TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 225, 28 September 1897, Page 2

TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.

A BOY DECAPITATED.

The closing days of the present week, says the "Australian Star" of September 17th, stand out in ghastly prominence by reason of the victims claimed by the railway and tramway services. Yesterday morning a man was killed on the North Shore line, and a few hours later a man lost his life on the Illawarra line. This morning at 8.55 a boy aged only eight years was killed instantaneously by being run over by a tram in the Broadway, opposite the University. The boy was William Bray, who resided with his parents at 17, Christie-street, Glebe, At 8 o'clock his mother sent him on a message to Bay-street. The boy wandered about for some time in the vicinity of the Broadway. He was observed to start to cross the tramline, and passed in the rear of a Forest Lodge tram bound to the city. He crossed quickly, but failed to see a Glebe Point tram travelling from the city, and at the critical moment he was swept down and run over. A number of persons witnessed the disaster, which was all complete in a flash. The engine jolted as the wheels passed over the body, and the driver, Thomas Trusley, acting with promptitude, brought the tram to a standstill. The fireman, Leonard Mole, was left in charge of the engine, while Trusley and the conductor, George Gale, alighted to extricate the remains. There was no need for a close examination. Death must have been instantaneous. The spectacle was most distressing. The little fellow's head was almost decapitated, and blood and brains -were spattered on the rails and blocks for yards around. Constable Stewart, who was on duty in the Broadway, removed the mutilated remains to the South Sydney Morgue.