entitled to a seat (transferable) in one of the carriages, on +this interesting and important occasion. It may be proper to state, for +the information of the public, that no one will be permitted to go upon +the railway between Ordsall lane and the warehouses, and parties of the +military and police will be placed to preserve order, and prevent +intrusion. Beyond Ordsall lane, however, the public will be freely +admitted to view the procession as it passes: and no restriction will be +laid upon them farther than may be requisite to prevent them from +approaching too close to the rails, lest accidents should occur. By +extending themselves along either side of the road towards Eccles any +number of people, however great, may be easily accommodated." + +Of the carrying out on the 15th the programme thus carefully laid down, a +contemporaneous reporter has left the following account:-- + +"The town itself [Liverpool] was never so full of strangers; they poured +in during the last and the beginning of the present week from almost all +parts of the three kingdoms, and we believe that through Chester alone, +which is by no means a principal road to Liverpool, four hundred extra +passengers were forwarded on Tuesday. All the inns in the town were +crowded to overflowing, and carriages stood in the streets at night, for +want of room in the stable yards. + +"On the morning of Wednesday the population of the town and of the +country began very early to assemble near the railway. The weather was +favourable, and the Company's station at the boundary of the town was the +rendezvous of the nobility and gentry who attended, to form the +procession at Manchester. Never was there such an assemblage of rank, +wealth, beauty, and fashion in this neighbourhood. From before nine +o'clock until ten the entrance in Crown street was thronged by the +splendid equipages from which the company was alighting, and the area in +which the railway carriages were placed was gradually filling with gay +groups eagerly searching for their respective places, as indicated by +numbers corresponding with those on their tickets. The large and elegant +car constructed for the nobility, and the accompanying cars for the +Directors and the musicians were seen through the lesser tunnel, where +persons moving about at the far end appeared as diminutive as if viewed +through a concave glass. The effect was singular and striking. In a +short time all those cars were brought along the tunnel into the yard +which then contained all the carriages, which were to be attached to the +eight locomotive engines which were in readiness beyond the tunnel in the +great excavation at Edge-hill. By this time the area presented a +beautiful spectacle, thirty-three carriages being filled by elegantly +dressed persons, each train of carriages being distinguished by silk +flags of different colours; the band of the fourth King's Own Regiment, +stationed in the adjoining area, playing military airs, the Wellington +Harmonic Band, in a Grecian car for the procession, performing many +beautiful miscellaneous pieces; and a third band occupying a stage above +Mr. Harding's Grand Stand, at William the Fourth's Hotel, spiritedly +adding to the liveliness of the hour whenever the other bands ceased. + +"A few minutes before ten, the discharge of a gun and the cheers of the +assembly announced the arrival of the Duke of Wellington, who entered the +area with the Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury and a number of +friends, the band playing 'See the conquering hero comes.' He returned +the congratulations of the company, and in a few moments the grand car, +which he and the nobility and the principal gentry occupied, and the cars +attached to it, were permitted to proceed; we say permitted, because no +applied power, except a slight impulse at first, is requisite to propel +carriages along the tunnel, the slope being just sufficient to call into +effect the principle of gravitation. The tunnel was lighted with gas, +and the motion in passing through it must have been as pleasing as it was +novel to all the party. On arriving at the engine station, the cars were +attached to the _Northumbrian_ locomotive engine, on the southern of the +two lines of rail; and immediately the other trains of carriages started +through the tunnel and were attached to their respective engines on the +northern of the lines. + +"We had the good fortune to have a place in the first train after the +grand cars, which train, drawn by the _Phoenix_, consisted of three open +and two close carriages, each carrying twenty-six ladies and gentlemen. +The lofty banks of the engine station were crowded with thousands of +spectators, whose enthusiastic cheering seemed to rend the air. From +this point to Wavertree-lane, while the procession was forming, the grand +cars passed and repassed the other trains of carriages several times, +running as they did in the same direction on the two parallel tracks, +which gave the assembled thousands and tens of thousands the opportunity +of seeing distinctly the illustrious strangers, whose presence gave +extraordinary interest to the scene. Some soldiers of the 4th Regiment +assisted the railway police in keeping the way clear and preserving +order, and they discharged their duty in a very proper manner. A few +minutes before eleven all was ready for the journey, and certainly a +journey upon a railway is one of the most delightful that can be +imagined. Our first thoughts it might be supposed, from the road being +so level, were that it must be monotonous and uninteresting. It is +precisely the contrary; for as the road does not rise and fall like the +ground over which we pass, but proceeds nearly at a level, whether the +land be high or low, we are at one moment drawn through a hill, and find +ourselves seventy feet below the surface, in an Alpine chasm, and at +another we are as many feet above the green fields, traversing a raised +path, from which we look down upon the roofs of farm houses, and see the +distant hills and woods. These variations give an interest to such a +journey which cannot be appreciated until they are witnessed. The signal +gun being fired, we started in beautiful style, amidst the deafening +plaudits of the well dressed people who thronged the numerous booths, and +all the walls and eminences on both sides the line. Our speed was +gradually increased till, entering the Olive Mountain excavation, we +rushed into the awful chasm at the rate of twenty-four miles an hour. +The banks, the bridges over our heads, and the rude projecting corners +along the sides, were covered with masses of human beings past whom we +glided as if upon the wings of the wind. We soon came into the open +country of Broad Green, having fine views of Huyton and Prescot on the +left, and the hilly grounds of Cheshire on the right. Vehicles of every +description stood in the fields on both sides, and thousands of +spectators still lined the margin of the road; some horses seemed +alarmed, but after trotting with their carriages to the farther hedges, +they stood still as if their fears had subsided. After passing Whiston, +sometimes going slowly, sometimes swiftly, we observed that a vista +formed by several bridges crossing the road gave a pleasing effect to the +view. Under Rainhill Bridge, which, like all the others, was crowded +with spectators, the Duke's car stopped until we passed, and on this, as +on similar occasions, we had excellent opportunities of seeing the whole +of the noble party, distinguishing the Marquis and Marchioness of +Salisbury, the Earl and Countess of Wilton, Lord Stanley, and others, in +the fore part of the car; alongside of the latter part was Mr. Huskisson, +standing with his face always toward us; and further behind was Lord +Hill, and others, among whom the Mayor of Liverpool took his station. At +this place Mr. Bretherton had a large party of friends in a field, +overlooking the road. As we approached the Sutton inclined plane the +Duke's car passed us again at a most rapid rate--it appeared rapid even +to us who were travelling then at, probably, fifteen miles an hour. We +had a fine view of Billings Hill from this neighbourhood, and of a +thousand various coloured fields. A grand stand was here erected, +beautifully decorated, and crowded with ladies and gentlemen from St. +Helen's and the neighbourhood. Entering upon Parr Moss we had a good +view of Newton Race Course and the stands, and at this time the Duke was +far ahead of us; the grand cars appeared actually of diminutive +dimensions, and in a short time we saw them gliding beautifully over the +Sankey Viaduct, from which a scene truly magnificent lay before us. + +"The fields below us were occupied by thousands who cheered us as we +passed over the stupendous edifice; carriages filled the narrow lanes, +and vessels in the water had been detained in order that their crews +might gaze up at the gorgeous pageant passing far above their masts +heads. Here again was a grand stand, and here again enthusiastic +plaudits almost deafened us. Shortly, we passed the borough of Newton, +crossing a fine bridge over the Warrington road, and reached Parkside, +seventeen miles from Liverpool, in about four minutes under the hour. At +this place the engines were ranged under different watering stations to +receive fresh water, the whole extending along nearly half a mile of +road. Our train and two others passed the Duke's car, and we in the +first train had had our engine supplied with water, and were ready to +start, some time before we were aware of the melancholy cause of our +apparently great delay. We had most of us, alighted, and were walking +about, congratulating each other generally, and the ladies particularly, +on the truly delightful treat we were enjoying, all hearts bounding with +joyous excitement, and every tongue eloquent in the praise of the +gigantic work now completed, and the advantages and pleasures it +afforded. A murmur and an agitation at a little distance betokened +something alarming and we too soon learned the nature of that lamentable +event, which we cannot record without the most agonized feelings. On +inquiring, we learnt the dreadful particulars. After three of the +engines with their trains had passed the Duke's carriage, although the +others had to follow, the company began to alight from all the carriages +which had arrived. The Duke of Wellington and Mr. Huskisson had just +shaken hands, and Mr. Huskisson, Prince Esterhazy, Mr. Birch, Mr. H. +Earle, Mr. William Holmes, M.P., and others were standing in the road, +when the other carriages were approaching. An alarm being given, most of +the gentlemen sprang into the carriage, but Mr. Huskisson seemed +flurried, and from some cause, not clearly ascertained, he fell under the +engine of the approaching carriages, the wheel of which shattered his leg +in the most dreadful manner. On being raised from the ground by the Earl +of Wilton, Mr. Holmes, and other gentlemen, his only exclamations +were:--"Where is Mrs. Huskisson? I have met my death. God forgive me." +Immediately after he swooned. Dr. Brandreth, and Dr. Southey, of London, +immediately applied bandages to the limb. In a short time the engine was +detached from the Duke's carriage, and the musician's car being prepared +for the purpose, the Right Honourable gentleman was placed in it, +accompanied by his afflicted lady, with Dr. Brandreth, Dr. Southey, Earl +of Wilton, and Mr. Stephenson, who set off in the direction of +Manchester. + +"The whole of the procession remained at least another hour uncertain +what course to adopt. A consultation was held on the open part of the +road, and the Duke of Wellington was soon surrounded by the Directors, +and a mournful group of gentlemen. At first it was thought advisable to +return to Liverpool, merely despatching one engine and a set of +carriages, to convey home Lady Wilton, and others who did not wish to +return to Liverpool. The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel seemed +to favour this course; others thought it best to proceed as originally +intended: but no decision was made till the Boroughreeve of Manchester +stated, that if the procession did not reach Manchester, where an +unprecedented concourse of people would be assembled, and would wait for +it, he should be fearful of the consequences to the peace of the town. +This turned the scale, and his Grace then proposed that the whole party +should proceed, and return as soon as possible, all festivity at +Manchester being avoided. The _Phoenix_, with its train, was then +attached to the _North Star_ and its train, and from the two united a +long chain was affixed to his Grace's car, and although it was on the +other line of rail, it was found to draw the whole along exceedingly +well. About half-past one, we resumed our journey; and we should here +mention that the Wigan Branch Railway Company had erected near Parkside +bridge a grand stand, which they and their friends occupied, and from +which they enthusiastically cheered the procession. On reaching the +twentieth mile post we had a beautiful view of Rivington Pike and +Blackstone Edge, and at the twenty-first the smoke of Manchester appeared +to be directly at the termination of our view. Groups of people +continued to cheer us, but we could not reply; our enjoyment was over. +Tyldesley Church, and a vast region of smiling fields here met the eye, +as we traversed the flat surface of Chat Moss, in the midst of which a +vast crowd was assembled to greet us with their plaudits; and from the +twenty-fourth mile post we began to find ourselves flanked on both sides +by spectators extending in a continuous and thickening body all the way +to Manchester. At the twenty-fifth mile post we met Mr. Stephenson +returning with the _Northumbrian_ engine. In answer to innumerable and +eager inquiries, Mr. Stephenson said he had left Mr. Huskisson at the +house of the Rev. Mr. Blackburne, Vicar of Eccles, and had then proceeded +to Manchester, whence he brought back medical assistance, and that the +surgeons, after seeing Mr. Huskisson, had expressed a hope that there was +no danger. Mr. Stephenson's speed had been at the rate of thirty-four +miles an hour during this painful errand. The engine being then again +attached to the Duke's car, the procession dashed forward, passing +countless thousands of people upon house tops, booths, high ground, +bridges, etc., and our readers must imagine, for we cannot describe, such +a movement through an avenue of living beings, and extending six miles in +length. Upon one bridge a tri-colored flag was displayed; near another +the motto of "Vote by ballot" was seen; in a field near Eccles, a poor +and wretchedly dressed man had his loom close to the roadside, and was +weaving with all his might; cries of "No Corn Laws," were occasionally +heard, and for about two miles the cheerings of the crowd were +interspersed with a continual hissing and hooting from the minority. On +approaching the bridge which crosses the Irwell, the 59th regiment was +drawn up, flanking the road on each side, and presenting arms as his +Grace passed along. We reached the warehouses at a quarter before three, +and those who alighted were shown into the large upper rooms where a most +elegant cold collation had been prepared by Mr. Lynn, for more than one +thousand persons. The greater portion of the company, as the carriages +continued to arrive, visited the rooms and partook in silence of some +refreshment. They then returned to their carriages which had been +properly placed for returning. His Grace and the principal party did not +alight; but he went through a most fatiguing office for more than an hour +and a half, in shaking hands with thousands of people, to whom he stooped +over the hand rail of the carriage, and who seemed insatiable in their +desire to join hands with him. Many women brought their children to him, +lifting them up that he might bless them, which he did, and during the +whole time he had scarcely a minute's respite. At half-past four the +Duke's car began to move away for Liverpool. + +"They would have been detained a little longer, in order that three of +the engines, which had been to Eccles for water, might have dropped into +the rear to take their places; but Mr. Lavender represented that the +crowd was so thickening in upon all sides, and becoming so clamorous for +admission into the area, that he would not answer for the peace of the +town, if further delay took place. The three engines were on the same +line of rail as the Duke, and they could not cross to the other line +without getting to a turning place, and as the Duke could not be delayed +on account of his keeping the crowd together, there was no alternative +but to send the engines forward. One of the other engines was then +attached to our train, and we followed the Duke rapidly, while the six +trains behind had only three engines left to bring them back. Of course, +we kept pace with the Duke, who stopped at Eccles to inquire after Mr. +Huskisson. The answer received was that there was now no hope of his +life being saved; and this intelligence plunged the whole party into +still deeper distress. We proceeded without meeting any fresh incident +until we passed Prescot, where we found two of the three engines at the +6.5 mile post, where a turning had been effected, but the third had gone +on to Liverpool; we then detached the one we had borrowed, and the three +set out to meet the six remaining trains of carriages. Our carriages +were then connected with the grand cars, the engine of which now drew the +whole number of nine carriages, containing nearly three hundred persons, +at a very smart rate. We were now getting into vast crowds of people, +most of them ignorant of the dreadful event which had taken place, and +all of them giving us enthusiastic cheers which we could not return. + +"At Roby, his Grace and the Childwalls alighted and proceeded home; our +carriages then moved forward to Liverpool, where we arrived about seven +o'clock, and went down the great tunnel, under the town, a part of the +work which, more than any other, astonished the numerous strangers +present. It is, indeed, a wonderful work, and makes an impression never +to be effaced from the memory. The Company's yard, from St. James's +Street to Wapping, was filled with carriages waiting for the returning +parties, who separated with feelings of mingled gratification and +distress, to which we shall not attempt to give utterance. We afterwards +learnt that the parties we left at Manchester placed the three remaining +engines together, and all the carriages together, so as to form one grand +procession, including twenty-four carriages, and were coming home at a +steady pace, when they were met near Newton, by the other three engines, +which were then attached to the rest, and they arrived in Liverpool about +ten o'clock. + +"Thus ended a pageant which, for importance as to its object and grandeur +in its details, is admitted to have exceeded anything ever witnessed. We +conversed with many gentlemen of great experience in public life, who +spoke of the scene as surpassing anything they had ever beheld, and who +computed, upon data which they considered to be satisfactory, that not +fewer than 500,000 persons must have been spectators of the procession." + +So far from being a success, the occasion was, after the accident to Mr. +Huskisson, such a series of mortifying disappointments and the Duke of +Wellington's experience at Manchester had been so very far removed from +gratifying that the directors of the company felt moved to exonerate +themselves from the load of censure by an official explanation. This +they did in the following language:-- + +"On the subject of delay which took place in the starting from +Manchester, and consequently in the arrival at Liverpool, of the last +three engines, with twenty-four carriages and six hundred passengers, +being the train allotted to six of the engines, we are authorized to +state that the directors think it due to the proprietors and others +constituting the large assemblage of company in the above trains to make +known the following particulars: + +"Three out of the six locomotive engines which belonged to the above +trains had proceeded on the south road from Manchester to Eccles, to take +in water, with the intention of returning to Manchester, and so getting +out of that line of road before any of the trains should start on their +return home. Before this, however, was accomplished, the following +circumstances seemed to render it imperative for the train of carriages +containing the Duke of Wellington and a great many of the distinguished +visitors to leave Manchester. The eagerness on the part of the crowd to +see the Duke, and to shake hands with him, was very great, so much so +that his Grace held out both his hands to the pressing multitude at the +same time; the assembling crowd becoming more dense every minute, closely +surrounded the carriages, as the principal attraction was this particular +train. The difficulty of proceeding at all increased every moment and +consequently the danger of accident upon the attempt being made to force +a way through the throng also increased. At this juncture Mr. Lavender, +the head of the police establishment of Manchester, interfered, and +entreated that the Duke's train should move on, or he could not answer +for the consequences. Under these circumstances, and the day being well +advanced, it was thought expedient at all events to move forward while it +was still practicable to do so. The order was accordingly given, and the +train passed along out of the immediate neighbourhood of Manchester +without accident to anyone. When they had proceeded a few miles they +fell in with the engines belonging to the trains left at Manchester, and +these engines being on the same line as the carriages of the procession, +there was no alternative but bringing the Duke's train back through the +dense multitude to Manchester, or proceeding with three extra engines to +the neighbourhood of Liverpool (all passing places from one road to the +other being removed, with a view to safety, on the occasion), and +afterwards sending them back to the assistance of the trains +unfortunately left behind. It was determined to proceed towards +Liverpool, as being decidedly the most advisable course under the +circumstances of the case; and it may be mentioned for the satisfaction +of any party who may have considered that he was in some measure left in +the lurch, that Mr. Moss, the Deputy Chairman, had left Mrs. Moss and +several of his family to come with the trains which had been so left +behind. Three engines having to draw a load calculated for six, their +progress was of course much retarded, besides a considerable delay which +took place before the starting of the last trains, owing to the +uncertainty which existed as to what had become of the three missing +engines. These engines, after proceeding to within a few miles of +Liverpool, were enabled to return to Park-side, in the neighbourhood of +Newton, where they were attached to the other three and the whole +proceeding safely to Liverpool, where they arrived at ten in the +evening." + +The case was, however, here stated, to say the least, in the mildest +possible manner. The fact was that the authorities at Manchester had, +and not without reason, passed a very panic-stricken hour on account of +the Duke of Wellington. That personage had been in a position of no +inconsiderable peril. Though the reporter preserved a decorous silence +on that point, the ministerial car had on the way been pelted, as well as +hooted; and at Manchester a vast mass of not particularly well disposed +persons had fairly overwhelmed both police and soldiery, and had taken +complete possession of the tracks. They were not riotous but they were +very rough; and they insisted on climbing upon the carriages and pressing +their attentions on the distinguished inmates in a manner somewhat at +variance with English ideas of propriety. The Duke's efforts at +conciliatory manners, as evinced through much hand-shaking, were not +without significance. It was small matter for wonder, therefore, that +the terrified authorities, before they got him out of their town, +heartily regretted that they had not allowed him to have his own way +after the accident to Mr. Huskisson, when he proposed to turn back +without coming to it. Having once got him safely started back to +Liverpool, therefore, they preferred to leave the other guests to take +care of themselves, rather than have the Duke face the crowd again. As +there were no sidings on that early road, and the connections between the +tracks had, as a measure of safety, been temporarily removed, the +ministerial train in moving towards Liverpool had necessarily pushed +before it the engines belonging to the other trains. The unfortunate +guests on those other trains, thus left to their fate, had for the rest +of the day a very dreary time of it. To avoid accidents, the six trains +abandoned at Manchester were united into one, to which were attached the +three locomotives remaining. In this form they started. Presently the +strain broke the couplings. Pieces of rope were then put in requisition, +and again they got in motion. In due time the three other engines came +along, but they could only be used by putting them on in front of the +three already attached to the train. Two of them were used in that way, +and the eleven cars thus drawn by five locomotives, and preceded at a +short distance by one other, went on towards Liverpool. It was dark, and +to meet the exigencies of the occasion the first germ of the present +elaborate system of railroad night signals was improvised on the spot. +From the foremost and pioneer locomotive obstacles were signalled to the +train locomotives by the very primitive expedient of swinging the lighted +end of a tar-rope. At Rainhill the weight of the train proved too much +for the combined motive-power, and the thoroughly wearied passengers had +to leave their carriages and walk up the incline. When they got to the +summit and, resuming their seats, were again in motion, fresh delay was +occasioned by the leading locomotive running into a wheel-barrow, +maliciously placed on the track to obstruct it. Not until ten o'clock +did they enter the tunnel at Liverpool. Meanwhile all sorts of rumours +of general disaster had for hours been circulating among the vast +concourse of spectators who were assembled waiting for their friends, and +whose relief expressed itself in hearty cheers as the train at last +rolled safely into the station. + +We have also Miss Kemble's story of this day, to which in her letter of +August 25th she had looked forward with such eager interest. With her +father and mother she had been staying at a country place in Lancashire, +and in her account of the affair, written in 1876, she says:-- + +"The whole gay party assembled at Heaton, my mother and myself included, +went to Liverpool for the opening of the railroad. The throng of +strangers gathered there for the same purpose made it almost impossible +to obtain a night's lodging for love or money; and glad and thankful were +we to put up with and be put up in a tiny garret by an old friend, Mr. +Radley, of the Adelphi, which many would have given twice what we paid to +obtain. The day opened gloriously, and never was an innumerable +concourse of sight-seers in better humour than the surging, swaying crowd +that lined the railroad with living faces. . . After this disastrous +event [the accident to Mr. Huskisson] the day became overcast, and as we +neared Manchester the sky grew cloudy and dark, and it began to rain. +The vast concourse of people who had assembled to witness the triumphant +arrival of the successful travellers was of the lowest order of mechanics +and artisans, among whom great distress and a dangerous spirit of +discontent with the government at that time prevailed. Groans and hisses +greeted the carriage, full of influential personages, in which the Duke +of Wellington sat. High above the grim and grimy crowd of scowling faces +a loom had been erected, at which sat a tattered, starved-looking weaver, +evidently set there as a _representative man_, to protest against this +triumph of machinery, and the gain and glory which the wealthy Liverpool +and Manchester men were likely to derive from it. The contrast between +our departure from Liverpool and our arrival at Manchester was one of the +most striking things I ever witnessed. + + MANCHESTER, _September_ 20_th_, 1830. + +MY DEAREST H--: + + * * * * * + +"You probably have by this time heard and read accounts of the opening of +the railroad, and the fearful accident which occurred at it, for the +papers are full of nothing else. The accident you mention did occur, but +though the unfortunate man who was killed bore Mr. Stephenson's name, he +was not related to him. [Besides Mr. Huskisson, another man named +Stephenson had about this time been killed on the railroad]. I will tell +you something of the events on the fifteenth, as though you may be +acquainted with the circumstances of poor Mr. Huskisson's death, none but +an eye-witness of the whole scene can form a conception of it. I told +you that we had had places given to us, and it was the main purpose of +our returning from Birmingham to Manchester to be present at what +promised to be one of the most striking events in the scientific annals +of our country. We started on Wednesday last, to the number of about +eight hundred people, in carriages constructed as I before described to +you. The most intense curiosity and excitement prevailed, and though the +weather was uncertain, enormous masses of densely packed people lined the +road, shouting and waving hats and handkerchiefs as we flew by them. +What with the sight and sound of these cheering multitudes and the +tremendous velocity with which we were borne past them, my spirits rose +to the true champagne height, and I never enjoyed anything so much as the +first hour of our progress. I had been unluckily separated from my +mother in the first distribution of places, but by an exchange of seats +which she was enabled to make she rejoined me, when I was at the height +of my ecstasy, which was considerably damped by finding that she was +frightened to death, and intent upon nothing but devising means of +escaping from a situation which appeared to her to threaten with instant +annihilation herself and all her travelling companions. While I was +chewing the cud of this disappointment, which was rather bitter, as I +expected her to be as delighted as myself with our excursion, a man flew +by us, calling out through a speaking trumpet to stop the engine, for +that somebody in the directors' car had sustained an injury. We were all +stopped accordingly and presently a hundred voices were heard exclaiming +that Mr. Huskisson was killed. The confusion that ensued is +indescribable; the calling out from carriage to carriage to ascertain the +truth, the contrary reports which were sent back to us, the hundred +questions eagerly uttered at once, and the repeated and urgent demands +for surgical assistance, created a sudden turmoil that was quite +sickening. At last we distinctly ascertained that the unfortunate man's +thigh was broken. + +"From Lady W--, who was in the duke's carriage, and within three yards of +the spot where the accident happened, I had the following details, the +horror of witnessing which we were spared through our situation behind +the great carriage. The engine had stopped to take in a supply of water, +and several of the gentlemen in the directors' carriage had jumped out to +look about them. Lord W--, Count Batthyany, Count Matuscenitz, and Mr. +Huskisson among the rest were standing talking in the middle of the road, +when an engine on the other line, which was parading up and down merely +to show its speed, was seen coming down upon them like lightning. The +most active of those in peril sprang back into their seats; Lord W-- +saved his life only by rushing behind the duke's carriage, Count +Matuscenitz had but just leaped into it, with the engine all but touching +his heels as he did so; while poor Mr. Huskisson, less active from the +effects of age and ill health, bewildered too by the frantic cries of +'Stop the engine: Clear the track!' that resounded on all sides, +completely lost his head, looked helplessly to the right and left, and +was instantaneously prostrated by the fatal machine, which dashed down +like a thunderbolt upon him, and passed over his leg, smashing and +mangling it in the most horrible way. (Lady W-- said she distinctly +heard the crushing of the bone). So terrible was the effect of the +appalling accident that except that ghastly 'crushing' and poor Mrs. +Huskisson's piercing shriek, not a sound was heard or a word uttered +among the immediate spectators of the catastrophe. Lord W-- was the +first to raise the poor sufferer, and calling to his aid his surgical +skill, which is considerable, he tied up the severed artery, and for a +time at least, prevented death by a loss of blood. Mr. Huskisson was +then placed in a carriage with his wife and Lord W--, and the engine +having been detached from the directors' carriage, conveyed them to +Manchester. So great was the shock produced on the whole party by this +event that the Duke of Wellington declared his intention not to proceed, +but to return immediately to Liverpool. However, upon its being +represented to him that the whole population of Manchester had turned out +to witness the procession, and that a disappointment might give rise to +riots and disturbances, he consented to go on, and gloomily enough the +rest of the journey was accomplished. We had intended returning to +Liverpool by the railroad, but Lady W--, who seized upon me in the midst +of the crowd, persuaded us to accompany her home, which we gladly did. +Lord W-- did not return till past ten o'clock, at which hour he brought +the intelligence of Mr. Huskisson's death. I need not tell you of the +sort of whispering awe which this event threw over our circle; and yet +great as was the horror excited by it, I could not help feeling how +evanescent the effect of it was, after all. The shuddering terror of +seeing our fellow-creature thus struck down by our side, and the +breathless thankfulness for our own preservation, rendered the first +evening of our party at Heaton almost solemn; but the next day the +occurrence became a subject of earnest, it is true, but free discussion; +and after that was alluded to with almost as little apparent feeling as +if it had not passed under our eyes, and within the space of a few +hours." + + + + +MRS. BLACKBURNE'S PRESENTIMENT. + + +Miss Kemble was mistaken in stating Mr. Huskisson after his accident was +removed to Manchester. He was conveyed to the vicarage, at Eccles, near +Manchester. Of the vicar's wife, Dean Stanley's mother thus writes, +(January 17, 1832,):--"There is one person who interests me very much, +Mrs. Tom Blackburne, the Vicaress of Eccles, who received poor Mr. +Huskisson, and immortalised herself by her activity, sense, and conduct +throughout." A writer in the _Cornhill Magazine_, for March, 1884, +referring to the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, +remarks:--"In celebration of this experiment, for even then most people +only looked upon it as a doubtful thing, the houses of the adjacent parts +of Lancashire were filled with guests. Mr. John Blackburne, M.P., asked +his brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Blackburne, to stay at +Hale Hall, near Liverpool, (which his ancestors in the direct line had +possessed since 1199,) and to go with his party to the ceremony and fetes +of the day. + +The invitation was accepted, and Mr. and Mrs. Blackburne went to Hale. +Now, however, occurred one of those strange circumstances utterly +condemned by critics of fiction as 'unreal,' 'unnatural,' or +'impossible;' only in this case it happened to be true, in spite of all +these epithets. Mrs. Blackburne, rather strong-minded than otherwise, at +all events one of the last women in the world to be affected by +imagination, became possessed by an unmistakable presentiment, which made +her feel quite sure _that her presence was required at home_; _and she +went home at once_. There were difficulties in her way; every carriage +was required, but she would go. She drove to Warrington, and from thence +'took boat' up the Irwell to Eccles. Canal boats were then regular +conveyances, divided into first and second classes. There were no mobs +or excitement anywhere on the 14th, and Mrs. Blackburne got quickly to +Eccles without any adventures. When there, except that one of her +children was unwell, she could find nothing wrong, or in the least likely +to account for the presentiment which had driven her home in spite of all +the natural enough, ridicule of her husband and friends at Hale. + +Early on the morning of the 15th, an incident occurred, the narration of +which may throw some light on the temper of the times. Mr. Barton, of +Swinton, came to say that a mob was expected to come from Oldham to +attack the Duke of Wellington, then at the height of his unpopularity +among the masses; for just by Eccles three miles of the line was left +unguarded, 'Could Mr. Blackburne say what was to be done?' + +'My husband is away,' said the Vicaress, 'but I know that about fifty +special constables were out last year, the very men for this work, if +their licenses have not expired.' + +'Never mind licenses,' replied Mr. Barton, with a superb indifference to +form, quite natural under the circumstances. 'Where can I find the men?' + +'Oh,' replied Mrs. Blackburne, 'I can get the men for you.' + +Mr. Barton hesitated, but soon with gratitude accepted the offer, and +with the help of the churchwardens and constables 'a guard for the Duke' +was soon collected on the bridge of Eccles, armed with staves and clubs +to be dispersed along the line. + +This done, she had a tent put up for herself and children, with whom were +Lord Wilton's little daughters, the Ladies Elizabeth and Katherine +Egerton, and their governess. The tent was just above the cutting and +looked down on to it, and they would have a good view of the first train, +expected to pass about eleven o'clock. The morning wore on, the crowds +were increasing, and low murmurs of wonder were heard. It was thought +that the experiment had failed. A few of the villagers came into the +field, but none troubled the little band of watchers. The bright +sunshine had passed away, and it had become dark, with large hot drops of +rain, forerunners of a coming thunderstorm. The people lined the whole +of the way from Manchester to Liverpool, and, as far as the eye could +reach, faces were seen anxiously looking towards Liverpool. Suddenly a +strange roar was heard from the crowd, not a cheer of triumph, but a +prolonged wail, beginning at the furthest point of travelling along the +swarming banks like the incoming swirl of a breaker as it runs upon a +gravelled beach. + +Like a true woman, her first thought was for her husband, as Mrs. +Blackburne heard the words repeated on all sides, 'An accident!' 'The +Vicarage!' She flew across the field to the gate and met a sad +procession bringing in a sorely-wounded yet quite conscious man. She saw +in a moment that he had medals on his coat, and had been very tall, so +that it could not be as she feared. The relief of that moment may be +imagined. Then the quiet presence of mind, by practice habitual to her, +and the ready flow of sympathy left her no time to think of anything but +the sufferer, who said to her pathetically, 'I shall not trouble you +long!' She had not only the will but the power to help, even to +supplying from her own medicine chest and stores, kept for the poor, +everything that the surgeons required. + +It was Lord Wilton who suggested the removal of Mr. Huskisson to Eccles +Vicarage and improvised a tourniquet on the spot, while soon the medical +men who were in the train did what they could for him. Mr. Blackburne, +as will be remembered, was not with his wife, and only the presentiment +which had brought Mrs. Blackburne home had given the means of so readily +and quickly obtaining surgical necessaries and rest. Mr. Blackburne, +writing to his mother-in-law the day after this accident, referring to +Mr. Huskisson, remarks:--"To the last he retained his senses. Lord +Granville says when the dying man heard Wilton propose to take him to +this house he exclaimed, 'Pray take me there; there I shall indeed be +taken care of.' + +But fancy my horror! _Not one word did I know of his being here till I +had passed the place_, _and was literally eating my luncheon at +Manchester_! In vain did I try to get a conveyance, till at last the +Duke of Wellington sent to me and ordered his car to start, and I came +with him back, he intending to come here; but the crowd was so _immense_ +that the police dared not let him get out. To be sure, when my people on +the bridge saw me standing with him, they did shout, 'That's as it should +be--Vicar for us!' He said, 'These people seem to know you well.' + +_Entre nous_, at the door I met my love, and after a good cry (I don't +know which was the greatest fool!) set to work. The poor fellow was glad +to see me, and never shall I forget the scene, his poor wife holding his +head, and the great men weeping, for they all wept! He then received the +Sacrament, added some codocils to his will, and seemed perfectly +resigned. But his agonies were dreadful! Ransome says they must have +been so. He expired at nine. We never left him till he breathed his +last. Poor woman! How she lamented his loss; yet her struggles to bear +with fortitude are wonderful. I wish you could have heard him exclaim, +after my petition 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive . . . ' 'I +have not the smallest ill-will to any one person in the whole world.' +They stay here until Saturday, when they begin the sad journey to convey +him to Sussex. They wanted to bury him at Liverpool, but she refused. I +forgot to tell you that he told Lawrence before starting that he _wished +he were safe back_." + +Mr. Huskisson was not buried at Chichester, for at last Mrs. Huskisson +consented to the popular wish that his body might have a public funeral +at Liverpool, where a statue of him by Gibson now stands in the +cemetery." + + + + +ELEVATED SIGHT-SEERS WISHING TO DESCEND. + + +Sir J. A. Picton, in his _Memorials of Liverpool_, relates an amusing +incident connected with the opening of the railway at that town. "On the +opening of the railway," he remarks, "of course, every point and 'coin of +vantage' from whence the procession could be best seen was eagerly +availed of. A tolerably high chimney had recently been built upon the +railway ground, affording a sufficient platform on the scaffolding at the +top for the accommodation of two or three persons. Two gentlemen +connected with the engineer's department took advantage of this crowning +eminence to obtain a really 'bird's eye view' of the whole proceedings. +They were wound up by the tackle used in hoisting the bricks, and enjoyed +the perspective from their airy height to their hearts' content. When +all was over they, of course, wished to descend, and gave the signal to +be let down again, but alas! there was no response. The man in charge, +excited by the events of the day, confused by the sorrowful news by which +it was closed, and, it may be, oblivious from other causes, had utterly +forgotten his engagement and gone home. Here was a prospect! The shades +of evening were gathering, the multitudes departing, and every +probability of being obliged to act the part of St. Simeon of Stylites +very involuntarily. Despair added force and strength to their lungs, and +at length--their condition and difficulty having attracted +attention--they were relieved from their unpleasant predicament." + + + + +THE DUKE'S CARRIAGE. + + +A correspondent of the _Athenaeum_, in 1830, speaking of the carriage +prepared for the Duke of Wellington at the opening of the Liverpool and +Manchester Railway, remarks: "It rather resembled an eastern pavilion +than anything our northern idea considers a carriage. The floor is 32 +feet long by 8 wide, gilt pillars support a crimson canopy 24 feet long, +and it might for magnitude be likened to the car of Juggernaut; yet this +huge machine, with the preceding steam engine, moved along at its own +fiery will even more swimmingly, a 'thing of heart and mind,' than a ship +on the ocean." + + + + +LORD BROUGHAM'S SPEECH. + + +At a dinner given at Liverpool in celebration of the opening of the +Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Lord Brougham thus discourses upon the +memorable event and the death of Mr. Huskisson:--"When I saw the +difficulties of space, as it were, overcome; when I beheld a kind of +miracle exhibited before my astonished eyes; when I saw the rocks +excavated and the gigantic power of man penetrating through miles of the +solid mass, and gaining a great, a lasting, an almost perennial conquest +over the powers of nature by his skill and industry; when I contemplated +all this, was it possible for me to avoid the reflections which crowded +into my mind, not in praise of man's great success, not in admiration of +the genius and perseverance he had displayed, or even of the courage he +had shown in setting himself against the obstacles that matter afforded +to his course--no! but the melancholy reflection that these prodigious +efforts of the human race, so fruitful of praise but so much more +fruitful of lasting blessing to mankind, have forced a tear from my eye +by that unhappy casualty which deprived me of a friend and you of a +representative!" + + + + +AN EARLY RIDE ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY. + + +No account of its first beginnings would, however, be complete for our +time, which did not also give an idea of the impressions produced on one +travelling over it before yet the novelty of the thing had quite worn +away. It was a long time, comparatively, after September, 1830, before +the men who had made a trip over the railroad ceased to be objects of +deep curiosity. Here is the account of his experience by one of these +far-travelled men, with all its freshness still lingering about it:-- + +"Although the whole passage between Liverpool and Manchester is a series +of enchantments, surpassing any in the Arabian Nights, because they are +realities, not fictions, yet there are epochs in the transit which are +peculiarly exciting. These are the startings, the ascents, the descents, +the tunnels, the Chat Moss, the meetings. At the instant of starting, or +rather before, the automaton belches forth an explosion of steam, and +seems for a second or two quiescent. But quickly the explosions are +reiterated, with shorter and shorter intervals, till they become too +rapid to be counted, though still distinct. These belchings or +explosions more nearly resemble the pantings of a lion or tiger, than any +sound that has ever vibrated on my ear. During the ascent they become +slower and slower, till the automaton actually labours like an animal out +of breath, from the tremendous efforts to gain the highest point of +elevation. The progression is proportionate; and before the said point +is gained, the train is not moving faster than a horse can pace. With +the slow motion of the mighty and animated machine, the breathing becomes +more laborious, the growl more distinct, till at length the animal +appears exhausted and groans like the tiger, when overpowered in combat +by the buffalo. + +"The moment that the height is reached and the descent commences, the +pantings rapidly increase; the engine with its train starts off with +augmenting velocity; and in a few seconds it is flying down the declivity +like lightning, and with a uniform growl or roar, like a continuous +discharge of distant artillery. + +"At this period, the whole train is going at the rate of thirty-five or +forty miles an hour! I was on the outside, and in front of the first +carriage, just over the engine. The scene was magnificent, I had almost +said terrific. Although it was a dead calm the wind appeared to be +blowing a hurricane, such was the velocity with which we darted through +the air. Yet all was steady; and there was something in the precision of +the machinery that inspired a degree of confidence over fear--of safety +over danger. A man may travel from the Pole to the Equator, from the +Straits of Malacca to the Isthmus of Darien, and he will see nothing so +astonishing as this. The pangs of Etna and Vesuvius excite feelings of +horror as well as of terror; the convulsion of the elements during a +thunderstorm carries with it nothing but pride, much less of pleasure, to +counteract the awe inspired by the fearful workings of perturbed nature; +but the scene which is here presented, and which I cannot adequately +describe, engenders a proud consciousness of superiority in human +ingenuity, more intense and convincing than any effort or product of the +poet, the painter, the philosopher, or the divine. The projections or +transits of the train through the tunnels or arches are very +electrifying. The deafening peal of thunder, the sudden immersion in +gloom, and the clash of reverberated sounds in confined space combine to +produce a momentary shudder or idea of destruction--a thrill of +annihilation, which is instantly dispelled on emerging into the cheerful +light. + +"The meetings or crossings of the steam trains flying in opposite +directions are scarcely less agitating to the nerves than their transits +through the tunnels. The velocity of their course, the propinquity or +apparent identity of the iron orbits along which these meteors move, call +forth the involuntary but fearful thought of a possible collision, with +all its horrible consequences. The period of suspense, however, though +exquisitely painful, is but momentary; and in a few seconds the object of +terror is far out of sight behind. + +"Nor is the rapid passage across Chat Moss unworthy of notice. The +ingenuity with which two narrow rods of iron are made to bear whole +trains of wagons, laden with many hundred tons of commerce, and bounding +across a wide, semi-fluid morass, previously impassable by man or beast, +is beyond all praise and deserving of eternal record. Only conceive a +slender bridge of two minute iron rails, several miles in length, level +as Waterloo, elastic as whalebone, yet firm as adamant! Along this +splendid triumph of human genius--this veritable _via triumphalis_--the +train of carriages bounds with the velocity of the stricken deer; the +vibrations of the resilient moss causing the ponderous engine and its +enormous suite to glide along the surface of an extensive quagmire as +safely as a practiced skater skims the icy mirror of a frozen lake. + +"The first class or train is the most fashionable, but the second or +third are the most amusing. I travelled one day from Liverpool to +Manchester in the lumber train. Many of the carriages were occupied by +the swinish multitude, and others by a multitude of swine. These last +were naturally vociferous if not eloquent. It is evident that the other +passengers would have been considerably annoyed by the orators of this +last group, had there not been stationed in each carriage an officer +somewhat analogous to the Usher of the Black Rod, but whose designation +on the railroad I found to be 'Comptroller of the Gammon.' No sooner did +one of the long-faced gentlemen raise his note too high, or wag his jaw +too long, than the 'Comptroller of the Gammon' gave him a whack over the +snout with the butt end of his shillelagh; a snubber which never failed +to stop his oratory for the remainder of the journey." + +To one familiar with the history of railroad legislation the last +paragraph is peculiarly significant. For years after the railroad system +was inaugurated, and until legislation was invoked to compel something +better, the companies persisted in carrying passengers of the third class +in uncovered carriages, exposed to all weather, and with no more +decencies or comforts than were accorded to swine. + + + + +EARLY RAILWAY TRAVELLING. + + +A writer in _Notes and Queries_ remarks:--"On looking over a diary kept +by my father during two journeys northward in 1830-31, I thought the +readers might be amused with his account of what he saw of railway +travelling, then in its infancy:-- + +"Monday, Oct. 11, 1830, Darlington.--Walked to the railroad, which comes +within half-a-mile of the town. Saw a steam engine drawing about +twenty-five wagons, each containing about two tons and a half of coals. +A single horse draws four such wagons. I went to Stockton at four +o'clock by coach on the railroad; one horse draws about twenty-four +passengers. I did not like it at all, for the road is very ugly in +appearance, and, being only one line with occasional turns for passing, +we were sometimes obliged to wait, and at other times to be drawn back, +so that we were full two hours going eleven miles, and they are often +more than three hours. There is no other conveyance, as the cheapness +has driven the stage-coaches off the road. I only paid 1s. for eleven +miles. The motion was very unpleasant--a continual jolting and +disagreeable noise." + +On Sept. 1, 1831, he remarks:--"The railroad to Stockton has been +improved since I was here, as they are now laying down a second line." + +"Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1830.--Left Manchester at ten o'clock by the +railroad for Liverpool. We enter upon it by a staircase through the +office from the street at present, but there will, I suppose, be an open +entrance, by-and-bye; they have built extensive warehouses adjoining. We +were two hours and a half going to Liverpool (about thirty-two miles), +and I must think the advantages have been a good deal overrated, for, +prejudice apart, I think most people will allow that expedition is the +only real advantage gained; the road itself is ugly, though curious and +wonderful as a work of art. Near Liverpool it is cut very deeply through +rock, and there is a long tunnel which leads into a yard where omnibusses +wait to convey passengers to the inns. The tunnel is too low for the +engines at present in use, and the carriages are drawn through it by +donkeys. The engines are calculated to draw fifty tons. . . I cannot +say that I at all liked it; the speed was too great to be pleasant, and +makes you rather giddy, and certainly it is not smoother and easier than +a good turnpike road. When the carriages stop or go on, a very violent +jolting takes place, from the ends of the carriages jostling together. I +have heard many say they prefer a horse-coach, but the majority are in +favour of the railroad, and they will, no doubt, knock up the coaches." + +"Monday, Sept. 12, 1831.--Left Manchester by coach at ten o'clock, and +arrived in Liverpool at half-past two. . . The railroad is not supposed +to answer vastly well, but they are making a branch to Warrington, which +will hurt the Sankey Navigation, and throw 1,500 men out of employment; +these people are said to be loud in their execrations of it, and to +threaten revenge. It is certain the proprietors do not all feel easy +about it, as one living at Warrington has determined never to go by it, +and was coming to Liverpool by our coach if there had been room. He +would gladly sell his shares. A dividend of 4 per cent. had been paid +for six months, but money had been borrowed. . . . Charge for tonnage of +goods, 10s. for thirty-two miles, which appears very dear to me." + + + + +CRABB ROBINSON'S FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY. + + +"June 9th, 1833.--(Liverpool). At twelve o'clock I got upon an omnibus, +and was driven up a steep hill to the place where the steam carriages +start. We travelled in the second class of carriages. There were five +carriages linked together, in each of which were placed open seats for +the travellers, four or five facing each other; but not all were full; +and, besides, there was a close carriage, and also a machine for luggage. +The fare was four shillings for the thirty-one miles. Everything went on +so rapidly that I had scarcely the power of observation. The road begins +at an excavation through a rock, and is to a certain extent insulated +from the adjacent country. It is occasionally placed on bridges, and +frequently intersected by ordinary roads. Not quite a perfect level is +preserved. On setting off there is a slight jolt, arising from the chain +catching each carriage, but, once in motion, we proceeded as smoothly as +possible. For a minute or two the pace is gentle, and is constantly +varying. The machine produces little smoke or steam. First in order is +the tall chimney; then the boiler, a barrel-like vessel; then an oblong +reservoir of water; then a vehicle for coals; and then comes, of a length +infinitely extendible, the train of carriages. If all the seats had been +filled, our train would have carried about 150 passengers; but a +gentleman assured me at Chester that he went with a thousand persons to +Newton fair. There must have been two engines then. I have heard since +that two thousand persons or more went to and from the fair that day. +But two thousand only, at three shillings each way, would have produced +600 pounds! But, after all, the expense is so great that it is +considered uncertain whether the establishment will ultimately remunerate +the proprietors. Yet I have heard that it already yields the +shareholders a dividend of nine per cent. And Bills have passed for +making railroads between London and Birmingham, and Birmingham and +Liverpool. What a change it will produce in the intercourse! One +conveyance will take between 100 and 200 passengers, and the journey will +be made in a forenoon! Of the rapidity of the journey I had better +experience on my return; but I may say now that, stoppages included, it +may certainly be made at the rate of twenty miles an hour. + +"I should have observed before that the most remarkable movements of the +journey are those in which trains pass one another. The rapidity is such +that there is no recognizing the features of a traveller. On several +occasions, the noise of the passing engine was like the whizzing of a +rocket. Guards are stationed in the road, holding flags, to give notice +to the drivers when to stop. Near Newton I noticed an inscription +recording the memorable death of Huskisson." + + --_Crabb Robinson's Diary_. + + + + +EARLY AMERICAN RAILWAY ENTERPRISE. + + +Mr. C. F. Adams, in his work on _Railroads_: _Their Origin and Problems_, +remarks:--"There is, indeed, some reason for believing that the South +Carolina Railroad was the first ever constructed in any country with a +definite plan of operating it exclusively by locomotive steam power. But +in America there was not--indeed, from the very circumstances of the +case, there could not have been--any such dramatic occasions and +surprises as those witnessed at Liverpool in 1829 and 1830. +Nevertheless, the people of Charleston were pressing close on the heels +of those at Liverpool, for on the 15th of January, 1831--exactly four +months after the formal opening of the Manchester and Liverpool road--the +first anniversary of the South Carolina Railroad was celebrated with due +honor. A queer-looking machine, the outline of which was sufficient in +itself to prove that the inventor owed nothing to Stephenson, had been +constructed at the West Point Foundry Works in New York during the summer +of 1830--a first attempt to supply that locomotive power which the Board +had, with sublime confidence in possibilities, unanimously voted on the +14th of the preceding January should alone be used on the road. The name +of _Best Friend_ was given to this very simple product of native genius. +The idea of the multitubular boiler had not yet suggested itself in +America. The _Best Friend_, therefore, was supplied with a common +vertical boiler, 'in form of an old-fashioned porter-bottle, the furnace +at the bottom surrounded with water, and all filled inside of what we +call teats running out from the sides and tops.' By means of the +projections or 'teats' a portion at least of the necessary heating +surface was provided. The cylinder was at the front of the platform, the +rear end of which was occupied by the boiler, and it was fed by means of +a connecting pipe. Thanks to the indefatigable researches of an +enthusiast on railroad construction, we have an account of the +performances of this and all the other pioneers among American +locomotives, and the pictures with which Mr. W. H. Brown has enriched his +book would alone render it both curious and valuable. Prior to the +stockholders' anniversary of January 15th, 1831, it seems that the _Best +Friend_ had made several trips 'running at the rate of sixteen to +twenty-one miles an hour, with forty or fifty passengers in some four or +five cars, and without the cars, thirty to thirty-five miles an hour.' +The stockholders' day was, however, a special occasion, and the papers of +the following Monday, for it happened on a Saturday, gave the following +account of it:-- + +"Notice having been previously given, inviting the stockholders, about +one hundred and fifty assembled in the course of the morning at the +company's buildings in Line Street, together with a number of invited +guests. The weather the day and night previous had been stormy, and the +morning was cold and cloudy. Anticipating a postponement of the +ceremonies, the locomotive engine had been taken to pieces for cleaning, +but upon the assembling of the company she was put in order, the +cylinders new packed and at the word the apparatus was ready for +movement. The first trip was performed with two pleasure cars attached, +and a small carriage, fitted for the occasion, upon which was a +detachment of United States troops and a field-piece which had been +politely granted by Major Belton for the occasion. . . The number of +passengers brought down, which was performed in two trips, was estimated +at upward of two hundred. A band of music enlivened the scene, and great +hilarity and good humour prevailed throughout the day." + +It was not long, however, before the _Best Friend_ came to serious grief. +Naturally, and even necessarily, inasmuch as it was a South Carolina +institution, it was provided with a negro fireman. It so happened that +this functionary while in the discharge of his duties was much annoyed by +the escape of steam from the safety valve, and, not having made himself +complete master of the principles underlying the use of steam as a source +of power, he took advantage of a temporary absence of the engineer in +charge to effect a radical remedy of this cause of annoyance. He not +only fastened down the valve lever, but further made the thing perfectly +sure by sitting upon it. The consequences were hardly less disastrous to +the _Best Friend_ than to the chattel fireman. Neither were of much +further practical use. Before this mishap chanced, however in June, +1831, a second locomotive, called the _West Point_, had arrived in +Charleston, and this last was constructed on the principle of +Stephenson's _Rocket_. In its general aspect, indeed, it greatly +resembled that already famous prototype. There is a very characteristic +and suggestive cut representing a trial trip made with this locomotive on +March 5th, 1831. The nerves of the Charleston people had been a good +deal disturbed and their confidence in steam as a safe motor shaken by +the disaster which had befallen the _Best Friend_. Mindful of this fact, +and very properly solicitous for the safety of their guests, the +directors now had recourse to a very simple and ingenious expedient. +They put what they called a 'barrier car' between the locomotive and +passenger coaches of the train. This barrier car consisted of a platform +on wheels upon which were piled six bales of cotton. A fortification was +thus provided between the passengers and any future negro sitting on the +safety valve. We are also assured that 'the safety valve being out of +the reach of any person but the engineer, will contribute to the +prevention of accidents in the future, such as befel the _Best Friend_.' +Judging by the cut which represents the train, this occasion must have +been even more marked for its 'hilarity' than the earlier one which has +already been described. Besides the locomotive and the barrier car there +are four passenger coaches. In the first of these was a negro band, in +general appearance very closely resembling the minstrels of a later day, +the members of which are energetically performing on musical instruments +of various familiar descriptions. Then follow three cars full of the +saddest looking white passengers, who were present as we were informed to +the number of one hundred and seventeen. The excursion was, however, +highly successful, and two-and-a-quarter miles of road were passed over +in the short space of eight minutes--about the speed at which a good +horse would trot for the same distance. + +This was in March, 1831. About six months before, however, there had +actually been a trial of speed between a horse and one of the pioneer +locomotives, which had not resulted in favour of the locomotive. It took +place on the present Baltimore and Ohio road upon the 28th of August, +1830. The engine in this case was contrived by no other than Mr. Peter +Cooper. And it affords a striking illustration of how recent those +events which now seem so remote really were, that here is a man until +very recently living, and amongst the most familiar to the eyes of the +present generation, who was a contemporary of Stephenson, and himself +invented a locomotive during the Rainhill year, being then nearly forty +years of age. The Cooper engine, however, was scarcely more than a +working model. Its active-minded inventor hardly seems to have aimed at +anything more than a demonstration of possibilities. The whole thing +weighed only a ton, and was of one horse power; in fact it was not larger +than those handcars now in common use with railroad section-men. The +boiler, about the size of a modern kitchen boiler, stood upright and was +fitted above the furnace--which occupied the lower section--with vertical +tubes. The cylinder was but three-and-a-half inches in diameter, and the +wheels were moved by gearing. In order to secure the requisite pressure +of steam in so small a boiler, a sort of bellows was provided which was +kept in action by means of a drum attached to one of the car-wheels over +which passed a cord which worked a pulley, which in turn worked the +bellows. Thus, of Stephenson's two great devices, without either of +which his success at Rainhill would have been impossible--the waste steam +blast and the multitubular boiler--Peter Cooper had only got hold of the +last. He owed his defeat in the race between his engine and a horse to +the fact that he had not got hold of the first. It happened in this +wise. Several experimental trips had been made with the little engine on +the Baltimore and Ohio road, the first sections of which had recently +been completed and were then operated upon by means of horses. The +success of these trips was such that at last, just seventeen days before +the formal opening of the Manchester and Liverpool road on the other side +of the Atlantic, a small open car was attached to the engine--the name of +which, by the way, was _Tom Thumb_--and upon this a party of directors +and their friends were carried from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills and +back, a distance of some twenty-six miles. + +The trip out was made in an hour, and was very successful. The return +was less so, and for the following reason:-- + +"The great stage proprietors of the day were Stockton and Stokes; and on +that occasion a gallant grey, of great beauty and power, was driven by +them from town, attached to another car on the second track--for the +company had begun by making two tracks to the Mills--and met the engine +at the Relay House on its way back. From this point it was determined to +have a race home, and the start being even, away went horse and engine, +the snort of the one and the puff of the other keeping tune and time. + +"At first the grey had the best of it, for his _steam_ would be applied +to the greatest advantage on the instant, while the engine had to wait +until the rotation of the wheels set the blower to work. The horse was +perhaps a quarter of a mile ahead when the safety valve of the engine +lifted, and the thin blue vapour issuing from it showed an excess of +steam. The blower whistled, the steam blew off in vapoury clouds, the +pace increased, the passengers shouted, the engine gained on the horse, +soon it lapped him--the silk was plied--the race was neck and neck, nose +and nose--then the engine passed the horse, and a great hurrah hailed the +victory. But it was not repeated, for, just at this time, when the +grey's master was about giving up, the band which draws the pulley which +moved the blower slipped from the drum, the safety valve ceased to +scream, and the engine--for want of breath--began to wheeze and pant. In +vain Mr. Cooper, who was his own engineer and fireman, lacerated his +hands in attempting to replace the band upon the wheel; the horse gained +upon the machine and passed it, and although the band was presently +replaced, and the steam again did its best, the horse was too far ahead +to be overtaken, and came in the winner of the race." + + + + +ENGLISH AND AMERICAN OPPOSITION. + + +What wonder that such an innovation as railways was strenuously opposed, +threatening, as it did, the coaching interest, and the posting interest, +the canal interest, and the sporting interest, and private interests of +every variety. "Gentlemen, as an individual," said a sporting M.P. for +Cheltenham, "I hate your railways; I detest them altogether; I wish the +concoctors of the Cheltenham and Oxford, and the concoctors of every +other scheme, including the solicitors and engineers, were at rest in +Paradise. Gentlemen, I detest railroads; nothing is more distasteful to +me than to hear the echo of our hills reverberating with the noise of +hissing railroad engines, running through the heart of our hunting +country, and destroying that noble sport to which I have been accustomed +from my childhood." And at Tewkesbury, one speaker contended that "any +railway would be injurious;" compared engines to "war-horses and fiery +meteors;" and affirmed that "the evils contained in Pandora's box were +but trifles compared with those that would be consequent on railways." +Even in go-aheadative America, some steady jog trotting opponents raised +their voices against the nascent system; one of whom (a canal +stockholder, by the way) chronicled the following objective arguments. +"He saw what would be the effect of it; that it would set the whole world +a-gadding. Twenty miles an hour, sir! Why you will not be able to keep +an apprentice-boy at his work; every Saturday evening he must take a trip +to Ohio, to spend the Sabbath with his sweetheart. Grave plodding +citizens will be flying about like comets. All local attachments must be +at an end. It will encourage flightiness of intellect. Veracious people +will turn into the most immeasurable liars; all their conceptions will be +exaggerated by their magnificent notions of distance. 