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BURSTING OF THE BRADFIELD RESERVOIR.

was found by the coroner's jury that the calamity had been occasioned by the gross negligence of those who had the care of the construction of the reservoir, and whose duty it had been to prevent it from falling into decay or becoming ineffectual in case of an unusual strain. The commissioners, who were the persons originally responsible, however, were a corporate body and therefore could neither be found guilty of nor punished for manslaughter.

In 1862 another inundation had taken place through the bursting or blowing up of a great sluice made for the drainage of the middle level | between Lynn and Wisbeach. About 700,000 acres of the most productive land in the kingdom lay below the high-water level of the Wash depending for their existence as land, upon great embankments and self-acting sluicegates. Four miles south of King's Lynn was a sluice-gate through which the waters of one of the huge drains emptied themselves at low water into the River Ouse, thus passing out to sea with the receding tide, the gates closing of their own accord to the pressure of the rising tide. These works were, unfortunately, allowed to fall into disrepair. The natural consequence followed. The German Ocean, with a high spring tide, came up the river and toppled down the defences. The waters continued pouring through that gap. Every tide necessarily increased the breach. Day by day the floods crept on, covering farm after farm and homestead after homestead; swallowing up flocks and herds, and driving back yeoman families, who retreated as paupers. The water spread over 10,000 acres; and for long afterwards it required all the engineering skill of experts to remedy some part of the damage.

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The engineers in charge had just left, but he overtook them and they returned, though they thought the crack of little importance. Presently other signs of danger were noticed, and an attempt was made to blow up a weir that crossed the dam, and so to allow the water to escape. It was too late. Even as the engineer and his assistant crossed the slight fissure while the men were laying the charge, the crack became a chasm, an enormous crevasse, a portion of the embankment, 110 feet long and 70 feet deep, gave way at once, and the tremendous volume of water rushed with an awful roar into the valley below.

Down the hill-side it poured with a sound like thunder, deluging the cottages and sweeping away substantial buildings, bridges, workshops, rows of houses, as though they were mere heaps of rubble. Messengers carrying the dread news enabled some of the cottiers to escape for their lives; but the water nearly overtook the messengers themselves, and they had to run before they could reach the head of the valley. Rushing on towards Sheffield the flood literally swept from off the face of the earth several entire villages, including Little Matlock and Malinbridge. Whole families were carried away with their dwellings, and not a trace remained of the thriving and industrious artisans who had sought their beds unconscious of the dreadful fate that so suddenly befell them. Between Hillsborough Bridge and Malinbridge there stood several long rows of cottage-houses, inhabited by the workmen of the mills and forges on the adjacent streams, with their families. With a few exceptions, the flood wholly demolished all those rows of dwellings. In many instances even their foundations were obliterated. At the junction of the Loxley and the Rivelin only a few scattered houses, the walls and windows burst in by the flood, stood to mark the site of the once populous village. The enormous volume of water debouching from the gorge at the foot of Loxley valley seemed to have divided itself into two streams, which swept with resistless force over the hamlets of Malinbridge and Hillsborough. The bridges that formerly crossed the stream were swept away to their

The disaster at Sheffield in 1864 was even more terrible than either of those that had preceded it. The Bradfield reservoir was about seven miles from Sheffield in the hills, and would contain millions of cubic feet of water. Suspicions existed as to the strength of the embankment, and on the night of the catastrophe, about nine o'clock, a farm labourer had noticed a crack in it as he went over it, as a short cut on his way home across the valley. | foundation-stones, and the districts which the

streams divided were separated by a rushing beside their mothers almost before either could

torrent of water.

