but the strong stream carried the gentleman into deep
water, where he struggled for life. Mr. Bowden saw
him, leaped in dressed as he was, rescued the drowning
man, and then composedly walked home to change his
clothes; without mentioning the circumstance which
was related by the gentleman himself.

Three young men have been drowned in the Tay at
Dundee, by the swamping of a boat which was ill
constructed to encounter the slight roughness of the waves
caused by a breeze meeting a flood-tide, and raising
"jabbles" over the sand-banks in the river. A party
of five left Dundee for the Fifeshire coast. In the
evening, one refused to return in the light and shallow
boat; but a young gentleman voluntered to supply his
place—he perished. The boat was swamped by two
waves; the five young men clung to it, but one soon
trusted to the oars to support him. For some two hours
no aid approached. Then he who was clinging to the
oars was picked up, and search was made for the boat;
one survivor only remained clinging to it. Those who
perished were Mr. Alexander Kinmond, son of a
merchant; Mr. Henry Bell, son of a deceased sailmaker;
and Mr. David Kay—the volunteer—son of Mr. Kay,
formerly Provost of the town.

The Dangers of the Serpentine were shown at an
inquest held on the body of a young man named Corner,
an excellent swimmer, who was drowned in that river
on Sunday the 11th inst. The testimony of the witnesses
went to prove that he had swam half way across and
suddenly called for help, when he turned over head foremost
and went down into.the deep mud beneath. It was nearly
20 minutes before he could be got up by the Royal
Humane Society's men after the time he went down.
Mr. Williams, the superintendent of the society, stated
that observing the drags were out he instantly got a hot
bath in readiness, and when the body was brought in it
was black with the mud over the head to the waist
where he had been fixed. He was quite dead, but still
every means were used to restore him, and Dr. Woolley
attended. In answer to a juror, Mr. Williams said that
three boats were on the river, but there were a great
number of persons in the water.—The juror: Then three
boats are not sufficient?—Mr. Williams: No; nor
would six be. It is impossible for the boatmen to see
what is going on.—The Coroner: The Serpentine, I
have understood, is a most dangerous place to bathe in.
—Mr. Williams replied it was the most dangerous in the
world. There were holes thirty feet deep, and then
twelve feet of mud, out of which the best swimmer could
never get. There were cold springs too in all parts.—
The Coroner observed that it had been suggested in
consequence, as he understood, that the bed of the river
should be levelled. As this had not been done there
seemed no alternative but to prevent bathing altogether
there.—The jury returned a verdict of "Accidentally
Drowned."

A Fatal Accident occurred on the Thames on Sunday
evening, the 11th inst. Seven men and three women, a
party of relatives and friends, hired a shallop at
Hungerford stairs, in the morning for a trip to Greenwich.
About nine o'clock in the evening, the shallop was
returning, with the flood-tide, through Blackfriars
Bridge, on the Middlesex side, when she came into
collision with the Dahlia steamer, which was going
against the tide, down the river. The shallop was
swamped, and its occupants plunged into the water.
Two were picked up by the steamer, and five were
rescued by boats which put off from the shore; but
John Weston, Anne Williams, a married woman, and
Emma Bates, single, were drowned. One of the men
saved, husband of Anne Williams, clung to the paddle-
wheel, and he was much lacerated.

On the 13th, John Maddox, mate of the Dahlia, who
had charge of the steamer as the master was ill, was
produced at Guildhall Police Office, on a charge of
causing the death of the three persons by his wilful
negligence. The witnesses examined were the survivors
of the party in the shallop, and some persons who gave
evidence for the prosecution. The survivors threw the
whole blame on the Dahlia. The shallop was going
with the tide, the steamer against it; the people in the
steamer did not keep any look-out, went out of their
proper course, did not stop the vessel when shouted to,
and did not aid the persons struggling in the water.
Two brothers named Dawson, seafaring men of Sunderland,
who were on board the Dahlia, and who saved two
people, censured the management of the steamer. The
vessel was crowded with passengers, standing up for
want of seats: had the steamer kept a proper course the
disaster would not have happened; but when the people
in the shallop shouted there was not time to avoid a
collision. Neary, a waterman, a witness for the defence,
gave testimony more in favour of the prisoner. He
stated that the paddle-wheel was stopped before the
collision, and the persons in the shallop upset it by
suddenly getting on their legs when the steamer
struck the boat. Alderman Lawrence adjourned the
inquiry for a week. Maddox was admitted to bail;
and after a long investigation the charge against him
was dismissed. The three bodies were found. The
sufferers were young persons—the women each nineteen
years of age, the man twenty-one. A coroner's
inquest on the bodies returned a verdict of accidental
death; but the jury added their opinion that a sufficient
look-out was not kept on board the steamer.

A Fatal Railway Accident occurred at Burnley on the
12th. An excursion of Sunday-school teachers and
children was sent by the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railway, to Goole; there were thirty-five carriages,
and more than a thousand passengers. The party did
not approach Burnley on the return at night till half-
past eleven o'clock. The train stopped at Townley
station, a mile from Burnley, to deposit passengers, and
to detach the engine. Trains enter Burnley by descending
a decline, the speed being regulated by breaks.
About 120 to 150 yards before reaching the Burnley
station, the railway crosses a small valley and some
water by a bridge; and at the end of this bridge next
the station is an iron handle for turning the points, in
order to shunt arriving trains upon the main line which
is connected with the East Lancashire; departing trains
starting from what is in reality a siding, running
parallel to the other, but at a gradual rise, till it reaches
the station platform, where the siding terminates
abruptly at the masonry abutment of a bridge, which is
carried over the connecting length of railway, between
the Lancashire and Yorkshire and East Lancashire
railways. At the platform, the siding or rails for
departing trains is six feet above the parallel connecting
line. The duty of the pointsman, whose name is
Parker, was to shunt any arriving train, so as to descend
the connecting line; but the points were not turned,
and the impetus of the descending train, notwithstanding
the use of the breaks, was so great, that it
ran past the offices and station, and came to the solid
timber buffers fixed horizontally to the wall of the skew
bridge abutment; the effect of the two forces was to
press upwards the fourth and fifth carriages from the
engine, and to smash the body or frame of one of them
almost to pieces. It took some time to cut open the
carriages and remove the persons within; and then it
was found that one man and three children had been
killed. The dead were Daniel Greenwood, a weaver,
aged thirty-six; a girl twelve years old, and two girls of
ten. Mrs. Taylor, an elderly person, received internal
hurts which threatened to be fatal. One man had his
ribs fractured, and another had an arm broken. Many
other persons were more or less cut and bruised.
Parker was taken into custody. The stationmaster
was in bed at the time of the accident, unwell: Gledhill,
the station-clerk, was also absent—he was arrested, but
soon liberated. A coroner's inquest was held, and after
an investigation of several days, a verdict of accidental
death was returned. In its preamble the jury declared
their unanimous opinion "that the sole cause of this
accident was owing to the deficiency of guards and
pointsmen to let the train safely down the incline into
the station, and to the employment of incompetent and
irresponsible men, and to the want of order and discipline
amongst the company's servants generally, and the
total absence of any responsible person to direct and
superintend the safe arrival and unloading of the train;
and they feel bound to state that the greatest negligence
was displayed by the executive officials of the railway
company on this occasion. It is the opinion of the jury
there is great blame to be attached to the selection of