LAMENTABLE ACCIDENT.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXX, Issue 5412, 28 December 1874, Page 3

LAMENTABLE ACCIDENT.

A moat laraentsblo accident, according to the Yu'La Journal, a Califormau paper, befel a cross country waggon not long ago, containing a man named Friend and his wife( who were travelling from Oregon to Nevada, followed by Friend'a father-in-law, with a drove of cattle and horsei. Friend and Ins wife wrre driving leisurely along, when about two miles and a-half scuth of Starve out station theyjwere roused frora their reverie by the unpleasant discovery that tLc waggon \s as "all ablaze behind them," ha/ing become acuiduitJy ignited by the spontaneous combuition or a box of luoifer matches stowed ■i\\ ly beneath a mattress. The Friends immediately descended from the Vehicle, which spi'ed lly disappeared in the direction of Starveout Station, the mules in the fahafts galloping ,i<! hird as thty could lay hoof to the ground with "the chariot of fire." To add to the grandeui of the picture, the burning wagon .is it advanced a't lire to the dry greas>cwood and brush along the route, leaving a track of living il.imo to mark its progress. In due time the wagon arrived at tho station, but iu a sadly dilapidated condition—only one of its wheels remained attached to its body, which was fast being consumed by the devouring element Dragging this horrible and flaming wreck, the panic-stricken mules circulated round and round the station weveial times with the speed of lightning, burning the bush to within 10ft of the stable which was full of horses. Happily the keeper of the station —a man named Skeets — preserved his mind under these trying circumstances. There being uo water at hand he shovelled dirt (of which there was abundance) on the blaming bush, and the wind changing from south to west just aa Skeets was becoming exhausted, the station was saved. When the mules passed in their mad career nothing was left of the wagon but the tire of one wheel and a small piece of of wood. The mules had their tails burned ofF, and their bodies severely scorched, while a favourite dog belonging to the emigrants, and attached to the back of the waggon by a chain, was roasted alive. A more complete wreck can hardly be imagined than that which met the eyes of Mr and Mrs. Friend, when, panting and breathless, they overtook the remains of their vehicle.