EXETER TRAIN SMASH.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2016, 25 March 1914, Page 7

EXETER TRAIN SMASH.

CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER. VERDICT OF CORONER'S JURY 6y Tel6jr&ph—Press Association— CoDjrlEht (Roc. March 2-i, 8.50 p.m.) Sydney, March 24. ~ The inquest on the , victims of tho Exeter (N.S.W.) railway disaster lias concluded. Tho verdict of the jury was to the effect that tho accident was caused by Driver Irwin over-running the home signal when it was at "Danger." -There was added a rider that tho loop lines should be lengthened to . accommodate any.train; or that a refuge siding should be made at either end; more precaution was necessarv in foggy weather. • ■ ■ • J Driver Irwin was committed for trial on a charge of manslaughter. Bail was fixed at £200. [A graphic account of the disastrous collision at Exeter station, near Sydney, appears "" ' A GRAPHIC ACCOUNT. The recent railway disaster at Exeter was tho most terrible accident ever recorded in the annals of the New South Wales railways. Fourteen passengers were killed, and about 20 injured. Two carriages were completely telescoped. -The cause of the disaster was the thick fog which hid the signal and prevented the driver and .fireman of the Temora mail seeing tho goods engine until too late to avoid a collision. There were contributory causes. First the goods train was running, lato. Had it been up to schedule it would have passed Exeter and been .at Moss Vale before the mail came through. Then tho'goods train was inordinately longtoo long for the loop. When the engine reached tho points at tho northern end of the loop the lasli trucks were still on the maid-line at tho other end. So tho goods train had to go through the loop on to the main line again to permit of tho last vehicles coming clear of the lino prior to being propelled back to tho "refuge" siding. ■ _,

Terrific Impact. It was just as tho goods train was starting to back again into the loop that the Temora mail emerged from.the mist and crashed into the engine. The impact was terriffic. It could be heard half a mile away. And following the crash was the hideous noise of splintering timbers and crunching iron. The concussion woke the passengers in the rear carriages, and many were thrown to the floor. They hurriedly jumped out of tho train,- while tho roar of tho collision woke the villagers of Exeter, who came hurrying to the scene In the midnight darkness, shrouded in a. thick fog, nothing could be seen distinctly, but tho agonised cries of the injured and dying passengers brought the rescuers to the front of the train whero the wreckage was piled 20 feet high. ■■'•'.■ ; Agonising Scenes. Hugo flare lights were hurriedly, brought from the Exeter station,- 150 yards away, and bonfires were lit at the side of the line. The flickering lights then made visible a scene of wreck and ruin. Two long carriages had been forced into the space of one, and in tho midst of the resultant debris could be the unfortunate..passengers, some lying still in' 1 death,'*''somo'Diai)~Rled almost beyond recognition, some only slightly injured, and other wonderfully I'lmcathod.-,- Passengers ■ with 'friends and relatives in-flic'smashed carriages Were sobbing- and crying alongside the ruin, whilo the moans , of tho injured could bo heard for hours; for the wreck-' uge and tho wounded were so horribly mixed up that the work of rescue- was terribly'difficult. - - ■

Near tho -Exoter station a gang of navvies were camped, and they were nearly all wakened by. the noiso of the collision! One of them, lying awake, had heard the oiirushing .iiail and the sudden crash. "Smash, boys," he yelled, "turn out," and soon the wholo gang, nearly 40 strong, were lurrying through the dark on their errand of. mercy. Two more rushed through by trolly from Bundanoon, and just beat tho,- Goulburn break-down train to Exeter. And all night long these toilers fought for the lives of their fellow-men and women imprisoned in wreckage. Axes, crowbars, and lifting-jacks were requisitioned. The sides of the carriages were torn out. The roofs—what was left of them—wero lifted off, and

ho wounded and dead tenderly lifted iut. ' ' .; ■

Of the fourteen who perished five were killed outright, three died while crushed iu the carriages, , one succumbed as the rescuers reached him, and two died on the Exeter platform. Tho other three breatlfcd their last in the improvised hospital in. the sleeping car. viage. ..'.'■-.

