2 APRIL 1853, Page 4

SCOTLAND.

The Earl of Carlisle arrived at Aberdeen on Tuesday,' to deliver his inaugural address as Lord Rector. He had cut out for himself a "busy week," as he expressed it at Alnwick. On the evening of his arrival, he attended a weekly meeting known as the "Ragged Kirk," a place of wor- ship in one of the lowest parts of the town,—making a speech and giving a donation. On Wednesday he delivered his inaugural address ; on Thursday, he was to "dine" with the students at twelve o'clock, re- ceive the freedom of the city at two, and deliver a lecture on the "Poetry of Pope" in the evening.

There have been interesting trials at Edinburgh of a number of officers of the North British Railway Company, for =lain°. a fatal collision. These were the general circumstances of the disaster. 'On the evening of the 8th October, an irregular goods-train was despatched from the Edinburgh ter- minus to Portobello, three miles distant, with orders to deposit two sets of empty waggons on sidings at that station, and to leave the body of the train, consisting of trucks loaded with pig-iron, at Leith Junction, a quarter of a mile nearer Edinburgh. In violation of the rules of the Company, this train was despatched within fifteen minutes of the starting of the regular evening mail-train to Berwick and London, which leaves Edinburgh at 5.55. This goods-train, which would appear to have left Edinburgh about 5.45, reached Portobello in eight or ten minutes. It "shunted" the empty wag- gons into two sidings at the furthest end of Portobello station and, leaving the pig-iron trucks on the down-line at the station, directly in the way of the mail-train, the engine proceeded along the up-line, passed the sta- tion, with the object of taking the crossing at the other end of the trucks, and taking them up the down-line to Leith Junction,—thus running directly to meet the mail-train. While the goods-engine was taking the last crossing, the mail-train, which was three minutes late, came in sight ; and as it was not to stop at Portobello, it was advancing with great speed. The engine backed to the trucks, but it had scarcely begun to move them when a collision took place. The tender of the goods-engine was over- turned upon it, and the mall-train engine was rampant upon the heap. The guard of the goods-train, who was fastening the pilot-engine to the trucks, was killed on the spot, and the driver and stoker of the mail-train, as also some of the passengers, suffered severely from the concussion. The first persons tried were M'Donald, the driver of the goods-engine, and Wilson, the station-master at Portobello. Hogarth, a porter, had been in- cluded in the charge, but he was acquitted, and appeared as a witness. The

prisoners were accused of culpable homicide, and culpable neglect of duty. The main ground for the charge against the station-master was that he oc-

cupied himself in weighing two carts when he knew that a goods-train had arrived and that the mail was due in ten minutes : when he came upon the platform' it was too late to prevent the collision, though he made efforts by signals to atop the mail. It was proved that the driver was directed by the deceased guard to do what he did' but then, the driver was responsible if he pursued a dangerous course. Ms. Rowbotham, general manager, ex- plained the system upon which the line was worked. " A goods or luggage train is not allowed to depart fifteen minutes before a mail-train ; audit is the duty of a station-master' if it arrives within fifteen minutes, not to allow it to proceed. It was the duty of the engine-man of the goods-train to have removed his goods-train before the mail-train was due. Three or five minutes previously would have been enough. To have done so sooner, might have rather impeded than promoted the safety of the line. The goods-• engine had a certain work to do, and if it could do its work within the time that night, it would rather have promoted the safety of the line than ob- structed it. Being at the station thirteen minutes before the mail-train, it was not the engine-man's duty to take his train immediately off the line, for the work would then have to be done after the mail-train had passed. Al- though by the rules the goods engine-man is instructed to have the line cleared fifteen minutes before the expected arrival of a passenger-train, there are some of the rules we should not expect to be so strictly enforced in the case of a pilot or jobbing engine, and especially in cases of emergency. I think this was a case of emergency."

The counsel for the prisoners endeavoured to throw the blame on the driver of the mail-train for not stopping on observing the signals. In charging the Jury, the Lord Justice Clerk animadverted on the evidence of the manager. "The testimony of Mr. Rowbotham showed how dreadful was the result of that carelessness which such lax notions on the part of superior officers on railways encourage. It showed how heavy is the responsibility of superior officers who would take on themselves to support such views as to the duty of their inferiors. It is by the propagation of such notions, by railway supe- riors' sanctioning such lax and such dangerous tampering with minutes, by encouraging them to run such risks, by holding out that such things could be done within a minute or two—that the safety of the public is endangered daily ; and most heavy is the moral and the legal responsibility of persons who hold out such doctrines as these."

The Jury retired, and after half an hour's absence returned with the fol- lowing verdict—" Wilson, guilty of culpable neglect of duty in not clearing the station ; and M'Donald also guilty, with this extenuation, that he was under the impression that he should attend to the orders of the guard." Next day, ',yell, superintendent of the goods department at Edinburgh, and Ramsay, foreman porter, were tried on similar charges ; the allegation being that they permitted the irregular train to leave the terminus without allowing an interval of fifteen minutes between it and the mail-train. The charge against Lyall was withdrawn, as he was authorized to delegate his duty to Ramsay; and the verdict in Ramsay's case was "Not proven,"—a majority of the Jury not considering the fact of the time being less than fifteen minutes to be clearly established. The big disclosed the fact that there was no individual having charge to direct the succession of trains leaving Edinburgh station : so that a goods- train and a passenger-train might be started simultaneously, there being no communication between the two departments. Several of the witnesses stated that the rules of the company were generally understood to be inap- plicable, and were not generally acted upon at the Edinburgh station; and the great laxity that prevailed was warmly commented on by counsel on both sides.

The Lord Justice Clerk, in summing up, said that, after these disclosures. it was plain that on another such occasion it would be the parties responsible for maintaining such a state of things that would be placed at the bar—diree- tors or manager.. The same state of matters seems to have been continued even after this accident, and neither the manager nor the directors seem to have taken any steps whatever to prevent the repetition of such accidents. Such a state of things is maintained at their own peril; and if another such catastrophe occurred, they have received a pretty plain intimation as to how the public prosecutor would deal with those who persist in maintaining it. Wilson was sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment, and M‘Donald to four.

Trusell, an Irishman employed at Dalmellington Iron-works, has been committed to Ayr Prison for causing the death of his child, two years old, by placing her in a coal-cellar, on a wisp of straw, without any covering. The cold-blooded motive for the crime is supposed to have been the desire to get a small sum of money from a benefit society for the burial of the child.