TRAMCAR AND 'BUS

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 38, 14 February 1905, Page 5

TRAMCAR AND 'BUS

FATAL COLLISION IN SYMONDS-STREET.

IST. HELIER'S 'BUS SMASHED TO PIECES. A WOMAN KILLED; OTHERS INJURED. Sir*_e the appalling tramcar disaster at Kingsland on Christmas Eve of 3903 the city and suburbs have been e_nir*ir__ively immune from accidents of any serious dimensions, and this cir-cranstanv-e had been a common topic ■1 of congrat—atory remarks for some j time past. Last evening, however, the sense of security was rudely shattered. At about a quarter past six o'clock in Symonds-streel, a combination ear from Onehunga crashed into an omnibus con-___ing nine people coming in from St, Heller's Bay. kiUing one of them (a lady named Mrs Lily Foster, of Ponsonby), and injuring, more or less seriously, the others. - THE 'BUS PARTY. The omnibus was one owned by Messrs Pullan and Armitage, and was bringing in a party of passengers from St. Helier's Bay. All except one entered the 'bus at this little watering place. Several passengers left the 'bns at the end of Symonds-street, leaving only eight. beside the driver to continue the, journey. The driver was Peter Ganley, an old employee of the firm. The other occupants of the vehicle, represent :n£ only fonr families, were the following: — KILLED. Mrs Lily Foster, aged 30. Picton-street, Ponsonby. INJURED. Mis>; Pearl Foster, aged 3. Pit-ton-street. Ponsonby. Mis* X'ladys Foster, aged 9. Pictonstreet, Ponsouby. Mrs H. Hill. Norfolk-street., Ponsonby. Miss Marion Hill, aged 9, Norfolkstreet. Fon^oirby. Miss .Jessie Hill, aged 7, Norfolk-street, Pmetsonby. Miss. Anna Anderson, Ponsonby-road. Mr William Young. Pompallier Terrace. • The driver. Mr Peter Ganley, lives iv Sussex-street. Ponsonby. THE COLLISION. The tramcar was combination car No. 42 from Orrehunga, in charge of Motorman William Partridge and Conductor Edward Donovan. It was .about halffull of passengers. 'Bus and tram readied 1-iw top end of together, and stopped to take up or set : down passengers. The "bus was the first to proceed. It will have been no- | ticed by persons who frequent Symonds-st-rc&t. that one side of the road is partly closed against traffic owing to the roadJ making experiment, that is proceeding there. The" busman therefore had to descend the road on what, is known as the "wrong. side " until he had passed this spot, it was when he turned to get upon the left, side of the road that the tram—tr struck him. The car struck the back of the 'bus a little to the right, earned it —almost lifted it—along the road, and dumped it down a mass of . crumpled ruins and mangled bodies. A PAINFUL SCENE. The scene was one to melt the heart of the strongest of men. The unknown nature of this strange impacts its awful suddenness, tbe. fearful feelinji of belnlcssness a.s rhe passengers were burled forward, the thud of the final collapse, the wrenching and entanglement of limbs, and. above all. the tight nieruless . grip which held down those who were! pinned beneath the wreckage or crushed under the car wheels—these things j make up an experience that can never be contemplated without, a shudder of horror. ; THE VICTIMS. Mrs Ko_it--r was killed. She was thrown ; from her seat and fell bemeath the tramcar, which inflicted such desperate injuries that she. died before she reached j the hospital. Her back was broken. ' She had been spending a brief holiday with her two little, girls at St. Helier's Bay, where they possess a residence, and on Sainrday her husband went down to join them. He returned by an earlier 'bus on Monday morning, and thus escaped being involved in the disaster. To him and the tittle ones the affair must be inconceivably painful—a cruel climax to a happy holiday at tiie seaside. By the action of a maineit* were the two little girls struck motherless, a moment when their own injuries made them cry prteouely for the comfort which a mother alone could give. The yoimaresT. of them. Pearl Poster, had one of her knees broken so badly a.s lo necessitate a difficult operation, and render the ultimate loss of the limb possible. The eldest. Gladys Foster, had a leg less severely injured, and was otherwise brui=ed. Mrs. Hill, wife of Mr. Herbert Hill, of Norfolk-street, Ponsonby, was badly shaken, _nd was lacerated on the leg and head. She had been spending the day at the reside—cc of her father, Mr. Gatenby. of East Tamaki. Her daughter Marion sustained only slight injuries, but the other daughter, Jessie, was badly cut on the side of the head and on her knees. Miss Anna Anderson, who had been enjoying a week-end visit to St. Helier's, is a sister of Miss Cora Anderson, who was in the wreck of tbe Elinga_ite. She was sitting near Mrs. Foster, but had a more fortunate escape, her injuries i being restricted to numerous bruises I and severe nerve shock. Mr. William Young was riding j alongside the driver, and sustained j damage to his head and legs. The drrFeT, Peter Ganley, is one of the j n-cost seridus_y injured. He sustained I internal injury, and had several ribs broken. j

