MURRULLA DISASTER

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 137, 7 December 1926, Page 9

MURRULLA DISASTER

DRIVER AND GUARD ON TRIAL

CHARGE OP MANSLAUGHTER.

(United Press Association.—Copyright.) SYDNEY, 6th December. The trial of Ernest Turner and David Davies, driver and guard respectively of the goods train which caused the Murrulla railway disaster, on. charges ( of manslaughter, has commenced. The accused are charged in respect of the death of only one passenger, and both pleaded not jjuilty. In opening his address, the Crown Prosecutor referred to the estimable character and v iblemished Tecord of both the accused, and said all the jury was asked to determine was whether tho accused were guilty^ of negligence in the performance of their duties, and if so whether it amounted to criminal negligence.

(Shortly before midnight on 13th September a mail train travelling northwestward on the Sydney-Brisbane main lino collided with four wool wagons which had become detached from a goods train, at Murrulla Station and ran back down an incline. Tho death roll reached a total of 27, the second largest in the history of-railway disasters in Australia. It was ascertained that a drawbar on the goods train had broken and a wire rope was used as a temporary substitute. The breaking of this makeshift coupling resulted in the runaway of the trucks and the subsequent, disaster. It is in connection with this aspect of the affair, that tho engine-driver and guard of the goods train are standing their trial.