'Only a hundred +miles off! Tut, nonsense, I'll step across, madam, and bring your fan!' +'Pray, sir, will you dine with me to-day at my little box at Alleghany?' +'Why, indeed, I don't know. I shall be in town until twelve. Well, I +shall be there; but you must let me off in time for the theatre.' And +then, sir, there will be barrels of pork, and cargoes of flour, and +chaldrons of coals, and even lead and whiskey, and such-like sober things +that have always been used to sober travelling, whisking away like a set +of sky-rockets. It will upset all the gravity of the nation. If two +gentlemen have an affair of honour, they have only to steal off to the +Rocky Mountains, and there no jurisdiction can touch them. And then, +sir, think of flying for debt! A set of bailiffs, mounted on +bomb-shells, would not overtake an absconded debtor, only give him a fair +start. Upon the whole, sir, it is a pestilential, topsy-turvy, +harum-scarum whirligig. Give me the old, solemn, straightforward, +regular Dutch canal--three miles an hour for expresses, and two for +ordinary journeys, with a yoke of oxen for a heavy load! I go for beasts +of burthen: it is more primitive and scriptural, and suits a moral and +religious people better. None of your hop-skip-and-jump whimsies for +me." + + --_Sharpe's London Journal_. + + + + +AN UNPLEASANT TRIAL TRIP. + + +Mr. O. F. Adams remarks:--"A famous trial trip with a new locomotive +engine was that made on the 9th of August, 1831, on the new line from +Albany to Schenectady over the Mohawk Valley road. The train was made up +of a locomotive, the _De Witt Clinton_, its tender, and five or six +passenger coaches--which were, indeed, nothing but the bodies of stage +coaches placed upon trucks. The first two of these coaches were set +aside for distinguished visitors; the others were surmounted with seats +of plank to accommodate as many as possible of the great throng of +persons who were anxious to participate in the trip. Inside and out the +coaches were crowded; every seat was full. What followed the starting of +the train has thus been described by one who took part in the affair:-- + +"'The trucks were coupled together with chains or chain-links, leaving +from two to three feet slack, and when the locomotive started it took up +the slack by jerks, with sufficient force to jerk the passengers who sat +on seats across the tops of the coaches, out from under their hats, and +in stopping they came together with such force as to send them flying +from their seats. + +"They used dry pitch-pine for fuel, and, there being no smoke or +spark-catcher to the chimney or smoke stack, a volume of black smoke, +strongly impregnated with sparks, coal, and cinders, came pouring back +the whole length of the train. Each of the outside passengers who had an +umbrella raised it as a protection against the smoke and fire. They were +found to be but a momentary protection, for I think in the first mile the +last one went overboard, all having their covers burnt off from the +frames, when a general melee took place among the deck passengers, each +whipping his neighbour to put out the fire. They presented a very motley +appearance on arriving at the first station." Here, "a short stop was +made, and a successful experiment tried to remedy the unpleasant jerks. +A plan was soon hit upon and put into execution. The three links in the +couplings of the cars were stretched to their utmost tension, a rail from +a fence in the neighbourhood was placed between each pair of cars and +made fast by means of the packing yarn from the cylinders. This +arrangement improved the order of things, and it was found to answer the +purpose when the signal was again given and the engine started.'" + + + + +PROGNOSTICATIONS OF FAILURE. + + +In the year 1831, the writer of a pamphlet, who styled himself +_Investigator_, essayed the task of "proving by facts and arguments" that +a railway between London and Birmingham would be a "burden upon the trade +of the country and would never pay." The difficulties and dangers of the +enterprise he thus sets forth:-- + +"The causes of greater danger on the railway are several. A velocity of +fifteen miles an hour is in itself a great source of danger, as the +smallest obstacle might produce the most serious consequences. If, at +that rate, the engine or any forward part of the train should suddenly +stop, the whole would be cracked by the collision like nutshells. At all +turnings there is a danger that the latter part of the train may swing +off the rails; and, if that takes place, the most serious consequences +must ensue before the whole train can be stopped. The line, too, upon +which the train must be steered admits of little lateral deviation, while +a stage coach has a choice of the whole roadway. Independently of the +velocity, which in coaches is the chief source of danger, there are many +perils on the railway, the rails stand up like so many thick knives, and +any one alighting on them would have but a slight chance of his life . . +. Another consideration which would deter travellers, more especially +invalids, ladies, and children, from making use of the railways, would be +want of accommodation along the line, unless the directors of the railway +choose to build inns as commodious as those on the present line of road. +But those inns the directors would have in part to support also, because +they would be out of the way of any business except that arising from the +railway, and that would be so trifling and so accidental that the +landlords could not afford to keep either a cellar or a larder. + +"Commercial travellers, who stop and do business in all the towns and by +so doing render commerce much cheaper than it otherwise would be, and who +give that constant support to the houses of entertainment which makes +them able to supply the occasional traveller well and at a cheap rate, +would, as a matter of course, never by any chance go by the railroad; and +the occasional traveller, who went the same route for pleasure, would go +by the coach road also, because of the cheerful company and comfortable +dinner. Not one of the nobility, the gentry, or those who travel in +their own carriages, would by any chance go by the railway. A nobleman +would really not like to be drawn at the tail of a train of wagons, in +which some hundreds of bars of iron were jingling with a noise that would +drown all the bells of the district, and in the momentary apprehension of +having his vehicle broke to pieces, and himself killed or crippled by the +collision of those thirty-ton masses." + + + + +SIR ASTLEY COOPER'S OPPOSITION TO THE LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY. + + +Robert Stephenson, while engaged in the survey of the above line, +encountered much opposition from landed proprietors. Many years after +its completion, when recalling the past, he said:--"I remember that we +called one day on Sir Astley Cooper, the eminent surgeon, in the hope of +overcoming his aversion to the railway. He was one of our most +inveterate and influential opponents. His country house at Berkhampstead +was situated near the intended line, which passed through part of his +property. We found a courtly, fine-looking old gentleman, of very +stately manners, who received us kindly and heard all we had to say in +favour of the project. But he was quite inflexible in his opposition to +it. No deviation or improvement that we could suggest had any effect in +conciliating him. He was opposed to railways generally, and to this in +particular. 'Your scheme,' said he, 'is preposterous in the extreme. It +is of so extravagant a character as to be positively absurd. Then look +at the recklessness of your proceedings! You are proposing to cut up our +estates in all directions for the purpose of making an unnecessary road. +Do you think, for one moment, of the destruction of property involved by +it? Why, gentlemen, if this sort of thing be permitted to go on you will +in a very few years _destroy the nobility_!'" + + + + +OPPOSITION TO MAKING SURVEYS. + + +A great deal of opposition was encountered in making the surveys for the +London and Birmingham Railway, and although, in every case, as little +damage was done as possible, simply because it was the interest of those +concerned to conciliate all parties along the line, yet, in several +instances, the opposition was of a most violent nature; in one case no +skill or ingenuity could evade the watchfulness and determination of the +lords of the soil, and the survey was at last accomplished at night by +means of dark lanterns. + +On another occasion, when Mr. Gooch was taking levels through some of the +large tracts of grazing land, a few miles from London, two brothers, +occupying the land came to him in a great rage, and insisted on his +leaving their property immediately. He contrived to learn from them that +the adjoining field was not theirs and he therefore remonstrated but very +slightly with them, and then walked quietly through the gap in the hedge +into the next field, and planted his level on the highest ground he could +find--his assistant remaining at the last level station, distant about a +hundred and sixty yards, apparently quite unconscious of what had taken +place, although one of the brothers was moving very quickly towards him, +for the purpose of sending him off. Now, if the assistant had moved his +staff before Mr. Gooch had got his sight at it through the telescope of +his level, all his previous work would have been completely lost, and the +survey must have been completed in whatever manner it could have been +done--the great object, however, was to prevent this serious +inconvenience. The moment Mr. Gooch commenced looking through his +telescope at the staff held by his assistant, the grazier nearest him, +spreading out the tails of his coat, tried to place himself between the +staff and the telescope, in order to intercept all vision, and at the +same time commenced shouting violently to his comrade, desiring him to +make haste and knock down the staff. Fortunately for Mr. Gooch, although +nature had made this amiable being's ears longer than usual, yet they +performed their office very badly, and as he could not see distinctly +what Mr. Gooch was about--the hedge being between them--he very simply +asked the man at the staff what his (the enquirer's) brother said. "Oh," +replied the man, "he is calling to you to stop that horse there which is +galloping out of the fold yard." Away went Clodpole, as fast as he could +run, to restrain the unruly energies of Smolensko the Ninth, or whatever +other name the unlucky quadruped might be called, and Mr. Gooch in the +meanwhile quietly took the sight required--he having, with great +judgment, planted his level on ground sufficiently high to enable him to +see over the head of any grazier in the land; but his clever assistant, +as soon as he perceived that all was right, had to take to his heels and +make the shortest cut to the high road. + +In another instance, a reverend gentleman of the Church of England made +such alarming demonstrations of his opposition that the extraordinary +expedient was resorted to of surveying his property during the time he +was engaged in the pulpit, preaching to his flock. This was accomplished +by having a strong force of surveyors all in readiness to commence their +operations, by entering the clergyman's grounds on the one side at the +same moment that they saw him fairly off them on the other, and, by a +well organised and systematic arrangement, each man coming to a +conclusion with his allotted task just as the reverend gentleman came to +a conclusion with his sermon; and before he left the church to return to +his home, the deed was done. + + --Roscoe's _London and Birmingham Railway_. + + + + +SANITARY OBJECTIONS. + + +Mr. Smiles, in his _Life of George Stephenson_, remarks:--"Sanitary +objections were also urged in opposition to railways, and many wise +doctors strongly inveighed against tunnels. Sir Anthony Carlisle +insisted that "tunnels would expose healthy people to colds, catarrhs, +and consumption." The noise, the darkness, and the dangers of tunnel +travelling were depicted in all their horrors. Worst of all, however, +was 'the destruction of the atmospheric air,' as Dr. Lardner termed it. +Elaborate calculations were made by that gentleman to prove that the +provision of ventilating shafts would be altogether insufficient to +prevent the dangers arising from the combustion of coke, producing +carbonic acid gas, which in large quantities was fatal to life. He +showed, for instance, that in the proposed Box tunnel, on the Great +Western Railway, the passage of 100 tons would deposit about 3090 lbs. of +noxious gases, incapable of supporting life! Here was an uncomfortable +prospect of suffocation for passengers between London and Bristol. But +steps were adopted to allay these formidable sources of terror. Solemn +documents, in the form of certificates, were got up and published, signed +by several of the most distinguished physicians of the day, attesting the +perfect wholesomeness of tunnels, and the purity of the air in them. +Perhaps they went further than was necessary in alleging, what certainly +subsequent experience has not verified, that the atmosphere of the tunnel +was 'dry, of an agreeable temperature, and free from smell.' Mr. +Stephenson declared his conviction that a tunnel twenty miles long could +be worked safely and without more danger to life than a railway in the +open air; but, at the same time, he admits that tunnels were nuisances, +which he endeavoured to avoid wherever practicable." + + + + +ELEVATED RAILWAYS. + + +In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for June, 1830, it is stated:--"There are +at present exhibiting in Edinburgh three large models, accompanied with +drawings of railways and their carriages, invented by Mr. Dick, who has a +patent. These railways are of a different nature from those hitherto in +use, inasmuch as they are not laid along the surface of the ground, but +elevated to such a height as, when necessary, to pass over the tops of +houses and trees. The principal supports are of stone, and, being placed +at considerable distances, have cast-iron pillars between them. The +carriages are to be dragged along with a velocity hitherto unparalleled, +by means of a rope drawn by a steam engine or other prime mover, a series +being placed at intervals along the railway. From the construction of +the railway and carriages the friction is very small." + + + + +EVIDENCE OF A GENERAL SALESMAN. + + +The advantages London derives from railways, in regard to its supply of +good meat, may be gathered from the evidence given by Mr. George Rowley +in 1834, on behalf of the Great Western Railway Company. + +"You have been a general salesman of live and dead stock of all +descriptions in Newgate Market 32 years?"--"Yes." + +"What is about the annual amount of your sales?"--"I turn over 300,000 +pounds in a year." + +"Would a railway that facilitated the communication between London and +Bristol be an advantage to your business?"--"I think it would be a +special advantage to London altogether." + +"In what way?"--"The facility of having goods brought in reference to +live stock is very important; I have been in the habit of paying Mr. +Bowman, of Bristol, 1,000 pounds a-week for many weeks; that has been for +sending live hogs to me to be sold, to be slaughtered in London; and I +have, out of that 1,000 pounds a-week as many as 40 or 50 pigs die on the +road, and they have sold for little or nothing. The exertion of the pigs +kills them." + +"The means of conveying pigs on a railway would be a great +advantage?"--"Yes, as far as having the pigs come good to market, without +being subject to a distemper that creates fever, and they die as red as +that bag before you, and when they are killed in good health they die a +natural colour." + +"Then do I understand you that those who are fortunate enough to survive +the journey are the worse for it?"--"Yes, in weight." + +"And in quality?"--"Yes! All meat killed in the country, and delivered +in the London market dead, in a good state, will make from 6d. to 8d. a +stone more than what is slaughtered in London." + + + + +THE ANXIOUS HAIR-DRESSER. + + +"Clanwilliam mentioned this evening an incident which proves the +wonderful celerity of the railroads. Mr. Isidore, the Queen's coiffeur, +who receives 2,000 pounds a year for dressing Her Majesty's hair +twice-a-day, had gone to London in the morning to return to Windsor in +time for her toilet; but on arriving at the station he was just five +minutes too late, and saw the train depart without him. His horror was +great, as he knew that his want of punctuality would deprive him of his +place, as no train would start for the next two hours. The only resource +was to order a special train, for which he was obliged to pay 18 pounds; +but the establishment feeling the importance of his business, ordered +extra steam to be put on, and convoyed the anxious hair-dresser 18 miles +in 18 minutes, which extricated him from all his difficulties." + + _Raike's Diary from_ 1831 _to_ 1847. + + + + +SHARP PRACTICE. + + +Sir Francis Head, Bart., in his _Stokers and Pokers_, remarks:--"During +the construction of the present London and North Western Railway, a +landlady at Hillmorton, near Rugby, of very sharp practice, which she had +imbibed in dealings for many years with canal boatmen, was constantly +remarking aloud that no navvy should ever "do" her; and although the +railway was in her immediate neighbourhood, and although the navvies were +her principal customers, she took pleasure on every opportunity in +repeating the invidious remark. + +"It had, however, one fine morning scarcely left her large, full-blown, +rosy lips, when a fine-looking young fellow, walking up to her, carrying +in both hands a huge stone bottle, commonly called a 'grey-neck,' briefly +asked her for 'half a gallon of gin;' which was no sooner measured and +poured in than the money was rudely demanded before it could be taken +away. + +"On the navvy declining to pay the exorbitant price asked, the landlady, +with a face like a peony, angrily told him he must either pay for the gin +or _instantly_ return it. + +"He silently chose the latter, and accordingly, while the eyes of his +antagonist were wrathfully fixed upon his, he returned into her measure +the half gallon, and then quietly walked off; but having previously put +into his grey-neck half a gallon of water, each party eventually found +themselves in possession of half a gallon of gin and water; and, however +either may have enjoyed the mixture, it is historically recorded at +Hillmorton that the landlady was never again heard unnecessarily to boast +that no navvy could _do_ her." + + + + +A NAVVY'S REASON FOR NOT GOING TO CHURCH. + + +A navvy at Kilsby, being asked why he did not go to church? duly answered +in geological language--"_Why_, _Soonday hasn't cropped out here yet_!" +By which he meant that the clergyman appointed to the new village had not +yet arrived. + + + + +SNAKES' HEADS. + + +One of the earliest forms of rails used by the Americans consisted of a +flat bar half-an-inch thick spiked down to longitudinal timbers. In the +process of running the train, the iron was curved, the spikes loosened, +and the ends of the bars turned up, and were known by the name of snakes' +heads. Occasionally they pierced the bottoms of the carriages and +injured passengers, and it was no uncommon thing to hear passengers +speculate as to which line they would go by, as showing fewest snakes' +heads. + + + + +PREJUDICE REMOVED. + + +Mr. William Reed, a land agent, was called, in 1834, to give evidence in +favour of the Great Western Railway. He was questioned as to the +benefits conferred upon the localities passed through by the Manchester +and Liverpool Railway. He was asked, "From your knowledge of the +property in the neighbourhood, can you say that the houses have not +decreased in value?" "Yes; I know an instance of a gentleman who had a +house very near, and, though he quarrelled very much with the Company +when they came there, and said, 'Very well, if you will come let me have +a high wall to keep you out of sight,' and a year-and-a-half ago he +petitioned the Company to take down the wall, and he has put up an iron +railing, so that he may see them." + + + + +A RIDE FROM BOSTON TO PROVIDENCE IN 1835. + + +The early railway enterprise in America was not regarded by all persons +with feelings of unmixed satisfaction. Thus we read of the railway +journey taken by a gentleman of the old school, whose experience and +sensations--if not very satisfactory to himself--are worth +recording:--"July 22, 1835.--This morning at nine o'clock I took passage +in a railroad car (from Boston) for Providence. Five or six other cars +were attached to the locomotive, and uglier boxes I do not wish to travel +in. They were made to stow away some thirty human beings, who sit cheek +by jowl as best they can. Two poor fellows who were not much in the +habit of making their toilet squeezed me into a corner, while the hot sun +drew from their garments a villanous compound of smells made up of salt +fish, tar, and molasses. By and bye, just twelve--only twelve--bouncing +factory girls were introduced, who were going on a party of pleasure to +Newport. 'Make room for the ladies!' bawled out the superintendent, +'Come, gentlemen, jump up on the top; plenty of room there.' 'I'm afraid +of the bridge knocking my brains out,' said a passenger. Some made one +excuse and some another. For my part, I flatly told him that since I had +belonged to the corps of Silver Greys I had lost my gallantry, and did +not intend to move. The whole twelve were, however, introduced, and soon +made themselves at home, sucking lemons and eating green apples. . . The +rich and the poor, the educated and the ignorant, the polite and the +vulgar, all herd together in this modern improvement of travelling. The +consequence is a complete amalgamation. Master and servant sleep heads +and points on the cabin floor of the steamer, feed at the same table, sit +in each other's laps, as it were, in the cars; and all this for the sake +of doing very uncomfortably in two days what would be done delightfully +in eight or ten. Shall we be much longer kept by this toilsome fashion +of hurrying, hurrying, from starting (those who can afford it) on a +journey with our own horses, and moving slowly, surely, and profitably +through the country, with the power of enjoying its beauty, and be the +means of creating good inns. Undoubtedly, a line of post-horses and +post-chaises would long ago have been established along our great roads +had not steam monopolized everything. . . . Talk of ladies on board a +steamboat or in a railroad car. There are none! I never feel like a +gentleman there, and I cannot perceive a semblance of gentility in any +one who makes part of the travelling mob. When I see women whom, in +their drawing rooms or elsewhere, I have been accustomed to respect and +treat with every suitable deference--when I see them, I say, elbowing +their way through a crowd of dirty emigrants or lowbred homespun fellows +in petticoats or breeches in our country, in order to reach a table +spread for a hundred or more, I lose sight of their pretensions to +gentility and view them as belonging to the plebeian herd. To restore +herself to her caste, let a lady move in select company at five miles an +hour, and take her meals in comfort at a good inn, where she may dine +decently. . . . After all, the old-fashioned way of five or six miles, +with liberty to dine in a decent inn and be master of one's movements, +with the delight of seeing the country and getting along rationally, is +the mode to which I cling, and which will be adopted again by the +generations of after times." + + --_Recollections of Samuel Breck_. + + + + +APPEALING TO THE CLERGY. + + +Mr. C. F. Adams remarks:--"During the periods of discouragement which, a +few years later, marked certain stages of the construction of the Western +road, connecting Worcester with Albany--when both money and courage +seemed almost exhausted--Mr. De Grand never for a moment faltered. He +might almost be said to have then had Western railroad on the brain. +Among other things, he issued a circular which caused much amusement and +not improbably some scandal among the more precise. The Rev. S. K. +Lothrop, then a young man, had preached a sermon in Brattle Street Church +which attracted a good deal of attention, on the subject of the moral and +Christianizing influence of railroads. Mr. De Grand thought he saw his +occasion, and he certainly availed himself of it. He at once had a +circular printed, a copy of which he sent to every clergyman in +Massachusetts, suggesting the propriety of a discourse on 'The moral and +Christianizing influence of railroads in general and of the Western +railroad in particular.'" + + + + +AIR-WAYS INSTEAD OF RAILWAYS. + + +In the _Mechanics' Magazine_ for July 22nd, 1837, is to be found the +following remarkable suggestion:--"In many parts of the new railroads, +where there has been some objection to the locomotive engines, stationary +ones are resorted to, as everyone knows to draw the vehicles along. Why +might not these vehicles be balloons? Why, instead of being dragged on +the surface of the ground, along costly viaducts or under disagreeable +tunnels, might they not travel two or three hundred feet high? By +balloons, I mean, of course, anything raised in the air by means of a gas +lighter than the air. They might be of all shapes and sizes to suit +convenience. The practicability of this plan does not seem to be +doubtful. Its advantages are obvious. Instead of having to purchase, as +for a railway, the whole line of track passed over, the company for a +balloon-way would only have to procure those spots of ground on which +they proposed to erect stationary engines; and these need in no case be +of peculiar value, since their being a hundred yards one way or the other +would make little difference. Viaducts of course would never be +necessary, cuttings in very few occasions indeed, if at all. The chief +expense of balloons is their inflation, which is renewed at every new +ascent; but in these balloons the gas once in need never to be let out, +and one inflation would be enough." + +The same writer a few years later on observes:--"One feature of the +air-way to supersede the railway would be, that besides preventing the +destruction of the architectural beauties of the metropolis, now menaced +by the multitudinous network of viaducts and subways at war with the +existing thoroughfares, it would occasion the construction of numerous +lofty towers as stations of arrival and departure, which would afford an +opportunity of architectural effect hitherto undreamed of." + + + + +PREJUDICE AGAINST CARRYING COALS BY RAILWAYS. + + +Rev. F. S. Williams in an article upon "Railway Revolutions," +remarks:--"When railways were first established it was never imagined +that they would be so far degraded as to carry coals; but George +Stephenson and others soon saw how great a service railways might render +in developing and distributing the mineral wealth of the country. +Prejudice had, however, to be timidly and vigorously overcome. When it +was mentioned to a certain eminent railway authority that George +Stephenson had spoken of sending coals by railway: 'Coals!' he exclaimed, +'they will want us to carry dung next.' The remark was reported to 'Old +George,' who was not behind his critic in the energy of his expression. +'You tell B--,' he said, 'that when he travels by railway, they carry +dung now!' The strength of the feeling against the traffic is +sufficiently illustrated by the fact that, when the London and Birmingham +Railway began to carry coal, the wagons that contained it were sheeted +over that their contents might not be seen; and when a coal wharf was +first made at Crick station, a screen was built to hide the work from the +observation of passengers on the line. Even the possibility of carrying +coal at a remunerative price was denied. 'I am very sorry,' said Lord +Eldon, referring to this subject, 'to find the intelligent people of the +north country gone mad on the subject of railways;' and another eminent +authority declared: 'It is all very well to spend money; it will do some +good; but I will eat all the coals your railway will carry.' + +"George Stephenson, however, and other friends of coal, held on their +way; and he declared that the time would come when London would be +supplied with coal by railway. 'The strength of Britain,' he said, 'is +in her coal beds; and the locomotive is destined, above all other +agencies, to bring it forth. The Lord Chancellor now sits upon a bag of +wool; but wool has long ceased to be emblematical of the staple commodity +of England. He ought rather to sit upon a bag of coals, though it might +not prove quite so comfortable a seat. Then think of the Lord Chancellor +being addressed as the noble and learned lord on the coal-sack? I'm +afraid it wouldn't answer, after all.'" + + + + +AN EPITAPH ON THE VICTIM OF A RAILWAY ACCIDENT. + + +A correspondent writes to the _Pall Mall Gazette_:--"Our poetic +literature, so rich in other respects, is entirely wanting in epitaphs on +the victims of railway accidents. A specimen of what may be turned in +this line is to be seen on a tombstone in the picturesque churchyard of +Harrow-on-the-Hill. It was, I observe, written as long ago as 1838, so +that it can be reproduced without much danger of hurting the feelings of +those who may have known and loved the subject of this touching elegy. +The name of the victim was Port, and the circumstances of his death are +thus set forth:-- + + Bright was the morn, and happy rose poor Port; + Gay on the train he used his wonted sport. + Ere noon arrived his mangled form they bore + With pain distorted and overwhelmed with gore. + When evening came and closed the fatal day, + A mutilated corpse the sufferer lay." + + + + +AN ENGINE-DRIVER'S EPITAPH. + + +In the cemetery at Alton, Illinois, there is a tombstone bearing the +following inscription:-- + + "My engine is now cold and still. + No water does my boiler fill. + My coke affords its flame no more, + My days of usefulness are o'er; + My wheels deny their noted speed, + No more my guiding hand they heed; + My whistle--it has lost its tone, + Its shrill and thrilling sound is gone; + My valves are now thrown open wide, + My flanges all refuse to glide; + My clacks--alas! though once so strong, + Refuse their aid in the busy throng; + No more I feel each urging breath, + My steam is now condensed in death; + Life's railway o'er, each station past, + In death I'm stopped, and rest at last." + +This epitaph was written by an engineer on the old Chicago and +Mississippi Railroad, who was fatally injured by an accident on the road; +and while he lay awaiting the death which he knew to be inevitable, he +wrote the lines which are engraved upon his tombstone. + + + + +TRAFFIC-TAKING. + + +Between the years 1836 and 1839, when there were many railway acts +applied for, traffic-taking became a lucrative calling. It was necessary +that some approximate estimate should be made as to the income which the +lines might be expected to yield. Arithmeticians, who calculated traffic +receipts, were to be found to prove what promoters of railways required +to satisfy shareholders and Parliamentary Committees. The Eastern +Counties Railway was estimated to pay a dividend of 23.5 per cent.; the +London and Cambridge, 14.5 per cent.; the Sheffield and Manchester, 18.5 +per cent. One shareholder of this company was so sanguine as to the +success of the line that in a letter to the _Railway Magazine_ he +calculated on a dividend of 80 per cent. Bitter indeed must have been +the disappointment of those railway shareholders who pinned their faith +to the estimates of traffic-takers, when instead of receiving large +dividends, little was received, and in some instances the lines paid no +dividend at all. + + + + +MONEY LOST AND FOUND. + + +On Friday night, a servant of the Birmingham Railway Company found in one +of the first-class carriages, after the passengers had left, a pocket +book containing a check on a London Bank for 2,000 and 2,500 pounds in +bank notes. He delivered the book and its contents to the principal +officer, and it was forwarded to the gentleman to whom it belonged, his +address being discovered from some letters in the pocket book. He had +gone to bed, and risen and dressed himself next morning without +discovering his loss, which was only made known by the restoration of the +property. He immediately tendered 20 pounds to the party who had found +his money, but this being contrary to the regulations of the directors, +the party, though a poor man, could not receive the reward. As the +temptation, however, was so great to apply the money to his own use, the +matter is to be brought before a meeting of the directors. + + --_Aris's Gazette_, 1839. + + + + +ORIGIN OF COOK'S RAILWAY EXCURSIONS. + + +Mr. Thomas Cook, the celebrated excursionist, in an article in the +_Leisure Hour_ remarks:--"As a pioneer in a wide field of thought and +action, my course can never be repeated. It has been mine to battle +against inaugural difficulties, and to place the system on a basis of +consolidated strength. It was mine to lay the foundations of a system on +which others, both individuals and companies, have builded, and there is +not a phase of the tourist plans of Europe and America that was not +embodied in my plans or foreshadowed in my ideas. The whole thing seemed +to come to me as by intuition, and my spirit recoiled at the idea of +imitation. + +"The beginning was very small, and was on this wise. I believe that the +Midland Railway from Derby to Rugby _via_ Leicester was opened in 1840. +At that time I knew but little of railways, having only travelled over +the Leicester and Swannington line from Leicester to Long Lane, a +terminus near to the Leicestershire collieries. The reports in the +papers of the opening of the new line created astonishment in +Leicestershire, and I had read of an interchange of visits between the +Leicester and Nottingham Mechanics' Institutes. I was an enthusiastic +temperance man, and the secretary of a district association, which +embraced parts of the two counties of Leicester and Northampton. A great +meeting was to be held at Leicester, over which Lawrence Heyworth, Esq., +of Liverpool--a great railway as well as temperance man--was advertised +to preside. From my residence at Market Harborough I walked to Leicester +(fifteen miles) to attend that meeting. About midway between Harborough +and Leicester--my mind's eye has often reverted to the spot--a thought +flashed through my brain, what a glorious thing it would be if the +newly-developed powers of railways and locomotion could be made +subservient to the promotion of temperance. That thought grew upon me as +I travelled over the last six or eight miles. I carried it up to the +platform, and, strong in the confidence of the sympathy of the chairman, +I broached the idea of engaging a special train to carry the friends of +temperance from Leicester to Loughborough and back to attend a quarterly +delegate meeting appointed to be held there in two or three weeks +following. The chairman approved, the meeting roared with excitement, +and early next day I proposed my grand scheme to John Fox Bell, the +resident secretary of the Midland Counties Railway Company. Mr. Paget, +of Loughborough, opened his park for a gala, and on the day appointed +about five hundred passengers filled some twenty or twenty-five open +carriages--they were called 'tubs' in those days--and the party rode the +enormous distance of eleven miles and back for a shilling, children +half-price. We carried music with us, and music met us at the +Loughborough station. The people crowded the streets, filled windows, +covered the house-tops, and cheered us all along the line, with the +heartiest welcome. All went off in the best style and in perfect safety +we returned to Leicester; and thus was struck the keynote of my +excursions, and the social idea grew upon me." + + + + +THE DEODAND. + + +It was a principle of English common law derived from the feudal period, +that anything through the instrumentality of which death occurred was +forfeited to the crown as a deodand; accordingly down to the year 1840 +and even later, we find, in all cases where persons were killed, records +of deodands levied by the coroners' juries upon locomotives. These +appear to have been arbitrarily imposed and graduated in amount +accordingly as circumstances seemed to excite in greater or less degree +the sympathies or the indignation of the jury. In November, 1838, for +instance, a locomotive exploded upon the Liverpool and Manchester line, +killing its engineer and fireman; and for this escapade a deodand of +twenty pounds was assessed upon it by the coroner's jury; while upon +another occasion, in 1839, when the locomotive struck and killed a man +and horse at a street crossing, the deodand was fixed at no less a sum +than fourteen hundred pounds, the full value of the engine. Yet in this +last case there did not appear to be any circumstances rendering the +company liable in civil damages. The deodand seems to have been looked +upon as a species of rude penalty imposed on the use of dangerous +appliances, a sharp reminder to the companies to look sharply after their +locomotives and employes. Thus upon the 24th of December, 1841, on the +Great Western Railway, a train, while moving through a thick fog at a +high rate of speed, came suddenly in contact with a mass of earth which +had slid from the embankment at the side on to the track. Instantly the +whole rear of the train was piled up on the top of the first carriage, +which happened to be crowded with passengers, eight of whom were killed +on the spot, while seventeen others were more or less injured. The +coroner's jury returned a verdict of accidental death, and at the same +time, as if to give the company a forcible hint to look closer to the +condition of its embankment, a deodand of one hundred pounds was levied +on the locomotive and tender. + + + + +AN UNFORTUNATE DISCUSSION. + + +Two gentlemen sitting opposite each other in a railway carriage got into +a political argument; one was elderly and a staunch Conservative, the +other was young and an ultra-Radical. It may be readily conceived that, +as the argument went on, the abuse became fast and furious; all sorts of +unpleasant phrases and epithets were bandied about, personalities were +freely indulged in, and the other passengers were absolutely compelled to +interfere to prevent a _fracas_. At the end of the journey the +disputants parted in mutual disgust, and looking unutterable things. It +so happened that the young man had a letter of introduction to an +influential person in the neighbourhood respecting a legal appointment +which was then vacant, which the young man desired to obtain, and which +the elderly gentleman had the power to secure. The young petitioner, +first going to his hotel and making himself presentable, sallied forth on +his errand. He reached the noble mansion of the person to whom his +letter of introduction was addressed, was ushered into an ante-room, and +there awaited, with mingled hope and fear, the all-important interview. +After a few minutes the door opened and, horrible to relate! he who +entered was the young man's travelling opponent, and thus the opponents +of an hour since stood face to face. The confusion and humiliation on +the one side, and the hauteur and coldness on the other, may be readily +imagined. Sir Edward C--, however--for such he was--although he +instantly recognized his recent antagonist, was too well-bred to make any +allusion to the transaction. He took the letter of introduction in +silence, read it, folded it up, and returned it to the presenter with a +bitter smile and the following speech: "Sir, I am infinitely obliged to +my friend, Mr. --, for recommending to my notice a gentleman whom he +conceives to be so well fitted for the vacant post as yourself; but +permit me to say that, inasmuch as the office you are desirous to fill +exists upon a purely Conservative tenure, and can only be appropriately +administered by a person of Conservative tendency, I could not think of +doing such violence to your well-known political principles as to +recommend you for the post in question." With these words and another +smile more grim than before, Sir Edward C-- bowed the chapfallen +petitioner out, and he quickly took his way to the railway station, +secretly vowing never again to enter into political argument with an +unknown railway traveller. + + --_The Railway Traveller's Handy Book_. + + + + +DOG TICKET. + + +Shortly after telegraphs were laid alongside of railways, a principal +officer of a railway company got into a compartment of a stopping train +at an intermediate station. The train had hardly left, when an elderly +gentleman, in terms of endearment, invited what turned out to be a little +Skye terrier to come out of its concealment under the seat. The dog came +out, jumped up, and appeared to enjoy his journey until the speed of the +train slackened previous to stopping at a station, the dog then +instinctively retreated to its hiding place, and came out again in due +course after the train had started. The officer of the company left the +train at a station or two afterwards. On its arrival at the London +ticket platform the gentleman delivered up the tickets for his party. +"Dog ticket, sir, please." "Dog ticket, what dog ticket?" "Ticket, sir, +for Skye terrier, black and tan, with his ears nearly over his eyes; +travelling, for comfort's sake, under the seat opposite to you, sir, in a +large carpet bag, red ground with yellow cross-bars." The gentleman +found resistance useless; he paid the fare demanded, when the +ticket-collector--who throughout the scene had never changed a +muscle--handed him a ticket that he had prepared beforehand. "Dog +ticket, sir; gentlemen not allowed to travel with a dog without a dog +ticket; you will have to give it up in London." "Yes, but how did you +know I had a dog? That's what puzzles me!" "Ah, sir," said the +ticket-collector, relaxing a little, but with an air of satisfaction, +"the telegraph is laid on our railway. Them's the wires you see on the +outside; we find them very useful in our business, etc. Thank you, sir, +good morning." It is needless to tell what part the principal officer +played in this little drama. On arrival in London the dog ticket was +duly claimed, a little word to that effect having been sent up by a +previous train to be sure to have it demanded, although, as a usual +practice, dog tickets are collected at the same time as those of +passengers. + + --_Roney's Rambles on Railways_. + + + + +THE ELECTRIC CONSTABLE. + + +The first application of the telegraph to police purposes took place in +1844, on the Great Western Railway, and, as it was the first intimation +thieves got of the electric constable being on duty, it is full of +interest. The following extracts are from the telegraph book kept at the +Paddington Station:-- + +"Eton Montem Day, August 28, 1844.--The Commissioners of Police having +issued orders that several officers of the detective force shall be +stationed at Paddington to watch the movements of suspicious persons, +going by the down train, and give notice by the electric telegraph to the +Slough station of the number of such suspected persons, and dress, their +names (if known), also the carriages in which they are." + +Now come the messages following one after the other, and influencing the +fate of the marked individuals with all the celerity, certainty, and +calmness of the Nemesis of the Greek drama:-- + +"Paddington, 10.20 a.m.--Mail train just started. It contains three +thieves, named Sparrow, Burrell, and Spurgeon, in the first compartment +of the fourth first-class carriage." + +"Slough, 10.50 a.m.--Mail train arrived. _The officers have cautioned +the three thieves_." + +"Paddington, 10.50 a.m.--Special train just left. It contained two +thieves; one named Oliver Martin, who is dressed in black, _crape on his +hat_; the other named Fiddler Dick, in black trousers and light blouse. +Both in the third compartment of the first second-class carriage." + +"Slough, 11.16 a.m.--Special train arrived. Officers have taken the two +thieves into custody, a lady having lost her bag, containing a purse with +two sovereigns and some silver in it; one of the sovereigns was sworn to +by the lady as having been her property. It was found in Fiddler Dick's +watch fob." + +It appears that, on the arrival of the train, a policeman opened the door +of the "third compartment of the first second-class carriage," and asked +the passengers if they had missed anything? A search in pockets and bags +accordingly ensued, until one lady called out that her purse was gone. + +"Fiddler Dick, you are wanted," was the immediate demand of the police +officer, beckoning to the culprit, who came out of the carriage +thunder-struck at the discovery, and gave himself up, together with the +booty, with the air of a completely beaten man. The effect of the +capture so cleverly brought about is thus spoken of in the telegraph +book:-- + +"Slough, 11.51 a.m.--Several of the suspected persons who came by the +various down-trains are lurking about Slough, uttering bitter invectives +against the telegraph. Not one of those cautioned has ventured to +proceed to the Montem." + + + + +RUNAWAY MATCH. + + +Sir Francis Head in his account of the London and North-Western Railway +remarks:--"During a marriage which very lately took place at --, one of +the bridesmaids was so deeply affected by the ceremony that she took the +opportunity of the concentrated interest excited by the bride to elope +from church with an admirer. The instant her parents discovered their +sad loss, messengers were sent to all the railway stations to stop the +fugitives. The telegraph also went to work, and with such effect that, +before night, no less than four affectionate couples legitimately married +that morning were interrupted on their several marriage jaunts and most +seriously bothered, inconvenienced, and impeded by policemen and +magistrates." + + + + +A RAILWAY ROMANCE. + + +An incident of an amusing though of a rather serious nature occurred some +years ago on the London and South-Western Railway. A gentleman, whose +place of residence was Maple Derwell, near Basingstoke, got into a +first-class carriage at the Waterloo terminus, with the intention of +proceeding home by one of the main line down trains. His only +fellow-passengers in the compartment were a lady and an infant, and +another gentleman, and thus things remained until the arrival of the +train at Walton, where the other gentleman left the carriage, leaving the +first gentleman with the lady and child. Shortly after this the train +reached the Weybridge station, and on its stopping the lady, under the +pretence of looking for her servant or carriage, requested her male +fellow-passenger to hold the infant for a few minutes while she went to +search for what she wanted. The bell rang for the starting of the train +and the gentleman thus strangely left with the baby began to get rather +fidgety, and anxious to return his charge to the mother. The lady, +however, did not again put in any appearance, and the train went on +without her, the child remaining with the gentleman, who, on arriving at +his destination took the child home to his wife and explained the +circumstance under which it came into his possession. No application +has, at present, it is understood, been made for the "lost child," which +has for the nonce been adopted by the gentleman and his wife, who, it is +said, are without any family of their own. + + + + +GIGANTIC POWER OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. + + +Sir Francis Head remarks:--"The gigantic power of the locomotive engines +hourly committed to the charge of these drivers was lately strangely +exemplified in the large engine stable at the Camden Station. A +passenger engine, whose furnace-fire had but shortly been lighted, was +standing in this huge building surrounded by a number of artificers, who, +in presence of the chief superintendent, were working in various +directions around it. While they were all busily occupied, the fire in +the furnace--by burning up faster than was expected--suddenly imparted to +the engine the breath of life; and no sooner had the minimum of steam +necessary to move it been thus created, than this infant Hercules not +only walked _off_, but without the smallest embarrassment walked +_through_ the 14-inch brick wall of the great building which contained +it, to the terror of the superintendent and workmen, who expected every +instant that the roof above their heads would fall in and extinguish +them. In consequence of the spindle of the regulator having got out of +its socket the very same accident occurred shortly afterwards with +another engine, which, in like manner, walked through another portion of +this 14-inch wall of the stable that contained it, just as a +thorough-bred horse would have walked out of the door. And if such be +the irresistible power of the locomotive engine when feebly walking in +its new-born state, unattended or unassisted even by its tender, is it +not appalling to reflect what must be its momentum when, in the full +vigour of its life, it is flying down a steep gradient at the rate of 50 +miles an hour, backed up by, say, 30 passenger carriages, each weighing +on an average 5.5 tons? If ordinary houses could suddenly be placed in +its path, it would, passengers and all, run through them as a musket-ball +goes through a keg of butter; but what would be the result if, at this +full speed, the engine by any accident were to be diverted against a mass +of solid rock, such as sometimes is to be seen at the entrance of a +tunnel, it is impossible to calculate or even to conjecture. It is +stated by the company's superintendent, who witnessed the occurrence, +that some time ago an ordinary accident happening to a luggage train near +Loughborough, the wagons overrode each other until the uppermost one was +found piled 40 feet above the rails!" + + + + +NOVEL NOTICE TO DEFAULTING SHAREHOLDERS. + + +In the early days of railway enterprise there was often much difficulty +in obtaining the punctual payment of calls from the shareholders. The +Leicester and Swannington line was thus troubled. The Secretary, +adopting a rather novel way to collect the calls, wrote to the +defaulters:--"I am therefore necessitated to inform you, that unless the +sum of 2 pounds is paid on or before the 22nd instant, your name will be +furnished to one of the principal and most pressing creditors of the +company." The missives of the Secretary generally had the desired +effect. + + + + +A QUICK DECISION. + + +The elder Brunel was habitually absent in society, but no man was more +remarkable for presence of mind in an emergency. Numerous instances are +recorded of this latter quality, but none more striking than that of his +adventure in the act of inspecting the Birmingham Railway. Suddenly in a +confined part of the road a train was seen approaching from either end of +the line, and at a speed which it was difficult to calculate. The +spectators were horrified; there was not an instant to be lost; but an +instant sufficed to the experienced engineer to determine the safest +course under the circumstances. Without attempting to cross the road, +which would have been almost certain destruction, he at once took his +position exactly midway between the up and down lines, and drawing the +skirts of his coat close around him, allowed the two trains to sweep past +him; when to the great relief of those who witnessed the exciting scene, +he was found untouched upon the road. Without the engineer's experience +which enabled him to form so rapid a decision, there can be no doubt that +he must have perished. + + --_The Temple Anecdotes_. + + + + +THE VERSAILLES ACCIDENT IN 1842. + + +Mr. Charles F. Adams thus describes it:--"On the 8th of May, 1842, there +happened in France one of the most famous and horrible railroad +slaughters ever recorded. It was the birthday of the king, Louis +Phillipe, and, in accordance with the usual practice, the occasion had +been celebrated at Versailles by a great display of the fountains. At +half-past five o'clock these had stopped playing, and a general rush +ensued for the trains then about to leave for Paris. That which went by +the road along the left bank of the Seine was densely crowded, and was so +long that it required two locomotives to draw it. As it was moving at a +high rate of speed between Bellevue and Menden, the axle of the foremost +of these two locomotives broke, letting the body of the engine drop to +the ground. It instantly stopped, and the second locomotive was then +driven by its impetus on top of the first, crushing its engineer and +fireman, while the contents of both the fire-boxes were scattered over +the roadway and among the _debris_. Three carriages crowded with +passengers were then piled on top of this burning mass, and there crushed +together into each other. The doors of the train were all locked, as was +then, and indeed is still, the custom in Europe, and it so chanced that +the carriages had all been newly painted. They blazed up like pine +kindlings. Some of the carriages were so shattered that a portion of +those in them were enabled to extricate themselves, but no less than +forty were held fast; and of these such as were not so fortunate as to be +crushed to death in the first shock perished hopelessly in the flames +before the eyes of a throng of impotent lookers-on. Some fifty-two or +fifty-three persons were supposed to have lost their lives in this +disaster, and more than forty others were injured; the exact number of +the killed, however, could never be ascertained, as the telescoping of +the carriages on top of the two locomotives had made of the destroyed +portion of the train a visible holocaust of the most hideous description. +Not only did whole families perish together--in one case no less than +eleven members of the same family sharing a common fate--but the remains +of such as were destroyed could neither be identified nor separated. In +one case a female foot was alone recognisable, while in others the bodies +were calcined and fused into an undistinguishable mass. The Academy of +Sciences appointed a committee to inquire whether Admiral D'Urville, a +distinguished French navigator, was among the victims. His body was +thought to be found, but it was so terribly mutilated that it could be +recognized only by a sculptor, who chanced some time before to have taken +a phrenological cast of his skull. His wife and only son had perished +with him. + +"It is not easy now to conceive the excitement and dismay which this +catastrophe caused throughout France. The new invention was at once +associated in the minds of an excitable people with novel forms of +imminent death. France had at best been laggard enough in its adoption +of the new appliance, and now it seemed for a time as if the Versailles +disaster was to operate as a barrier in the way of all further railroad +development. Persons availed themselves of the steam roads already +constructed as rarely as possible, and then in fear and trembling, while +steps were taken to substitute horse for steam power on other roads then +in process of construction." + + + + +AN AMATEUR SIGNALMAN. + + +Mr. Williams in his book, _Our Iron Roads_, gives an account of a foolish +act of signalling to stop a train; he says:--"An Irishman, who appears to +have been in some measure acquainted with the science of signalling, was +on one occasion walking along the Great Western line without permission, +when he thought he might reduce his information to practical use. +Accordingly, on seeing an express train approach, he ran a short distance +up the side of the cutting, and began to wave a handkerchief very +energetically, which he had secured to a stick, as a signal to stop. The +warning was not to be disregarded, and never was command obeyed with +greater alacrity. The works of the engine were reversed--the tender and +van breaks were applied--and soon, to the alarm of the passengers, the +train came to a 'dead halt.' A hundred heads were thrust out of the +carriage windows, and the guard had scarcely time to exclaim, 'What's the +matter?' when Paddy, with a knowing touch of his 'brinks,' asked his +'honour if he would give him a bit of a ride?' So polite and ingenuous a +request was not to be denied, and, though biting his lips with annoyance, +the officer replied 'Oh, certainly; jump in here,' and the pilgrim was +ensconced in the luggage van. But instead of having his ride 'for his +thanks,' the functionary duly handed him over to the magisterial +authorities, that he might be taught the important lesson, that railway +companies did not keep express trains for Irish beggars, and that such +costly machinery was not to be imperilled with impunity, either by their +freaks or their ignorance." + + + + +STEAM WHISTLE. + + +In the early days of railways, the signal of alarm was given by the +blowing of a horn. In the year, 1833, an accident occurred on the +Leicester and Swannington railway near Thornton, at a level crossing, +through an engine running against a horse and cart. Mr. Bagster, the +manager, after narrating the circumstance to George Stephenson, asked "Is +it not possible to have a whistle fitted on the engine, which the steam +can blow?" "A very good thought," replied Stephenson. "You go to Mr. +So-and-So, a musical instrument maker, and get a model made, and we will +have a steam whistle, and put it on the next engine that comes on the +line." When the model was made it was sent to the Newcastle factory and +future engines had the whistle fitted on them. + + + + +EXEMPTION FROM ACCIDENTS. + + +Mr. C. F. Adams, remarks:--"Indeed, from the time of Mr. Huskisson's +death, during the period of over eleven years, railroads enjoyed a +remarkable and most fortunate exemption from accidents. During all that +time there did not occur a single disaster resulting in any considerable +loss of life. This happy exemption was probably due to a variety of +causes. Those early roads were in the first place, remarkably well and +thoroughly built, and were very cautiously operated under a light volume +of traffic. The precautions then taken and the appliances in use would, +it is true, strike the modern railroad superintendent as both primitive +and comical; for instance, they involve the running of independent pilot +locomotives in advance of all night passenger trains, and it was, by the +way, on a pioneer locomotive of this description, on the return trip of +the excursion party from Manchester after the accident to Mr. Huskisson, +that the first recorded attempt was made in the direction of our present +elaborate system of night signals. On that occasion obstacles were +signalled to those in charge of the succeeding trains by a man on the +pioneer locomotive, who used for that purpose a bit of lighted tarred +rope. Through all the years between 1830 and 1841, nevertheless, not a +single serious railroad disaster had to be recorded. Indeed, the +luck--for it was nothing else--of these earlier times was truly amazing. +Thus on this same Liverpool and Manchester road, as a first-class train +on the morning of April 17, 1836, was moving at a speed of some thirty +miles an hour, an axle broke under the first passenger carriage, causing +the whole train to leave the rails and throwing it down the embankment, +which at that point was twenty feet high. The carriages were rolled +over, and the passengers in them turned topsy-turvy; nor, as they were +securely locked in, could they even extricate themselves when at last the +wreck of the train reached firm bearings. And yet no one was killed." + + + + +RIVAL CONTRACTORS AND THE BLOTTING PAD. + + +In rails, the same system has prevailed. Ironmasters have been pitted +against each other, as to which should produce an apparent rail at the +lowest price. At the outset of railways the rails were made of iron. +Competition gradually produced rails in which a core, of what is +technically called "cinder," is covered up with a skin of iron; and the +cleverest foreman for an ironmaster was the man who could make rails with +the maximum of cinder and the minimum of iron. In more than one instance +has it been known in relaying an old line the worn-out rails have been +sold at a higher price per ton than the new ones were bought for; yet +this would hardly open the eyes of the buyers. The contrivances which +are resorted to to get hold of one another's prices beforehand by +competing contractors are manifold; and, when they attend in person, they +commonly put off the filling up of their tender till the last moment. +Once a shrewd contractor found himself at the same inn with a rival who +always trod close on his heels. He was followed about and +cross-questioned incessantly, and gave vague answers. Within +half-an-hour of the last moment he went into the coffee room and sat +himself down in a corner where his rival could not overlook him. There +and then he filled up his tender, and, as he rose from the table, left +behind him the paper on which he had blotted it. As he left the room his +rival caught up the blotting paper, and, with the exulting glee of a +consciously successful rival, read off the amount backwards. "Done this +time!" was his mental thought, as he filled up his own tender a dollar +lower, and hastened to deposit it. To his utter surprise, the next day +he found that he had lost the contract, and complainingly asked his rival +how it was, for he had tendered below him. "How did you know you were +below me?" "Because I found your blotting paper." "I thought so. I +left it on purpose for you, and wrote another tender in my bedroom. You +had better make your own calculations next time!" + + --_Roads and Rails_, by W. B. Adams. + + + + +RAILWAY LEGISLATION. + + +A writer in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ remarks:--"The expenses, +direct and incidental, of obtaining an Act of Parliament have been in +many cases enormous, and generally are excessive. The adherence to +useless and expensive forms of Parliamentary Committees in what are +called the standing orders, or general regulations for the observance of +promoters of railway bills, on the one part, and the itching for +opposition of railway companies, to resist fancied inroads on vested +rights, supposed injurious competition, on the other part, have been +amongst the sources of excessive expenditure. Mr. Stephenson mentioned +an instance showing how Parliament has entailed expense upon railway +companies by the system complained of. The Trent Valley Railway was +under other titles originally proposed in 1836. It was, however, thrown +out by the standing orders committee, in consequence of a barn of the +value of 10 pounds, which was shown upon the general plan, not having +been exhibited upon an enlarged sheet. In 1840, the line again went +before Parliament. It was opposed by the Grand Junction Railway Company, +now part of the London and North-Western. No less than 450 allegations +were made against it before the standing orders subcommittee, which was +engaged twenty-two days in considering those objections. They ultimately +reported that four or five of the allegations were proved, but the +committee nevertheless allowed the bill to proceed. It was read a second +time and then went into committee, by whom it was under consideration for +sixty-three days; and ultimately Parliament was prorogued before the +report could be made. Such were the delays and consequent expenses which +the forms of the House occasioned in this case, that it may be doubted if +the ultimate cost of constructing the whole line was very much more than +was expended in obtaining permission from Parliament to make it. This +example serves to show the expensive formalities, the delays, and +difficulties, with which Parliament surround railway legislation. +Another instance, quoted by the same authority, will show not only the +absurdity of the system of legislation, but also the afflicting spirit of +competition and opposition with which railway bills are canvassed in +Parliament, and the expensive outlay incurred by companies themselves. + +"In 1845, a bill for a line now existing went before Parliament with +eighteen competitors, each party relying on the wisdom of Parliament to +allow their bill at least to pass a second reading! Nineteen different +parties condemned to one scene of contentious litigation! They each and +all had to pay not only the costs of promoting their own line, but also +the costs of opposing eighteen other bills. And yet conscious as +government must have been of this fact, Parliament deliberately abandoned +the only step it ever took on any occasion of subjecting railway projects +to investigation by a preliminary tribunal. Parliamentary committees +generally satisfied themselves with looking on and watching the ruinous +game of competition for which the public are ultimately to pay. In fact, +railway legislation became a mere scramble, conducted on no system or +principle. Schemes of sound character were allowed to be defeated on +merely technical grounds, and others of very inferior character were +sanctioned by public act, after enormous Parliamentary expenses had been +incurred. Competing lines were granted, sometimes parallel lines through +the same district, and between the same towns." + + + + +AN EXPENSIVE PARLIAMENTARY BILL. + + +A writer in the _Popular Encyclopaedia_ observes:--"But the most +conspicuous example in recent times, which overshadowed all others, of +excessive expenditure in Parliamentary litigation as well as in land and +compensation, is supplied in the history of the Great Northern Company. +The preliminary expenses of surveys, notices to landowners, etc., +commenced in 1844, and the Bill was introduced into the House of Commons +in 1845, when it was opposed by the London and North-Western, the Eastern +Counties, and the Midland Railways. It was further opposed successively +by two other schemes, called the London and York and the Direct Northern. +The contest lasted eighty-two days before the House of Commons, more than +half the time having been consumed by opposition to the Bill. The Bill +was allowed to stand over till next year (1846), when it began, before +the Committee of the House of Lords, where it left off in the Lower House +in the year 1845 on account of the magnitude of the case. The Bill was +before the Upper House between three and four weeks, and in the same year +(1846) it was granted. The promoters of the rival projects were bought +off, and all their expenses paid, including the costs of the opposition +of the neighbouring lines already named, before the Great Northern bill +was passed; and the 'preliminary expenses,' comprising the whole +expenditure of every kind up to the passing of the bill was 590,355 +pounds, or more than half-a-million sterling, incurred at the end of two +years of litigation. Subsequently to the passing of the Act an +additional sum of 172,722 pounds was expended for law engineering +expenses in Parliament to 31st December, 1857, which was spent almost +wholly in obtaining leave from Parliament to make various alterations. +Thus