DISASTROUS RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11493, 28 January 1903, Page 7

DISASTROUS RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

MANY PEOPLE KILLED

« [Br Telegraph.]

(Per s.s. Sonoma at Auckland.) SAN FRANCISCO, January 8. A despatch from, London (Ontario). December 2ah. says:—"Twenty-ei'tjht persons are dead and about, forty injurtd. as a result «f last night's collision between tliv Pucin'e express, on the Grand Trunk, and a freight train. in--' exuie-.s was running nearly two hours late, u.i;d was making fast time. The was tlidi.jvi.uiing to make a siding i'J clear tlu , u«ck 'or | th* express, but failed by a iiunutt or t«vo. The two trams met head on. There v.as a dreadful crash, the locumoiivvs r«w---J up and fell ever in Uie ditcii. Tlu bag-., gagv car oi tlus express telescj-pt-d a. smoker, and instantly the ciits and shrieks of the injuu'd tilled Uie air. Several of tiiu dead were terribly mutilated, heads were cut off, legs were wrenched from, the bodies, and a. level stretch of snow- became discoloured with vie blood of the victims. •me accident is believed to be due k> a telegrapher's error. The operator at one station where the two trains stopped gave an order for the freight to pass the express at Wanstead. Under the system of tho Grand Trunk the order should have been duplicated, a copy being given the conductors and engineer of the express. Instead iihe conductor of the express received an order telling torn to ran through. The freight meantime had stopped at Wanetead. A blinding storm, which was raging rendered objects invisible at a distance of a few feet. The operator at Wanstead is nob usually on duty at night, but last evening happened to call at the office. He was going out of the door when he heard a telegraph, inetrument click, and immediately call repeatedly the message, "Stop No. 5," "Stop No. 5." Seizing a lantern, the operator dashed for the door, and as he closed it heard the crash of the collision up tJbe track. "There was not a house at hand to which, the injured; could be carried. Fortunately two Pullman cars on tihe touin did not sustain tiny damage. They wwre warm and comfortable, and were converted' into a temporary .hospital. Tho injured were placed in the berths, and everything poseible done to relieve their Bufferings. The express train was made up of two baggage cars, two first-class day care, and two Pullman's. It was filled with people returning from holiday trips. A blizzard was raging, and the air ■woe thick with swirling siuow. The train was running fully fifty miles an hour, when at the Wanstead siding the headlight of the freight engine loomed up through the snow. The trains crashed! together almost before me people realised that trouble was imminent. It was a terrible grinding crash, and the car containing the baggage wits jammed into the coach three-fourtlis its length, killing a ecore, and pinning two score more in the wreckage. Flames broke out, but were quickly extinguished by those uninjured. Keecue parties were quickly formed, and did heroic work. Bitter cold added to the sufferings of the injured." December was tue month o)f railroad disasters, and besides a number of minor accidents, in each of which two or more pereons were killed, a terrible wreck occurred at Byron, California, on December 20th. An owl train running from Sen Francisco to Los Angeles.on the Southern Pacific line, broke down, and was at a standstill when it wae crashed into by the "Stockton flyer" of the same eystem. Twenty-seven persona were killed, and a larger number injured. The engine of the "flyer" telescoped the rear coach of the owl train, crushing all the occupants and scalding them with steam, which tecaped from rents in the engine. The scene was so terrifying that it required men of strong nerve for rescue work. Such men were, however, at hand. Among those on the train were ragged tramps who were stealing a ride on the owl just before the disaster. They risked being ecalded to death, and did good service to sufferers. Improvised hospitals were arranged in the churches of Byron, and the townspeople aided nobly in caring victims. The finding of the coroner's jury in the case of one of the victims of this disaster was as follows:—"According to the evidence furnished us, we find that while the crews of flyer and owl trains were operating under the general rules of the company at the time of the collision, we believe that in a large measure they tailed to take advantage of all those precautions which the said rules specifically allow, and we further believe that other accidents of a similar kind will be of frequent occurrence unless the block eystem is established over the entire line in question."