It reached Sheffield at a quarter past twelve. From six to eight feet of water soon flooded some of the most populous thoroughfares. The rushing of the torrent was like the noise of an express train in a railway cutting. Against the piers of Lady Bridge an enormous mass of timber, rafters, flooring, broken furniture, straw, and other articles had been flung in inextricable confusion by the force of the stream which had borne them onward in its overpowering course. In the fields and by the road-side, families had been drowned in their cottages before they could escape; people had been overtaken and swept away-swept from their houses, some of them. Many bodies were found quite naked, the force of the water having stripped off such clothing as they had on. The timber dashed against the Lady Bridge and threatened to batter it down; the arches were choked with rubbish, and the water overflowed the parapet. The streets were rivers in which drowned animals, timber, trees, and the debris of machinery, furniture, and buildings floated hither and thither. At the height of the inundation the Wicker was said to be like an immense river. When it had somewhat subsided the causeways and carriageways resembled the furrowed sea-shore; gaslamps lay on the pavements; one of the arches of the viaduct was nearly stopped by a large ash-tree that had been uprooted and carried thither by the stream. The Midland Railway station was flooded; shop-windows and doors had been forced in and broken; the shops and cellars were filled with the sand and mud left by the flood, and their contents were destroyed. At Hillfoot, Neepsend, Kelham, Philadelphia, Bacon Island, and the other adjacent suburbs, the ruin was complete, and the spectacle when the water had subsided, was strange and sad. A number of dead bodies were found at Rotherham, and along the valleys of the Loxley and Rivelin. The scene was appalling, and showed how awful had been the calamity to those who, overtaken in their efforts to escape, or before they could make that effort, were overwhelmed in the streets or the fields, or in their houses. Children had been drowned

have been awakened. In other places families had got out, and were lost amidst the darkness in the advancing and surrounding flood. In the lower part of the town of Sheffield many lives were lost. Around the Malin's Bridge farther up the valley neither a living person nor the vestige of a house was to be seen.

When the great basin had nearly emptied itself the whole structure was laid bare. It was almost a natural tank. Nature had done so much in some of its convulsions as to have left comparatively little for art to accomplish. The deep valley had been seized upon by the practical engineer, and there required but little to be done artificially beyond the construction of an embankment at the end of the valley to inclose the basin on three sides, leaving open the rear for the free ingress of the water, which poured down there in a hundred greater or less tributary streams. The capacity of the reservoir was seventy-eight acres, and it was said to have held at the time when the embankment burst 691,000,000 gallons. The intention was to have given from this reservoir a supply to the millowners of ten cubic feet per second every day Sundays excepted. The embankment was composed of 400,000 cubic yards of stone, earth, &c., and was 500 feet wide at its base, tapering to a very narrow apex. On the south side a waste weir, a foot below the water line, was supposed to provide for safety under all ordinary circumstances.

After a long inquiry it was understood that the original construction had been defective, and that the reservoir had not been properly inspected and attended to. Altogether it was believed that 270 lives had been lost by the flood. The coroner's jury found that there had not been such engineering skill and attention in the construction of the works as their magnitude and importance demanded, and that the legislature ought to provide for a frequent regular and sufficient government inspection of all works of that character.

Public subscriptions were raised for the sufferers, the queen heading the list, and a special act of parliament was passed appointing commissioners to ascertain what were the claims against the Sheffield Water Works

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

Company by persons whose property had been injured or destroyed.

Of loss and danger by fire there had been so many instances that public attention in London was drawn to the improvement of the fire-brigades and the adoption of increased means for promptly extinguishing fires occurring in the metropolis, and especially for securing a better and more immediate supply of water. The question of water supply was being discussed in more ways than one, for the London companies exercised their monopolies in a manner which called forth frequent complaints, not only because of the manner in which their rates were charged without any reference to the quantity of water consumed by the inmates of the houses supplied, but because that method of rating was supplemented by extra charges, which, together with the manner of supplying poor neighbourhoods, operated to prevent the practice of cleanliness and decency.

There had been no fire in London of any very startling magnitude since that which occurred at the wharves adjoining London Bridge, in Tooley Street, on the 22d of June, 1861. And on that occasion the large steam fire-engines and the floating engines did remarkable service, though the inflammable nature of the materials stored in the vast warehouses, which chiefly contained oils, Russian tallow, tar, saltpetre, hemp, rice, and sugar, prevented the extinction of the flames, the petroleum actually floating alight on the surface of the water. The spectacle of this great range of lofty warehouses, extending for a great distance along the river, and all burning with a tremendous glare, which lighted up the whole of that part of London from what seemed to be a vast pile or furnace of red and glowing fire, was one never to be forgotten. For some time it was feared that, as the barrels of oil, tar, and saltpetre exploded and poured their contents into the river, where they floated in islands of flame, the fire would be carried to the shipping lower down the Thames, or that the sparks, flying landward, would be blown afar and set some other part of the metropolis in a

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blaze. Several persons lost their lives in the attempt to go out in boats to recover the floating tallow and other material, while Mr. Braidwood, the famous chief of the London fire-brigade, perished in the ruins, from which his body was afterwards recovered to be interred in Abney Park Cemetery, amidst a great concourse of people who had admired his calm courage and experience.

