TWO BURNING TRAINS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15770, 19 November 1914, Page 4

TWO BURNING TRAINS.

A CARPATHIAN TRAGEDY.

DISASTER TO REFUGEES

A disaster to Austrian troops, in which hundreds were burned to death in two trains that were set on fire by Russian shells as they rolled down a Carpathian mountain incline, is described in detail by refugees and Austrian captives from Galicia. Women, children, and other civilians perished in the holocaust, for the blazing trains set fir© to buildings, and thus caused more deaths and more damage than did the cannon of both sides.

Routed from their mountain position by Russian artillery fire a large number of Austrian soldiers fled in disorder at Tchortkov, Galicia, where the population had been thrown into a panic by the firing and had swarmed to the railway station in an effort to escape. There were two trains standing at the station. Terrible scenes took place in the carriages. The Austrian soldiers and officers seized the places and threw out of the carriages terrified women and children. Not only all the seats in the carriages, but also the corridors, steps, luggage racks, and even the roofs were occupied by dense crowds of panic-stricken Austrian soldiers. One train moved up the mountain. When it reached a considerable height the locomotive was struck by a shell from the Russian artillery. The locomotive was destroyed, and the whole train rolled back down the declivity. Before the second train had time to stop the engineless train was on top of it. A terrible catastrophe occurred. Both trains rolled backward with increasing velocity. Suddenly a fresh shell of the Russian artillery striking the middle portion of one train set a carriage ablaze. The fire spread with great rapidity. Jn a few minutes the whole double train was a mass of flames. With this sea of fire enveloping the Austrians, the cars continued their movement downward toward the valley. The burning train cut into the multitude at the station and started a fire that destroyed all the station buildings. Hundreds were crushed to death. The remnants of the Austrian army dispersed in all directions across the mountain passes. The Russian troops came down to the valley unmolested and occupied Tchortkov. Tchortkov is situated in a picturesque valley protected by the high mountain chains of the Carpathians. The Austrian troops there did not expect the Russians, but the Russian troops appeared suddenly on the heights near the town and occupied an excellent position, from which they rained shells on the Austrian soldiers.

The Austrian artillery immediately occupied the opposite ridge of the mountains, and over the roofs of Tchortkov raged an artillery duel of the fiercest nature until the Austrians fle'd.