RAILWAY DISASTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7675, 7 April 1903, Page 2

RAILWAY DISASTER.

4 SCHOOL CHILDREN KILLED AND INJURED. HEARTRENDING SIGHTS. On Feb. 19 a terrible accident occurred at. Newark, Xew Jersey, through a collision between ;i suburban train and an electric tramway-car loaded with pupils of the Ngav•irk High .School. Ki-F»f schoolgirls were instantly ki I lei 8 ,- a ml fourteen- other girls and six boys severely injured, several fatally. The. car was crowded with nearly a. hundred merry, light-hearted hoys and girls, between the ago of fourteen andscvenleen, going to school. Some were sending, others .sitting, and liotb platforms were crowded. Tho car .stopped at the top of a steep grade leading to the Lackawamna Railway, which the tramway lines cross. Thu bars at the railway eroding were drawn across the street as a train was approaching. Tho motor mam on the car had set, the brakes, but the tramway lines being covered with ice caused the wheels to slip. The car suddenly shot down the .steep incline, crashed through the bar at the bottom and stopped in the centre of the railway. At the .same moment a. train travelling at high speed ran into the car with an awful I crash. ! The front, pairt of the car and the roof were torn .way and hurled a long distance, while the car was whirled over, and some of the occupants thrown into a. shrieking, struggling mass. Others were tossed about the line, yet others ground beneath the I wheels of the train, which ran some distance before stopping. Tho snow was littered with mangled bodies, -while horrible .shrieks and groans came from the injured. Home- of the victims were hurled over 20ft. The sceneafter the accident was indescribably heartrending. The dead were strewn along the line, while some of the maimed victims were ■seen feebly dragging themselves away, weeping hysterically. Some- of tho children who escaped uninjured ran up the street shrieking with* tenor. PARENTS' ANGUISH. A large force of police was 'immediately hurried io the;. scene, and ambulances and other vehicles conveyed the injured to the hospitals. The news spread quickly, amd the parents of the pupils swarmed to. tlie scene of the accident. The grief of those whose children had been killed or injured was pitiable to witness. Most victims were children of -well-to-do people, and the accident has thrown the whole town into mourning. Some of the girls killed were found wedged in the wreckage cut and bruised, and some were hardly recognisable. One , girl was hurled against a wall, and her head was crushed- Two others, terribly mangled, lafr beside the line still clasping their school books. One body was carried away in front of the railway engine. Another body was beheaded, and nearly all the deuid had lost arms or legs. Maaiy of the victims taken from the Wreckage were so ■ badly injured that their cries of pain made the rescuers weep. The terrific cold added to their sufferings. One girl who escaped with slight injuries afterwards said : " The train dashed into us without warning. I saw it approaching, and the next moment I felt the hot side of the ertgineyund was hurled into space. I then found myself lying beside the line buried in the snow." Greait indignation is felt at the tramway men ' for allowing the car to become sb crowded. The level-crossing where the accident occurred haa long been regarded as a dangerous place, and the railway company recently commenced elevating . the lines. The engine- driver and , the conductor, of the car were, wrested 'after ''the accident.) The motorman was severely injured, and is j not likely to recover. ."