THE VICTORIAN RAILWAY DISASTER.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13102, 29 April 1908, Page 8

THE VICTORIAN RAILWAY DISASTER.

PITIFUL INCIDENTS.

WOMEN'S HEROISM.

The Melbourne "Argus" of the 22nd inst. con tails the following graphic ac- ;-, count of the scene in the vicinity of ..the Sunshine railway station on the night-of the collision between the Bentligo and ■ Ballarat . trains:—No on-a who was a witness to the occurrences following upon the accident will over < forget the scene. . The magnitude of the disaster was such that the rescuers could devote themselves only to the mitigation of the sufferings of the injured. The dead were taken out and laid upon the platform. Somo were along the kerb, parallel with the line; others had their feet to the train, and some were carried out, and lay along tho Svell. For some hours after the accident, seventeen dead bodies were lying on the "down" side of the platform. They had been taken from the debris and carried across the rails and left there. As each was laid oat a bearer put a hand over tho heart of the prastrato body. But in these cases there was no responsive beat. In most of them tho look upon tho face and the ghastly nature of the injuries told the tale so emphatically that no confirmation was aieoessary. As these bodies lay there, men and women picked their way through them, in some cases looking into the stdll faces, but in most inpassing with averted eyes. One young woman lay near the north end of tho platform. She was dressed in ■white, uml a ha-thox was beside her. Tho box was torn asunder as though it had been pulled to pieces by horses. A handkerchief was placed over her face, and she lay there with the eerene look of a person who had died in bed. Blood oozing from her cTiost showed how she had met her death. Hours later a constable searched her for ineana of identification. There was no name on-the hatbox, and neither letters nor paper.s in her possession. There were a few trinkets—a brooch, ix heart-pin, and in her blouse a watch. .i . Tho watch had never stopped. It £ showed 20 minutes to 3. % Amidst the rtiins within sight of tho £j passers- was the dead body of an elderly lady. She had died almost as she sat in the carriage. The recumbent attitude, with tho grey hairs resting upon the hack of what had once been a seat, showed how swiftly doatli had come. "Within a few feet from her, on the other side, a man was being taken from the ruins. His cries were agonising, but in him there was life, and with life there wns hope. Tho shattered timbers were cut from above, below,' nnd round him, and ho was lifted out. There was a knot of peoplo about, and as he was lifted out they ' gave a slight cheer. It had a weird eound amid tho surroundings, but it came from men who had their hearts • and their minds on one thing—to save a life if they could. . j Another young-woman is lifted out. Sho is placed on the platform on cushions. There is not a rug available at tho moment, and tho constable lifts his long coat from the fence and j ■'■ . spreads it over her. Then ho kneels j , , besido her and looks in her eyes. VMy ■'.•■- coat can do her no good," he said, and, 'lifting it off, ho spreads a handkerchief over her face. That is the inspiration:. that moves everyone. "What is it, among the thousand things that ought to be done, that will do . the most good ? Very few peoplo in . ' such a time know how to answer the ouestion. Many, simply walk around in stupefied bewilderment. But among tho hundreds who were there* if there were some who did not, and could not, render assistance, at least thero were none who caused needless trouble. : Elderly women, with tears streaming down their faces, shaking in «very nerve, refused even as much as a drink of water. ''There are others who want it more." Young girls, standing in the cold, bitter morning, hour after hour, refused to go horned even when ! the train that would carry them to Melbourne at length arrived. -"Get the injured and the dead away; we can stop here all night," eaid one girl, about eighteen,'as she stood arm-in-arni with another ycunger than herself. They could do nothing, but it seemed like desertion to take up space in a carriage while the dead and wounded were still on tho field. The courage was not confined to thoso who escaped sound in limb. "Help tho others; they are worse than mc," said one young woman after bo-, ing lifted on the'platform. t Yet the .ambulance man said that both' her leg 3 were broken, and the extent of her other injuries was a matter only for ( conjecture. "I know my poor old dad * is dead," , moaned another, as she was : lifted to the platform. Someone assured her thdt no was not dead. But ho one know, • and she relapsed into unconsciousness without even giving her name. Her last remark was, Pcor old dad." . • ' , ' Lying at the wicket gate was a man, resting on his elbows. "No fear; I am all right," he said to the ambulanoe man. "Go to someone else-. ,. The ambulance man took his stretcher elsewhere, and the injured man said. "Now, if there was only someone just to put Ids hand under my legs, and another for mc .to rest on iius ishoukler, I'd get to a carriage, and he in no one's road." "Axe both your legs injured?" asked a sympathetic bystander. "Both, rather; for, bless mc, if I had ono leg I'd hop it to the carriage."' But lie was in no hurry, there was plenty of time for him, and lie hoped tljat his wife would not hear anything "till he got home, any road, liecaiise sometime.* women were easy upset.' , •'Nice ending for a holiday," wept a girl whose, fair head protruded from the rugs on her stretcher... She was lying on tho side of the line, away from the platform, waiting for the ■ relief train. A young railway pcrter leaned over, and nskixl for her nnme. She told it. and thon asked, "Ob, where is Frcti:-"' "Is Fret! your brother?" asked tho porter. ,; No, he jV. the young man I was kreping company with,"- replied the girl. "I was near tho window," she continued. "1 looked out just as the train came along, and I snug out, "Thero ia another train coining.' Fred said, "It is oh another line/ and I thought- it was, but just them I saw that the wheels of the engine wore on. fire, and I «:roanied, and then we wore just thrown every way." In tho excitement of her story the pirl lifts her head. Tho young l»orter presses it down gently, and aeks lw not to talk -too much, or ''think about it." The sirl.was silecit for a Tuiuutc, and then she cried, "I lcnow «<> is dead, or he would come to mc." ■ «cr touching faith takes no count of i • fa S,L that il vi sht, and she is .;. lymg 300 yards away. I iAf tnp - story uufofds the worse it * ' "f**? 1 "*! .and. tho increasir.2 number TiS'iV ormson etoier platform sup••d / otst fears « f th-o girl. or iSfi ¥• V * amon S that lot or indud*d m tho groaning scores who can «?*. ti 1 "* 1 over the dead no on « r cau say. Thero are over thirty dead," W« 8 ™>toay officer, with bated Si Jγ* y , ar * now ' on both. ewies of the platform, in the waitingroom and some of them are. even. V^γ?, 0 "?. and lffid on tli<? on. which theMtle railway station stands. - ' A "excursionists were made up large- . ; , 1- of holiday parties. There were corie- ' i:.- *** team! * returning from the country ~: . ;, - after v pleasant day's outing. The £&;>':.pressure of holiday travelling luwl them over.the train, and thosa

who had escaped injury wore everywhere looking for their comrades. 'Have you seen Jack?" called out one " Archie is all right." Some men were missing altogether, including the father of ono of the lads who was injured. 'Terhaps he wont homo by the relief train," suggested a porter. "But his lad is here, and injured," replied the enquirer. The search was continned for some time, and the father of tho injured boy was taken from the ruins—dead.

The small band of doctors are hero, there, and everywhere. These are the little cases of cool competence amidst a desert of helpless bewilderment and nervous excitement. In the early hours of the morning tho trained nurses, in tho costume of their calling, glide about in their silent way to definite purpose. Scarcely anyone saw them arrive. They wero in the midst of their work almost.before the crowd had realised it. With them came a detachment of young doctors from tho hospitals and elsewhere, and'in little timo something like orderly arrangement was beginning to evolve out of tho melancholy chaos.