THE ______?. The relief of tbe suffering w_s eagerly undertaken by the tram officials and passengers, iv addition to Mr Lysaght (tramway .traffic manager) and others of the company's officials who arrived with their usual promptness. Dr. J. H. Neil, who witnessed the smash from his gig; Dr. A. C. Purchas, and others rendered valuable assistance. The injured passengers were conveyed to the hospital and elsewhere in cabs promptly despatched to the scene of the accident by Mr Lysaght. Concerning Mrs Foster Dr. Neil says he found her lying under the car on the rail. She was dangerously injured, but showed very faint signs of life, and he ordered that she should be removed at once to the hospital. Her two little girls were not told what had happened to their mother, but- were removed to tbe Rawlingstone private hospital under the care of Dr. "Purchas. Dr. Purchas says his attention was first paid to Mrs Hill and her two little girls, who were lying together by the roadside. The oldest of the girls, who was scarcely injured, he sent home. The other one. with her mother, he sent to the Auckland Hospital- The driver, Ganley, was also sent to the hospital. THE HOP_SI_-. One of the horses had to .b? extricated by jacks from beneath the tramear. It was not fatally injured, and the other horses were only slightly hurt. THE 'BUS-DRIVER'S STORY. Peter Ganley. driver of tbe "bus. is a married man, living in Sussex-street, Ponsonby. lie has two children, and is 34 years of age. He is considered a steady and careful driver, and has had no accident for the past 12 years during which period he has been on the St. Helper's Bay service. Peter Ganley is the driver who was presented with £25 the other day by the residents of Remuera as-a mark of appreciation of his skilful driving and courtesy. The occasion of the preseni tation was Ganley being removed from I the Remuera service to the St. Helier*s Bay line, when 'the tram-cars began to I run. Oanley's explanation of the collision is as follows: "As there were some improvements being effected to the road just before you come to East-street, I was compelled to keep to the 'up' car line. I was driving down there when 1 saw a "decker 5 coming up, and as there were carts coming up alongside of it, 1 decided to cross over the other line as quickly as I could- There was a cart abreast of mc, however, and that prevented mc from doing so immediately. 1 could not say anything until that cart crossed, which it did as soon as it arrived at that part of the road where the incompleted improvements came to an end. I was therefore unable to cross over at that particular spot. I had to pro further down the up luie before I could do so. You see the tramway pole was in the road. Well, before I attempted to cross over I looked to see if a car was coming, and seeing and hearing none I proceeded to cross. The car struck the bus at the back, a little to the right. 1 think. I was thrown out towards the footpath, and. being partly dazed, I lay there for about ten minutes, when 1 was picked np and put into a cab and brought here. I was driving three horses, but I don't know how they got on. It was my lirst accident/ THE SPEED OF THB CAR. The speed of the ear at the time of the collision lias naturally been the subject of much discussion. The motorman says the speed was not great, but the estimates of others vary. The tramcar had stopped at East-street, but the road from that point has a decline, which would enable good speed to be attained in a very short distance. The point of the actual collision is very close, to the scene of a former collision with the City Council's road roller, when several passengers were injured. THE INQUEST. The Coroner (Mr Gresham) has arranged to hold an inquest on Mrs Foster at the public Hospital at 10 o'clock to-morrow. THE MOTORMAN"*R VERSION. Motorman Partridge has furnished a statement to the Tramways Company to the effect that when he left the end of the penny section, at the corner of Syinonds-street and Khyber Pass-road, he noticed the 'bus travelling towards town, on its proper side of the road, directly in -front of the car. When about two chains oft" East-street the driver of the 'bus was obliged, owing to the excavations being made on the west side of the .street, in connection with the City GouT-ciTs formation works, to cross over to the right-hand side of the road. This he accomplished t safely, and he then drove down the right-hand side of the road. The car pulled up at the stopping-place at Eaststreet, and put down a passenger, another passenger getting on the car at the same place. When the car resumed its journey the 'bus was still in front of it on the right-hand .side of the road. When about four chains on the city side of 1-ast-strect the 'bus-driver started to cross over again in front of the car to the left side of the road, which was at this point available for traffic. The motorman states that the "Iris started to cross over the line without any warning. He immediately applied the emergency wake and the ratchet brake. The motors answered to the emergency brake, but the motorman states that owing to the short warning he was unable to pull up the ear in time to avoid a collision with the 'bus. The conductor (Edward Donovan) was inside the ear at the time looking after his fares, and he states that he knew nothing of what occurred bfore the actual collision. ON THE BON SEAT. Mr Young, who was sitting on the front seat in company with the "driver, says: **We had no warning of the impending accident. I had not heard a gong or anything in the shape of a warning ricrte from the tram-car, and my ILt"st intimation was a bump on the back of the head. For a moment I thought that some of the front gear of the 'bus had given way. but the screaming of the inside passengers implied that something more serious had happened. I was swept along some distance, with the "bus going to pieces all round mc. When I came to a standstill I saw that Ganley was still in the wreckage, and said, -What's up, Peter?' I received no reply, and, creeping out in a halfdazed condition, crawled across the roadway to the footwalk, where 1 sat on tbe kerbstone for a few moments to collect my senses. From the ap-peara-nce of my clothing aud knees 1 came to the conclusion that I had been j dragged along the roadway at the botl torn of the wreckage, but tbe whole 1 thing was so sudden that it is impossible for mc to give anything like a \ pToper idea of what had happened." A LADY'S DESCRCPTION. 1 Miss Anderson gives a brief graphic I statement. She. says'; "I saw the car I coming, and realised that there was no

