THE RAILWAY COLLISION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11089, 28 May 1914, Page 1

THE RAILWAY COLLISION.

tPiR Press Association.] ■ ■■ AUCKLAND, May 27. • Tho. coropletojlist- of the killed aud hijttredvin-the ■' railway disaster is as •V RILLED. ' • OR/TON-STEVENS, '.of.••ttsWngtoo, manager in New • Zealand for the I>a.tional Mutual Life ' Association of Australasia.)' Died before, released. CUTHBERT F. ; PETERSON, of Melbourne, representing tjie James M'lbnzne-Proprietary, Ltd. .'Died soon after being released .from wreckage. GEORGE N. GRIMSTONE. lately of Wellington; recently . transferred _ to Auckland, to: thb ; position of registrarof - tK©y' rlSativQ Land Lourt. Severely injured iiiter"nallyv Succunibe(l in hospital'at .at 3.30 p.m. ■ . INJURED." .V . JOHN SWINSON, of Lower Hutt, Wellington, .manager in ellingtoa for Chandler- a, n d Co. .Right thigh fractured and; extenisivo bruising. Maiting favburablo- progress. ' Now in hospital at .Hamilton.' H. G. M'KAY, of' Melbourne, injector for Commercial Bank.of Australia. Suffering ' from . severe .' shock. Now resident at - Grand Hotel,- Auckland, under medical attentionl H. A. FOX,, of. Wellington, managing director of .Office \ Appliances Cpm* paiiy. Crushed' foot and severe abrasions.' • Nowin.hospitalat Hamilton. WILLIAM •. DONALDSON, railway portpr Cat Whangamanno. r ractuicci arfrt. J V'".

F.' S. GOLDINGHAM, of Palmerpton North, merchant (member of- the_nrin «)f Goldingham and Beckett). Chest and shoulders'soverely. bruised, cuts on head and forehead and general shock. G. E. HOWARD, of Calliope Road, Devotjport, accountant- in Auckland office-'of National Mutual Life Association. Minof injuries to face and head and. ■ • . W.. J. R- HILL, of Auckland, member of "Herald" sporting staff. Injury tovleft'foot" attd: bruises. HARRY SCOTT, of Auckland, slecp--iag'car attphdant. ,■ General bruising/ T-tv-o .other passengers' inHhe sleeping They " weng Mr'Jamesßorrio, of Wairrtato. South Cautei'btirjyfarmer, and | Mr D. iM.. Sutherland, of Waimate, South Canterbury,' farmer.

DETAILS OF THE DISASTER.

"WHERE THE COLLISION OC-

CUR,RED. •

SOME:REMARKABLE ESCAPES.

(Specialto the " Star.',') V; ;•••.. „ AUCKLAND, May 27;:. "Whangamarino station, the scene of. the)'collision,''is a ' place between nine and ten miles from Mercer. Ihe aceidenb was due to'the _Main Trunk_ express coming .into,collisioii .With a mixed goods • and Seattle '- train, which was . being; '■ side-tracked to;allow- the express to pass/ Apparently oWing to some misunderstanding with regard to the signals, the, express, "travelling at thirty-j 6ve .milesHper hour,- ran ' into the goods train, which . was going 'across into the loop line. ,; ; • , . . Tho express -.cut right through the goods into one of the marshy Bwarapa which'fringe the bank or the Waikato River. . , * ' , ~ The. mail-van telescoped with, -the • sleeping-car, with the result that eight otii of the eleven occupants Mere either killed'or" injured.'"' ' ,A ■ representative or the btar, ou arrival .at, the • sceue of the accident, - found' everything - in - a- hopeless state of wreckage.. Tho big 72-tpu engine 'of i the v express ' .had :cC?npletel.y overturned, and. Was lying in _the swamp .sis ; bolow track. On the. engine.itself '.rested the remains or a cattle trucks 'end hp, - while the postal ' van and sleeping-car had been .completely telescoped. . . ■ A REMARKABLE ESCAPE.

