FATAL SMASH AT CROSSING

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 260, 3 August 1928, Page 12

FATAL SMASH AT CROSSING

MOTOR-CAR COLLIDES WITH EXPRESS TRAIN MAN KILLED AND TWO WOMEN INJURED Dominion Special Service. Christchurch, August 2. A man was killed and two women were seriously injured nt the level crossing at the north end of Dunsandel Station at 11.15 last night when the night express to Invercargill hit a motor-car in which they were travelling. The occupants of the car were John Robert Walker, a young num farmer of Dunsandel. killed: Mrs. Catherine Edmiston, wife of Mr. J. D. Edmiston, of Dunsandel, skull fractured and leg broken; and Miss Muriel Laishley. a sister of Miss D. Laishley, school teacher at Selwyn, shock and concussion. Mrs. Edmiston was reported this morning to be in a very serious condition.

The occupants of the car had been attending a social in the Dunsandel Hall and at the time of the accident Miss. Laishley was driving Mrs. Edmiston home. Mr. Walker, who was IS years of age, went in the car to open a gate so that Miss Laishley, who was driving, would not have to get out of the car. He was sitting in the rear seat at the time of the smash. There are no obstructions to seeing railway traffic approaching on the line from either direction and it is believed that the brakes of the car failed when the crossing was reached. The impact was a violent one, the car being thrown over the cattle stops. The train was stopped Immediately, and it was found that Walker was dead and that the two women were badly hurt. Walker’s body and the injured women were placed aboard the train and conveyed to the Ashburton Hospital. In the case of .non-stop trains passing Dunsandel at night, the enginedriver gives a long blast as a warning to the crossing as well as a signal to the station. Last night the officer on duty on the station heard the long blast of the engine’s whistle and then gave a hand-lamp signal from the platform to tbe driver. This, it is said, was acknowledged from the engine by a further short blast in accordance with the usual custom. This practice of the double whistle is invariably followed at Dunsandel, and besides the railway officer on duty another officer stated this morning that he heard both whistles. It was just after the short whistle of acknowledgment that the crash was heard. The train crew and local railway officers were confronted with a terrible sight when they rushed up to the crossing. The occupants of the car were lying on the side of the track, one being killed outright and the others badly injured and incapable of helping themselves. The car itself was totally wrecked. Mrs. Edmiston’s husband is employed as a farm labourer in the Dunsandel district, their home being a short distance on the west side of the crossing. Mr. Walker was a son of Mr. John Walker, a well-known farmer of the district. The young man had intended returning in the car with Miss Laishley. .... Miss Laishley, who was driving,-said that frost dimmed the windscreen, and as the side-curtains were up the accident bad happened before the occupants knew they were in any danger. The inquest on Walker was opened this morning and adjourned sine die. From inquiries at the hospital this afternoon it was learned that Miss Laishley was a little easier, but that Mrs. Edmiston’s condition was still very low.