MOST APPALLING IN VICTORIA'S HISTORY.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 93, 21 April 1908, Page 5

MOST APPALLING IN VICTORIA'S HISTORY.

CARRIAGES TAKE FIRE

PEOPLE ROASTED TO DEATH

A TERRIBLE SCENE OF

CARNAGE,

(Received April,2l, 9.16 a.m.) ' MELBOURNE, April 21. The disaster is the most appalling that has ever occurred in Victoria s railway history. , . _ The Beridigo train smashed into the Ballarafr train with terrific force. • The foremost carriages were smashed to matchwood. i •'. . The wrecked trains;. immediately, caught fire, adding to the horror. The line was strewn with wreckage, dead and wounded. Women shrieked, and the cries of the injured were heartrending. \ ,\ V At half-past eleven a. special train left Melbourne j with, a medical corps and equipments. Detachments of the fire brigade were' sent out from Braybrooky which is about seven miles from the scene. ; ' "Hie collision occurred a little before ill.o'clock.. The Ballarai train was running a little late, and was just coming out of the station when the Bendigo train, which was drawn by two powerful engines, crashed into the rear, of the moving Ballarai train, w^iic)) was going so slowly that the force of the impact was not lessened to any considerable extent. : / The guard's van of the Ballarai train was splintered to pieces. The next car, a second-class one, was also smashed to atoms,; and the next, which was a first-class, was telescoped. .The three, carsy, whichi: were crowded with passengers i some people having to stand in the copipartments, were so full that, they took fire, and a horrible scene' was witnessed. The dead and dying, being imprisoned within the burning debris, were practically roasted to ■death before they ooulcl be -extricated. r , '.■'•

W!hen ( the relief train arrived at a quarter past midnight it found tie platform strewed with, dead, while the wounded were lying all over the place. ■ -V ; ■ ••. ' - ■'- '■■ -■.'■'. ■.. v ■:.-'■■

The shrieks of tile affrighted passengers when the trains collided—the screams, of women and children and the groans of strong men in agonywere so dreadful that the hardest nerves gave way under the awful strain. One man lying groaning on the platform moaned "Shoot me! Shoot me ! For God's sake end my suffering!" .:■-.. : : . . :■• '•:.. ■, Medical men were promptly on the spot,'and rendered every assistance, though of course it was impossible, to deal promptly with.so many people. The -fire brigade put out the burn-, ing carriages, arid the rescuers were then able' tx> take some tallies of the dead and wounded. • ; A poor little boy who was killed in the smash .was thrown about like a bit of lumber by the impact, and a dozen almost equally heartrending scenes were witnessed. In the third of the shattered carriages was a party of nine. When the crash came the carriage shot on top of one car, with another car piled on top of it. The top arid bottom cars caught fire. _ The party'in the third had a thrilling expedience, flames licking through the floor of their prison. With herculean efforts four of them managed to burst the door of the compartment arid escaped. What became of the remaining five is unknown. Miss White, who was dragged from the wreckage, says ;—"I had just got into the train from Ballarat, which was very late. Before we rixoved off . I heard a whistle. A gentleman said: •'ls that the Bendigo train?' Before -there could be any answer there was a ,terrific smash, and the Bendigo train /dashed into our train. Women screamed, and men shouted orders. I istarted to go along the wrecked carriages, but the sight of the killed and wounded was too much for me, and. I •collapsed on the platform. "'The scene was a terrible one. Women were screaming and moaning with pain, while grouped round the wreck : of the train were a number of wounded- passengers who were helping •one another to bind up their1 injui'ies. There -were a large number of children there, whose cries as they looked for their parents were heartbreaking.. To add to the horror of the scene, the carriages caught fire. It looked as if a number of wounded would be burned alive. The fire brigade, however, soon got the flames subdued. "The most pitiful sight was the terror of a young mother in my carriage. She was nursing her baby when the smash came. The collision knocked the infant out of her arms. The baby fell into my lap and then on to the floor. The mother was almost distracted as she searched about the compartment for her baby. On findm S ** she gave a cry of joy and fell in a faint." a ?) her P.assenger states :—"A battleneld. scene could not have been worse than the frightful scene of carnage in the> big room of the Sunshine Harvester Works, which, large as it was, would not hold all those who urgently needed' attention. I saw a very large number of people horribly mutilated; indeed, it was an exception to come across anyone who had not been injured in some form A very large number of passengers became panic-stricken and lost their heads, and added, by their wild rushes to the iorror of the tragedy, while several people were burned to death before any help could be rendered them."