FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE CHRISTCHURCH RAILWAY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3580, 2 January 1883, Page 3

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE CHRISTCHURCH RAILWAY.

Ciiristchurcii, January 2. A fatal accident occurred on the Lyttelton and Christ church railway yesterday. After the train that left Lyttelton at 12.20 p.m. had passed HilJsbro', the station master noticed something which he at first took to be :i swag- lying on the line, about two hundred yards in the direction of Christchurch. An examination showed that this was the body of a man fearfully mangled. The skull was split open and crushed at the back, and both legs were cut oil' below the knee and cut to pieces by the wheels of the train. The station master had the body removed from the rails, and sent a message of the occurrence to Christchurch. A truck was sent, down, and the body taken to the Morgue, where it awaits identification, the only" clue to the deceased's name being that given for a bill found in bis pocket, and made out, in the name of James Thompson. The unfortunate man, it appears, got into the train at Lyttelton, and was the only occupant of one of the carriages, being there when the guard collected his ticket at Heathcote. The probability is that the man met his death in endeavoring to step from one carriage to another while the train was moving. There are marks between the rails, with occasional patches of blood for a distance of about a chain below the spot where the body was found, evidently showing that, after falling from the platform, the deceased had been dragged along by the train before he was finally disengaged.