help for us. I cried out, but immediately afterwards the collision took place. I was dazed for the moment, and felt that it was immaterial to mc whether I was killed or alive. I believe I was the only one left in the 'bus, and that the others were all thrown out; at any rate, I was found in the 'bus. It was a dreadful experience, but I remember very little about it/* THE WRECKED '.BUS. : The shattered 'bus was, by the direction of the police, left on the roadside near the scene of the accident so that the jury could visit the spot and see for themselves how the fatal collision occurred. On the Newton side of the road is the body of the "bus in an unrecognisable heap, only the announcement on the side. "Purewa and St. HelierV giving any indication that the vehicle was once one of the largest omnibuses on the road. The fore carriage seems to have escaped without much damage, but there is no part of the body of the vehicle intact. The back, into which the tramcar crashed, was literally pulverised into matchwood. The strong wheels were ripped to pieces, and the under-earriage broken up into such small fragments that this wreckage, which was left on the roadside about 15 yards from where the remainder of the 'bus was finally deposited, forms a very compact heap. The two back seats were forced forward and smashed to splinters, but the front and two seats next behind escaped much damage, though the -wreckage forced upon them from the other part of the 'bus smashed the framework and the glass behind the driver's seat. THE INJURED PASSENGERS. Inquiries made this morning into the condition of the injured passengers show, that the fatal results of the accident are fortunately likely to be limited to Mrs Foster's death. Ganley, the 'bus-driver, Mrs Hill, and her children are at the hospital, and all are doing well. Ganley was crushed on the right side, and the presence of a big abrasion on his right hip points to the possibility of some internal injury, but this cannot be definitely ascertained' for a few days. Mrs Hill and her children, though suffering badly from shock, are progressing favourably, and the same report was received to-day from Rawlingston Private Hospital'in connection with Pearl and Gladys Foster.