MAIN TRUNK DISASTER.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 138, 28 May 1914, Page 5

MAIN TRUNK DISASTER.

FURTHER PARTICULARS. REVISED CASUALTY" LIST. [per press association.] Auckland, May 27. The following is a revised list of the killed and injured. KILLED. Orton Stevens, of Wellington, manager in New Zealand for the National Mutual Life Assurance of Australasia. Died before released. Cuthbert F. Petersen, of Alelbourne, representing the Jas. F. McKenzie Proprietary. Limited. Died soon after being released from the wreckage. George Nelson Grimstone, lately of Wellington, recently transferred to Auckland to the position of registrar of the Tokerau Native Land Court. Severely injured internally. Succumbed in the hospital at Hamilton at 3.30 p.rn. INJURED. John Swinson (or Swanson) of Lower Hutt, Wellington, manager in Wellington for Alessrs. Chandler and Co. Right thigh fractured. Extensive bruising- Making favourable progress in hospital at Hamilton. H. G. McKay. cf Alelbourne, inspector for the Commercial Bank of Australia. Suffering from severe shock. Now resident at the Grand Hotel. Auckland, under medical attention. H. A. Fox, of Wellington, managing director of the Offices Appliances Company. Clashed foot and severe abrasions. Now in hospital at Hamilton. XVilliam Donaldson, railway porter at XVhangamarino. Fractured arm. F. S. Goldingham, of Palmerston North, merchant (member of the firm of Goldingham and Beckett). Chest and shoulders severely bruised i cuts on the head and forehead, and general shock. G. E. Howard, of Calliope road Devonport, accountant in the Auckland office of the National Mutual Life Assurance. Minor injuries to th’ face and the head, and exposure. W. J. R- Hill, of Auckland, member of the ‘Herald” reporting staff. Injure to the left foot, and bruises. Hairy- Scott, of Auckland, sleepingcar attendant. General bruising. Two other passengers in the sleep-ing-car escaoed without any injury at" all. Thev were Mr. James Borne, of XVaimate, South Canterbury, farmer, and Mr. D. Al. Sutherland, ct Waimate. South Canterbury, farmer.

CAR ATTENDANT'S STORY. Auckland, Alay 27. H. Scott, sleeping-car attendant, told a reporter that he was standing bv the cabin door about the middle cf the car next the door cf the compartment occupied by Mr. Stevens. He had just come through from the train after changing towels, when without the slightest warning there was a terrific crash. lie felt a weight against his back, and was janimed into a corner w;ith piles ot debris on top <if him. After recovering his senses he worked his lent in-c and smashed a window, calling for iielp. Guard XVilsmi, win was passing at the time, handed in a lamp the light from which revealed a terrible scene of confusion. Scott saw a pair of legs (probably those tit Air. Stevens) near him in the debris. Help soon airived, and the bodies of the killed and Injured were found .under, the debris in the centre or the car. , , Splendid relief worx was none >y all present. PORTER DON A LDiSf )N S ESCAPE. THE VIAN ON THE POINTS LEVER. Among some remarkable escapes recorded, that of Tablet-porter William Donaldson was probably the most extracrdiur.rv. He was m charge the Whungamaimo station List night, and when seen by tt ’ it-present a live ih?s morning had an ♦ xtraonhnary st cry io tell. He declined to say how the signals stood at the time of tne accident, but si.id that when the smush occurred Im was sitting on tl:e points side-tracking the goods train with which the express collided. It was while lie was thus occupied that the express came thundering through, catching the goods train fairly amidships. The big ixpnss engine crashed straight through the trucks <.f the freighter, and passed right over him. He was car.iiil some distance amid the debris, and was found afterwards amid the wreckage of tile destroyed goods and cattle trucks. He sustained a broken arm. and was badly cut about the face and body, but his escape from instant death ami mangling was truly remarkable.

THE DRIVER AND FIREMAN. FLI NG THROUGH THE AIR. SUFFER NO INJURY. Equally sensational and equally providential were the escapes of F. Parkingtcn and J. Stone, fireman aand diivir of the express, and oi Messrs. Scott and Bristol, officers in the mail van. When the collision occurred the train was travelling r.i a speed of well over 30 miles an hour, .liter passing through the goods train the engine leaped into .space and turned turtle in the swamp below. Under the circumstances the escape of both (lie driver .-.nd the fireman was miraculous. Thf.v were both thrown clear or the cab of the engine into the swamp. ;j>d escaped almost scratchiest. The officers in the mail \ an. which was immediately behind the engine, and which telescoped with the sleeper, also escaped without serious injury. The driver and the fireman of the goods tram. Messrs. Hill ami Collett. also escaped injury. THE GUARD S NARRATIVE. IMPACT UNFELT AT END OF TRAIN.

Guard Janies Wilson, when interviewed at the sc:w>e of the accident, said that the first intimation oi any tiling wrong was when the Westinghouse brake was suddenly applied. It v. a a remarkable thing, however, that even win n the collision took place practically no impact to speak of was felt by those at his end of the train. He as. ribi d this to the effect of the W< stipglmuse brake. When the express had come to a standstill he immediately went to the front of the tram, where he was surprised to find tile express engine lying on its back and the two front cars telescoped. Piteous cries came from the occupants of the wrecked sleeping carriage. The guard rushett back to the guard-van for a light crowbar and axes. The interior ci the sleeping car was but a heap of wreckage. All the compartments

had been jammed together, and several of the passengers were caught between the shattered fragments ok the woodwork and the ceiling. The passengers from the other cars worked like Trojans to assist in rescuing those injured. those caught in the debris and who were still conscious were calling for help, anil urging the rescuers to use cvyry possible haste in their work. Mi. Peterson was one of the first to whom assistance was reiidered. He was caught between the shattered walls of the car with fits head projecting through one of the compartment windows. Crowbars and axes had to be used to release Inin. Death occurred shortly after Mr. Peterson was got out. Air. Stevens had evidently died before anyone could utt to him. The bodies were conveyed to the little wayside station. where it could be seen that both had been terribly injured. Mr Stet ens had sustained a terrible crushing, his skull being almost crushed in. Air. Peterson iiad also betn fearfully crushed, and there would have been no hope for either, it was ek*ar, even had no tune whatever been lost in recovering them from the wrecked car. The injuries were coniineri to the occupants ot the sleeping car.

