THE TRAIN TRAGEDY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1058, 22 February 1911, Page 6

THE TRAIN TRAGEDY.

j |/ : ENQUIRY BEGUN. ■ {'■■■■ ij-V '■"'' —— ■ I BWLDER FELL OVER 500 FEETB :;;"£i.., is the line'safe?; f, 'Ail inquiry into the circumstances. 6ur- |; rounding the fatal accident to Miss Alice J Power, of Greymouth, who was killed on t tho [Napier express on Monday as the rei Bulbof.a huge boulder becoming dislodged Ifrom a cliff side and crashing into the f: carriage 'in which the young lady was I travelling, was commenced at the . New j Zealander Hotel yesterday morning. i\ The,inquest was conducted by Dr. A. i M'Arthur, S.M., and the following jury:— I lliebard Ridgodale (foreman), John i- Brown, Vernon Abbott, Isaao Solomon, I-George F. M'Loan, and Harry Baker. I Inspector Ellison represented the police, i Mr. 'Jl J. M'Grath represented tho rela- [: tives of tho deceased, Mr. E. A. Dawson, ! traffic-", inspector, the liailway Department, ;*rid>Mr. Andrew Collins tho Tailoresses' < Union...- •. ■■•■-. i •!■;; Medical Testimony. ■ ■ ! Dr.: Henry stated that he had mado an ' examination, and proceeded to describe , tho.naturo of the injuries to the face- and ' head, which wero very severe. Thero I, was-, n frncturo of the skull, and of two : ribs of the left side. The fracture of the f fkull was the cause of death; and-an oxj'cecdingly heavy blow must have been • given. • , i' r;|A. Friend ■ and Fellow Pauenger. I Margaret Ellen', Moran, tailoress, Greyj mouth, stated thut she'had been a friend I. of'the deceased's-for nine years. They ! were; sitting tpgother in tho Napier cx- ':. press at the time of the accident, a hat \\ Dox'-boing between them. Deceased was J cheerful, and in good health. Just before ; witness , heard a loud-noise,' i nnd then with great suddenness sho was ', thrown across the ■ carriage, and against '■ »n'elderly lady". Miss Power she noticed I was then lying, on her back, and witness i was .unable, to say what hail happened. f; Later she saw a largo stone between her : friend and herself. •' ■-'•'•• ■ - {.-.'.■- '.;•■' The Driver's Story. ■: Douglas John Nickless, driver of the I Napier express on Monday, said that the T spot where the boulder fell was known as ';; the "sand-siding," and. was. a mile south f'of jPaekakariki. This point was passed f at; 10.47 a.m. It> was raining hard at i the time. Going round the corner at the j «pdt in question tho speed was reduced f to between 20 and 25 miles an hour. After , rounding the bend he. looked back along . tho'train, and saw the boulder, bounding, down from the hill-side. He saw that it .wag bound to strike some part of the 1 train—that- could not be avoided. •• When i; ho; first saw tho boulder it was opposite ' tho'seoond carriage about the.middle- of. {".'the train, and a chain up Jho Mil-side, •l'hfi brakes were put on aim, almost simultaneously, tho rock struck a second-class /ear.' The train stopped'in its own length, •■ and he went back to examine the car. Tho car wheels haS not been damaged nnd the car itself was fit to run, but ecvoral passengers had been injured; The 'train proceeded to Paekakariki as.quick- ( Jy, as' possible. ■ Ho then' saw the took. (Tin the car. Judging from the speed at ['.'•'■ which, the boulder travelled, it must have *■■ como from 'a' considerable, height'.'as it f; struck tho ground and bounded from the , track level up into the car. , ; Cross-examined' by Mr. M'Grath witncij stated that he had been driving on l v the 1 lino for about seven months and had K never had any, slips on the line. .That > particular spot had 'nover struck him as h being any more dangerous than other r< p]»'oes on the line. Hβ-believed, however, ( ' that there -were a number of loose stones * Mr.'M'Grath! "Has this particular spot r etriick you as being dangerous?" Witness: Not specially dangerous. At a. cl^nee-/ it. looks .dangerous. •• There are focVcisiones about?