The Rhondda Leader

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The Fatal Brake Disaster at Weston. Ratumed Inquest. Sensational Statemenes* The adjourned inquiry into the death of Mrs. Biddiscombe and Mrs. Hannon, both of Ferndale, who were killed in the brake disaster at Worle, near Weston- super-Mare, on Monday in last week, was resumed before Mr. Craddock, district coroner, at the New Inn, Worle, yester- day afternoon. Mr. Gilbert Robertson, Cardiff, represented the relatives of the deceased Mr. A. Rogers Ford, the driver (Ed. Smart) of the waggonette and Mr. Hart (Osborne, Ward, Vassal and Co., Bristol) the Weston, Clevedon, and Portis- head Light Railway Company. Mr. Han- non and Mr. Biddiscombe, husbands of the deceased, were also present. Smart's Statement. The Coroner asked for the driver, Ed- ward Smart, to be called. Mr. Rogers Ford. who appeared for him, said: Smart is here, but as he has been arrested since the last meeting I am afraid I cannot advise him to answer fur- ther questions. It is not that he has any- thing to conceal, but he will have to make a fresh statement before the magis, tiates, and I should be wrong in advising him to answer further questions to-day. He has already made his statement. Smart's prevoius statement was then read. In effect it was that he neither saw the signalman wave his flag nor heard the engine's whistle, and that, concluding the line was clear, he drove on, with the re- sult that his waggonette was run into by the train, two of the occupants being killed outright and four seriously injured. The Signalman's Account. 1 .J Joseph Sperring, the aged signalman ax the Worle level crossing, said he remem- bered hearing the engine-driver blow his whistle 100 yards before he reached the station. Then he saw a waggonette con- taining four or five people come nearly to the metals when the train caught it. The engine hit the horse in the side, turning it right round into the ditch. The wag- gonette was not upset, but was knocked into the hedge. He could not tell how the people got out. He supposed the train must have pulled them out. He got very frightened. When the train had passed, he saw six people on the line, two being dead. He signalled to. the driver of the engine that it was all right for him to cross over, and also signalled to the driver of the waggonette with the danger flag. Smart was then about 100 yards from the crossing. He took no notice of the signal, but drove on, slashing and whipping the horse, and pushing it on with all his might. Witness kept his red flag against Smart all the time, and also shouted to him, but he would not stop. Witness stood on the Worle side of the crossing. He could say whether he sig- nalled to anyone else to stop just before the accident, or whether anyone passed over. The Coroner: You say you are 71. Is your sight good ?-Yes, sir. But your hearing is not very good?- Not so good as it has been, I suppose. He signalled to the engine-driver with a green flag, indicating that the line was clear. The gates did not shut across the road. By Mr. Hart: There were Beware of the trains" notice boards on the road each side of the crossing. A driver of a vehicle coming from Worle (as Smart was) could see the train coming from Clevedon at a distance from the crossing of 200 yards. He shouted to Smart to stop three times. Smart was then about 20 yards from the crossing. The horse was galloping; it could not have gone any faster. He had always found flag signal- ling effectual. A Witness alleges Intimidation. When the next witne;s&-Francis John Say—was called, Superintendent Stoker stated that this witness had been bullied and annoyed for being present at the last inquest. The Coroner: In what way ? Say: They said I was on the wrong side of the road. The Coroner: That was simply an ar- gument. Was anything else said? Say: Yes, that they would meet me in Weston, and I should hear further. The Coroner: Who were these people, And what did you understand by it? Witness: I think they tried to get me out of it. The Coroner: They tried to get you not to give evidence? Witness They annoyed me so. I went to the superintendent of police, and asked him to send a sergeant to ask them to go away. The Coroner: Why did you do it?