THE COOTAMUNDRA RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 7484, 25 February 1885, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE COOTAMUNDRA RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

A terrible railway accident occurred near Sydney on Jan. 25. The scene of the accident was on a tributary of the Cootamundra, a creek known as Salt Clay Creek; it is situated about three and «, half miles south of the station. Owing to recent heavy rains the embankment had given way for 120 or 130 feet. The train rushed into the gap and was completely wrecked. Notwithstanding the precautions taken, signals could not be given at the advanced braak over Salt Clay Creek ; moreover, the night was dark and rain was falling in torrents. The train left Janee at 6.20 o'clock and Bettungra at 7.4, and arrived at the culvert about 7.45. Up to that time there was no thought or fear of danger till approaching the bank, when the brakes were put down. This was followed a moment after by a crash and the plunge of carriages into the creek, and by screams and cries for help, and groans from the wounded. Then followed a scene of wild confusion and intense excitement. The engine seems to have crossed the rails reaching to the Cootamundra side, when the bridge gave way, precipitating the train into the cr,eek. The engine fell in front, standing in its own proper course and nearly upright, then a secondclass carriage; and the mail van dashed up alongside, and higher up stream came a sleeping car, which was telescoped by a first-class carriage splitting the sides and roof, with the exception of one side, which was left standing. The brake van fell at the end, lying up and down stream, and forming the letter T in shape. It was at this time that the fatalities occurred, and there were many narrow escapes. The sleeping car was plunged into mid-stream. The water surged into it, and the occupants must have been drowned had not a large first class carriage telescoped it, breaking off the roof and freeing the people. Several of them were badly injured. Cohen was jammed I under the water. Not being able to swim,'

he tried to beat the water away with his hand, and in doing so he raised his hands above the water. They were seen and seized, and he was pulled out. In doing so, his right thigh was broken. SUDDENNESS OF THE ACCIDENT. All agree in speaking of the suddenness of the accident. Four bodies were recovered from the debris. The bodies of a woman and child werCtfound about a mile down the creek. The carriages were piled up in inextricable confusion. Timbers were rent, and iron twisted and bent as if they had been toys. Kails were broken off | like matchwood. There are signs of flood down the creek, in the shape of immense logs of driftwood. Large willow trees, with the bark torn off, line the channel, together with the -wreckage of the train. For a long distance down stream the timber is broken up into' matchwood. Mr Priddle, though much hurt, walked a mile, and gave the alarm, others doing likewise independently of each other. Bergin, who was badly hurt, told them to leave him alone, and save his nephew Hide, but the lad was drowned. HIDEOUS SENSATION. From accounts given by different passengers in the train, it seems that some were sleeping, others reading, while the: bookmakers were engaged chiefly in their favourite travelling pastime. Some of them remember the brakes' having been put on as the train rushed down the incline, while all seem to have perfect recollection of the horrible sensation, momentary though it was, which was felt as thj? train went over the bank. Some describe it as having been like as if the train was suddenly slipping from under them. Another said it was something like the feeling which is experienced in a swing when the whole of one's internal organisation appears to.be stopping behind as one comes down. All agree as to the sudden crash, a sudden flash of light followed by dense darkness, in which the cries and shrieks of the wounded, calls for help, the hissing of steam and roaring of the torrent were confusedly mingled. MABVELLOUS ESCAPES. Some marvellous escapes occurred, and, perhaps, one of the most interesting .of these was that of Mr Patterson, who signalled to Hawk to go and fetch medical help. Mr Patterson, in his narrative, says, " Strange to relate, though the carriage was smashed to pieces, none of its inmates, except the conductor, was killed. Of course, some of them were seriously hurt. I was not in the least hurt, being as sound now as ever. Messrs Cohen, Schneider, Jacobson, and Barnard were i seriously injured. On scrambling from the dibris, and looking round, I noticed that the fire boxes of the engine were in the water, and that the brake van was sticking up into the air. I proceeded towards Cootamundra, which is about three miles from the scene of the accident, in order to obtain assistance, when I met a man whom I took to be the enginedriver. I asked him whether the boiler was safe. He replied ' Yes,' adding that he was scalded. I then went on to a bridge, crossing about 300 yards from the scene of the accident, and when there I observed a lot of timber lying across the line. It had evidently been washed there. I noticed that fhe earthwork of the bridge had disappeared except the rails, which ran across from bank to bank without any support beneath. I attempted to crawl across this line, but was too nervous to do-so. I then observed a red light approaching from the direction of Cootamundra. The light was held by a man. I told him to go back and get assistance. He ran back towards Cootamundra. I returned to the scene of the disaster and did what I could to help the wounded. This happened about four minutes after the accident. The man with the red light told me that he was about to warn the .train against proceeding towards Cootamundra, as the line had been rendered dangerous by water. I broke up some timber and lit a fire, for some of the wounded passengers were shivering. An hour and a half elapsed before assistahce reached us, and then a single bottle of brandy was brought. Immediately the crash took place, the train became partly submerged, most of the passengers being up to their necks in water. About threequarters of an hour after the accident, a stranger who had come to assist rescued two men from what appeared to be a threatened watery grave. Only their beards were above water. The men seemed to be on the point of drowning. Mr .Joe Thompson once got into deep water, but struck out well against the stream. Oscar Barnett was talking to the conductor of the car at the time of the crash, but received no worse injury than a severe shaking, while poor Wilton was killed almost instantaneously. John Knowlman, who also escaped unhurt, seems to think that the flood was subsiding when the accident occurred, for when he was afterwards walking into Cootamundra he saw a lot of logs and dibris lying on the line about six feet higher than the level of the water at the time." HOW THEY SAVED THEMSELVES. Some of the injured passengers only know that a frightful crash took place, and that, without any definite idea of what had happened, they first saved themselves, and afterwards did all they could for those who were hurt. The experience of Mr G. M'Donald was that whiJMie was conversing with another passengei^; about 8 o'clock, he felt something strike him at the back of the head. He says "the carriage then turned over on its side and a flood of water entered the windows. I soon found myself floundering in the water. Mr Risby, my partner, who, beside two other passengers, was also in the carriage with me,caught me by the hand and pulled me towards the window. I got out, Mr Risby having emerged before me. Ido not know what became of the other two passengers. The bottom part of the carriage was in the water, but the top was not. I was not hurt. The shrieks heard on all sides were fearful. I saw a man at this time partly under water. I held him up until further assistance came, and he was ultimately taken <put and saved. Having heard the sound of a woman's voice issuing from another compartment* of my carriage, I rendered assistance, and got the woman out, and placed her on the bank. I then swam round to the guard's van, which shifted. I got into it, and jumped out just as it turned over. I did not notice any oificials about. I heard that the guard hadgone back to show the dangersignal,because it was expected that another train was coming up behind. Guard Murray, after having assisted all he could, took his red light and went back a good distance, in order to stop the luggage train which was following the mail, and in this he fortunately succeeded."

