THE DEAD MARINE IN THE ENGINE CAB

NZ Truth, Issue 1044, 28 November 1925, Page 1

THE DEAD MARINE IN THE ENGINE CAB

THREE MEN IN THE CAB OF THE WRECKED ENGINE Opapa Tram Smash : Alleged Drinking (From "Truth's" Napier Representative.) When FredericK Lavin, engine-driver, left the sunny atmosphere ! of the Napier hospital, on November 7, tp appear five minutes later m the docK at the Napier Magistrates' Court, the curtain rose on one of New Zealand's most dramatic trials.

It all began on the grey afternoon of September 22, when the Wellington express, bound for Napier, plunged from the track on a bend of the declivity known to railwaymen as the Te Aute bank.

Kathleen Begley, whose legs were pulped; Edward V. Iggulden, whose left eye was torn from its socket, and whose left arm was almost severed; and Murdock Campbell, 'Who passed away days later— these lost their lives m the disaster.

REV-haired now — his.hair was formerly dark — and bearing on his forehead a . scar of the ■ accident, Lavin faced Mr. R. W. Dyer, S.M. to answer charges that through ■ his alleged care-

lessness and ne-

these

. „ . gligence people's ..deaths were caused, . I THat liqii'or was taken "aboard tVie engine by an unauthorised: passenger m: the cab, and 1 that the express was travelling at an excessive speed, under a driver whose sobriety at the time was to be doubted, ., were allegations levelled against him. . . „- , Travelling north by. the : ill-rated express'••was Samuel Marshall, an Onehunga ehgine-fJriyer on -furlough. After the crash. ' IVlarshalli badly injured, was extricated from the twisted wreckage '.■in the-cab of the engine, and it was orily on Saturday last that he was discharged, cured, from the Napier Hospital. .■■■'.

It is asserted that this Marshall was^ the "third man" m a trio on tlie engine.

It was he, so witnesses said, who purchased beer at Ormondville, Waipukurau, and Waipawa, and took it aboai-d the engine. - , Lavin is well-known m Napier. A 6hort, stout nian, well-fleshed and ruddy-complexioried, he is the father of ten children, one of whom was born after the smash, while its father was m hospital. , Watching various interests were Lawyers B^ J. Dolan (Lavih), M. L. Qleeson (Marshall and -Donovan, the fireman), H. B. Lusk (Railway Dept.,) D. E. J. Hallett (Miss Begley's relatives), while Mr. W. McArley, secretary of the New Zealand Locomotive Engineers' Association, sat beside Lavin's counsel throughout the proceedings, y ''.'>:. ■ / Alleged dangerous SPEED. Following the doctors who contributed formal medical evidence, came Percy William Peters, Napier manager for -McGruers, Ltd., and a well-known business man. He was one. of many who asserted with confidence that the train was being driven at a dangerous speed. He first noticed the speed when near. Hatuma, and looked up from his magazine to check the speed with his watch. He found that the mile between' posts 62 and 63 was traversed m 1 minute 25 seconds. The train was rocking and swaying alarmingly. After passing Pukehou the speed' appealed to become even more excessive, and going down the "bank" he estimated it to be about 50 miles an hour. The car lie was m was a firstolass smoker near the end of the train, and it was rocking so badly that luggage fell from the racks. He had never had a journey like it. When the smash came witness got. out of the second carriage from the last, and found that the engine had left the track to the left, and had taken one carriage with it; the balance of the train had run on and verged off to the -.-■'• In Peters' opinion, the speed of the train downhill was far and away beyond 25 miles per hour. Mr. Dolan: Is it not 'a fact, that on. several occasions during the past four years you have expressed 1 your .apprehension of the speed of other trains? — Only on one occasion, arid that was ,!the Auckland Limited. AS IN A ROUGH SEA. Maurice Begley, brother of the* girl who- was killed so tragically while -returningfrom a wedding party at Waipukurau, gave similar evidence. .: j His;mpther 'and a brother were also on the"; train. .' „ .:-.:' : ifts/Begley, mother of the deceased said) that,' this train dame down the hill/at a terrific speed. ' : The^jpassengers had to hojd *bn to the , rails of their seats. - The. carriage .was" swaying" like : '; a ship on a rough, sea. •' ; ; . '."■, : Asked! by -Mr. Dolan if she had been " told that the Government would pay no compensation for, her daughter's death u nti | she had i . :.; j ;. given evidence m the case, witness | .03Y© 'an emphatic "No." .

