RAILWAY DISASTER IN SYDNEY.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 151, 29 June 1887, Page 5

RAILWAY DISASTER IN SYDNEY.

TERRIBLE ACCIDENT TO AN EXCURSION TRAIN.

Five Killed aud Forty Injured

FEARFUL SCENES AND SUFFERINGS,

The Queen's Jubilee day has been commemorated ab Sydney in disaster as well as demonstration. An excursion brain conveying some 250 passengers to Peat's Ferry, on the Hawkesbury, on Tuesday June 21st, became uncontrollable, the brakes being inoperative, with the result that five people Were killed, including the engine-driver, and there is a long and ghastly list of wounded. Within an hour of the catastrophe, which occurred at 2.40 p.m., a special relief train conveying medical men and medical appliances was on the road to the scene in charge of the Commissioner for "Railways. Other medical practitioners were picked up en route, for tragic as the affair was, its effects were at first exaggerated. They arrived to find four dead persons near the wrecked train, and many of the wounded moaning near them. Those who escaped, and others who were slightly injured, told their tales of horror. Briefly, it was that they left Sydney at 10.25 on a pleasure excursion. Nothing was noticed wrong with the brakes, and no mishap occurred till within a few miles of Peat's Ferry.their destination. The increased speed noticeable as the train was descending the incline, which extends for sonic miles, did not at the outset cause any alarm. The engine-driver, the stoker, and the brakesmen only knew what was wrong. During the first few moments several passengers casually remarked that the en-gine-driver was evidently making up for lost time, as some little time before a delay occurred, the train having to be divided into sections, owing to the inability of the leebmotive to get it to the top of the hill, after which the two divisions of the train were rejoined. But the speed continued to increase ; tho guard, in the absence of a brake van, was seen to be desperately turning the hand brake at the end of a saloon carriage. He did so without effect. Contentment changed momentarily to misgiving, and misgiving in another moment into terror. The train was rushing madly on ; the carriages swerved and oscillated as they only do at an unusually high rate of speed. The guard was still at the brake, but with the same result as if he were turning on steam. It flashed upon everyone that by some reason generally unknown they were rushing headlong to destruction. " The brakes have given way " x was the cry at last heard, and it ran along from carriage to carriage until all shrieked in their terror. Onward—still onward, at, increasing speed the train continued, and in this lightning descent the locomotive whistle (which was tinned on by the enginedriver the moment he realised the danger) was blowing. In another instant the horror-stricken passengers found themselves en veloped in darkness. It was a tunnel, and the whistle never ceased. The next moment they were again in daylight and whizzing downwards faster than the wind—at such perilous speed that the trees could hardly be distinguished as they were passed. Fathers and mothers frantically clutched their children, and many minds were bewildered by the reflection whether it would be safer to leap from the train than to remain and hopefully await the end. It soon came. Many remembered that Peat's Ferry was the actual terminus of the line, and others better acquainted with its contiguity esclaiwied, " Tbe River !" — two words of potent meaning. The porter stationed at the Peat's Ferry station heard the continuous whistling, and a few seconds afterwards saw the approaching train coming upon him at the rate of 70 miles an hour. It was a moment for presence of mmd —for action, not for bewilderment. His was noble beyond all praise. Imagine his position. At tho station were two lines, both terminating at the embankment of the river. On the one line there was a heavy train which had just discharged its contingent of passengers, and if the approaching train had been allowed to run into this the resistance to the shock would have been so great that as bhe one train telescoped the other they would have smashed up every carriage. In the other line there were some light empty contractors' trucks, and he at once realised that a collision with them was the better of the two inevitable results. It was his duty to shunt the train on to that one, but it was a duty that required more than ordinary courage. If he allowed the train to go straight on it meant certain destruction. If, on the other hand, he attempted to shunt a train coming down without control at that enormous pace, the chances were equal-hat the points would not act quickly enough, and the slightest failure would have resulted in part of the train gatting on ono line and part on the other, and a terrible smash up in which the porter himself would probably be involved. Had his nerve failed for a momeni—had ho abandoned the points or worked them insufficiently in his fear—the consequences would have been disastrous beyond contemplation. But his presence of mind was sure. A moment's reflection decided him. He turned the train on to the line occupied by the trucks and held his breath as he waited the result. It was as he had expected. Dashing past the platform, the train wen. as he directed and collided with the trucks, scattering them to fragments. The locomotive toppled over the embankment, instantly • killing Wilson, the driver, and burying him and itself in the mud of the river bank. The fireman had a miraculous escape from an equally sudden death. Pitched some distance beyond in mud and water he escaped death, but sustained injuries so severe that he was in a dazed, semi-conscious condition at a late hour at night. The two carriages behind the engines were smashed beyond redemption, and in these were the passengers killed and injured. The couplings having sepa-. rated, they were not carried over the embankment. Strange to relate, these particular carriages before the delay occurred in drawing the train over a hill in two sections were at the rear, and were at that time changed. Those who escaped rushed to the assistance of the less fortunate. Three persons who died almost instantaneously, two men and a woman, were laid aside. The body of the engine-driver could not be removed, and we believe still remains under the engine. Two others, a young man and a little girl, succumbed to their injuries last night and there are others in a dangerous condition. When the medical men arrived in the special train they attended to the injured, who were subsequently conveyed by special train to Sydney. The Rilled and Injured. Mr Rennie, oveiseer for Messrs Amos Brothers, contractors, was riding on the engine He evidently saw that death was imminent, for as the train dashed through the station he waved his handkerchief as though -to say good-bye to those on the platform. He was killed with the unfortunate driver, Thomas Wilson, who wa_ caught legs under a portion of the engine, •The carriage next to the engine rose in bh'e air and then telescoped into the next carriage. The occupants of the former Gscaoed, strange to say, with very little muiries, but those of the latter, which was an American car, suffered severely ; two of them a young girl of about 20, and a young man 'apparently about 22 years old, Were instantaneously killed, their bodies being Sttliscquently found frightfully toggle*

