TERRIBLE TRAIN SMASH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16508, 25 March 1914, Page 12

TERRIBLE TRAIN SMASH.

THE EXETER DISASTER. DISTBESSING SCENES. The following description of the railway collision at Exeter, in New' South Wale:-, by which fourteen persons wore killed and twenty-live injured, appeared in a Melbourne journal;— Tho felting of this tragedy was such as l<> heighten and intensify tho horror of it. Tho night was intensely dark, and a. cold, driving rain shrouded everything. Tho lamps of the station made only ineffectual pin-points of light. The train, with its long lino of loaded cattle trucks, had pulled out into tho main line to enable it lo regain Iho security of tho refuge siding, and the engine was still. out on the main line of rails. Suddenly out of the dead blackness of (he night the headlights of the mail train, showed up. There was shriek from the whistle, of the goods engine, answered by one from the mail, and in another instant the trains mot with a,, rending crash that was audible a mile awav.

'J ho horror of tho scene that ensued defies description. Two of tho cars of tho mail train were telescoped, mangling their living freight- among tlio splintering wreckage. For a space there was a lull, everyone pausing as if by instinct to realise what had befallen them. Light** broke out in every direction, tho sounds of running feet could bo faintly heard above tho°chaos of noise, and the band of half a. dozen soon swelled to a score, and, gaining numbers every moment, fell on the wrecked cars in a desperate struggle to save, it- might be. even one life. Every cottage for a. mile round sent its willing helper, with axo and hurricane lamp, to aid in the work. The call for help flashed north and south along the wires, and soon bands of gangers and fettiers were hurrying to the spot on trains, trollies and'horses. Doctors and nurses were scut from Bowral. Mos-svalo and Goulburn. Passengers were imprisoned between portions of telescoped cars, which had risen so high through force of impact that ladders were needed to reach them, They were tho first attended to. The local storekeeper opened, his slurp, and served rescuers with. axes, with which io cut, away timbers that imprisoned tho men. women and children. The sufferers' cries were at first, heartrending, but when tlie.y realised that all possible was being done, the scene changed to ono of dreadful suspense and suppressed emotion.

Working with the aid of flare lights from the engines, the. rescuers I'ouHit with the energy of giants, and the entombed men and women urged them oil with words of heroic encouragement. Ono woman said that she was not in very great pain, and asked the rescue party to leave her and endeavour to rescue another woman, who seemed l i° J* , mo, '° St>rious ly injured. A husband and wife were imprisoned in opposite corners of the one compartment ; they could speak to each other, but neither could move. The husband was first to bo released, and he hurried, as well as his injuries would allow' to the' other side of the train, and assisted to rescue his wife, who was not released for an hour and a half later.

Tho first work of the rescuers was to cut away the roofs of telescoped carriages. Had any other plan been followed, the roofs would havo fallen in on those imprisoned below. One of tho rescuers looked through tho open window, and, by tho dull glimmer of a flare-light, ho saw two women standing crushed against a seat. Ho asked if they were hurt, hut received no reply. With the aid of others ho cut his way through to them, and thou ascertained that they were dead.

Twelve dead bodies were removed from the wreckage and placed in tho goods shed, which was turned into a temporary morgue. Another of the rescued, though nlivo when taken from the demolished carriage, died shortly afterwards. A little boy was among those pinned beneath a pile of wreckage. He was persistent in his cries that he "Wanted to get out." After an hour's chopping and lifting he was released, luckily but little the worse for his experience. One man could only wave his hand to draw attention to his plight. He was safely rescued. Several of the bodies recovered were dreadfully crushed. Some of the wounded were two hours in their awful prison before they could be extricated. Tho railway officials feared that the wreckage would catch fire from the flarelights and hurricane, lamps used by the rescuers, and they issued orders that lights must not. be brought close to carriages from which the fumes of escaping gas were almost overpowering. It was a. wise precaution, and the men who were holding tho lamps observed every care. Either because all the gas had escaped, or because some fortunate accident had arrested leakage, the fumes of gas presently disappeared, and, amidst light rain, the work of tho rescuers was continued unremittingly. WOMAN DESCRIBES SCENE. NOTHING COULD ADD TO MISERY. Among those on tho first train that arrived on the scene from Cooma was Sirs W. Young, a member of tho staff of the Brisbane "Courier." Mrs Young had been holiday-making at Cooma, and was returning to Sydney with the object of spending tho rest of her furlough in the Blue Mountains. "I saw tho whole of tho terrible result of this disaster,'•' she said, "and I moved about among those who had gone through the ordeal and survived. 1 spoke to them, and also to the railway officiate who were about. One of tho latter said; 'I always expected a tragedy here. There is no room to work tho cattle, goods and passenger trains in these places, but 1 did not think it would happen right here, at Exeter, but round tho curve at Goulburn.' " Nothing was wanting to add to the misery of the scene. The impact occurred just before midnight, when tired and sleepy passengers were blissfully unconscious of their danger. A crash was followed by a .stillness —an awful stillness. Then the wailing of the injured and dying was heard. Wounded passengers crawled from under seats, wore cut away from debris, or' rescued from where they hung on to doorways. All hands from Exeter were soon out to tho relief of the sufferers. The whole of tho population seemed to be there. The telegraph was set at work, and soon two doctors and two nurses from Bowral were on their way. The matron and two nurses came from the Goulburu General Hospital. Several other nurses and friends of passengers on the. train motored from Goulburn. The ambulance brigade from the centre also came along in force. ''The amount of work that lay before the medical men and their staffs was appalling. They went about it methodically. Lifeless forms were removed from the scene,, and laid out in the poods shed. Litters were hastily improvised to convey tho wounded hi Bowral, and this was done as soon as possible after they had boon attended by the medical staff.

