A VICTORIAN RAILWAY COLLISION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXI, Issue 7222, 23 April 1884, Page 4 (Supplement)

A VICTORIAN RAILWAY COLLISION.

MELBOURNE, April 9.

Information reached the City on Wednesday night last, April 2, that a shocking accident had happened on the Geelong line, by which several were killed, numbers injured, and great damage done to the rolling stock. Details showed that the collision took place between the up passenger train, due in Melbourne at 10.46, and the down train, consisting of about 35 empty sheep trucks. On receipt of the intelligence a relief train, conveying labourers to clear the line, and doctors for_ the -rounded, with surgical appliances, stimulants, &c., likely to be required, was immediately sent down. On arriving at the scene of the accident, which was between Little River and Werribee, a horrible scene met the eyes of the party. Both engines were embedded in each other, hopelessly shattered. The iron work was thoroughly flattened, and they appeared wedged into each other as far as the funnels. The goods train appeared to have suffered the greatest damage. The tender was thrown ofl the wheels, and stood up against the engine. The trucks were broken into matchwood and the iron work bent in -extraordinary contortions. The passenger train’s tender was thrown _ off the line, the second - class carriage next to it demolished, and the others much injured. In the ambulance van attached to the relief train Dr Charles Ryan and Dr Eccles attended to the hurts of the passengers. Kitchen, driver of the goods train, who was injured in the Hawthorn accident in 1882, was found jammed between the engine and fender, having been pinned by falling coal. Ho was removed, but died shortly. He was found clasping the staff authorising him to proceed with the train. Mrs Johnson, of South Melbourne, also died directly. Deceased was in the second class carriage near the engine. Craik, driver of the ■passenger train, sustained a fracture of the -thigh and other injuries, and died after admission to the Hospital. Fires were lio-hted from the ddbris, and the doctors did all in their power to alleviate the sufferings of the wounded, hut the scene was one ever to he remembered. Rain was falling, and mud under foot, and the lurid glare of the fires lighting up the wreck of the two trains, formed a picture of desolation. !

The cause of the accident, it has been ascertained, rests with Thomas Biddle, ■Werribee Station Master, who was absent from his post, and delegated his duties to his daughter, who made a mistake. Biddle, who was organist of the Church, went to choir practice as usual, without leave, and his daughter gave the staff to Kitchen, driver of the goods train, authorising him to proceed, and at the same time telegraphed to Little River, the next station, where the passenger train lay, that the line was clear. Accordingly, the passenger train was sent on, while the goods train was speeding on in the dark in the opposite direction on the same line. When Biddle returned to the station, he enquired from Little River where the mail train was, and the answer came, “ Gone; sent line clear; train on way.” Almost immediately after he got nows of the accident. His daughter is unable to explain why she sent the message that the line was char when she knew the goods train was between the two stations.

There were several well-known personages in the train, including Major Smith, M.L.A., Sir R. Thomley, M.L.C., and the Hon T. Gumming, M.L.C., who went down the line with a red lamp, in order to protect the train. Mr Moss, Adjuster of Claims for the Railway Department, was also a passenger. The inquest has concluded at Geelong on the bodies of Thomas Cole Kitchen, and Ellen Johnston, two victims of the disaster. The inquest on Craik, driver of the passenger train, was previously held in Melbourne. A formal verdict was returned. Best, guard of the goods train, deposed at Geelong that it was not at all unusual for station masters to be absent when goods trains pass through. In the case of early morning trains they frequently have to pick up the staff from the platform, there being no person at the station. The Coroner, in summing up, commented on Biddle’s conduct in leaving his post and trusting the work to his daughter, instead of to a porter, the paid servant of the department. Stress had been laid on the long hours, from a quarter to seven in the morning to ten at night, but he had received assistance when it was applied for. The jury returned a verdict which, in the Coroner’s opinion, amounted to one of manslaughter. Biddle was committed for trial at the July assizes, bail being allowed* ,