The girl's right leg was torn off about the knee, her body was mangled and her upper lip cut through. The passengers in the succeeding carriages were some of theip injured, bub they fared better than those in front. * The bodies of the young man and woman were afterwards also identified. Their story is a peculiarly sorrowful one. The girl was one of several daughters of a widowed mother living ab Petersham. Her name was Eliza Waters, and her age 19. The young man was named Thomas Phillips, aged 20, a plasterer by trade. He was engaged to be wedded to Miss Waters when he should come out of his time as apprentice. They started for Peat's Ferry on Tuesday to spend a happy day- they were corpses before 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Driver Wilson's body was discovered in the water, jammed beneath the engine,, which but a moment before he had been driving, and all efforts to extricate it hitherto have failed. The body of Mr Rennie, who was a fine handsome-looking man of about 40 years of age, was seen lying near the permanent way ; and the bodies of the young- man and woman already referred to were in the same carriage. In the pocket of the former were found two return tickets from Lewisham ; and as these'two young people bear a family likeness, ibis supposel bhey were brobher and sisber. The body of the girl was huddled up in a corner, a torn, bloody and lifeless heap. The engine which had been travelling tender in front performed a series of somewhat curious gyrations in its descent, and when it settled down, the front of the boiler was where formerly the back part of the tender had been, that is to say, the engine had nob only rolled over and over, but had reversed its position lengthwise. Tho chimney broke off and did not fall into the river, and the tender had nearly disappeared from view in pretty deep water some yards away from the boiler. Hat of Those Killed. T. Wilson, engine-driver. W. Rennie, engineer, in the- employ of Amos Bros., contractors. Eliza Waters. Thos. Phillips, aged 20, plasterer. Hy. Hani-ins, clerk in Railway Store Department, Eveleigh. List of the liajured. Harold Barry, four years old, right arm broken ; was taken to the residence of Mr Cowdery, engineer foi existing hues, ab Petersham. Miss Eftm Hunter, May-streeb, Sb. Peters ; combined fracture of the left leg and severe lacerated wound on the left bhigh ; in a state of collapse and not expected bo live. Leg will have to be amputated, but cannot be dono unless re-action sets in. Mrs Blonifjron, Hyde Park Observatory, 219 Elizabeth-street, Sydney • contused wound under chin and contusions on right shoulder. Taken to Sydney Hospital for injuries to be dressed, and afterwards taken home. Miss Charlotte Blomgren (daughter of the above) ; dislocation of right hip and fracture of left arm. Taken to Prince Alfred Hospital. Miss Sarah Blomg.en (sister of the above); slightly injured. Joseph W. Bannister, 27, residing at 21 May-street, Pyrmont ; sprained ankle and bruised knee. Charles Potter, 45, 7 Derwent-street, Glebe; severe shaking and compound fracture of the left leg.' Takon tb Sydney Hospital. Mrs Potter (wife of the above) ; contusion of both legs and good deal .haken. Taken to Sydney Hospital. Jas. T. Thornton, 123 Lachlan-street, Waterloo ; injury to shoulder. John Pye, of Petersham, fireman of the train ; cub on scalp and abrasions on back. .'Harold A. Bishop Brown, of Ashfield; deep cut on right cheek. Charles Maillay, of Woollahra ; graze on shin. Miss Chan tier, of 36 Wynyard Square, Sydney ; severe fracture of left leg. Sydney Conyers, about 26, residing in Wynyard Square,and employed in Existing Lines of Railways Departmenb; fracture of right leg. George A. Bailey, 60, of 135 Q»een-street, Woollahra ; considerably shaken. Miss Elizabeth Crouch, supposed to reside at Pyrmonb; bruised shoulder and right side ; good deal shaken. Miss Elizabebh Pay ton, of 32 Charlottestreet, Enmore ; injury to back. Miss Harriet Paybon (sisber of bhe above) ; lefb shoulder bruised j much shaken; left side injured. , Miss Ada Payton (sister of above); left ankle sprained. Miss Alice Lourigan, or Lonergan, of 203 Dowling-street, Moore Park; sprained ankle and slighb bruise over left eye. Miss Mahoney; left arm and right hip dislocated.. ... ~ Miss May Mahoney, 17, of Young-street, Croydon ; fracture of right tibia and small contused wound on left leg. Taken to Prince Alfred Hospital. Miss Zitelle E.. Bailey, of Queen-street, Woollahra; severely injured. Miss Louisa Hough, of Waverley; both knees bruised. ~ James Malcolm, 22, of Graham-street, North Shore; shaken. John Nash, 25, of the Lands Department, residing at Burwood ; fracture of left thigh and leg. Taken to Prince Alfred Hospital. John Harvey, coachbuilder, Shepperdstreet, Darlington; lacerated thumb and bruised hand. Miss Elizabeth Stapelton, of Woollahra; contusions and shock to system. Miss E. A. Hough, of Waverley ; injury to hip. James H. Hargreaves,of 81 Forbes-street, Newtown ; bruised wrist. O. H. Reed, of Balmain ; abdominal injury. Henry Lane, of Amos-street, Macdonaldtown ; bruised hand v James West, 32, of Abbatoir-road, Rosella Bay, Balmain; contusion of right leg and shaken. P. Bowles, 26, living near Mart's Dock, Balmain ; incised wound over right side of forehead, lacerated chiki, contusion of left forearm, and much shaken. Marion Turnbull, 24, of Goodsir-street, Balmain ; injury to left forearm. A few others were more or les3 injured,, but their names were nob ascertainable. The Guard's Statemeat Alfred Clissold, the guard of the train, gives the following account: —After leaving Ryde the driver found he was short of water, and could not take the train up the bank. He pub back to Ryde, took in water there and got as far as Beecroft Cutting, where the train again came to a standsbill, and we found it necessary to divide it and take half the carriages on to Hornsby at one trip, and return- for the other half. This was done, and the carriages which were in front on leaving Sydney were in the rear of the train for the rest of the journey. The train was re-united and started again, but after leaving Hornsby it came to a stand again. I got out and ran towards the engine to ask the driver what was the matter, but before I got to him he succeeded in starting the train again, and I jumped on to the nearest carriage, a first-class saloon, the third from the engine. As soon as we began to go down the bank (that is, the decline) I saw by the speed at which we were travelling at that the driver had lost control over the train. I applied the brake of the carriage I was on and hung on to it with all my might. I could not get to any of the other carriages to put the brake on them, as I was intercepted at each side by the ordinary four-wheeled carriages with no passage through. Thfe train was going at a tremendous rate, and it swayed backwards and forwards so as to take me off my legs two or three times. I hung on till the fngiuQ capsized, I