"The disaster unnerved everybody. Guards, porters, drivers, firemen and others moved about with faces as paie as death. Survivors and passengers wept. Those who came up in I lie Cooma train went. All seemed to realise the magnitude of the disaster. Those of the survivors who were able to proceed on their journeys were transferred

as expeditiously as possible to a train which had been brought from Goulburn. and made as comfortable as circumstances would permit. Home of thorn wept, silently. All showed in their faces their horror." SURVIVORS' STORIES. PINNED AMONG DYING. BODIES FORCED THROUGH WALL. A graphic account of the disaster is told by Air Ainsworthy, a dental surgeon, of West Wyalong. He was a passenger by the mail train, and narrowly (-scaped with his life, being for a time pinioned down by the wreckage amongst the injured and dying. " I had lighted a. cigarette, ■' he said. ''.and was settling down lo a smoke, when there was a tremendous' crash, and I. with my wife, mother and child, who wore with mo in the carriage, were flung up and backwards, a fact that saved our lives. At the same instant, the wails of the'compartment seemed to fly to pieces, and the live people in tho compartment in front of us were smashed through the partition, and jammed right, on to us. They were Nurse Heaver and Mrs Heaver, and some others, but they were ail dead. " A !itt!c boy, who was with us. was flung ,! P- !l!lf l .'"mined with his legs against the wall, and his mother and I took turns at holding him up to take the strain off his legs. My*own child wa.s saved by one lavatory compartment being pushed right over him. and thus forming a case, against which all wreckage piled without hurting him. It was a terrible, experience. The lights were instantly extinguished, ami the tanks on the roof broke and emptied water ail over us. It was. blowing hard, and a cold, driving mist wet everyone to the skin. I had to be chopped out of the carriage, and then set. to work to tug and save others. f got my wife and mother and child through the window, and cut away the debris that, pinned Nurse Eddy down on the Moor, and after that helped to carry Nurse Heaver away, but she was beyond all help.

••'There was very little confusion, and no panic. Of course, the \wr folk wlu> wore injured could not hell) moaning, hut they all behaved splendidly. Many of the women had all their clothes fern to ribbons, and most of them were only lightlv clad, as they had settled down for the night when flic smash occurred. As soon as f close my eyes I hear the crash and screams break out. again, and most- of all. the low. patient moaning of tho dying." " I never want, to- see (he like again," said one of these who assisted in the work of rescue. "'lt Was a terrible sight, but one could not help being struck by th" quiet way the injured bore their suffering'- It seemed terribly sudden, too, they way some of them died. Yon might be .speaking to them <aio minute, and as soon as you got them out you would find they were dead." "' T have a (Iron of whisky and Water here. Will vou have some?" said tho guard of iho down train io one man jammed in the wreckage. "I'll wait till 1 pi out." was the reply. " A few minutes later he was released, but before further aid could be rendered he bad died." THREE IN FAMILY PERISH. ON WAY TO FUNERAL. An exceptionally sad case; was that of the Heaver family, of Pawn mat ta. Air John Heaver was taking his wife's body to Cnotamundra for interment, and was accompanied by his throe daughters. Alice, Lilian and Viola, his so:, Arthur, his daughter-in-law, and the latter's sister, Airs Pitt. With the exception of Mrs Pitt, who was in a sleeping carriage, they wore all in the section of the train (hat was telescoped. Air Heaver, sen, w;.s killed, and so were Aliss Alice Heaver and Afrs Arthur Heaver. The latter's husband was injured, and was taken to the hospital. Aliss Lilian Heaver suffered from bruises and shock, as did Aliss Viola Ileavor, though less seriously. With their father, sister and sister-in-law killed outright, and their brother pinned in and injured among the wreckage, the two young ladies who escaped were in a pitiable state of distress, which was accentuated by the shock of the collision itself. Being in the solidly-constructed sleeper, Mrs Pitt .suffered no ill-effects- from the bump, and, slipping on a kimona over her night attire, immediately ran to tho smashed carriages, calling out to her relatives. The carriage which iho latter wore in was crumpled'up. One of th,e ladies who escaped was thrown into the hat rack.

Afrs John Heaver, who had died after an operation, had expressed a wish beforehand that, if anything happened, she, might be buried at Cootamundra. Her husband, Air John Heaver, of Western Road. Parramatta. was a retired grazier. Ho was sixtyeight years of age. and his daughter Alice was twenty-one. MARVELLOUS ESCAPES. CHILDREN THROWN ON TO RACKS. Extraordinary escapes from sudden death characterised the tragedy. One man and his wife escaped with a slight shock, while Ah- and Airs Minnis. on the opposite seat, were killed. Another passenger was sitting still, and two dead bodies were thrust on top of him. Air Peter Cassannrti only arrived in Australia last we.?k from Europe, whore he spout fourteen months fighting with tho Greek army against tinTurks. The passengers on each side of him urm-v killed. The driver and fireman of the 'femora mail were particularly lucky to escape. Despite the force of impact and the damage to tho engine, they only suffered slightly from a quantity of coal, which wa.s heaped over their legs. The driver and fireman of tho goods train also escaped. Several children in tho damaged carriages were thrown into corners and on racks, and were also lifted out little tho worse for their startling experience. SWAGAIAN SLEEPS ON.

Amidst all tho crash ar.l confusion and cries of agony, and tAo lowing of frightened cattle, ono man slept, unconscious of the tragedy. He was a swagmau, who lay curled in his blankets under a culrert over which the railway passes, and which was almost on the scene of the accident. When he was awakened by 0 a.m. by a passer-by ho said ho had heard nothing to disturb his rest, adding in explanation that ho was a sound sleeper.