FRIGHTFUL RAILWAY COLLISION.

Bruce Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 1753, 28 May 1886, Page 6

FRIGHTFUL RAILWAY COLLISION.

SKETCH BY AN EYE-WITNESS. Paris, March 12. An eye-witness of the Monte Carlo aesideut sends the following vivid description of it ; — The catastrophe which has just taken place ou the Manaco frontier has a peculiarly dramatic character. It occurred under the eyes of 500 or 600 persons helpless to prevent it, and this is one ot the most thrilling features of the event. At 5 o'clock precisely the train, No. 483, was at Monte Carlo station, being five minutes late. Hundreds of passengers alighted. A

atill larger number of people were preparing to Btart for Nice by the train sxpected from Mentone. There was unusual bustle on the platforms. At fchis moment I saw the stationmaster, of whom several persons were asking information. He seemed flurried. "Eater my office," he said to two of tham ; " I will attend to you presently." He then, as it seemed to me, ran to see after the luggage. Suddenly the train moved on. I can still see the guard jumping down from the luggage vvaggon. The stationmaster had at this moment an instinct of the disaster about to happen. " Who signalled the train 453 ?" he asked in a voice broken by emotion. " Not I," replied the head porter. " Was it you then]?" said he to a second official. " No, sir." Afc this answer the unfortunate mau put his hands to his head and became quite livid. Ifc did not take more than a second for the crowd to comprehend the danger which the train was incurring. Moreover, the coast between Cape Sfc Martin and Monte Carlo is so curved that the whole line was under the spectators' eyes. Three trains could be seen with their puff* of white smoke. The first was about to enter the St Martin Tunnel, and ran no danger ; the second had just left Uoquebraue, and was advancing at full speed against the one going away from us. No idea can be formed of the anguish of the 300 or 400 spectators of this scene: At first everybody hoped that the collision would not take place. The coast was all open. " They will see each other in time," said people on all sides. The stationmaster ordered all the bells to be rung, in order to make as much noise as possible. Four hundred men rent the air with their cries. The two columns of smoke, however, continued to get closer and closer. Those in the two trains did not see each other. Everybody screamed and gesticulated. Such impotence in presence of such a danger was enough to drive one mad. At last the driver of the train coming to Mentone saw the danger and reversed his engine. But the other, in consequence of the curve, noticed nothing, and continued fco advance. They were within 200 metres of each other — 100 metres. A great shuuder ran through the crowd. The women turned away their heads not to see what happened. A sharp cry was heard as a girl went into hysterics. The collision took place. The two trains were seen tilted up one against the other, and then there was a horrible incident : two or three carriages falling over the parapet were precipitated on fco the rocks on the coast. A thick smoke spread all around.