RAILWAY DISASTER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9070, 22 April 1908, Page 5

RAILWAY DISASTER.

HEARTRENDING SCENES.

PASSENGERS MANGLED AND BURNED.

THIRTY-SEVEN KILLED, SIXTY INJURED

Received April 21, 8.50 a.m. MELBOURNE, April 21. A dreadful railway collision occurred late last night, near Braybrook Junction, where the Bendigo and Ballarat lines meet. A heavily-laden passenger team from Bendigo crashed into a train which had just arrived from Ballarat. Twenty-seven were killed outright, and about one hundred were injured. Received April 21, 9.16 a.m. MELBOURNE, April 21. The occurrence was the most appalling disaster in Victoria's railway history. The Bendigo train dashed into the Ballarat train with terrific force. The foremost carriages ware smashed to matchwood. The wrecked trains immediately caught fire, adding to the horror of the scene. The line was strewn with wreckage and dead and wounded. Women shrieked, and the CRIES OF THE INJURED were heart-rending. At half-past eleven a special train left Melbourne with a medical corps and equipment. The fire brigade sent out detachments to Braybrook, which is about seven mites from the town. The collision occurred a little before eleven o'clock. The Ballarat train, which was running a I'ttle late, was just coming out of the station when the Bendigc train, which was drawn by two powerful engines, crashed into the rear of the moving Ballarat train, which was going so slowly that the force of impact was not lessened to any considerable extent. The guard's van of the Ballarat train was splintered to pieces. The next car, a second-class one, was smashed to atoms, and the next, which was a first-class,was telescoped. Three other cars, which were crowded with passengers —some of the people having to stand as the compartments were so full —took fire, and a hor rible scene was witnessed. The dead and dying, being imprisoned within the burning debris, were practically roasted to death before they could be extricated. When the relief train arrived, at a quarter past midnight, it was found that the platform was strewn with dead, and wounded were lying all over the place. The shrieks of the affrighted passengers when the trains collided, the screams of women and children, and the GROANS OF STRONG MEN IN AGONY, were so dreadful that the hardiest nerves gave way under the awful strain. One man was lying groaning on the platform and moaning. "Shoot me! Shoot me! For God'." sake end my suffering!" Medical men were promptly on the spot and rendered every assistance, though, of course, it was impossible to deal promptly with so many people. The fire brigade put out the burning carriages, and the rescuers were then able to take some tallies of the dead and wounded. One poor little boy, who was killed in the smash, was thrown about like a bit of lumber by the impact, and a dozen almost equally heart-rendering scenes were witnessed. In the third of the shattered carriages was a party of nine. When the crash came tne carriage shot on top of one car, with another car piled on top Of it. Top and bottom cars caught fire, and the party in the third had a thrilling experience, THE FLAMES LICKING THROUGH the floor of their prison. With herculean efforts four managed to burst ope" the door of their compartment and escaped. What became of the remaining five is unknown. Miss White, who was dragged from the into the train from Ballarat, which was very late before it moved off. I heard a whistle, and a gentleman said: 'ls that Bendigo'' Before thei\> couldbe any answer there was a terrific smash, and the Bendigo train dashed into our train. Women screamed and men shouted orders. I started to go along the wrecked carriages, but the sight of THE KILLED AND WOUNDED was too much for me, and I collapsed on the platform. "The scene was a terrible one. Women were screaming and moaning with pain, while they groped round the wreck of the train, where a number of wounded passengers were helping one another to bind up their injuries. There were a lot of children there, whose cries as they looked for their parents were heartrending. To add to the hon-or of the scene, the carriages caught fire, and it looked as if a number of the wounded would be burned alive. The fire brigade, however, soon got the flames subdued. A MOST PITIFUL SIGHT was the terror of a young mother in my carriage. She was nursing a baby, and when the smash came the collision knocked the infant out of her arms. The baby fell into my lap and then on to the floor. The mother was almost distracted as she searched about the compartment for her baby, and on finding it uninjured gave a cry of joy and fell into a faint." Another passenger states that a battlefield scene could not have been worse than the frightful scene of carnage in the big room of the Sunshine Harvester Works, which,

