SCENES AFTER THE ACCIDENT

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1914, Page 7

SCENES AFTER THE ACCIDENT

FINDING THE DEAD. The disaster had comp so suddenly, so unexpectedly, and with such tremendous violence that all wei-e for some time dazed and numbed and stupefied. Some of them, otherwise uninjured, had hardly recovered yesterday. Some had been blown feet in the air and landed across the road ; some had been knocked prostrate ; some had been stunned or halfstunned by blows from the things driven through the air like grape-shot. These were the lucky ones, as they discovered later. The doomed building had col' lapsed the walls — such as was left of them— falling in all directions. The verandah, robbed of its supports, had fallen flat, and all the wreckage was now fiercely ablaze. The hose was at last attached to the main, and though lough usage had damaged the connections and sprung leaks there was still a considerable force of water left to play on the flamp*. Volunteers worked it through the rest of the darkness till early morning, nnd, though they could not save the next building from being gutted, they prevented the fire from spreading further. , b THE VICTIMS. The noise of the explosion, like a crash of thunder— or the crack of doom, as one witness described it — level berating through the valley had roused hundreds from their beds, and there was a rush to the scene. It was then that the nature of the calamity was realised. The discovery of the body of George Taylor, the young railway porter, jugt outside the verandah on the street was tho first indication of the deadly effect of the explosion. His" head was almost severed from his body, which had suffered so fearfully as to be almost unrecognisable. Then Comesky, still alive, was found trapped beneath the timbers in Eclwaids's office. An attempt was made to extricate him #by Signalman 'Walters, who had previously been badly burnt on the right arm and knocked down in the shop when the explosion took place. The fire was too hot, but after the hose had played on the flames Walters was able to go in and, with some difficulty and with the help of others, pull the unfortunate post master out of the ruins. The injured man was convoyed to the adjoining billiard saloon and there received first aid from Dr. Kemp, of Upper Hutt. who had come at- the sound of the explosion and did splendid work in tending to the injuries of the badly hint. He was assisted later by Dr. Bowerbank and Drs. Purdie and Pleotor, who were summoned by telephone as soon as possible. The injuries i to the postmaster proved fatal. He died before the special train left for town. DISCOVERED LATER. The body of John Vivian, the store* man at Benge and Pratt's, was next discovered. He had apparently been caught by the explosion near the door of the shop. Externally, he did not appear to be so severely "injured as some of the others. He did not rally, however, and in a little while succumbed while awaiting removal to town. Michael Toohey, who had been engftged at the time of the explosion in playing the hose on the store from the verandah of the hotel, was discovered lying oh the verandah by the hotel porter, Walter Gales, frightfully cut with the debris to which lie had been exposed. His skull had been fractured, and his neck and back torrt with the broken glass. He lingered until, with the other severely, injured -men, the special train and the ambulance brought him to the Wellington Hospital. About 3 o'clock in the morning he died. AVilliam Flynn, the railway guard, was not discovered until about the same time.- His body was found under the debris of the fallen verandah. It was fearfully mutilated, the limbs being blown away. Last of all \\6ve found the remains of the gallant Mahoney, who had been the moving spirit in the rescue work, and at the end had been taken while trying to get the rest out to safety. The search party had been seeking for him for some time in vain, when, in the grey light of the early njorning, about 6 O'clock, his pet retriever dog, missing his master, ventured among the smoking ruins and by his actions showed that there was po need to search further. The constable was almost totally incinerated, and was only identified by a pair of handcuffs. It is supposed that he was pinned under falling debris in the shop and there met his death, for cries are said to have been heard from the interior of the building after the explosion. It was thought that another man was missing, but he turned up yesterday morning safe and sound.