A RUNAWAY CAR.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 549, 2 July 1909, Page 6

A RUNAWAY CAR.

COLLIDES TWICE. LORRY AND TWO CARS DAMACED. A MOTORMAN INJURED. Cuba Street yesterday afternoon was tho scene of an exciting, not to say serione, tramcar accident. So far as can be accurately ascertained—every man who saw it had a different tale to tell—the trouble originated with the failure of the brakes on car 62—a double bogie car—which was coming down from Wallace Street in charge of Motorman G. Hancock and Conductor J: Lindsay. ':.'■■■■.'', The First Collision. Just ahead of the car was ' a two-horse lorry, belonging to Messrs: M'Ewan and Carter, carriers (of Petone), and in oharge of Wm. Mudgway (driver) and S. Drinkwater. The car bore rapidly down upon th«> which, was on its right side, and the motorman, unable to check its speed, snouted out to the driver of the lorry, who endeavoured to pull out of the way, over to the wrong side of the road. He was too late. The car caught the'lorry on the outer edge, just behind the rear wheelp, and in a couple of seconds '■■ had scraped along, splintered the forward portion of the edge-board, jammed the footboard,

and throw tho front axlo out of gear. Tho I men in the lorry wore severoly pinched'about the legs by the prcesuro of the car on tho footboard. The horses bolted, but Mudgway (tho driver) vpluckily stuck to his post, and jnst managed to keep them in hand until ho could manoeuvre thorn into Dixon Street. A big crowd had by this ,timo collected, arid the spectators heartily cheered the plucky driver.' Both Drinkwater and Mudgway wore immediately attended to, and sent to their homes. ' .•- No. 68 Runs Amok. . . ' Meanwhile, tho runaway, swaying from aide to 'side, raced towards a Karori-bound combination car (No. 28, in charge,of Motorman J. Moir), which was just negotiating the points at tho Manners Street junction, and caught up to it with a fraction of a second to spare. Tho Karori car -was almost round tho corner,: when tho' runaway': crashed into tho rear platform. There was a terrific crash; broken splintered fragments of wood flew in all directions. Luckily the KaTori car had sufficient way on to frco itself almost at once, ( and proceeded slowly forward, the whole of its rear platform a hopeloss and oomplot© wreck. The.other, its speed materially reduced by its second collision, had nevertheless a considerable amount of momentum left. The Casualties. Its motorman (Hancock) had had an anions time, and did not emerge from his experience unscathed. Fragments of, broken glass had hit him on the head, cut open his cheek, and also inflicted a nasty wound on the neck. Ho was taken to Messrs. Castles's pharmacy in Cuba Street, where his injuries were dressed, and afterwards attended to by Dr. Martin, who pronounced the wounds to bo of no great seriousness. with tho oxocption of Motorman Moir, and ! tho two lorrymen, no ono else was,injured. i There were a number of passengers on board i each of tho cars, and, naturally enough, ovory ono was greatly alarmed. ' One lady hinted, and had to be escorted to a neighbouring tea-room, whore she soon recovered from trie shock of her startling experience. Drinkwator and Mndgway, tho two lorrymen, were employed by Messrs. M'Ewon and Carter in their town service. Mudgway, who is married, resides in Hanson StreoC Drinkwater is a single man, residing in Sussex Square. Clearing the Route. Soon .after tho accident, Mr. Stuart Richardson", Tramways Engineer, arrived at tho scone, and after an inspection of tho damaged cars —the, platforms and aprons of both .wore-■: wrecked —ordored the Wallace Stroot car to bo taken to the sheds at Newtown, while tho Karori car proceeded slowly alon£ Manners, Street in tho direction of the Thorndon end, whore tho whole ~of ite rear platform and apron wero detached. Considerable difficulty was experienced on tho way, as tho wrecked portion-of-the car had been jammed outwards "to the extent that it was unablo to clear tho poles between the lines of rails. By using- a huge,'piece of timber as a loveY at each of the. poles, the journey was successfully, though slowly, accomplished. The process of getting the Wallace Street car round into Vivian Street v was very much lnoro difficult, and it was' some considerable time before tho relief gang, with jacks and tools, were able to clear the route. All traffic for a time was diverted to Courtenay Place. ' " t An Inquiry to be Held. In reply to a question, Mr. Richardson informed a representative of The Dominion that apparently tho Wallace Street car had sustained an injury to tho brakes. He could say nothing or a definite nature until he had received the reports of the officials concerned in tho accident. A private inquiry will bo-hold. In tho Runaway Car. Mr. 6. F. Hill, land and commission agent, who occupied a seat in tho smoking compartment in front of tho car Nvhich ran away, says that control was lost after the car passed tho Ghuzneo Street intersection, and tho car smashed into tho lorry about 30 or 40 yards further down, opposite R. Hannah and Co.'a boot shop. Mr. Hill says that from the time the car got-away until "it bumped into tho lorry ho heard no warning boll rung by tho motorman. After the car had cleared tho lorry, it went ahead again, and, gathering momentum as it moved down the graded stroot, rapidly removed tho last vestige of doubt that tho brakes might pull her up. Tho women in tho car were by this time standing up and staring with terrorstricken eyes, wondering what would happen. The motorman was seen trying to signal to tho conductor, and Mr. Hill put'his hood out to hear what ho wae Baying.

"Tell him I can't slop her I" eatd the motorman. Mr. Hill sang out to the conductor aad told th© women to sit down. A Jump from the Car. "They obeyed. like lambs," ho said. "I think they would ha/ro dono anything they wore ordered to do.. Wo wore not then going so very fast, which led mo to think that some of the brake power wae on, but it was quite fast enough. I saw what was about to happon, and just as the car was passing the Union Clothing Company's promises I jumped for it. The car went on,'and smashed into the roar of the Karori oar that was rounding the corner just ahead.' . "I looked afterwards and found that the points were set to take the Karori car into Manners Street, and as there was no time to cliango them our oar followed, instead of going straight 'ahead down Lower Cuba Street.' , "As it turns out,.;it wae'a godsend that the Karori car was there to act as a buffer. Had it not been there, I am euro that the big car would have , jumped the track and smashed into this bauk building, in which case there would have been a big tragedy to record. , . ■. . , ••.-. After the Smash. 7 "The scene was terrible after the smash. . The women were shrieking and children crying, the timbers of the car were groaning, and the glaes partition in front was broken. One woman, was about to alight.when she fainted, with the reaction I suppose, and would have fallen on the blocks had I not supported her." • '■

■' •■■-.:-'■■.-':.;. '■■.*.' Question. .', J, :. .':!'.. ■■' Councillor Ballinger. ,askod a. question at last night's City -Council meeting as to why one of tho damaged > cars -was taken down Lambton .Quay and 'allowed-, to block , the traffic when the obvious- course ; was ,to take it down ,to tho siding by : the Town Hall. The. Mayor replied that the.position was. that the damage'to ;the> car was,such that it could not be moved backwardsj:and consequently,had to go forward. , ,1 '''.■"■:. ; ■'. •■',- .'-..