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.”