— The innuendo is that they challenged you because you made certain statements. Witness: That's it, sir. The Coroner: Who were these people ? Witness: Well, I believe they were brothers of Smart. Mr. Ford: This is a serious question and you should be sure. Witness: They told me •hat's who it was. Witness, who stated that he was a yeo- man and lived at Banwell, then gave his evidence and corroborated the story told by the previous witness, but gave it as his opinion that the engine struck the waggonette, and not the horse. The animal appeared to. be perefctly under control of the driver and was not bolting. The driver was urging the horse on and witness thought he was trying to get over the crossing before the train. The train was not travelling at more than eight miles an hour. Sperring shouted to the driver, but he drove on and made no at- tempt to stop. Cross-examined by Mr. Ford: Do you say that this driver deliberately drove into the train Witness: I believe so. It was his own fault that he did so. We tried to stop him. The Coroner: For God's sake be care- ful. Do you suggest that the driver deliber- ately drove into the irain?—I do. The Coroner: What! Deliberately drove into the train! Think what you are going to say. You are giving your evidence in a most extraordinary way. Witness: I think that, he thought the train was going to stop, but he tried to pass it when it was going. Witness said he was talking to the signalman when he ran forward, but he did not see a green flag, and he did not see him make any signal to the train. Witness was somewhat indefinite as to the position of the signalman's hut, and was asked by Mr. Ford if he was in full possession of his faculties at the time. I think so," replied Say. Mr. Ford: I don't think it is worth while asking this witness any more ques- tions. The Coroner: The sooner he goes the better. A Carter's Statement. -'II Charles William Uiles, carter, Weston- super-Mare, said he saw Sperring hold up his red flag, and afterwards heard him shout to the driver to stop. Smart, who at this time was about twenty yards from the crossing, did not stop, but drove on and tried to cross the line. In doing so he drove right into the engine. Witness helped to carry the bodies to his resi- dence. Witness heard the driver of the engine blow the whistle twice-once some 150 yards before the crossing was reached and again some twenty yards from it. The horse did not appear to be running away. By Mr. G. Robertson: Did you see Sperring make any signal to the train on the occasion in question?—No, sir. Did you see him make any signal at all?-No, sir. Engine Driver's and Guard's Evidence. John Richard Jones, the driver of the train, said he first blew, a long whistle when about 200 yards from the Bristol Road crossing. On his left hand side the wagonette was continuing its journey, so he blew the whistle again. The engine was pretty well across the road when the wagonette collided with the side of the engine. He was running at the rate of eight miles an hour. The horse was run- ning free with open mouth, and the reins were loose. The horse did not bolt. The Coroner: Did the horse appear to you to be beyond the control of the driver ? —No. Henry Davey, guard on the train in question, corroborated the evidence of the previous witness. He added, however, that on nearing the Bristol Road platform the whistle blew for the brakes to be put on, and witness in response immediately put on the brakes of the carriages. Superintendent Stokes informed the Coroner that the injured at the Weston- super-Mare Hospital were unable to de- scribe how the accident occurred. More Evidence forthcoming. Mr. Ford said he had material evidence to produce on behalf of his client—the drivers of the two vehicles immediately behind Smart. In face of Mr. Hart's op- position he would say this: That one of these men have been interviewed by Mr. Hart. The Coroner: What? Repeat that, please. Mr. Ford having repeated the state- ment, Mr. Hart admitted that ho had seen one of the men. The Coroner (to Mr. Ford) Do you im- pute Mr. Hart of a wrong professional act? Mr. Ford: No, sir. But Mr. Hart has seen one of these men, and, knowing what he is going to say, he is against me call- ing him. The hearing was then adjourned until Wednesday.

