A mail-coach was likely to be more shied at by
horses than a locomotive. In the neighborhood of Killingworth,
the cattle in the fields went on grazing while the engines passed
them, and the farmers made no complaints.
Mr. Alderson, who had carefully studied the subject, and was well
skilled in practical science, subjected the witness to a
protracted and severe cross-examination as to the speed and power
of the locomotive, the stroke of the piston, the slipping of the
wheels upon the rails, and various other points of detail.
Stephenson insisted that no slipping took place, as attempted to
be extorted from him by the counsel. He said, "It is impossible
for slipping to take place so long as the adhesive weight of the
wheel upon the rail is greater than the weight to be dragged
after it." There was a good deal of interruption to the witness's
answers by Mr. Alderson, to which Mr. Joy more than once
objected. As to accidents, Stephenson knew of none that had
occurred with his engines. There had been one, he was told, at
the Middleton Colliery, near Leeds, with a Blenkinsop engine. The
driver had been in liquor, and put a considerable load on the
safety-valve, so that upon going forward the engine blew up and
the man was killed. But he added, if proper precautions had been
used with that boiler, the accident could not have happened.
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