EXCURSION TRAINS IN COLLISION.

large as it was, would not hold all those who urgently needed attention. "I saw a very large number of people horribly mutilated," he said; "indeed, it was the exception to come across any one who had not been injured in some form. A very large number of passengers were panic-stricken and lost their heads, adding by their wild rushes to the terror of the tragedy; while saveral people were burned to death before any help could be rendered them." HORRORS ON THE PLATFORM. BRAKES REFUSE TO ACT. Received April 21, 11.53 a.m. MELBOURNE, April 21. A full list of the killed is net yet available, but the latest report from the scene of the accident is that thirty-seven persons %ave been killed, while sixty are injured. It has been officially recorded that the stationmaster at Sunshine says he was the only one on duty at the station. He had set the points for the Ballarat train to come into the station, and the points remained set in that way. Ha was busy attending to the despatch of the Ballarat train, and had no time to alter the points, even if he had so desired. Consequently the points stood against the Bendigo train, the driver of which disregarded the signals, with tne result that the train ran over the points and smashed into the Ballarat train. The cars which were demolished contained about one hundred and twenty passengers. Driver Milburn, who was on the engine attached to the Bendigo train, stated that when he noticed the signals against him the Westinghouse brake refused to act He then reversed the engine, but it did not respond immediately, and then the collision occurred. Had the Ballarat train got away to time the accident would never have happened. It was about 45 minutes late. The NOISE OF THE COLLISION was so great that the whole neighbourhood was aroused. The platform was quite dark, and it was impossible for the injured passengers, as they rushed up and down in their excitement to avoid trampling or tumbling over the dead and wounded. The first ambulance train which was sent took out Dr Percy "and a corps of railway ambulance workers, who were provided with first aid requisites. As their lanterns began to flit about the platform, the terrible scene was displayed IN GRUESOME HORROR. Bodies of women and men, with features battered out of recognition, and limbs mangled, lay about the platform. One corpse, with the head completely torn off, lay close by the mangled body of a mother with her dead baby clasped in her arms. The body of a man was hanging up between two of the carriages, in a position where for a long time the workers conld do nothing to extricate it. It was with the greatest difficulty that many of the bodies could be extricated at all, as they were impaled on the ends of sharp splintered wood works. A number of the injured are likely to succumb.

SOME OF THE VICTIMS. GOOD WORK BY THE HARVESTER FIREMEN. Received April 21, 9.50 a.m. MELBOURNE, April 21. It was half-past three betore the injured reached Melbourne. It is impossible as yet to give a list of the killed, but amongst thoEe identified are: Alfred Illingson, Maria Dannoch, Amy Laffin, Alice Laffin; while among those seriqusly injured are:—Jessie Williams, Alex. Oliver, Rose Acreman, Annie Maffin, Harold Peters, P. Oxlade, George Needham, l-'ercy Walsh, W. Young, Wilfred Reynolds, J. Varty, Ethel Lynch, G. Bosher; and forty-three less seriously. All the victims, so far as is yet known, are Victorians. A medical man reports that he caught a GHOUL ROBBING A MAN who was badly mangled, but, in the absence of the police, he could not detain him. One child was disembuwelled. Two persons were speeding their honeymoon. The bride was killed, and the husband was desperately injured. The lire brigade from the Harvester works close by rendered splendid service, quickly extinguishing the fire. RATE OF SPEED TRAVELLED. SIGNALS SAID TO SHOW LINE CLEAR. Received April 21, 10.25 a.m. MELBOURNE, April 21. The Bendigo train was drawn by two engines, and was travelling about fifteen miles an hour. The drivers and firemen escaped with bruises. None of the Bendigo passengers were injured. The driver declares that the signals showed a clear line. Received April 21, 6 p.m. MELBOURNE, April 21. The following among the killed have been identified:— Francis Dollings, Alex. McKay, Victor Pascoe, William Nankervis, J. Brown, Ernest

Denier, Mrs Hughes. Mrs Tucker, Agnes Wright, Dolly Green, and Thomas Huntington.