* f do not think that 1 there are any: protection works to keep 1 stones off the line, but there is eomo I protection at the stone quarry. The speed I tit the point was 20 to 25 miles an hour. f do not know tho reason for slowing down. The Department make ■ out the > schedule of speeds, which drivers have ' The.boulder would have gone through almost any protective works. Evidence of the Guard, Edward William Berrill, guard, said that he was in charge of the train. He i watt in the rear ■ van at the time of the accident. The train was stopped prompt- , ly just outside the quarry siding points. Witness'described the damage which .the catriago sustained, and the position.of ! the car as'ho found it after the accident. He ■ had been running over this i portion of' the line for two years, but 1 had never noticed dangerous stones come down the, hill in that neighbourhood. I It Vis raining hard and blowing at the. time of tho accident. , p ■ ' ' } To Mr. M'Grath: There was ■ nothing to'>make, him suppose that this portion ' of, the line was more dangerous than ( any other part. , , . ' . How Far. the Boulder Fell. ' Mr. Dawson pointed out that officers of the Railway. Department had visited ' tho scene of the accident, and had traced the course'of tho boulder about 500 feet up the.hill.-.The.Dcpartment*would.'giTe every facility to tho jury in the matter t of calling railway evidence. , At this stago the inquest was adjourned I until the afternoon, to enable the Coroner and tho jury to visit tho scene of the 1 accident. , I The inquest will .be resumed at.the S.M. Court ot 9'o'clock this morning. • Tho witnesses still to be called include , the engineer of the Railways, Mr, • Cosh; and also a ganger on this particular part 1 of the line. It is also probable that Mr. J. Marchbanks. who was engineer to tho .Maaawatu Eailway Company, may be t called. ■.-'. ........ i 'Y/' H.-H.-Oilier. U appearing on behajf of Jho .Railway Department.. . • ] SCENE OF THE TRAGEDY. HOW IT APPEARED YESTERDAY. Loose 6tone on tho cliff-side, which is met .on the Mannwatu railway line, is generally held together by flax, firn, undergrowth, and stunted native trees, but, on arrival at tho scene of tho : accident yesterday, tho coroner, jurymen, i nnd others who had made tho trip, looked up n steep cliff, scantily, covered in pat- ,-■ ches with grass, but generally of loose, ', second-grade metal, the cliff-side being i surmounted with a frowning mass of rock, ! which approached the typs known as blue , metal. Tho brow of tho cliff was knot- , ted with knobs of solid stone, weighing ! ' from a ton to two tons or more, and bej ncath was a steep unbroken elopo of hill- ', side right down to the railway, and half \ a dozen yards further on was the tea' beach. A fire had run through tho underI growth on tho hillside recently, and had j left the greater part of tho loose rock I' between tho foot of the hill and the sum- ; mit unbound. Tho face of -the cliff hart boured, perhaps, half a dozen stones ol i largo dimensions, but thcro was little, if I anything, to fear from these. Tho dan- :'■' ' ger ione was the mass of heavy metal on ! the top of the cliff. Here, several large, • " overhanging rocks pcowlcd ominously ' down, and although they might, and ! should, according to, their present holding, remain fast-for'year*, this,may bo j regarded, as long as they remain, a re- : mote sourco of danger. > Tho spot from which the death-dealing '■ boulder broke looso was on tho northern ; end of the mass of rock at the top of tho . hillside about 350 feet above the raillevel, and 515 feet horizontally. This gave the hugo boulder a course of, somo : COO fwt before it struck tho train. The boulder made'practically.no marks inits course from tho time it left its resting plnco to the tinio it reached the'foot of the hill alongside the railway line, where the earth was roughly, ploughed, This ploughed patch and a quantity of wood an>) glass - splinters from the car were all thnt remained'on the spot yesterday to mark the scene , of the fatality, v >