THE RICHMOND DISASTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9911, 28 July 1910, Page 1

THE RICHMOND DISASTER.

* TERRIBLE SCENES OF SUFFERING. SURVIVORS' AWFUL EXPERIENCES.

Graphic accounts of the Richmond railway disaster are published by the Melbourne papers. The '' Age ; ' saysi—The spectacle of carnage was concentrated at the telescoped end of the Brighton train. Here a sight was witnessed which caused great, strong inen to stagger, and the doctors and nurses, who arrived later, to shudder with horror. In the guard's van nine people wore alive prior to the accident—at least- four of them were killed outright and instantaneously, and the others sustained fearful injuries. Brains and blood were scattered on all sides, splashing the platforms, and pouring -.through the splintered woodwork on to the permanent waj'. In the compartment next to the guard' i? van mangled, bodies, wedged in with bars or crushed down to the floor by smashed partitions, were huddled together in a terrifying" .mass, which could not be disintegrated for many minutes, during which the unfortunate victims endured, such torments As no Dante could have conceived. ]n the same carriage three men. had their legs pinned down with one seat which had descended upon them from above like lightning, holding them fast as in a vice. Close by them was a woman whose head had been smashed by a beam from the roof. Hardly a yard away was a. man with bis eye torn out. His neighbour's ribs wore smashed, and a woman on the rfcher side had her neck pierced. Yet more gruesome sights smote the eye a lew paces away. Hanging out of the telescoped first-claas smoker waß the body of a. man, hanging face downwards —crushed as flat as a board. Not far from this terrible battered symbol of pain was the headless body of another victim. The skull was discovered by Messrs 0. Raiiiford and Williams, two workmen who were working on the debris of the- guard's van. They carefully placed it under the engine, so that it should be out of public sight. It was mere than an hour before it was found again, this time on the permanent way, and, wrapped in a hastily eeoured newspaper, conveyed as reverently as might be to a. place of safe keeping. Crushed and maimed sufferers in every kind of attitude were seen struggling for release from their maddening positions. Little wonder was it that some of the first to rush to their aid fell baok in a faint, and themselves needed aid before their manhood was regained, and a sens© of pity conquered weak nerves. Within, the undesti'oyed oompe-rtmentt; of the three carriages principally affected the evidence of intense suffering and injury wdre hardly less heart-breaking than the terrible sights already mentioned.- Here was'a little lad with the knee of a fellow-traveller thrust into his body, causing him violent pain and almost breaking, his back. The little chap kept up heroically while being extricated by the hacking away of the back of the seat against wliicn he was jammed, and was ablo to thank his rescuers with picturesque fervour. Another passenger who was in a somewhat (similar predicament though his position was more serious than that of the boy—fmjnd it hard, to maintain a stoical demeanour under the excruciating pressure to which he was subjected. Hi-s stomach was jammed in and his ribs at the very point of breaking when the rescuers were able to cut a path to his relief. Ho was a fi.no fellow, and kept a grim i'aco for the first hair-hour, but just before his final release ho almost collapsed and cried like an infant.

A HIDEOUS INFERNO. To get some idea of the hideous inferno presented by the scene of carnage, of which the foregoing are but a few outstanding the reader has to remember that while the platforms were reeking with blood and the air was filled with a horrible odour as of a death chamber, frantic women were shrieking, fainting, or struggling to reach the steps leading to the roads. Many a poor fellow; or girl who was genuinely injured, arid crying piteously for help had to be loft unattended while those in even direr need were reached and if possible saved. Broken hands, smashed noses, bleeding or half-scalped heads, twisted ankles, rieked lnps, pounded toes and slit faces were ineluded amongst the injuries from which these minor matryrs on the iield were (Buffering." HARROWING SCENES. The scenes on the Nos. 1 and 2 platforms of the Richmond station were most harrowing, says the Melbourne " Herald." Both platforms seemed to have_ been suddenly transformed into hospital wards. About thirty or forty medical men were kneeling beside men, women and girls who had been more or less seriously injured, and agonising cries wero heard from some of the groups. Hospital trained, nurses, some of them in caps and wearing badges, were either assisting the medical men or giving what comfort they could to women and girls who were suffering from shock. Chemists ran about almost noiselessly, administering stimulants to the sufferers, and, many civilians and railway officials lent willing hands to bear along to the exits the ambulance stretchers. The saddest scene of all was presented whenever the bearers marched past with the dead body of one of the victims. At such a time there was a reverent hush, and whispered expressions of the deepest sympathy.

IN THE CRUSHED CARS. Meanwhile terrible scenes were being witnessed by those in the vicinity of the oars in the Brighton train, which had been telescoped. The so were two first-class carriages not far from the guard's van, and in both of these cars there were men and women crushed together, and some of them had an arm or a leg oaught by some of the splintered timber.

Heartrending cries came from the young women. One poor .girl was crushed in a corned with her arm caught under a piece of the wooden partitions, against which a moment before she had been sitting reading a novel. And in a second tragedy had come upon her, and now she was 111 horrible pain. She was crying out: " Oli, I am in terrible paiu. Don't hurt me, don't hurt nae." But for a few moments nothing could be done to immediately release the prisoners.

Men were at work with axes, crowbars, chisels, hammers or whatever tools they had brought along with, them in their hurry, and they were doing great work in levering avfay the broken timber, cutting out panels and getting a-s gently as possible nearer and nearer to the sufferers.

Meanwhile some good Samaritans, some with their own faces bruised and bleeding, were holding cups and glasses of icy cold water, and, in some case.?, spirits, to the mouths of those who were at all accessible.

The reek of whiskv was in the ear, and as the spirit toolc effect on erne or two of the young men, w:ho were jammed almost together their heads dropped and nodded as though they were in a state of intoxication. For a little while longer they con Id bear the stress of their terrible position without crying out pitifully for assistance. In about ten. minutes from l.)ie time of starting 011 the rescue work t,}i« oc-

cupants of tho second car were got out and. taken carefully- on to the rails., and thence on to No. 2 platform, where they were placed 011 stretchers and then borne quickly to the exit. In tho rear compartment of the other car there were eight people, including two young girls. Two or three of tho occupants escaped almost unhurt, but five were left jammed together, and one of the girls lay still m a huddled up position with her back to the compartment. It was presumed almost from tho first that she was dead, but for some minutes there was no opportunity of making certain. • Just through the opening 'in a panel which had been cut by one of the rescue party tho back of her head could b<* seen, but it was impossible to see her face, and her hands were out of reach.

The rescuors worked lilce Trojans with axes and saw and lever. The axes flashed in the glow of an oil lamp which had been lighted and placed in position. Finally tho wall of the partition gave way. The helpers standing expectantly 011 the railroad on the north side of "the car rushed forward and deftly lifted out the wounded from among the debris. Some of the sufferers were evidently in great pain, and two were cojjipietely unconscious.

There remained the girl whose thick black hair had been visible all the time. Now her face was exposed, and it could be seen also that she was very handsome, ©von in, the stillness that betokened death. On her rather dark face was an expression of terror. In her left hand was a. novel, entitled " Kingsmead," by tho Baroness Yon Huttcn.