WORK OF IDENTIFICATION. HEART-RENDING SCENES. Received April 21, 9.25 p.m. MELBOURNE, April 21. Little or no information as to the identity of the killed could be ascertained this morning owing to the great difficuly in identifying the bodies, which were almost inextricably mixed up in the wreck of shattered carriages. The officials at Sunshine had to leave the work of identification to relatives when the first mortuary train arrived at Spencer Street station. Meantime an army of cabs arrived at the station, and waggons were drawn up in readiness. Doctors, nurses, and ambulance men were waiting to render aid and anxious friends were patiently standing in groups, all making A WEIRD PICTURE in the dim moonlight. The bodies as they lay ranged round the walls of the Spencer Street station presented an awful spectacle. The majority were shockingly'mutilated. In the course of identification SOME HEART-RENDING SCENES were witnessed, and it was pitiful to see the grief stricken relatives led away as their sad business came to an end. Soon the work of identification was completed, and the bodies placed in coffins and removed for burial. In some ;ases the injuries were so terrible that the doctors had to administer morphia and strychnine before the wounds could be dressed. The majority of the cases are very ' seriojs, a more than usual percent- j age consisting of fractured limbs, shattered hips and thighs, injuries to the spine, in addition to the inevitable shock. There were about sixty victims in the first relief train, and six of them are dead. The second relief train brought thirty-one dead and eleven injured. Very few of the sufferers were able to be sent to their homes. One particularly bad case was that of a man who had a fractured thigh, and who had nearly bled to death. There are a great many fractured legs, arms, hips, thighs, and in some cases the eyes of the victims had been put out. There were many cases of spinal injury, and a great number suffered from shock. The sights which met the gaze of anxious spectators as the first relief train began to discharge its freight was enough to TOUCH THE STOUTEST HEART with their pathos and tragedy. The spectacle suggested a battlefield with its toll of victims. First aid had been rendered at Sunshine, and broken limbs were in splints, and brui?ed heads in bandages. Some of the victims were apparently unconscious, and some showed the livid pallor of death in their countenances. Tha faces of some were covered with blood, and here and there a poor broken head showed through the extemporised handkerchief bandage. Pathetic groans broke from the lips of some of the worst cases as they were lifted into stretchers, evidencing the intense pain they were enduring. Received April 21, 10 p.m. MELBOURNE, April 21. When the Sunshine Fire brigade turned out to extinguish the burning carriages, the first man to reach the station was an auxiliary fireman n:med Laffan. He worked energetically to put out the burning debris, and when it was possible to remove the imprisoned passengers, amongst the first bodies recovered were those of two of his sisters. Legs and arms that had been cut off were lying around, and in a wrecked carriage some people were found with the life crushed out of them, hanging by the chins from a hatrack, against which they had been jammed when the Bendigo engine ploughed its way into the train. I

Dr Vox, the first medical man to arrive on tlie scene, GRAPHICALLY DESCRIBED his inspection of the dead and wounded while they were lying on the Sunshine railway platform. The spectacle that met his eye was awful. Thero were telescoped carriages from which the railway officials were extricating dead bodies and the living. Every third or fourth person he came up to appeared to be dead. Amongst the first sixty he examined, quite fifteen or twenty were lifeless, and the bulk were wounded suffering from very serious injury. The dead in particular appeared to receive shocking injuries, which must have killed them outright. THE LATEST. Received April 21, 10.25 p.m. MELBOURNE, April 21. Mr Tait, Chief Commissioner of Railways, interviewed, stated that all signals and points at Sunshine were interlocked, and the trains were working on the block system. There appears no question but that the signals were against the Bendigo train. The. driver of the leading engine on the Bendigo train, Milburn, claims that when he saw the distant signal at caution he applied the brakes, intending to stop at the home signal, if on reaching it he found it standing at danger. Milburn also states that when the home signal was not clear he applied the brakes, but they failed to act, and the collision occurred shortly after. The accident brakes tested disclosed ample braking power, and the brakes were in good order. The guard of the Bend'go train states that the brakes worked satisfactorily. Mr Tait added that the [ night was clear and the signals burning properly. As the Bendigo line is straight for more than three miles west of Sunshine, and there are no obstructions, the engineman of the approaching train should have had a clear view of the signals received.