' Miraculous Escapes. Extraordinary escapes from sudden death characterised tho tragedy. Oneman'and his Tvifo escaped with a slight shock, while Mr. and Mrs. Minnis on the opposito seat woro killed. Another passenger was sitting still and two dead bodies were thrust on top of him. Mr. Peter Cassannrti only arrived in Australia last week from Europe, whore he spoilt 14 months fighting with the- Greek army against the Turks. The passengers on each side of him wore killed. The driver and fireman of the'Tcmora mail woro particularly lucky to escape. De6pito the force of the impact and the damage to the engine they only suffered slightly from the quantity of coal which was heaped over their lc'gs. The driver and fireman of the goods train also escaped. Several children in tht. fatal carriages were thrown into corners aiid on the racks and were also fiftod out little tho worse for their startling experience.

Just as the concussion of tho collision throw tho passengers from their seats in tho rear portion of tho train ono mat' Bat up, nibhod his bruised head, and exclaimed: "I knew something would happen. Serves mo right, for travelling vn the -unlucky Friday, the thirteenth."

Passenger's Story. Tho most graphic accouut of the disaster was told by Mr. Ainsworth, a dental surgeon, of West Wya'.ong. Ho was a passenger by tho mail train, and narrowly escaped with his life, being for t. tinio' pinioned dowa by wreckage amongst tho injured and dying. "I liatl just lighted a cigarette-," ho paid to a reporter of-'tho "Sydney Morning Herald," "and was just settling down to a smoke when thoro was a tremendous crash, and I and my wife, mother, and child, who wero with mo in tho carriago, wero flung up and backwards, a fact that saved our lives. Tho same instant tho walls of tho compartment seemed to fly to pieces, and tho hvo people in tho compartment in front of us wero smashed through tho partition and jammed right on to us. They wero Nurso Heaver and Mrs. Heaver ond somo others I do not know. But they were all dead. Tim little boy Nealn who was wiEli ns ; was flung up" against the wall, and his mother and I tool; turns at holding him up to takn the strain oft his legs. My own child was saved, by ono lavatory compartment being pushed right over him and thus pinning a case against winch all the wreckage piled without hurting him. 'It was a terrible- experience. Lightj Were instantly extinguished, and tho tanks on the- roof broke, and emptied the water all over us. It was blowing hard, and a eolr]. driving mist wet erel> one to tHe skin. I had to be chopped oilt of the carriage, and then set to work to tug and save the others. I got my wife and mother and child through the

window, and then cut away tho debris that pinned Nurse Eddy down on tho floor, and after that helped carry Nurso Heaver away. But she- was beyond all help. "There was very little confusion, and no panic. Of course, tho poor folk who woro injured could not holp moaning; but they all behaved splendidly. Many of the women had al 1 their clothes torn to ribbons, and most of them wero only lightly clad, as they had settled down for tho night when tho smash occurred. I have not been ablo to sleep or rest since. As soon as I closo my eyes I hear tho crash, and tho screams break out again, and most of all tho low, patient moaning of tho dying." _ All previous accidents on the Australian railways, however, sink into insignificance beside that dreadful disaster which occurred at tho Sunshino station, near Melbourne, on Easter Monday night, 1908, and in which no fewer than 44 persons were killed, and upwards of 400 injured. That memorablo smash was the result of a collision between the Ballarat and Bendigo trains. The facts elicited first at tho coroner's inquest, and afterwards at the trial of tho two drivers, who were indicted for manslaughter, went to show that tho Bendigo train, which wrought all the mischief, did so because its driver, following a recognised Departmental custom, ran past a distant danger signal at full, speed, trusting to tho brake to pull him lip before reaching the station ho was forbidden to enter. Apart from the appalling loss of life, the Victorian Government had to pay about £124,000 in compensation.