it would appear that a sum total of 763,077 pounds was spent as +Parliamentary charges for obtaining leave to construct 245 miles, being +at the rate of 3,118 pounds per mile." + + + + +THE RECTOR AND HIS PIG. + + +"I have been a rector for many years," writes a clergyman, "and have +often heard and read of tithe-pigs, though I have never met with a +specimen of them. But I had once a little pig given to me which was of a +choice breed, and only just able to leave his mother. I had to convey +him by carriage to the X station; from thence, twenty-three miles to Y +station, and from thence, eighty-two miles to Z station, and from there, +eight miles by carriage. I had a comfortable rabbit-hutch of a box made +for him, with a supply of fresh cabbages for his dinner on the road. I +started off with my wife, children, and nurse; and of these impediments +piggy proved to be the most formidable. First, a council of war was held +over him at X station by the railway officials, who finally decided that +this small porker must travel as 'two dogs.' Two dog tickets were +therefore procured for him; and so we journeyed on to Y station. There a +second council of war was held, and the officials of Y said that the +officials of X (another line) might be prosecuted for charging my piggy +as two dogs, but that he must travel to Z as a horse, and that he must +have a huge horse-box entirely to himself for the next eighty-two miles. +I declined to pay for the horse-box--they refused to let me have my +pig--officials swarmed around me--the station master advised me to pay +for the horse-box and probably the company would return the extra charge. +I scorned the probability, having no faith in the company--the train (it +was a London express) was already detained ten minutes by this wrangle; +and finally I whirled away bereft of my pig. I felt sure that he would +be forwarded by the next train, but as that would not reach Z till a late +hour in the evening, and it was Saturday, I had to tell my pig tale to +the officials; and not only so, but to go to the adjacent hotel and hire +a pig-stye till the Monday, and fee a porter for seeing to the pig until +I could send a cart for him on that day. Of course the pig was sent +after me by the next train; and as the charge for him was less than a +halfpenny a mile, I presume he was not considered to be a horse. Yet +this fact remains--and it is worth the attention of the Zoological +Society, if not of railway officials--that this small porker was never +recognised as a pig, but began his railway journey as two dogs, and was +then changed into a horse." + + + + +SIR MORTON PETO'S RAILWAY MISSION. + + +Mr., afterwards Sir S. Morton Peto, having undertaken the construction of +certain railways in East Anglia, was at this time in the habit of +spending a considerable part of the year in the neighbourhood of Norwich, +and, with his family, joined Mr. Brock's congregation. It will +afterwards appear how many important movements turned upon the friendship +which was thus formed; but it is only now to be noted that, in the course +of frequent conversations, the practicability was discussed of attempting +something which might serve to interest and improve the large number of +labourers employed on the works in progress. They were part of that +peculiar body of men which had been gradually formed during a long course +of years for employment in the construction, first of navigable canals, +and then of railways, and called, from their earlier occupation, +"navvies." They were drawn from diverse parts of the British Islands, +and professed, in some instances, hostile forms of religion, but were +distinguished chiefly by extreme ignorance and all but total spiritual +insensibility. They had, at the same time, a common life and an +unwritten law, affecting their relations to each other, their employers, +and the rest of the world. That they were accessible to kind +attentions--clearly disinterested--followed from their being men, but +they required to be approached with the greatest caution and patience. +Mr. Brock's wide and various sympathy, joined with his friend's steady +support, led--under the divine blessing--to measures which proved very +successful. Mr. Peto constructed commodious halls capable of being moved +onward as the line of railway advanced, and affording comfortable shelter +for the men in their leisure hours, and furnished with books and +publications supplying amusement, useful information, and religious +knowledge. To give life to this apparatus, Christian men, carefully +selected, mingled familiarly with the rude but grateful toilers, helping +them to read and write, encouraging them to acquire self-command, and +above all, especially when they were convened on Sundays, presenting and +pressing home upon them the words of eternal life. + +Mr. Brock had liberty to draw on the "Railway Mission Account," at the +Norwich Bank, to any extent that he found necessary, and in a short time +he had a body of the best men, he was accustomed to say, that he ever +knew at work upon all the chief points of the lines. No part of his now +extended labours gave him greater delight than in superintending these +missionaries, reading their weekly journals, arranging their periodical +movements, counselling and comforting them in their difficulties, and +visiting them, sometimes apart and at other times at conferences for +united consultation and prayer, held at Yarmouth, Ely, or March. + +Results of the best character, of which the record is on high, arose out +of these operations. + + --Birrell's _Life of the Rev. W. Brock_, _D.D._ + + + + +CLEVER CAPTURE. + + +A few days ago (1845), a gentleman left Glasgow in one of the day trains, +with a large sum of money about his person. On the train arriving at the +Edinburgh terminus, the gentleman left it, along with the other +passengers, on foot for some distance. It was not long, however, before +he discovered that his pocket book, containing 700 pounds, in bank notes +was missing. He immediately returned to the terminus, where the first +person he happened to find was the stoker of the train that had brought +him to Edinburgh, who, on being spoken to, remembered seeing the +gentleman leaving the terminus, and another person following close behind +him, whom he supposed to be his servant; he further stated, that the +supposed servant had started to return with the train which had just left +for Glasgow. The gentleman immediately ordered an express train, but as +some time elapsed before the steam could be got up, it was feared the +gentleman and the stoker would not reach Glasgow in time to secure the +culprit. However, having gone the distance in about an hour, they had +the satisfaction of seeing the train before them close to the Cowlairs +station, just about to descend the inclined plane and tunnel, and thus +within a mile and a half of the end of their journey. The stoker +immediately sounded his whistle, which induced the conductor of the +passenger train to conclude that some danger was in the way, who had his +train removed to the other line of rails, which left the road then quite +clear for the express train, which drove past the other with great speed, +and arrived at the terminus in sufficient time to get everything ready +for the apprehension of the robber. The stoker, who thought he could +identify the robber, assisted the police in searching the passenger +train, when the person whom he had taken for the gentleman's servant was +found with the pocket book and also the 700 pounds safe and untouched. +The gentleman then offered a handsome reward to the stoker, who refused +it on the plea that he had only done his duty; not satisfied, however, +with this answer, he left 100 pounds with the manager, requesting him to +pay the expenses of the express train, and particularly to reward the +stoker for his activity, and to remit the remainder to his address. +Shortly after he received the whole 100 pounds, accompanied with a polite +note, declining any payment for the express train, and stating that it +was the duty of the company to reward the stoker, which they would not +omit to do. + + --_Stirling Journal_. + + + + +COMPENSATION FOR LAND. + + +Mr. Williams, in _Our Iron Roads_, gives much interesting information +upon the subject of compensation for land and buying off opposition to +railway schemes. He says:--"One noble lord had an estate near a proposed +line of railway, and on this estate was a beautiful mansion. Naturally +averse to the desecration of his home and its neighbourhood, he gave his +most uncompromising opposition to the Bill, and found, in the Committee +of both Houses, sympathizing listeners. Little did it aid the projectors +that they urged that the line did not pass within six miles of that +princely domain; that the high road was much closer to his dwelling; and +that, as the spot nearest the house would be passed by means of a tunnel, +no unsightliness would arise. But no; no worldly consideration affected +the decision of the proprietor; and, arguments failing, it was found that +an appeal must be made to other means. His opposition was ultimately +bought off for twenty-eight thousand pounds, to be paid when the railway +reached his neighbourhood. Time wore on, funds became scarce, and the +company found that it would be best to stop short at a particular portion +of their line, long before they reached the estate of the noble lord who +had so violently opposed their Bill, by which they sought to be released +from the obligation of constructing the line which had been so obnoxious +to him. What was their surprise at finding this very man their chief +opponent, and then fresh means had to be adopted for silencing his +objections! + +"A line had to be brought near to the property of a certain Member of +Parliament. It threatened no injury to the estate, either by affecting +its appearance or its intrinsic worth; and, on the other hand, it +afforded him a cheap, convenient, and expeditious means of communication +with the metropolis. But the proprietor, being a legislator, had power +at head-quarters, and by his influence he nearly turned the line of +railway aside; and this deviation would have cost the projectors the sum +of _sixty thousand pounds_. Now it so happened that the house of this +honourable member, who had thus insisted on such costly deference to his +peculiar feelings respecting his property, was afflicted with the dry +rot, and threatened every hour to fall upon the head of its owner. To +pull down and rebuild it, would require the sum of thirty thousand +pounds. The idea of compromise, beneficial to both parties, suggested +itself. If the railway company rebuilt the house, or paid 30,000 pounds +to the owner of the estate, and were allowed to pursue their original +line, it was clear that they would be 30,000 pounds the richer, as the +enforced deviation would cost 60,000 pounds; and, on the other hand, the +owner of the estate would obtain a secure house, or receive 30,000 pounds +in money. The proposed bargain was struck, and 30,000 pounds was paid by +the Company. 'How can you live in that house,' said some friend to him +afterwards, 'with the railroad coming so near?' 'Had it not done so,' +was the reply, 'I could not have lived in it at all.' + +"One rather original character sold some land to the London and +Birmingham Company, and was loud and long in his outcries for +compensation, expatiating on the damages which the formation of the line +would inevitably bring to his property. His complaints were only stopped +by the payment of his demands. A few months afterwards, a little +additional land was required from the same individual, when he actually +demanded a much larger price for the new land than was given him before; +and, on surprise being expressed at the charge for that which he had +declared would inevitably be greatly deteriorated in value from the +proximity of the railway, he coolly replied: 'Oh, I made a mistake +_then_, in thinking the railway would injure my property; it has +increased its value, and of course you must pay me an increased price for +it.' + +"On one occasion, a trial occurred in which an eminent land valuer was +put into the witness box to swell the amount of damages, and he proceeded +to expatiate on the injury committed by railroads in general, and +especially by the one in question, in _cutting up_ the properties they +invaded. When he had finished the delivery of this weighty piece of +evidence, the counsel for the Company put a newspaper into his hand, and +asked him whether he had not inserted a certain advertisement therein. +The fact was undeniable, and on being read aloud, it proved to be a +declaration by the land valuer himself, that the approach of the railway +which he had come there to oppose, would prove exceedingly beneficial to +some property in its immediate vicinity then on sale. + +"An illustration of the difference between the exorbitant demands made by +parties for compensation, and the real value of the property, may be +mentioned. The first claim made by the Directors of the Glasgow Lunatic +Asylum on the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway is stated to have been no +less than 44,000 pounds. Before the trial came on, this sum was reduced +to 10,000 pounds; the amount awarded by the jury was 873 pounds. + +"The opposition thus made, whether feigned or real, it was always +advisable to remove; and the money paid for this purpose, though +ostensibly in the purchase of the ground, has been on many occasions +immense. Sums of 35,000, 40,000, 50,000, 100,000, and 120,000 pounds, +have thus been paid; while various ingenious plans have been adopted of +removing the opposition of influential men. An honourable member is said +to have received 30,000 pounds to withdraw his opposition to a Bill +before the House; and 'not far off the celebrated year 1845, a lady of +title, so gossip talks, asked a certain nobleman to support a certain +Bill, stating that, if he did, she had the authority of the secretary of +a great company to inform him that fifty shares in a certain railway, +then at a considerable premium, would be at his disposal.' + +"One pleasing circumstance, however, highly honourable to the gentleman +concerned, must not be omitted. The late Mr. Labouchere had made an +agreement with the Eastern Counties Company for a passage through his +estate near Chelmsford, for the price of 35,000 pounds; his son and +successor, the Right Honourable Henry Labouchere, finding that the +property was not deteriorated to the anticipated extent, voluntarily +returned 15,000 pounds. + +"The practice of buying off opposition has not been confined to the +proprietors of land. We learn from one of the Parliamentary Reports that +in a certain district a pen-and-ink warfare between two rival companies +ran so high, and was, at least on one side, rewarded with such success, +that the friends of the older of the two projected lines thought it +expedient to enter into treaty with their literary opponent, and its +editor very soon retired on a fortune. It is also asserted, on good +authority, that, in a midland county, the facts and arguments of an +editor were wielded with such vigour that the opposing company found it +necessary to adopt extraordinary means on the occasion. Bribes were +offered, but refused; an opposition paper was started, but its conductors +quailed before the energy of their opponent, and it produced little +effect; every scheme that ingenuity could devise, and money carry out, +was attempted, but they successively and utterly failed. At length a +Director hit on a truly Machiavellian plan--he was introduced to the +proprietor of the journal, whom he cautiously informed that he wished to +risk a few thousands in newspaper property, and actually induced his +unconscious victim to sell the property, unknown to the editor. When the +bargain was concluded, the plot was discovered; but it was then too late, +and the wily Director took possession of the copyright of the paper and +the printing office on behalf of the company. The services of the +editor, however, were not to be bought, he refused to barter away his +independence, and retired--taking with him the respect of both friends +and enemies." + + + + +A LANDOWNER'S OPPOSITION. + + +In _Herepath's Railway Journal_ for 1845 we meet with the following:--"A +learned counsel, the other day, gave as a reason for a wealthy and +aristocratic landowner's opposition to a great line of railway +approaching his residence by something more than a mile distance, that +'His Lordship rode horses that would not bear the puff of a steam +engine.' Truly this was a most potent reason, and one that should weigh +heavily against the scheme in the minds of the Committee. His Lordship +has a wood some two miles off, between which and his residence this +railway is intended to pass. His lordship is fond of amusing himself +there in hunting down little animals called hares, and sometimes treats +himself to a stag hunt. Not the slightest interference is contemplated +with his lordship's pastime, or rather pursuit, for such it is, occupying +nearly his whole time, and exercising all the ability of which he is +possessed; but still he objects to the intrusion. The bridge that is to +be constructed by the Company to give access to the wood, or forest, is +in itself all that could be wished, forming, rather than otherwise, an +ornamental structure to his lordship's grounds; but then he fears that +should an engine chance (of course, these chances are not within his +control) to pass under the bridge at the same moment as he is passing +over, his high blood horses would prance and rear, and suffer injury +therefrom. His lordship is very careful and proud of his horse-flesh, +and thinks it hard, and what the legislature ought not to tolerate, that +they (his horses) are to be worried, or subjected to the chance of it, by +making a railway to serve the public wants! + +"This _noble_ man is of opinion, too, that, should the railway be made, +he is entitled to an enormous amount of compensation; and, through his +agent, assigns as a reason for his extravagant demand--we do not +exaggerate the fact--that he is averse to railways in general, and +considers the system as an unjustifiable invasion of the province of +horse-flesh. This horse jockey lord thereby excuses his conscience in +opposing and endeavouring to plunder the railway company as far as he +possibly can." + + + + +PICTURE EVIDENCE. + + +Amongst laughable occurrences that enlivened the committee rooms during +the gauge contest, was a scene occasioned by a parliamentary counsel +putting in as evidence, before the committee on the Southampton and +Manchester line, a printed picture of troubles consequent on a break of +gauge. The picture was a forcible sketch that had appeared a few days +before in the pages of the _Illustrated London News_. Opposing counsel +of course argued against the production of the work of art as testimony +for the consideration of the committee. After much argument on both +sides the chairman decided in favour of receiving the illustration, which +was forthwith put, amidst much laughter, into the hands of a witness, who +was asked if it was a fair picture of the evils that arose from a break +of gauge. The witness replying in the affirmative, the engraving was +then laid before the committee for inspection. + + --_Railway Chronicle_, June 13, 1846. + + + + +EXTRAORDINARY USE OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. + + +Oct. 7, 1847. An extraordinary instance has occurred of the application +of the electric telegraph at the London Bridge terminus of the South +Eastern Railway. + +Hutchings, the man found guilty and sentenced to death for poisoning his +wife, was to have been executed at Maidstone Goal at twelve o'clock. +Shortly before the appointed hour for carrying the sentence into effect, +a message was received at the London Bridge terminus, from the Home +Office, requesting that an order should be sent by the electric telegraph +instructing the Under-Sheriff at Maidstone to stay the execution two +hours. By the agency of the electric telegraph the communication was +received in Maidstone with the usual rapidity, and the execution was for +a time stayed. Shortly after the transmission of the order deferring the +execution, a messenger from the Home Office conveyed to the railway the +Secretary of State's order, that the law was to take its course, and that +the culprit was to be at once executed. The telegraph clerk hesitated to +sending such a message without instructions from his principals. The +messenger from the Home Office could not be certain that the order for +Hutchings's execution was signed by the Home Secretary, although it bore +his name; and Mr. Macgregor, the chairman, with great judgment and +humanity, instantly decided that it was not a sufficient authority in +such a momentous matter. + +An officer of confidence was immediately sent to the Secretary of State, +to state their hesitation and its cause, as the message was, in fact, a +death warrant, and that Mr. Walter must have undoubted evidence of its +correctness. On Mr. Walter drawing the attention of the Secretary of +State to the fact, that the transmission of such a message was, in +effect, to make him the Sheriff, the conduct of the railway company, in +requiring unquestionable evidence and authority, was warmly approved. +The proper signature was affixed in Mr. Walter's presence; and the +telegraph then conveyed to the criminal the sad news, that the suspension +of the awful sentence was only temporary. Hutchings was executed soon +after it reached Maidstone. + + --_Annual Register_, 1847. + + + + +LOST LUGGAGE. + + +Sir Francis Head, giving an account of the contents of the Lost Luggage +Office, at Euston Station, observes:--"But there were a few articles that +certainly we were not prepared to meet with, and which but too clearly +proved that the extraordinary terminus-excitement which had suddenly +caused so many virtuous ladies to elope from their red shawls--in short, +to be all of a sudden not only in 'a bustle' behind, but all over--had +equally affected men of all sorts and conditions. + +"One gentleman had left behind him a pair of leather hunting breeches! +another his boot-jacks! A soldier of the 22nd regiment had left his +knapsack containing his kit. Another soldier of the 10th, poor fellow, +had left his scarlet regimental coat! Some cripple, probably overjoyed +at the sight of his family, had left behind him his crutches!! But what +astonished us above all was, that some honest Scotchman, probably in the +ecstasy of suddenly seeing among the crowd the face of his faithful +_Jeanie_, had actually left behind him the best portion of his +bagpipes!!! + +"Some little time ago the superintendent, on breaking open, previous to a +general sale, a locked leather hat-box, which had lain in this dungeon +two years, found in it, under the hat, 65 pounds in Bank of England +notes, with one or two private letters, which enabled him to restore the +money to the owner, who, it turned out, had been so positive that had +left his hat-box at an hotel at Birmingham that he made no inquiry for it +at the railway office." + + + + +VERY NICE TO BE A RAILWAY ENGINEER. + + +A lady in conversation with a railway engineer observed, "It must be very +nice to be a railway engineer, and be able to travel about anywhere you +want to go to for nothing." + +"Yes, madam," was the reply, "It would, as you say, be very nice to +travel about for nothing, _if we were not paid for it_. But you see," he +remarked, "railway engineers are like the cabman's horse. The cabman has +a very thin horse. 'Doesn't your horse have enough to eat?' inquired a +benevolent lady passenger. 'Oh yes, ma'am,' replied cabby, 'I give him +lots o' victuals to eat, only, you see, he hasn't any time to eat 'em.' +So it is with the railway engineer; he has lots of pleasure of all kinds, +only he has not any time to take it." + + + + +AN ACCOMMODATING CONTRACTOR. + + +One railway of some scores of miles hung fire; the directors were +congested with their fears of exceeding the estimates, and so a shrewd +man of business, a contractor, i.e., a man with a mind contracted to +profit and a keen eye to discern the paths of profit, called on them. +This man had made his way upward, and passing through the process of +sub-contracting, had obtained a glimpse of the upper glories. And thus +he relieved the directors from their difficulties, by proffering to make +the railway complete in all its parts, buy the land at the commencement, +and, if required, to engage the station-clerks at the conclusion, with +all the staff complete, so that his patrons might have no trouble, but +begin business off-hand. But the latter condition--the staff and +clerks--being simply a matter of patronage, the directors kept that +trouble in their own hands. + +Our contractor loomed on the directors' minds as a guardian angel, a +guarantee against responsibilities, backed by sufficient sureties, so the +matter was without delay handed over to him, and he knew what to do with +it. + + --_Roads and Rails_, by W. B. Adams. + + + + +THE TWO DUKES AND THE TRAVELLER. + + +The following amusing anecdote is related of a commercial traveller who +happened to get into the same railway carriage in which the Dukes of +Argyle and Northumberland were travelling. The three chatted familiarly +until the train stopped at Alnwick Junction, where the Duke of +Northumberland got out, and was met by a train of flunkeys and servants. +"That must be a great swell," said the "commercial," to his remaining +companion. "Yes," responded the Duke of Argyle, "he is the Duke of +Northumberland." "Bless my soul!" exclaimed the "commercial." "And to +think that he should have been so condescending to two little snobs like +us!" + + + + +THE GREAT RAILWAY MANIA DAY. + + +Never had there occurred, in the history of joint-stock enterprise, such +another day as the 30th of November, 1845. It was the day on which a +madness for speculation arrived at its height, to be followed by a +collapse terrible to many thousand families. Railways had been gradually +becoming successful, and the old companies had, in many cases, bought +off, on very high terms, rival lines which threatened to interfere with +their profits. Both of these circumstances tended to encourage the +concoction of new schemes. There is always floating capital in England +waiting for profitable employment; there are always professional men +looking out for employment in great engineering works; and there are +always scheming moneyless men ready to trade on the folly of others. +Thus the bankers and capitalists were willing to supply the capital; the +engineers, surveyors, architects, contractors, builders, solicitors, +barristers, and Parliamentary agents were willing to supply the brains +and fingers; while, too often, cunning schemers pulled the strings. This +was especially the case in 1845, when plans for new railways were brought +forward literally by hundreds, and with a recklessness perfectly +marvellous. + +By an enactment in force at that time, it was necessary, for the +prosecution of any railway scheme in Parliament, that a mass of documents +should be deposited with the Board of Trade, on or before the 30th of +November in the preceding year. The multitude of these schemes in 1845 +was so great that there could not be found surveyors enough to prepare +the plans and sections in time. Advertisements were inserted in the +newspapers offering enormous pay for even a smattering of this kind of +skill. Surveyors and architects from abroad were attracted to England; +young men at home were tempted to break the articles into which they had +entered with their masters; and others were seduced from various +professions into that of railway engineers. Sixty persons in the +employment of the Ordnance Department left their situations to gain +enormous earnings in this way. There were desperate fights in various +parts of England between property-owners who were determined that their +land should not be entered upon for the purpose of railway surveying, and +surveyors who knew that the schemes of their companies would be +frustrated unless the surveys were made and the plans deposited by the +30th of November. To attain this end, force, fraud, and bribery were +freely made use of. The 30th of November, 1845, fell on a Sunday; but it +was no Sunday at the office near the Board of Trade. Vehicles were +driving up during the whole of the day, with agents and clerks bringing +plans and sections. In country districts, as the day approached, and on +the morning of the day, coaches-and-four were in greater request than +even at race-time, galloping at full speed to the nearest railway +station. On the Great Western Railway an express train was hired by the +agents of one new scheme. The engine broke down; the train came to a +stand-still at Maidenhead, and, in this state, was run into by another +express train hired by the agents of a rival project; the opposite +parties barely escaped with their lives, but contrived to reach London at +the last moment. On this eventful Sunday there were no fewer than ten of +these express trains on the Great Western Railway, and eighteen on the +Eastern Counties! One railway company was unable to deposit its papers +because another company surreptitiously bought, for a high sum, twenty of +the necessary sheets from the lithographic printer, and horses were +killed in madly running about in search of the missing documents before +the fraud was discovered. In some cases the lithographic stones were +stolen; and in one instance the printer was bribed, by a large sum, not +to finish in proper time the plans for a rival line. One eminent house +brought over four hundred lithographic printers from Belgium, and even +then, and with these, all the work ordered could not be executed. Some +of the plans were only two-thirds lithographed, the rest being filled up +by hand. However executed, the problem was to get these documents to +Whitehall before midnight on the 30th of November. Two guineas a mile +were in one instance paid for post-horses. One express train steamed up +to London 118 miles in an hour-and-a-half, nearly 80 miles an hour. An +established company having refused an express train to the promoters of a +rival scheme, the latter employed persons to get up a mock funeral +cortege, and engage an express train to convey it to London; they did so, +and the plans and sections came _in the hearse_, with solicitors and +surveyors as mourners! + +Copies of many of the documents had to be deposited with the clerks of +the peace of the counties to which the schemes severally related, as well +as with the Board of Trade; and at some of the offices of these clerks, +strange scenes occurred on the Sunday. At Preston, the doors of the +office were not opened, as the officials considered the orders which had +been issued to keep open on that particular Sunday, to apply only to the +Board of Trade; but a crowd of law agents and surveyors assembled, broke +the windows, and threw their plans and sections into the office. At the +Board of Trade, extra clerks were employed on that day, and all went +pretty smoothly until nine o'clock in the evening. A rule was laid down +for receiving the plans and sections, hearing a few words of explanation +from the agents, and making certain entries in books. But at length the +work accumulated more rapidly than the clerks could attend to it, and the +agents arrived in greater number than the entrance hall could hold. The +anxiety was somewhat allayed by an announcement, that whoever was inside +the building before the clock struck twelve should be deemed in good +time. Many of the agents bore the familiar name of Smith; and when 'Mr. +Smith' was summoned by the messenger to enter and speak concerning some +scheme, the name of which was not announced, in rushed several persons, +of whom, of course, only one could be the right Mr. Smith at that +particular moment. One agent arrived while the clock was striking +twelve, and was admitted. Soon afterwards, a carriage with reeking +horses drove up; three agents rushed out, and finding the door closed, +rang furiously at the bell; no sooner did a policeman open the door to +say that the time was past, than the agents threw their bundles of plans +and sections through the half-opened door into the hall; but this was not +permitted, and the policeman threw the documents out into the street. +The baffled agents were nearly maddened with vexation; for they had +arrived in London from Harwich in good time, and had been driven about +Pimlico hither and thither, by a post-boy who did not, or would not, know +the way to the office of the Board of Trade. + +The _Times_ newspaper, in the same month, devoted three whole pages to an +elaborate analysis, by Mr. Spackman, of the various railway schemes +brought forward in 1845. "There were no less than 620 in number, +involving an (hypothetical) expenditure of 560 millions sterling; besides +643 other schemes which had not gone further than issuing prospectuses. +More than 500 of the schemes went through all the stages necessary for +being brought before Parliament; and 272 of these became Acts of +Parliament in 1846--to the ruin of thousands who had afterwards to find +the money to fulfil the engagements into which they had so rashly +entered. + + --_Chambers's Book of Days_. + + + + +PARODY UPON THE RAILWAY MANIA. + + +About the time of the bursting of the railway bubble, or the collapse of +the mania of 1844-5, the following clever lines appeared:-- + + "There was a sound of revelry by night."--_Childe Harold_. + + "There was a sound that ceased not day or night, + Of speculation. London gathered then + Unwonted crowds, and moved by promise bright, + To Capel-court rushed women, boys, and men, + All seeking railway shares and scrip; and when + The market rose, how many a lad could tell, + With joyous glance, and eyes that spake again, + 'Twas e'en more lucrative than marrying well;-- + When, hark! that warning voice strikes like a rising knell. + + Nay, it is nothing, empty as the wind, + But a 'bear' whisper down Throgmorton-street; + Wild enterprise shall still be unconfined; + No rest for us, when rising premiums greet + The morn to pour their treasures at our feet; + When, hark! that solemn sound is heard once more, + The gathering 'bears' its echoes yet repeat-- + 'Tis but too true, is now the general roar, + The Bank has raised her rate, as she has done before. + + And then and there were hurryings to and fro, + And anxious thoughts, and signs of sad distress + Faces all pale, that but an hour ago + Smiled at the thoughts of their own craftiness. + And there were sudden partings, such as press + The coin from hungry pockets--mutual sighs + Of brokers and their clients. Who can guess + How many a stag already panting flies, + When upon times so bright such awful panics rise?" + + + + +RAILWAY FACILITIES FOR BUSINESS. + + +A gentleman went to Liverpool in the morning, purchased, and took back +with him to Manchester, 150 tons of cotton, which he sold, and afterwards +obtained an order for a similar quantity. He went again, and actually, +that same evening, delivered the second quantity in Manchester, "having +travelled 120 miles in four separate journeys, and bought, sold, and +delivered, 30 miles off, at two distinct deliveries, 300 tons of goods, +in about 12 hours." The occurrence is perfectly astounding; and, had it +been hinted at fifty years ago, would have been deemed impossible. + + --_Railway Magazine_, 1840. + + + + +RAILWAYS AND THE POST-OFFICE. + + +It might naturally be thought that the new and quicker means of transport +afforded by the railway would be eagerly utilised by the Post-office. +There were, however, difficulties on both sides. The railway companies +objected to running trains during the night, and the old stage-coach +offered the advantage of greater regularity. The railway was quicker, +but was at least occasionally uncertain. Thus, in November, 1837, the +four daily mail trains between Liverpool and Birmingham on ten occasions +arrived before the specified time, on eight occasions were exact to time, +and on 102 occasions varied in lateness of arrival from five minutes to +five hours and five minutes. There were all sorts of mishaps and long +delays by train. The mail guard, like the passenger guard, rode outside +the train with a box before him called an "imperial," which contained the +letters and papers entrusted to his charge. In very stormy weather the +mail guard would prop up the lid of his imperial and get inside for +shelter. On one occasion when the mail arrived at Liverpool the guard +was found imprisoned in his letter-box. The lid had fallen and fastened +in the male travesty of "Ginevra." Fortunately for him it was a +burlesque and not a tragedy. Bags thrown to the guards at wayside +stations not unfrequently got under the wheels of the train and the +contents were cut to pieces. On one occasion, on the Grand Junction, an +engine failed through the fire-bars coming out. The mails were removed +from the train and run on a platelayer's "trolly," but unfortunately the +contents of the bags took fire and were destroyed. But many of these +mishaps were obviated by the invention of Mr. Nathaniel Worsdell, a +Liverpool coachbuilder, in the service of the railway, who took out a +patent in 1838 for an appliance for picking up and dropping mail bags +while the train was at full speed. This is still used. The loads of +railway vehicles, it may be mentioned, were limited by law to four tons +until the passage of the 5 and 6 Vic., c. 55. In 1837, when the weight +of the mails passing daily on the London and Birmingham line was only +about 14cwt., the late Sir Hardman Earle suggested that a special +compartment should be reserved for the mail guard in which he could sort +the letters _en route_. The first vehicle specially set apart for mail +purposes was put upon the Grand Junction in 1838. From this humble +beginning has gradually developed the express mails, in which the chief +consideration is the swift transit of correspondence, and which are +therefore limited in the number of the passengers they are allowed to +carry. The cost of carrying the mails in 1838 and 1839 between +Manchester and Liverpool by rail, including the guard's fare, averaged +about 1 pound a trip, or half of the cost of sending them by coach. The +price paid to the Grand Junction for carriage of mails between Manchester +and Liverpool and Birmingham was 1d. a mile for the guard and 0.75d. per +cwt. per mile for the mails. This brought a revenue of about 3,000 +pounds a year. When the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed and carried +the imposition of the passenger duty, in 1832, the company intimated to +the Post-office that they should advance the mail guard's fare 0.5d. per +mile. In 1840 an agreement was negotiated between the Post-office and +railway authorities to convey the mails between Lancashire and Birmingham +four times daily for 19 pounds 10s. a day, with a penalty of 500 pounds +on the railway company in case of bad time keeping. This agreement was +not carried into effect. + + --_Manchester Guardian_. + + + + +RAILWAY SIGNALS. + + +The history of railway signals is a curious page in the annals of +practical science. For some years signals seem scarcely to have been +dreamt of. Holding up a hat or an umbrella was at first sufficient to +stop a train at an intermediate station. At level crossings the gates +had to stand closed across the line of rails, and on the top bar hung a +lamp to indicate to drivers that the way was blocked. In 1839, Colonel +Landman, of the Croydon line, said that he should avoid the danger at a +junction during a fog by going slowly, tolling a bell, beating a drum, or +sounding a whistle. The first junction signal was denominated a +lighthouse. The difficulties attending junctions may be judged of by the +fact that when the Bolton and Preston line was ready for opening it was +agreed that no train should attempt to enter or leave the North Union +line at Euxton junction within fifteen minutes of a train being due on +the main line which might interfere with it. The movable rails at +junctions had to be removed by hand and fixed into position by hammer and +pin. Mr. Watts, engineer to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, is +believed to have been one of the first to use the tapering movable +switch. One of Mr. Watts's men invented the back weight, another +designed the crank, while a third suggested the long rod. These +improvements were all about the year 1846. The first fixed signal set up +at stations was an ordinary round flag pole having a pulley on the top, +upon which was hoisted a green flag to stop a train and a red one to +indicate danger on the road. The night signal was a hand lamp hoisted in +the same way. These were superseded by a signal on which an arm was +worked at the end of a rod, and a square lamp with two sides, red and +white, having blinkers working on hinges to shut out the light. These +were used until 1848. The semaphores only came into practical use some +20 years ago, and it is remarkable that the first time they were used on +the Liverpool and Manchester line they were the cause of a slight +collision. The use of signal lights on trains was much advanced by two +accidents which occurred on the North Union line on the 7th September, +1841. One of these happened at Farrington, where two passenger trains +came into collision. The other happened at Euxton, where a coal train +ran into a stage coach which was taking passengers to Southport. The +Rev. Mr. Joy was killed, and several others, including the station +master, who lost one leg, were injured. These were the first serious +accidents investigated by the now Government Inspector of Railways, Sir +Frederic Smith, who was appointed by the Board of Trade under Lord +Seymour's Act. + + --_Manchester Guardian_. + + + + +FOG-SIGNALS. + + +During the prevalence of fogs, when neither signal-posts nor lights are +of any use, detonating signals are frequently employed, which are affixed +to the rails, and exploded by the iron tread of the advancing locomotive. +All guards, policemen, and pointsmen who are not appointed to stations, +and all enginemen, gatemen, gangers and platelayers, and tunnel-men, are +provided with packets of these signals, which they are required always to +have ready for use whilst on duty; and every engine, on passing over one +of these signals, is to be immediately stopped, and the guards are to +protect their train by sending back and placing a similar signal on the +line behind them every two hundred yards, to the distance of six hundred +yards; the train may then proceed slowly to the place of obstruction. +When these detonating signals were first invented, it was resolved to +ascertain whether they acted efficiently, and especially whether the +noise they produced was sufficient to be distinctly heard by the engine +driver. One of them was accordingly fixed to the rails on a particular +line by the authority of the company, and in due time the train having +passed over it, reached its destination. Here the engine driver and his +colleague were found to be in a state of great alarm, in consequence of a +supposed attack being made on them by an assassin, who, they said, lay +down beside the line of rails on which they had passed, and deliberately +fired at them. The efficiency of the means having thus been tested, the +apprehensions of the enginemen were removed, though there was at first +evident mortification manifested that they had been made the subjects of +such a successful experiment. + + --F. S. Williams's _Our Iron Roads_. + + + + +"ALMOST DAR NOW." + + +The following anecdote, illustrative of railroad facility, is very +pointed. A traveller inquired of a negro the distance to a certain +point. "Dat 'pends on circumstances," replied darkey. "If you gwine +afoot, it'll take you about a day; if you gwine in de stage or homneybus, +you make it half a day; but if you get in one of _dese smoke wagons_, you +be almost dar now." + + + + +WORDSWORTH'S PROTEST. + + +Lines written by Wordsworth as a protest against making a railway from +Kendal to Windermere:-- + + "Is there no nook of English ground secure + From rash assault? Schemes of retirement sown + In youth, and 'mid the world kept pure + As when their earliest flowers of hope were blown, + Must perish; how can they this blight endure? + And must he, too, his old delights disown, + Who scorns a false, utilitarian lure + 'Mid his paternal fields at random thrown? + Baffle the threat, bright scene, from Orrest-head, + Given to the pausing traveller's rapturous glance! + Plead for thy peace, thou beautiful romance + Of nature; and if human hearts be dead, + Speak, passing winds; ye torrents, with your strong + And constant voice, protest against the wrong!" + + + + +THE HON. EDWARD EVERETT'S REPLY TO WORDSWORTH'S PROTEST. + + +The Hon. Edward Everett in the course of his speech at the Boston +Railroad Jubilee in commemoration of the opening of railroad +communication between Boston and Canada, observed, "But, sir, as I have +already said, it is not the material results of this railroad system in +which its happiest influences are seen. I recollect that seven or eight +years ago there was a project to carry a railroad into the lake country +in England--into the heart of Westmoreland and Cumberland. Mr. +Wordsworth, the lately deceased poet, a resident in the centre of this +region, opposed the project. He thought that the retirement and +seclusion of this delightful region would be disturbed by the panting of +the locomotive and the cry of the steam whistle. If I am not mistaken, +he published one or two sonnets in deprecation of the enterprise. Mr. +Wordsworth was a kind-hearted man, as well as a most distinguished poet, +but he was entirely mistaken, as it seems to me, in this matter. The +quiet of a few spots may be disturbed, but a hundred quiet spots are +rendered accessible. The bustle of the station-house may take the place +of the Druidical silence of some shady dell; but, Gracious Heavens, sir, +how many of those verdant cathedral arches, entwined by the hand of God +in our pathless woods, are opened to the grateful worship of man by these +means of communication? + +"How little of rural beauty you lose, even in a country of comparatively +narrow dimensions like England--how less than little in a country so vast +as this--by works of this description. You lose a little strip along the +line of the road, which partially changes its character; while, as the +compensation, you bring all this rural beauty, + + 'The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, + The pomp of groves, the garniture of fields,' + +within the reach, not of a score of luxurious, sauntering tourists, but +of the great mass of the population, who have senses and tastes as keen +as the keenest. You throw it open, with all its soothing and humanizing +influences, to thousands who, but for your railways and steamers, would +have lived and died without ever having breathed the life-giving air of +the mountains; yes, sir, to tens of thousands who would have gone to +their graves, and the sooner for the prevention, without ever having +caught a glimpse of the most magnificent and beautiful spectacle which +nature presents to the eye of man, that of a glorious curving wave, a +quarter-of-a-mile long, as it comes swelling and breasting toward the +shore, till its soft green ridge bursts into a crest of snow, and settles +and digs along the whispering sands." + + + + +REMARKABLE ADVERTISEMENT. + + +The most astonishing kind of property to leave behind at a railway +station is mentioned in an advertisement which appeared in the newspapers +dated Swindon, April 27th, 1844. It gave notice "That a pair of bright +bay horses, about sixteen hands high, with black switch tails and manes," +had been left in the name of Hibbert; and notice was given that unless +the horses were claimed on or before the 12th day of May, they would be +sold to pay expenses. Accordingly on that day they were sold. + + --_Household Words_. + + + + +RAILWAY EPIGRAM. + + +In 1845, during the discussions on the Midland lines before the Committee +of the House of Commons, Mr. Hill, the Counsel, was addressing the +Committee, when Sir John Rae Reid, who was a member of it, handed the +following lines to the chairman:-- + + "Ye railway men, who mountains lower, + Who level locks and valleys fill; + Who thro' the _hills_ vast tunnels _bore_; + Must now in turn be _bored by Hill_." + + + + +SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE. + + +A certain gentleman of large property, and who had figured, if he does +not now figure, as a Railway Director, applied for shares in a certain +projected railway. Fifty, it seems were allotted to him. Whether that +was the number he applied for or not, deponent saith not; but by some +means nothing (0) got added to the 50 and made it 500. The deposit for +the said 500 was paid into the bankers', the scrip obtained, and before +the mistake could be detected and corrected--for no doubt it was only a +mistake, or at most a _lapsus pennae_--the shares were sold, and some +2000 pounds profit by this very fortunate accident found its way into the +pocket of the gentleman. + + --_Herepath's Journal_, 1845. + + + + +LOUIS PHILIPPE AND THE ENGLISH NAVVIES. + + +Whittlesea Will, William Elthorpe, from Cambridgeshire, had a large +railway experience; during the construction of Longton Tunnel, he told me +the following story:--"Ye see, Mr. Smith (Samuel Smith, of Woodberry +Down), I was a ganger for Mr. Price on the Marseilles and Avignon Line in +France, and I'd gangs of all nations to deal with. Well, I could not +manage 'em nohow mixed--there were the Jarman Gang, the French Gang, the +English, Scotch, and Irish Gangs, of course; the Belgic Gang, the Spanish +Gang, and the Peamounter Gang--that's a Gang, d'ye see, that comes off +the mountains somewhere towards Italy." "Oh, the Piedmontese, you mean." +"Well, you may call 'em Peedmanteeze if you like, but we call'd 'em +Peamounters--and so at last I hit on the plan of putting each gang by +itself; gangs o' nations, the Peamounter gang here, the Jarman gang +there, and the Belgic gang there, and so on, and it worked capital, each +gang worked against the other gang like good 'uns. + +"Well one day our master, Mr. Price, gave the English gang a great +entertainment at a sort of Tea Garden place, near Paris, called Maison +Lafitte, and we were coming home along the road before dark--it was a +summer's evening--singing and shouting pretty loud, I dare say, when a +fat, oldish gentleman rode into the midst of us and pulling up said, +taking off his hat--'I think you are English Navigators.' 'Well, and +what if we are, old fellow, what's that to you?' 'Why, you are making a +very great noise, and I noticed you did not make way for me, or salute me +as we met, which is not polite--every one in France salutes a gentleman. +I've been in England, I like the English,' by this time his military +attendants rode up, and seeing him alone in the midst of us were going to +ride us down at once but the old boy beckoned with his hand for them to +hold back, and continued his sarmont. 'I should wish you,' says he, +quite pleasant, 'whilst you remain in France to be orderly, obliging, +civil, and polite; it's always the best--now remember this: and here's +something for you to remember Louis Philippe by;' putting his hand into +his pocket, he pulled out what silver he had, I suppose, threw it among +us, and rode off--but, my eyes, didn't we give him a cheer!" + + + + +ADVANTAGES OF RAILWAY-TUNNELS. + + +We cannot help repeating a narrative which we heard on one occasion, told +with infinite gravity by a clergyman whose name we at once inquired +about, and of whom we shall only say, that he is one of the worthiest and +best sons of the kirk, and knows when to be serious as well as when to +jest. "Don't tell me," said he to a simple-looking Highland brother, who +had apparently made his first trial of railway travelling in coming up to +the Assembly--"don't tell me that tunnels on railways are an unmitigated +evil: they serve high moral and aesthetical purposes. Only the other day +I got into a railway carriage, and I had hardly taken my seat, when the +train started. On looking up, I saw sitting opposite to me two of the +most rabid dissenters in Scotland. I felt at once that there could be no +pleasure for me in that journey, and with gloomy heart and countenance I +leaned back in my corner. But all at once we plunged into a deep tunnel, +black as night, and when we emerged at the other end, my brow was clear +and my ill-humour was entirely dissipated. Shall I tell you how this +came to be? All the way through the tunnel I was shaking my fists in the +dissenters' faces, and making horrible mouths at them, and _that_ +relieved me, and set me all right. Don't speak against tunnels again, my +dear friend." + + --_Fraser's Magazine_. + + + + +DAMAGES EASILY ADJUSTED. + + +It is related that the President of the Fitchburg Railroad, some thirty +years ago, settled with a number of passengers who had been wet but not +seriously injured by the running off of a train into the river, by paying +them from $5 to $20 each. One of them, a sailor, when his terms were +asked, said:--"Well, you see, mister, when I was down in the water, I +looked up to the bridge and calculated that we had fallen fifteen feet, +so if you will pay me a dollar a foot I will call it square." + + + + +LIABILITIES OF RAILWAY ENGINEERS FOR THEIR ERRORS. + + +An action was tried before Mr. Justice Maule, July 30, 1846--the first +case of the kind--which established the liability of railway engineers +for the consequences of any errors they commit. + +The action was brought by the Dudley and Madeley Company against Mr. +Giles, the engineer. They had paid him 4,000 pounds for the preparation +of the plans, etc., but when the time arrived for depositing them with +the Board of Trade they were not completely ready. The scheme had +consequently failed. This conduct of the defendant it was estimated had +injured the company to the extent of 40,000 pounds. The counsel for the +plaintiff did not claim damages to this amount, but would be content with +such a sum as the jury should, under the circumstances, think the +defendant ought to pay, as a penalty for the negligence of which he had +been guilty. For Mr. Giles, it was contended, that the jury ought not, +at the worst, to find a verdict for more than 1,700 pounds, alleging that +the remainder 2,300 pounds had been paid by him in wages for work done, +and materials used. + +The jury, however, returned a verdict to the tune of 4,500, or 500 pounds +beyond the full sum paid him. + +But, what said the judge? That "it was clear that the defendant had +undertaken more work than he could complete, and that he should not be +allowed to gratify with impunity, and to the injury of the plaintiffs, +his desire to realise in a few months a fortune which should only be the +result of the labour of years." + + + + +EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT. + + +Yesterday afternoon, as the Leeds train, which left that terminus at a +quarter-past one o'clock, was approaching Rugby, and within four miles of +that station, an umbrella behind the private carriage of Earl Zetland +took fire, in consequence of a spark from the engine falling on it, and +presently the imperial on the roof and the upper part of the carriage +were in a blaze. Seated within it were the Countess of Zetland and her +maid. The train was proceeding at the rate of forty miles an hour. +Under these circumstances, Her Ladyship and maid descended from the +carriage to the truck, when--despite the caution to hold on given by a +gentleman from a window of one of the railway carriages--the maid threw +herself headlong on the rail, and was speedily lost sight of. On the +arrival of the train at Rugby an engine was despatched along the line, +when the young woman was found severely injured, and taken to the +Infirmary at Leicester. Lady Zetland remained at Rugby, where she was +joined by His Lordship and the family physician last night, by an express +train from Euston-square. How long will railway companies delay +establishing a means of communication between passengers and the guard? + + --_Times_, Dec. 9th, 1847. + + + + +PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE. + + +On Monday, at the New Bailey, two men, named William Hatfield and Mark +Clegg, the former an engine-driver and the latter a fireman in the employ +of the London and North-Western Railway, were brought up before Mr. +Trafford, the stipendiary magistrate, and Captain Whittaker, charged with +drunkenness and gross negligence in the discharge of their duty. Mr. +Wagstaff, solicitor, of Warrington, appeared on behalf of the Company, +and from his statement and the evidence of the witnesses it appeared that +the prisoners had charge of the night mail train from Liverpool to +London, on Saturday, December 25, 1847. The number of carriages and +passengers was not stated, but the pointsman at the Warrington junction +being at his post, waiting for the train, was surprised to hear it coming +at a very rapid rate. He had been preparing to turn the points in order +to shunt the train on to the Warrington junction, but as the train did +not diminish in speed, but rather increased as it approached, he, +anticipating great danger if he should turn the points, determined on the +instant upon letting the train take its course, and not turning them. +Most fortunate was it that he exercised so much judgment and sagacity, +for, in consequence of the acuteness of the curve at Warrington junction +and the tremendous rate at which the train was proceeding--not less than +forty miles an hour--it does not appear that anything could have +otherwise prevented the train from being overturned, and a frightful +sacrifice of human life ensuing. Meantime the train continued its +frightful progress; but the mail guard seated at the end of the train, +perceiving that it was going on towards Manchester, instead of staying at +the junction, signalled to the engine-driver and fireman, but without +effect, no notice whatever being taken of the signal. Finding this to be +the case, he, at very considerable risk, passed over from carriage to +carriage till he reached the engine, where he found both the prisoners +lying drunk. At length, at Patricroft, however, he succeeded in stopping +the train just before it reached that station, a distance of 14 miles +from Warrington. This again appears to be almost a miraculous +circumstance, for at the Patricroft station, on the same line as that on +which the mail train was running was another train, containing a number +of passengers, who thus escaped from the consequences of a dreadful +collision. The prisoners were, of course, immediately given into +custody, and convoyed to the New Bailey prison, while, other assistance +being obtained, the train was taken back again to Warrington junction. +The regulation is in consequence of the sharp curve at this junction, +that the trains shall not run more than five miles an hour. The bench +sentenced both prisoners to two months hard labour. + + --_Manchester Examiner_. + + + + +HIS PORTMANTEAU. + + +An English traveller in Germany entered a first-class carriage in which +there was only one seat vacant, a middle one. A corner seat was occupied +by a German, who evidently had placed his portmanteau on the opposite +one--at least the traveller suspected that this was the case. The latter +asked, "Is this seat engaged?" "Yes," was the reply. When the time for +the departure of the train had almost arrived, the Englishman said, "Your +friend is going to miss the train, if he is not quick." "Oh, that is all +right. I'll keep it for him." Soon the signal came and the train +started, when the passenger seized the portmanteau, and threw it out of +the window, exclaiming, "He's missed his train but he mustn't lose his +baggage!" That portmanteau was the German's. + + + + +GROWTH OF STATION BOOKSHOPS. + + +The gradual rise of the railway book-trade is a singular feature of our +marvellous railway era. In the first instance, when the scope and +capabilities of the rail had yet to be ascertained, the privilege of +selling books, newspapers, etc., at the several stations was freely +granted to any who might think proper to claim it. Vendors came and +went, when and how they chose, their trade was of the humblest, and their +profits were as varying as their punctuality. By degrees the business +assumed shape, the newspaper man found it his interest to maintain a +_locus standi_ in the establishment, and the establishment, in its turn, +discerned a substantial means of helping the poor or the deserving among +its servants. A cripple maimed in the company's service, or a married +servant of a director or secretary, superseded the first batch of +stragglers and assumed responsibility by express appointment. The +responsibility, in truth, was not very great at starting. Railway +travelling, at the time referred to, occupied but a very small portion of +a man's time. The longest line reached only thirty miles, and no +traveller required anything more solid than his newspaper for his hour's +steaming. But as the iron lengthened, and as cities remote from each +other were brought closer, the time spent in the railway carriage +extended, travellers multiplied, and the newspaper ceased to be +sufficient for the journey. At this period reading matter for the rail +sensibly increased; the tide of cheap literature set in. French novels, +unfortunately, of questionable character were introduced by the newsman, +simply because he could buy them at one-third less than any other +publication selling at the same price. The public purchased the wares +they saw before them, and very soon the ingenious caterers for railway +readers flattered themselves that there was a general demand amongst all +classes for the peculiar style of literature upon which it had been their +good fortune to hit. The more eminent booksellers and publishers stood +aloof, whilst others, less scrupulous, finding a market open and +ready-made to their hands were only too eager to supply it. It was then +that the _Parlour Library_ was set on foot. Immense numbers of this work +were sold to travellers, and every addition to the stock was positively +made on the assumption that persons of the better class, who constitute +the larger portion of railway readers, lose their accustomed taste the +moment they smell the engine and present themselves to the railway +librarian. + + --Preface to a Reprinted Article from the _Times_, 1851. + + + + +MESSRS. SMITHS' BOOKSTALLS. + + +The following appeared in the _Athenaeum_, 27th Jan., 1849. "The new +business in bookselling which the farming of the line of the +North-Western Railway by Mr. Smith, of the Strand, is likely to open up, +engages a good deal of attention in literary circles. This new shop for +books will, it is thought, seriously injure many of the country +booksellers, and remove at the same time a portion of the business +transacted by London tradesmen. For instance, a country gentleman +wishing to purchase a new book will give his order, not as heretofore, to +the Lintot or Tonson of his particular district, but to the agent of the +bookseller on the line of railway--the party most directly in his way. +Instead of waiting, as he was accustomed to do, till the bookseller of +his village or of the nearest town, can get his usual monthly parcel down +from his agent 'in the Row'--he will find his book at the locomotive +library, and so be enabled to read the last new novel before it is a +little flat or the last new history in the same edition as the resident +in London. A London gentleman hurrying from town with little time to +spare will buy the book he wants at the railway station where he takes +his ticket--or perhaps at the next, or third, or fourth, or at the last +station (just as the fancy takes him) on his journey. It is quite +possible to conceive such a final extension of this principle that the +retail trade in books may end in a great monopoly:--nay, instead of +seeing the _imprimatur_ of the Row or of Albermarle Street upon a book, +the great recommendation hereafter may be 'Euston Square,' 'Paddington,' +'The Nine Elms,' or even 'Shoreditch.' Whatever may be the effect to the +present race of booksellers of this change in their business--it is +probable that this new mart for books will raise the profits of authors. +How many hours are wasted at railway stations by people well to do in the +world, with a taste for books but no time to read advertisements or to +drop in at a bookseller's to see what is new. Already it is found that +the sale at these places is not confined to cheap or even ephemeral +publications;--that it is not the novel or light work alone that is asked +for and bought. + +"The prophecy of progress contained in the above paragraph has been +fulfilled so far as the North-Western and Mr. Smith are concerned. His +example, however, was not infectious for other lines; and till within the +last three months, when the Great Northern copied the good precedent, and +entered into a contract with Mr. Smith and his son, the greenest +literature in dress and in digestion was all that was offered to the +wants of travellers by the directors of the South-Western, the Great +Western, and other trunk and branch lines with which England is +intersected. A traveller in the eastern, western, and southern counties +who does not bring his book with him can satisfy his love of reading only +by the commonest and cheapest trash--for the pretences to the appearance +of a bookseller's shop made at Waterloo, at Shoreditch, at Paddington, +and at London Bridge, are something ridiculous. This should not be. It +shows little for the public spirit of the directors of our railways that +such a system should remain. Mr. Smith has, we believe, as many as +thirty-five shops at railway stations, extending from London to +Liverpool, Chester and Edinburgh. His great stations are at Euston +Square, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. He has a +rolling stock of books valued at 10,000 pounds. We call his stock +rolling, because he moves his wares with the inclinations of his readers. +If he finds a religious feeling on the rise at Bangor, he withdraws +Dickens and sends down Henry of Exeter or Mr. Bennett; if a love for +lighter reading is on the increase at Rugby, he withdraws Hallam and +sends down Thackeray and Jerrold. He never undersells and he gives no +credit. His business is a ready-money one, and he finds it his interest +to maintain the dignity of literature by resolutely refusing to admit +pernicious publications among his stock. He can well afford to pay the +heavy fee he does for his privilege; for his novel speculation has been a +decided hit--of solid advantage to himself and of permanent utility to +the public." + + --_Athanaeum_, Sept. 5, 1851. + + + + +A RESIDENT ENGINEER AND SCIENTIFIC WITNESS. + + +Shortly after the first locomotives were placed on the London and +Birmingham Railway, a scientific civilian, who had given very positive +evidence before Parliament as to the injury to health and other +intolerable evils that must arise from the construction of tunnels, paid +a visit to the line. The resident engineer accompanied him in a +first-class carriage over the newly-finished portion of the works. As +they drew near Chalk Farm the engineer attracted the attention of his +visitor to the lamp at the top of the carriage. "I should like to have +your opinion on this," he said. "The matter seems simple, but it +requires a deal of thought. You see it is essential to keep the oil from +dropping on the passengers. The cup shape effectually prevents this. +Then the lamps would not burn. We had to arrange an up-cast and +down-cast chimney, in order to ensure the circulation of air in the lamp. +Then there was the question of shadow;"--and so he continued, to the +great edification of his listener, for five or six minutes. When a +satisfactory conclusion as to the lamp had been arrived at, the learned +man looked out of the window. "What place is this?" said he. "Kensal +Green." "But," said the other, "how is that? I thought there was one of +your great tunnels to pass before we came to Kensal Green." "Oh," +replied the Resident, carelessly, "did you not observe? We came through +Chalk Farm Tunnel very steadily." The man of science felt himself +caught. He made no more reports upon tunnels. + + --_Personal Recollections of English Engineers_. + + + + +EXTRAORDINARY SCENE AT A RAILWAY JUNCTION. + + +A most extraordinary and unprecedented scene occurred on Monday morning +at the Clifton station, about five miles from Manchester, where the East +Lancashire line forms a junction with the Lancashire and Yorkshire. The +East Lancashire are in the habit of running up-trains to Manchester, past +the Clifton junction, without stopping, afterwards making a declaration +to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company of the number of passengers the +trains contain, and for whom they will have to pay toll. The Lancashire +and Yorkshire Company object to this plan, and demand that the trains +shall stop at Clifton, so that the number of passengers can be counted, +and give up their tickets. The East Lancashire Company say that in +addition to their declaration, the other parties have access to all their +books, and to the returns of their (the East Lancashire Company's) +servants; and that the demand to take tickets, or to count, is only one +of annoyance and detention, adopted since the two companies have become +competitors for the traffic to Bradford. Towards the close of last week, +the dispute assumed a serious aspect, by one of the Lancashire and +Yorkshire Company's agents at Manchester (Mr. Blackmore) threatening that +he would blockade or stop up the East Lancashire line, at the point of +junction, with a large balk of timber. The East Lancashire Company got +out a summons against Mr. Blackmore on Saturday; but, notwithstanding +this, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's manager proceeded on Monday +to carry the threat into execution, despite the presence of a large body +of the county police. The East Lancashire early trains were allowed to +pass upon the Lancashire and Yorkshire line without obstruction; but at +half-past 10 o'clock in the morning, as the next East Lancashire train to +Manchester was one which would not stop at Clifton, but attempt to pass +on to Manchester, a number of labourers, under the direction of Captain +Laws, laid a large balk of timber, secured by two long iron crowbars, +across the down rails to Manchester of the Lancashire and Yorkshire line, +behind which was brought up a train of six empty carriages, with its +engine at the Manchester end. When the East Lancashire train came in +sight, it was signalled to stop, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire +Company's servants went and demanded the tickets from the passengers. +This demand, however, was fruitless, inasmuch as the East Lancashire +parties had taken the tickets from the passengers at the previous +station--Ringley. The first act of the East Lancashire Company's +servants was to remove the balk of timber, and this they did without +hindrance. They next attempted to force before them the Lancashire and +Yorkshire blockading train. This they were not able to do. The East +Lancashire Company then brought up a heavy train laden with stone, and +took up a position on the top line to Manchester. Thus the Lancashire +and Yorkshire Company's double line of rails was completely blocked +up--one line by their own train, and the other by the stone train of the +East Lancashire Company. In this position matters remained till near 12 +o'clock. There were altogether eight trains on the double lines of rails +of the two companies, extending more than half a mile. After which the +blockade was broken up, and the various trains were allowed to pass +onwards--fortunately without accident or injury to the passengers. + + --_Manchester Examiner_, March 13th, 1849. + + + + +GOODS' COMPETITION. + + +Within the last fortnight, we understand, the London and North-Western, +in conjunction with the Lancashire and Yorkshire, have commenced carrying +goods between Liverpool and Manchester, a distance of 31 miles, at the +ruinously low figure of 6d. per ton, where they used to have 8s. We +further hear that the 6d. includes the expenses of collection and +delivery. The cause is a competition with the East Lancashire and the +canal. At a very low estimate it has been calculated that every ton +costs 6s. 3d., so that they are losing 5s. 9d. on every 6d. earned, or +860 per cent. + +How long this monstrous competition is to continue the directors only +know, but the loss must be frightful on both sides. Chaplin and Horne +had 10s. a ton for collecting and delivering the goods at the London end +of the London and North-Western Railway, and, though the expense must be +less in such comparatively small towns as Liverpool and Manchester, it +can hardly be less than a half that, 5s. Therefore, allowing only 1s. +3d. for the bare railway carriage, which is under a halfpenny a ton a +mile, we have 6s. 3d., the estimate showing the above-mentioned loss of +5s. 9d. on every 6d. earned. + + --_Herepath's Journal_, Sept. 29th, 1849. + + + + +A POLITE REQUEST. + + +An amusing illustration of the formal politeness of a railway guard +occurred some years ago at the Reigate station. He went to the window of +a first class carriage, and said: "If you please, sir, will you have the +goodness to change your carriage here?" "What for?" was the gruff reply +of Mr. Bull within. "Because, sir, if you please, the wheel has been on +fire since half-way from the last station!" John looked out; the wheel +was sending forth a cloud of smoke, and without waiting to require any +further "persuasive influences," he lost no time in condescending to +comply with the request. + + + + +A CHASE AFTER A RUNAWAY ENGINE. + + +Mr. Walker, the superintendent of the telegraphs of the South-Eastern +Railway Company, remarks:--"On New Year's Day, 1850, a collision had +occurred to an empty train at Gravesend, and the driver having leaped +from his engine, the latter darted alone at full speed for London. +Notice was immediately given by telegraph to London and other stations; +and, while the line was kept clear, an engine and other arrangements were +prepared as a buttress to receive the runaway, while all connected with +the station awaited in awful suspense the expected shock. The +superintendent of the railway also started down the line on an engine, +and on passing the runaway he reversed his engine and had it transferred +at the next crossing to the up-line, so as to be in the rear of the +fugitive; he then started in chase, and on overtaking the other he ran +into it at speed, and the driver of the engine took possession of the +fugitive, and all danger was at an end. Twelve stations were passed in +safety; it passed Woolwich at fifteen miles an hour; it was within a +couple of miles of London when it was arrested. Had its approach been +unknown, the money value of the damage it would have caused might have +equalled the cost of the whole line of telegraph." + + + + +STEAM DEFINED. + + +At a railway station, an old lady said to a very pompous looking +gentleman, who was talking about steam communication. "Pray, sir, what +is steam?" "Steam, ma'am, is ah!