Tlie.roof of tho postal van was quite Intact <after .the .accident, .the sleepingcar behind Having telescoped over the van so completely, that the car, root r it,fed neatly on the van roof. In'the sleeper all tho compartments were.' jammed concertina-wise into one tangle of wreckage,, from which the injured • passengers liad to bo extricated. • Among some remarkable escapes recorded" that of • tablet porter "William Donaldson'was probably the ntost extraordinary. He was in-charge of the station last night, and when seen 'this morning ha;d an. extra-ordinary-story to toll. He declined to say: how;the .signals stood at , tho time j of tho accident, but said that when tho i smash occurred he "'"•as sitting on the points side-tracking the goods tram with wbicli th 6: express collated. It was while ho was thus occupied th". the e-ipvess carao thundering through,catching the goods train fa Hy anuoBjßps.t The big. express engine crashed straight through the trucks ot the freighter, and passed right over him. He-was carried some .distance amid tho debris, and was found afterwards in an unconscious '.condition lying amongst tho wreckage: of the destr.) -ed g;'o'*us snd cattle trucks. He sustained a broken arm, ' and was badly cut about, tho face and body, but his escape Mom instant death and manglingwis truly remarkable. . ' * Equally sensational and equally providential wore the escapes of F. Psirkingt'on and J. Stone, fireman and drjver on the express, and of Messrs Bcott' and- Bristoil, the officers in the mail van- , When the collision occurred tlio spaed waswell over' thirty miles an hour. AfW passing'through the goods tram the engine leaped into space and^turnlid turtle in the swamp below, under ihe circumstances the escape of both Iriver and fireman was miraculous, fhey were! both thrown clear of the sab of the engine into tho swamp and escaped almost' without a scratch. , " The officers in the van, which wis fan mediately ' behind the engine UHi which was telescoped with the sleeper, also escaped without serious injury. . Tlie driver and iiremsm.ol' tlio goods

. « ' FURTHER DETAILS OF FATAL SMASH. EXPRESS AT FULL SPEED HIT GOODS TRAIN. WAS DISASTER DDE TO MISTAKEN SIGNALS?

train, Messrs Hill and Collett, also escaped injury. GUARD WILSON'S STORY. . The guard, James Wilson, when interviewed at .the scene of the acc/ienc, said that tho first intinuition of uiythijig wrong was when ' tho houso brake suddenly applied. It was a tiling, however,; tint, even when the collisiou took pi job practically no impact, to speak of. was f?lt' by those atjiis end of the train. Ho ascribed . fchjs to the effect of the W.cstinghouse brake. . When tho o\prcss had como to. a standstill fio ini-. mediately went to the, front of iho train where he. was surprised to find the express; engine lying on its back and the .two front cars telescoped. CRIES OF THE SUFFERERS. Piteous: cries came from the occupants ofHhe wrecked sleeping carriage. The guard rushed' back to the guard's van for a light; crowbar and axes. The interior of tho sleeping car was but a heap of wreckage. All tba compartments had been jammed - together and several of. tho. passengers wore c.i' ighi between, the shattered ( fragments" of woodwork and the ceiling. 'The passengers from other cars 'worked like Trojans to assist in rescuing those injured, . Those'caught in the debris and who were still conscious were calling for; help, and' urging tlio rescuers' to use every, possible haste in their work. 1 , i

GETTING OUT THE DEAD. Mr Petersen' was one of tho first to wrhojii assistance /was rendered. ■ H© ■was caught between the shattered walls t le , car Iv, th his .head projecting through ono of the compartment windows. Crowbars,'and axes, had to be used to relpaso him. Death' shortly after Mr Petersen was got out. Mr Stevens evidently.had died before anyone could .get to liini.' / -; : : TERRIBLE INJURIES OF THE VICTIMS. • The bodies ;were;conveyed to the little wayside statjon, - wjierc it could be' seen that both', had ; been terribly injured.;, Mr > Stevens had sustained a terrible crashing;hif skull beihg,almoßt crushed. in. Mr Petersen had also beenYfehrfully woujii clear)_ 'ov6n had' no time whatever been lost iii recovering; .them from, the wrecked car. ■

Gutird Wilson added' that' everything possible was done .by the officials .m the scene and the willing helpers from the passenger cars, : Waite, of Pukekohe, i-.nd Dr Cheesniau were first on the fcehe. Dr Wafte tojd a . reporter that they had ,had;'a very, busy;time, .and Had devoied attention to ( the * men whoso cndition was most serious.. They had to administer chloroform. to, two of tho patients while their injuries 'were being attended to v while morphia had to be given. to both Messrs S winsoii and:Grimstone, the former suffering from ihter-nal injuries, Mr Grimstone had. -a- broken thigh besides having sustained other serious injuries. These two men were sent on to. the Hamilton; Hospital.. ' ; ■ HOW THE BERTHS WERE OCCUPIED. '

