A FRIGHTFUL RAILWAY DISASTER.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12129, 27 February 1905, Page 10

A FRIGHTFUL RAILWAY DISASTER.

THREE EXPRESSES IN COLLISION. 'ntoM otnt own correspondent.) LONDON, January 21. For soveral years past the Midland Railway has enjoyed an enviable immunity from serious mishaps. That happy state of affairs has now been rudely interrupted. The day before yesterday, in tho early and dark hours of a midwinter morning, with the accompaniment of dense fog and intense frost, three main-lino expresses came into collision with one another in tho short space of two or three minutes, with the result tbat sir persons wore killed on the spot, another died almost immediately afterwards, and a number of people—the exact number is not even yet ascertained—sustuiued bodily injuries of a more or less .hocking character. The disaster occurred at a place called Storr's Mill, a mile south of Cudworth, and 17 miles north of Sheffield, in Yorkshire, of course. The night express mail from Leeds to London, which stops at Cudworth, uas proceeding south from that station, and having travelled only a mile had not yet attained much pace, when tho fast express from Glasgow, a heavy train drawn by two engines, came up behind at a speed which is variously estimated as 50 to CO jnilos an hour, and may have been more, as no stop had been made after leaving Leeds, 22 miles distant, and ran at full speed into tho rear of the mail train, which was literally crushed up into scrapiron and match-wood. The Scotch express being mostly composed of the newest and strongest sleeping-cars, escaped with comparatively little damage, j except to the passengers, who, of course, were badly bruised and shaken,' while - the two ponderous engine- were flung I over on their side in the midst' of the | wreckage they had made. |. Then ensued the second phase of this dire catastrophe, a phase which, happily, ia uncommon in this country, although

froquent enough in America, The shock' exploded and ignited the large store of gas carried for lighting purposes, and in a moment the wreckage was one vast blase, in the midst of which lay a number of wounded and helpless people. One would have thought that- tho situation- had reached its acme of horror; yet a third phase was immediately to come. The wrecked trains were piled up on the down line, and 1 along this line came thundering on the express to tho North, warned by the extraordinary illumination of the fog in front that something unusual was before tbem, the driver used his utmost efforts lo reduce the speed, but thero was not time to do so sufficiently to prevent this third train crashing into the hideous ruin that lay ahead. Words simply fail to convey any just idea of the frightful that followed. The flames from tho burning train are described as shooting 30ft or 40ft into the air, and it was known that several human victims certainly lay roasting alive in the fearful furnace. But aid was prompt and efficient. The accident had occurred at one of tho worSt possible spots on the top of a high embankment, far away from any town or even vtllago, Starr's Mill being merely a junction signal-box. Nevertheless, in a marvellously short time doctors arrived, nnd even then both the passengers and officials of the various trains, who Juid escaped with life, although in innny instances not without painful injuries, were actively at work extricating tho wounded from their horrible position, it is needless to reproduce tho harrowing tale of personal mutilation which thoso earnest and indefatigabje workers had afterward to tell. Suffice it to say that hardly any conceivable form of fracture or laceration or burning to which tho human frame could bo subjected, was absent, while almost every incident had its own peculiar form of honor or pathos Perhaps ono of tho mast pathetic among these was the simultaneous death of two twin brothers, schoolboys, who were on their way back to school after the Christmas holidays. Happily their death must have been instantaneous, and without previous bodily suffering, in another caso a mother, who was held down immovable by the wreckage, implored her would-bo rescuers to leave her where she was until they had first found and saved her two children, although she was then suffering, and had long been suffering agony as acute as could afflict any human being. Jt was the ono consolatory point in the whole dreadful tragedy that there were very few passengers in the three trains. Even Jn the Scotch sleeping car express, notwithstanding its large size, there was but a sprinkling of travellers, instead of the usual large number, the fewness being no doubt duo to tho intense cold and menace of fog. But this same intense cold and tho dense fog which did come, formed grievous impediments in the way of those who wore so gallantly carrying out the noble work of rescue and succour. The freezing air sadly accentuated the sufferings of the wounded, while the prevailing slippcriness made it a matter of extreme difficulty to remove the sufferers to any place where thpy oould lie with comparative ease. It may easily be imagined how troublesome a task it was to convey wounded people, most of whom were suffering from fractures' of limbs, down the, side of a steep embankment and over a ditch and hedge into tho adjacent field, which offered the nearest level spot where they could rest in. even'relative comfort'until the arrival of the ambulances. It'is admitted on all hands that much of the promptness and efficiency of. the rescues effected was due to the admirable generalship and devoted efforts of a Royal Artillery gunner named Wright. The question how such' a - disaster could possibly occur on the main line of a railway so admirably organised as the Midland, is now under doublo investigation, on the one hand by a Coroner and jury, on the other by the Board of Trade. The only official explanation yet offered is that the fog caifo on suddenly, and that the drivers "of the up Scotch express ran past the Storr's Mill danger signals' without seeing them, while there had riot yet been time to lay down detonating fog signals, although a fogman was actually on his way to do so when the express rushed by. But, having a very intimate knowledge of the Midland line; including that particular spot, and of the methods of working, J feel bound to, say that if this be the sole, defence available, the drivers will find themselves in evil case —•and indeed ought to do so. , It is an invariable rule on all well-managed railways that the absence of an "All Right" signal* where one ought to be met with, is always to be taken a ','danger" signal, requiring an immediate stop to bo made before passingthe signal post. * Even should tho green glass'of an " All Right" signal be accidentally broken, so that only a white light shows, that ib to be taken as a stop signal as much as if the red light glarod in tho driver's face. In this case the explanation of the collision given is that the drivers did not see the danger signal, and owing to the fog, did' not .know where they were. But if they were keeping no better note of their progress than that on a dark night, an alarming prospect is opened out for the travellers, for the drivers could not fail to have noticed when they passed Cndworth station, and at the pace they were going, they should certainly .have been on the look-out a minute later for the Storr's Mill signals. The six bodies of those who had been killed on the spot were reverently conveyed to the waiting-room of the Cudworth station, where they were laid out in one sad and silent row, each covered with a white sheet, on which was deposited a cross of arum lilies specially sent by the directors of tho Midland Company, together with a card expressing their deep grief for the disaster, and their heartfelt sympathy with the bereaved relatives of the victims.