MUSIC. "The Battle of Life." A POPULAR CANTATA FOR MIXED VOICES. PRICE-Sol-fa., 6d.; Old Notation, 2/6. IT A MOST SUITABLE WORK FOR THE TIMES. SPECIMEN COPY-ONE PENNY. Send to the Author-Mr. HUGH DA VIES, G.T.S.C. I (Pencerdd Maelor), Plasmarl, Landore, R.S.O., Glam. 162

Holiday Resorts for Hhonddaites. I fpft a Picturesque Pwllheli. "The Pride of the Principality." A colntrdbutor to the Liverpool Courier" some years since wrote as fol- lows Pwllheli seems well situated for a summer and winter resort. Wales throws her arms into the sea so as to form Car- digan Bay, and situated on the southern side of Carnarvonshire in a special bay lies the little town whose charter was granted by the Black Prince. The houses cling like limpets to the rocks, and the streets follow thei sweet will of the low levels. A natural harbour lies between the old town and the Gimblet Rock, but the great charm of the place is the long broad stretch of firm sand, with only a few pebbles on its surface, along which a visitor may ramble and listen to the whispers of the sea, while behind him stand the granite and slate giants, with the rivals, Snowdon and Cader Idris, as captains over all, guarding the town by the sea from the biting, east and chilly north and the boisterous west wind, leav- ing it only free to the zephyrs from the south. For those who want to get out of the fever of busy town life, away from the smoke and fog and centres of popu- lation, escaping the cruellest winds of the year, and to find a place where rock and air, sea and sky, and vegetation, combine to form some of the grandest and most agreeable pictures a Turner could have used his brush and paint, then Pwllheli has peculiar charms. It is soul inspiring to climb the Gimblet Rock, apart from to make a seaside resort of their pretty home, and they have begun with an energy and a purpose that promises well for its future. A great blue bay, sparkling, laughing, glistening, embraced crescent- wise by five miles of firm golden sand studded with pebbles. The sea never ebbs more than twenty yards; and so the sea bath is ever ready and inviting. In ex- quisite gradations of grey and purple, in shades of amethyst and violet, in gloomy cloud depths, flecked with the passing gold gleams of riotous sunlight, rise the moun- tains of Merionethshire, of North Car- narvon, and of Bodvean all around us. The Snowdon range is caught through the changing haze eighteen miles off. The Rivals' with their twin peaks loom up behind us. There is mystery and majesty in all, and its unconquered savagery, its splendid prehistoric fearlessness of asser- tion, it brings to my mind the kindred Celtic character of the wild west of my own country, Connemara. The very colours are the same, the blues, the purples, the yellow sand and golden gorse. With such scenery, poetry and music go hand in hand, and the close relation of the Cymru to the Irish, was revealed to me as if it were by transfiguration by the time I had climbed up Bodvean, and saw the whole coast from Pembroke to Great Orme's Head—I don't know who Orme was, but he had a great head—and caught a glimpse of the Wicklow Hills, signalling a welcome. Now I know, once and for I Pwllheli Town. any habitation, and standing like a, watch tower amid the sand and the sea, and to watch the moon bursting through the mists and clouds overcrowning Cader Idris, till she kisses the waves a thousand times and smiles on the lesser hills. At those moments it is easy to compare those black mountains whose bulk is lost in night, and whose tops are only faintly outlined, to England's bodyguards keep- ing the foes at a distance, and to imagine that the rhythm of the waves as they surge and beat and break on the rocky shore opposite, is but the deep respiration of the guards fallen asleep at their post. I shall never forget the glorious ride from Llanbedrog, through luxuriant lanes, which in midsummer must be one long arbour of varying light and beauty. The young oaks with half-bared arms threat- ened our heads, the brambles on the banks were changing their leaves into brown and red, and yellow and gold, while their berries hung tempting and luscious the honeysuckle bloom struggled through the thick hedges and over the lichen-covered walls; the dog hips and haws (memories of school days) were in myriad clusters along the. roadside, while the bitter aloe ever and anon appeared to say, Take me and I will sharpen your appetite.' The decaying bracken and the green gorse, with its golden flower cling- ing here and there, yet added to the beauty of the picture, whilst, when we lifted our eyes and looked abroad we saw ever, how and when David Cox caught his colour inspirations. And I must also tell