--steam, is ah! ah! steam is--steam!" +"I knew that chap couldn't tell ye," said a rough-looking fellow standing +by; "but steam is a bucket of water in a tremendous perspiration." + + + + +IN A RAILWAY TUNNEL. + + +Mr. Osborne in the _Sunday at Home_, says, "I have heard from a friend a +strange story of a tunnel, which I will try to tell you as it was told to +me. A well-known engineer was walking one day through a tunnel, a narrow +one, and as he was going along, supposing himself safe, he thought his +ear caught the far-off rumble of a train _in the tunnel_. After stopping +and listening for a moment, he became sure it was so, and that he was +caught, and could not possibly get out in time. What was he to do? +Should he draw himself up close to the side wall, making himself as small +as possible, that the train might not touch him. Or should he lie down +flat between the rails and let the train pass over him. Being an +engineer, and knowing well the shape of things, he decided to lie down +between the rails as his best chance. He had to make up his mind +quickly, for in a minute or so the whole train came to where he lay, and +went thundering over him, and--did him no harm whatever. But he +afterwards told his friends, that in that brief moment of time, while the +train was passing over, he saw his whole past life spread out like a map, +like an illuminated transparency, with every particular circumstance +standing out plain." + + + + +A QUICK WAY. + + +Some years ago, when a new railway was opened in the Highlands, a +Highlander heard of it, and bought a ticket for the first excursion. The +train was about half the distance to the next station when a collision +took place, and poor Donald was thrown unceremoniously into an adjacent +park. After recovering his senses, he made the best of his way home, +when the neighbours asked him how he liked his ride. "Oh," replied +Donald, "I liked it fine; but they have an awfu' nasty quick way in +puttin' ane oot." + + + + +HIGHLANDER AND A RAILWAY ENGINE. + + +We remember hearing a story of an old Highland peasant who happened to +see a railway engine for the first time. He was coming down from the +Grampians into Perthshire, and he thus described the novel monster as it +appeared in his astounded Celtic imagination:--"I was looking doon the +glens, when I saw a funny beast blowing off his perspiration; an' I ran +doon, an' I tried to stop him, but he just gave an awfu' skirl an' +disappeared into a hole."--(meaning, of course, a tunnel). + + --_Once a Week_. + + + + +EXTRACTS FROM MACREADY'S DIARIES. + + +"July 3rd, 1845.--Brewster called to cut my hair; he told me the +tradesmen could not get paid in London, for all the money was employed in +railroads." + +"June 19th, 1850.--We were surprised by the entrance of Carlyle and Mrs. +C--. I was delighted to see them. Carlyle inveighed against +railroads--he was quite in one of his exceptious moods." + + + + +FREAKS OF CONCEALED BOGS. + + +Great difficulties have often been encountered by engineers in carrying +earth embankments across low grounds, which, under a fair, green surface, +concealed the remains of ancient bogs, sometimes of great depth. Thus, +on the Leeds and Bradford Extension, about 600 tons of stone and earth +were daily cast into an embankment near Bingley, and each morning the +stuff thrown in on the preceding day was found to have disappeared. This +went on for many weeks, the bank, however, gradually advancing, and +forcing up on either side a spongy black ridge of moss. On the +South-Western Railway a heavy embankment, about fifty feet high, crossed +a piece of ground near Newham, the surface of which seemed to be +perfectly sound and firm. Twenty feet, however, beneath the surface an +old bog lay concealed; and the ground giving way, the fluid, pressed from +beneath the embankment, raised the adjacent meadows in all directions +like waves of the sea. A culvert, which permitted the flow of a brook +under the bank, was forced down, the passage of the water entirely +stopped, and several thousand acres of the finest land in Hampshire would +have been flooded but for the exertions of the engineer, who completed a +new culvert just as the other had become completely closed. The +Newton-green embankment, on the Sheffield and Manchester line, gave way +in like manner, and to such an extent as to spread out two or three times +its original width. In this case it was found necessary to carry the +line across the parts which yielded, under strong timber shores. On the +Dundalk and Enniskillen line a heavy embankment twenty feet high suddenly +disappeared one night in the bog of Meghernakill, nearly adjoining the +river Fane. The bed of the river was forced up, and the flow of the +water for the time was stopped, and the surrounding country heavily +flooded. A concealed bog of even greater extent, on the Durham and +Sunderland Railway, near Aycliff, was crossed by means of a +double-planked road, about two miles in length. A few weeks after the +line had been opened, part of the road sank one night entirely out of +sight. The defect was made good merely by extending the floating surface +of the road at this portion of the bog. + + --_Quarterly Review_. + + + + +A RAILWAY MARRIAGE. + + +In Maine, a conductor--too busy, we suggest, saying "Go ahead!" to be +particular about wedding formalities--invited his betrothed and a +minister into a car, and while the train was in motion was married; +leaving that station a bachelor, at this station he was a married man! +It is but one of a thousand examples of life as it goes in this fast +country. + + --_New York Nation_. + + + + +ATTEMPTED FRAUDS. + + +Feb. 29, 1849, _Central Criminal Court_.--Robert Duncan, aged 47, +staymaker, Mary Duncan, his wife, who surrendered to take her trial, and +Pierce Wall O'Brien, aged 30, printer, were indicted for conspiring +together to obtain money from the London and North-Western Railway +Company by false pretences. + +From the statement of Mr. Clarkson and the evidence, it appeared that the +charges made against the prisoners involved a most impudent attempt at +fraud. It appears that on the 5th of September last year an accident +occurred to the up mail train from York, near the Leighton Buzzard +station, but, although some injury was occasioned to the train, it seemed +that none of the passengers received any personal injury. On the 26th of +October following, however, the company received a communication from Mr. +Harrison, requiring compensation on behalf of defendant, Robert Duncan, +for an injury alleged to have been sustained by his wife upon the +occasion of the collision referred to, it being represented, also, that +her brother, the defendant O'Brien, who was travelling with her at the +time from York, had likewise received serious injury by the same +accident. The company immediately sent a medical gentleman to the place +described as the residence of these persons, No. 59, George Street, +Southwark, and he there saw the man Robert Duncan, who represented that +his wife was dangerously ill, and that the result of the accident on the +railway was a premature confinement, and that her life was in danger. +Mr. Porter was then introduced to the female defendant, whom he found in +bed, apparently in great pain, and she confirmed her husband's statement. +In the same house the prisoner O'Brien was found in bed, and he also told +the same story about the accident on the railway. It appeared that some +suspicion was entertained by the company of the general character of the +transaction, and they had been instituting inquiries. On the 2nd of +November they received another letter from the prisoner Robert Duncan, in +which he made an offer to accept 60 pounds for the injury his wife had +received, and also stating that Mr. O'Brien was willing to accept a +similar amount for the damage he had sustained. At this it appeared Mr. +Harrison resolved not to have anything further to do with the matter, +unless he received satisfactory proof of the truth of the story told by +the parties; and another solicitor was employed by the defendants, who +brought an action against the company for damages for the alleged injury, +and he proceeded so far as to give notice of trial. The case, however, +never went before a jury in that shape, and by this time it was +discovered that there was no truth in the story told by the defendants. +It was proved at the period when the accident was alleged to have +occurred to the female defendant, she was residing with her husband, and +was in her usual health. With regard to O'Brien, there was no evidence +to show that he was upon the train at the time the accident happened, +but, according to the testimony of a witness named Darke, during the +period when the negotiation was going on with the company, O'Brien +requested him to write a letter to Mr. Harrison to the effect that he was +riding in the same carriage with Mrs. Duncan and her brother at the time +of the accident, and he was aware of her having been injured, and gave +him a written statement to that effect, which he copied. This witness, +in cross-examination, admitted that at the time he wrote the statement he +was perfectly well aware it was false, and he also said that +notwithstanding this, he made no difficulty in doing what O'Brien +requested, and also that he should have been ready to make a solemn +declaration of the truth of the statement if he had been required to do +so. + +A verdict of "Not Guilty" was taken as to the female prisoner, on the +ground that she was acting under the control of her husband. The jury +returned a verdict of "Guilty" against the two male defendants. + +Mr. Clarkson said he was instructed to state that, at the period of the +catastrophe on board the Cricket steam-boat, the prisoners obtained a sum +of 70 pounds from the company to which that vessel belonged, by the false +pretence that they had received injury upon the occasion. + +The Recorder sentenced Duncan to be imprisoned for twelve, and O'Brien +for six months. + + _Annual Register_. + + + + +A BRIDE'S LOST LUGGAGE. + + +The trouble which is bestowed by railway companies to cause the +restitution of lost property is incalculable. Some years ago, a young +lady lost a portmanteau from the rest of her luggage--a pardonable +oversight, for she was a bride starting on a honeymoon trip. The +bridegroom--never on such occasions an accountable being--had not noticed +the misfortune. When the loss was discovered, and application made +respecting it, the lady spoke positively of having seen it at the station +whence they started, then again at a station where they had to change +carriages; she saw it also when they left the railway; it was all safe, +she averred, at the hotel where they stopped for a few days. She was +also certain that it was among the rest of the "things" when they again +started for a watering-place; but, when they arrived there, it was +missing. It contained a new riding habit, value fifteen pounds. The +search that was instituted for this portmanteau recalled that of +Telemachus for Ulysses; the railway officials sent one of their clerks +with a _carte blanche_ to trace the bride's journey to the end of the +last mile, till some tidings of the strayed trunk could be traced. He +went to every station, to every coach-office in connection with every +station, to every town, to every hotel, and to every lodging that the +happy couple had visited. His expenses actually amounted to fifteen +pounds. He came back without success. At length the treasure was found; +but where? At the by-station on another line, whence the bride had +started from home a maiden. Yet she had positively declared, without +doubt or reservation, that she had, "with her own eyes," seen the trunk +on the various stages of her tour; this can only be accounted for by the +peculiar flustration of a young lady just plunged into the vortex of +matrimony. The husband paid the whole of the costs. + + + + +THIRD-CLASS PASSENGERS. + + +The conveyance of passengers at cheap fares was from the commencement of +railways a great public concern, and it was soon found necessary that the +legislature should take action in the matter. Accordingly, by the +Regulation of Railways Act, 1844, all passenger railways were required to +run one train every day from end to end of their line, carrying +third-class passengers at a rate not exceeding one penny a mile, stopping +at all stations, starting at hours approved by the Board of Trade, +travelling at least twelve miles an hour, and with carriages protected +from weather. This enactment greatly encouraged the poorer classes in +railway travelling; but the companies were slow to carry out the new +regulations cheerfully. The trains were timed at most inconvenient +hours; to undertake a journey of any considerable length in one day at +third-class fare was almost out of the question. In fact, a +short-sighted policy of doing almost everything to discourage third-class +travelling was adopted by the Companies. + +A traveller having started on a long journey, thinking to be able to +travel all the way third-class, would find at some stage of the route +that he had arrived, only a few minutes perhaps, after the departure of +the cheap train to his destination, with no alternative but to wait for +hours or proceed by the express and pay accordingly. Moreover, the +third-class carriages were provided with the very minimum of comfort. It +was not seen by the railway executive of that time that the policy +adopted was actually prejudicial to their own interests. + + _Our Railways_, by Joseph Parsloe. + + + + +IMPROVEMENT IN THIRD-CLASS TRAVELLING. + + +The Rev. F. S. Williams, in an article in the _Contemporary Review_, +entitled "Railway Revolutions," remarks:--"We need not go back so far as +the time when third-class passengers had to stand in a sort of cattle-pen +placed on wheels; it is only a few years since the Parliamentary trains +were run in bare fulfilment of the obligations of Parliament, and when a +journey by one of them could never be looked upon as anything better than +a necessary evil. To start in the darkness of a winter's morning to +catch the only third-class train that ran; to sit, after a slender +breakfast, in a vehicle the windows of which were compounded of the +largest amount of wood and the smallest amount of glass, and which were +carefully adjusted to exactly those positions in which the fewest +travellers could see out of them; to stop at every roadside station, +however insignificant; and to accomplish a journey of 200 miles in about +ten hours--such were the ordinary conditions which Parliament in its +bounty provided for the people. Occasionally, moreover, the monotony of +progress was interrupted by the shunting of the train into a siding, +where it might wait for more respectable passenger trains and fast goods +to pass." + +"We remember," says a writer, "once standing on the platform at +Darlington when the Parliamentary train arrived. It was detained for a +considerable time to allow a more favoured train to pass, and, on the +remonstrance of several of the passengers at the unexpected detention, +they were coolly informed, "Ye mun bide till yer betters gaw past, ye are +only the nigger train." + +"If there is one part of my public life," recently said Mr. Allport +(Midland Railway) to the writer, "in which I look back with more +satisfaction than anything else, it is with reference to the boon we +conferred on third-class passengers. When the rich man travels, or if he +lies in bed all day, his capital remains undiminished, and perhaps his +income flows in all the same. But when a poor man travels he has not +only to pay his fare, but to sink his capital, for his time is his +capital; and if he now consumes only five hours instead of ten in making +a journey, he has saved five hours of time for useful labour--useful to +himself, to his family, and to society. And I think with even more +pleasure of the comfort in travelling we have been able to confer upon +women and children. But it took," he added, "five-and-twenty years' work +to get it done." + + + + +A GREAT DISCOVERY. + + +Confound that Pope Gregory who changed the style! He, or some one else, +has robbed the month of February, in ordinary years, of no less than +three days, for Mr. George Sutton, the solicitor, has discovered and +established by the last Brighton Act of Parliament that February has +_really thirty-one days_, while that good-for-nothing Pope led us to +believe it had only twenty-eight. The language of the 45th clause of the +Act or of the bill which went into the Lords is:-- + +"That so much of the said Consolidation Act as enacts that the ordinary +meetings of the company, subsequent to the first ordinary meeting +thereof, shall be held half-yearly on the 31st day of July, and +_thirty-first day of February_ in each year, or within one month before +or after these days shall be, and the same is hereby repealed." + +The next clause enacts, we suppose by reason of "the 31st of February" +being an inconvenient day, that the meetings shall be held on the 31st of +January and the 31st of July, a month before or a month after. + +On account of the great value of an addition of three days to our years, +and, therefore, an annual addition to our lives of three days, we beg to +propose that a handsome testimonial be given to Mr. George Sutton, the +eminent solicitor of the Brighton Railway Company, the author of the Act +and the discoverer of the Pope's wicked conduct. We further propose that +it be given him on "the 31st day of February" next year, and that his +salary be paid on that day, and no other, every year. + + --_Herepath's Journal_, June 24th, 1854. + + + + +A DREADED EVIL. + + +When the old Sheffield and Rotherham line was contemplated, "A hundred +and twenty inhabitants of Rotherham, headed by their vicar, petitioned +against the bill, because they thought the canal and turnpike furnished +sufficient accommodation between the two towns, and because they dreaded +an incursion of the idle, drunken, and dissolute portion of the Sheffield +people as a consequence of increasing the facilities of transit." For a +time the opposition was successful but eventually the Lord's Committee +yielded to the perseverance of the promoters of the bill. + + _Sheffield and Rotherham Independent_. + + + + +REMARKABLE ADVENTURE. + + +A young lady some years ago thus related an adventure she met with in +travelling. "After I had taken my seat one morning at Paddington, in an +empty carriage, I was joined, just as the train was moving off, by a +strange-looking young man, with remarkably long flowing hair. He was, of +course, a little hurried, but he seemed besides to be so disturbed and +wild that I was quite alarmed, for fear of his not being in his right +mind, nor did his subsequent conduct at all reassure me. Our train was +an express, and he inquired eagerly, at once, which was the first station +we were advertised to stop. I consulted my Bradshaw and furnished him +with the required information. It was Reading. The young man looked at +his watch. + +"'Madam,' said he, 'I have but half-an-hour between me and, it may be, +ruin. Excuse, therefore, my abruptness. You have, I perceive, a pair of +scissors in your workbag. Oblige me, if you please, by cutting off all +my hair.' + +"'Sir,' said I, 'it is impossible.' + +"'Madam,' he urged, and a look of severe determination crossed his +features; 'I am a desperate man. Beware how you refuse me what I ask. +Cut my hair off--short, close to the roots--immediately; and here is a +newspaper to hold the ambrosial curls.' + +"I thought he was mad, of course; and believing that it would be +dangerous to thwart him, I cut off all his hair to the last lock. + +"'Now, madam,' said he, unlocking a small portmanteau, 'you will further +oblige me by looking out of the window, as I am about to change my +clothes.' + +"Of course I looked out of the window for a very considerable time, and +when he observed, 'Madam, I need no longer put you to any inconvenience,' +I did not recognise the young man in the least. + +"Instead of his former rather gay costume, he was attired in black, and +wore a grey wig and silver spectacles; he looked like a respectable +divine of the Church of England, of about sixty-four years of age; to +complete that character, he held a volume of sermons in his hand, +which--they appeared so to absorb him--might have been his own. + +"'I do not wish to threaten you, young lady,' he resumed, 'and I think, +besides, that I can trust your kind face. Will you promise me not to +reveal this metamorphosis until your journey's end?' + +"'I will,' said I, 'most certainly.' + +"At Reading, the guard and a person in plain clothes looked into our +carriage. + +"'You have the ticket, my love,' said the young man, blandly, and looking +to me as though he were my father. + +"'Never mind, sir; we don't want them,' said the official, as he withdrew +his companion. + +"'I shall now leave you, madam,' observed my fellow-traveller, as soon as +the coast was clear; 'by your kind and courageous conduct you have saved +my life and, perhaps, even your own.' + +"In another minute he was gone, and the train was in motion. Not till +the next morning did I learn from the _Times_ newspaper that the +gentleman on whom I had operated as hair cutter had committed a forgery +to an enormous amount, in London, a few hours before I met him, and that +he had been tracked into the express train from Paddington; but +that--although the telegraph had been put in motion and described him +accurately--at Reading, when the train was searched, he was nowhere to be +found." + + + + +SAFETY ON THE FLOOR. + + +Many concussions give no warning of their approach, while others do, the +usual premonitory symptoms being a kind of bouncing or leaping of the +train. It is well to know that the bottom of the carriage is the safest +place, and, therefore, when a person has reason to anticipate a +concussion, he should, without hesitation, throw himself on the floor of +the carriage. It was by this means that Lord Guillamore saved his life +and that of his fellow passengers some years since, when a concussion +took place on one of the Irish railways. His Lordship feeling a shock, +which he knew to be the forerunner of a concussion, without more ado +sprang upon the two persons sitting opposite to him, and dragged them +with him to the bottom of the carriage; the astonished persons at first +imagined that they had been set upon by a maniac, and commenced +struggling for their liberty, but in a few seconds they but too well +understood the nature of the case; the concussion came, and the upper +part of the carriage in which Lord Guillamore and the other two persons +were was shattered to pieces, while the floor was untouched, and thus +left them lying in safety; while the other carriages of the train +presented nothing but a ghastly spectacle of dead and wounded. + + --_The Railway Traveller's Handy Book_. + + + + +LIFE UPON THE RAILWAY, BY A CONDUCTOR. + + +The Western Division of our road runs through a very mountainous part of +Virginia, and the stations are few and far between. About three miles +from one of these stations, the road runs through a deep gorge of the +Blue Ridge, and near the centre is a small valley, and there, hemmed in +by the everlasting hills, stood a small one-and-a-half-story log cabin. +The few acres that surrounded it were well cultivated as a garden, and +upon the fruits thereof lived a widow and her three children, by the name +of Graff. They were, indeed, untutored in the cold charities of an +outside world--I doubt much if they ever saw the sun shine beyond their +own native hills. In the summer time the children brought berries to the +nearest station to sell, and with the money they bought a few of the +necessities of the outside refinement. + +The oldest of these children I should judge to be about twelve years, and +the youngest about seven. They were all girls, and looked nice and +clean, and their healthful appearance and natural delicacy gave them a +ready welcome. They appeared as if they had been brought up to fear God +and love their humble home and mother. I had often stopped my train and +let them get off at their home, having found them at the station some +three miles from home, after disposing of their berries. + +I had children at home, and I knew their little feet would be tired in +walking three miles, and therefore felt that it would be the same with +these fatherless little ones. They seemed so pleased to ride, and +thanked me with such hearty thanks, after letting them off near home. +They frequently offered me nice, tempting baskets of fruit for my +kindness; yet I never accepted any without paying their full value. + +Now, if you remember, the winter of '54 was very cold in that part of the +State, and the snow was nearly three feet deep on the mountains. + +On the night of the 26th of December, of that year, it turned around +warm, and the rain fell in torrents. A terrible storm swept the mountain +tops, and almost filled the valleys with water. Upon that night my train +was winding its way, at its usual speed, around the hills and through the +valleys, and as the road-bed was all solid rock, I had no fear of the +banks giving out. The night was intensely dark, and the winds moaned +piteously through the deep gorges of the mountains. Some of my +passengers were trying to sleep, others were talking in a low voice, to +relieve the monotony of the scene. Mothers had their children upon their +knees, as if to shield them from some unknown danger without. + +It was near midnight, when a sharp whistle from the engine brought me to +my feet. I knew there was danger by that whistle, and sprang to the +brakes at once, but the brakesmen were all at their posts, and soon +brought the train to a stop. I seized my lantern and found my way +forward as soon as possible, when what a sight met my gaze! A bright +fire of pine logs illuminated the track for some distance, and not over +forty rods ahead of our train a horrible gulf had opened its maw to +receive us! + +The snow, together with the rain, had torn the whole side of the mountain +out, and eternity itself seemed spread out before us. The widow Graff +and her children had found it out, and had brought light brush from their +home below, and built a large fire to warn us of our danger. They had +been there more than two hours watching beside that beacon of safety. As +I went up where that old lady stood drenched through by the rain and +sleet, she grasped my arm and cried: + +"Thank God! Mr. Sherbourn, we stopped you in time. I would have lost my +life before one hair of your head should have been hurt. Oh, I prayed to +heaven that we might stop the train, and, my God, I thank thee!" + +The children were crying for joy. I confess I don't very often pray, but +I did then and there. I kneeled down by the side of that good old woman, +and offered up thanks to an All Wise Being for our safe deliverance from +a most terrible death, and called down blessings without number upon that +good old woman and her children. Near by stood the engineer, fireman, +and brakesmen, the tears streaming down their bronzed cheeks. + +I immediately prevailed upon Mrs. Graff and the children to go back into +the cars out of the storm and cold. After reaching the cars I related +our hair-breadth escape, and to whom we were indebted for our lives, and +begged the men passengers to go forward and see for themselves. They +needed no further urging, and a great many of the ladies went also, +regardless of the storm. They soon returned, and their pale faces gave +full evidence of the frightful death we had escaped. The ladies and +gentlemen vied with each other in their thanks and heartfelt gratitude +towards Mrs. Graff and her children, and assured her that they would +never, never forget her, and before the widow left the train she was +presented with a purse of four hundred and sixty dollars, the voluntary +offering of a whole train of grateful passengers. She refused the +proffered gift for some time, and said she had only done her duty, and +the knowledge of having done so was all the reward she asked. However, +she finally accepted the money, and said it should go to educate her +children. + +The railway company built her a new house, gave her and her children a +life pass over the road, and ordered all trains to stop and let her get +off at home when she wished, but the employes needed no such orders, they +can appreciate all such kindness--more so than the directors themselves. + +The old lady frequently visits my home at H-- and she is at all times a +welcome visitor at my fireside. Two of the children are attending school +at the same place. + + --_Appleton's American Railway Anecdote Book_. + + + + +A COUNTY COURT JUDGE'S FEELING AGAINST RAILWAYS. + + +In a County Court case at Carlisle, reported in the _Carlisle Journal_, +of October 31st, 1851, the judge (J. K. Knowles, Esq.) is represented to +have said:--"You may depend upon it, if I could do anything for you, I +would, for I detest all railways. If they get a verdict in this case it +will be the first, and I hope it will be the last." + + + + +RAILWAY TICKETS. + + +A writer in that valuable miscellany _Household Words_, remarks:--"About +thirteen years ago, a Quaker was walking in a field in Northumberland, +when a thought struck him. The man who was walking was named Thomas +Edmonson. He had been, though a Friend, not a very successful man in +life. He was a man of integrity and honour, as he afterwards abundantly +proved, but he had been a bankrupt, and was maintaining himself as a +clerk at a small station on the Newcastle and Carlisle line. In the +course of his duties in this situation, he found it irksome to have to +write on every railway ticket that he delivered. He saw the clumsiness +of the method of tearing the bit of paper off the printed sheet as it was +wanted, and filling it up with pen and ink. He perceived how much time, +trouble, and error might be saved by the process being done in a +mechanical way; and it was when he set his foot down on a particular spot +on the before mentioned field that the idea struck him how all that he +wished might be done by a machine--how tickets might be printed with the +names of stations, the class of carriage, the dates of the month, and all +of them from end to end of the kingdom, on one uniform system. Most +inventors accomplish their great deeds by degrees--one thought suggesting +another from time to time; but, when Thomas Edmonson showed his family +the spot in the field where his invention occurred to him, he used to say +that it came to his mind complete, in its whole scope and all its +details. Out of it has grown the mighty institution of the Railway +Clearing House; and with it the grand organization by which the Railways +of the United Kingdom act, in regard to the convenience of individuals, +as a unity. We may see at a glance the difference to every one of us of +the present organized system--by which we can take our tickets from +almost any place to another, and get into a carriage on almost any of our +great lines, to be conveyed without further care to the opposite end of +the kingdom--and the unorganized condition of affairs from which Mr. +Edmonson rescued us, whereby we should have been compelled to shift +ourselves and our luggage from time to time, buying new tickets, waiting +while they were filled up, waiting at almost every point of the journey, +and having to do it with divers companies who had nothing to do with each +other but to find fault and be jealous. + +"On Mr. Edmonson's machines may be seen the name of Blaycock; Blaycock +was a watchmaker, and an acquaintance of Edmonson's, and a man whom he +knew to be capable of working out his idea. He told him what he wanted; +and Blaycock understood him, and realized his thought. The third machine +that they made was nearly as good as those now in use. The one we saw +had scarcely wanted five shillings worth of repairs in five years; and, +when it needs more, it will be from sheer wearing away of the brass-work, +by constant hard friction. The Manchester and Leeds Railway Company were +the first to avail themselves of Mr. Edmonson's invention; and they +secured his services at their station at Oldham Road, for a time. He +took out a patent; and his invention became so widely known and +appreciated, that he soon withdrew himself from all other engagements, to +perfect its details and provide tickets to meet the daily growing demand. +He let out his patent on profitable terms--ten shillings per mile per +annum; that is, a railway of thirty miles long paid him fifteen pounds a +year for a license to print its own tickets by his apparatus; and a +railway of sixty miles long paid him thirty pounds, and so on. As his +profits began to come in, he began to spend them; and it is not the least +interesting part of his history to see how. It has been told that he was +a bankrupt early in life. The very first use he made of his money was to +pay every shilling that he ever owed. Ho was forty-six when he took that +walk in the field in Northumberland. He was fifty-eight when he died, on +the twenty-second of June last year." + + + + +TAKEN ABACK. + + +Four young cavalry officers, travelling by rail, from Boulogne to Paris, +were joined at Amiens by a quiet, elderly gentleman, who shortly +requested that a little of one window might be opened--a not unreasonable +demand, as both were shut, and all four gentlemen were smoking. But it +was refused, and again refused on being preferred a second time, very +civilly; whereupon the elderly gentleman put his umbrella through the +glass. "Shall we stand the impertinence of this bourgeois?" said the +officers to one another. "Never." And they thrust four cards into his +hand, which he received methodically, and looked carefully at all four; +producing his own, one of which he tendered to each officer with a bow. +Imagine their feelings when they read on each--"Marshal Randon, Ministre +de Guerre." + + + + +FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. + + +The engineer of a train near Montreal saw a large dog on the track. He +was barking furiously. The engineer blew the whistle at him, but he did +not stir, and crouching low, he was struck by the locomotive and killed. +There was a bit of white muslin on the locomotive, and it attracted the +attention of the engineer, who stopped the train and went back. There +lay the dead dog, and a dead child, which had wandered upon the track and +gone to sleep. The dog had given his signal to stop the train, and had +died at his post. + + + + +NARROW ESCAPES FROM BEING LYNCHED. + + +A writer in _All the Year Round_, observes:--"A dreadful accident down in +'Illonoy,' had particularly struck me as a warning; for there, while the +shattered bodies were still being drawn from under the piles of shivered +carriages, the driver on being expostulated with, had replied: + +'I suppose this ain't the first railway accident by long chalks!' + +Upon which the indignant passengers were with difficulty prevented from +lynching the wretch; but he fled into the woods, and there for a time +escaped pursuit. + +But, two other railway journeys pressed more peculiarly on my mind; one +was that of eight or ten weeks ago, from Canandaigua to Antrim. It was +there a gentleman from Baltimore, fresh from Chicago, told me of a +railway accident he had himself been witness to, only two days before I +met him. The 2.40 (night) train from Toledo to Chicago, in which he +rode, was upset near Pocahontas by two logs that had evidently been +wilfully laid across the rails. On inquiry at the next station, it was +discovered that a farmer who had had, a week before, two stray calves +killed near the same place, had been heard at a liquor store to say he +would 'pay them out for his calves.' This was enough for the excited +passengers, vexed at the detention, and enraged at the malice that had +exposed them to danger and death. A posse of them instantly sallied out, +beleaguered the farmer's house, seized him after some resistance, put a +rope round his neck, dragged him to the nearest tree, and would have then +and there lynched him, had not two or three of the passengers rescued +him, revolver in hand, and given him up to the nearest magistrate." + + + + +CURIOUS NOTICE. + + +The following notice, for the benefit of English travellers, was +exhibited some years ago in the carriage of a Dutch railway:--"You are +requested not to put no heads nor arms out of te windows." + + + + +OBTAINING INFORMATION. + + +But one of the most difficult things in the world is the levity with +which people talk about "obtaining information." As if information were +as easy to pick up as stones! "It ain't so hard to nuss the sick," said +a hired nurse, "as some people might think; the most of 'em doesn't want +nothing, and them as does doesn't get it." Parodying this, one might +say, it is much harder to "obtain information" than some people think; +the most don't know anything, and those who do don't say what they know. +Here is a real episode from the history of an inquiry, which took place +four or five years ago, into the desirability of making a new line of +railway on the Border. A witness was giving what is called "traffic +evidence," in justification of the alleged need of the railway, and this +is what occurred:-- + +_Mr. Brown_ (the cross-examining counsel for the opponents of the new +line)--Do you mean to tell the committee that you ever saw an inhabited +house in that valley? + +_Witness_--Yes I do. + +_Mr. Brown_--Did you ever see a vehicle there in your life? + +_Witness_--Yes, I did. + +_Mr. Brown_--Very good. + +Some other questions were put, which led to nothing particular: but, just +as the witness--a Scotchman--was leaving the box, the learned gentleman +put one more question:-- + +_Q_.--I am instructed to ask you, if the vehicle you saw was not the +hearse of the last inhabitant? + +_Answer_--It was. + + --_Cornhill Magazine_. + + + + +THE GOAT AND THE RAILWAY. + + +In Prussian Poland the goods and cattle trains are prohibited from +carrying passengers under any conditions, and, however urgent their +necessities, the only exception allowed being the herd-keepers in charge +of cattle. So strictly is this regulation enforced that even medical men +are not allowed to go by them when called for on an emergency, and where +life and death may be the result of their quick transit. This is +generally considered a great hardship, the more so as there are only two +passenger trains daily on the above railroads. But the inventive genius +of a small German innkeeper at Lissa has hit upon a clever plan of +circumventing the government regulations in a perfectly legitimate +manner. He keeps a goat, which he hires out to persons wanting to +proceed in a hurry by a cattle train, at the rate of 6d. per station, the +passenger then applying for a ticket as the person in charge of the goat, +which he obtains without any difficulty. In this manner a well-known +nobleman, residing at Lissa, is frequently seen travelling by the cattle +train to Posen, in the passenger's carriage, and the goat is so tame that +a very slender silk ribbon suffices to keep it from straying. + + + + +THE FIRST RAILWAY IN THE CRIMEA. + + +During the Russian War, in 1854, when the whole country was horror-struck +with the report of the sufferings endured by our brave soldiers in the +Crimea, Mr. Peto, in the most noble and disinterested manner, and at the +cost of his seat in the House of Commons for Norwich--which city he had +represented for several years--constructed for the Government a line of +railway from Balaclava to the English camp before Sebastopol, which at +the end of the war, with its various branches, was 37 English miles in +length and had 10 locomotives on it. In recognition of this patriotic +service the honour of a baronetcy was, in the following year, conferred +upon him by Her Majesty. + + --_Old Jonathan_. + + + + +THE BALACLAVA RAILWAY. + + +The following interesting extract from a communication to the _Times_, by +Sir Morton Peto, Bart., respecting the construction of the railway from +Balaclava to the British camp is worthy of preservation. Sir Morton +remarks:--"It was in the midst of the dreary winter of 1854, when the +British army was suffering unparalleled hardships before Sebastopol, that +it was resolved to construct a railway from Balaclava to the British +camp. Let honour be given where honour is due.--The idea emanated from +the Duke of Newcastle. His Grace applied to our firm to assist in +carrying out the design. The sympathies of all England were excited at +the time by the sufferings of our troops. Every one was emulous to +contribute all that could be contributed to their succour and support. +The firm of which I am a partner was anxious to take its share in the +good work, and, on the Duke of Newcastle's application, we cheerfully +undertook to make all the arrangements for carrying his Grace's views +into execution, on the understanding that the work should be considered +National; and that we should be permitted to execute it without any +charge for profit. + +We accordingly placed at the disposal of Her Majesty's Government the +whole of our resources. We fitted out transports with the stores +necessary for the construction of the railway; employed and equipped +hundreds of men to execute the works; provided a commissariat exclusively +for their use; engaged medical officers to attend to their health, and +placed the whole service under the direction of the most experienced +agents on our staff. These important preliminaries were arranged so +effectually, and with so much despatch, that the Emperor of the French +sent an agent to this country to instruct himself as to the mode in which +we equipped the expedition. + +Every item shipped by us for the works was valued before shipment at its +selling price; and for all these items of valuation, as well as for the +payments which we made for labour, we received the certificate of the +most eminent engineer of the day (the late lamented Mr. Robert +Stephenson). We undertook the execution of the Balaclava Railway as a +'National' work, agreeing to execute it without profit. We performed our +contract to the letter. We never profited by it to the extent of a +single shilling. + +The works (nearly seven miles of railway) were executed in less than a +month; an incredibly short space of time, considering the season of the +year, the severity of the climate, and the difficulties to which, +considering the distance from home, we were all of us exposed. It is a +matter of history that they eventuated in the taking of the great +fortress of Sebastopol. Before the railway was made, all the shot, all +the shell, and all the ammunition necessary for the siege, had to be +carried from Balaclava to the camp, a distance of five miles up hill, +through mud and sludge, upon the backs of the soldiers. An immense +proportion of our troops was told off for this most laborious service; of +whom no less than 25 per cent per month perished in its execution. On +the day the railway was opened, it carried to the camp of the British +army, in 24 hours, more shot and shell than had been brought from +Balaclava for six weeks previously. + +To our principal agent in the Crimea, the late Mr. Beattie, the greatest +credit was due for the way in which the arrangements were made, and the +work executed on that side. Mr. Beattie's labours were so arduous, and +his efforts so untiring, that he died of fatigue within six weeks after +the completion of the work--a victim, absolutely, to his unparalleled +exertions. The only favour in connection with these works which the Duke +of Newcastle ever granted at our request, he granted to the family of +this lamented gentleman. Mr. Beattie left a widow and four children to +deplore his loss, and through the favour of the Duke of Newcastle, the +widow, who now resides with her father, an estimable clergyman in the +North of Ireland, enjoys a pension as the widow of a colonel falling in +the field." + + + + +PASSENGERS AND OTHER CATTLE. + + +At the Eastern Counties meeting (1854) the solicitor cut short a clause +about passengers, animals, and cattle, by reading it "passengers and +other cattle." We do not recollect passengers having been classed with +cattle before. Perhaps the learned gentleman's eyesight was defective, +or the print was not very clear. + + + + +EXPANSION OF RAILS. + + +Robert Routledge, in his article upon railways, remarks:--"It may easily +be seen on looking at a line of rails that they are not laid with the +ends quite touching each other, or, at least, they are not usually in +contact. The reason of this is that space must be allowed for the +expansion which takes place when a rise in the temperature occurs. The +neglect of this precaution has sometimes led to damage and accidents. A +certain railway was opened in June, and, after an excursion train had in +the morning passed over it, the midday heat so expanded the iron that the +rails became, in some places, elevated to two feet above the level, and +the sleepers were torn up; so that in order to admit the return of the +train, the rails had to be fully relaid in a kind of zigzag. In June, +1856, a train was thrown off the metals of the North-Eastern Railway, in +consequence of the rails rising up through expansion." + + + + +A SMART REJOINDER. + + +An American railway employe asked for a pass down to visit his family. +"You are in the employ of the railway?" asked the gentleman applied to. +"Yes." "You receive your pay regularly?" "Yes." "Well, now, suppose +you were working for a farmer, instead of a railway, would you expect +your employer to hitch up his team every Saturday night and carry you +home?" This seemed a poser, but it wasn't. "No," said the man promptly, +"I wouldn't expect that; but if the farmer had his team hitched up and +was going my way, I should call him a contemptible fellow if he would not +let me ride." Mr. Employe came out three minutes afterwards with a pass +good for three months. + + + + +COURTING ON A RAILWAY THIRTY MILES AN HOUR. + + +An incident occurred on the Little Miami Railway which outstrips, in +point of speed and enterprise, although in a somewhat different field, +the lightning express, "fifty-cents-a-mile" special train achievement +which attended the delivery of the recent famous "defalcation report" in +this city. The facts are about thus: A lady, somewhat past that period +of life which _the world_ would term "young"--although she might differ +from them--was on her way to this city, for purposes connected with +active industry. At a point on the road a traveller took the train, who +happened to enter the car in which the young lady occupied a seat. After +walking up and down between the seats, the gentleman found no unoccupied +seat, except the one-half of that upon which the lady had deposited her +precious self and crinoline--the latter very modestly expansive. Making +a virtue of necessity--a "stand-ee" berth or a little self-assurance--he +modestly inquired if the lady had a fellow-traveller, and took a seat. + +As the train flew along with express speed, the strangers entered into a +cosy conversation, and mutual explanations. The gentleman was pleased, +and the lady certainly did not pout. After other subjects had been +discussed, and worn thread-bare, the lady made inquiries as to the price +of a sewing machine, and where such an article could be purchased in this +city. The gentleman ventured the opinion that she had "better secure a +husband first." This opened the way for another branch of conversation, +and the broken field was industriously cultivated. + +By the time the train arrived at the depot in this city, the gentleman +had proposed and been accepted (although the lady afterwards declared she +regarded it all as a good joke). The party separated; the gentleman, all +in good earnest, started for a license, and the lady made her way to a +boarding-house on Broadway, above Third, for dinner. At two o'clock the +gentleman returned with a license and a Justice, to the great +astonishment of the fair one, and after a few tears and +half-remonstrative expressions, she submitted with becoming modesty, and +the Squire performed the little ceremony in a twinkling. If this is not +a fast country, a search-warrant would hardly succeed in finding one. + + --_Cincinnati Commercial_. + + + + +THE MERCHANT AND HIS CLERK. + + +A London merchant resided a few miles from the City, in an elegant +mansion, to and from which he journeyed daily, and invariably by third +class. It happened that one of the clerks in his employ lived in a +cottage accessible by the same line of railway, but he always travelled +first class; the same train thus presenting the anomaly of the master +being in that place which one would naturally assign to the man, and the +man appearing to usurp the position of the master. One day these two +alighted at the terminus in full view of each other. "Well," said Mr. +B--, in that tone of banter which a superior so frequently thinks it +becoming to adopt, "I don't know how you manage to ride first-class, when +in these hard times I find third-class fare as much as I can afford." +"Sir," replied the clerk, "you, who are known to be a person of wealth +and position, may adopt the most economical mode of travelling at no more +risk than being thought eccentric, and even with the applause of some for +your manifest absence of pride. But, as for myself, I cannot afford to +indulge in such irregularities. Among the persons I travel with I am +reported to be a well-paid _employe_, and am respected accordingly; to +maintain this reputation I am compelled to travel in the same manner as +they do, and were I to adopt an inferior mode, it would be attributed to +some serious falling off of income; a circumstance which would occasion +me not only loss of consideration among my _quondam_ fellow-travellers, +but one which, upon coming to the ears of my butcher, baker, and grocer, +might seriously injure my credit with those highly respectable, but +certainly worldly minded tradesmen." Mr. B-- was not slow in recognizing +the full force of the argument, more particularly as the question of his +own liberality was involved, nor did he hesitate to give it a practical +application by immediately increasing the salary of his clerk; not only +to the amount of a first-class season ticket, but something over. + + --_The Railway Traveller's Handy Book_. + + + + +REMARKABLE WILL. + + +Some years ago an old gentleman of very eccentric habits, Mr. John +Younghusband, of Abbey Holme, Cumberland, died, and his will has proved +to be of the most eccentric character. The Silloth Railway runs through +part of his property, an arrangement to which he was most passionately +averse; and though years have elapsed since then, his bitterness was in +no way assuaged. In his will he leaves near 1000 pounds to a solicitor +who opposed the making of the railway; the rest of his money he bequeaths +to a comparative stranger upon these conditions--that the legatee never +speaks to one of the directors of the railway, that he never travels upon +it, that he never sends cattle or other traffic by it; and should he +violate any of these conditions, the estate reverts to the ordinary +succession. To Mr. John Irving and the other directors of the Silloth +line Mr. Younghusband has sarcastically bequeathed a _farthing_. + + + + +IMMENSE FRAUD ON THE GREAT-NORTHERN RAILWAY. + + +In the _Annual Register_ for 1856, November 14th, we read, "Another fraud +connected with the transfer of shares and stock, but on a far grander +scale, and by a much more pretentious criminal, has been discovered. + +"Of late some strange discrepancies had been observed in the accounts of +the Great-Northern Railway Company, and in particular that the amount +paid for dividends considerably exceeded the rateable proportion to the +capital stock. An investigation was directed. The registrar of shares, +Mr. Leopold Redpath, expressed a decided opinion that the investigation +into his department would be useless, and, on its being pressed, +absconded. The investigation developed a long-continued system of frauds +of vast amount, to the amount, it was said, of nearly 250,000 pounds. + +"Mr. Leopold Redpath passed in society as a gentleman of ample means, +great taste, and possessed of the Christian virtue of charity in no +common degree. He had a house in Chester Terrace, handsomely furnished, +and a "place" at Weybridge complete with every luxury that wealth could +procure; gave good dinners with excellent wines; kept good horses and +neat carriages. He was a governor of Christ's Hospital, the St. Ann's +Schools, and subscribed freely to the most useful charities of London. +His appointment on the Great-Northern was worth 300 pounds per annum; but +it was supposed that this was only of consequence to Mr. Redpath as +affording him a regular occupation and an opportunity of operating in the +share-market, in which he was known to have extensive dealings. The +directors of the railway appear to have been perfectly aware that their +servant was living far beyond his salary, but they considered him to be a +very successful speculator. Upon this splendid bubble being blown up, +Redpath fled to Paris; but, finding that the French authorities were not +inclined to protect him, he returned to London and surrendered himself. + +"The mode in which this gigantic swindler had committed his frauds is +simple enough. Having charge of the books in which the stock of the +company is registered, he altered the sum standing in the name of some +_bona fide_ stockholder to a much larger sum, generally by placing a +figure before it, by which simple means 500 became 1,500, or 2,500 +pounds, or any larger number of thousands. The surplus stock thus +_created_ Redpath sold in the stock-market, forging the name of the +supposed transferer, transferring the sum to the account of the supposed +transferee in the register, and either attesting it himself, or causing +it to be attested by a young man, his protege and tool, but who appears +to have been free from guilty cognizance. In some instances the fraud +was but the more direct course of making a fictitious entry of stock, and +then selling it. By these processes the number of shareholders and the +amount of stock on the company's register became greatly magnified, +while, as the _bona fide_ holders of stock remained credited with their +proper investments, there was no occasion for suspicion on their part. +How Redpath dealt with subsequent transfers of the fictitious stock does +not appear. The prisoner was subjected to repeated examination before +the police magistrates, when this prodigious falsification was thoroughly +sifted, and the prisoner was finally committed for trial at the Central +Criminal Court in the following year. It is said that the value of the +leases, furniture, and articles of taste in Redpath's house in Chester +Terrace is estimated at 30,000 pounds, and at Weybridge at a still larger +sum. It is also said that Redpath and Robson, whose forged transfer of +Crystal Palace shares has been recorded in this chronicle, were formerly +fellow clerks. + +"Lionel Redpath was tried, January 16th, 1857, at the Central Criminal +Court, and, being found guilty, was sentenced to transportation for life. +At the same time a junior clerk in his office, Charles Kent, was also +charged as his partner in the crime. It appeared that Kent had acted on +many occasions as attesting witness to the forged transfers which Redpath +had employed to carry out his ends; but, as no guilty knowledge on the +part of the former was shown, he was acquitted. + +"The railway company at first attempted to repudiate the forged stock +which Redpath had put into circulation, but pressing remonstrances, not +unaccompanied by threats, having been made by the Committee of the Stock +Exchange, they consented to acknowledge it. Then came the question by +whom the loss was to be borne; a question which was not solved until +after considerable litigation. The directors asserted that it ought to +be paid out of the current income of the year, and so it was ultimately +decided. This led to a further question between the guaranteed +shareholders and the rest of the company. For the diminution of the +year's earnings caused by taking up the fictitious stock being so great +as to render it impossible to satisfy the guaranteed dividends out of the +residue, it was contended on the part of the holders of those shares +that, by the provisions of the deed of settlement, the deficiency ought +to be made up out of the next year's profits, so that the guarantee that +they should receive their specified dividends was not clogged with the +condition in case a sufficient amount of earnings in each year was made +to pay them. This dispute led to a Chancery suit, the decree in which +was in favour of the holders of the guaranteed shares." + + + + +A LOST TICKET. + + +"Now, then, make haste there, will you, an' give up your ticket," +exclaimed a railway guard to a bandsman in the Volunteers returning from +a review. "Didna I tell ye I've lost it?" "Nonsense, man; feel in your +pockets, you cannot hae lost it." "Can I no?" was the drunken reply; +"man, that's naething, I've lost the big drum!" + + + + +MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.--SINGULAR ACTION. + + +The _Annual Register_ contains the following interesting case. July 25, +1857.