FRIGHTFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1799, 29 August 1906, Page 15

FRIGHTFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

THE SALISBURY TRAIN SMASH.

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

LONDON, July 6. Few accidents on the railways of the British Isles have resulted in so great a loss of life as that attending the wreck of the South Western boat train at Salisbury in the early hours of Sunday morning. For a disaster of greater magnitude we have indeed to go back seventeen years—to the fatal June 12tli, 1889—when two Sunday school excursion trains ran into each other at Killooiiy, near Armagh, when 80 people were "killed and nearly four hundred received injuries. Prior to that fearful- catastrophe the Tay Bridge disaster which occurred in 1879, held the death record, some 74 people losing their lives, whilst in 1874 two deadly accidents occurred, one near Norwicn, where 26 people were' killed, and the other at Shipton. near Oxford, where 34 people lost their lives. Bail ing the Tay Bridge disaster not one of these affairs produced so great a proportion of deaths to the number of passengers as the South Western smash. Out of 57 ..people on the train only eleven escaped injury. No less than 27 were killed outright, and of these 23 were passengers, the other four being servants of the company. Seventeen people sustained injuries of a more or less serious character, and though the initial death roll has only beeu augmented by one, it is still too early to cay that the full tale of fatalities in connection with the catastrophe has beeu told. For the cause of the accident we are still seeking. Some aver that the train was too light for the high sliced at which it was scheduled to travel, but seeing that the train weighed some 360 tons, that statement hardly carries conviction. The curve iii the line at which the accident happened is not a particularly bad one, and should lie safely negotiated by such a train at anything up to forty miles an hour. That the illfated express was going at a much higher rate of speed seems highly probable. It is, a well-known fact that our American visitors are in the liqbit of tipping the drivers of these boat specials in order to obtain a fast, clear run to their destination, and possibly Driver Bobbins, who was in charge of the wrecked train, was urged by the “almighty dollar” to take curve risks he would otherwise not have taken. The train at the time of the accident is said to have been running some minutes inside its scheduled time. Furthermore it is alleged that the train ran the two miles six furlongs, lying between Wilton signal-box and the place where the accident occurred, in two minutes! If this i« true the train must nave been going well over eighty miles an hour-—quite a safe speed for such a train on a fairly straight stretch on a permanent way such as the London and South Western Bail way Company maintain, but far in excess of the limit of safety at a place like the Salisbury bend. Driver Bobbins and his firemqn are among the dead. The driver was hurled into the fire-box of his engine, and his body was partially roasted when recovered, whilst the hapless fireman was mangled beyond recognition by the engine toppling over on to his body. THE WORK OF A MOMENT. Full details of the disaster no doubt have reached you by way of America ere this, so it is needless to dwell at length upon, the horrors of it. But for the fact that the liner New York was late in docking, the train would have carried many p more passengens than it did, probably between 70 and 80. As it was manv preferred to stay the night in Plymouth rather than spend it in travelling. The train, which consisted of a powerful express engine, three first-class corridor coaches, and a guard's van. left Devonport at half-past 11 Saturday night. The express was supposed to make a nonstop run to London, and it was travelling at a high' rate when it swept through Salisbury station. At the end of the main platform the up-line makes a curve to the left, and here the express engine left the rails. Proceeding in the opposite westerly direction at the same moment was a train laden with empty milk cans, while on the next line, beyond the milk - train, was an empty stationary passenger train. The engine of the express left the rails on the, milk-train side, and leaping over the intervening six-foot space, dashed into the guard’s van of the milk-train, of which the unfortunate guard was killed instantaneously, whilst the van was reduced to a heap of splinters. A few yards ahead was an iron bridge spanning the main thoroughfare of Salisbury. The express engine next found an .obstacle in the curved girders of the bridge, which rose some inches above the set of rails. The girder tops resisted the shock, and sent the engine bounding backwards, and on its side into the engine attached to the stationary train, the milk-train bavin" meanwhile pulled out of the way, drag°ging its wrecked guard’s van behind it The double nature of the shock even added to the havoc of the first impact terrible as that was. The first carriage overshot the engine, the connections being severed with a snap, and crashed against the parapet of the bridge. One man was shod clean out of the window over the parapet into the street below. The .fall was fatal. The carriage itself was absolutely gnashed against the side of the “bridge. The second carriage which was thrown to the right when the first left the rails, mounted the tender of the engine, and was then flung bodily against the stationary train and smashed like an eggshell. It is of this carriage that the most painful story has to be told. The collapse of the framework imprisoned the passengers, and the living were shut up .with the dead for several hours. The third car. was flung to the left of the railway and was broken to bits. Here, again, a number of injured travellers were imprisoned for a short time. The fourth car was the guard’s van and kitchen department, in .which, the eooking staff "and waiters were travelling. Only the wonderful presence af mind oof the guard prevented this

carriage being telescoped. At the first indication that anything was wrong Jhe had applied the brakes, and .thus he prevented the car from being completely derailed, and in all probability saved the lives of his fellow-servants. The horror of the situation was accentuated by an outbreak of fire. Flames shot up a considerable distance from the furnace of the overturned engine, but the railway officials speedily extinguished the fire, and also shut off the escaping gas. Very few persons were on the scene at the time of the accident, but, hundreds of sleeping townsfolk were awakened by the crash, and quickly turned out to render assistance. They witnessed a terrible spectacle. From the first carriage dead body after dead body was brought forth. Of the others some were alive, but so badly injured that there appeared little hope of recovery. TERRIBLE SIGHTS. A dreadful scene was revealed when the breakdown gangs arrived and made an opening into the second carriage. At the end of one compartment a number of bodies had beyu crushed together in an unrecognisable mass, and it was six or eight hours before it was possible to remove them. In another case a family party had been travelling together. They included Mr Sente) 1, of New York, his son .Mr E. W. Senlell, a prominent lawyer of that city, and three Ladies. Mr Sentell, sen., was alone found alive; his companions were mangled corpses. Three hours - after the accident some water was handed to him through a hole in (he carriage, and after a time he was pulled out and taken to the infirmary. His head was bleeding profusely from a scalp wound, and his left leg was badly fractured. Mr and Mrs. Gossitt. of New York, were on their honeymoon, having been married only a month ago. When the compartment in which (liey had travelled was opened, Mrs Cossitt was found to belittle damaged. Her husband, however, was severely injured about (he body, and died a short time after ad-mis-ion to the infirmary. Mr Ger>.m, of London, was riding in a compartment in which all the other passengers were killed. He owes his life to the fact that on returning from the dining-car he placed his arm through the arm Loopstrap of tlie window next his seat, and he was thus saved from being hurled to the other side of the carriage, where his companions were crushed to death. On being released be cut off the strap which had proved so valuable to him ! Mr and Mns Hobart, of New Jersey, were seated side by side in the third coach and noticed the recking of the train, which was followed by a tremendous crash as though there had been a violent explosion. v They were thrown to the far side of the carriage, and though neither was seriously injured, Mrs Hobart was pinned down by a mass of broken woodwork, and it was only after considerable difficulty that she regained her liberty. Other passengers had wonderful escapes from severe injury or death, some escaping without so much as a bruise.