Of railway accidents there had been some appalling examples, one of which, that took place on the 9th of June, 1865, on the Shrewsbury and Chester line, caused a great sensation in the country, both because of the horrible circumstances attending it and because Mr. Charles Dickens was one of the passengers who escaped, and gave aid to those who were more or less seriously injured.

A fast tidal train had left Folkestone in the afternoon with 110 passengers, and proceeded in safety as far as Staplehurst, where the railway bridge crosses a narrow stream in a kind of ravine. The line on the bridge was under repair, the rails had been lifted, and a wide opening made in the earth. The train, going at full speed, rushed on to the gap, and eight out of fourteen carriages were thrown into the ravine beneath, and there dashed to fragments, the passengers sustaining horrible injuries. Ten persons were either killed by their wounds and bruises or were drowned in the stream, from which they were dragged, and twenty others were so terribly maimed that there was much difficulty in removing them. Mr. Dickens rendered such prompt and efficient service as he could give to persons so seriously hurt, and afterwards wrote some account of the accident, the effects of which upon his own highly-strung nervous organization may have been more serious than appeared at the time. There was an inquest, of course, and a verdict of manslaughter was returned against the district inspector and the foreman platelayer of the line. These verdicts are matters of course, but attention was then, as it is now, strongly called to the neglect of proper precautions by the railway authorities themselves, and to the difference constantly discovered between the severity with which en

deavours are made to enforce the provisions of bye-laws against passengers, and the indifference of the companies to the regulations, by strictly observing which, accidents might be prevented.

The discussion on this subject was painfully emphasized at a later date in what was known as the Abergele accident, where to the ordinary terror of a collision was added the dreadful element of fire in its most appalling form. The event, though it did not occur until the 19th of August, 1868, may be mentioned here as illustrating the topic which we are now considering. It happened to the Irish limited mail train on the journey from Chester to North Wales. The train was running at its usual high speed, when, just as it was nearing Abergele, it came into collision with some trucks which had broken off a goods train at the station and had run down, over the points, on to the line on which the mail was approaching. The result was a tremendous collision, which shattered the engine and flung several of the foremost carriages across the line, killing or injuring several of the passengers who occupied them. A few extricated themselves from the carriages and were endeavouring to assist those who were most hurt, when to the horror of everyone it was discovered that the front carriages were on fire and burning fiercely. The trucks which had struck them were loaded with petroleum, and the collision having broken up the casks or other receptacles in which it was inclosed, it had been dashed on to the engine and the front of the train, which was now enveloped in the liquid flame. Death to many must have been almost instantaneous. Not even a cry was heard from them, not even the semblance of humanity still less identity was left, nothing but a few heaps of charred remains were conveyed to Abergele Church. Thirty-three persons were killed, among them Lord and Lady Farnham and an attendant who accompanied them. The Duchess of Abercorn and her family were in the train, but occupied an end carriage and escaped unhurt. In one grave in the churchyard to which they had been carried the mere ashes of the dead were buried.

The public excitement was very great, the usual censure was given, the usual remonstrance that precautions had been neglected. An inquiry was ordered by the Board of Trade, and Colonel Rich made his report on the 16th of April, saying, “I fear that it i only too true that the rules printed and issued by railway companies to their servants, and which are generally very good, are made principally with the object of being produced when accidents happen from the breach of them, and that the companies systematically allow many of them to be broken daily, without taking the slightest notice of the disobedience." He also spoke strongly against the practice of locking railway-carriages, and also against the treating or bribing of railway officials by the public. The "accident" at Abergele was one among numerous examples of the danger that must always attend the traffic of goods trains and passenger trains on the same lines of rails, and since that time other accidents have pointed to this defect in our railway system, especially on short or suburban lines where the passenger trains are frequent and the so-called "block" system is but a name.

