FATAL CROSSING ACCIDENT

Delivery Van Hit By Train COLLISION AT HORNBY Another fatal crossing accident in which the Little River train was involved occurred yesterday morning when a delivery van, driven by Edgar Francis Hutton, was struck by the engine of the Little River-Christ-church train at Amyes road crossing, Hornby. Hutton, who was a married man aged 33 years, of 91 Conway street, Spreydon, was rushed to the Christchurch Public Hospital in a St. John Ambulance with very severe head injuries, but was dead before he could be admitted. Hutton was still in the cab of the van when it came to rest almost upside down on the grass track beside the line, after it had been carried along for about 20 yards by the engine. The left side of the truck was badly damaged, the, rear left wheel was buckled, and the enclosed part of the body was wrecked. The rear window of the cab was the only one to be unbroken by the force of the impact, and the radiator was also pushed back. Marks on the gravel surface of the road seemed to indicate that the brakes had been applied as the van approached the line, and it was practically straddling the track when it was struck by the engine. The marks were about 10 feet long and then ran sharply at right angles, showing where the truck had been pushed along the line. No theory has been advanced about the cause of the collision as Amyes road, down which Hutton was driving, should have allowed him a clear view of the train for the 350 yards he had to travel to the crossing from the last place he had delivered goods. The low hedge which borders the road near the crossing should not have obstructed the view. A witness of the accident said afterwards that he saw the truck moving slowly up to the crossing, and thought that it would get 'across before the train reached it. Realising that the driver was injured, he called the ambulance from a store on the Main South road, but it was some time before the call got through, as it was on a party line. An inquest into the accident. and death of Hutton was opened at the hospital before Mr E, C. Levvey. coroner, yesterday afternoon, but the enquiry was adjourned after evidence of identification had been giv£n by a brother. Henry William Clayton Hutton. ' ' , * Hutton had no children. He had been employed by the New Zealand Farmers’ Co-operative Association of Canterbury, Ltd., for about five years. The truck was a new one, and had been put on the road only last Monday.