heard something roll down the bank, which must have the engin.. The carriage I was on was nearly capsized. Ib was hanging more than half way over, and I believe ib was only the strength of the coupling which saved it from falling over into the river. It was nearly full of people, and they were trying to get out through the upper windows. I propped it up with a sleeper, and helped to geb the passengers out. I have been 27 or 28 years on the line, and never had an accident before of any kind. If I had been oa the rear carriage instead of one in tho middle of the train, ib would have been impossible for me to apply the brake to more bhan one carriage, lb has been said bhab some of bhe people were screaming as bhey came through the tunnels, being afraid at the speed of the train. This is not true, so far as I saw. Some noise was caused by youths and boys .skylarking as we got into the tunnels. The first thing I saw after getting out of the train after the accident was the body of Inspector Rennie laid on the bank. Statement by a Passenger. Mr W. J. Parks said : I was in one of the first-class carriages. The train left Redfern at 10.25 in the morning, and everything went all right until we were approaching the Peat's Ferry Station. Suddenly the train commenced to gain extra speed, which rapidly increased. We were going down hill ab bhe time, a steep incline. The speed became terrific, so that omr breath seemed to be taken away. The women screamed and the passengers rose to their feet. It all appeared to be a matter of a very few minutes, for hardly were we able properly to realise that we were on a runaway train before we dashed into a lot of ballast waggons with terrific force. The carriage seemed to double up into a heap and we were thrown with horrible violence against each other and against the sides or roof or seats of the carriage,! can't say which —perhaps all. The carriage was on its side, or such of it as was whole, and through the broken windows those who were able clambered out. It was a scene of fearful commotion, and screams and groans and cries for help were heard all round, combined with the hissing of the steam from the engine, which we afterwards found had tumbled into the river. Only two of the first-class carriages were affected, aud these were telescoped into one another. I managed to climb through one of the windows, and by the time I did so there were many persons willing to assist us. I escaped most miraculously with nothing worse than a bruise on the arm and the ankle, but several of those in the carriage were pinned to the floor by broken seats and pieces of the carriage, which had to be cut away in order to release them. There was a lot of confusion ab the time,and the cries of those who were injured were heartrending to hear. Ib was a perfect wonder that more of us were not killed or more severely injured. The injured Mere removed to a public-house near and attended to as well as was possible.