AN AMBASSADOR KILLED IN A RAILWAY ACCIDENT

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1509, 31 January 1901, Page 58

AN AMBASSADOR KILLED IN A RAILWAY ACCIDENT

A terrible railway accident occurred in France on November 23rd. The Southern express from Madrid for Paris, travelling at high speed, about noon feL over an embankment near Pax, at a point where the line curves sharplyThe catastrophe happened when the passengers were at luncheon in the restaurant car, the train being then close to St. Vincent de Tirosse, in the department of the Landes, between Bordeaux andj Pax. One of tho first vio* tims identified was the Duke of Oanevaro, brother, o*f Admiral Oanevaro, exItalian Minister of Foreign Affairs. He had been sent by tho Peruvian Government on a special mission to Madrid. Ho was accredited to four European Go-vernments—-those of France, Spain, Great Britain and Italy. He lived at hotels in the different countries he went to stay in, until wanted in some other. The duchess and two attaches were travelling with him. She was frightfully lacerated. ' The Puke was accredited to the French Republic in 1893. His nephew, Senor Alfred Elster, who wa3 acting as his secretary, was killed sitting beside him in the restaurant car. All the fatalities save two occurred in that

.part of the train. Others who lost their lives were: Andre Landes, a Frenchman; Mme. Maria, Valacialo, the Duchess de Oanevato’s maid;. Camille- Blanchard, a Belgian engineer; Sencr de Artaga, : travelling from Madrid; Eduardo Levy, • also travelling from Madrid ; M. F;' Laelocho, -a, Biarritz jeweller;; 'Madam© Dombrowski, the wife of a Russian engineer; Albert Standye, a British subject ; and Andre Oabeau, a servant of the:, waggon company. Another body was seen to be of a lady, about forty years ,of age, having a gold watch in her pocket, and wearing four rings on the third finger of her left hand. Another was that of a man

about thirty, With curly- auburn hair. His pockethandkerchief bore the initial “HJLand the number 6403. Save the stoker, engine-driver, and a chambermaid, all the killed or injured were firstclass passengers. There was one Englishman 4n the restaurant car when the catastrophe Y happened, Mr McEwen Aismesj who resided in Paris. He was badly shaken, but not otherwise hurt. Senor de Goyeneche, a- Spanish Artillery officer, who was in the restaurant ‘car, and escaped almost miraculously Avitli. nothing but slight injuries, said - After the accident Viscount Truest and I examined the scene of the accident. The line there consists of a rather sharp curve, and we were struck by the fact that only a portion of the sleepers were covered with ballast. Viscount Truest called the attention of a person he supposed to bo a railway official to that fact, and received the answer that a trial was being made. What this trial is I dp not know, but it is astonishing that trials, which may cost the lives of so many passengers, can be permitted. * What is even more serious is that the engine-driver of the Southern. Express made the following declaration to us: ‘ c As for me, I am "free from all responsibility, Only two- days ago I attention to the bad state of the line. ; The first confused reports of the railway catastrophe caused a sensation in Madrid, because it was stated that General Canera, the Special Envoy of the King of Italy, sent to the Spanish Court ; to announce the accession of Victor Emmanuel to' the throne, was among the victims of the disaster, though this proved to be unfounded. Among the victims was a German merchant named Levy, ; the agent who provided Spain with, the Mauser rifles for the Colonial wars during the last 45 years. Ho made a large ' fortune in twenty years in Spain. He recently made his will and insured his life for £20,000. The Duchess do C-anevaro’s hag of jewels was lost in the wreckage, but it ■ was found, curiously enough, by the / Magistrate charged to investigate the causes of' the • Pax catastrophe. He discovered it under a heap of broken plates, glasses and other rubbish.