The injuries were confined to- the occupants of the sleeping car. The berth near the. end of the-car nearest tho engiiie was occupied by -Mr .Goldingham,•' the others iii order being Messrs Fox, Grimstone. Petersen, Mackay, Swinson, Howard, Stevens, Hill; Sutherland and. Barrie. The fourth berth was vacant. Mr 'Stevens having asked to .bo moved to a compartment with-: fewer occupants, ,he went to 9.. The. berths from. 10 -to 17 were vacant. There wero no lady, occupants, i'n the sleeping car: ~' CAR ATTENDANT'S STORY.'

IT. Scott, sleeping cat attendant, told a reporter .that lie was standing'by the cabin door a bout, , the middle of the car ne.xt the.door of the compartment occupied by. Mr Stevens. •He had just come through the train after changing towels.when without the slightest warn" iug -there was a terrific crash.. He feltweight,against his back and was ■;jammed nito a, corner with piles of debris on top of Win. After recovering ins senses ho worked his feet free and smashed • a window, calling for help., ' ° , y ( uard . Wilson, - who was passing at the timer handed iu a lamp, the light from 'which revealed a terrible eceue of .confusion. Mr Scott saw a pair of, legs near him in the debris, ftelp soon arrived, and the bodies of the killed and injured wero found in the debris in the centre of the car. Splendid relief work was done by'all present. ■ -When the bodies wore extricated Mr Stevens was found to be dead from head wounds and abdominal injuries. Mr Petersen, also dead, had a severe wound on the top of his head. It seemed as though' he had survived tho shock for' Some minutes. IN THE MAIL VAN.

Interviewed, a postal official said tlia,t he. ( had not a ' ery clear recollection of what the impact itself was like, but he first remembers finding himself jammed between a mass of complicated wreckage and the wall of the carriage. " I hadn't an inch to move," he said. " and I was da!sed with the pain and shock. • Tho lights had,, of course, gono out. and 1 could see nothing, but 1 could hear tho gas issuing out of the reservoirs under the carriage. The thought of firo at once struck me, and [ called out to my mates, but for a few minutes got no answer. Presently they answered, and' I found that they wero quite close to me. Wo joined hands, and by dint of" a lot of hard pulling got one another free, . We crawled and pushed our way through the splintered wood, mail bags and debris: until wa found a hole big enough to get through. When we mad© p, passage through this we found that there: was still the wall of the other carriage preventing our escape, but after a big struggle, that hardly left 1 any clothes on us, we got through a window, ■ and sorno people outside helped us to the ground. Wo all immediately called a warning not to light •matches, .for we could still hear the gas escaping. When lamps oaine it seemed that our escape had been .nothing less-than a miracle. Our carriage . and the sleeper behind us had

A GRAPHIC NARRATIVE.

INJURED

[Pee Press Association.]

been completely telescoped, awl. the mass of wreckage mado. mo feel tliat I had been exceedingly fortunato .n escaping with a fen- bruises and cuts. '

i GETTING OUT THE DEAD AND

PERIL FROM ESCAPING GAS

A NURSE'S VALUABLE HELP

AUCKLAND, May 27

A graphic ..account of tho disaster as it was observed from the sleeper waggon was given by Jlr W. J. Hill, a member of tho " Herald" staff, who was returning'.from the south. " I was only dozing when tho express ran across Whangamarino swamp," said Mr Hill. "The first warning cjt; tho disaster was a. grinding crash tallowed, by the splintering of glass. During'ail appreciable l interval nothing further was heard 'and then came a succession of crashes apparently caused by'tho shattering of tho wooden partitions as-the postal.- van . ploughed through the sleeper. ... , • " The, train bumped .ana jolted severely and -then came to -a standstill. As it'stopped.it seemed as"if tho whole carriage liad collapsed upon us. The lights were extinguished by the shock and wc Were left in the ' darkness, ignorant of what had happened tuid confounded by ignorance of what might happen. I tried to move but found that mv shoulder was pinned by part of the carriage wall and other wreckage. "Someone called out 'Strike a match,', but others cried out a warning as gas was escaping and filling tho car. • , " ' I have been in a_ smaph before and if anyone strikes a light there's no hope for us 5 someone exclaimed. " For a long time everyone lay still until at last the silence was broken by groans and one'of 'the*'injured'" passengers called out 'My God 1 Lift this up.' Then. I. managed to get out of my bunk and iound ,Mr Borrie already standing up. In every direction . our hands encountered woodwork. I found a boot and one of the other meu took it from mo and smashed the only window that was at'all clear. Then we cleared away most of the; broken glass and crawled out.

