RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 716, 27 March 1900, Page 3

RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

A DASTARDLY DEED. AN EXCURSION TRAIN NEARLY WRECKED. The special train which left Dunedin for Invereargill shortly after 10 o'clock on Sunday night, carry iug excursionists who had witnessed the contingents' departure to their homes, very narrowly escaped coming to grief, a serious disaster being aveited, near Invercargill yesterday morning. The train (which carried some 300 passengers) had stopped at Elles road to set down passengers and resumed the journey, going at the time at the rate of four miles an hour. When it reached the point where a branch line runs to Fleming and Gilkison's flourmill the foremost engine kept on the "main line but the tender and the engine following took the branch and pulled the Brst off the metals on to Us side between the two sets of rails. The cowcatcher •wheels became embedded in the ballast and the tender up-ended and was driven into the cab, breaking everything before it, the couplings being broken clean through. The driver and fireman escaped miraculously, the latter particularly, as the brake which he had to manipulate and which he had in consequence to stand near, having" been damaged by the contact. Drury, the driver, had to escape through the open window, other means of exit having been cut oil. The smoke-box of the second engine was torn away by the front wheels of its tender and the coupling also snapped off. Three trucks immediately following were derailed, and two which were standing on end in V shape, were much damaged. The foremost engine will require considerable expenditure to repair, while the tender was badly damaged ; but the second engine escaped with slight breakages and dents. It appears that the points at the spot where the accident happened were (in accordance with usual custom) inspected during the afternoon, and were found to be locked ; the first special passing over safely at 6 o'clock in the evening. It is stated that subsequently someone responsible for the dastardly attempt to wreck the train had unlocked the points and jammed stones between, leaving them in a condition technically known as at " halfcock," thus sending the leading vehicle of the train along one line, and those following along the other, this inevitably causing some part of tho train to become derailed. It was providential that the train was going only at a low rate of speed, otherwise the consequences might have been disastrous in the extreme. The shock of the sudden stoppage naturally created considerable consternation among the passengers, who, though mostly thrown from their seats, escaped unhurt with the exception of Mr Jas. Turnbull who was considerably bruised, and it is feared, sustained injury to his spine. He is now in the hospital. In consequence of the line at the scene of the accident having to be shifted, the early morning train from Invercargill to Gore did not .run, but this was the only stoppage or delay occasioned. The circumstances (all of which point to criminal intent of the most diabolical character) lire rightly viewed in a most serious light, and the Railway Department has decided to offer a reward of £100 for the detection of the perpetrator.