SERIOUS RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 709, 25 June 1878, Page 2

SERIOUS RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

. $ A r.V'.:'.!! 5 ; ■•■ -,!!,-.: ,-:.:-' ' •> ' .c----'■>V V :' 3ii tie! T'i:':d, J -.|. :j K-ijt-.', . ;,.(! [;'■■ -V .■-■■/ f-' ■ . .:.■■ - :.■ ivhr '-' ;j.»rs, it se- . ■ ;. ■ ■ •■:.'■ . i;-..-.l ~y '■■■■ IV- \y-.--K ;.'p :. ':■■ .•; U'Uok, W : : - il •-a in :\.;m- •■■? ;o;ti --r 15 -.y waggons, ai-d ■■ ; /«|- st i.iii' '.-.led ::,••.;■■•'-; it was necessar* : 1 -.11 -: e. out tih- -.vi;e>e of Uicm. This had been lit.ne. and tin: einpry w:e;g;>ns sbuoted back. Baird then wont bet-. e. ;■: 1 ■•<:■ and the engine to uncouple i.hem, but owing to the Li'iie;>> i-.aviisg run

down the iti'-'i'ir the coupbi:-..v- ere found to be too tignt, and he cujl-. \l '<■-> ru the driver to ease up the engine a little to allow of file engine being unhooked from the trucks, This was done ; but through some unexplained cause, either Baird slipping or keeping his foot too near the engine on the line, it got caught by trie engine. Baird was thrown down, and the bogie wheel passed along'the fleshy part of ids leg, and across it above the knee. As may easily he imagined, the flesh was mangled in a frightful manner, and the bone broken, the lower part of being almost completely severed, and th. bone protruding several inches. T.-.e poor fellow g;;ng out- to the driver (Neil!), and the engine w;>.-- stopped before the :ieond 'wheel could pa.-w over him. Baird was at, once placed in a railway carriage on some cushions and brought into town at 10 minuies past 10 o'clock. On arrival lie was conveyed in an express to the Hospital, where the case was examined and found to be a very serious one, amputation being necessary a few inches below the hiprjoint. The operation was performed by Drs. Garland and Roberts ; but up to two o'clock Baird had not recovered from the effects of the chloroform administered to hjm. It is difficult to sny w'.Tt the result will be, but we fear the (•.»-;■ is a doubtful one. Baird is aboiic 50 years of age, is a married man an-.i has a large family. He was an old Victorian guard, having been one of the first on the line, and was connected with the railways in that Colony for some considerable time. He has only been in Oamaru about two months, having been transferred, from the Waimate branch line, where he had been engaged for a long time.