By this terrible accident a new danger seemed to be added to railway travelling; but a year later the public imagination was again startled by the horrible story of a murder perpetrated in a railway-carriage during a short journey from Fenchurch Street to Hackney, near London. The victim of this outrage-a gentleman well known to some of the officials of the line, was chief clerk to Messrs. Robarts, the bankers of Lombard Street, and was in the habit of travelling on the line from the city to Hackney, where he resided. On the night of the 9th of July, 1864, the 9-54 train from Fenchurch Street had arrived at Hackney station when a gentleman called the attention of the guard to the condition of a first-class compartment, the door of which he had just opened for the purpose of entering the carriage. He had placed his hand on one of the cushions and found it to b. covered with blood. On further examination it was seen that the floor, the window, and the side of the carriage were also smeared and spattered with blood.

ASSAULTS AND MURDERS IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES.

A small leather bag, a stick, and a hat were found in the compartment.

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was obtained which seemed likely to lead to a discovery of the perpetrator of the crime. Then link by link of evidence fixed the guilt upon a German named Franz Müller. The

At about the time that this discovery was made, the driver and stoker of an engine which had been working the trains of the Hackney-watch-chain taken from the murdered man, Wick and Stratford line, found a man lying on the space between the two lines of rail at a spot close to Hackney-Wick, the station before Hackney. The person so discovered was still living, but was covered with blood, and had evidently received severe blows on the head with some blunt instrument; his watch and chain were gone, the latter having been broken off close to the link which attached it to the button-hole of the waistcoat; but money and a silver snuff-box were found in his pockets. He only survived a few minutes after being removed to a neighbouring tavern, and had not regained consciousness before his death. The body was soon identified by friends and relatives, and it was found that a pair of gold eye-glasses which the deceased had worn were missing; but his diamond ring was still on his finger. The little leather bag had apparently been opened by some one after the assault, which probably took place between the stations of Bow and Hackney-Wick; it appeared that the body had been dragged to the door of the railway-carriage and thrown out; and that the murderer had escaped while the train was in motion. It was at first supposed that there must have been some other motive than robbery for the attack, which might, it was thought, have been made suddenly, while the deceased was dozing, and therefore only half conscious. Still the short time occupied in the journey between the stations might have accounted for the trivial nature of the robbery achieved by such horrible means, and there was no suspicion of any one who was likely to make such an attack for revenge. No clue was to be obtained, and the government, Messrs. Robarts, and the gentleman's family, offered respectively £100, making altogether £300 reward for the discovery of the murderer. Only one starting-point was afforded to the police. No hat was found near the body of the murdered man, and the hat which was found in the railway-carriage was known not to belong to him. For a week no information

had been taken to a jeweller in Cheapside named Death, who had exchanged it for another, and the person who had left it had the appearance of a foreigner. Then a cabman came forward to examine the hat found in the railway-carriage, and declared it to be one which he had bought for an acquaintance of his, a native of Cologne, who once lodged in his house, and was, or had been, courting his sister. A photograph which Müller had given to the sister was identified by Mr. Death as a likeness of the person who had exchanged the chain; and to complete this part of the evidence, Müller had given to one of the cabman's children a card-board box, such as jewellers use, with the name of Mr. Death upon it. Before this, shortly after the murder, Müller was at the cabman's house wearing a gold chain such as he had not previously possessed, and it was remembered that it resembled that said to have belonged to the murdered man. On the police going to Müller's lodgings at Old Ford, Bow, it was found that he had been there about eleven o'clock on the night of the murder, and was in a very confused or agitated state. When at the cabman's he had seemed to walk lame, and explained it by saying he had sprained his ankle. He could not be found at his lodgings, and, from a letter posted at Worthing, it was discovered that he had sailed for New York in a ship named the Victoria. Two detective officers, accompanied by Mr. Death and the cabman, started in pursuit, in a steamer, which, it was calculated, would reach New York four days before the arrival of the Victoria. This turned out to be the case, and Müller was arrested. The circumstantial evidence was complete, and was confirmed by the fact that the hat of the murdered man was in Müller's possession, and had been cut down or reduced in height and altered, so that he could wear it. Müller was tried, sentenced to death, and executed. Two results followed the crime, and the apprehension and execution of the criminal. First, the detective

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