William Henry Jones, stonemason, of Napier; Mrs. Susan Rutter, Wellington; and Mrs; Clara Cross, all testified to the allegedly excessive rate at which the train . travelled. Jones 'was confident that going down the /hill the train was doing more than 45 miles per hour. Mrs. Cross mentioned that the journey to Woodville was lovely. After that, by contrast, it was terrible, and the speed became terrific. •. JOCKEY :SJTOP V^TO#. C, .John Wilton " JJixon, a weli-kriown lockey, whose honeymoon was rudely interrupted by the crash, produced the evidence of a stop-watch. With it, he said, he timed the train to do a mile m 70 seconds. The watch was put m as an exhibit m the trial. Nixon's wife told 'how she nudged her newly-fledged Benedict at two successive mile-posts, to assist him In timing the train. Horace Lindsay, an Anglican padre, Andrew Stewart, a commercial traveller; Charles Manning, a barman; and Murdo ; McDonald; organiser for the Duriedin Exhibition, tendered supporting evidence. "' McDonald, who clicked his heels smartly before entering the box, said Lavin's breath smelt of liquor when witness was pulling him from the wrecked cab. ■• \ Mr. Dolan: There were several bottles of stimulants being passed round, were there not? — I saw several flasks going round. You ; would not be a McDonald if you did not have one yourself? — No. (Laughter.) . THE SETTLERS' ARMS. Charles France, jockey, said that when the train pulled up at Ormondyille the front carriage, m which he was travelling, stopped opposite the Settlers' Arms Hotel. ■-...' Two men, one of whom he knew now to be Marshall, entered the hotel, and Marshall did not return until the guard had blown his whistle twice. , Marshall, whose coat was bulging as if he had bottles underneath, boarded the front platform of the first carriage. , When going down the hill, witness could see the engine, and water from it was splashing on to the front door of the carriage, and eventually the engine left the rails. Witness could see it going. • After the smash witness crawled out from under the carriage. Mrs. France corroborated ,her husband's evidence, and said she was positive that the two men did not come out of .the hotel until, the guard's whistle had been blown twice. David Irwin Wilson, postal cadet. at Ormondville, also saw the man, wearing a blue, suit, enter the hotel, and. later board 'the ; platform of the front carriage. He saw this while standing at the door of the Ormondville ipost office.. When the whistle blew the second time, said witness, the man got \ down from the carriage, and walked along' the side of the tender to the engine. 9 ' When . the train left the man ' was m the cab of the engine, and looked to be carrying twer or three bottles. It. was unusual for .the train to wait at t)rmonville : ;as long as it did that day. Three minutes was the usual stay.. That day it was there seven minutes. •.'■. . .'■.■' ;... THAT BROKEN BOTTLE. ; 'John Wright, Charles Gennet, Richard Knight and Mrs. Margaret Jackson, vyife of the statiorimastfer at Waipa\ya, all noticed; a : third man on the : engine. 'Knight said that when, the 1 train was at Waipawa a man carrying .bottles under his arm walked towards the engine. . '■ :"■.•.■■'.■ '':.;■ '.."... ";■ ■;"•. A broken beer bottle was found m the cab of the engine by James McKenzie, assistant boiler inspector for the North Island railways. . : McKenzie told the Court that he found the .broken bottle when ; helping 0 get 'Marshall, who -was m a state of collapse, out' from, the back of the engine after the smash. He attributed the accident -wholly, and: solely tp the excessive speed. Varipus subsequent witnesses gave evidence that the track at the. point of derailment 'wains ■ m faultless order. :

. Eugene Casey, inspecting engineer for the maintenance branch of the service, said 25 miles per hour was the scheduled speed for the curve where the disaster occurred. Curve boards stating the speed, for the benefit of drivers were plainly visible. ..'.'•■••. A departmental time-table showing maximum speeds was produced. NOT UNSCIENTIFIC. Witness said he would riot admit for one 1 -moment that the maximum speeds prescribed by the regulations were computed roughly and unscientifically. * , ' ■ George John Brice, loco, foreman- .at Napier, and James ]yFor-:'

bijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiM .rester Mackley, locomotive engU neer, said the' engine was m good . order: ' : . Other evidence of a, technical nature was tendered by Alfred Hollis, superintendent of transportation *at Wellington, arid :Richard William Joseph Dixon, brake inspector for the North Island, railway officials.-, Lavin, through his counsel, pleaded not guilty,' and reserved' his defence! ' , GOES: FOE TRIAL. •He was committed .for trial . v at, the; February session, of the Supreme Court m NapiPiv Bail was allowed m a personal surety of £500, and two other sureties of £250, each. . One of the sureties: was put up by one of accused's fellow engine-drivers. . m this connection it is interesting to point put that the above is, only one side of the case, the accused having reserved his defence, and it isiriteresting^toV note that neither Marshall, who was merit tidned so frequently; as "the third man on the engine, nor Donovan, the fireman,, was called by the r prosecution.; .'.'•'.■,'■■■. ' • '.