" By this time other passengers had come to'.the front of the train, but the only light was a ]amp carried by the guard and the full extent of the disaster could not be appreciated in the darkness. Only.two men wore groaning .'and we could, not imagine that any others had escaped alive. Then an acetylene lamp was brought and those who had already started to release the imprisoned passongers wero able to se, a .little better, though lack of liglit, owing to fear of using matches,;severe? ly handicapped their Efforts.! The few . who had ! escaped injury ; had., forced their way qut df, the,-wreckage and .with the assistance of some 'other passengers,'.were hard at work in endeaVouriug toi break a way" into ..the- injured '•steward' fiacl C^n' prisoned between the-floors of the telescoped .cars,, and his first inquiry on crawling out was for the safety of the passengers. A lead was given in rescue work by Mr Borrie, and* after labouring for half an hour Mi* Stevens was broughtout. He was already: ■ dead-; The wreck was so complete that; debris had to be Cut away in pieces until the mcu were found in turn. Mr Petersen was the last reached. Owing to lack -of ;proper tools, the work had: progressed so ; slowly that it. nearly ejght o'clock before he was found. Throughou't 'nearly three'hours he had lain with aa iron' rail-across his throat, forcing his-head back, and with one of the ceiling lamps crushing his chest. He was freed at last only by cutting away the wreckage below.' " Fortunately for the relief of the injured men, one of the passengers oil the train was a nurse, Mrs Neville I White, of To Mawbai, .near To Kuiti, | and she worked heroically in directing I measures -frr the alleviation of. their pain. Mr Petersen was alive when he was released from the. wreck, and on her advice; two men worked for" nearly an hour in endeavouring to restore respiration. He seemed to recover, consciousness for a moment- but immediately collapsed. "Mr Grimstone was also found to have been very gravely injured. He stated .that ho had no sensation .in the lower part of liis body. Mrs "White sid all she could to relieve his suffering. She also, temporarily set. a porter's broken arm when he was found unconscious alongside the track. • "When the cars telescoped, Mr Goldingham /was driven through' the partition, into tho last compartment, and wo found'him thrown on 0110 of the berths, bleeding from : a cut on his forehead and unconscious. We'were able to.pull him out through a broken window, and his injuries were attended to. "Wo expected to find the-men in the postal car all killed, but they had escaped in-jury.' They were discovered in-tho forward end of the van, imprisoned by wreckage ?md soaked by water, which had escaped from a tank in tho roof of the van. They were drawn out through a window, and it was found that .the only injury was a. cut above the eye in the case of one man."

PREVIOUS_ACCIDENTS, Tliore liavo been few-big railway accidents in Now Zealand. Many minor accidents have occurred, however, largely' on account of wash-outs caused by, floods, and tho large li.umbor of level crossings in the country lias led to many 'individual accidents. The worst railway accident in the history of New Zealand was at Rakaia on the night of Saturday, March 11; 1899. During the day, 8000 persons had gone in two ldng trains-to Ashburton, to take part in the Christchurcli Meat Company's annual picnic. On returning, the first excursion train left Ashburton for Christchurch at 6 p.m. It. waited at Rakaia to allow an ordinary train to pass. In the meantime, 'the secdnd excursion train came up from Ashburton. The driver did not know that there had been a delay. An effort was made to warn him, but it was of no avail, ami the advancing train crashed into the waiting one. Four people were killed and ma g „y ™re injured. On March 29, 190/, there was a collision at Bankside, a special running into a troop train, but nobody was injured. . ~ In the following year, there was an accident at Cbaney's Corner, near Christchurch. There had been floods in the district, and these had caused a wash-out, which could not be seen by the driver. The train ran oft the lines, and several carriages were telescoped. Two men were lulled instantly, and several passengers wero injured. About thirty years ago, a tram that was ascending the incline on the Kuiuittika Range nvus hlown over the hank, and on that occasion also there were several deaths and mnny/injuries.