RAILWAY SMASH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19042, 12 December 1923, Page 7

RAILWAY SMASH

AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY. SIGNALS IGNORED BY DRIVER. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright NEW YORK, December 10. Ten persons were killed in a sensational railway wreck of the Twentieth Century, Limited, near Buffalo. Just before daylight the first section of America’s greatest train was speeding Westward at 60 miles an hour, when the driver saw an automobile across the track ahead. The chauffeur leaped out, and was not seen again. Tne train crashed into the motor car, .which derailed the locomotive. The second section of the Twentieth Century was successfully halted half a mile back. The third section of the train, however, took no notice of the caution signal two miles back, and, when it reached a position half a mile behind the second train a man burned a “stop” signal in the face of the engineer. Notwithstanding all these precautions, the engineer of tne third section cf the train (John Patterson) crashed into the rear coach of the second section, killing nearly all the sleeping passengers. Patterson admits that he saw the signals. and cannot explain why he disregarded them. He has been on this run 25 years, and has never before had a serious accident.—Sydney- oun Caoie.