SHOCKING ACCIDENT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 216, 19 September 1911, Page 5

SHOCKING ACCIDENT.

ON THE MOUNT EDEN TRAM-

LINE

ONE MAN KILLED AND MANY INJURED.

[PBESS ASSOCIATION.]

AUCKLAND, Sept. 19. ; A shocking accident occurred on the Mount Eden tramline yesterday, resulting in- one of the passengers, named Henry Williamson, a resident of Mount Eden, being killed instantly, and several others being injured. One tramcar which was running down the hill passed a lorry, which pulled off the track to let it- go by;. The driver of the lorry, not noticing a second car behind, pulled back on the track, and the tram struck the vehicle in the rear. The blow smashed the front of the car, disabling the brake system and controller gear^ and pinned the motorman, who was just able to struggle clear and get to the back of the car to put on the hand arid track brakes. The lorry, with the horses, was carried along several chains, and then thrown clear, the driver receiving a wound on the head, and the horses were so injured that they had to be shot. The speed bf the disabled car was such that the braking power was. insufficient to stay-it on>the incline,, and it crashed into the rear of, the. tram, ahead, just as the latter was* pulling" up and passengers were alighting and entering. The ends of both cars'were smashed in, and Williamson, who. was on the rear platform of the stationary car, had his skull fractured, causing almost instantaneous death. The passengers most seriously injured-were James A..Sneddon, who sustained a slight concussion, and Miss Clark, of Mount Eden, whose face was badly cut. The other passengers sustained minor injuries.