Mr Joseph Levy thinks that had the engine fallen any other way escape for a?iy passenger would have been impossible. One of the injured men says that the repairer who was sent out to give the warning, to which reference has already been made, went only as far as the first bridge, when he might, with no great difficulty, have proceeded across three separate portions of the stream. Had he done this in time, and had- he given warning, the frightful catastrophe which has taken place would, no doubt, have been averted. These statements are, however, obtained only from conversation which the passengers have had with the residents. The following is a list of those killed and injured:— THE KILLED. Joseph Campy, railway employee, residing at Harden, married. Eobert Crawford, carpenter's labourer, residence unknown. Alfred Wilson, railway conductor. His brother resides in Sydney. Mrs Hodson, wife of Mr Hodson, of Wagga. John Hide, about 9 years of age. Parents reside at Carcoar.

John O'Dwyer, married. Leaves a\ff3fl*w / and six children. He was mail guard. Warner Smith, of Wagga, is missing. . THE INJUBED. The following are particulars as to the other passengers who were in the train : Mr Smith, ribs broken and much cut. Mrs Smith, spine hurt. Child unhurt. Mr Lawrence Zucker, severely bruised and hurt internally. Mr T. O'Brien, slightly injured. Mr and Mrs Fawcett, both very much bruised. Mr Jacobson, severely bruised and internally injured. Mr Israel Barnard, fractured arm and injuries to the kidneys; severely bruised. Mr W. W. Priddle, concussion of the spine and general shock to the system. Mr J. M'Dara, slightly bruised and cut. Mr A. Schneider, ribs broken. Mr John Cohen, hip broken and seriously cut. Mr Austin Saqui, fearfully bruised all over. Mr Joseph Thompson, Melbourne, ribs broken and legs cut. Mr J. Levy, arm injured. Mr Harper, slightly cut on the leg. Mr E. H. Beattie, severely bruised. Mr A. Trigalone, slightly injured. Mr John Ewer, slightly injured. Engine-driver Moody, scalded and internally injured, but not severely. Mrs Dean, much hurt; two girls, all right; boy has his left arm broken, and is cut in the forehead and face. A man with them was not much hurt. Charles Jenkins, bruised.