--At the Maidstone Assizes an action arising out of a singular and +melancholy accident was tried. The action, Shilling _v._ The Accidental +Insurance Company, was brought by Charlotte Shilling, widow and +administratrix of Thomas Shilling, to recover from the defendants the sum +of 2000 pounds, upon a policy effected by the deceased on the life of her +father-in-law, James Shilling. The husband of the plaintiff, Thomas +Shilling, carried on the business of a builder at Malling, a short +distance from Maidstone. His father, James Shilling, lived with him; he +was nearly 80 years old, and very infirm, and his son used to drive him +about occasionally in his pony chaise. In the month of March, last year, +an application was made to the defendants to effect two policies for 2000 +pounds each upon the lives of Thomas Shilling and James Shilling, and to +secure that sum in the event of either of them dying from an accident, +and the policies were completed and delivered in the following month of +June. On the evening of the 11th of July, 1856, about half-past 7 +o'clock, the father and son went from Malling with a pony and chaise, for +the purpose of proceeding to a stone quarry at Aylesford, where Thomas +Shilling had business to transact, and they never returned home again +alive. There where two roads by which they could have got to the quarry +from Malling, one of which was rather a dangerous one to be taken with a +vehicle and horse, on account of a steep bank leading to the river Medway +being on one side and the railway passing close to the other; but this +route, it appears, was much shorter than the other, which was nearly two +miles round, and it was consequently constantly used both by pedestrians +and carriages. About 8 o'clock the pony and chaise and the father and +son were seen on this road, and upon arriving at the gate leading to the +quarry, Thomas Shilling got out, leaving the pony and chaise in charge of +his father. Mr. Garnham, the owner of the quarry, was not at home, and +while one of the labourers was conversing with Thomas Shilling, the sound +of an approaching train was heard, and the men advised him to go back to +his pony, for fear it should take fright at the train, and he said he +would do so, as it had been frightened by a train on a previous occasion. +He accordingly went towards the gate where he had left the pony and +chaise, and from that time there was no evidence to show what took place. +The family sat up the whole night awaiting the return of their relatives +in the utmost possible alarm at their absence; but nothing was heard of +them until the following morning, when a bargeman found the drowned pony +and the chaise and the dead bodies of the father and son floating in the +Medway, near the spot where the chaise had been last seen on the previous +evening. They were taken home, and a coroner's inquest was held, and the +only conclusion that could be arrived at was that the pony had taken +fright at the noise of the train, which appeared to have passed about the +time, and that he had jumped into the river, which at this spot was from +12 to 14 feet deep. + +The policy on the life of the father had been assigned to the son, whose +widow claimed the two sums insured from the defendants. That payable on +the death of the son they paid: but they refused to pay that due on the +father's policy, and pleaded to the action several pleas, alleging +certain violations of the conditions; and singularly enough, considering +that they had not disputed the son's policy on the same ground, they now +pleaded that the death was not the result of accident, but arose from +wanton and voluntary exposure to unnecessary danger. + +The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff. + + + + +A CATASTROPHE. + + +An old lady was going from Brookfield to Stamford, and took a seat in the +train for the first and last time in her life. During the ride the train +was thrown down an embankment. Crawling from beneath the _debris_ +unhurt, she spied a man sitting down, but with his legs laid down by some +heavy timber. "Is this Stamford?" she anxiously inquired. "No, madam," +was the reply, "this is a catastrophe." "Oh!" she cried, "then I hadn't +oughter got off here." + + + + +WEDDING AT A RAILWAY STATION. + + +Baltimore has had what it calls a romantic wedding at Camden Station. A +few moments before the departure of the outbound Washington train, a +gentleman accompanied by a lady and another gentleman, whose clerical +appearance indicated his profession, alighted from a carriage and entered +the depot. Upon the locks of the leader of the party the snows of fifty +winters had evidently fallen, while the lady had apparently reached that +age when she is supposed to have lain aside her matrimonial cap. Quietly +approaching the officer on duty within the station, they asked for a room +where a marriage ceremony might be privately performed. The request was +readily granted, and under the leadership of the obliging officer, the +party was conducted to the despatch room, a small lobby in the eastern +part of the building, where in a few minutes the twain were made man and +wife. With pleasant smiles, and a would-be-congratulated look upon their +countenances, they mingled with the crowd in waiting; and when the gates +were thrown open, arm in arm they boarded the train, their +fellow-passengers all the while ignorant of the interesting ceremony. + + --_Illustrated World_. + + + + +ENGINE FASCINATION. + + +The fascination which engines and their human satellites exercise over +some minds is very great; and while speaking on the subject, I am +reminded of a young man who haunted for years one of our chief termini: +he was the son of a leading west end confectioner, so that his early +training had in no way disposed him to an engineering life; but he was +the most remarkable accumulation of statistics in connection therewith I +ever knew. The line employed several hundreds of engines, and he not +only knew the names of all of them, but when they were made, and who had +made them; when each one had last been supplied with a new set of tubes +at the factory--this last, of course only referred to the engines +employed on the main line, which he had an opportunity of seeing, and +would miss when they were laid up for repair--and how this had had the +pressure on its safety-valve increased, and this had been diminished. He +had such a retentive memory for these and kindred facts, that I have seen +the foreman of the works appeal to him for information, which was never +lacking. His penchant was so well known that he had special permission +for access to the works. + + --_Chambers's Journal_. + + + + +COMPETITION FOR PASSENGERS. + + +Mr. Galt remarks:--"In the summer of 1857 the London and North-Western +and Great Northern railways contended with each other for the passenger +traffic from London to Manchester. First-class and second-class +passengers were conveyed at fares, there and back, of seven and sixpence +and five shillings respectively, the distance being 400 miles, and four +clear days were allowed in Manchester. As might have been expected, +trains were well filled, and, but for the fact that the other traffic was +much interfered with, the fares would, it is said, have been +remunerative. As it was, it is said the shareholders lost 1 per cent. +dividend. + +"Another memorable contest was carried on about the year 1853 between the +Caledonian and the Edinburgh and Glasgow Companies. The latter suddenly +reduced the fares between Edinburgh and Glasgow for the three classes +from eight shillings, six shillings, and four shillings, to one shilling, +ninepence, and sixpence. The contest was continued for +a-year-and-a-half, and cost the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company nearly 1 +per cent. in their dividends." + + + + +ACCIDENT HOAX. + + +The following impudent hoax, contained in a letter which appeared in the +_Times_ in 1860, was most annoying to the officials of the Great Northern +Company. It is headed:-- + + "Accident on the Great Northern Railway. + "To the Editor of the _Times_. + +"Sir,--I beg to inform you of a serious accident, attended by severe +injury, if not loss of life, which occured to-day to the 8 o'clock a.m. +train from Wakefield, on the Great Northern railway, near Doncaster, by +which I was a passenger. As the train approached Doncaster, about 9 +o'clock, the passengers were suddenly alarmed by the vehement oscillation +of the carriages. In a few seconds the engine had run off the line, +dragging the greater part of the train with it across the opposite line +of rails. By this time the concussion had become so vehement that the +grappling chains connecting the engine, tender, and first carriage with +the rest of the train providentially snapped. This circumstance saved +the lives of many. But the engine, tender, and first carriage were +hurled over the embankment, all three being together overturned, and the +latter (a second-class one) nearly crushed. The stoker was severely +injured on the head, and his recovery is more than doubtful; the engine +driver contrived to leap off in time to save himself with a few bruises. +The shrieks of the passengers in the overturned carriage (three women and +five men) were fearful; and for some time their extrication was +impossible. One middle-aged woman had her thigh broken, another her arm +fractured. One old man had one, if not two of his ribs broken. The +passengers in the other carriages, in one of which I was travelling, were +less seriously injured, though sufficiently so to talk about +compensation, instead of assisting in earnest those with broken limbs. +The line of rails was torn up for a considerable distance. Owing to the +telegraph being out of gear, some delay in communicating with Doncaster +was experienced. A surgeon and various hands at length arrived with a +special train for the injured passengers, who, after long delay, were +removed to Doncaster. I, of course, as a medical man, rendered what +assistance I could. Those worst injured were conveyed to the Railway +Arms, the recovery of more than one being doubted by myself. At length a +fresh train started from Doncaster, and we reached London nearly two +hours after due. + +The carelessness of the Company will, I hope, be the subject of your +severest animadversion. The accident was caused by the tire of one of +the right wheels of the engine having flown off; and it is clear that the +engine was not in a condition to ply between the stations of the Great +Northern railway. + +I have no objection to your use of my name if you think fit to publish +it. + + Your obedient servant, + Thomas Waddington, M.D., of Wakefield. + Morley's Hotel, Charing Cross, March 26. + +To the above letter the following reply was sent to the _Times_. + + "Alleged Accident on the Great Northern. + "To the Editor of the _Times_. + +"Sir,--The Directors of the Great Northern railway will feel much obliged +by the insertion of the following statement in the _Times_ to-morrow +relative to a letter which appeared therein to-day, signed 'Thomas +Waddington, M.D., of Wakefield,' and headed, 'Accident on the Great +Northern railway.' + +There was no accident whatever yesterday on the Great Northern railway. + +The trains all reached King's Cross with punctuality, the most irregular +in the whole day being only five minutes late. No such person as Thomas +Waddington is known at Morley's Hotel, whence the letter in question is +dated. + + I am, Sir, yours faithfully, + Seymour Clark, General Manager, + King's Cross, March 27. + +In the _Times_ on the day following appeared a letter from the real Dr. +Waddington, of Wakefield, (Edward not "Thomas") confirmatory of the +impudence of the hoax. + + "The alleged Accident on the Great Northern railway. + "To the Editor of the _Times_. + +"Sir,--My attention has been called to a letter in the _Times_ of +yesterday (signed 'Thomas Waddington, M.D., of Wakefield') the signature +of which is as gross and impudent a fabrication as the circumstances +which the writer professes to detail. I need only say there is no 'M.D.' +here named Waddington but myself, and that I was not on the Great +Northern or any other Railway on the 26th inst, when the accident is +alleged to have occured. + +Having obtained possession of the original letter, I have handed it to my +solicitors, in the hope that they may be enabled to discover and bring to +justice the perpetrator of this very stupid hoax. + + I am, Sir, your obedient servant, + Edward Waddington, M.D. + + Wakefield, March 28. + + + + +A'PENNY A MILE. + + +Two costers were looking at a railway time-table. + +"Say, Jem," said one of them, "vot's P.M. mean?" + +"Vy, penny a mile, to be sure." + +"Vell, vot's A.M.?" + +"A'penny a mile, to be sure." + + + + +SINGULAR FREAK. + + +In October, 1857, Mr. Tindal Atkinson applied to Mr. Hammill, at Worship +Street Police Court, to obtain a summons under the following strange +circumstances:-- + +"Mr. Atkinson stated that he was instructed on behalf of the Directors of +the Eastern Counties Railway Company to apply to the magistrate under the +terms of their Act of Incorporation, for a summons against Mr. Henry +Hunt, of Waltham-Cross, Essex, for having unlawfully used and worked a +certain locomotive upon a portion of their line, without having +previously obtained the permission or approval of the engineers or agents +of the company, whereby he had rendered himself liable to a penalty of 20 +pounds. He should confine himself to that by stating that in the dark, +on the night of Thursday, the 1st instant, a locomotive engine belonging +to Mr. Hunt was suddenly discovered by some of the company's servants to +be running along the rails in close proximity to one of the regular +passenger trains on the North Woolwich line. So great was the danger of +a collision, that they were obliged to instantly stop the train till the +stranger engine could get out of the way, to the great terror of the +passengers by the train, and as he was instructed it was almost the +result of a merciful interposition of Providence that a collision had not +occurred between them, in which event it would probably have terminated +fatally, to a greater or lesser extent. He now desired that summonses +might be granted not only against the owner of the engine so used, but +also against the driver and stoker of it, both of whom, it was obvious, +must have been well aware of their committing an unlawful act, and of the +perilous nature of the service in which they were engaged when they were +running an engine at such a time and place. + +"Mr. Hammill said it certainly was a most extraordinary proceeding for +anyone to adopt, and after the learned gentleman's statement he had no +hesitation whatever in granting summonses against the whole of the +persons engaged in it." + + + + +A.B.C. AND D.E.F. + + +A gentleman travelling in a railway carriage was endeavouring, with +considerable earnestness, to impress some argument upon a +fellow-traveller who was seated opposite to him, and who appeared rather +dull of apprehension. At length, being slightly irritated, he exclaimed +in a louder tone, "Why, sir, it's as plain as A.B.C." "That may be," +quietly replied the other, "but I am D.E.F." + + + + +NATIONAL CONTRAST. + + +The contrast which exists between the character of the French and English +navvy may be briefly exemplified by the following trifling anecdote:-- + +"In excavating a portion of the first tunnel east of Rouen towards Paris, +a French miner dressed in his blouse, and an English "navvy" in his white +smock jacket, were suddenly buried alive together by the falling in of +the earth behind them. Notwithstanding the violent commotion which the +intelligence of the accident excited above ground, Mr. Meek, the English +engineer who was constructing the work, after having quietly measured the +distance from the shaft to the sunken ground, satisfied himself that if +the men, at the moment of the accident, were at the head of "the drift" +at which they were working, they would be safe. + +Accordingly, getting together as many French and English labourers as he +could collect, he instantly commenced sinking a shaft, which was +accomplished to the depth of 50 feet in the extraordinary short space of +eleven hours, and the men were thus brought up to the surface alive. + +The Frenchman, on reaching the top, suddenly rushing forward, hugged and +saluted on both cheeks his friends and acquaintances, many of whom had +assembled, and then, almost instantly overpowered by conflicting +feelings--by the recollection of the endless time he had been imprisoned +and by the joy of his release--he sat down on a log of timber, and, +putting both his hands before his face, he began to cry aloud most +bitterly. + +The English "navvy" sat himself down on the very same piece of +timber--took his pit-cap off his head--slowly wiped with it the +perspiration from his hair and face--and then, looking for some seconds +into the hole or shaft close beside him through which he had been lifted, +as if he were calculating the number of cubic yards that had been +excavated, he quite coolly, in broad Lancashire dialect, said to the +crowd of French and English who were staring at him, as children and +nursery-maids in our London Zoological Gardens stand gazing +half-terrified at the white bear, "YAW'VE BEAN A DARMNATION SHORT TOIME +ABAAOWT IT!" + + Sir F. Head's _Stokers and Pokers_. + + + + +REMARKABLE ACCIDENT. + + +The most remarkable railway accident on record happened some years ago on +the North-Western road between London and Liverpool. A gentleman and his +wife were travelling in a compartment alone, when--the train going at the +rate of forty miles an hour--an iron rail projecting from a car on a +side-track cut into the carriage and took the head of the lady clear off, +and rolled it into the husband's lap. He subsequently sued the company +for damages, and created great surprise in court by giving his age at +thirty-six years, although his hair was snow white. It had been turned +from jet black by the horror of that event. + + + + +ENGINEERING LOAN, OR STAKING OUT A RAILWAY. + + +"Beau" Caldwell was a sporting genius of an extremely versatile +character. Like all his fraternity, he was possessed of a pliancy of +adaptation to circumstances that enabled him to succumb with true +philosophy to misfortunes, and also to grace the more exalted sphere of +prosperity with that natural ease attributed to gentlemen with bloated +bank accounts. + +Fertile in ingenuity and resources, Beau was rarely at his wit's end for +that nest egg of the gambler, a stake. His providence, when in luck, was +such as to keep him continually on the _qui vive_ for a nucleus to build +upon. + +Beau, having exhausted the pockets and liberality of his contemporaries +in Charleston, S.C., was constrained to "pitch his tent" in fresh +pastures. He therefore selected Abbeville, whither he was immediately +expedited by the agency of a "free pass." + +Snugly ensconced in his hotel, Beau ruminated over the means to raise the +"plate." The bar-keeper was assailed, but he was discovered to have +scruples (anomalous barkeeper!) The landlord was a "grum wretch," with +no soul for speculation. The cornered "sport" was finally reduced to the +alternative of "confidence of operation." Having arranged his scheme, he +rented him a precious negro boy, and borrowed an old theodolite. Thus +equipped, Beau betook himself to the abode of a neighbouring planter, +notorious for his wealth, obstinacy, and ignorance. Operations were +commenced by sending the nigger into the planter's barn-yard with a +flagpole. Beau got himself up into a charming tableau, directly in front +of the house. He now roared at the top of his voice, +"72,000,000--51--8--11." + +After which he went to driving small stakes, in a very promiscuous +manner, about the premises. + +The planter hearing the shouting, and curious to ascertain the cause, put +his head out of the window. + +"Now," said Beau, again assuming his civil engineering _pose_, "go to the +right a little further--there, that'll do. 47,000--92--5." + +"What the d---l are you doing in my barn-yard?" roared the planter. + +Beau would not consent to answer this interrogation, but pursuing his +business, hallooed out to his "nigger"-- + +"Now go to the house, place your pole against the kitchen door, +higher--stop at that. 86--45--6." + +"I say there," again vociferated the planter, "get out of my yard." + +"I'm afraid we will have to go right through the house," soliloquized +Beau. + +"I'm d--d if you do," exclaimed the planter. + +Beau now looked up for the first time, accosting the planter with a +courteous-- + +"Good day, sir." + +"Good d---l, sir; you are committing a trespass." + +"My dear friend," replied Beau, "public duty, imperative--no +trespass--surveying railroad--State job--your house in the way. Must +take off one corner, sir,--the kitchen part--least value--leave the +parlour--delightful room to see the cars rush by twelve times a day--make +you accessible to market." + +Beau, turning to the nigger, cried out-- + +"Put the pole against the kitchen door again--so, 85." + +"I say, stranger," interrupted the planter, "I guess you ain't dined. As +dinner's up, suppose you come in, and we'll talk the matter over." + +Beau, delighted with the proposition, immediately acceded, not having +tasted cooked provisions that day. + +"Now," said the planter, while Beau was paying marked attention to a +young turkey, "it's mighty inconvenient to have one's homestead smashed +up, without so much as asking the liberty. And more than that, if +there's law to be had, it shan't be did either." + +"Pooh! nonsense, my dear friend," replied Beau, "it's the law that says +the railroad must be laid through kitchens. Why, we have gone through +seventeen kitchens and eight parlours in the last eight miles--people +don't like it, but then it's law, and there's no alternative, except the +party persuades the surveyor to move a little to the left, and as curves +costs money most folks let it go through the kitchen." + +"Cost something, eh?" said the planter, eagerly catching at the bait +thrown out for him. "Would not mind a trifle. You see I don't oppose +the road, but if you'll turn to the left and it won't be much expense, +why I'll stand it." + +"Let me see," said Beau, counting his fingers, "forty and forty is +eighty, and one hundred. Yes, two hundred dollars will do it." +Unrolling a large map, intersected with lines running in every direction, +he continued--"There is your house, and here's the road. Air line. You +see to move to the left we must excavate this hill. As we are desirous +of retaining the goodwill of parties residing on the route, I'll agree on +the part of the company to secure the alteration, and prevent your house +from being molested." + +The planter revolved the matter in his mind for a moment and exclaimed:-- + +"You'll guarantee the alteration?" + +"Give a written document." + +"Then it's a bargain." + +The planter without more delay gave Beau an order on his city factor for +the stipulated sum, and received in exchange a written document, +guaranteeing the freedom of the kitchen from any encroachment by the C. +L. R. R. Co. + +Before leaving, Beau took the planter on one side and requested him not +to disclose their bargain until after the railroad was built. + +"You see, it mightn't exactly suit the views of some people--partiality, +you know." + +The last remark, accompanied by a suggestive wink, was returned by the +planter in a similar demonstration of _owlishness_. + +Beau resumed his theodolite, drove a few stakes on the hill opposite, and +proceeded onward in the fulfilment of his duties. As his light figure +receded into obscurity and the distance, the planter caught a sound +vastly like 40--40--120--200.--And that was the last he ever heard of the +railroad. + + _Appleton's American Railway Anecdote Book_. + + + + +MR. FRANK BUCKLAND'S FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY. + + +Mr. Spencer Walpole remarks:--"Of Mr. Buckland's Christ Church days many +good stories are told. Almost every one has heard of the bear which he +kept at his rooms, of its misdemeanours, and its rustication. Less +familiar, perhaps, is the story of his first journey by the Great +Western. The dons, alarmed at the possible consequences of a railway to +London, would not allow Brunel to bring the line nearer than to Didcot. +Dean Buckland in vain protested against the folly of this decision, and +the line was kept out of harm's way at Didcot. But, the very day on +which it was opened, Mr. Frank Buckland, with one or two other +undergraduates, drove over to Didcot, travelled up to London, and +returned in time to fulfil all the regulations of the university. The +Dean, who was probably not altogether displeased at the joke, told the +story to his friends who had prided themselves in keeping the line from +Oxford. 'Here,' he said, 'you have deprived us of the advantage of a +railway, and my son has been up to London.'" + + + + +SCENE BEFORE A SUB-COMMITTEE ON STANDING ORDERS. +PETITIONING AGAINST A RAILWAY BILL, 1846. + + +"Well, Snooks," began the Agent for the Promoters, in cross-examination, +"you signed the petition against the Bill--aye?" + +"Yees, zur. I zined summit, zur." + +"But that petition--did you sign that petition?" + +"I do'ant nar, zur; I zined zummit, zur." + +"But don't you know the contents of the petition?" + +"The what, zur?" + +"The contents; what's in it." + +"Oa! Noa, zur." + +"You don't know what's in the petition!--Why, ain't you the petitioner +himself?" + +"Noa, zur, I doan't nar that I be, zur." + +["Snooks! Snooks! Snooks!" issued a voice from a stout and +benevolent-looking elderly gentleman from behind, "how can you say so, +Snooks? It's your petition." The prompting, however, seemed to produce +but little impression upon him for whom it was intended, whatever effect +it may have had upon the minds of those whose ears it reached, but for +whose service it was not intended]. + +"Really, Mr. Chairman," observed the Agent for the Bill, who appeared to +have no idea of _Burking_ the inquiry, "this is growing interesting." + +"The interest is all on your side," remarked the Agent for the petition +(against the Bill). + +"Now, Snooks," continued the Agent for the Bill, "apply your mind to the +questions I shall put to you, and let me caution you to reply to them +truly and honestly. Now, tell me--who got you to sign this petition?" + +"I object to the question," interposed the Agent for the petition. "The +matter altogether is descending into mean, trivial, and unnecessary +details, which I am surprised my friend opposite should attempt to +trouble the Committee with." + +"I can readily understand, sir," replied the other, "why my friend is so +anxious to get rid of this inquiry--simple and short as it will be; but I +trust, sir, that you will consider it of sufficient importance to allow +it to proceed. I purpose to put only a few questions more on this +extraordinary petition against the Bill (the bare meaning of the name of +which the petitioner does not seem to understand) for the purpose of +eliciting some further information respecting it." + +The Committee being thus appealed to by both parties, inclined their +heads for a few moments in order to facilitate a communication in +whispers, and then decided that the inquiry might proceed. It was +evident that the matter had excited an interest in the minds and breasts +of the honourable members of the Committee; created as much perhaps by +the extreme mean and poverty-stricken appearance of the witness--a +miserable, dirty, and decrepit old man--as by the disclosures he had +already made. + +"Well, Snooks, I was about to ask you (when my friend interrupted me) who +got you to sign the petition, or that zummit as you call it?" + +"Some genelmen, zur." + +"Who were they--do you know their names?" + +"Noa, zur, co'ant say I do nar 'em a', zur." + +"But do you know any of them, was that gentleman behind you one?" + +[The gentleman referred to was the fine benevolent-looking individual who +had previously kindly endeavoured to assist the witness in his answers, +and who stood the present scrutiny with marked composure and +complaisance]. + +"Yees, zur, he war one on 'em." + +"Do you know his name?" + +"Noa, zur, I doant; but he be one of the railway genelmen." + +"What did he say to you, when he requested you to sign the petition?" + +"He said I ware to zine (pointing to the petition) that zummit." + +"When and where, pray, did you sign it?" + +"A lot o' railway genelmen kum to me on Sunday night last; and they wo' +make me do it, zur." + +"On Sunday night last, aye!" + +"What, on Sunday night!" exclaimed one honourable member on the extreme +right of the Chairman, with horror depicted on his countenance; "are you +sure, witness, that it was done in the evening of a Sabbath?" + +"The honourable member asks you, whether you are certain that you were +called upon by the railway gentlemen to sign the petition on a Sunday +evening? I think you told me last Sunday evening." + +"Oa, yees, zur; they kum just as we war a garing to chapel." + +"Disgraceful, and wrong in the extreme!" ejaculated the honourable +member. + +"And did not that gentleman" (continued the Agent for the Bill), "nor any +of the railway gentlemen, as you call them, when they requested you to +sign, explain the nature and contents of the petition?" + +"Noa, zur." + +"Then you don't know at this moment what it's for?" + +"Noa, zur." + +"Of course, therefore, it's not your petition as set forth?" + +"I doant nar, zur. I zined zummit." + +"Now, answer me, do you object to this line of railway? Have you any +dislike to it?" + +"O, noa, zur. I shud loak to zee it kum." + +"Exactly, you should like to see it made. So you have been led to +petition against it, though you are favourable to it?" + +The petitioner against the Bill did not appear to comprehend the precise +drift of the remark, and his only reply to the wordy fix into which the +learned agent had drawn him was made in the dumb-show of scratching with +his one disengaged hand (the other being employed in holding his hat) his +uncombed head--an operation that created much laughter, which was not +damped by the Agent's putting, with a serious face, a concluding question +or remark to him to the effect that he presumed he (the witness) had not +paid, or engaged to pay, so many guineas a day to his friend on the other +side for the prosecution of the opposition against the Bill--had he; yes, +or no? The witness's appearance was the only and best answer. + +The petition, of course, upon this _expose_, was withdrawn. + +This, the substance of what actually took place before one of the +Sub-Committees on Standing orders will give some idea of the nature of +many of the petitions against Railway Bills, especially on technical +points. It will serve to show in some measure what heartless mockeries +these petitions mostly are; the moral evils they give birth to--and that, +even while complaining of errors, they are themselves made up of +falsehood. + + + + +AN IDEA ON RAILWAYS. + + +A happy comment on the annihilation of time and space by locomotive +agency, is as follows:--A little child who rode fifty miles in a railway +train, and then took a coach to her uncle's house, some five miles +further, was asked on her arrival if she came by the cars. "We came a +little way in the cars, and all the rest of the way in a carriage." + + + + +BURNING THE ROAD CLEAR. + + +It is related of Colonel Thomas A. Scott, that on one occasion, when +making one of his swift trips over the American lines under his control, +his train was stopped by the wreck of a goods train. There was a dozen +heavily loaded covered trucks piled up on the road, and it would take a +long time to get help from the nearest accessible point, and probably +hours more to get the track cleared by mere force of labour. He surveyed +the difficulty, made a rough calculation of the cost of a total +destruction of the freight, and promptly made up his mind to burn the +road clear. By the time the relief train came the flames had done their +work and nothing remained but to patch up a few injuries done to the +track so as to enable him to pursue his way. + + + + +HARSH TREATMENT OF A MAN OF COLOUR. + + +My treatment in the use of public conveyances about these times was +extremely rough, especially on "The Eastern Railroad," from Boston to +Portland. On the road, as on many others, there was a mean, dirty, and +uncomfortable car set apart for coloured travellers, called the "Jim +Crow" car. Regarding this as the fruit of slaveholding prejudice, and +being determined to fight the spirit of slavery wherever I might find it, +I resolved to avoid this car, though it sometimes required some courage +to do so. The coloured people generally accepted the situation, and +complained of me as making matters worse rather than better, by refusing +to submit to this proscription. I, however, persisted, and sometimes was +soundly beaten by the conductor and brakeman. On one occasion, six of +these "fellows of the baser sort," under the direction of the conductor, +set out to eject me from my seat. As usual, I had purchased a +first-class ticket, and paid the required sum for it, and on the +requirement of the conductor to leave, refused to do so, when he called +on these men "to snake me out." They attempted to obey with an air which +plainly told me they relished the job. They, however, found me _much +attached_ to my seat, and in removing me tore away two or three of the +surrounding ones, on which I held with a firm grasp, and did the car no +service in some respects. I was strong and muscular, and the seats were +not then so firmly attached or of as solid make as now. The result was +that Stephen A. Chase, superintendent of the road, ordered all passenger +trains to pass through Lynn, where I then lived, without stopping. This +was a great inconvenience to the people, large numbers of whom did +business in Boston, and at other points of the road. Led on, however, by +James N. Buffum, Jonathon Buffum, Christopher Robinson, William Bassett, +and others, the people of Lynn stood bravely by me, and denounced the +railway management in emphatic terms. Mr. Chase made reply that a +railroad corporation was neither a religious nor a reformatory body; and +that the road was run for the accommodation of the public; and that it +required the exclusion of the coloured people from its cars. With an air +of triumph he told us that we ought not to expect a railroad company to +be better than the Evangelical Church, and that until the churches +abolished the "negro pew," we ought not to expect the railroad company to +abolish the negro car. This argument was certainly good enough as +against the Church, but good for nothing as against the demands of +justice and equity. My old and dear friend, J. N. Buffum, made a point +against the company that they "often allowed dogs and monkeys to ride in +first-class cars, and yet excluded a man like Frederick Douglass!" In a +very few years this barbarous practice was put away, and I think there +have been no instances of such exclusion during the past thirty years; +and coloured people now, everywhere in New England, ride upon equal terms +with other passengers. + + --_Life and Times of Frederick Douglass_. + + + + +QUITE TOO CLEVER + + +The elder Dumas was at the railway station, just starting to join his +yacht at Marseilles. Several friends had accompanied him, to say +good-bye. Suddenly he was informed that he had a hundred and fifty +kilogrammes excess of luggage. "Ho, ho!" cried Dumas. "How many +kilogrammes are allowed?" "Thirty for each person," was the reply. +Silently he made a mental calculation, and then in a tone of triumph bade +his secretary take places for five. "In that way," he explained, "we +shall have no excess." + + + + +A DIFFICULTY SOLVED. + + +Among the improvements that have been carried out at Windsor during the +autumn, has been an entire alteration in the draining of the Home Park +about Frogmore. New drains have been laid, and the waste earth has been +used to level the ground. This portion of the Royal domain was almost +wild at the beginning of the present reign. It consisted of fields, with +low hedges and deep ditches, and was intersected by a road, on which +stood several cottages and a public-house. It was quite an eyesore, and +Prince Albert was at his wit's end to know how to convert it into a park +and exclude the public, as before this could be done, it was necessary to +make a new road in place of the one it was desired to abolish, and +altogether a large outlay was inevitable; and even in those days, it was +out of the question to apply to Parliament for the amount required, +which, I believe, was about 80,000 pounds. + +The difficulty, however, was solved in rather a strange way. In the +early days of railroads they were looked upon as nuisances, and the +authorities at Windsor Castle were firmly resolved that no line should +approach the Royal borough, in which resolution they were warmly +supported by the equally stupid and short-sighted managers of Eton +College. Although the inhabitants sighed for a railway, none was brought +nearer than Slough. At this moment, when the park question was being +agitated, the South Western Directors brought forward a proposition that +they should make a line into Windsor, running along one side of the Home +Park, and right under the Castle. This audacious idea was regarded with +indignation at the Castle, until a hint was received that possibly, if +Royal interest were forthcoming to support the plan, the Company might be +able to facilitate the proposed alterations; and it then came out, +strangely enough, they had fixed the precise sum needed (80,000 pounds) +as compensation for the disturbance of the Royal property. No more was +heard of the objections to the scheme, which had been so vehemently +denounced a few days before, but, no sooner did it transpire that the +South-Western plan was not opposed by the Castle interest than down came +the Great-Western authorities in a fever of indignation, for it appeared +they had received an explicit promise that, if Windsor was ever +desecrated by a railway, they should have the preference. So resolute +was their attitude, that so far as I remember, the sitting of Parliament +was actually protracted in order that their Bill might be passed; not +that they got it without paying, for they gave 20,000 pounds for an old +stable and yard which were required for their station, and which happened +to stand on Crown property. Things were sometimes managed strangely +enough in those days. + + --_Truth_, Dec. 29, 1881. + + + + +AN EXACTING LADY. + + +A lady of fashion with a pugdog and a husband entered the train at +Paddington the other day. There were in the carriage but two persons, a +well-known Professor and his wife; yet the lady of fashion coveted, not +indeed his chair, but his seat. "I wish to sit by the window, sir," she +said, imperiously, and he had to move accordingly. "No, sir, that won't +do," she said, as he meekly took the next place. "I can't have a +stranger sitting close to me. My husband must sit where you are." + + _Gentleman's Magazine_. + + + + +AMERICAN PATIENCE AND IMPERTURBABILITY. + + +About an hour after midnight, on our journey from Boston to Albany, we +came to a sudden pause where no station was visible; and immediately, +very much to my surprise, the engine-driver, conductor, and several +passengers were seen sallying forth with lanterns, and hastening down the +embankment on our right. "What are they going to do now?" said I to a +gentleman, who, like myself, kept his seat. "Only to take a look at some +cars that were smashed this morning," was the reply. On opening the +window to observe the state of affairs, as well as the darkness would +allow, there, to be sure, at the bottom and along the side of the high +bank, lay an unhappy train, just as it had been upset. The locomotive on +its side was partly buried in the earth; and the cars which had followed +it in its descent lay in a confused heap behind. On the top of the bank, +near to us, the last car of all stood obliquely on end, with its hind +wheels in the air in a somewhat grotesque and threatening attitude. All +was now still and silent. The killed and wounded, if there were any, had +been removed. No living thing was visible but the errant engineer and +others from our train clambering with lanterns in their hands over a +prostrate wreck, and with heedless levity passing critical remarks on the +catastrophe. Curiosity being satisfied all resumed their places, and the +train moved on without a murmur of complaint as to the unnecessary, and, +considering the hour, very undesirable delay. I allude to the +circumstance, as one of a variety of facts that fell within my +observation, illustrative of the singular degree of patience and +imperturbability with which railway travellers in America submit +uncomplainingly to all sorts of detentions on their journey. + + _Things as they are in America_, by W. Chambers, 1853. + + + + +A WIDE-AWAKE CONDUCTOR. + + +Dana Krum, one of the conductors on the Erie Railway, was approached +before train time by an unknown man, who spoke to him as if he had known +him for years. "I say, Dana," said he, "I have forgotten my pass, and I +want to go to Susquehanna; I am a fireman on the road, you know." But +the conductor told him he ought to have a pass with him. It was the +safest way. Pretty soon, Dana came along to collect tickets. Seeing his +man, he spoke when he reached him. "Say, my friend, have you got the +time with you?" "Yes," said he, as he pulled out a watch, "it is twenty +minutes past nine." "Oh, it is, is it? Now, if you don't show me your +pass or fare, I will stop the train. There is no railway man that I ever +saw who would say 'Twenty minutes past nine.' He would say, +'Nine-twenty.'" He settled. + + + + +A KID-GLOVED SAMSON. + + +A correspondent of the _Chicago Journal_ relates the following feat of +strength, to which he was witness:-- + +"On Sunday, about nine o'clock A.M., as the train westward was within +three or four miles of Chicago, on the Fort Wayne road, a horse was +discovered on the stilt-work between the rails. The train was stopped, +and workmen were sent to clear the track. It was then discovered that +the body of the horse was resting on the sleepers. His legs having +passed through the open spaces, were too short to reach the ground. +Boards and rails were brought, and the open space in front of the horse +filled up, making a plank road for him in case he should be got up, and +by means of ropes one of his fore feet was raised, and there matters came +to a halt. It seemed that no strength or stratagem could avail to +release the animal. Levers of boards were splintered, and the men tugged +at the ropes in vain, when a passenger, who was looking quietly on, +stepped forward, leisurely slipped off a pair of tinted kids, seized the +horse by the tail, and with tremendous force hurled him forward on the +plank road. No one assisted, and, indeed, the whole thing was done so +quickly that assistance was impossible. The horse walked away looking +foolish, and casting suspicious side-glances towards his caudal +extremity. The lookers-on laughed and shouted, while the stranger +resumed his kids, muttering something about the inconvenience of railway +delays, lit a cigar, and walked slowly into the smoking car. He was +finely formed, of muscular appearance, was very fashionably dressed, wore +a moustache and whiskers of an auburn or reddish colour, and to all +questions as to who he was, only answered that he was a Pennsylvanian +travelling westward for his health. The horse would certainly weigh at +least twelve hundred." + + + + +A RAILWAY TRAIN TURNED INTO A MAN-TRAP. + + +A branch of the Bombay presidency runs through a wild region, the +inhabitants of which are unsophisticated savages, addicted to thievery. +The first day the line was opened a number of these Arcadians conspired +to intercept the train, and have a glorious loot. To accomplish their +object they placed some trunks of trees across the rails; but the engine +driver, keeping a very sharp look out, as it happened to be his first +trip on the line in question, descried the trunks while yet they were at +a considerable distance from him. The breaks were then put on, and when +the locomotive had approached within a couple of feet of the trunks it +was brought to a standstill. Then, instantaneously, like Roderick Dhu's +clansmen starting from the heather, natives, previously invisible, +swarmed up on all sides, and, crowding into the carriages, began to +pillage and plunder everything they could lay their hands upon. While +they were thus engaged, the guard gave the signal to the driver, who at +once reversed his engine and put it to the top of its speed. The reader +may judge of the consternation of the robbers when they found themselves +whirled backwards at a pace that rendered escape impossible. Some poor +fellows that attempted it were killed on the spot. + + --_Central India Times_, June 22, 1867. + + + + +THE RULING OCCUPATION STRONG ON SUNDAY. + + +In an Episcopal church in the north, not one hundred miles from Keith, a +porter employed during the week at the railway station, does duty on +Sunday by blowing the bellows of the organ. The other Sunday, wearied by +the long hours of railway attendance, combined, it may be, with the +soporific effects of a dull sermon, he fell sound asleep during the +service, and so remained when the pealing of the organ was required. He +was suddenly and rather rudely awakened by another official when +apparently dreaming of an approaching train, as he started to his feet +and roared out, with all the force and shrillness of stentorian lungs and +habit, "Change here for Elgin, Lossiemouth, and Burghead." The effect +upon the congregation, sitting in expectation of a concord of sweet +sounds, may be imagined--it is unnecessary to describe it. + + --_Dumfries Courier_, 1866. + + + + +THE GOOD THINGS OF RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. + + +We have always thought that, except to lawyers and railway carriage and +locomotive builders, railway accidents were great misfortunes, but it is +evident we were wrong and we hasten to acknowledge our error. Speaking +on Thursday with a respectable broker about the heavy damages (2,000 +pounds) given the day before on account of the Tottenham accident against +the Eastern Counties Company in the Court of Exchequer, he observed, "It +is rather good when these things happen as it moves the stock. I have +had an order for some days to buy Eastern Counties at 56 and could not do +it, but this verdict has sent them down one per cent., and enabled me now +to buy it." With all our railway experience we never dreamt of such a +benefit as this accruing from railway accidents, but it is evidently +among the possibilities. + + --_Herepath's Railway Journal_, June 7th, 1860. + + + + +BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF A RAILWAY ACCIDENT. + + +A gentleman who was in a railway collision in 1869, wrote to the _Times_ +in November of that year. After stating that he had been threatened with +a violent attack of rheumatic fever; in fact, he observed, "my condition +so alarmed me, and my dread of a sojourn in a Manchester hotel bed for +two or three months was so great, that I resolved to make a bold sortie +and, well wrapped up, start for London by the 3.30 p.m. Midland fast +train. From the time of leaving that station to the time of the +collision, my heart was going at express speed; my weak body was in a +profuse perspiration; flashes of pain announced that the muscular fibres +were under the tyrannical control of rheumatism, and I was almost beside +myself with toothache. From the moment of the collision to the present +hour no ache, pain, sweat, or tremor has troubled me in the slightest +degree, and instead of being, as I expected, and indeed intended, in bed +drinking _tinct. aurantii_, or absorbing through my pores oil of +horse-chestnut, I am conscientiously bound to be at my office bodily +sound. Don't print my name and address, or the Midland Company may come +down upon me for compensation." + + + + +AN EARLY MORNING RIDE TO THE RAILWAY STATION. + + +In the course of his peregrinations, the railway traveller may find +himself in some out-of-the-way place, where no regular vehicle can be +obtained to convey him to the station, and this _contretemps_ is +aggravated when the time of departure happens to be early in the morning. +Captain B--, a man of restless energy and adventurous spirit, emerged +early one morning from a hovel in a distant village, where from stress of +weather he had been compelled to pass the night. It was just dawn of +day, and within an hour of the train he wished to go by would start from +the station, about six miles distant. He had with him a portmanteau, +which it would be impossible for him to carry within the prescribed time, +but which he could not very well leave behind. Pondering on what he +should do, his eye lighted on a likely looking horse grazing in a field +hard by, while in the next field there was a line extended between two +posts, for the purpose of drying clothes upon. The sight of these +objects soon suggested the plan for him to adopt. In an instant he +detached the line, and then taking a piece of bread from his pocket, +coaxed the animal to approach him. Captain B-- was an adept in the +management of horses, and as a rough rider, perhaps, had no equal. In a +few seconds he had, by the aid of a portion of the line, arranged his +portmanteau pannier-wise across the horse's back, and forming a bridle +with the remaining portion of the line, he led his steed into the lane, +and sprang upon his back. The horse rather relished the trip than +otherwise, and what with the unaccustomed burden, and the consciousness +that he was being steered by a knowing hand, he sped onwards at a +terrific pace. While in mid career, one of the mounted police espied the +captain coming along the road at a distance; recognizing the horse, but +not knowing the rider, and noticing also the portmanteau, and the uncouth +equipment, this rural guardian of the peace came to the conclusion that +this was a case of robbery and horse stealing; and as the captain neared +him, he endeavoured to stop him, and stretched forth his hand to seize +the improvised bridle, but the gallant equestrian laughed to scorn the +impotent attempt, and shook him off, and shot by him. Thus foiled, the +policeman had nothing to do than to give chase; so turning his horse's +head he followed in full cry. The clatter and shouts of pursuer and +pursued brought forth the inhabitants of the cottages as they passed, and +many of these joined in the chase. Never since Turpin's ride to York, or +Johnny Gilpin's ride to Edmonton, had there been such a commotion caused +by an equestrian performance. To make a long story short, the captain +reached the station in ample time; an explanation ensued; a handsome +apology was tendered to the patrol, and a present equally handsome was +forwarded, together with the abstracted property, to the joint owner of +the horse and the clothes-line. + + + + +CHEAP FARES. + + +In the year 1868, Mr. Raphael Brandon brought out a book called _Railways +and the Public_. In it he proposes that the railways should be purchased +and worked by the government; and that passengers, like letters, should +travel any distance at a fixed charge. He calculates that a threepenny +stamp for third-class, a sixpenny stamp for second-class, and a shilling +stamp for first-class, should take a passenger any distance whether long +or short. With the adoption of the scheme, he believes, such an impetus +would be given to passenger traffic that the returns would amount to more +than double what they are at present. There may be flaws in Mr. +Brandon's theory, yet it may be within the bounds of possibility that +some great innovator may rise up and do for the travelling public by way +of organization what Sir Rowland Hill has done for the postage of the +country by the penny stamp. + + + + +WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? + + +The above question was asked by a man of his friend who had been injured +in a railway accident, "I am first going in for repairs, and then for +_damages_," was the answer. + + + + +REPROOF FOR SWEARING. + + +The manager of one of the great Indian railways, in addressing a European +subordinate given to indulge in needless strong language, wrote as +follows:--"Dear sir, it is with extreme regret that I have to bring to +your notice that I observed very unprofessional conduct on your part this +morning when making a trial trip. I allude to the abusive language you +used to the drivers and others. This I consider an unwarrantable +assumption of my duties and functions, and, I may say, rights and +privileges. Should you wish to abuse any of our employes, I think it +will be best in future to do so in regular form, and I beg to point out +what I consider this to be. You will please to submit to me, in writing, +the form of oath you wish to use, when, if it meets my approval, I shall +at once sanction it; but if not, I shall refer the same to the directors; +and, in the course of a few weeks, their decision will be known. +Perhaps, to save time, it might be as well for you to submit a list of +the expletives generally in use by you, and I can then at once refer +those to which I object to the directors for their decision. But, +pending that, you will please to understand that all cursing and swearing +at drivers and others engaged on the traffic arrangements in which you +may wish to indulge must be done in writing, and through me. By adopting +this course you will perceive how much responsibility you will save +yourself, and how very much the business of the company will be +expedited, and its interests promoted." + + + + +THE BULLY RIGHTLY SERVED. + + +In the _Railway Traveller's Handy Book_, there is an account of an +occurrence which took place on the Eastern Counties line:--"A big hulking +fellow, with bully written on his face, took his seat in a second-class +carriage, and forthwith commenced insulting everybody by his words and +gestures. He was asked to desist, but only responded with language more +abusive. The guard was then appealed to, who told him to mind what he +was about, shut the door, and cried 'all right.' Thus encouraged the +miscreant continued his disgraceful conduct, and became every moment more +outrageous. In one part of the carriage were four farmers sitting who +all came from the same neighbourhood, and to whom every part along the +line was well known. One of these wrote on a slip of paper these words, +'Let us souse him in Chuckley Slough.' This paper was handed from one to +the other, and each nodded assent. Now, Chuckley Slough was a pond near +one of the railway stations, not very deep, but the waters of which were +black, muddy, and somewhat repellent to the olfactory nerves. The +station was neared and arrived at; in the meantime the bully's conduct +became worse and worse. As they emerged from the station, one of the +farmers, aforesaid, said to the fellow, 'Now, will you he quiet?' 'No, I +won't,' was the answer. 'You won't, won't you?' asked a second farmer. +'You're determined you won't?' inquired a third. 'You're certain you +won't?' asked the fourth. To all of which queries the response was in +negatives, with certain inelegant expletives added thereto. 'Then,' said +the four farmers speaking as one man, and rising in a body, 'out you go.' +So saying, they seized the giant form of the wretch, who struggled hard +to escape but to no purpose; they forced him to the window, and while the +train was still travelling at a slow pace, and Chuckley Slough appeared +to view, they without more ado thrust the huge carcass through the +window, and propelling it forward with some force, landed it exactly in +the centre of the black, filthy slough. The mingled cries and oaths of +the man were something fearful to hear; his attempts at extrication and +incessant slipping still deeper in the mire, something ludicrous to +witness; all the passengers watched him with feelings of gratified +revenge, and the last that was seen of him was a huge black mass, having +no traces of humanity about it, crawling up the bank in a state of utter +prostration. In this instance the remedy was rather a violent one; but +less active measures had been found to fail, and there can be little +doubt that this man took care ever afterwards not to run the risk of a +similar punishment by indulging in conduct of a like nature." + + + + +LIABILITY OF COMPANIES FOR DELAY OF TRAINS. + + +There have been cases where claims have been made and recovered in courts +of law for loss arising from delay in the arrival of trains, but the law +does not render the company's liability unlimited. A remarkable case +occurred not long since. A Mr. Le Blanche sued the London and +North-Western Company for the cost of a special train to Scarborough, +which he had ordered in consequence of his being brought from Liverpool +to Leeds, too late for the ordinary train from Leeds to Scarborough. A +judgment in the county court was given in favour of the applicant. + +The railway company appealed to the superior court, and the points raised +were argued by able counsel, when the decision of the county court judge +was confirmed. The company was determined to put the case to the utmost +possible test, and on appealing to the Supreme Court of Judicature the +judgment was reversed, the decision being to the effect that, whilst +there was some evidence of wilful delay, the measure of damage was wrong. + + --_Our Railways_, by Joseph Parsloe. + + + + +THE DYING ENGINE DRIVER. + + +Doubts have been expressed whether our iron ships will ever be regarded +in the same affectionate way as "liners" used to be regarded by our "old +salts." It has been supposed that the latest creations of science will +not nourish sentiment. The following anecdote shows, however, as +romantic an attachment to iron as was ever manifested towards wood. On +the Great Western Railway, the broad gauge and the narrow gauge are +mixed; the former still existing to the delight of travellers by the +"Flying Dutchman," whatever economical shareholders may have to say to +the contrary. The officials who have been longest on the staff also +cling to the broad gauge, like faithful royalists to a fast disappearing +dynasty. The other day an ancient guard on this line was knocked down +and run over by an engine; and though good enough medical attendance was +at hand, had skill been of any use, the dying man wished to see "the +company's" doctor. The gentleman, a man much esteemed by all the +employes, was accordingly sent for. "I am glad you came to see me start, +doctor, (as I hope) by the up-train," said the poor man. "I am only +sorry I can do nothing for you, my good fellow," answered the other. "I +know that; it is all over with me. But there!--I'm glad it was _not one +of them narrow-gauge engines that did it_!" + + --_Gentleman's Magazine_. + + + + +"DOWN BRAKES," OR FORCE OF HABIT. + + +An Illinois captain, lately a railroad conductor, was drilling a squad, +and while marching them by flank, turned to speak to a friend for a +moment. On looking again toward his squad, he saw they were in the act +of "butting up" against a fence. In his hurry to halt them, he cried, +"Down brakes! Down brakes!" + + + + +TRENT STATION. + + +This station on the Midland system is often a source of no little +perplexity to strangers. Sir Edward Beckett thus humorously describes +it:--"You arrive at Trent. Where that is I cannot tell. I suppose it is +somewhere near the river Trent, but then the Trent is a very long river. +You get out of your train to obtain refreshment, and having taken it, you +endeavour to find your train and your carriage. But whether it is on +this side or that, and whether it is going north or south, this way or +that way, you cannot tell. Bewildered, you frantically rush into your +carriage; the train moves off round a curve, and then you are horrified +to see some lights glaring in front of you, and you are in immediate +expectation of a collision, when your fellow-passenger calms your fears +by telling you that they are only the tail lamps of your own train." + + + + +STEEL RAILS. + + +The first steel rail was made in 1857, by Mushet, at the Ebbw-Vale Iron +Co.'s works in South Wales. It was rolled from cast blooms of Bessemer +steel and laid down at Derby, England, and remained sixteen years, during +which time 250 trains and at least 250 detached engines and tenders +passed over it daily. Taking 312 working days in each year, we have the +total of 1,252,000 trains and 1,252,000 detached engines and tenders +which passed over it from the time it was first laid before it was +removed to be worked over. + +The substitution of steel for iron, to an extent rendered possible by the +Bessemer process, has worked a great and abiding change in the condition +of our ways, giving greater endurance both in respect of wear and in +resistance to breaking strains and jars. + +Two steel rails of twenty-one feet in length were laid on the 2nd of May, +1862, at the Chalk Farm Bridge, side by side with two ordinary rails. +After having outlasted sixteen faces of the ordinary rails, the steel +ones were taken up and examined, and it was found that at the expiration +of three years and three months, the surface was evenly worn to the +extent of only a little more than a quarter of an inch, and to all +appearance they were capable of enduring a great deal more work. The +result of this trial was to induce the London and North Western to enter +very extensively into the employment of steel rails. + + _Knight's Dictionary of Mechanics_. + + + + +CURIOUS CASUALTY. + + +Out of three truck loads of cattle on the Great Western Railway two of +the animals were struck dead by the lightning on Monday afternoon, July +5, 1852, not very far from Swindon. What renders it remarkable is, that +one animal only in each of the two trucks was struck, and five or six +animals in each escaped uninjured. The animal killed in one of the +trucks was a bull, the cows escaping injury, and in the other truck it +was a bull or an ox that was killed. + + + + +GEORGE STEPHENSON'S WEDDING PRESENT. + + +A correspondent, writing to the _Derbyshire Courier_ the week following +the Stephenson Centenary celebration at Chesterfield, remarks:--"The +other day I met a kindly and venerable gentleman who possesses quite a +fund of anecdotes relating to the Stephensons, father and son. It +appears we have, or had, relations of old George residing in Derby. +Years ago, says my friend, an old gentleman, who by his appearance and +carriage was stamped as a man distinguished among his fellow-men, was +inquiring on Derby platform for a certain engine-driver in the North +Midland or the Birmingham and Derby service, whose name he gave. On the +driver being pointed out, the gentleman, with the rough but pleasing +north-country burr in his voice, said, after asking his name, "Did you +marry --?" "Yes, sir." "Then she's my niece, and I hope you'll make her +a good husband. I have not had the chance of giving you a wedding +present until now." Then slipping into his hand a bank note for 50 +pounds, he talked of other matters. The joy of the engine-driver at +receiving so welcome a present was not greater than being recognised and +kindly received by his wife's illustrious uncle, George Stephenson." + + + + +THE POLITE IRISHMAN. + + +It's a small matter, but a gentleman always feels angry at himself after +he has given up his seat, in a railway car, to a female who lacks the +good manners to acknowledge the favour. The following "hint" to the +ladies will show that a trifle of politeness properly spread on, often +has a happy effect. + +The seats were all full, one of which was occupied by a rough-looking +Irishman; and at one of the stations a couple of evidently well-bred and +intelligent young ladies came in to procure seats, but seeing no vacant +ones, were about to go into a back car, when Patrick rose hastily, and +offered them his seat, with evident pleasure. "But you will have no seat +yourself?" responded one of the young ladies with a smile, hesitating, +with true politeness, as to accepting it. "Never ye mind _that_!" said +the Hibernian, "ye'r welcome to 't! I'd ride upon the cow-catcher till +New York, any time, for a smile from such _jintlemanly_ ladies;" and +retreated hastily to the next car, amid the cheers of those who had +witnessed the affair. + + + + +AN ENTERTAINING COMPANION. + + +Once, during a tour in the Western States, writes Mr. Florence, the +actor, an incident occurred in which I rather think I played the victim. +We were _en route_ from Cleveland to Cincinnati, an eight or ten-hour +journey. After seeing my wife comfortably seated, I walked forward to +the smoking car, and, taking the only unoccupied place, pulled out my +cigar case, and offered a cigar to my next neighbour. He was about sixty +years of age, gentlemanly in appearance, and of a somewhat reserved and +bashful mien. He gracefully accepted the cigar, and in a few minutes we +were engaged in conversation. + +"Are you going far west?" I inquired. + +"Merely so far as Columbus." (Columbus, I may explain is the capital of +Ohio.) "And you, sir?" he added, interrogatively. + +"I am journeying toward Cincinnati. I am a theatrical man, and play +there to-morrow night." I was a young man then, and fond of avowing my +profession. + +"Oh, indeed! Your face seemed familiar to me as you entered the car. I +am confident we have met before." + +"I have acted in almost every State in the Union," said I. "Mrs. +Florence and I are pretty generally known throughout the north-west." + +"Bless me?" said the stranger in surprise, "I have seen you act many +times, sir, and the recollection of Mrs. Florence's 'Yankee Girl,' with +her quaint songs, is still fresh in my memory." + +"Do you propose remaining long in Columbus?" + +"Yes, for seven years," replied my companion. + +Thus we chatted for an hour or two. At length my attention was attracted +to a little, red-faced man, with small sharp eyes, who sat immediately +opposite us and amused himself by sucking the knob of a large walking +stick which he carried caressingly in his hand. He had more than once +glanced at me in a knowing manner, and now and then gave a sly wink and +shake of the head at me, as much as to say, "Ah, old fellow, I know you, +too." + +These attentions were so marked that I finally asked my companion if he +had noticed them. + +"That poor man acts like a lunatic," said I, _sotto voce_. + +"A poor half-witted fellow, possibly," replied my fellow-traveller. "In +your travels through the country, however, Mr. Florence, you must have +often met such strange characters." + +We had now reached Crestline, the dinner station, and, after thanking the +stranger for the agreeable way in which he had enabled me to pass the +journey up to this point, I asked him if he would join Mrs. Florence and +myself at dinner. This produced an extraordinary series of grimaces and +winks from the red-faced party aforesaid. The invitation to dinner was +politely declined. + +The repast over, our train sped on toward Cincinnati. I told my wife +that in the smoking car I had met a most entertaining gentleman, who was +well posted in theatricals, and was on his way to Columbus. She +suggested that I should bring him into our car, and present him to her. +I returned to the smoking car and proposed that the gentleman should +accompany me to see Mrs. Florence. The proposal made the red-faced man +undergo a species of spasmodic convulsions which set the occupants of the +car into roars of laughter. + +"No, I thank you," said my friend, "I feel obliged to you for the +courtesy, but I prefer the smoking car. Have you another cigar?" + +"Yes," said I, producing another Partaga. + +I again sat by his side, and once more our conversation began, and we +were quite fraternal. We talked about theatres and theatricals, and then +adverted to political economy, the state of the country, finance and +commerce in turn, our intimacy evidently affording intense amusement to +the foxy-faced party near us. + +Finally the shrill sound of the whistle and the entrance of the conductor +indicated that we had arrived at Columbus, and the train soon arrived at +the station. + +"Come," said the red-faced individual, now rising from his seat and +tapping my companion on the shoulder, "This is your station, old man." + +My friend rose with some difficulty, dragging his hitherto concealed feet +from under the seat, when, for the first time, I discovered that he was +shackled, and was a prisoner in charge of the Sheriff, going for seven +years to the state prison at Columbus. + + + + +NOVEL ATTACK. + + +Auxerre, November 15th, 1851.--Last week, at the moment when a railway +tender was passing along the line from Saint Florentin to Tonnerre, a +wolf boldly leaped upon it and attacked the stoker. The man immediately +seized his shovel and repulsed the aggressor, who fell upon the rail and +was instantly crushed to pieces. + + --_National_. + + + + +WOLVES ON A RAILWAY. + + +In 1867, "A cattle train on the Luxemburg Railway was stopped," says the +_Nord_, "two nights back, between Libramont and Poix by the snow. The +brakesman was sent forward for aid to clear the line, and while the +guard, fireman, engine-driver, and a customs officer were engaged in +getting the snow from under the engine they were alarmed by wolves, of +which there were five, and which were attracted, no doubt, by the scent +of the oxen and sheep cooped up in railed-in carriages. The men had no +weapons save the fire utensils belonging to the engine. The wolves +remained in a semicircle a few yards distant, looking keenly on. The +engine-driver let off the steam and blew the whistle, and lanterns were +waved to and fro, but the savage brutes did not move. The men then made +their way, followed by the wolves, to the guard's carriage. Three got in +safe; whilst the fourth was on the step one of the animals sprang on him, +but succeeded only in tearing his coat. They all then made an attack, +but were beaten off, one being killed by a blow on the head. Two hours +elapsed before assistance arrived, and during that time the wolves made +several attacks upon the sheep trucks, but failed to get in. None of the +cattle were injured." + + + + +ARTEMUS WARD'S SUGGESTION. + + +"I was once," he remarks, "on a slow California train, and I went to the +conductor and suggested that the cowketcher was on the wrong end of the +train; for I said, 'You will never overtake a cow, you know; but if you'd +put it on the other end it might be useful, for now there's nothin' on +earth to hinder a cow from walkin' right in and bitin' the folks!" + + + + +COACH VERSUS RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. + + +A coachman once remarked, "Why you see, sir, if a coach goes over and +spills you in the road there you are; but if you are blown up by an +engine, where are you?" + + + + +BAVARIAN GUARDS AND BAVARIAN BEER. + + +"In England," says Mr. Wilberforce, "the guard is content to be the +servant of the train; in Germany he is in command of the passengers. +'When is the train going on?' asked an Englishman once of a foreign +guard. 