you of the blue granite rocks and of the forests in all the glory of their autumn livery, and of the giant ash trees, and of the laughing girls who. wear boys' caps, and of the air, there is a. crisp effervescence in it, there is health and life-giving ozone in it of the peculiar blend that only a combination of mountain and sea can make—the blend of heather and brine. The sanitary arrangements of Pwllheli are absolutely up-to-date and the perfec- tion of engineering. According to the scientific figures prepared by Mr. Alex- ander Buchan, F.R.S.E., based on calcu- lations extending over twenty years, the winter and early spring temperature of the Cardigan Bay watering place is as mild as that of Torquay, Bournemouth, or the Isle of Wight, and the air is not so relaxing. Proof thereof is furnished by Nature in the fact that myrtle, fuchsia- I saw a whole hedge of fuchsia-and hydrangea flourish everywhere in the open. And at night, well, it was the walk to .the Gimblet Rock from our hotel, over a. mile of the golden sands, with the sea whispering soft nonsense in our oxygen- ated ears, with the great clouds sailing past us like battleships going into action, and with such a moon. It was a veritable silver lamp. Why, it's a round moon, a globe, and not the flat disc we get in London!' said my friend John Strange 1 Pwllheli Bay, from Quarry Tramway Station. the evergreen spruce and larch, the stub- born oak, the silver birch, and the beech turning its leaves into one glorious blaze of brown and gold, and with a chestnut here and a sycamore there and a plane tree; yonder, till the land mingled with the sea, or the hills began to reach the clouds, and the trees ceased, and the bare rocks stood out in their hardness, except where the mists swathed their brows and hid them from our gaze. And how the light was constantly changing, flooding this spot with, a brilliant lustre, picking out a cottage "here and a. farmhouse there, painting the Welsh cattle blacker, and the Welsh sheep whiter, or obscuring the spot, hiding a tarn, sobering a. patch of dying fern, baffling the eye, delighting the mind! I speak as if this were one pic- ture—I am wrong-it is the panorama of Wales as seen round Pwllheli." In 1894, the late Mr. William Wilde contributed an article to. The Gentle- woman," in which he referred to Pwllheli as follows — The dear little place, the snug, smiling dainty, delightful little watering place, is, in truth, a witching, affection- ate, sympathetic spot to all true lovers of nature, where she is all smiles. Until five years ago, the Poolthellians (spelt Pwllhelians) were quite content with their queer old grey town of narrow wind- ing streets, overhung by ancient houses and beetling grey cliffs and with its har- bour in the shadow of the Gimblet Rock. Then these gallant Welshmen determined Winter to me, as we meandered and medi- tated. Venus, daringly approximating with the audacity peculiar to a feminine minora stella,' looked yellow and aucemic beside this superb shield of argent, this majestic white lady of Cambria. The straggling tufts of grass crunched under our feet, the wet brown hair of many mermaids—it was really seaweed, you know-lay in rank melancholy love- liness in the receding wash of the race- making waves. The belated curlew, who ought to have been in bed hours ago, screamed out, I seei you.' We climbed that rock and listened to the voices of the night in a protecting corner of the blue granite. It was lonely, and it was lovely; so lonely, so lovely, that I was tempted to keep the existence of Pwllheli a secret. But I had a duty to perform, and I have done it. Besides, there were other people on that rock that splendid silver night." Since the above description of this ideal watering place was written, the natural advantages of the situation have been greatly developed. A fine marine parade has been constructed, lined with build- ings having every 'modern convenience, with perfect sanitary arrangements. A beautiful esplanade and wide road has been made squares laid out, good hotels built, as well as places of worship and assembly rooms. Westward from the South Beach and in continuation of the Parade, roads are laid out and splendid houses constructed. Fine wide roads lead to the old town. Trams run from the bot- tom of Pen] an Street to the South Beach, and another line takes you to the West End, and for several miles along the shore, right on to Glyn-y-Weddw Hall, a magnificent country seat, which has been converted into an Art Gallery and Plea- sure Grounds, both open to the public. This estate covers an area, of about fifty acres, and constitutes one of the loveliest and most picturesque spots in Wales. It is situated at the