W. Stone, seriously injured. The poor victims were laid out upon the. bank exposed to the pouring rain. One of Cobb's coaches started from Cootamundra, but the ground would not carry it, and it • had to be left. Several light buggies reached the place after great perseverance, and the victims were brought into'town at a late hour. The passengers were principally Melbourne people on their way to the Sydney races. A special report in the Sydney Bvening News gives the following' particulars : At the spot where the accident occurred a strange spectacle meets the view. Here, in a gap in the embankment some 70 or 80 yards wide and over 30 feet deep from the top of the embankment, lie the locomotive ,and cars of the wrecked train. To think that the train could have been precipitated into this gulf, through which a roaring tirrent was rushing at the time, and yet any of its passengers have been -preserved alive,, at once strikes the spectator as something most extraordinary, if not miraculous. The spot is about four miles from Cootamundra railway station, following the track, and is not an incline, as has been mentioned, but at the entrance to a rocky cutting where there was an incline, but this incline the train never reached, because it is on the opposite side of the chasm into which the train was precipitated. It appears that at the time the accident occurred the train was running about 30 miles an hour, and although nothing certain is at present known it Ist believed that the men on the engine became aware of the danger before the sad catastrophe actually took place, as the brakes were found to have been put hard on. The train was, composed of a locomotive, sleeping, first and second-class cars, mail and mountain brake vans, and five carriages. The force with which they were hurled over the top of the embankment, upwards of .20 feet, into the whirling torrent Jbelow, must have been terrible, and can in part be imagined by their I appearance as they now lie at the bottom <in about six feet of water. Strange to say the locomotive has received the least damage of all; in fact, it has received comparatively slight injury, while the cars have been totally wrecked. The first-elas£_ coach was telescoped into the car, which'latter has heeled over on to itsside across the broken brickwork of the culvert. The scene, as witnessed by those who were on the spot .directly after the occurrence, is said to have been appalling in the extreme. There lay the train in the midst of the dashing waters below, which rushed through the carriages without let or hindrance, and washed away to certain death by drowning several persons, who, by the appearance ef their bodies, had not received a single scratch. The groans of the wounded and dying were heart-rending. Appeals fo* help from imprisoned passengers, shrieks of terrified women and children made up a scene of distress and - suffering -better imagined than described. The horrors of the sqene were enhanced by the torrents of rain, which continued to fall, and the rushing volume of the flood, which tore its way through the gap, and all tended to increase the actual danger, and to render succour all the more difficult. In consequence of the telegraph posts having been washed away at this particular spot, all communication was stopped, and thus aid for the sufferers was not forthcoming so promptly as it might otherwise have been. Of course, the public will require to know the cause of the accident, and whether sufficient precautions were taken to prevent it. There can be no doubt that it will be found by subsequent enquiry, that no due provision had been made for carrying off flood-water. The smallness of the culverts, which rarely exceed five feet in diameter, is glaringly apparent. Instead of having been built on a species of low viaduct or overhead bridge, an ordinary embankment has been constructed in a part of the Cootamundra Valley peculiarly liable to become flooded in case of heavy rains. The engineers must have known that the embankment, at the spot where the accident took place, would be liable to have to sustain the pressure of an enormous volume of flood-water, precipitated against it with great force and violence in' consequence of the conformation and direction of the channels by which water drainsfrom the adjacent hills; yet in spite of this palpable fact, the stability of the railway embankment at this' and other similar places has been entrusted to a five or six foot culvert, which is expected to carry off thousands of tons of flood water which hourly flow this way in the rainy, season. This is very much like Mrs Partington attempting to keep back the tide of the ocean with mops, and looks very much as if some one has blundered, and it has the appearance of trifling with the lives of those who travel over the line. .An enquiry should be insisted upon, as to the means taken to prevent accident. I can at present say no more than that it appears that the permanentway gangs were out on Saturday night and Sunday inspecting the road. On Sunday evening, shortly before the accident occurred, they are reported to have discovered the two first gaps, but found it impossible to get across the second gap, in consequence of the torrent which was flowing through, and which it was dangerous to attempt to swim. They did not, therefore, go further up the fine, in order to ascertain whether there were any more gaps, but contented themselves with placing lights on both sides of the embankment at the second gap, in order to warn any approaching train, but this course was of no use in preventing the approaching train from falling into the third and worst gap of all, the existence of which they knew nothing. THE INQUEST. The inquest was concluded on Thursday, Jan. 29. The jury found that Government wag guilty of negligence in not supplying larger culverts at the Bcene of the accident, and that the catastrophe might have been prevented if the road gang had been supplied with more than one lamp.