REPORTER HILL’S STORY. A GRAPHIC ACCOUNT. Auckland, Alay 27. A graphic account of the disaster as it wus observed from the sleepci waggon was given by Air. Xt. J. Hid, a member of tne ‘ Herald staff, who was returning from the south. “I was only dozing when the express ran across the XVhangamarino swamp.” said Air. Hill. lhe first warning of disaster was a grinding; crash, iollowed by the splintering ct glass. During an appreciable interval nothing further yas beard, anti then came a succession of crashes, apparently caused by the shatuciing of wooden, partitions. The sleeper tiain bumped and jolted severely, and then came to a standstill. As it stopped it seemed as if the whole carriage had collapsed upon us. The lights were extinguished by the shock, and we were left in darkness, ignorant cf what had happened and confounded by the ignorance of whai. might happen. I tried to move, oui found that my shoulder was pinned bv part of the carriage wail and other wreckage. Someone called out. Strike a match,’ but others shouted a warning, as gas was escaping and filling the car. ‘I have been in a smash before, and if anyone strikes a light there's no hope for us, someone exclaimed. For a long time everyone lay still, until at last the silence was broken by groans, and one of the injured passengers called

MY GOD. LIFT THIS UP.’

Then I managed to get out ci my bunk and found Air. Borrie alreadystanding up. In every direction oui hands encountered wccdwoik. 1 found a boot, and one of the other men took it from me and smashed the oniv window that was at ad cleai. Then we cleared away most of the broken glass and crawled out. By this time other passengers had come to the front of (tie train. Lut the only light was a lamp carried bv the guard, and the full extent ot the disaster . mild not be appreciated in the darkness. Only two men were groaning, ami we could not imagine that anv others had escaped alite. Then an acetylene lamp was biougat. anil those who had already started to release the imprisoned passengers were able to see a little Better, though the lack of light owing to the fear of using matches severely handicapped their efforts, the few who had escaped injiirv h:td forced their way out of the wreckage, and with tile assistance of si.me other passengers were hard a- work hi endeavouring lo break a wav into

NURSE WHITE’S GOOD WORK. Auckland, May 27. Describing the railway disaster, the "Star’s ’ Mercer correspondent telegraphs:-- , , ••Fortunately for ilie relief oi the injured men, one of the passengers on the train was a nurse. Mrs. Neville White, of Temawhat, near le Kuiti. and she worked heroically in diieeting Tneasures for ihe alleviation of their oain. Mr. Petersen was alive when he was released from the wreck, ami on her adxme two men worked for nearly an hour in endeavouring io restore respiration. He seemed to recover consciousness tor a moment, but immediately collapsed. Mr. Grimstone was also found to have been very gravely injured. He stated that he had no sensation lit tb.e lower part of his body. Mrs. White did all she could, to relieve his suffering. She also temporarily set the porter’s broken arm when he was found unconscious alongside tlie track. When the ears telescoped Mr. Goldingham was driven through the partition into the last compart merit, and we found him thrown on to one of the berths bleeding from a cut on his forehead ami unconscious. We were able to pull him out through the broken window, and his injuries were attended to. We ex peeled to find the men in the postal car all killed, but they had escaped injury. They were discovered in the forward end’ of the van imprisoned by the wreckage and soaked by the water which had escaped from a tank in tlie roof of the van. They were drawn out through a window, and it was found that the only injury was a cut above the eye in the case of one man.”

SCENE OF WRECKAGE

The scene at the wayside station was one of great confusion. The ponderous engine, which a few minutes before had been steaming steadily along is now lying broadside on tlie sloping incline, while behind her are the splintered postal van and the telescoped sleeper.. About a dozen empty cattle trucks, twisted and broken into fantastic shanes, are piled unon the other flank. The driver of the express was Stone, and the guard Wilson. Hill hart care ej the goods train. ' The guard, whose name is Doyle, saw the catastrophe coming when the two trains were within a few yards of each other, ami managed to jump clear. CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT. LEVER LOCKED AT DANGER. GREEN LIGHT AT SEMAPHORE COLD CONTRACTS THE WIRES. Auckland, May 2s. Immediately after the railway accident at Whangamarino a number of railway officials ami passengers proceeded to the building in which the signal levers were housed, and found the lover in position to display the red light at danger. At the home signal, 2ot) vards distant, the fog was sufficiently dense to

make it impossible for the porter who operated the lever to see what light was showing from the station platform. After having noted that the lever stood correctly set for danger and was still locked with a patent leek the party proceeded to the signal and found the green light displayed instead of the red. The night was very cold and it is presumed the wire contracted and caused the wrong signal to be hoisted as was the ease in the Temoia (New South XVales) railway smash two months ago. CORONER’S INQUEST. ADJOURNED TO FRIDAY WEEK. . Auckland, Alay 28. The coroner’s inquest on the bodies of three victims of the. railway disaster opened this morning. Evidence of identification was taken and tilt? inquest adjourned till Fridav next week.