end of Llanbedrog Bay, and abounds in beautiful walks along the terraces in the gardens and rustic paths in the woods on the sides of the moun- tains, from the top of which the un- interrupted view for miles around is un- surpassed in the country, including a good view of St. Tudwals Islands. It is so sheltered that came lias and other deli- cate trees and shrubs are grown in the open all the year round. The Art Gallery contains over 400 very fine paintings and drawings, by P. de Wint, David Cox, S. Prout, W. J. Muller, Clarkson Stanfield, R.A., J. B. Pyne, J. Syer, T. M. Richardson, Copley Fielding, Sam Bough, J. Phillip, R.A. Carlo Mar- ratti, D. Tenniers, J. M. W. Turner, R.A., Sir E. Landseer, R.A., and other noted artists. The Entrance Hall, 40ft. square by 30ft. high, has several magnificent stained glass windows, embracing coats-of-arms of historic families. The roof is a very fine piece of architecture in the Gothic style, lighted by a, fine dome in the cen- tre. The collection of paintings and draw- ings form the finest public collection in Wales. in the alternoon on week-days, a good band gives concerts in the grounds in fine weather and when it rains in the En- trance Hall of the Art Gallery. The scenery all around Pwllheli is grand, and in order to give the stranger within their gates an opportunity during their stay herei to witness the leading points of attraction, the Pwllheli Pleasure Parties Association (formed of a Commit- tee of the Town Council, with Alderman Anthrny—the energetic Mayor of the town for three years—as President and Treasurer, the Hon. Secretary of which is the pushful and energetic Town Clerk, illi-, Evan R. Davios), have arranged a series of coach drives, which are thrown in with a week's board and lodging, for two guineas. On one drive we take the coach to lkddgelert, passing through O i< eietii (where there is a castle), Tre- ■va<'op, artel the far-famed Pass of Aber- glaslyn. From Beddgelert the ascent of Snowdon can be made. On another day we are taken to Hangybi, where there is nn ancient well, known as St. Cybi's Well, s | which is refuted for the remarkable cura- tive properties of its waters. Garn Ben- tyre h immediately above the well com- mands a fine view, and time- will be given to visit it. Besides these two, there are given coach drives to Sam, and home through Tydweilicq Nevin, and the beau- tiful Bodvean Woods—a total distance of 24 miles—and to Llanaelhaiarn, where we leave the coach and make the ascent of Tre'r Ceiri (to view old Roman remains), and the Eifl, or Rivals, and visit Vorti- gern's Valley, returning to Llithfaen to join coach and drive home. Besides this coaching the visitor can pass his time away at golfing-the Links being particularly good—or he can indulge in sailing, rowing, fishing, cricket playing (or foooball in winter), lawn tennis, go for charming walks, or listen to the strains of the excellent band on the beach, and enjoy himself in a variety of ways. Pwllheli is not only delightful in sum- mer, but from its natural position, shel- tered entirely from the north, east and west winds and having a southern aspect, it is the winter resort "pai- excellence," and, except for the absence of the gaiety found on the French Riviera, it is, from a point of health, every whit as good, if not better than Cannes, Nice, Mentone, San Remo, etc., and it has been aptly and without exaggeration styled the Riviera of Wales. The, air is dry and pure, and the heat tempered by agreeable breezes. Altogether Pwllheli is a most attractive place for those in search of health or rest; for lovers of grand scenery, for the sports- man, and for the pater and materfamilias and their bairns and before, many years it will be the leading seaside, health, win- ter and summer resort in the Principality, and though, as such, yet in its infancy, it has already earned the title, owing to the intelligent go-aheadedness of the local authorities, of "The Pride of the Prin- cipality." Pwllheli is of easy access from the Rhondda, three trains having through carriages with direct communication, leaving Taff Vale stations daily in con- nection with the Cambrian Railways, passing mountain, valley and sea scenery of most exquisite description. Tourist, cheap week-end, and fourteen days' tic- kets are issued, full particulars of which can be obtained from the Cambrian Rail- way Company's representative, Mr. W. H. Lloyd, The Exchange, Cardiff; or from Mr. W. H. Gough, Traffic Superintendent, Oswestry. A special cheap day excursion is being arranged to visit Pwllheli on the 2nd of October. Particulars may be had from Mr. R. H. Humphreys, 69, Primfose St., Tonypandy.

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