'Whenever I choose,' was the answer. To judge from the delays +the trains make at some of the stations, one would suppose that the guard +had uncontrolled power of causing stoppages. You see him chatting with +the station-master for several minutes after all the carriages have been +shut up, and at last, when the topics of conversation are exhausted, he +gives a condescending whistle to the engine-driver. Time seems never to +be considered by either guards or passengers. Bavarians always go to the +station half-an-hour before the train is due, and their indifference to +delay is so well known that the directors can put on their time book 'As +the time of departure from small stations cannot be guaranteed, the +travellers must be there twenty-five minutes beforehand.'" Mr. +Wilberforce should not have omitted to mention the main cause of these +delays, which appears at the same time to constitute the final cause of a +Bavarian's existence--Beer. Guards and passengers alike require +alcoholic refreshment at least at every other station. At Culmbach, the +fountain of the choicest variety of Bavarian beer, the practice had risen +to such a head that, as we found last summer, government had been forced +to interfere. To prevent trains from dallying if there was beer to drink +at Culmbach was obviously impossible. The temptation itself was removed; +and no beer was any longer allowed to be sold at that fated railway +station, by reason of its being so superlatively excellent. + + --_Saturday Review_, 1864. + + + + +THE RAILWAY SWITCH-TENDER AND HIS CHILD. + + +On one of the railroads in Prussia, a few years ago, a switch-tender was +just taking his place, in order to turn a coming train approaching in a +contrary direction. Just at this moment, on turning his head, he +discerned his little son playing on the track of the advancing engine. +What could he do? Thought was quick at such a moment of peril! He might +spring to his child and rescue him, but he could not do this and turn the +switch in time, and for want of that hundreds of lives might be lost. +Although in sore trouble, he could not neglect his greater duty, but +exclaiming with a loud voice to his son, "Lie down," he laid hold of the +switch, and saw the train safely turned on to its proper track. His boy, +accustomed to obedience, did as his father commanded him, and the fearful +heavy train thundered over him. Little did the passengers dream, as they +found themselves quietly resting on that turnout, what terrible anguish +their approach had that day caused to one noble heart. The father rushed +to where his boy lay, fearful lest he should find only a mangled corpse, +but to his great joy and thankful gratitude he found him alive and +unharmed. Prompt obedience had saved him. Had he paused to argue, to +reason whether it were best--death, and fearful mutilation of body, would +have resulted. The circumstances connected with this event were made +known to the King of Prussia, who the next day sent for the man and +presented him with a medal of honour for his heroism. + + + + +VERY COOL. + + +Some years ago at a railway station a gentleman actually followed a +person with a portmanteau, which he thought to be his, but the fellow, +unabashed, maintaining it to be his own property, the gentleman returned +to inquire after his, and found, when too late, that his first suspicions +were correct. + + + + +THE BLACK REDSTART. + + +A railway carriage had been left for some weeks out of use in the station +at Giessen, Hesse Darmstadt, in the month of May, 1852, and when the +superintendent came to examine the carriage he found that a black +redstart had built her nest upon the collision spring; he very humanely +retained the carriage in its shed until its use was imperatively +demanded, and at last attached it to the train which ran to +Frankfort-on-the-Maine, a distance of nearly forty miles. It remained at +Frankfort for thirty-six hours, and was then brought back to Giessen, and +after one or two short journeys came back again to rest at Giessen, after +a period of four days. The young birds were by this time partly fledged, +and finding that the parent bird had not deserted her offspring, the +superintendent carefully removed the nest to a place of safety, whither +the parent soon followed. The young were, in process of time, full +fledged and left the nest to shift for themselves. It is evident that +one at least of the parent birds must have accompanied the nest in all +its journeys, for, putting aside the difficulty which must have been +experienced by the parents in watching for every carriage that arrived at +Giessen, the nestlings would have perished from hunger during their stay +at Frankfort, for everyone who has reared young birds is perfectly aware +that they need food every two hours. Moreover, the guard of the train +repeatedly saw a red-tailed bird flying about that part of the carriage +on which the nest was placed. + + + + +STOPPING A RUNAWAY COUPLE. + + +Captain Galton who some years ago was the government railway inspector, +in one of his reports relates the following singular circumstance. "A +girl who was in love with the engine-driver of a train, had engaged to +run away from her father's house in order to be married. She arranged to +leave by a train this man was driving. Her father and brother got +intelligence of her intended escape; and having missed catching her as +she got into the train, they contrived, whether with or without the +assistance of a porter is not very clear, to turn the train through +facing points, as it left the station, into a bog." The captain does not +pursue the subject further in his report, so that we are left in +ignorance as to the success of the plan for stopping a contemplated +runaway marriage. + + + + +A MADMAN IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. + + +We subjoin from the _Annual Register_ for 1864 an account of an alarming +occurrence which took place July 4th of that year:--"In one of the +third-class compartments of the express train leaving King's Cross +Station at 9.15 p.m., a tall and strongly-built man, dressed as a sailor, +and having a wild and haggard look, took his seat about three minutes +before the train started. He was accompanied to the carriage by a woman, +whom he afterwards referred to as his wife, and by a man, apparently a +cab-driver, of both of whom he took leave when the train was about to +start. It had scarcely done so, when, on putting his hand to his pocket, +he called out that he had been robbed of his purse, containing 17 pounds, +and at once began to shout and gesticulate in a manner which greatly +alarmed his fellow-travellers, four in number, in the same compartment. +He continued to roar and swear with increasing violence for some time, +and then made an attempt to throw himself out of the window. He threw +his arms and part of his body out of the window, and had just succeeded +in placing one of his legs out, when the other occupants of the carriage, +who had been endeavouring to keep him back, succeeded in dragging him +from the window. Being foiled in this attempt, he turned round upon +those who had been instrumental in keeping him back. After a long and +severe struggle, which--notwithstanding the speed the train was running +at--was heard in the adjoining compartments, the sailor was overcome by +the united exertions of the party, and was held down in a prostrate +position by two of their number. Though thus secured, he still continued +to struggle and shout vehemently, and it was not till some time +afterwards, when they managed to bind his hands and strap him to the +seat, that the passengers in the compartment felt themselves secure. +This train, it may be explained, makes the journey from London to +Peterborough, a distance little short of eighty miles, without a single +stoppage; and as the scene we have been describing began immediately +after the train left London, the expectation of having to pass the time +usually occupied between the two stations (one hour and fifty minutes) +with such a companion must have been far from agreeable. While the +struggle was going on, and even for some time afterwards, almost frantic +attempts were made to get the train stopped. The attention of those in +the adjoining compartment was readily gained by waving handkerchiefs out +of the window, and by-and-by a full explanation of the circumstances was +communicated through the aperture in which the lamp that lights both +compartments is placed. A request to communicate with the guard was made +from one carriage to another for a short distance, but it was found +impossible to continue it, and so the occupants of the compartments +beyond the one nearest the scene of the disturbance could learn nothing +as to its nature, a vague feeling of alarm seized them, and all the way +along to Peterborough a succession of shouts of 'Stop the train,' mixed +with the frantic screams of female passengers, was kept up. On the +arrival of the train at Peterborough the man was released by his captors +and placed on the platform. No sooner was he there, however, than he +rushed with a renewed outburst of fury on those who had taken the chief +part in restraining his violence, and as he kept vociferating that they +had robbed him of his money, it was some time before the railway +officials could be got to interfere--indeed, it seemed likely for some +time that he would be allowed to go on in the train. As remonstrances +were made from all quarters to the station-master to take the fellow into +custody, he at length agreed, after being furnished with the names and +addresses of the other occupants of the carriage, to hand him over to the +police. The general impression on those who witnessed the sailor's fury +seemed to be that he was labouring under a violent attack of delirium +tremens, and he had every appearance of having been drinking hard for +some days. Had there been only one or even two occupants of the +compartment besides himself, there seems every reason to believe that a +much more deadly struggle would have ensued, as he displayed immense +strength." + + + + +INSURED. + + +The engine of an ordinary railway train broke down midway between two +stations. As an express train was momentarily expected to arrive at the +spot, the passengers were urgently called upon to get out of the +carriages. A countryman in leather breeches and top-boots, who sat in a +corner of one of the carriages, comfortably swathed in a travelling +blanket, obstinately refused to budge. In vain the porter begged him to +come out, saying the express would reach the spot in a minute, and the +train would in all probability be dashed to pieces. The traveller pulled +an insurance ticket out of his breeches pocket, exclaiming, "Don't you +see I've insured my life?" and with that he set up a horse laugh, and +sunk back into his corner. They had to force him out of the train, and +an instant afterwards the express ran into it. + + + + +A NEW TRICK. + + +A novel illustration of the ingenuity of thieves has been afforded by an +incident reported from the continent. For some time past a North German +railway company had been suffering from the repeated loss of goods which +were sent by luggage train, and which, notwithstanding all research and +precautions, continued to disappear in a very mysterious manner. The +secret which the inquiries set on foot had failed to discover was at +length revealed by a rather amusing accident. A long box, on one side of +which were words equivalent to "This side up," had, in disregard of this +caution, been set up on end in the goods shed. Some time afterwards the +employes were not a little startled to hear a voice, apparently +proceeding from the box in question, begging the hearers to let the +speaker out. On opening the lid, the railway officials were surprised +and amused to find a man inside standing on his head. In the explanation +which followed, the fellow wanted to account for his appearance under +such unusual circumstances as due to the result of a wager, but he was +given into custody, and it was soon found that the thieves had adopted +this method of conveying themselves on to the railway premises, and that +during the absence of the employes they had let themselves out of the box +which they at once filled with any articles they could lay their hands +on, refastened the lid, and then decamped. But for the unfortunate +inability of human nature to endure an inverted position for an +indefinite period, the ingenious authors of the scheme might have +flourished a long time without detection. + + + + +A TRAIN STOPPED BY CATERPILLARS. + + +_Colonies and India_ quotes from a New Zealand paper the following +story:--In the neighbourhood of Turakina an army of caterpillars, +hundreds of thousands strong, was marching across the railway line, bound +for a new field of oats, when the train came along. Thousands of the +creeping vermin were crushed by the wheels of the engine, and suddenly +the train came to a dead stop. On examination it was found that the +wheels of the engine had become so greasy that they kept on revolving +without advancing--they could not grip the rails. The guard and the +engine driver procured sand and strewed it on the rails, and the train +made a fresh start, but it was found that during the stoppage +caterpillars in thousands had crawled all over the engine, and all over +the carriages inside and out. + + + + +TRAVELLING IN RUSSIA. + + +Of course, travelling in Russia is no longer what it was. During the +last quarter of a century a vast network of railways has been constructed +and one can now travel in a comfortable first-class carriage from Berlin +to St. Petersburg or Moscow, and thence to Odessa, Sebastopol, the Lower +Volga, or even the foot of the Caucasus; and, on the whole, it must be +admitted that the railways are tolerably comfortable. The carriages are +decidedly better than in England, and in winter they are kept warm by +small iron stoves, such as we sometimes see in steamers, assisted by +double windows and double doors--a very necessary precaution in a land +where the thermometer often descends to 30 degrees below zero. The +trains never attain, it is true, a high rate of speed--so at least +English and Americans think--but then we must remember that Russians are +rarely in a hurry, and like to have frequent opportunities of eating and +drinking. In Russia time is not money; if it were, nearly all the +subjects of the Tsar would always have a large stock of ready money on +hand, and would often have great difficulty in spending it. In reality, +be it parenthetically remarked, a Russian with a superabundance of ready +money is a phenomenon rarely met with in real life. + +In conveying passengers at the rate of from fifteen to thirty miles an +hour, the railway companies do at least all that they promise, but in one +very important respect they do not always strictly fulfil their +engagements. The traveller takes a ticket for a certain town, and on +arriving at what he imagines to be his destination, he may merely find a +railway station surrounded by fields. On making inquiries he finds to +his disappointment, that the station is by no means identical with the +town bearing the same name, and that the railway has fallen several miles +short of fulfilling the bargain, as he understood the terms of the +contract. Indeed, it might almost be said as a general rule railways in +Russia, like camel drivers in certain Eastern countries, studiously avoid +the towns. This seems at first a strange fact. It is possible to +conceive that the Bedouin is so enamoured of tent life and nomadic +habits, that he shuns a town as he would a man-trap; but surely civil +engineers and railway contractors have no such dread of brick and mortar. +The true reason, I suspect, is that land within or immediately without +the municipal barrier is relatively dear, and that the railways, being +completely beyond the invigorating influence of healthy competition, can +afford to look upon the comfort and convenience of passengers as a +secondary consideration. + +It is but fair to state that in one celebrated instance neither engineers +nor railway contractors were to blame. From St. Petersburg to Moscow the +locomotive runs for a distance of 400 miles, almost as "the crow" is +supposed to fly, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. For +fifteen weary hours the passenger in the express train looks out on +forest and morass and rarely catches sight of human habitation. Only +once he perceives in the distance what may be called a town; it is Tver +which has been thus favoured, not because it is a place of importance, +but simply because it happened to be near the straight line. And why was +the railway constructed in this extraordinary fashion? For the best of +all reasons--because the Tsar so ordered it. When the preliminary survey +was being made, Nicholas learned that the officers intrusted with the +task--and the Minister of Ways and Roads in the number--were being +influenced more by personal than by technical considerations, and he +determined to cut the Gordian knot in true Imperial style. When the +Minister laid before him the map with the intention of explaining the +proposed route, he took a ruler, drew a straight line from the one +terminus to the other, and remarked in a tone that precluded all +discussion, "You will construct the line so!" And the line was so +constructed--remaining to all future ages, like St. Petersburg and the +Pyramids, a magnificent monument of autocratic power. + +Formerly this well-known incident was often cited in whispered philippics +to illustrate the evils of the autocratic form of government. Imperial +whims, it was said, override grave economic considerations. In recent +years, however, a change seems to have taken place in public opinion, and +some people now venture to assert that this so-called Imperial whim was +an act of far-seeing policy. As by far the greater part of the goods and +passengers are carried the whole length of the line, it is well that the +line should be as short as possible, and that branch lines should be +constructed to the towns lying to the right and left. Apart from +political considerations, it must be admitted that a great deal may be +said in support of this view. + +In the development of the railway system there has been another +disturbing cause, which is not likely to occur to the English mind. In +England, individuals and companies habitually act according to their +private interests, and the State interferes as little as possible; +private initiative acts as it pleases, unless the authorities can prove +that important bad consequences will necessarily result. In Russia, the +_onus probandi_ lies on the other side; private initiative is allowed to +do nothing until it gives guarantees against all possible bad +consequences. When any great enterprise is projected, the first question +is--"How will this new scheme affect the interests of the State?" Thus, +when the course of a new railway has to be determined, the military +authorities are always consulted, and their opinion has a great influence +on the ultimate decision. The consequence of this is that the railway +map of Russia presents to the eye of the tactician much that is quite +unintelligible to the ordinary observer--a fact that will become apparent +to the uninitiated as soon as a war breaks out in Eastern Europe. Russia +is no longer what she was in the days of the Crimean war, when troops and +stores had to be conveyed hundreds of miles by the most primitive means +of transport. At that time she had only about 750 miles of railway; now +she has more than 11,000 miles, and every year new lines are constructed. + + _Russia_, by D. M. Wallace, M.A. + + + + +AN ARMY WITH BANNERS. + + +As giving an idea of the old way of signalling and precautions employed +to ensure safety on the Hudson River Railroad nearly forty years ago, we +append the following from the _Albany Journal_. It should be premised +that this road extends from New York to East Albany, a distance of only +144 miles:-- + +"AN ARMY WITH BANNERS.--As you are whirled along over the Hudson River +Railroad at the rate of 40 miles an hour, you catch a glimpse, every +minute or two, of a man waving something like a white pocket handkerchief +on the end of a stick, with a satisfactory sort of expression of +countenance. If you take the trouble to count, you will find that it +happens some two hundred times between East Albany and Thirty-first +street. It looks like rather a useless ceremony, at first glance, but is +a pretty important one, nevertheless. + +"There are 225 of these 'flagmen' stationed at intervals along the whole +length of the line. Just before a train is to pass, each one walks over +his "beat," and looks to see that every track and tie, every tunnel, +switch, rail, clamp, and rivet, is in good order and free from +obstruction. If so, he takes his stand with a white flag and waves it to +the approaching train as a signal to 'come on'--and come on it does, at +full speed. If there is anything wrong, he waves a red flag, or at night +a red lamp, and the engineer, on seeing it, promptly shuts off the steam, +and sounds the whistle to 'put down the brakes.' Every inch of the road +is carefully examined after the passage of each train. Austrian +espionage is hardly more strict." + + + + +SEIZURE OF A RAILWAY TRAIN FOR DEBT. + + +The financial difficulties under which some railway companies have +recently laboured were brought to a crisis lately in the case of the +Potteries, Shrewsbury, and North Wales Railway, a line running from +Llanymynech to Shrewsbury, with a projected continuation to the +Potteries. A debenture holder having obtained a judgment against the +company, a writ was forthwith issued, and a few days back the sheriff's +officers unexpectedly presented themselves at the company's principal +station in Shrewsbury, and formally entered upon possession. The down +train immediately after entered the station, and the bailiffs, without +having given any previous intimation to the manager, whose office adjoins +the station, seized the engines and carriages, and refused to permit the +outgoing train to start, although many passengers had taken tickets. +Ultimately the manager obtained the requisite permission, and it was +arranged that the train should make the journey, one of the bailiffs +meanwhile remaining in charge. The acting-sheriff refused a similar +concession with regard to the further running of the trains, and it being +fair day at Shrewsbury, and a large number of persons from various +stations along the line having taken return tickets, much inconvenience +to the public was likely to ensue. The North Wales section of this line +was completed in August last at a cost of a little over 1,100,000 pounds, +and was opened for passenger and goods traffic on the 13th of that month. +As has already been stated, the ordinary traffic of the line was, after +the enforcement of the writ, permitted to be continued, with the proviso +that a bailiff should accompany each train. This condition was naturally +very galling to the officials of the railway company, but they +nevertheless treated the representative of the civil law with a marked +politeness. On the night of his first becoming a constant passenger by +the line he rode in a first-class carriage to Llanymynech, and on the +return journey the attentive guard conducted him to a similar compartment +which was devoted to his sole occupation. On arriving at Kennerly the +bailiff became conscious of the progress of an elaborate process of +shunting, followed by an entire stoppage of the train. After sitting +patiently for some minutes it occurred to him to put his head out of the +window and inquire the reason for the delay, and in carrying out the idea +he discovered that the train of which his carriage had lately formed a +part was vanishing from sight round a distant curve in the line. He lost +no time in getting out and making his way into the station, which he +found locked up, according to custom, after the passage through of the +last down train. Kennerly is a small roadside station about 12 miles +from Shrewsbury, and offers no accommodation for chance guests; and, had +it been otherwise, it was of course the first duty of the bailiff to look +after the train, of which he at that moment was supposed to be in +"possession." There being no alternative, he started on foot for +Shrewsbury, where he arrived shortly after midnight, having accomplished +a perilous passage along the line. It appeared, on inquiry, that in the +course of the shunting the coupling-chain which connected the tail coach +with the body of the train had by some means become unlinked; hence the +accident. The bailiff accepted the explanation, but on subsequent +journeys he carefully avoided the tail-coach. + + _Railway News_, 1866. + + + + +A KANGAROO ATTACKING A TRAIN. + + +The latest marsupial freak is thus given by a thoroughly reliable +correspondent of the _Courier_ (an Australian paper):--A rather exciting +race took place between the train and a large kangaroo on Wednesday night +last. When about nine miles from Dalby a special surprised the kangaroo, +who was inside the fences. The animal ran for some distance in front, +but getting exhausted he suddenly turned to face his opponent, and jumped +savagely at the stoker on the engine, who, not being able to run, gamely +faced the "old man" with a handful of coal. The kangaroo, however, only +reached the side of the tender, when, the step striking him, he was +"knocked clean out of it" in the one round. No harm happened beyond a +bit of a scare to the stoker, as the kangaroo picked himself up quickly +and cleared the fence. + + + + +SHE TAKES FITS. + + +Some time ago, an old lady and gentleman were coming from Devenport when +the train was crowded. A young man got up and gave the old lady a seat, +while his companion, another young gent, remained stedfast and let the +old gent stand. This did not suit the old gentleman, so he concluded to +get a seat in some way, and quickly turning to the young man on the seat +beside his wife, he said:--"Will you be so kind as to watch that woman +while I get a seat in another carriage? She takes fits!" This startled +the young gent. He could not bear the idea of taking charge of a fitty +woman, so the old gentleman got a seat, and his wife was never known to +take a fit afterwards. + + + + +SNAGS' CORNERS. + + +The officials of a Michigan railroad that was being extended were waited +upon the other day by a person from the pine woods and sand hills who +announced himself as Mr. Snags, and who wanted to know if it could be +possible that the proposed line was not to come any nearer than three +miles to the hamlet named in his honour. + +"Is Snags' Corners a place of much importance?" asked the President. + +"Is it? Well, I should say it was! We made over a ton of maple sugar +there last spring!" + +"Does business flourish there?" + +"Flourish! Why, business is on the gallop there every minute in the +whole twenty-four hours. We had three false alarms of fire there in one +week. How's that for a town which is to be left three miles off your +railroad?" + +Being asked to give the names of the business houses, he scratched his +head for awhile, and then replied-- + +"Well, there's me, to start on. I run a big store, own eight yokes of +oxen, and shall soon have a dam and a sawmill. Then there's a blacksmith +shop, a post-office, a doctor, and last week over a dozen patent-right +men passed through there. In one brief year we've increased from a +squatter and two dogs to our present standing, and we'll have a lawyer +there before long." + +"I'm afraid we won't be able to come any nearer the Corners than the +present survey," finally remarked the President. + +"You won't! It can't be possible that you mean to skip a growing place +like Snags' Corners!" + +"I think we'll have to." + +"Wouldn't come if I'd clear you out a place in the store for a ticket +office?" + +"I don't see how we could." + +"May be I'd subscribe 25 dols.," continued the delegate. + +"No, we cannot change." + +"Can't do it nohow?" + +"No." + +"Very well," said Mr. Snags as he put on his hat. "If this 'ere railroad +thinks it can stunt or cripple Snags' Corners by leaving it out in the +cold it has made a big mistake. Before I leave town to-day I'm going to +buy a windmill and a melodeon, and your old locomotives may toot and be +hanged, sir--toot and be hanged!" + + + + +A NEWSPAPER WONDER. + + +The _Railway Journal_, an American newspaper, containing the latest +intelligence with respect to home and foreign politics, the money market, +Congress debates, and theatrical events, is now printed and published +daily in the trains running between New York and San Francisco. All the +news with which its columns are filled is telegraphed from different +parts of the States to certain stations on the line, there collected by +the editorial staff travelling in the train, and set up, printed, and +circulated among the subscribing passengers while the iron horse is +persistently traversing plains and valleys, crossing rivers, and +ascending mountain ranges. Every morning the traveller may have his +newspaper served up with his coffee, and thus keep himself informed of +all that is going on in the wide world during a seven days' journey +covering over three thousand miles of ground. He who pays his +subscription at New York, which he can do at the railway ticket-office, +receives the last copy of his paper on the summit of the Sierra Nevada. +The production of a news-sheet from a flying printing office at an +elevation of some ten thousand feet above the level of the sea is most +assuredly a performance worthy of conspicuous record in journalistic +annals, and highly creditable to American enterprise. + + + + +MONETARY DIFFICULTIES IN SPAIN. + + +Sir Arthur Helps, in his life of Mr. Brassey, remarks:--"There were few, +if any, of the great undertakings in which Mr. Brassey embarked that gave +him so much trouble in respect of the financial arrangements as the +Spanish railway from Bilbao to Tudela. The secretary, Mr. Tapp, thus +recounts the difficulties which they had to encounter:-- + +"'The great difficulty in Spain was in getting money to pay the men for +doing the work--a very great difficulty. The bank was not in the habit +of having large cheques drawn upon it to pay money; for nearly all the +merchants kept their cash in safes in their offices, and it was a very +debased kind of money, coins composed of half copper and half silver, and +very much defaced. You had to take a good many of them on faith. I had +to send down fifteen days before the pay day came round, to commence +getting the money from the bank, obtaining perhaps 2,000 or 3,000 pounds +a day. It was brought to the office, recounted, and put into my safe. +In that way I accumulated a ton-and-a-half of money every month during +our busy season. When pay week came, I used to send a carriage or a +large coach, drawn by four or six mules, with a couple of civil guards, +one on each side, together with one of the clerks from the office, a man +to drive, and another--a sort of stableman--who went to help them out of +their difficulty in case the mules gave any trouble up the hilly country. +I was at the office at six o'clock, and I was always in a state of +anxiety until I knew that the money had arrived safely at the end of the +journey. More than once the conveyance broke down in the mountains. On +one occasion the axle of our carriage broke in half from the weight of +the money, and I had to send off two omnibuses to relieve them. I had +the load divided, and sent one to one section of the line and one to the +other. + +"'Q.--Was any attempt made to rob the carriage? + +"'A.--Never; we always sent a clerk armed with a revolver as the +principal guard. We heard once of a conspiracy to rob us; but, to avoid +that, we went by another road. We were told that some men had been seen +loitering about the mountain the night before.'" + + + + +A CARLIST CHIEF AS A SUB-CONTRACTOR. + + +The natural financial difficulties of constructing a railway in Spain +were added to by the strange kind of people Mr. Brassey's agents were +obliged to employ. One of the sub-contractors was a certain Carlist +chief whom the government dared not arrest on account of his great +influence. Mr. Tapp thus relates the Carlist chief's mode of settling a +financial dispute:-- + +"When he got into difficulties, Mr. Small, the district agent, offered +him the amount which was due to him according to his measured work. He +had over 100 men to pay, and Mr. Small offered him the money that was +coming to him, according to the measurement, but he would not have it, +nor would he let the agent pay the men. He said he would have the money +he demanded; and he brought all his men into the town of Orduna, and the +men regularly bivouacked round Mr. Small's office. They slept in the +streets and stayed there all night, and would not let Mr. Small come out +of the office till he had paid them the money. He attempted to get on +his horse to go out--his horses were kept in the house (that is the +practice in the houses of Spain); but when he rode out they pulled him +off his horse and pushed him back, and said that he should not go until +he had paid them the money. He passed the night in terror, with loaded +pistols and guns, expecting that he and his family would be massacred +every minute, but he contrived eventually to send his staff-holder to +Bilbao on horseback. The man galloped all the way to Bilbao, a distance +of twenty-five miles, and went to Mr. Bartlett in the middle of the +night, and told him what had happened. Mr. Bartlett immediately sent a +detachment up to the place to disperse the men. This Carlist threatened +that if Mr. Small did not pay the money he would kill every person in the +house. When he was asked, 'Would you kill a man for that?' he replied, +'Yes, like a fly,' and this coming from a man who, as I was told, had +already killed fourteen men with his own hand, was rather alarming. Mr. +Brassey and his partners suffer a great amount of loss by their contracts +for the Bilbao railway." + + + + +HOW TO BEAR LOSSES. + + +During the construction of the Bilbao line, shortly before the proposed +opening, it set in to rain in such an exceptional manner that some of the +works were destroyed. The agent telegraphed to Mr. Brassey to come +immediately, as a certain bridge had been washed down. About three hours +afterwards another telegram was sent, stating that a large bank was +washed away; and next morning, another, stating the rain continued, and +more damage had been done. Mr. Brassey, turning to a friend, said, +laughingly: "I think I had better wait until I hear that the rain has +ceased, so that when I do go, I may see what is left of the works, and +estimate all the disasters at once, and so save a second journey." + +No doubt Mr. Brassey felt these great losses that occasionally came upon +him much as other men do; but he had an excellent way of bearing them, +and, like a great general, never, if possible, gave way to despondency in +the presence of his officers. + + + + +RAILROAD INCIDENT. + + +An Englishwoman who travelled some years ago in America writes:--"I had +found it necessary to study physiognomy since leaving England, and was +horrified by the appearance of my next neighbour. His forehead was low, +his deep-set and restless eyes significant of cunning, and I at once set +him down as a swindler or a pickpocket. My conviction of the truth of my +inference was so strong that I removed my purse--in which, however, +acting by advice, I never carried more than five dollars--from my pocket, +leaving in it only my handkerchief and the checks for my baggage, knowing +that I could not possibly keep awake the whole morning. In spite of my +endeavours to the contrary, I soon sunk into an oblivious state, from +which I awoke to the consciousness that my companion was withdrawing his +hand from my pocket. My first impulse was to make an exclamation; my +second, which I carried into execution, to ascertain my loss, which I +found to be the very alarming one of my baggage checks; my whole property +being thereby placed at this vagabond's disposal, for I knew perfectly +well that if I claimed my trunks without my checks the acute +baggage-master would have set me down as a bold swindler. The keen-eyed +conductor was not in the car, and, had he been there, the necessity for +habitual suspicion incidental to his position would so far have removed +his original sentiments of generosity as to make him turn a deaf ear to +my request; and there was not one of my fellow-travellers whose +physiognomy would have warranted me in appealing to him. So, +recollecting that my checks were marked Chicago, and seeing that the +thief's ticket bore the same name, I resolved to wait the chapter of +accidents, or the reappearance of my friends. With a whoop like an +Indian war-whoop the cars ran into a shed--they stopped--the pickpocket +got up--I got up too--the baggage-master came to the door. 'This +gentleman has the checks for my baggage,' said I, pointing to the thief. +Bewildered, he took them from his waistcoat pocket, gave them to the +baggage-master, and went hastily away. I had no inclination to cry 'stop +thief!' and had barely time to congratulate myself on the fortunate +impulse which had led me to say what I did, when my friends appeared from +the next carriage. They were too highly amused with my recital to +sympathize at all with my feelings of annoyance, and one of them, a +gentleman filling a high situation in the east, laughed heartily, saying, +in a thoroughly American tone, 'The English ladies must be cute customers +if they can outwit Yankee pickpockets.'" + + + + +NOVEL OBSTRUCTION. + + +On a certain railroad in Louisiana the alligators have the bad habit of +crawling upon the track to sun themselves, and to such an extent have +they pushed this practice that the drivers of the locomotives are +frequently compelled to sound the engine whistle in order to scare the +interlopers away. + + --_Railway News_, 1867. + + + + +BABY LAW. + + +The railways generously permit a baby to be carried without charge; but +not, it seems, without incurring responsibility. It has been lately +decided, in "Austin _v._ the Great Western Railway Company," 16 L. T. +Rep., N. S., 320, that where a child in arms, not paid for as a +passenger, is injured by an accident caused by negligence, the company is +liable in damages under Lord Campbell's Act. Three of the judges were +clearly of opinion that the company had, by permitting the mother to take +the child in her arms, contracted to carry safely both mother and child; +and Blackburn, J., went still further, and was of opinion that, +independently of any such contract, express or implied, the law cast upon +the company a duty to use proper and reasonable care in carrying the +child, though unpaid for. It may appear somewhat hard upon railway +companies to incur liabilities through an act of liberality, but they +have chosen to do so. The law is against them, that is clear; but they +have the remedy in their own hands. There was some reason for exempting +a child in arms, for it occupies no place in the carriage, and is but a +trifling addition of weight. But now it is established that the company +is responsible for the consequences of accident to that child, the +company is clearly entitled to make such a charge as will secure them +against the risk. The right course would be to have a tariff, say +one-fifth or one-fourth of the full fare, for a child in arms; and if +strict justice was done, this would be deducted from the fares of the +passengers who have the ill-luck to face and flank the squaller. + + --_Law Times_, 1867. + + + + +RAILROAD TRACKLAYER. + + +The railroad tracklayer is now working along regularly at the rate of a +mile a day. The machine is a car 60 feet long and 10 feet wide. It has +a small engine on board for handling the ties and rails. The ties are +carried on a common freight car behind, and conveyed by an endless chain +over the top of the machinery, laid down in their places on the track, +and, when enough are laid, a rail is put down on each side in proper +position and spiked down. The tracklayer then advances, and keeps on its +work until the load of ties and rails is exhausted, when other car loads +are brought. The machine is driven ahead by a locomotive, and the work +is done so rapidly that 60 men are required to wait on it, but they do +more work than twice as many could do by the old system, and the work is +done quite as well. The chief contractor of the road gives it as his +opinion that when the machine is improved by making a few changes in the +method of handling rails and ties it will be able to put down five or six +miles per day. This will render it possible to lay down track twelve +times as fast as the usual rate by hand, and it will do the work at less +expense. The invention will be of immense importance to the country in +connection with the Pacific railroad, which it was calculated could be +built as fast as the track could be laid, and no faster; but hereafter +the speed will be determined by the grading, which cannot advance more +than five miles a day. Thirty millions of dollars have already been +invested on the Pacific railroad, and if the time of completion is +hastened one year by this tracklayer, as it will be if Central and Union +Companies have money enough to grade each five miles a day, there will be +a saving of three million dollars on interest alone on that one road. + + --_Alla California_, 1868. + + + + +A GROWING LAD. + + +"This your boy, ma'am?" inquired a collector of a country woman, "he's +too big for a 'alf ticket." "Oh, is he?" replied the mother. "Well, +perhaps he is now, mister; but he wasn't when he started. The train is +ever so much behind time--has been so long on the road--and he's a +growing lad!" + + + + +FORGED TICKETS. + + +Attempts to defraud railway companies by means of forged tickets are +seldom made, and still more seldom successful. In 1870, a man who lived +in a toll-house near Dudley, and who rented a large number of tolls on +the different turnpikes, in almost every part of the country, devised a +plan for travelling cheaply. He set up a complete fount of type, +composing stick, and every requisite for printing tickets, and provided +himself with coloured papers, colours, and paints to paint them, and +plain cards on which to paste them; and he prepared tickets for journeys +of great length, and available to and from different stations on the +London and North-Western, Great Western, and Midland lines. On arriving +one day at the ticket platform at Derby, he presented a ticket from +Masbro' to Smethwick. The collector, who had been many years in the +service of the company, thought there was something unusual in the +ticket. On examination he found it to be a forgery, and when the train +arrived at the platform gave the passenger into custody. On searching +his house, upwards of a thousand railway tickets were discovered in a +drawer in his bedroom, and the apparatus with which the forgeries were +accomplished was also secured. On the prisoner himself was the sum of +199 pounds 10s., and it appeared that he came to be present at the annual +letting of the tolls on the different roads leading out of Derby. The +punishment he received was sufficiently condign to serve as a warning to +all who might be inclined to emulate such attempts after cheap +locomotion. + + --Williams's _Midland Railway_. + + + + +A YANKEE COMPENSATION CASE. + + +A horny-handed old farmer entered the offices of one of the railroad +companies, and inquired for the man who settled for hosses which was +killed by locomotives. They referred him to the company's counsel, whom, +having found, he thus addressed:-- + +"Mister, I was driving home one evening last week--" + +"Been drinking?" sententiously questioned the lawyer. + +"I'm centre pole of the local Tent of Rechabites," said the farmer. + +"That doesn't answer my question," replied the man of law; "I saw a man +who was drunk vote for the prohibition ticket last year." + +"Hadn't tasted liquor since the big flood of 1846," said the old man. + +"Go ahead." + +"I will, 'Squire. And when I came to the crossing of your line--it was +pretty dark, and--zip! along came your train, no bells rung, no whistles +tooted, contrary to the statutes in such cases made and provided, +and--whoop! away went my off-hoss over the telegraph wires. When I had +dug myself out'n a swamp some distance off and pacified the other +critter, I found that thar off-hoss was dead, nothing valuable about him +but his shoes, which mout have brought, say, a penny for old iron. +Well--" + +"Well, you want pay for that 'ere off-hoss?" said the lawyer, with a +scarcely repressed sneer. + +"I should, you see," replied the farmer, frankly; "and I don't care about +going to law about it, though possibly I'd get a verdict, for juries out +in our town is mostly made up of farmers, and they help each other as a +matter of principle in these cases of stock killed by railroads." + +"And this 'ere off-hoss," said the counsel, mockingly, "was well bred, +wasn't he? He was rising four years, as he had been several seasons +past. And you had been offered 500 pounds for him the day he was killed, +but wouldn't take it because you were going to win all the prizes in the +next race with him? Oh, I've heard of that off-horse before." + +"I guess there's a mistake somewhere," said the old farmer, with an air +of surprise; "my hoss was got by old man Butt's roan-pacing hoss, Pride +of Lemont, out'n a wall-eyed no account mare of my own, and, now that +he's dead, I may say that he was twenty-nine next grass. Trot? Why, +Fred Erby's hoss that he was fined for furious driving of was old Dexter +alongside of him! Five hundred pounds! Bless your soul, do you think +I'm a fool, or anyone else? It is true I was made an offer for him the +last time I was in town, and, for the man looked kinder simple, and you +know how it is yourself with hoss trading, I asked the cuss mor'n the +animal might have been worth. I asked him forty pounds, but I'd have +taken thirty." + +"Forty?" gasped the lawyer; "forty?" + +"Yes," replied the farmer, meekly and apologetically; "it kinder looks a +big sum, I know, for an old hoss; but that 'ere off-hoss could pull a +mighty good load, considering. Then I was kinder shook up, and the pole +of my waggon was busted, and I had to get the harness fixed, and there's +my loss of time, and all that counts. Say fifty pounds, and it's about +square." + +The lawyer whispered softly to himself, "Well, I'll be hanged!" and +filled out a cheque for fifty pounds. + +"Sir," said he, covering the old man's hand, "you are the first honest +man I have met in the course of a legal experience of twenty-three years; +the first farmer whose dead horse was worth less than a thousand pounds, +and could trot better without training. Here, also, is a free pass for +yourself and your male heirs in a direct line for three generations; and +if you have a young boy to spare we will teach him telegraphing, and find +him steady and lucrative employment." + +The honest old farmer took the cheque, and departed, smiting his brawny +leg with his horny hand in triumph as he did so, with the remark-- + +"I knew I'd ketch him on the honest tack! Last hoss I had killed I swore +was a trotter, and all I got was thirty pounds and interest. Honesty is +the best policy." + + --_Once a Week_. + + + + +ABERGELE ACCIDENT. + + +The Irish mail leaving London at shortly after seven A.M., it was timed +in 1868 to make the distance to Chester, one hundred and sixty-six miles, +in four hours and eighteen minutes; from Chester to Holyhead is +eighty-five miles, for running which the space of one hundred and +twenty-five minutes was allowed. Abergele is a point on the seacoast in +North Wales, nearly midway between these two places. On the 20th of +August, 1868, the Irish mail left Chester as usual. It was made up of +thirteen carriages in all, which were occupied--as the carriages of that +train usually were--by a large number of persons whose names, at least, +were widely known. Among these, on this particular occasion, were the +Duchess of Abercorn, wife of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with +five children. Under the running arrangements of the London and +North-Western line a goods train left Chester half-an-hour before the +mail, and was placed upon the siding at Llanddulas, a station about a +mile-and-a-half beyond Abergele, to allow the mail to pass. From +Abergele to Llanddulas the track ascended by a gradient of some sixty +feet to the mile. On the day of the accident it chanced that certain +wagons between the engine and the rear end of the goods train had to be +taken out to be left at Llanddulas, and, in doing this, it became +necessary to separate the train and to leave five or six of the last +wagons in it standing on the main line, while those which were to be left +were backed on to a siding. The employe whose duty it was to have done +so, neglected to set the brake on the wagons thus left standing, and +consequently when the engine and the rest of the train returned for them, +the moment they were touched, and before a coupling could be effected, +the jar set them in motion down the incline toward Abergele. They +started so slowly that a brakeman of the train ran after them, fully +expecting to catch and stop them, but as they went down the grade they +soon outstripped him, and it became clear that there was nothing to check +them until they should meet the Irish mail, then almost due. It also +chanced that the wagons thus loosened were oil wagons. + +The mail train was coming up the line at a speed of about thirty miles an +hour, when its engine-driver suddenly perceived the loose wagons coming +down upon it around the curve, and then but a few yards off. Seeing that +they were oil wagons, he almost instinctively sprang from his engine, and +was thrown down by the impetus and rolled to the side of the road-bed. +Picking himself up, bruised but not seriously hurt, he saw that the +collision had already taken place, that the tender had ridden directly +over the engine, that the colliding wagons were demolished, and that the +front carriages of the train were already on fire. Running quickly to +the rear of the train, he succeeded in uncoupling six carriages and a +van, which were drawn away from the rest before the flames extended to +them by an engine which most fortunately was following the train. All +the other carriages were utterly destroyed, and every person in them +perished. + +The Abergele was probably a solitary instance, in the record of railway +accidents, in which but one single survivor sustained any injury. There +was no maiming. It was death or entire escape. The collision was not a +particularly severe one, and the engine driver of the mail train +especially stated that at the moment it occurred the loose wagons were +still moving so slowly that he would not have sprung from his engine had +he not seen that they were loaded with oil. The very instant the +collision took place, however, the fluid seemed to ignite and to flash +along the train like lightning, so that it was impossible to approach a +carriage when once it caught fire. The fact was that the oil in vast +quantities was spilled upon the track and ignited by the fire of the +locomotive, and then the impetus of the mail train forced all of its +leading carriages into the dense mass of smoke and flame. All those who +were present concurred in positively stating that not a cry, nor a moan, +nor a sound of any description was heard from the burning carriages, nor +did any one in them apparently make an effort to escape. + +Though the collision took place before one o'clock, in spite of the +efforts of a large gang of men who were kept throwing water on the line, +the perfect sea of flame which covered the line for a distance of some +forty or fifty yards could not be extinguished until nearly eight o'clock +in the evening, for the petroleum had flowed down into the ballasting of +the road, and the rails were red-hot. It was, therefore, small occasion +for surprise that when the fire was at last gotten under, the remains of +those who lost their lives were in some cases wholly undistinguishable, +and in others almost so. Among the thirty-three victims of the disaster, +the body of no single one retained any traces of individuality; the faces +of all were wholly destroyed, and in no case were there found feet or +legs or anything approaching to a perfect head. Ten corpses were finally +identified as those of males, and thirteen as those of females, while the +sex of ten others could not be determined. The body of one passenger, +Lord Farnham, was identified by the crest on his watch, and, indeed, no +better evidence of the wealth and social position of the victims of this +accident could have been asked for than the collection of articles found +on its site. It included diamonds of great size and singular brilliancy; +rubies, opals, emeralds; gold tops of smelling bottles, twenty-four +watches--of which but two or three were not gold--chains, clasps of bags, +and very many bundles of keys. Of these, the diamonds alone had +successfully resisted the intense heat of the flame; the settings were +nearly all destroyed. + + + + +RAILWAY DESTROYERS IN THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. + + +One obvious means of hampering the military operations of the Germans was +the cutting of railroads, so as to interrupt and overthrow on-coming +trains. This method was resorted to by bands of volunteers, calling +themselves "The Wild Boars of Ardennes," and "Railway Destroyers." Here +again the invaders incurred great odium by announcing that, on the +departure of a train in the disaffected districts, the mayor and +principal inhabitants should be made to take their places on the engine, +so that if the peasants chose to upset the conveyance, their surest +victims would be their own compatriots. + + --_Annual Register_, 1870. + + + + +FRIGHTENED AT A RED LIGHT. + + +A driver, not on duty, had been drinking, and was, in company with his +fireman, walking in the vicinity of the Edgware Road, when he suddenly +started violently, and seizing his mate's arm, shouted-- + +"Hold hard, mate--hold hard!" + +"What's the matter?" cried the fireman. + +"Matter!" roared the driver, "why, you're a-running by the red light;" +and he pointed to the crimson glare which streamed through a glass bottle +in a chemist's window. + +"Come along; that's nothing," said the fireman, trying to drag him on. + +"What, run by the red light, and go afore Dannel in the morning?" +retorted the driver, and no persuasion could or did get him to pass the +shop. He was a Great Western man, and the "Dannel" whom he held in such +wholesome awe was the celebrated engineer, now Sir Daniel Gooch, and +chairman of that line. He was then the locomotive chief, and renowned +above all other things for maintaining discipline among his staff, while +they cherished a feeling for him very much akin to what we hear of the +clannish enthusiasm of the ancient Scotch. + + + + +THE DECOY TRUNK. + + +August 27, 1875. The Metropolitan magistrates have had before them a +case which seems likely to show how some, at least, of the robberies at +railway stations are accomplished. Some ingenious persons, it appears, +have devised a way by which a trunk can be made to steal a trunk, and a +portmanteau to annex a portmanteau. The thieves lay a trunk artfully +contrived on a smaller trunk; the latter clings to the former, and the +owner of the larger carries both away. The decoy trunk is said to be +fitted with a false bottom, which goes up when it is laid on a smaller +trunk, and with mechanism inside which does for the innocent trunk what +Polonius recommended Laertes to do for his friend, and grapples it to its +heart with hooks of steel. In fact, the decoy duck--we do not know how +better to describe it--is made to perform an office like that of certain +flowers, which suddenly close at the pressure of a fly or other insect +within their cup and imprison him there. + + --_Annual Register_, 1875. + + + + +DRIVING A LAST SPIKE. + + +There are now two lines crossing the American continent. The western +section of the new route goes through on the thirty-parallel--far enough +south from the Rocky Mountains for the current of the train's own motion +to be acceptable even in December, and to be a grateful relief in June. +Beginning at San Francisco, the additional line runs south through +California to Fort Yuma on the Colorado river; thence along the southern +border of the territories of Arizona and New Mexico, and across the +centre of Kansas, until it joins the lines connecting the Southern States +with New York. The undertaking is a vast one, and has been one of some +difficulty; but its completion has been the occasion of very little +display. Never was a great project of any kind brought to a successful +result with so much of active work and so little of actual talk. A cable +message a line in length told the story a month ago to European readers, +and none of the American papers appear to have dealt with the matter as +anything out of the ordinary run of daily events. + +Far otherwise was it with the finishing touch twelve years ago to the +other Transcontinental line. The whole world heard of what was then +done. All the bells in all the great cities of the United States rang +out jubilant peals as the last stroke sent home the last spike on the +last rail of the new highway of travel. The news was flashed by +telegraph everywhere throughout the Union, and that there might be no +delay in its transmission and no hindrance to its simultaneous reception, +a certain pre-arranged signal was given and all the wires were for the +time being kept free of other business. There were cases in which, to +save time in ringing out the glad news, the message was conveyed on +special wires right up to the bell towers; and everywhere there was a +feeling that a great victory had been won. Preceding the consummation, +there had been some wonderful feats in railroad construction. From the +Missouri river on the one side and from the Sacramento on the other, the +two companies--the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific--advanced +against each other in friendly rivalry. The popular idea was that the +length of the line of each company would be measured to the point at +which it joined rails with the other. This was hardly the case; but an +arrangement was come to after the completion of the work which has given +this notion the strength of a tradition. The greater part of the Union +Pacific route was over comparatively even ground, and it was not until +the Salt Lake region was being approached that any serious constructive +difficulties presented themselves. It was otherwise with the company +advancing eastward. The line had to be carried over the Sierra Nevada, +the ascent beginning almost from the starting point, and rising seven +thousand feet in a hundred miles. On the other side of the mountain +range, the descent was in turn formidable. Over this part of the road it +was impossible to proceed rapidly. The work was surrounded with +difficulties, and there were competent engineers who had no confidence +that it could be carried out. Progress could only be made at the outset +at the rate of about twenty miles each year; but in this slow work there +was time to profit by experience, so that eventually, when it became a +question simply of many hands, the platelayer went forward with the swing +of an army on the march. Then it was that the two companies went +vigorously into the race of construction. In one day, in 1868, the Union +men were able to inform the Central men by telegraph that they had laid +as many as six miles since morning. A few days afterwards the response +came from the Central men that they had just finished as their day's work +a stretch of seven miles. Spurred to fresh activity by this display, the +Union men next reported to the other side a complete stretch for a day's +work of seven and a half miles! The answer came back in the +extraordinary announcement that the workers for the Central Company were +prepared to lay ten miles in one day! The Union people were inclined to +regard this as mere boasting, and the Vice-President of the company +implied as much when he made an offer to bet ten thousand dollars that in +one day such a stretch of railroad could not be well and truly laid. It +is not on record that the bet was taken up. But the fact remains that it +was made, that the Central army of workers heard of it, and that they +determined to make good the pledge given in their name. So a day was +fixed for the attempt. From the Union side men came to take note of the +work and to measure it, and their verdict at the close of the day's toil +was that not only had the promised ten miles been constructed, but that +the measurement showed two hundred feet over! And this, on the words of +an authority, is how it was done:--When the car loaded with rails came to +the end of the track, the two outer rails on either side were seized with +iron nippers, hauled forward off the car, and laid on the ties by four +men who attended exclusively to this work. Over these rails the cars +were pushed forward and the process repeated. Then came a gang of men +who half-drove the spikes and screwed on the fish-plates on the dropped +rails. At a short interval behind these came a gang of Chinamen, who +drove home the spikes already inserted and added the rest. A second +squad of Chinamen followed, two deep, on each side of the single track, +the inner men carrying shovels and the outer men wielding picks, their +duty being to ballast the track. Every movement was thus carefully +arranged, and there was no loss of time. The average rate of speed at +which the work was done was 1 min. 47.5 secs. to every 240 feet of +perfected track. There was, of course, an army of disciplined helpers, +whose duty it was to bring up the materials. In this great feat of +construction more than four thousand men found employment in various +capacities. When they had carried their line four miles further east, +the Central and the Union men met each other, the point of connection +being known as Promontory. Afterwards the two companies made an +arrangement whereby the Union Pacific relinquished fifty-three miles of +road to the Central, thus fixing on Ogden as the western terminus of the +one line and the eastern terminus of the other. The popular belief is +that the fifty-three miles were obtained by the Central Pacific directors +as an acknowledgement of the greater engineering difficulties they had to +overcome in laying their part of the track, and that they served a +handicapping purpose at the end of this wonderful railroad competition. + +The placing of the final tie on the Pacific lines, as has been hinted, +was a ceremonious undertaking. The event took place on Monday, March +10th, 1869. Representatives were present from almost every part of the +Union, and the construction parties, not yet wholly dispersed, made up a +greater crowd than had been seen at Promontory before or is likely ever +to be seen there again--for, with the fixing of the termini at another +point, the glory of the place has departed. The connecting tie had been +made of California laurel. It was beautifully polished, and bore a +series of inscribed silver plates. The tie was carefully placed, and +over it the rails were laid by picked men on behalf of each company. The +spikes were then inserted--one of gold, silver, and iron, from Arizona; +another of silver, from Nevada; and a third of gold, from California. +President Stanford, of the Central Pacific, armed with a hammer of solid +silver, drove the last spike, the blow falling precisely at noon, and the +news of the completion of the road being flashed abroad as it fell. Then +the two locomotives, one from the west and the other from the east, drew +up to each other on the single line, coming into gentle collision, that +they in their way, in the pleasing conceit of their drivers, might +symbolise the fraternisation that went on. It does not spoil the story +of the ceremony to state that the laurel tie, with its inscriptions and +its magnificent mountings, was only formally laid, and that it became +from that day a relic to be officially cherished; and it should be added +that the more serviceable tie which replaced it was cut into fragments by +men eager to have some memento of the occasion. Other ties for a time +shared the same fate, until splinters of what was claimed to be "the last +tie laid" became as common as pieces of the Wellington boots the great +commander is said to have left behind him at Waterloo. + +With the junction of the two lines, it became possible to make safely in +one week an overland journey that not many years before required months +in its execution, and was attended by many hardships and dangers. It +was, however, a route better known even in the days when the legend of +the pilgrims over it was "Pike's Peak or bust!" than is the region +crossed by the new southern line. This line opens up what is practically +an undiscovered and an unsettled country, but the region traversed has +been ascertained to be so rich in resources as to fully justify the heavy +expenditure involved in the construction of the line. In another year +the line will become a powerful agent in the development of the Union, +for it will then be connected with the lines that run through Texas into +Louisiana, and New Orleans and San Francisco will be brought into direct +communication with each other. This, in fact, has been a prominent +object in the undertaking. The effect of it will be to cheapen the +tariff on goods from the Pacific Coast to Europe, and will, it is +believed, have the effect of controlling a large share of the Asiatic +trade. + + --_Leeds Mercury_, April 23rd, 1881. + + + + +MARRIAGE AND RAILWAY DIVIDENDS. + + +Marriage would not seem to have any close connection with railroad +traffic, but we find an officer of an East Indian railroad company +explaining a falling off in the passenger receipts of the year (1874) by +the fact that it was a "twelfth year," which is regarded by the Hindoos +as so unfavourable to marriage that no one, or scarcely any one, is +married. And, as weddings are the great occasions in Hindoo life when +there is great pomp and a general gathering together of friends, they +cause a great deal of travelling. + + + + +SECURITY FOR TRAVELLING. + + +A civil engineer, of long experience in connection with railways, gives +some reassuring statements as to the precautions taken in keeping the +lines in order. The majority of accidents occur, not from defects in the +line, but from imperfections in the living agents who have charge of the +signals and other arrangements of trains in transit. The engineer +says:--"To begin at the bottom, we have the ganger of the 'beat,' a man +selected from the waymen after several years' service for his aptitude +and steadiness, whose duty it is to patrol his length of two or three +miles every morning, and to make good fastenings, etc., afterwards +superintending his gang in packing, replacing rails, sleepers, and other +necessary repairs. Over the ganger is the inspector of permanent way, +responsible for the gangers doing their duty, who generally goes over all +his district once a day on the engine, and walks one or more gangers' +beats. The inspectors, again, are under the district superintendent or +engineer, who makes frequent inspections both by walking and on the +engine. The ganger, if in want of men or materials, reports to his +inspector, who, if they are required, sends a requisition to the +engineer, keeping a small stock at his head-quarters to supply urgent +demands. The engineer in his turn keeps the whole in harmony, +sanctioning the employment of the necessary men, and ordering the +materials, the only check upon the number of men or quantity of materials +being the total half-yearly expenditure. Directors never within my +experience grudge an outlay necessary to keep the line in good order; +but, should they limit the expenditure from financial motives, it would +then clearly be the duty of the engineer to recommend a reduction of +speed to a safe point. Occasionally, idle gangers are met with, who are +always asking for more men, and as naturally meeting with refusal. + + + + +THE NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY. + + +Lord Lymington, M.P., relates the following amusing tale of his +experience with an inquiring and hospitable gentleman in Arkansas:--"He +introduced himself to me very kindly on learning that I was a traveller +and an Englishman, and offered me the hospitalities of the town. It was +very obliging of him, but unfortunately I could not stay, so we had a +chat while I was waiting for the train. During this chat his eye fell on +a portmanteau of mine which I had caused to be marked, for convenience +sake and easy identification, with the cabalistic figures 120. This he +scanned for some time with ill-concealed curiosity, and finally, turning +to me, said rather abruptly, 'If I am not mistaken, you are a nobleman, +are you not?' I admitted that such was my unhappy lot. 'Then,' he said, +'I presume that number there on your valise is what they call in the +nobility armorial bearings, is it not--in fact, your crest?' 'Hardly +that,' I modestly replied. 'A number is only borne as a crest, I +believe, by much more illustrious persons--for example, the Beast in the +Apocalypse.' 'Oh!' he replied, and then, after meditating a moment or +two, asked, 'Have your family been long in England?' 'Yes,' I said, +'they have been there for some time. But why do you ask?' 'Perhaps the +number refers,' he replied, 'to the number of generations, just as they +recite them in the Old Testament, you know?' 