TOURISTS CREMATED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13453, 1 June 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

TOURISTS CREMATED.

>l "■' %> ii i i I [ , I EX-SOLDIER DASHES INTO BURNING I CAR. j 1 From the American continent comes news! 'of another railway disaster, the scene on the I present occasion being the Canadian-Pacific j ,; railway line, near Chapleau, Ontario. Fifteen tourists were killed, and nearly a! j hundred people, mostly emigrants from the; ! British Isles, were injured. Many of the bodies of the dead were cremated in the burning of the cars, which took place imme-j diately after the disaster. So complete was! the incineration in some cases that only a smouldering lump among twisted iron "fit-! 1 tings marked what was once a human body. The place where the accident occurred was along a high embankment, and the train,, j which was thrown from the line, rolled down I the embankment, carrying death and de-1 I struction with it. _ Five cars in all were : j thrown from the line, and took fire while ' the victims were buried beneath the splinteried coaches. The survivors immediately ren- ' | tiered such aid as was- possible, and "many '. of the injured were taken from the wreck. ' In the case of the tourist car, however, this '■ j was impossible, owing to the rapidly in- < creasing fire, which rendered approach dan- 1 gerous. Here the victims were chiefly wo- < men and children, and it is feared that 15 < dead have been entirely cremated. There was no water to be obtained, and the place I was far from any medical or other aid. * It is stated that the cries of the burning ' victims were most pitiful. The accident is described as the worst that has ever oc- < 1 curred in Canada. Manv deeds of gallantry ' are reported. James Gibson, formerly of' • the 12th Lancers, who had retired and*was 1 . going West to settle, is mentioned as one of ; the heroes of the disaster. He plunged 1 ' into the midst of a burning car with a wet « 1 handkerchief over his face, and brought out ' ■ Mrs. Champion, who was pinned underneath ] • a seat. The woman, however, was no sooner ' • out than she discovered that her baby was i i' missing, and, with an agonised cry, she ■ plunged into the car, and was never seen < - again. Another passenger, . George Perce, 1 • of Bournemouth, England, is also credited I ; with conspicuous gallantry, having rescued two persons from a car 'that was on fire i from end i-c end. He was injured at the 1 moment of the wreck, but took no notice < of his hurts, and in the work of rescue he ' was further injured, receiving some bad cuts j i and being severely burned. Of the injured a I dozen had to go to the hospital at Fort William......The remainder proceeded west to .Winnipeg. . .{'