'Yes,' I unhesitatingly and +with prompt mendacity replied, 'that is exactly it, and I don't see how +you hit it so cleverly.' He smiled all over with delight as the train +rushed up, and waved kind farewells to me as long as we were in sight." + + + + +ENGINE DRIVING. + + +But the regulator once in his hand, the engine-driver has only begun his +experience. He goes through an apprenticeship with different varieties +of engines. He must pick up what knowledge he can himself, and he must +always be on the alert to benefit from the experience of others. The +locomotive in its varying "moods" must be his constant study, and he must +work it so that he shall not infringe more than an average share of a +multiplicity of rules and regulations. The best position in the service, +apart from that of superintendence, is in the driving of an express +engine, and the greatest honour that can be conferred on an engine-driver +is to select him to take charge of the locomotive on a Royal train. Only +the best men are picked out to drive the Queen, and the best engine on +the road is detailed for the Royal service; and although on those +occasions railway officials, who are the superiors of the driver, get on +the foot-boards, the latter is for the time being master of the +situation. Should the locomotive superintendent dictate to him, it would +be to confess that the driver was unworthy of his high trust, and so the +superintendent is content to look on; but it is the contentment born of +the conviction that he has chosen for the task a driver whose experience +is great, and whose watchfulness and care and knowledge of enginery have +given him a claim to the chief service his company has for him. Not that +there is any more risk in running the Queen's train than in running an +ordinary passenger express. In fact, the risk is reduced to a minimum. +A pilot engine has gone before to keep the way clear. The pilot engine +is fifteen minutes in advance of the Royal carriages at every station, +and the space travelled over in that fifteen minutes is kept free and +unobstructed. The speed of the train is carefully regulated, and amongst +other provisions for security the siding points are for the moment +spiked. Every crossing gate is guarded from the time of the passage of +the advance engine until the train follows in its wake. Everything is +done to make the Royal journey over a railroad a safe one. Such +arrangements, however, if they add to the responsibility, heighten also +the pride a man feels in being the Queen's driver. + +So far as the companies are concerned, it may be said that there is a +fair field and no favour all the way from the fire-box in the +cleaning-shed up to the footboard on the locomotive that takes Her +Majesty from Windsor to Ballater. Promotion comes practically as a +result of competitive examination. The mistake of a weak appointment is +soon rectified, and the precautions taken to test a man's capacity in one +grade before raising him to another are an absolute barrier to +incompetence. But there are circumstances under which a man's chances +are weakened. His responsibilities make him liable for the faults of +others, and mistakes of this kind go to his discredit. Then if he is not +companionable, or is over-confident, tricks may be played which will +prevent his going forward as rapidly as he otherwise would. Mr. Reynolds +tells the story of a driver who had come to a dead stop on a journey +because he was short of steam. The cause was a mystery. There appeared +to be nothing wrong with the engine or the fire, and apparently the +boiler was also in trim. It was eventually found that some one had put +soft soap in the tender, and the water there being hot, the soap was +gradually dissolved and introduced into the boiler, with the result that +the grease covered the tubes, and together with the suds prevented the +transmission of heat to the water. An enemy had done this, but under the +rules the driver was responsible for his engine, and he was suspended; +only, however, to be reinstated when once the mischief was traced to the +perpetrator. Even an act which to the ordinary spectator is a marvellous +example of presence of mind may, interpreted by the company's rules, be +an offence on the part of the engine-driver. An engine attached to a +train broke from the tender in the course of its journey, and became +separated. Noticing the mishap, the driver slackened speed, allowed the +tender and carriages to come up, and while the train was still in motion +he and the fireman adroitly secured the runaway, and no harm was done. +The men interested did not think it advisable to report the occurrence. +But the clever management of the engine had been noticed by a peasant in +a field, and Hodge, in his wonderment, began to talk about the affair all +round the country-side. Then the story found its way to a station +master, and thence to headquarters, and an inquiry brought the matter to +light, and ended in the two men being advised not to do the same thing +again. It was held that under the circumstances the train should have +been stopped. + + + + +ENGINE DRIVERS' PRESENCE OF MIND. + + +An able writer upon railway topics remarks:--"I have alluded to a +driver's coolness and resolution in an accident, but no chronicle ever +has or ever will be written which will tell one tithe of the accidents +which the courage and presence of mind of these men have averted. A +railway ran over a river--indeed, it might be called an arm of the sea: +as it was the inlet to an important harbour, provision was obliged to be +made for the shipping, and so the piece of line which crossed the water, +at a height of seventy feet, was, in fact, a bridge which swung round +when large vessels had to pass. I need hardly say that such a point was +carefully guarded. At each end, at a fitting distance, a man was placed +specially to indicate whether the bridge was open or shut. One day, as +the express was tearing along on its up journey, the driver received the +usual 'all right' signal; but to his horror, on coming in full sight of +the bridge, he found it was wide open, and a gulf of fatal depth yawning +before him. He sounded his brake-whistle, that deep-toned scream which +signals the guard, and he and his fireman held on, as before described, +to the brake and regulator. The speed of the train was, of course, +checked; but so short was the interval, so great had been the impetus, +that it seemed almost impossible to prevent the whole train from going +over into the chasm. Had the rails been in the least degree slippery, +any of the brakes out of order, or the driver less determined, there +would then have occurred the most fearful railway accident ever known in +England; but by dint of quick decision and cool courage the danger was +averted; the train was brought to a standstill when the buffers of the +engine absolutely and literally overhung the chasm. Three yards more, +and a different result might have had to be chronicled. + +"Some of my readers may remember an incident in railway history which +dates back to our first great Exhibition. I mention it here for its +singularity, and for my having known the driver whose coolness was so +marked. In ascending a very long gradient, the hindmost carriages of the +train snapped their couplings when at the top; the engine rattled on with +the remainder, while these ran down the slope, which was several miles in +length, with a velocity which, of course, increased every moment. To +make matters worse, the next train on the same line was comparatively +close behind, and, in fact, shortly came in sight. The driver of this +second train, a watchful and experienced hand, saw the carriages rushing +towards him, and divined that they were on the same line. If he +continued steaming on, of course, in a couple of minutes he would come +into direct collision with them, while, on the other hand, if he ran +back, the carriages would probably gather such way that they would leap +from the bank. So, with great presence of mind and wonderful judgment of +speed, he ran back at a pace not quite as fast as the carriages were +approaching, so that eventually they overtook him, and struck his moving +engine with a blow that was scarcely more perceptible than the jar +usually communicated by coupling on a fresh carriage. When this was +done, all the rest was easy; he resumed his down journey, and pushed the +frightened passengers safely before him until they reached their +destination, where the officials, as may readily be supposed, were in a +state of frantic despair at the loss of half the train." + + + + +A SMUGGLING LOCOMOTIVE. + + +A singular adaptation of the locomotive has just been made in Russia. +Information having been given to the authorities at Alexandrovo, on the +Polish frontier, that the locomotive of the express leaving that station +for Warsaw had been ingeniously converted into a receptacle for smuggled +goods, it was carefully examined during its sojourn at the station. +Though nothing was found wrong, it was deemed advisable that a +custom-house official should accompany the train to its destination, when +the engine furnace and boiler were emptied and deliberately taken to +pieces. In the interior was discovered a secret compartment containing +one hundred and twenty-three pounds of foreign cigars and several parcels +of valuable silk. Several arrests were made, including that of the +driver; but his astonishment at finding the engine to which he had been +so long accustomed converted into a hardened offender against the laws +was so genuine that he was released and allowed to return to his duties. + + + + +THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY. + + +An English lady accustomed to travelling abroad, and able to converse +fluently in the languages of the countries she visited, recently found +herself alone in a railway carriage in Germany, when two foreigners +entered with pipes in their mouths, smoking strong tobacco furiously. +She quietly told them in their own language that it was not a smoking +carriage, but they persisted in continuing to smoke, remarking that it +was "the custom of the country," upon which the lady took from her pocket +a pair of gloves and commenced cleaning them with benzoline. Her +fellow-passengers expressed their disgust at the nauseous effluvium, when +she remarked that it was the custom of her country. She was soon left in +the sole possession of the carriage. + + --_Truth_. + + + + +AN INSULTED WOMAN. + + +Mark Twain in his interesting work "A Tramp Abroad," thus refers to a +railroad incident:--"We left Turin at 10 the next morning by a railway, +which was profusely decorated with tunnels. We forgot to take a lantern +along, consequently we missed all the scenery. Our compartment was full. +A ponderous, tow-headed, Swiss woman, who put on many fine-lady airs, but +was evidently more used to washing linen than wearing it, sat in a corner +seat and put her legs across into the opposite one, propping them +intermediately with her up-ended valise. In the seat thus pirated sat +two Americans, greatly incommoded by that woman's majestic coffin-clad +feet. One of them begged her, politely, to remove them. She opened her +wide eyes and gave him a stare, but answered nothing. By-and-by he +preferred his request again, with great respectfulness. She said, in +good English, and in a deeply offended tone, that she had paid her +passage and was not going to be bullied out of her 'rights' by ill-bred +foreigners, even if she _was_ alone and unprotected. + +"'But I have rights also, madam. My ticket entitles me to a seat, but +you are occupying half of it.' + +"'I will not talk with you, sir. What right have you to speak to me? I +do not know you. One would know that you come from a land where there +are no gentlemen. No _gentleman_ would treat a lady as you have treated +me.' + +"'I come from a land where a lady would hardly give me the same +provocation.' + +"'You have insulted me, sir! You have intimated that I am not a +lady--and I hope I am _not_ one, after the pattern of your country.' + +"'I beg that you will give yourself no alarm on that head, madam but at +the same time I must insist--always respectfully--that you let me have my +seat.' + +"Here the fragile laundress burst into tears and sobs. + +"'I never was so insulted before! Never, never! It is shameful, it is +brutal, it is base, to bully and abuse an unprotected lady who has lost +the use of her limbs and cannot put her feet to the floor without agony!' + +"'Good heavens, madam, why didn't you say that at first! I offer a +thousand pardons. And I offer them most sincerely. I did not know--I +_could_ not know--that anything was the matter. You are most welcome to +the seat, and would have been from the first if I had only known. I am +truly sorry it all happened, I do assure you.' + +"But he couldn't get a word of forgiveness out of her. She simply sobbed +and snuffled in a subdued but wholly unappeasable way for two long hours, +meantime crowding the man more than ever with her undertaker-furniture, +and paying no sort of attention to his frequent and humble little efforts +to do something for her comfort. Then the train halted at the Italian +line, and she hopped up and marched out of the car with as firm a leg as +any washerwoman of all her tribe! And how sick I was to see how she had +fooled me!" + + + + +DISSATISFIED PASSENGERS. + + +Any one wanting a fair and yet amusing account of what really occurs to a +person travelling in America should read G. A. Sala's book called +_America Revisited_. He speaks of a gentleman from the Eastern States +whom he met in the train across the continent, and who thus held forth +upon the difference between reality and guide-books:-- + +"There ain't no bottling up of things about me. This overland journey's +a fraud, and you oughter know it. Don't tell me. It's a fraud. This +Ring must be busted up. Where are your buffalers? Perhaps you'll tell +me that them cows is buffalers. They ain't. Where are your prairie +dogs? They ain't dogs to begin with, they're squirrels. Ain't you +ashamed to call the mean little cusses dogs? But where are they? There +ain't none. Where are your grizzlies? You might have imported a few +grizzlies to keep up the name of your railroad. Where are your herds of +antelopes scudding before the advancing train? Nary an antelope have you +got for to scud. Rocky Mountains, sir? They ain't rocky at all--they're +as flat as my hand. Where are your savage gorges? I can't see none. +Where are your wild injuns? Do you call them loafing tramps in dirty +blankets, injuns? My belief is that they are greasers looking out for an +engagement as song and dance men. They're 'beats,' sir, 'dead beats,' +they're 'pudcocks,' and you oughter be told so." + +Another passenger in the train with Mr. Sala was of a poetic mind, and he +softly sang to himself during the whole journey over the Rocky Mountains +the following effusion:-- + + Beautiful snow, + Beautiful snow, + B-e-e-e-eautiful snow, + How I'd like to have a revolver and go + For the beast that wrote about beautiful snow. + + + + +COPY OF A NOTICE. + + +The following is a verbatim copy of a notice exhibited at Welsh railway +station. It is, perhaps, only a little more incomprehensible than +Bradshaw. "List of Booking: You passengers must careful. For have them +level money for ticket and to apply at once for asking tickets when will +booking window open. No tickets to have after the departure of the +trains." + + + + +SNOWED UP ON THE PACIFIC RAILWAY. + + +A writer in the _Leisure Hour_ remarks:--"It is no joke when a town like +New York or London is blocked up for a few hours by snow. Both labour +and capital have then to submit to a strike from nature; but it is a more +serious matter when a man is snowed up in the middle of the Pacific +Railway. He is not then kept at home, but kept away from it; he is not +in the midst of comforts, but most unpleasantly out of their reach. He +may, too, have to endure his privations and annoyances for a week, or +even a month. . . Avalanches, in spite of snow-sheds and galleries, +spring into ravines which the trains have to cross. . . . It was, +however, with some little alarm that the writer found himself caverned +for a considerable time under one of these dark snow-sheds. The +difficulty of running through the snow impediments had so exhausted the +fuel that it was necessary to go to a wood-station in the mountains. As +it was the favourite resort of avalanches, the prudent conductor of our +train directed the pilot to back the carriages into a snow-shed, and then +be off the more quickly with engine and tender for a supply of fuel. It +was bitterly cold and in the dead of night. The snow was piled up around +the gallery, and had in many places penetrated through the crevices. The +silence was profound. The sense of utter loneliness and desolation was +complete. The return of the engine after a lengthened absence was a +relief, like the spring sun following an arctic winter. + +"The first parties snowed up were wholly unprepared. They had had their +dollar meal at the last station, and were far enough from the next when +fixed in the bank. It was, however, a rare harvest for the nearest +store. The necessity of some was the opportunity of others. Food of +inferior quality brought fabulous prices. A dispute, involving a heavy +wager, arose about one article of fare. Was it antelope or not? The +vendor admitted that a very lean old cow had been sacrificed on the +pressing occasion. + +"For a little while some fun was got out of the trouble of snowed-up +trains. Delicate attentions were tendered by gentlemen as cooks' mates +to the ladies. Oyster-cans were converted into culinary utensils, and +telegraph wire proved excellent material for gridirons. Many a joke was +passed in the train kitchen, and hearty was the appetite for the rude +viands thus rudely dressed. But when the food grew more difficult to +obtain, and the wood supply became less and less, the mirth was +considerably slackened. It is true that despatches were sent off for +help, and cargoes of provisions were steamed up as near as the snow would +permit; but it was hard work to carry over the snow, and insufficient was +the supply. Frightful growlings arose from the men and sad lamentations +from the women. Short allowance of food, with intense cold, could not be +positively enjoyed any time; but to be cooped up within snow walls in +such a desolate region, far from expecting friends or urgent business, +was most annoying. One spoke of absolute necessity to be at his office +within the week, as heavy bills had to be prepared for. Another was +going about an important speculation, which would utterly break down if +he were detained three days. Alas! he was there above three weeks. + +"The sorrows of the heart were worse. A mother was there hastening to +nurse a sick daughter. A father had been summoned to the dying bed of +his son. A husband was hoping to clasp again a wife from whom a long +voyage had separated him. One poor fellow was an especial object of +sympathy. He was hastening to an anxiously waiting bride. He had to +cool the ardour of his passion in the snow-bound car, and pass the day +appointed for his wedding in shivering reflections. In one of the snow +depths was detained an interesting couple who had casually met on the +western side and were obeying the mandate of the heart and of friends in +proceeding to the east to effect their happy union. The three weeks they +were compelled to pass together, under these cold and trying +circumstances, must have given them a famous insight into each other's +character, and this before the knot was tied. + +"The story is told of one resolute man who, though but newly married, had +been compelled to take a business journey. He was most impatient to +return home, and was awhile confounded with his unfortunate imprisonment. +When he found that little chance existed for an early escape, his heart +prompted him to a bold enterprise. He was still two hundred miles from +home. He had no guide before him but the telegraph posts. He could +expect little provision on the way, as the stations were frozen up; but, +sustained by conjugal affection, the good fellow set off on his lonely +walk over the snow. Notwithstanding terrible sufferings, and some free +fighting with wolves, he did his march in five days only. What a +greeting he deserved! + +"Those who had not his courage and strength were compelled to endure the +cars. Americans are not folks to whine about a trouble; they succeed so +often that their faith is strong. Though the most luxurious of people, +the men--and the women too--can bear reverses nobly. But they never +dream of Oriental submissiveness. They struggle hard to rise, and make +the best of things till a change comes. So with those in the cars. They +soon found amusements; they chatted and laughed, played games and sang; +the best jokes were recollected and repeated, and the liveliest tales +were told; charades were acted; a judge and jury scene afforded much +amusement; lectures were given to approving assemblies. The Sundays were +decently observed, and services were held morning and evening; reading +was dispensed with, and the sermons were extempore perforce. + +"The worst part of their sufferings came when for forty-eight hours they +were under a snow-shed without light, and with the stoves empty. As, for +the maintenance of warmth, every crevice in the cars was stopped, the +misery of close and unwholesome atmosphere was added to their sorrows. +The writer, as an old traveller, has had some experience of odd sleeping +dens, and has been obliged at times to inhale a pestiferous air, though +he has never endured so much from this discomfort as in his winter +passage on the Pacific Railway. For hours in the long nights, as well as +in the day, he preferred standing outside on the platform, with the +thermometer from fifteen to twenty-five below zero, rather than encounter +the foul atmosphere and stifling heat within. + +"Meanwhile the brave Chinamen were summoned to the rescue. They are +capital fellows to withstand the cold, and work with a will to clear a +passage. For a distance of two hundred miles the blockade existed, and +several trains were thus caught on the way. Eight hundred freight wagons +were detained at Cheyenne. At one period the cold was 30 degrees below +zero. The worst part of the road was toward Sherman, 8,252 feet above +the sea. Wyoming and West Nebraska were the coldest regions. + +"In this great blockade, strange to say, the mortality was but small. +Three died during the imprisonment, and two in consequence of cold. But +an interesting compensation was made, for five births took place in this +season of trial. The principal sufferers were those in the second-class +carriages. Room, however, was made for the more delicate in the already +crowded first-class cars." + + + + +A SELL. + + +The _Indianapolis News_ is responsible for the following story. A +railroad official of Indianapolis had, among other passes, one purporting +to carry him freely over the Warren and Tonawanda Narrow-Gauge Railway. +Happening to be near Warren, he thought he would use this pass. Now, it +appears that some enterprising citizens of Pennsylvania once proposed to +lay a pipe-line for petroleum between Warren and Tonawanda. The +Legislature having refused to sanction their scheme, they "engineered" a +bill for building a narrow-gauge line, which passed, the oil capitalists +not conceiving that they had any interest in opposing it. It is needless +to say the narrow-gauge line was the "desiderated pipe-line." The +enterprising citizens carried their joke so far as to issue annual passes +over the road, receiving others in return. When the traveller sought for +the Warren station on this line he found a chimney, and for the +narrow-gauge an iron-lined hole in the ground. It is hardly surprising +that now he is moved to anger at the slightest reference to the "Warren +and Tonawanda Narrow Gauge." + + + + +AT FAULT. + + +It is rather a serious matter that our public companies, and especially +our railway companies, are doing their best to degrade our language. I +am not going to be squeamish and object strongly to the use of the word +_Metropolitan_, though I think it indefensible. Still, it is too bad of +them to persist in using the word _bye-laws_ for _by-laws_--so +establishing solidly a shocking error. The word _bye_ has no existence +in England except as short for _be with you_, in the phrase _Good-bye_. +The so called by-laws are simple laws by the other laws, and have nothing +to do with any form of salutation. In a bill of the Great Western +Railway I find the announcement that tickets obtained in London on any +day from December 20th to 24th will be available for use on _either_ of +those days--this _either_ meaning the five days from the 20th December to +the 24th inclusive. Either of five! After this I am not surprised that, +in a contribution of my own to a daily paper, the editor gravely altered +the phrase _the last-named_, applied to one of three people, to _latter_. +In a railway advertisement I read a day or two ago, "From whence." Now, +what is the good of such fine words as _whence_ and _thence_ if they are +thus to be ill-used? Surely the railway companies might have some one +capable of seeing that their grammar has some pretence to correctness. + + --_Gentleman's Magazine_. + + + + +A WIDOW'S CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION. + + +Some time ago a railway collision on one of the roads leading out of New +York killed, among others, a passenger living in an interior town. His +remains were sent home, and a few days after the funeral the attorney of +the road called upon the widow to effect a settlement. She placed her +figures at twenty thousand dollars. "Oh! that sum is unreasonable," +replied the attorney. "Your husband was nearly fifty years old." "Yes, +sir." "And lame?" "Yes." "And his general health was poor?" "Quite +poor." "And he probably would not have lived over five years?" +"Probably not, sir." "Then it seems to me that two or three thousand +dollars would be a fair compensation." "Two or three thousand!" she +echoed. "Why, sir, I courted that man for ten years, run after him for +ten more, and then had to chase him down with a shotgun to get him before +a preacher! Do you suppose that I'm going to settle for the bare cost of +shoe leather and ammunition?" + + + + +THE LADY AND HER LAP-DOG. + + +The following scene occurred at the high-level Crystal Palace line:--"A +newspaper correspondent was amused at the indignation of a lady against +the porters who interfered to prevent her taking her dog into the +carriage. The lady argued that Parliament had compelled the companies to +find separate carriages for smokers, and they ought to be further +compelled to have a separate carriage for ladies with lap-dogs, and it +was perfectly scandalous that they should be separated, and a valuable +dog, worth perhaps thirty or forty guineas, should be put into a dog +compartment. I have some of the B stock of the railway, upon which not a +penny has ever been paid, and I could not help comparing my experience of +this particular line of railway with that of my fellow-traveller, and +wondering what sort of a train that would be which would provide +accommodation for all the wants and wishes of railway travellers." + + + + +WHAT IS PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE? + + +A gentleman removing took with him on the Great Western railway articles +consisting of six pairs of blankets, six pairs of sheets, and six +counterpanes, valued at 16 pounds, belonging to his household furniture. +They were in a box, which was put in the luggage van and lost. The +question at law was whether these articles came within the definition, +"ordinary passengers' luggage," for which, if lost, the passenger could +claim damages from the Company. + +The judges of the Court of Queen's Bench sitting in Banco have decided +that such is not personal luggage. + +"Now," (said the Lord Chief Justice) "although we are far from saying +that a pair of sheets or the like taken by a passenger for his use on a +journey might not fairly be considered as personal luggage, it appears to +us that a quantity of articles of that description intended, not for the +use of the traveller on the journey, but for the use of his household, +when permanently settled, cannot be held to be so." + + --_Herepath's Railway Journal_, Jan. 10, 1871. + + + + +CONVERSION OF THE GAUGE. + + +The conversion of the gauge on the South Wales section of the Great +Western railway in 1872 was of the heaviest description, the period of +labour lasting from seventeen to eighteen hours a day for several +successive days. It was the greatest work of its kind, and nothing +exactly like it will ever be done in England again. The lines of rail to +be connected would have made about 400 miles in single length, the number +of men employed was about 1500; and the time taken was two weeks nearly. +Oatmeal and barley water was made into a thin gruel and given to the men +as required. It was the only drink taken during the day. I had not a +single case of drunkenness or illness. I have often heard these men +speak with great approbation of the supporting power of oatmeal drink. + + --_J. W. Armstrong_, _C.E._ + + + + +FOURTH-OF-JULY FACTS. + + +At a banquet in Paris attended by Americans in celebration of the late +Fourth of July, Mr. Walker's speech in reply to the toast of the material +prosperity of the United States and France, and the establishment of +closer commercial relations between them, was especially striking and +interesting. He remarked, "In 1870 the cost of transporting food and +merchandise between the Western and Eastern States was from a +cent-and-a-half to two cents a ton a mile. I well remember a +conversation which I had in 1870 or 1871 with Mr. William B. Ogden, of +Chicago, one of the modest railway kings of that primitive period. In a +vein of sanguine prophecy, Mr. Ogden exclaimed to me, 'Mr. Walker, you +will live to see freight brought from Chicago to New York at a cent a ton +a mile!' 'Perhaps so,' I replied; 'but I fear this result will not be +reached in my time.' In 1877 or 1878 the cost had fallen to +three-eighths of a cent a ton a mile, and although this price was not +remunerative, I was told by one of the highest authorities in railway +matters that five-eighths of a cent would be perfectly satisfactory. The +effect of this reduction in the cost of transportation is precisely as +though the unexhaustible grain fields and pastures across the Mississippi +had been moved bodily eastward to the longitude of Ohio and Western New +York. It is estimated that it takes a quarter of a ton of bread and meat +to feed a grown man in Massachusetts for a year. The bread and meat come +to him from the far west, and I have no doubt that it will astonish you +to be told, as it lately astonished me, that a single day of this man's +labour, even if it be of the commonest sort, will pay for transporting +his year's subsistence for a thousand miles." + + + + +TAY BRIDGE ACCIDENT. + + +Dec. 28, 1879. A fearful disaster occurred in Scotland. As the train +from Edinburgh to Dundee was crossing the bridge, two miles in length, +which spans the mouth of the Tay, a terrible hurricane struck the bridge, +about four hundred yards of which was, with the train, dashed into the +sea below. About seventy persons were in the train, of whom not one +escaped, nor, when the divers were able to descend, could a single body +be found in the carriages, or among the bridge girders, and some days +elapsed before any were recovered. No conclusive evidence could be +produced to show whether the train was blown off the rails and so dragged +the girders down, or whether the bridge was blown away and the train ran +into the chasm thus made. The night was intensely dark, and the wind +more violent than had ever been known in the country. + + _Annual Register_, 1879. + + + + +AN EXTRAORDINARY WAIF. + + +The following is a translation from the Norwegian newspaper +_Morgenbledet_, dated Feb. 20th:--"By private letter from Utsue, an +island on the western coast of Norway, is communicated to Dapposten the +intelligence that on the 12th inst. some fishermen pulled on the Firth to +haul their nets, and had hardly finished their labour when they sighted +an extraordinary object some distance further out. The superstitious +fears of sea monsters which have been written a good deal about lately +held them back for some time, but their curiosity made them approach the +supposed sea monster, and, to their great surprise, they found that it +was something like a building. As the sea was calm they immediately +commenced to tow it to shore, where it was hauled up on the beach, and +was then found to be a damaged railway wagon. The wheels were off, the +windows smashed, and one door hanging on its hinges. By the name on it, +"Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway," it was at once surmised that it must +have been one of the wagons separated from the train which met with the +disaster on the Tay Bridge. In the carriage was a portmanteau containing +garments, some of them marked 'P.B.' The wagon was sent, on the 14th, to +Hangesund, to be forwarded thence to Bergen." + + + + +A RAILWAY SLEEPER. + + +A railway pointsman, caught napping at his post and convicted of wilful +negligence, said to the gaoler who was about to lock him up, "I always +supposed that the safety of a railroad depended on the soundness of its +sleepers?" "So it does," replied the gaoler, "but such sleepers are +never safe unless they are bolted in." + + + + +NOT TO BE CAUGHT. + + +The following incident is said to have occurred on the North London +Railway:--Some time ago a passenger remarked, in the hearing of one of +the company's servants, how easy it was to "do" the company, and said, "I +often travel from Broad Street to Dalston Junction without a +ticket--anyone can do it--I did it yesterday." When he alighted he was +followed by the official, who asked him how it was done. For a +consideration he agreed to tell him. This being given, "Now," said the +inquirer, "how did you go from Broad Street to Dalston Junction yesterday +without a ticket?" "Oh," was the reply, "I walked." + + + + +THE DOCTOR AND THE OFFICERS. + + +The following is rather a good story from the Emerald Isle:--A doctor and +his wife got into a train near--well, we will not say where. In the same +carriage with the doctor were two strange officers. The doctor's wife +got into another compartment of the same train, the doctor not having +seen his wife in the hurry, neither knew that they were travelling by the +same train until both had got into different carriages. Said one of the +officers to his companion, "That is the ugliest woman I ever saw." "She +is," replied the Son of Mars. "I should not like to be obliged to kiss +her," responded the first speaker. "I should not mind doing it," +sullenly said the doctor. "You never would, sir, think of such a thing," +said the officer. "I'll bet you a sovereign I will," answered the man of +"pills and potions." "Done," said the officer. So when they all got out +at the station, the doctor went forward and kissed his wife, and won his +sovereign--the easiest-earned fee he had ever received. The officers +looked rather astonished when he presented his wife to them. + + + + +THE BOTHERED QUEEN'S COUNSEL. + + +Mr. Merewether, Q.C., got into the train one morning with a whole batch +of briefs and a talkative companion. He wanted to go through his briefs, +but his companion would not let him work. He tried silence, he tried +grunting, he tried sarcasm. At length, when they came to Hanwell, the +gossip hit upon the unfortunate remark, "How well the asylum looks from +the railway!" "Pray, sir," replied Mr. Merewether, "how does the railway +look from the asylum?" The man was silent. + + + + +A BRAVE ENGINE DRIVER. + + +An American contemporary says:--"John Bull, of Galion (Ohio), ought to +have his name recorded in an enduring way, for few have ever behaved so +nobly as that engine driver of the New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio +railroad. As he was driving a passenger train last month he found that, +through somebody's blunder, a freight train was approaching on the same +track, and a collision was inevitable. He could have saved his own life +by leaping from the engine, but, dismissing all thoughts of himself, he +resolved to try and save the passengers committed to his care. So he +reversed the engine and set the air-brakes, and then put on full steam, +started the locomotive ahead, broke the coupling attached to the train, +and dashed on to receive the shock of the collision. The passengers +escaped all injury, while the brave engineer was so badly hurt that he +died in a few hours. Such heroism as this should not go unnoticed." The +_Cincinnati Inquirer_ says: "He remained in the car until the engine +leaped into the air and was dashed into the ditch, when he attempted to +spring to the ground, but had his foot caught between the frames of the +engine and tender, striking his head on the ground and causing the fatal +injuries. Railroad men say that the act of detaching the engine as he +did, not even derailing the baggage car with his engine at the high rate +of speed, and all in 150 feet, is without parallel in railroading. A +purse of 500 dollars was raised by the grateful passengers. The body has +been shipped to Galion for burial." + + + + +AN INDUSTRIOUS BISHOP. + + +In noticing the "Life of the Rt. Rev. Samuel Wilberforce, D.D., Lord +Bishop of Oxford, and afterwards of Winchester," a writer in the +_Athenaeum_ remarks:--"Busy he was, both in Oxford and in London, and his +correspondence with all kinds of people was unusually large. A large +proportion of his letters were written in the railway train, and dated +from 'near' this town, or 'between' this and that. We remember to have +heard from one who was his companion in a railway carriage that before +the journey was half-finished the adjoining seat was littered with +envelopes of letters which he had read, and with the answers he had +written since he started. All this undeniably shows energy and +determination, and power to work." + + + + +COOL IMPUDENCE AND DISHONESTY. + + +Some days since, the trains of the North London Railway were all late, +and consequently every platform was crowded. At one of the stations an +unfortunate passenger attempted to enter an already over-crowded +first-class compartment, but one of the occupants stoutly resisted the +intrusion. Thereupon, the unfortunate one said, "I will soon settle +this," and called the guard to the carriage door. He then requested the +official to ask two of the occupants to produce their tickets, which +proved to be third-class ones. In spite of the delinquents protesting +there was no room in the train elsewhere, they were ejected, and the +unfortunate one took their place. The other passengers were naturally +rather indignant; and, seeing this, the successful intruder quietly said, +"I am very sorry to have had to turn those two gentlemen out, especially +as I have heard them say they were already late for an important +engagement in the city; and I am all the more sorry, seeing that I only +hold a third-class ticket myself." + + --_Truth_. + + + + +THE BOOKING-CLERK AND BUCKLAND. + + +Mr. Frank Buckland had been in France and was returning via Southampton, +with an overcoat stuffed with natural history specimens of all sorts, +dead and alive. Among them was a monkey, which was domiciled in a large +inside breast-pocket. As Buckland was taking his ticket, Jocko thrust up +his head and attracted the attention of the booking-clerk, who +immediately--and very properly--said, "You must take a ticket for that +dog, if it's going with you." "Dog," said Buckland, "it's no dog, it's a +monkey." "It is a dog," replied the clerk. "It's a monkey," retorted +Buckland, and proceeded to show the whole animal, but without convincing +the clerk, who insisted on five shillings for the dog-ticket to London. +Nettled at this, Buckland plunged his hand into another pocket and +produced a tortoise, and laying it on the sill of the ticket window said, +"Perhaps you'll call that a dog too." The clerk inspected the tortoise. +"No," said he, "we make no charge for them--they're insects." + + + + +REMARKABLE RESCUE OF A CHILD. + + +An engineer on a locomotive going across the western prairie day after +day, saw a little child come out in front of a cabin and wave to him, so +he got in the habit of waving back to the child, and it was the day's joy +to see this little one come out in front of the cabin door and wave to +him while he answered back. One day the train was belated, and it came +on to the dusk of the evening. As the engineer stood at his post he saw +by the headlight that little girl on the track, wondering why the train +did not come, looking for the train, knowing nothing of her peril. A +great horror seized upon the engineer. He reversed the engine. He gave +it in charge of the other man, and then he climbed over the engine, and +he came down on the cowcatcher. He said though he had reversed the +engine, it seemed as though it were going at lightning speed, faster and +faster, though it was really slowing up, and with almost supernatural +clutch he caught the child by the hair and lifted it up, and when the +train stopped, and the passengers gathered around to see what was the +matter, there the old engineer lay, fainted dead away, the little child +alive and in his swarthy arms. + + + + +FEMALE FRAGILITY. + + +There was a time when American women prided themselves on their +fragility. To be healthy, strong or plump was thought to be the height +of vulgarity, and refinement was held to be inseparable from leanness and +consumption. These views still obtain--so it is said--in Boston, and +especially in Bostonian literary circles; but elsewhere the American +woman is growing plump and healthy, and is actually proud of it. While +wise men are heartily glad of this change in female sentiment and tissue, +it must be admitted that there is one form of feminine fragility which +has its value. There is a rare condition of the bony system in which the +bones are so fragile that the slightest blow is sufficient to break them. +A baby thus afflicted cannot be handled, even by the most experienced +mother, without danger; and a man with fragile bones is so liable to be +broken, that there is sometimes no safety for him outside of a glass +case. The late Mrs. Baker--for that was her latest name--was not so +fragile that she could not be handled by a careful man, but still a very +light blow would usually break her. She did not share the Bostonian +opinion of the vulgarity of strength, but she was, nevertheless, very +proud of her fragility, and by its aid her husband managed to amass a +comfortable fortune within three years after their marriage. She is +perhaps the only fragile woman on record of whom it can be said that her +whole value consisted in her fragility, but, as her story shows, her +fragility was the sole capital invested in her husband's business. In +January, 1870, Mrs. Baker--then a single woman, as to whose maiden name +there is some uncertainty--was married to Mr. Wheelwright--James G. +Wheelwright, of Worcester, Mass. Her husband married her on account of +her well-known fragility, but he treated her with such kindness that in +the whole course of their married life he never once broke her, even by +accident. In February, 1870, the Wheelwrights removed to Utica, N.Y., +and one day Mr. Wheelwright took his wife to the railway station, and had +her break her leg in a small hole on the platform. He at once sued the +railway company for 10,000 dols., being the value set by himself on his +wife's leg, and ten days afterwards accepted 5,000 dols. as a compromise, +and withdrew the suit The Wheelwrights left Utica in June, 1870, and in +the following August the dutiful Mrs. Wheelwright, who now called herself +Mrs. Thomas, broke her other leg in a hole in the platform of the railway +station at Pittsburg. Again her husband sued the railway company for +15,000 dols., and compromised for 6,500 dols. The leg was mended +successfully, and in July, 1871, we find the Thomases, now passing under +the name of Mr. and Mrs. Smiley, at Cincinnati, where Mr. Smiley, after +long searching, discovered a piece of ragged and uneven sidewalk, upon +which his wife made a point of falling and breaking her right arm. This +time the city was sued for 15,000 dols., and Mr. Smiley proved that his +wife was a school teacher by profession, and that the breaking of her arm +rendered it impossible for her to teach, for there as on that she could +not wield a rod or even a slipper. The city paid the 15,000 dols. and +the Smileys, having by honest industry thus made 26,500 dols., removed to +Chicago, and entered their names on the hotel register as Mr. and Mrs. +McGinnis, of Portland, Me. On the second day after their arrival at the +hotel, Mr. McGinnis found an eligible place on the piazza for Mrs. +McGinnis to break another leg, which that excellent woman promptly did. +The usual suit of 15,000 dols. was brought, and the hotel-keeper, fearing +that the notoriety of the suit would injure his hotel, was glad to +compromise by paying 8,000 dols. By this time, it is understood, Mrs. +McGinnis was willing to retire from business, but her husband had set his +heart on making 50,000 dols., and like a good wife she consented to break +some more bones. It should be said that there was very little pain +attending a fracture of any one of the lady's bones, and that she did not +in the least mind the monotony of lying in bed while the broken bones +knitted themselves together. There can, therefore, be no charge of +cruelty brought against her husband. Indeed, she herself entered with a +hearty goodwill into the scheme of making a living with her bones, and +would go out to break a leg with as much cheerfulness as if she was going +to a theatre. In March, 1872, Mrs. Wilkins--hitherto known as Mr. +McGinnis--walked into an open trench in a street in St. Louis and broke +another leg. This time the suit brought by Mr. Wilkins against the city +did not succeed, and the inquiries which were put on foot as to the +antecedents of the Wilkinses fairly frightened them out of the city. +They turned up a month later in Detroit, where the weather was still +cold, and much snow had recently fallen. There were still 16,000 dollars +to be made before the industrious pair would have the whole of their +desired 50,000 dollars, and it was decided that Mrs. Wilkins--who had +changed her name to Mrs. Baker--should fall on the icy pavement and break +both arms. This, it was estimated, would be worth at least 8,000 dols., +and it was hoped that the subsequent judicious breakage of two legs on +the premises of a Canadian railway would bring in 8,000 dols. more, after +which the Bakers intended to retire from business. Early one morning Mr. +Baker took his wife out and had her fall on a nice piece of ice, where +she broke both arms. Unfortunately, she fell more heavily than was +necessary, and, in addition, broke her neck and instantly expired. The +grief of Mr. Baker naturally knew no bounds, and he sued for 25,000 +dols., all of which he recovered. He had thus made 59,500 dols. by the +aid of his fragile wife, and demonstrated that as a source of steady +income a woman who breaks easily is almost priceless. Still, nothing +could console him for the loss of his beloved partner, and he is to-day a +lonely and unhappy man. + + --_New York Times_. + + + + +TAKING HIM DOWN A PEG. + + +A guard of a railway train, upon the late occasion of a _hitch_, which +detained the passengers for some time, gave himself so much importance in +commanding them, that one old gentleman took the wind out of his sails by +calling him to the carriage door, and saying, "May I take the liberty, +sir, of asking you what occupation you filled previous to being a railway +guard?" + + + + +A REMARKABLE NOTICE. + + +On a certain railway, the following notice appeared:--"Hereafter, when +trains moving in opposite directions are approaching each other on +separate lines, conductors and engineers will be required to bring their +respective trains to a dead halt before the point of meeting, and be very +careful not to proceed till each train has passed the other." + + + + +FLUTTER CAUSED BY THE MURDER OF MR. BRIGGS. + + +My vocations led me to travel almost daily on one of the Great Eastern +lines--the Woodford Branch. Every one knows that Muller perpetrated his +detestable act on the North London Railway, close by. The English middle +class, of which I am myself a feeble unit, travel on the Woodford branch +in large numbers. Well, the demoralization of our class,--which (the +newspapers are constantly saying it, so I may repeat it without vanity) +has done all the great things which have ever been done in England,--the +demoralization of our class caused, I say, by the Bow tragedy, was +something bewildering. Myself a transcendentalist (as the _Saturday +Review_ knows), I escaped the infection; and day after day I used to ply +my agitated fellow-travellers with all the consolations which my +transcendentalism and my turn for French would naturally suggest to me. +I reminded them how Julius Caesar refused to take precautions against +assassination, because life was not worth having at the price of an +ignoble solicitude for it. I reminded them what insignificant atoms we +all are in the life of the world. Suppose the worse to happen, I said, +addressing a portly jeweller from Cheapside,--suppose even yourself to be +the victim, _il n'y a pas d'homme necessaire_. We should miss you for a +day or two on the Woodford Branch; but the great mundane movement would +still go on, the gravel walks of your villa would still be rolled, +dividends would still be paid at the bank, omnibuses would still run, +there would still be the old crush at the corner of Fenchurch street. +All was of no avail. Nothing could moderate in the bosom of the great +English middle class their passionate, absorbing, almost blood-thirsty +clinging to life. + + --Matthew Arnold's _Essays in Criticism_. + + + + +AN EXTRAORDINARY BLUNDER. + + +A correspondent, writing from Amelia les Bains, says:--A very singular +blunder was committed the other day by the officials of a railway station +between Prepignan and Toulon. A gentleman who had been spending the +winter here with his family, left last week for Marseilles, taking with +him the body of his mother-in-law, who died six weeks ago, and who had +expressed a wish to be buried in the family vault at Marseilles. When he +reached Marseilles and went with the commissioner of police--whose +presence is required upon these occasions--to receive the body from the +railway officials, he noticed to his great surprise that the coffin was +of a different shape and construction from that which he had brought from +here. It turned out upon further inquiry that a mistake had been +committed by the officials, who had sent on to Toulon the coffin +containing his mother-in-law's body, believing that it held the remains +of a deceased admiral, which was to be embarked for interment in Algeria, +while the coffin awaiting delivery was the one which should have been +sent on. The gentleman who was placed in this awkward predicament, +having requested the railway officials to communicate at once with Toulon +by telegraph, proceeded thither himself with the coffin of the admiral, +but the intimation had arrived too late. He ascertained when he got +there that the first coffin had been duly received, taken on board, amid +"the thunder of fort and of fleet," the state vessel which was waiting +for it, and despatched to Algeria. He at once called upon the maritime +prefect of Toulon, and explained the circumstances of the case, but +though a despatch-boat was sent in pursuit, the other vessel was not +overtaken. He is now at Toulon awaiting her return, and I believe that +he declines to give up the coffin containing the deceased admiral until +he regains possession of his mother-in-law's remains. + + + + +A CURIOUS RACE. + + +In July, 1877, a carrier-pigeon tried conclusions with a railway train. +The bird was a Belgian voyageur, bred at Woolwich, and "homed" to a house +in Cannon Street, City. The train was the Continental mail-express timed +not to stop between Dover and Cannon Street Station. The pigeon, +conveying an urgent message from the French police, was tossed through +the railway carriage window as the train moved from the Admiralty Pier, +the wind being west, the atmosphere hazy, but the sun shining. For more +than a minute the bird circled round till it attained an altitude of +about half-a-mile, and then it sailed away Londonwards. By this time the +engine had got full steam on, and the train was tearing away at the rate +of sixty miles an hour; but the carrier was more than a match for it. +Taking a line midway between Maidstone and Sittingbourne, it reached home +twenty minutes before the express dashed into the station; the train +having accomplished seventy-six-and-a-half miles to the pigeon's seventy, +but being badly beaten for all that. + + --_All the Year Round_. + + + + +A GREENLANDER'S FIRST RAILWAY RIDE. + + +Hans Hendrik, a native of Greenland, thus describes his first journey by +rail in America:--"Then our train arrived and we took seats in it. When +we had started and looked at the ground, it appeared like a river, making +us dizzy, and the trembling of the carriage might give you headache. In +this way we proceeded, and whenever we approached houses they gave +warning by making big whistle sound, and on arriving at the houses they +rung a bell and we stopped for a little while. By the way we entered a +long cave through the earth, used as a road, and soon after we emerged +from it again. At length we reached our goal, and entered a large +mansion, in which numbers of people crowded together." He likens the +people going out of the railway-station to a "crowd of church-goers, on +account of their number." + + --_Good Words_, April, 1880. + + + + +A NOVEL ACTION. + + +Will bad table manners vitiate legal grounds of action? A collision +recently occurred while an Italian commercial traveller was eating a +Bologna sausage in a railway train. The shock of the collision drove the +knife so violently against his mouth as to widen it. He brought suit for +damages. The defence was that the injuries were caused by the knife; +that the knife should never be carried to the mouth, and that the +plaintiff, having injured himself by reason of his bad habit of eating, +must take the consequences and pay his own doctor's bill. The case is +not yet finally decided. + + --_Echo_, Oct. 1st., 1880. + + + + +A KISS IN THE DARK. + + +On one of the seats in a railway train was a married lady with a little +daughter; opposite, facing them, was another child, a son, and a coloured +"lady" with a baby. The mother of these children was a beautiful matron +with sparkling eyes, in exuberant health and vivacious spirits. Near her +sat a young lieutenant, dressed to kill and seeking a victim. He scraped +up an acquaintance with the mother by attentions to the children. It was +not long before he was essaying to make himself very agreeable to her, +and by the time the sun began to decline, one would have thought they +were old familiar friends. The lieutenant felt that he had made an +impression--his elation manifested it. The lady, dreaming of no wrong, +suspecting no evil, was apparently pleased with her casual acquaintance. +By-and-by the train approached a tunnel. The gay lieutenant leaned over +and whispered something in the lady's ear. It was noticed that she +appeared as thunderstruck, and her eyes immediately flamed with +indignation. A moment more and a smile lighted up her features. What +changes? That smile was not one of pleasure, but was sinister. It was +unperceived by the lieutenant. She made him a reply which apparently +rejoiced him very much. For the understanding properly this narrative, +we must tell the reader what was whispered and what was replied. "I mean +to kiss you when we get into the tunnel!" whispered the lieutenant. "It +will be dark; who will see it?" replied the lady. Into earth's +bowels--into the tunnel ran the train. Lady and coloured nurse quickly +change seats. Gay lieutenant threw his arms around the lady sable, +pressed her cheek to his, and fast and furious rained kisses on her lips. +In a few moments the train came out into broad daylight. White lady +looked amazed--coloured lady, bashful, blushing--gay lieutenant befogged. +"Jane," said the white lady, "what have you been doing?" "Nothing!" +responded the coloured lady. "Yes, you have," said the white lady, not +in an undertone, but in a voice that attracted the attention of all in +the carriage. "See how your collar is rumpled and your bonnet smashed." +Jane, poor coloured beauty, hung her head for a moment, the "observed of +all observers," and then, turning round to the lieutenant, replied: +"_This man kissed me in the tunnel_!" Loud and long was the laugh that +followed among the passengers. The white lady enjoyed the joke +amazingly. Lieutenant looked like a sheep-stealing dog, left the +carriage at the next station, and was seen no more. + + --_Cape Argus_. + + + + +THE GRAVEDIGGER'S SUGGESTION. + + +The Midland Railway, on being extended to London, was the occasion of the +removal of a vast amount of house property, also it interfered to a +certain extent with the graveyard belonging to Old St. Pancras Church. +The company had purchased a new piece of ground in which to re-inter the +human remains discovered in the part they required. Amongst them was the +corpse of a high dignitary of the French Romish Church. Orders were +received for the transmission of the remains to his native land, and the +delicate work of exhuming the corpse was entrusted to some clever +gravediggers. On opening the ground they were surprised to find, not +bones of one man, but of several. Three skulls and three sets of bones +were yielded by the soil in which they had lain mouldering. The +difficulty was how to identify the bones of a French ecclesiastic amid so +many. After much discussion, the shrewdest gravedigger suggested that, +being a Frenchman, the darkest coloured skull must be his. Acting upon +this idea, the blackest bones were sorted and put together, until the +requisite number of rights and lefts were obtained. These were +reverently screwed up in a new coffin, conveyed to France, and buried +with all the pomp and circumstance of the Roman Catholic Church. + + + + +AN AMUSING INCIDENT. + + +An American correspondent writes:--"I have just finished reading a most +amusing incident, and, as it occurs in a book not likely to fall into the +hands of many of the members, I am tempted to relate it, although it +might prove to be 'stale.' Well, to begin: It tells of a maiden lady, +who, having arrived at the mature age of 51 without ever having seen a +railway train, decides to visit New York. The all-important day having +arrived, she seats herself calmly on the platform of the country station, +and gazes with amazement as the train draws up, takes on its passengers, +and pursues its journey. As she stares after it the stationmaster asks +her why she did not get on if she wishes to go to New York. 'Get on,' +says Miss Polly, in surprise, 'get on! Why, bless me, if I didn't think +this whole concern went!' Being placed on the next train, she proceeds +on her way, when, finally, having seen so many wonderful things, she +concluded not to be astonished, whatever may happen. A collision occurs +and the gentleman next to her is thrown to the end of the car among a +heap of broken seats. She supposes it to be the usual manner of +stopping, and quietly remarks: 'Ye fetch up rather sudden, don't ye?'" + + + + +A LITTLE BOY'S COOLNESS. + + +The suit of William O'Connor against the Boston and Lowell Railroad at +Lawrence has resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff in $10,000, one-half +the amount sued for. This suit grew out of an accident which occurred +August 27th, 1880. The plaintiff was the father of a child then between +five and six years old. He and his brother, three years older, were +crossing a private way maintained by the railroad for the Essex Company, +and the younger boy, while walking backward, stepped between the rail and +planking of the roadway inside and was unable to extricate his foot. At +that moment the whistle of a train was heard within a few hundred feet +and out of sight around a curve, and it appeared from the evidence that +the older brother, finding himself unable to relieve his brother, ran +down the track toward the train; but finding that he could not attract +the attention of the trainmen to his brother's condition, and that he +must be run over, ran back to him, and, telling him to lie down, pulled +him outward and down and held him there until the train had passed. Both +feet of the little fellow were cut off or mangled so that amputation was +necessary. The theory of the defence was that the boy was not caught, +but while running across the track, fell and was run over. But the +testimony of the older brother was unshaken in every particular. It +would be difficult to match the nerve, thoughtfulness, and disregard of +self displayed by this boy, who at that time was less than nine years +old. + + + + +PHOTOGRAPHING AN EXPRESS TRAIN. + + +An interesting application of the instantaneous method of photography was +recently made by a firm of photographers at Henley-on-Thames. These +artists were successful in photographing the Great Western Railway +express train familiarly known as the "Flying Dutchman," while running +through Twyford station at a speed of nearly sixty miles an hour. The +definition of this lightning-like picture is truly wonderful, the details +of the mechanism on the flying locomotive standing out as sharply as the +immovable telegraph posts and palings beside the line. The photographers +are now engaged, we believe, in constructing a swift shutter for their +camera which will reduce the period of exposure of the photographic plate +to 1-500th of a second. The same artists have also executed some +charming pictures of the upper Thames, with floating swans and moving +boats, which cannot but win the admiration of artists and all lovers of +the picturesque. + + --_Cassell's Family Magazine_, Nov. 1880. + + + + +NERVOUSNESS. + + +Surely people are far more _nervous_ now than they used to be some +generations back. The mental cultivation and the mental wear which we +have to go through tends to make that strange and inexplicable portion of +our physical construction a very great deal too sensitive for the work +and trial of daily life. A few days ago I drove a friend who had been +paying us a visit over to our railway station. He is a man of fifty, a +remarkably able and accomplished man. Before the train started, the +guard came round to look at the tickets. My friend could not find his; +he searched his pockets everywhere, and although the entire evil +consequence, had the ticket not turned up, could not possibly have been +more than the payment a second time of four or five shillings, he got +into a nervous tremor painful to see. He shook from head to foot; his +hand trembled so that he could not prosecute his search rightly, and +finally he found the missing ticket in a pocket which he had already +searched half-a-dozen times. Now contrast the condition of this +highly-civilized man, thrown into a painful flurry and confusion at the +demand of a railway ticket, with the impassive coolness of a savage, who +would not move a muscle if you hacked him in pieces. + + --_Fraser's Magazine_. + + + + +A PROFITABLE RAILWAY. + + +The shortest and most profitable railway in the world is probably to be +seen at Coney Island, the famous suburban summer resort of New York. +This is the "Marine Railway," which connects the Manhattan Beach Hotel +and the Brighton Beach Hotel. It is 2,000 feet in length, is laid with +steel rails, and has a handsome little station at each end. Its +equipment consists of two locomotives and four cars, open at the sides, +and having reversible seats; and a train of two cars is run each way +every five minutes. The cost of this miniature road, including stations +and equipment, was 27,000 dols., and it paid for itself in a few weeks +after it was opened for business. The operating expenses are 30 dols. a +day, and the average receipts are 450 dols. a day the entire season, 900 +dols. being sometime taken in. The fare charged is five cents. The +property paid a profit last year of 500 dols. per cent on its cost. + + + + +THE POLITE BRAHMIN. + + +Owing to the various dialects in the South of India, as a matter of +convenience the English language is much used for personal communication +by the natives of different parts of the Presidency of Madras. Mr. +Edward Lear, who has travelled much in that part of the country, gives +the following interesting account of a journey:--"I was in a second-class +railway carriage going from Madras to Bangalore. There was only one +other passenger beside myself and servant, and he was a Brahmin, dressed +all in white, with the string worn over the shoulder, by which you may +always recognise a Brahmin. He had a great many boxes and small +articles, which took up a great deal of room in the compartment, and when +at the next station the door was opened for another passenger to get in, +the guard said:-- + +"'You cannot have all those boxes inside the carriage; some of them must +be taken out.' + +"'Oh, sir,' said the Brahmin in good English, 'I assure you these +articles are by no means necessary to my comfort, and I hope you will not +hesitate to dispose of them as you please.' + +"Accordingly, therefore, the boxes were taken away. Then the newcomer +stepped in; he was also a native, but dressed in quite a different manner +from the Brahmin, his clothing being blue, green, red, and all the +colours of the rainbow, so that one saw at once the two persons were from +different parts of India. Presently he surprised me by saying to the +Brahmin, + +"'Pray, sir, excuse me for having given you the trouble of removing any +part of your luggage; I am really quite sorry to have given you any +inconvenience whatever.' + +"To which the Brahmin replied, 'I beg sir, you will make no apologies; it +is impossible you can have incommoded me by causing the removal of those +trifling articles; and, even if you have done so, the pleasure of your +society would afford me perfect compensation.'" + + + + +MR. FRANK BUCKLAND AND HIS BOOTS. + + +Mr. Spencer Walpole furnishes some interesting and amusing gossip about +the late Mr. Frank Buckland, describing some of his many eccentricities, +and telling many stories relative to his peculiar habits. He had, it +seems, a great objection to stockings and boots and coats, his favourite +attire consisting of nothing else than trousers and a flannel shirt. +Boots were his special aversion, and he never lost an opportunity of +kicking them off his feet. + +"On one occasion," we are told, "travelling alone in a railway carriage, +he fell asleep with his feet resting on the window-sill. As usual, he +kicked off his boots, and they fell outside the carriage on the line. +When he reached his destination the boots could not, of course, be found, +and he had to go without them to his hotel. The next morning a +platelayer, examining the permanent way, came upon the boots, and +reported to the traffic manager that he had found a pair of gentleman's +boots, but that he could not find the gentleman. Some one connected with +the railway recollected that Mr. Buckland had been seen in the +neighbourhood, and, knowing his eccentricities, inferred that the boots +must belong to him. They were accordingly sent to the Home Office, and +were at once claimed." + + + + +DRINKING FROM THE WRONG BOTTLE. + + +An incident has occurred on one of the suburban lines which will +certainly be supposed by many to be only _ben trovato_, but it is a real +fact. A lady, who seemed perfectly well before the train entered a +tunnel, suddenly alarmed her fellow-passengers during the temporary +darkness by exclaiming, "I am poisoned!" On re-emerging into daylight, +an awkward explanation ensued. The lady carried with her two bottles, +one of methylated spirit, the other of cognac. Wishing, presumably, for +a refresher on the sly, she took advantage of the gloom; but she applied +the wrong bottle to her lips. Time pressed, and she took a good drain. +The consequence was she was nearly poisoned, and had to apply herself +honestly and openly to the brandy bottle as a corrective, amidst the +ironical condolence of the passengers she had previously alarmed. + + --_Once a Week_. + + + + +HORSES VERSUS RAILWAYS. + + +A horse for every mile of road was the allowance made by the best +coachmasters on the great routes. On the corresponding portions of the +railway system the great companies have put a locomotive engine per mile. +If a horse earned a hundred guineas a year, out of which his cost had to +be defrayed, he did well. A single locomotive on the Great Northern +Railway (and that company has 611 engines for 659 miles of line) was +stated by John Robinson, in 1873, to perform the work of 678 +horses--work, that is, as measured by resistance overcome; for the +horses, whatever their number, could not have reached the speed of fifty +miles an hour, at which the engines in questions whirled along a train of +sixteen carriages, weighing in all 225 tons. There are now upwards of +13,000 locomotives at work in the United Kingdom, each of them earning on +the average, 4,750 pounds per annum. But we have at the same time more +horses employed for the conveyance of passengers than we had in 1835. In +omnibus and station work--waiting upon the steam horse--there is more +demand for horseflesh than was made by our entire coaching system in +1835. + + + + +A SLIGHT MISTAKE. + + +An Irish newspaper is responsible for the following:--"A deaf man named +Taff was run down and killed by a passenger train on Wednesday morning. +He was injured in a similar way about a year ago." + + + + +EXPENSIVE CONTRACTS. + + +An interesting glimpse into the inner working of State, and especially +Russian, Government railways was afforded in a recent discussion on +railway management in Russia, published by the _Journal_ of the German +Railroad Union. During this debate it appears that the details were +published of the famous contract of the late American Winans with the +Government concerning the Nicholas Railroad. By the use of considerable +money, Winans succeeded in making a contract, to extend from July 1st, +1866, for eight years, by which the Government was to pay him for oiling +cars and small car repairs at an agreed rate per passenger and per ton +mile. In addition to this he received a fixed sum of about 15,000 pounds +(78,000 dols.) per year for painting and maintaining the interior of the +passenger cars; 6,000 pounds for keeping up the shops, and finally 8,000 +pounds yearly for renewing what rolling stock might be worn out. The St. +Nicholas line was eventually taken over by the Great Russian Company, +which in 1872 succeeded in making the Government annul the contract by +paying Winans a penalty of 750,000 pounds, which the Great Russian +Company paid back with interest within four years. If the contract had +been continued it would have cost the company more than one-third of its +net earnings, since the saving amounts to nearly 523,000 pounds per +annum. Another contract which the Government had made for the same road +with a sleeping-car company was settled shortly afterward by the +Government taking from the company the few cars it had on hand, and +paying 75,000 pounds for them and 10,000 pounds a year for the unexpired +seven years of the contract. + + + + +MR. BRASSEY'S STRICT ADHERENCE TO HIS WORD. + + +The following is one of such stories, illustrative of one phase of Mr. +Brassey's character--his strict adherence to his word, under all +circumstances. + +When the "Sambre and Meuse" was drawing towards completion, Mr. Brassey +came along as usual with a staff of agents inspecting the progress of the +work. Stopping at Olloy, a small place between Mariembourg and Vireux, +near a large blacksmith's shop, the man, a Frenchman or Belgian, came +out, and standing up on the bank, with much gesticulation and flourish, +proceeded to make Mr. Brassey a grand oration. Anxious to proceed, Mr. +Brassey paid him no particular attention, but good naturedly endeavoured +to cut the matter short, with "Oui, oui, oui," and at length got away, +the Frenchman apparently expressing great delight. + +"Well, gentlemen, what are you laughing at, what is the joke?" said he to +his staff as they went along. + +"Why, sir, do you know what that fellow said, and for what he was +asking?" + +"No, indeed, I don't; I supposed he was complimenting me in some way, or +thanking me for something." + +"He _was_ complimenting you, sir, to some tune, and asking, as a souvenir +of his happy engagement under the Great Brassey, that you would of your +goodness make him a present of the shop, iron, tools, and all belonging!" + +"Did he, though! I did not understand that." + +"No sir, but you kept on saying, 'Oui, oui, oui,' and the fellow's +delighted, as he well may be, they're worth 50 or 60 pounds." + +"Oh, but I didn't mean that, I didn't mean that. Well, never mind, if I +said it, he must _have_ them." + +It must be borne in mind, that at that time, at best, Mr. Brassey knew +very little French, and his staff were well aware of the fact." + +Sep. 13, 1872. + + S. S. + + + + +EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT. + + +In a leading article in the _Birmingham Post_, Nov. 12th, 1880, the +writer remarks:--"The report of Major Marindin on the collision which +took place between two Midland trains, in Leicestershire, about a month +ago, has just been published, but it adds nothing to the information +given at the time when the accident happened. The case was, as the +report says, one of a remarkable, if not unprecedented nature, for the +collision arose from a passenger train running backwards instead of +forwards nearly half-a-mile, without either driver or stoker noticing +that its movement was in the wrong direction. Shortly after the train +had passed the village station of Kibworth, where it was not timed to +stop, the driver observed a knocking sound on his engine. He pulled up +the train in order to ascertain the cause of this, and finding that +nothing serious was the matter, proceeded on his journey again, or rather +intended to do so, for, by an extraordinary mistake, he turned the screw +the wrong way, so as to reverse the action of the engine, and to direct +the train back to Kibworth. There, a mineral train was making its way +towards Leicester, and as the line was on a sharp incline the result +might have been a most destructive collision. It was, however, reduced +to one of a comparatively mild description by the promptness and +efficiency with which the brakes were applied to both the trains. Had +not the mineral train been pulled up, and the passenger train lowered +from a speed of twenty to three or four miles an hour, probably the whole +of the passengers would have been crushed between the two engines. The +passengers, therefore, owed their safety to the excellent brake-power +which was at command. The excuse offered by the driver of the passenger +train for turning the engine backwards was the shape of the reversing +screw, which was of a construction not commonly used on the Midland line, +though many of the company's engines were so fitted. The fireman had +also his apology for making the same oversight. He said he was at the +time stooping down to adjust the injector. Major Marindin, though +admitting that the men were experienced, careful, and sober, refuses to +accept either of these excuses; but he can supply no better reason +himself for the amazing oversight they committed. The only satisfactory +part of the report is that in which the working of the brake mechanism is +spoken of. The passenger train had the Westinghouse brake fitted to all +the carriages, and such was its efficiency that, had it extended to the +engine and tender as well, Major Marindin believes the accident would +have been entirely prevented." + + + + +REMARKABLE MEMORY FOR SOUNDS. + + +Among strange mental feats the strangest perhaps yet recorded are the +following singular feats of memory for sound, related in the _Scientific +American_. In the city of Rochester, N. Y., resides a boy named Hicks, +who, though he has only lately removed from Buffalo to Rochester, has +already learned to distinguish three hundred locomotive engines by the +sound of their bells. During the day the boy is employed so far from the +railway that he seldom hears a passing train; but at night he can hear +every train, his house being near the railroad. To give an idea of his +wonderful memory for sounds (and his scarcely less wonderful memory for +numbers also) take the following cases. Not long ago young Hicks went to +Syracuse, and while there, he, hearing an engine coming out of the +round-house, remarked to a friend that he knew the bell, though he had +not heard it for five years: he gave the number of the engine, which +proved to be correct. Again, not long since, an old switch-engine, used +in the yards at Buffalo, was sent to Rochester for some special purpose. +It passed near Hicks' house, and he remarked that the engine was number +so and so, and that he had not heard the bell for six years. A boarder +in the house ran to the railroad, and found the number given by Hicks was +the correct one. To most persons the bells on American locomotives seem +all much alike in sound and _timbre_, though, of course, a good ear will +readily distinguish differences, especially between bells which are +sounded within a short interval of time. But that anyone should be able +in the first place to discriminate between two or three hundred of these +bells, and in the second place to retain the recollection of the slight +peculiarities characterising each for several years, would seem +altogether incredible, had we not other instances--such as Bidder's and +Colburn's calculating feats, Morphy's blindfold chess-play, etc.--of the +amazing degree in which one brain may surpass all others in some special +quality, though perhaps, in other respects, not exceptionally powerful, +or even relatively deficient. + + --_Gentleman's Magazine_, March 1880. + + + + +A DISINGENUOUS BISHOP. + + +Max. O'Rell, the French author, in his book _John Bull at Home_, writes +English people are very great on words; lying is unknown. I was +travelling by rail one day with an English bishop. There were five in +our compartment. On arriving at a station we heard a cry, "Five minutes +here!" My lord bishop, with the greatest haste, set to work to spread +out travelling-bag, hat-box, rug, papers, &c. A lady appeared at the +door, and asked, "Is there room here?" "Madam," replied the bishop, "all +the seats are full." When the poor lady had been sent about her +business, we called his lordship's attention to the fact that there were +only five of us in the carriage, and that, consequently all the seats +were not taken. "I did not say that they were," answered my lord; "I +said that they were _full_." + + + + +DROPPING THE LETTER "L." + + +In an advertisement by a railway company of some unclaimed goods, the "l" +dropped from the word "lawful," and it reads now, "People to whom these +packages are directed are requested to come forward and pay the _awful_ +charges on the same." + + + + +THE SAFEST SEAT IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE. + + +The _American Engineer_, as the result of scientific calculations and +protracted experience, says the safest seat is in the middle of the last +car but one. There are some chances of danger, which are the same +everywhere in the train, but others are least at the above-named place. + + + + +RAILWAYS A JUDGMENT. + + +In _White's Warfare of Science_ there is an account of a worthy French +Archbishop who declared that railways were an evidence of the divine +displeasure against innkeepers, inasmuch that they would be punished for +supplying meat on fast days by seeing travellers carried by them past +their doors. + + + + +CLAIM FOR GOODWILL FOR COW KILLED ON THE RAILWAY. + + +A farmer living near the New York Central lost a cow by a collision with +a train on the line; anxious for compensation he waited upon the manager +and after stating his case, the manager said, "I understand she was thin +and sick." "Makes no difference," replied the farmer. "She was a cow, +and I want pay for her." "How much?" asked the manager. "Two hundred +dollars!" replied the farmer. "Now look here," said the manager, "how +much did the cow weigh?" "About four hundred, I suppose," said the +farmer. "And we will say that beef is worth ten cents a pound on the +hoof." "It's worth a heap more than that on the cow-catcher!" replied +the indignant farmer. "But we'll call it that, what then? That makes +forty dollars, shall I give you a cheque for forty dollars?" "I tell you +I want two hundred dollars," persisted the farmer. "But how do you make +the difference? I'm willing to pay full value, forty dollars. How do +you make one hundred and sixty dollars?" "Well, sir," replied the +farmer, waxing wroth, "I want this railroad to understand that I'm going +to have something special for the goodwill of that cow!" + + + + +THE INSURANCE AGENT. + + +An agent of an accident insurance company entered a smoking car on a +western railroad train a few days ago, and, approaching an exceedingly +gruff old man, asked him if he did not want to take out a policy. He was +told to get out with his policy, and passed on. A few minutes afterwards +an accident occurred to the train, causing a fearful shaking to the cars. +The old man jumped up, and seizing a hook at the side of the car to +steady himself, called out, "Where is that insurance man?" The question +caused a roar of laughter among the passengers, who for the time forgot +their dangers. + + --_Harper's Weekly_, May 8th, 1880. + + + + +TOUTING FOR BUSINESS AND FRAUDS. + + +Sir Edward Watkin observed at the half-yearly meeting of the South +Eastern Railway Company, January, 1881:--"The result of this compensating +law under which the slightest neglect makes the company liable, and the +only thing to be considered is the amount of damages--the effect of this +unjust law is to create a new profession compounded of the worst elements +of the present professions--viz., expert doctors, expert attorneys, and +expert witnesses. You will get a doctor to swear that a man who has a +slight knock on the head to say that he has a diseased spine, and will +never be fit for anything again, and never be capable of being a man of +business or the father of a family. The result of that is all we can do +is to get some other expert to say exactly the contrary. Then you have a +class of attorneys who get up this business. We had an accident, I may +tell you, at Forrest-hill two years ago. Well, there was a gentleman--an +attorney in the train. He went round to all the people in the train and +gave them his card; and, having distributed all the cards in his +card-case, he went round and expressed extreme regret to the others that +he could not give them a card; but he gave them his name as 'So and So,' +his place was in 'Such a street,' and the 'No, So and So' in the City. +That was touting for business. Now, there is a very admirable body +called the "Law Association." Why does not the Law Association take hold +of cases of that kind? Well, you saw in the paper the case of Roper _v._ +the South Eastern. Now that was a peculiar thing. Roper declared that +from an injury he had received in a slight accident at the Stoney-street +signal box, outside Cannon-street he was utterly incapacitated, and that, +for I don't know how many weeks and months, he was in bed without +ceasing. The doctors, I believe, put pins and needles into him, but he +never flinched, and when the case came before the court we found that +some of the medical experts declared that it was just within the order of +Providence that in twenty years he might get better; but these witnesses +thought that the chances were against it, and that he would be a hopeless +cripple. So evidence was given as to his income; and the idea was to +capitalise it at 8,000 pounds. That man had paid 4d. for his ticket I +think--I forget the exact amount. Our counsel, the Attorney-General, +went into the thing, with the very able assistance of Mr. Willis, who +deserves every possible credit. We also had Mr. Le Gros Clarke, the +eminent consulting surgeon of the company, and Dr. Arkwright from the +north of England, and they told us that in their opinion it was a +swindle. And it was a swindle. The result of it was, the +Attorney-General put his foot down upon it, and declared that it was a +swindle, and the jury unanimously non-suited Mr. Roper. Well, singularly +enough, when I say he had paid 4d., I think it was not absolutely proved +that he was in the train at all. But although this was a case in which +the jury said there was no case, and where the Judge summed up strongly +that it was a fraud, and where the most eminent surgeon said it was an +absolute delusion altogether, and where, in point of fact, justice was +done entirely to you as regards the verdict, you have 2,300 pounds to pay +for costs of one kind or another in defending a case of swindling, +because when you try to recover the costs the man becomes bankrupt, and +you won't get a farthing; and I do mean to say I have described a state +of the law and practice that ought to excite the reprobation of every +honest man in England." + + + + +HEROISM OF A DRIVER. + + +An engine-driver on the Pennsylvania Railway yesterday saved the lives of +600 passengers by an extraordinary act of heroism. The furnace door was +opened by the fireman to replenish the fire while the train was going at +thirty-five miles an hour. The back draught forced the flames out so +that the car of the locomotive caught fire, and the engine-driver and the +fireman were driven back over the tender into the passenger car, leaving +the engine without control. The speed increased, and the volume of flame +with it. There was imminent danger that all the carriages would take +fire, and the whole be consumed. The passengers were panic-stricken. To +jump off was certain death; to remain was to be burned alive. The +engine-driver saw that the only way to save the passengers was to return +to the engine and stop the train. He plunged into the flames, climbed +back over the tender, and reversed the engine. When the train came to a +standstill, he was found in the water-tank, whither he had climbed, with +his clothes entirely burnt off, his face disfigured, his hands shockingly +burned, and his body blistered so badly that the flesh was stripped off +in many places. Weak and half-conscious he was taken to the hospital, +where his injuries were pronounced serious, with slight chance of +recovery. As soon as the train stopped the flames were easily +extinguished. The unanimous testimony of the passengers is that the +engine-driver saved their lives. His name is Joseph A. Sieg. + + --_Daily News_, Oct. 24th, 1882. + + + + +IT'S CROYDON. + + +As an early morning train drew up at a station, a pleasant looking +gentleman stepped out on the platform, and, inhaling the fresh air, +enthusiastically observed to the guard, "Isn't this invigorating?" "No, +sir, it's Croydon," replied the conscientious employe. + + + + +YOUR TICKET. + + +On a Georgia railroad there is a conductor named Snell, a very clever, +sociable man, fond of a joke, quick at repartee, and faithful in the +discharge of his duties. One day as his train well filled with +passengers, was crossing a low bridge over a wide stream, some four or +five feet deep, the bridge broke down, precipitating the two passenger +cars into the stream. As the passengers emerged from the wreck they were +borne away by the force of the current. Snell had succeeded in catching +hold of some bushes that grew on the bank of the stream, to which he held +for dear life. A passenger less fortunate came rushing by. Snell +extended one hand, saying, "Your ticket, sir; give me your ticket!" The +effect of such a dry joke in the midst of the water may be imagined. + + --_Harper's Magazine_. + + + + +AN OLD SCOTCH LADY ON THE LOSS OF HER BOX. + + +Dean Ramsay in his _Reminiscences_ remarks:--"Some curious stories are +told of ladies of this class, as connected with the novelties and +excitement of railway travelling. Missing their luggage, or finding that +something has gone wrong about it, often causing very terrible distress, +and might be amusing, were it not to the sufferer so severe a calamity. +I was much entertained with the earnestness of this feeling, and the +expression of it from an old Scottish lady, whose box was not forthcoming +at the station where she was to stop. When urged to be patient, her +indignant exclamation was, "I can bear ony pairtings that may be ca'ed +for in God's providence; but I canna stan' pairtin' frae ma claes." + + + + +RAILWAY MANNERS. + + +A gentleman was travelling by rail from Breslau to Oppeln and found +himself alone with a lady in a second-class compartment. He vainly +endeavoured to enter into conversation with the other occupant of the +carriage; her answers were invariably curt and snappish. Baffled in his +attempts, he proceeded to light a cigar to while away the time. Then the +lady said to him: "I suppose you have never travelled second-class +before, else you would know better manners." Her travelling companion +quietly rejoined: "It is true, I have hitherto only studied the manners +of the first and third-classes. In the first-class the passengers are +rude to the porters, in the third-class the porters are rude to the +passengers. I now discover that in the second-class the passengers are +rude to each other." + + + + +A BRAVE GIRL. + + +Kate Shelley, to whom the Iowa Legislature has just given a gold medal +and $200, is fifteen years old. She lives near Des Moines, at a point +where a railroad crosses a gorge at a great height. One night during a +furious storm the bridge was carried away. The first the Shelleys knew +of it was when they saw the headlight of a locomotive flash down into the +chasm. Kate climbed to the remains of the bridge with great difficulty, +using an improvised lantern. The engineer's voice answered her calls, +but she could do nothing for him, and he was drowned. As an express +train was almost due, she then started for the nearest station, a mile +distant. A long, high bridge over the Des Moines River had to be crossed +on the ties--a perilous thing in stormy darkness. Kate's light was blown +out, and the wind was so violent that she could not stand, so she crawled +across the bridge, from timber to timber, on her hands and knees. She +got to the station exhausted, but in time to give the warning, though she +fainted immediately. + + --_Detroit Free Press_, May 13th, 1882. + + + + +SHUT UP IN A LARGE BOX. + + +The Merv correspondent of the _Daily News_ in a letter dated the 30th of +April, 1881, remarks, "I was very much amused by the description given me +by some Tekkes of the Serdar's departure for Russia. It seems that my +informants accompanied him up to the point where the trans-Caspian +railway is in working order. 'They shut Tockme Serdar and two others in +a large box (sanduk) and locked him in, and then dragged him away across +the Sahara. And,' added the speakers, 'Allah only knows what will happen +to them inside that box.' The box, I need hardly say, was a railway +carriage." + + + + +AWFUL DEATH ON A RAILROAD BRIDGE. + + +A man commonly known as "Billy" Cooper, of the town of Van Etten, was +walking on the railroad track at a point not far distant from his home. +In crossing the railroad bridge he made a miss-step, and, slipping, fell +between the ties, but his position was so cramped that he was unable to +get out of the way of danger. There, suspended in that awful manner, +with the body dangling below the bridge, he heard a train thundering +along in the distance, approaching every moment nearer and nearer. No +one will ever know the struggles for life which the poor fellow made, but +they were futile; with arms pinioned to his sides he was unable to signal +the engineer. The train came sweeping on upon its helpless victim until +within a few feet of the spot, when the engineer saw the man's head and +endeavoured to stop his heavy train. But too late; the moving mass +passed over, cutting his head from the shoulders as clean as it could +have been done by the guillotine itself. Cooper was 60 years of age. + + --_Ithaca_ (N.Y.) _Journal_. + + + + +THAT ACCURSED DRINK. + + +An English traveller in Ireland, greedy for information and always +fingering the note-book in his breast pocket, got into the same railway +carriage with a certain Roman Catholic archbishop. Ignorant of his rank, +and only perceiving that he was a divine, he questioned him pretty +closely about the state of the country, whisky drinking, etc. At last he +said, "You are a parish priest, yourself, of course." His grace drew +himself up. "I _was_ one, sir," he answered, with icy gravity. "Dear, +dear," was the sympathizing rejoinder. "That accursed drink, I suppose." + + + + +RAILWAY UP VESUVIUS. + + +This railway, the last new project in mountain-climbing, is now finished. +It is 900 metres in length, and will enable tourists to ascend by it to +the very edge of the crater. The line has been constructed with great +care upon a solid pavement, and it is believed to be perfectly secure +from all incursions of lava. The mode of traction is by two steel ropes +put in motion by a steam engine at the foot of the cone. The wheels of +the carriages are so made as to be free from any danger of leaving the +rails, besides which each carriage is furnished with an exceedingly +powerful automatic brake, which, should the rope by any chance break, +will stop the train almost instantaneously. One of the chief +difficulties of the undertaking was the water supply; but that has been +obviated by the formation of two very large reservoirs, one at the +station, the other near the observatory. + + --_Railway Times_, 1879. + + + + +EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE OF BALLOONISTS. + + +Yesterday evening, Aug. 6th, 1883, a special train of "empties," which +left Charing-cross at 5.55 to pick up returning excursionists from +Gravesend, had some extraordinary experiences, such as perhaps had hardly +ever occurred on a single journey. On leaving Dartford, where some +passengers were taken up, the train was proceeding towards Greenhithe, +when the driver observed on the line a donkey, which had strayed from an +adjoining field. An endeavour was made to stop the train before the +animal was reached, but without success, and the poor beast was knocked +down and dragged along by the firebox of the engine. The train was +stopped, and with great difficulty the body of the animal, which was +killed, was extricated from beneath the engine. While this was in +progress, a balloon called the "Sunbeam," supposed to come either from +Sydenham or Tunbridge Wells, passed over the line, going in the direction +of Northfleet. The two aeronauts in the car were observed to be short of +gas, and were throwing out ballast, but, notwithstanding this, the +balloon descended slowly, and when some distance ahead of the train was, +to the horror of the passengers, seen to drop suddenly into the railway +cutting two or three hundred yards only in advance of the approaching +train. The alarm whistle was sounded, and the brakes put on, and as the +balloon dragged the car and its occupants over the down line there seemed +nothing but certain death for them; but suddenly the inflated monster, +now swaying about wildly, took a sudden upward flight, and, dragging the +car clear of the line, fell into an adjoining field just when the train +was within a hundred yards of the spot. The escape was marvellous. + + + + +PULLING A TOOTH BY STEAM. + + +"Dummy," is a deaf mute newsman on the Long Island Railroad. Lately he +had suffered much in mind and body from an aching tooth. He did not like +dentists, but he resolved that the tooth must go. He procured a piece of +twine, and tied one end of it to the tooth and the other end to the rear +of an express train. When the train started, Dummy ran along the +platform a short distance, and then dropped suddenly on his knees. The +engine whistled, and dummy cried, but the train took the tooth. + + + + +A HEAVY SLEEPER. + + +It happens, in numerous instances, that virtuous resolves are made +overnight with respect to early rising, which resolves, when put to the +test, are doomed only to be broken. Some years ago a clergyman, who had +occasion to visit the West of England on very important business, took up +his quarters, late at night, at a certain hotel adjacent to a railway, +with a view of starting by the early train on the following morning. +Previous to retiring to rest, he called the "boots" to him, told him that +he wished to be called for the early train, and said that it was of the +utmost importance that he should not oversleep himself. The reverend +gentleman at the same time confessed that he was a very heavy sleeper, +and as there would be probably the greatest difficulty in awakening him, +he (the "boots") was to resort to any means he thought proper in order to +effect his object. And, further, that if the business were effectually +accomplished, the fee should be a liberal one. The preliminaries being +thus settled, the clergyman sought his couch, and "boots" left the room +with the air of a determined man. At a quarter to five on the following +morning, "boots" walked straight to "No. twenty-three," and commenced a +vigorous rattling and hammering at the door, but the only answer he +received was "All right!" uttered in a very faint and drowsy tone. Five +minutes later, "boots" approached the door, placing his ear at the +keyhole, and detecting no other sound than a most unearthly snore, he +unceremoniously entered the room, and laying his brawny hands upon the +prostrate form of the sleeper, shook him violently and long. This attack +was replied to by a testy observation that he "knew all about it, and +there was not the least occasion to shake him so." "Boots" thereupon +left the room, somewhat doubtingly, and only to return in a few minutes +afterwards and find the Rev. Mr. -- as sound asleep as ever. This time +the clothes were stripped off, and a species of baptismal process was +adopted, familiarly known as "cold pig." At this assault the enraged +gentleman sat bolt upright in bed, and with much other bitter remark, +denounced "boots" as a barbarous follow. An explanation was then come +to, and the drowsy man professed he understood it all, and was _about_ to +arise. But the gentleman who officiated at the -- hotel, having had some +experience in these matters, placed no reliance upon the promise he had +just received, and shortly visited "No. twenty-three" again. There he +found that the occupant certainly had got up, but it was only to replace +the bedclothes and to lie down again. "Boots" now felt convinced that +this was one of those cases which required prompt and vigorous handling, +and without more ado, therefore, he again stripped off the upper +clothing, and seizing hold of the under sheet, he dragged its depository +bodily from off the bed. The sleeping man, sensible of the unusual +motion, and dreamily beholding a stalwart form bent over him, became +impressed with the idea that a personal attack was being made upon him, +probably with a view to robbery and murder. Under this conviction, he, +in his descent, grasped "boots" firmly by the throat, the result being +that both bodies thus came to the floor with a crash. Here the two +rolled about for some seconds in all the agonies of a death struggle, +until the unwonted noise and the cries of the assailants brought several +persons from all parts of the hotel, and they, seeing two men rolling +frantically about in each other's arms, and with the hand of each +grasping the other's throat, rushed in and separated them. An +explanation was of course soon given. The son of the church was +effectually awakened, he rewarded the "boots," and went off by the train. + +Fortune subsequently smiled upon "boots," and in the course of time he +became proprietor of a first-rate hotel. In the interval the Rev. Mr. -- +had risen from a humble curate to the grade of a dean. Having occasion +to visit the town of --, he put up at the house of the ex-boots. The two +men saw and recognized each other, and the affair of the early train +reverted to the mind of both. "It was a most fortunate circumstance," +said the dean, "that I did not oversleep myself on that morning, for from +the memorable journey that followed, I date my advancement in the Church. +But," he continued, with an expression that betokened some tender +recollection, "if I ever should require you to wake me for an early train +again, would you mind placing a mattress or feather-bed on the floor?" + + --_The Railway Traveller's Handy Book_. + + + + +A MAD ENGINE-DRIVER. + + +A startling event happened at an early hour yesterday morning (Jan. 8th, +1884), in connection with the mail train from Brest, which is due in +Paris at ten minutes to five o'clock. Whilst proceeding at full speed +the passengers observed the brakes to be put on with such suddenness that +fears were entertained that a collision was imminent, especially as the +spot at which the train was drawn up was in utter darkness. Upon the +guard reaching the engine he found the stoker endeavouring to overpower +the driver, who had evidently lost his reason. After blocking the line +the guard joined the stoker, and succeeded in securing the unfortunate +man, but not until he had offered a desperate resistance. The locomotive +was then put in motion, the nearest station was reached without further +misadventure, and the driver was placed in custody. The train ultimately +arrived in Paris after two hours' delay. + + + + +A MEXICAN CHIEF'S RAILWAY IMPRESSIONS. + + +Steam and gunpowder have often proved the most eloquent apostles of +civilization, but the impressiveness of their arguments was, perhaps, +never more strikingly illustrated than at the little railway station of +Gallegos, in Northern Mexico. When the first passenger train crossed the +viaduct, and the Wizards of the North had covered the festive tables with +the dainties of all zones, the governor of Durango was not the most +distinguished visitor; for among the spectators on the platform the +natives were surprised to recognise the Cabo Ventura, the senior chief of +a hill-tribe, which had never formally recognised the sovereignty of the +Mexican Republic. The Cabo, indeed, considered himself the lawful ruler +of the entire _Comarca_, and preserved a document in which the Virey +Gonzales, _en nombre del Rey_--in the name of the King--appointed him +"Protector of all the loyal tribes of Castro and Sierra Mocha." His +diploma had an archaeological value, and several amateurs had made him a +liberal offer, but the old chieftain would as soon have sold his scalp. +His soul lived in the past. All the evils of the age he ascribed to the +demerits of the traitors who had raised the banner of revolt against the +lawful king; and as for the countrymen of Mr. Gould, the intrusive +_Yangueses_, his vocabulary hardly approached the measure of his contempt +when he called them _herexes y combusteros_--heretics and humbugs. + +"But it cannot be denied," Yakoob Khan wrote to his father, "that it has +pleased Allah to endow those sinners with a good deal of brains;" and the +voice of nature gradually forced the Cabo to a similar conclusion, till +he resolved to come and see for himself. + +When the screech of the iron Behemoth at last resounded at the lower end +of the valley, and the train swept visibly around the curve of the +river-gap, the natives set up a yell that waked up the mountain echoes; +men and boys waved their hats and jumped to and fro, in a state of the +wildest excitement. Only the old Cabo stood stock-still. His gaze was +riveted upon the phenomenon that came thundering up the valley; his keen +eye enabled him to estimate the rate of speed, the trend of the up-grade, +the breadth, the length, the height of the car. When the train +approached the station, the crowd surged back in affright, but the Cabo +stood his ground, and as soon as the cars stopped he stepped down upon +the track. He examined the wheels, tapped the axles, and tried to move +the lever; and when the engine backed up for water, he closely watched +the process of locomotion, and walked to the end of the last car to +ascertain the length of the train. He then returned to the platform and +sat down, covering his face with both hands. + +Two hours later the Governor of Durango found him in still the same +position. + +"Hallo, Cabo," he called out, "how do you like this? What do you think +now of America Nueva?" ("New America," a collective term for the +republics of the American continent). + +The chieftain looked up. "_Sabe Dios_--the gods know--Senor Commandante, +but _I_ know this much: With Old America it's all up." + +"Is it? Well, look here: would you now like to sell that old diploma? I +still offer you the same price." + +The Cabo put his hand in his bosom, drew forth a leather-shrouded old +parchment, and handed it to his interlocutor. "Vengale, Usted--it's +worthless and you are welcome to keep it." Nevertheless, he connived +when the Governor slipped a gold piece into the pouch and put it upon his +knees, minus the document. + +But just before the train started, the Governor heard his name called, +and stepped out upon the platform of the palace-car, when he saw the old +chieftain coming up the track. + +"I owe you a debt, senor," said he, "_y le pagare en consejo_, I want to +pay it off in good advice: Beware of those strangers." + +"What strangers?" + +"The caballeros who invented this machine." + +"Is that what you came to tell me?" laughed the Governor as the train +started. + +The old Cabo waved his hand in a military salute. "_Estamos ajustade_, +Senor Commandante, this squares our account." + + --_Atlantic Monthly_, Jan., 1884. + + + + +MY ORDERS. + + +"Ticket, sir!" said an inspector at a railway terminus in the City to a +gentleman, who, having been a season ticket holder for some time, +believed his face was so well known that there was no need for him to +show his ticket. "My face is my ticket," replied the gentleman a little +annoyed. "Indeed!" said the inspector, rolling back his wristband, and +displaying a most powerful wrist, "well, my orders are to punch all +tickets passing on to this platform." + + + + +LUGGAGE IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES. + + +The question of the liability of railway companies in the event of +personal accident through parcels falling from a rack in the compartments +of passenger trains has been raised in the Midlands. In December last, a +tailor named Round was travelling from Dudley to Stourbridge, and, on the +train being drawn up at Round Oak Station, a hamper was jerked from the +racks and fell with such force as to cause him serious injury. Certain +medical charges were incurred, and Mr. Round alleged that he was unable +to attend to his business for five weeks in consequence of the accident. +He therefore claimed 50 pounds by way of compensation. Sir Rupert +Kettle, before whom the case was tried, decided that the company was not +liable, and could not be held responsible for whatever happened in +respect to luggage directly under the control of passengers. The case is +one of some public interest, inasmuch as a parcel falling from a rack is +not an uncommon incident in a railway journey. Moreover, the hamper in +question belonged, not to the plaintiff, but to a glass engraver, and +contained four empty bottles, two razors, and a couple of knives. + + --_Daily News_, March 29th, 1884. + + + + +EFFECTS OF CONSTANT RAILWAY TRAVELLING. + + +A writer in _Cassell's Magazine_ remarks:--"We hear individuals now and +then talking of the ease with which the season-ticket holder journeys +backwards and forwards daily from Brighton. By the young, healthy man, +no doubt, the journey is done without fatigue; but, after a certain time +of life, the process of being conveyed by express fifty miles night and +morning is anything but refreshing. The shaking and jolting of the best +constructed carriage is not such as we experience in a coach on an +ordinary road; but is made up of an infinite series of slight +concussions, which jar the spinal column and keep the muscles of the back +and sides in continued action." Dr. Radcliff, who has witnessed many +cases of serious injury to the nervous system from this cause, +contributed the following conclusive case some years ago to the pages of +the _Lancet_:--"A hale and stout gentleman, aged sixty-three, came to me +complaining of inability to sleep, numbness in limbs, great depression, +and all the symptoms of approaching paralytic seizure. He was very +actively engaged in large monetary transactions, which were naturally a +source of anxiety. He had a house in town; but, having been advised by +the late Doctor Todd to live at Brighton, he had taken a house there, and +travelled to and fro daily by the express train. The symptoms of which +he complained began to appear about four months after taking up his +residence at Brighton, and he had undergone a variety of treatment +without benefit, and was just hesitating about trying homaeopathy when I +saw him. I advised him to give up the journey for a month, and make the +experiment of living quietly in town. In a fortnight his rest was +perfectly restored, and the other symptoms rapidly disappeared, so that +at the end of the month he was as well as ever again. After three +months, he was persuaded to join his family at Brighton, and resumed his +daily journeys. In a few days his rest became broken and in two months +all the old symptoms returned. By giving up the journeys and again +residing in town, he was once more perfectly restored; but, it being the +end of the season, when the house at Brighton could not readily be +disposed of, and yielding to the wishes of his family, he again resumed +his journeys. In a month's time he was rendered so seriously unwell that +he hesitated no longer in taking up his permanent abode in town; and +since that time--now more than two years ago--he has enjoyed perfect +health." + + + + +AN ELECTRIC TRAMWAY INCIDENT. + + +The following appeared in the _Irish Times_ (Dublin, 1884): "It is not +generally known that the country people along the line of the electric +railway make strange uses of the insulated rails, which are the medium of +electricity on this tramway, in connection with one of which an +extraordinary and very remarkable occurrence is reported. People have no +objection to touch the rail and receive a smart shock, which is, however, +harmless, at least so far. On Thursday evening a ploughman, returning +from work, stood upon this rail in order to mount his horse. The rail is +elevated on insulators 18 inches above the level of the tramway. As soon +as the man placed his hands upon the back of the animal it received a +shock, which at once brought it down, and falling against the rail it +died instantly. The remarkable part is, that the current of electricity +which proved fatal to the brute must have passed through the body of the +man and proved harmless to him." + + + + +DUTY IN DISGUISE. + + +A gate-keeper in the employ of the Hessian Railway Company was recently +the hero of an amusing incident. His wife being ill, he went himself to +milk the goat; but the stubborn creature would not let him come near it, +as it had always been accustomed to have this operation performed by its +mistress. After many fruitless efforts, he at length decided to put on +his wife's clothes. The experiment succeeded admirably; but the man had +not time to doff his disguise before a train approached, and the +gatekeeper ran to his accustomed post. His appearance produced quite a +sensation among the officials of the passing train. The case was +reported and an inquiry instituted, which however resulted in his favour, +as the railway authorities granted the honest gate-keeper a gratuity of +ten marks for the faithful discharge of his duties. + + + + +THE MARQUIS OF HARTINGTON ON GEORGE STEPHENSON. + + +The Marquis of Hartington, when laying the foundation stone of a public +hall to be erected in memory of the inventor and practical introducer of +railway locomotion, expressed himself as follows:--"That almost all the +progress which this country has made in the last half-century is mainly +due to the development of the railway system. All the other vast +developments of the power of steam, all the developments of manufacturing +and mining industry would have availed but little for the greatness and +prosperity of this country--in fact they could hardly have existed at all +if there had been wanting those internal communications which have been +furnished by the locomotive engine to railways brought into use by +Stephenson. The changes which have been wrought in the history of our +country by the invention, the industry, and perseverance of one man are +something that we may call astounding. There are some things which +exceed the dreams of poetry and romance. We are justly proud of our +imperial possessions, but the steam engine, and especially the locomotive +steam-engine, the invention of George Stephenson--has not only increased +the number of the Queen's subjects by millions, but has added more +millions to her Majesty's revenues than have been produced by any tax +ever invented by any statesman. Comfort and happiness, prosperity and +plenty, have been brought to every one of her Majesty's subjects by this +invention in far greater abundance than has ever been produced by any +law, the production of the wisest and most patriotic Parliament. The +results of the career of a man who began life as a herd boy, and who up +to eighteen did not know how to read or write, and yet was able to confer +such vast benefits upon his country and mankind for all time, is worthy +of a national and noble memorial." + + + + +THE STEPHENSON CENTENARY. + + +Of all celebrations in the North of England there was never the like of +the centenary of the birth-day of George Stephenson, June 9th, 1881. The +enthusiastic crowds of people assembled to honour the occasion were never +before so numerous on any public holiday. Sir William Armstrong, C.B., +in his speech at the great banquet remarked:--"The memory of a great man +now dead is a solemn subject for a toast, and I approach the task of +proposing it with a full sense of its gravity. We are met to celebrate +the birth of George Stephenson, which took place just 100 years ago--a +date which nearly coincides with that at which the genius of Watt first +gave practical importance to the steam-engine. Up to that time the +inventive faculties of man had lain almost dormant, but with the advent +of the steam-engine there commenced that splendid series of discoveries +and inventions which have since, to use the words of Dr. Bruce, +revolutionised the state of the world. Amongst these the most momentous +in its consequences to the human race is the railway +system--(cheers)--and with that system including the locomotive engine as +its essential element, the name of George Stephenson will ever be +pre-eminently associated. In saying this, I do not mean to ignore the +important parts played by others in the development of the railway +system; but it is not my duty on this occasion to review the history of +that system and to assign to each person concerned his proper share of +the general credit. To do this would be an invidious task, and out of +place at a festival held in honour of George Stephenson only. I shall, +therefore, pass over all names but his, not even making an exception in +favour of his distinguished son. (Cheers.) It seldom or never happens +that any great invention can be exclusively attributed to any one man; +but it is generally the case that amongst those who contribute to the +ultimate success there is one conspicuous figure that towers above all +the rest, and such is the figure which George Stephenson presents in +relation to the railway system. (Cheers.) To be sensible of the +benefits we have derived from railways and locomotives let us consider +for a moment what would be our position if they were taken from us. The +present business of the country could not be carried on, the present +population could not be maintained, property would sink to half its +value--(hear, hear)--and instead of prosperity and progress we should +have collapse and retrogression on all sides. (Cheers.) What would +Newcastle be if it ceased to be a focus of railways? How would London be +supplied if it had to fall back upon turnpike roads and horse traffic? +In short, England as it is could not exist without railways and +locomotives; and it is only our familiarity with them that blunts our +sense of their prodigious importance. As to the future effects of +railways, it is easy to see that they are destined to diffuse industrial +populations over those vast unoccupied areas of the globe that abound in +natural resources, and only wait for facilities of access and transport +to become available for the wants of man. There is yet scope for an +enormous extension of railways all over the world, and the fame of +Stephenson will continue to grow as railways continue to spread. (Loud +cheers.) But I should do scant justice to the memory of George +Stephenson if I dwelt only on the results of his achievements. Many a +great reputation has been marred by faults of character, but this was not +the case with George Stephenson. His manly simplicity and frankness, and +his kindly nature won for him the respect and esteem of all who knew him +both in the earlier and later periods of his career--(cheers)--but the +prominent feature in his character was his indomitable perseverance, +which broke down all obstacles, and converted even his failures and +disappointments into stepping stones to success. It was not the desire +for wealth that actuated him in the pursuit of his objects, but it was a +noble enthusiasm, far more conducive to great ends than the hope of gain, +that carried him forward to his goal. Unselfish enthusiasm such as his +always gives a tone of heroism to a character, and heroism above all +things commands the homage of mankind. Newcastle may well be proud of +its connection with George Stephenson, and the proceedings of this day +testify how much his memory is cherished in this his native district. +Any memorial dedicated to him would be appropriate to this occasion, and +if such memorial were connected with scientific instruction it would be +in harmony with his well-known appreciation of the value of scientific +education, and of the sacrifices he made to give his son the advantage of +such an education. (Cheers.) I now, gentlemen, have to propose to you +the toast which has been committed to me, and which is 'Honour to the +memory of George Stephenson, and may the college to be erected to his +memory prove worthy of his fame.' I must ask you to drink this toast +standing; and consider that the birth of Stephenson is a subject of +jubilation. I think that although he is dead we may drink that toast +with hearty cheering. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) + +Mr. George Robert Stephenson, who was warmly cheered on rising to respond +to the toast, said: "Mr. Mayor and gentlemen,--Let me, in the first place +thank Sir William Armstrong for the many kind words he has uttered in +honour of the memory of George Stephenson. It is true that he was, as +Sir William said, one of the most kind-hearted and unselfish men that +ever lived; but I suppose that no man has had a more up-hill struggle +during the present century. (Cheers). I have now in my possession +documents that would show in his early life the extraordinary and +peculiar nature of the opposition that was brought against him as a poor +man. He was opposed by many of the leading engineers of the day; some of +these men using language which, it is not incorrect to say, was not only +injurious but wicked. This is not the proper occasion to weary you with +a long speech, but with the view of showing the peculiar mode of +engineers reporting against each other, I could very much wish, with your +permission, to read a few sentences from documents that I have in my +possession, dating back to 1823. (Hear, hear). This, gentlemen, will +clearly show the sort of opposition I have alluded to. It occurs at the +end of a report by an opponent upon some projected work on which the four +brothers were engaged:--'But we cannot conclude without saying that such +a mechanic as Mr. Stephenson, who can neither calculate, nor lay his +designs on paper, or distinguish the effect from the cause, may do very +well for repairing engines when they are constructed, but for building +new ones, he must be at great loss to his employers, from the many +alterations that will take place in engine-building, when he goes by what +we call the rule of thumb.' In a preceding sentence he is taunted with +being like the fly going round on a crank axle, and shouting 'What a dust +I am kicking up.' Gentlemen, the dust that George Stephenson kicked up +formed itself into a cloud, and in every part of the globe to which it +reached it carried with it and planted the seeds of civilization and +wealth. Notwithstanding the hard and illiberal treatment to which he was +exposed, he was not beaten; on the contrary, by his genius and his +never-failing spirit, he raised himself above the level of the very men +who opposed every effort he made towards the advancement of engineering +science--efforts which have resulted in a vast improvement of our means +for extracting the valuable products of the earth, and also of our means +of conveying them at a cheap rate to distant markets. It is not too much +to say that George Stephenson headed a movement by which alone could +employment have been found for an ever-increasing population." + +In the town of Chesterfield the Centenary was celebrated most +befittingly. It was there the father of railways spent his latter days, +and there he died. Although there was not such a flood of oratory as at +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, many interesting speeches were delivered in +connection with the event. We give some extracts from an address +delivered by the Rev. Samuel C. Sarjant, B.A., Curate-in-Charge at that +time--delivered at Holy Trinity Church, Chesterfield. An address which, +for ability, nice discrimination of thought, and true appreciation of the +subject, would not disgrace any pulpit in Christendom:-- + +"We meet to-day for the highest of all purposes, the worship of Almighty +God. But we also meet to show our regard for the memory of one of the +great and gifted dead. It is no small distinction of this town that the +last days of George Stephenson were spent in it. And it adds to the +interest of this church that it contains his mortal remains. With little +internally to appeal to the eye, or to gratify taste, this church has yet +a spell which will draw visitors from every part of the world. Men will +come hither from all lands to look with reverence upon the simple resting +place of him who was the father of the Locomotive and of the Railway +system. And perhaps the naked simplicity which marks that spot is in +keeping with a life, the grandeur of which was due solely to the man +himself, and not to outward helps and circumstances . . . + +"Toil has its roll of heroes, but few, if any, of them are greater than +he whose birth we commemorate to-day. He was pre-eminently a self-made +man, one who 'achieved' greatness by his own exertions. Granting that he +was gifted with powers of body and mind above the average, these were his +only advantages. The rest was due to hard work, patient, persistent +effort. He had neither wealth, schooling, patrons, nor favouring +circumstances. He comes into the arena like a naked athlete to wrestle +in his own strength with the difficulties before him. And these were +many and great! + +"I need not dwell upon the details of a life which is so well known to +most, and to some present so vividly, from personal intercourse and +friendship. We all know what a battle he fought, how nobly and well, +first striving by patient plodding effort to remove his own ignorance, +cheerfully bending himself to every kind of work that came in his way, +and seeking to gain not only manual expertness, but a mastery of +principles. We know how he went on toiling, observing, experimenting, +saying little--for he was never given to the 'talk of the lips'--but +doing much, letting slip no chance of getting knowledge, and of turning +it to practical account. He was one of those, who + + While his companions slept + Was toiling upwards in the night. + +And in due time his quiet work bore fruit. He invented a safety-lamp +which alone should have entitled him to the gratitude of posterity. He +then set himself to improve the locomotive, and fit it for the future +which his prescient mind discerned, and on a fair field he vanquished all +competitors. He then sought to adapt the roadway to the engine and make +it fit for its new work. And then, hardest task of all, he had to +convince the public that railway travelling was a possible thing; that it +could he made safe, cheap, and rapid. In doing this he was compelled to +design, plan, and execute almost everything with his own mind and hand. +All classes and interests were against him, the engineers, the land +owners, the legislature, and the public. He had to encounter the +phantoms of ignorance and fear, the solid resistance of vested interests, +and the bottomless quagmires of Chat Moss. But he triumphed! And it was +a well-earned reward as he looked down from his pleasant retreat at +Tapton upon the iron bands which glistened below, to know that they were +part of a network which was spreading over the whole land and becoming +the one highway of transit and commerce. Nor was this all his +satisfaction. He knew that Europe and America were welcoming the +railway, and that it was promising to link together the whole civilized +world. + +"Of the 'profit' of his labours to humanity I scarcely venture to speak, +since it cannot possibly be told in a few words. The railway system has +revolutionised society. It has powerfully affected every class, every +interest and department of life. It has given an incredible impulse to +commerce, quickened human thought, created a new language, new habits, +tastes and pleasures. It has opened up fields of industry and enterprise +inaccessible and unknown before. It has cheapened the necessaries and +comforts of life, enhanced the value of property, promoted the fellowship +of class with class, and brought unnumbered benefits and advantages +within the reach of all. And it is yet, as to the world at large, but in +the infancy of its development. + +"How much, then, do we owe, under God, to George Stephenson. How much, +not merely to his energy and diligence, but to his courage, patience, and +uprightness? For these qualities, quite as much as gifts of genius and +insight, contributed to his final success. He was crowned because he +strove 'lawfully.' His patience was as great in waiting as his energy in +working. He did not work from greed or self-glorification; and therefore +the hour of success, when it came, found him the same modest, +self-restrained man as before. He neither overrated the value of the +system which he had set up, nor made it a means of speculation and +gambling. He was a man of sterling honesty and uprightness--of +self-control, simple in his habits and tastes, given to plain living and +high thinking. And yet he was most kindly, genial, and cheery, of strong +affections, considerate of his workpeople, tender to his family, full of +love to little children and pet animals, brimming with fun and good +humour. He had the gentleness of all noble natures, the largeness of +mind and heart which could recognise ability and worth in others, and +give rivals their due. For the young inventor, or for such of his +helpers as showed marked diligence or promise, he had ready sympathy and +aid. Nor ought we to pass unnoticed his love of nature and of natural +beauty. Strong throughout his whole life, this was especially +conspicuous at its close. Such leisure as his last days brought was +spent amidst flowers and fruits, gardens and greeneries which he had +planned and filled, and from the midst of whose treasures he could look +forth over venerable trees and green fields upon a wide and varied +landscape. And yet, even in this relaxation, the old energy and +earnestness of purpose asserted themselves. He toiled and experimented, +watching the growth of his plants and flowers with more than professional +pains. Nor is it improbable that the ardour which led him to confine +himself for hours together in a heated and unhealthy atmosphere led to +his fatal illness. + +"We are bound, then, to mark and admit how much the moral element in the +worker contributed to his success, and to the freshness of the regard +which is felt for his memory and name. England is proud of his works, +but prouder still of the man who did them. Far different would have been +the result if impatience, ungenerousness, and love of greed had marred +his life and work. The tributes of respect which we gladly lay upon his +tomb to-day, would probably have been placed elsewhere." + + + + +REMARKABLE COINCIDENCES. + + +Many years ago the editor of this book and an elderly lady, the widow of +a well-known farmer, took tickets from Little Bytham for Edenham in +Lincolnshire. They were the only passengers, and as the railway passed +for nearly two miles through Grimsthorpe park, she asked the driver if he +would stop at a certain spot which would have saved us both perhaps +half-a-mile's walk. The request was politely refused. After going a +good distance the train was suddenly pulled up. I opened the window and +found it had stopped at the very spot we desired. The stoker came +running by with a fine hare which the train had run over. I said we can +get out now and he said, Oh yes. And so through this strange +misadventure to poor pussy our walk was much shortened. + +Some years before the above occurrence I was travelling by the early +morning mail train from the Midlands to the West of England. At Taunton +I perceived a crowd of persons gathered at the front of the train. I +went forward and saw a corpse was being removed from the van to a hearse +outside the station. On reading the inscription on the coffin plate I +was somewhat taken aback to find my own name. So Richard Pike living and +Richard Pike dead had been travelling by the same train. Perhaps rarely, +if ever, have two more singular circumstances occurred in connection with +railway travelling. + + + + +LOSS OF TASTE. + + +Serjeant Ballantine in his _Experiences of a Barrister's Life_, +says:--"There was a singular physical fact connected with him (Sir Edward +Belcher), he had entirely lost the sense of taste; this he frequently +complained of, and could not account for. A friend of mine, an eminent +member of the Bar, suffers in the same way, but is able to trace the +phenomenon to the shock that he suffered in a railway collision." + + + + +INGENIOUS SWINDLING. + + +A party of gentlemen who had been to Doncaster to see the St. Leger run, +came back to the station and secured a compartment. As the train was +about to start, a well-dressed and respectable looking man entered and +took the only vacant seat. Shortly after they had started, he said, +"Well, gentlemen, I suppose you have all been to the races to-day?" They +replied they had. "Well," said the stranger, "I have been, and have +unfortunately lost every penny I had, and have nothing to pay my fare +home, but if you promise not to split on me, I have a plan that I think +will carry me through." They all consented. He then asked the gentleman +that sat opposite him if he would kindly lend him his ticket for a +moment; on its being handed to him he took it and wrote his own name and +address on the back of the ticket and returned it to the owner. Nothing +more was said until they arrived at the place where they collected +tickets; being the races, the train was very crowded, and the +ticket-collector was in a great hurry; the gentlemen all pushed their +tickets into his hands. The collector then asked the gentleman without a +ticket for his, who replied he had already given it him. The collector +stoutly denied it. The gentleman protested he had, and, moreover, would +not be insulted, and ordered him to call the station-master. On the +station-master coming, he said he wished to report the collector for +insulting him. "I make a practice to always write my name and address on +the back of my ticket, and if your man looks at his tickets he will find +one of that description." The man looked and, of course, found the +ticket, whereupon he said he must have been mistaken, and both he and the +stationmaster apologised, and asked him not to report the case further. + + + + +DANGEROUS LUGGAGE. + + +Complaints are sometimes made of the want of due respect paid on the part +of porters to passengers' luggage. It appears that occasionally a like +lack of caution is manifested by owners to their own property. It is +said that on a train lately on a western railway in America, some +passengers were discussing the carriage of explosives. One man contended +that it was impossible to prevent or detect this; if people were not +allowed to ship nitro-glycerine or dynamite legitimately, they'd smuggle +it through their baggage. This assertion was contradicted emphatically, +and the passenger was laughed at, flouted, and ignominiously put to +scorn. Rising up in his wrath, he produced a capacious valise from under +the seat, and, slapping it emphatically on the cover, said, "Oh, you +think they don't, eh? Don't carry explosives in cars? What's this?" and +he gave the valise a resounding thump, "Thar's two hundred good dynamite +cartridges in that air valise; sixty pounds of deadly material; enough to +blow this yar train and the whole township from Cook County to +Chimborazo. Thar's dynamite enough," he continued; but he was without an +auditor, for the passengers had fled incontinently, and he could have sat +down upon twenty-two seats if he had wanted to. And the respectful way +in which the baggage men on the out-going trains in the evening handled +the trunks and valises was pleasant to see. + +The neglect of carefulness appears, in one instance at least, to have +involved inconvenience to the offending official. "An unknown genius," +says an American periodical, "the other day entrusted a trunk, with a +hive of bees in it, to the tender mercies of a Syracuse +'baggage-smasher.' The company will pay for the bees, and the doctor +thinks his patient will be round in a fortnight or so." + + --Williams's _Our Iron Roads_. + + + + +STUMPED. + + +Several Sundays ago a Philadelphia gentleman took his little son on a +railway excursion. The little fellow was looking out of the window, when +his father slipped the hat off the boy's head. The latter was much +grieved at his supposed loss, when papa consoled him by saying that he +would "whistle it back." A little later he whistled and the hat +reappeared. Not long after the little lad flung his hat out of the +window, shouting, "Now, papa, whistle it back again!" A roar of laughter +in the car served to enhance the confusion of perplexed papa. Moral: +Don't attempt to deceive little boys with plausible stories. + + + + +EXCURSIONISTS PUT TO THE PROOF. + + +A good story is told of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln Railway +Company. A week or two since, the company ran an excursion train to +London and back, the excursion being intended for their workmen at Gorton +and Manchester. There was an enormous demand for the tickets; so +enormous that the officials began, to use an expressive term, "to smell a +rat." But the sale of the tickets was allowed to proceed. The journey +to London was made, and a considerable number of the passengers +congratulated themselves upon the remarkably cheap outing they were +having. But on the return journey they made a most unpleasant discovery. +Their tickets were demanded at Retford, and then the ticket-collectors +insisted upon the holder of every ticket proving that he was in the +employ of the company. The result can be imagined. There were more +persons in the train who had no connection with the company than there +were of the company's employes; and the former had either to pay a full +fare to and from London, or to give their names and addresses preparatory +to being summoned. We hear, from a reliable source, that the fares thus +obtained amount to about 300 pounds. + + --_Echo_, Sept. 23, 1880. + + + + +A MONKEY SIGNALMAN. + + +We learn from the _Colonies_ that a monkey signalman manages the railway +traffic at Witenhage, South Africa. The human signalman has had the +misfortune to lose both his legs, and has trained a baboon to discharge +his duties. Jacky pushes his master about on a trolly, and, under his +directions, works the lever to set the signals with a most ludicrous +imitation of humanity. He puts down the lever, looks round to see that +the correct signal is up, and then gravely watches the approaching train, +his master being at hand to correct any mistake. + + + + +A CURIOUS CLASSIFICATION. + + +The guard of an English railway carriage recently refused to allow a +naturalist to carry a live hedgehog with him. The traveller, indignant, +pulled a turtle from his wallet and said, "Take this too!" But the guard +replied good naturedly, "Ho, no, sir. It's dogs you can't carry; and +dogs is dogs, cats is dogs, and 'edge'ogs is dogs, but turtles is +hinsects." + + + + +PULLMAN'S CARRIAGES. + + +In the discussion on Mr. C. Douglas Fox's recent paper on the +Pennsylvania railway, Mr. Barlow, the engineer of the Midland, observed +that there was a certain attractive power about a Pullman's carriage, +which ought not to be overlooked, a power which brought passengers to it +who would not otherwise travel by railway. A Pullman's carriage weighed +somewhere about twenty tons. The cost of hauling that weight was about +1.5d. per mile; that was the sum which the Midland Company proposed to +charge for first-class passengers, so that one first-class passenger +would pay the haulage of the carriage. If the attractive power of the +carriage brought more than one first-class passenger it would of course +pay itself. + + _Herepath's Railway Journal_, Jan. 23, 1875. + + + + +PROFITABLE DAMAGES. + + +The Springfield _Republican_, of 1877, is responsible for the following +story:--"The industry of railroading has developed some thrifty +characters, among whom a former employe of the New York, New Haven, and +Hartford road deserves high rank. He was at one time at work in the +Springfield depot, and while taking a trunk out of a baggage car from +Boston he was thrown over and hurt, the baggage-smashing art being for a +time reversed. The injured employe suffered terribly, and crawled around +on crutches until the Boston and Albany and the New Haven roads united +and gave him 6000 dollars. He was cured the next day. Shortly +afterwards a man on the Boston and Albany road was killed, and the +Company gave his widow 3,000 dollars. The former cripple, who had scored +6,000 dollars already, soon married her, and thus counted 9,000 dollars. +He recovered his health so completely that he was able again to work on +the railroad, but finally, not being hurt again within a reasonable time, +he retired to a farm which he had bought with a part of the proceeds of +his former calamities." + + + + +RAILWAY ENTERPRISE. + + +It would be difficult to close this series of Railway Anecdotes more +appropriately than in the words of George Stephenson's celebrated son +Robert at a banquet given to him at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in August, 1850. +"It was but as yesterday," he said, "that he was engaged as an assistant +in tracing the line of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Since that +period, the Liverpool and Manchester, the London and Birmingham, and a +hundred other great works had sprung into vigorous existence. So +suddenly, so promptly had they been accomplished, that it appeared to him +like the realization of fabled powers, or the magician's wand. Hills had +been cut down, and valleys had been filled up; and where this simple +expedient was inapplicable, high and magnificent viaducts had been +erected; and where mountains intervened, tunnels of unexampled magnitude +had been unhesitatingly undertaken. Works had been scattered over the +face of our country, bearing testimony to the indomitable enterprise of +the nation and the unrivalled skill of its artists. In referring thus to +the railway works, he must refer also to the improvement of the +locomotive engine. This was as remarkable as the other works were +gigantic. They were, in fact, necessary to each other. The locomotive +engine, independent of the railway, would be useless. They had gone on +together, and they now realized all the expectations that were +entertained of them. It would be unseemly, as it would be unjust, if he +were to conceal the circumstances under which these works had been +constructed. No engineer could succeed without having men about him as +highly-gifted as himself. By such men he had been supported for many +years past; and, though he might have added his mite, yet it was to their +co-operation that all his success was owing." + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAILWAY ADVENTURES AND ANECDOTES*** + + +******* This file should be named 31395.txt or 31395.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/3/9/31395 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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