THE GUARD'S STORY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 8, 10 July 1923, Page 7

THE GUARD'S STORY

GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE

ACCIDENT

WARM PRAISE -FOR THE

RESCUERS.

(BI TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL TO THE.POST.)

AUCKLAND, This Day

The narrative of the guard of the wrecked train, Mr. H. P. Hobson, provides" a graphic description of the appalling effects of the accident. Interviewed at Ongarue, he fully confirmed the statement that the presence in the slip of the huge rhyolite boulder was primarily responsible for the telescoping of the second-class carriages in which all the casualties occurred. Mr. Hobson. who was uninjured, but considerably affected by the sufferings lie had witnessed, was averse to talking of bis own share in the rescue work, but could not speak highly enough of the volunteers from' among the passengers and residents of Ongarue who assisted therein while awaiting the relief train from Taumarumii. This arrived within two "hours of the smash.

Mr. Hobson said his train cleared Ongarue at 5.50 a.m., and was then running at about 25 to. 30 miles an hour. He was in his'brake van at the rear of the express. "About a minute and a half after passing Ongarue/' he said, "we came to a sudden stop, and I at once surmised that we had struck a slip. The shock was not sufficient at my end of the train to cause me to fall. There were three distinct phases of stoppage, with a second or two between each. The first impression was that of striking, the second that of something settling, and the third the dead stop. Grabbing my hand lamp I tore along the right-hand-side of my train as far as the forward but was. unable to get through into the centre. I jumped on to the platform, but was unable to get throgh into the car owing to the gate of the platform being jammed and buckled. I therefore climbed on to the top of the carriage.,and from there was able to realise at a glance what had happened. Daylight was just breaking, and I could see ahead along the cutting to where the engine and tender and postal van, lay on their sides. On all hands I could hear cries of distress and piteous appeals for help. DIFFICULTIES OF RESCUE WORK.

"Calling for volunteers I had a quick response from the uninjured passengers and the postal officials, all of whom assembled $nd commenced without delay the work of rescue. I rushed back to my van and procured axes, saws, crowbars, and other breakdown equipment, and sent the sleeping-car attendant back to Ongarue with the news, and a. call, for medical aid.. 1 then went to the rear end of the fourth car in the train, a secondclass carriage, in which I could see tlie passengers were in serious straits. I put my cap over my hand and broke the lavatory window with my fist and pulled the broken glass away to make an entry. By this time, however, one of the passengers had managed to burst open the door. I then attacked the side of the coacli with an axe, having noticed the bad plight of four or five of the occupants ; •one of-thorn, a; young lady, had one arm projecting through a window and one . foot protruding through. a hole! in the side of the cars. . She was appealing for help. The whole side of the car -was bulging out, about 18in to 2ft, and owing to the framing, etc., it took us some time to chop away the side of the coach and alleviate the sufferings of the trapped passengers. A group of five or six'people were all huddled together in the rear corner of. this fourth car. . They had been literally swept there, with their seat's during the telescoping of their car and the two ahead. The seats were chair seats,- and the whole of them in this section of the carriage had been •wrenched from their sockets and crushed to the end of the compartment, the unfortunate passengers hopelessly intermingled with them." A LITTLE HERO. "I saw. many heart-rending sights during the period which followed," continued Mr. Hobson. "You must understand that there were many. willing workers, and that I was constantly moving from one part of the train to another in my anxiety to do the utmost possible for the suffering and injured. At one time I would be on the roof of a car, at another in tho traini and again on the top of the bank helping to drag the dead and maimed out through the windows or through gaps we had cut in the tops and sides of the cars. Several of the dead had been .killed outright. The only lady to be killed in the' wreck, Mrs. Donald, was in one of the rear seats in • the fourth car. Near herv was the young lady to whom I have previously referred, and she was huddled on top of a seat. In a corner in the same car was a little boy of about seven years, who, when rescuers broke in, was crying piteously and galling for his daddy. The poor little fellow had both his legs seriously injured. His father, who had been badly cut over the right eye and was bleeding, gathered lilb boy into his arms and with assistants removed him to a nearby house of a railway ganger, where he received surgical attention. The lad proved himself a little hero, enduring his pa^n with wonderful fortitude and bravery, refraining from complaining. .VICTIMS IN AWFUL PLIGHT. "Hedged in as wo were in a narrow cutting, the work of rescue was rendered most difficult. I. remember, that after working on the fourth car I turned my attention to the second-class 'smoker,' the carriage immediately behind the postal van. It was here that tho worst casualties occurred and tho greatest damage was done. This car, when the impact came, telescoped with two in the rear. It contained from 25 to 30 passengers, while the next car contained about :12, and the third seven or eight. All three had been literally welded together, and the passengers wero in an awful plight. Some in the front end were dead, as were two in tho centre and ono or two in the rear end. In order to get to them we had to cut through the roof of the 'smoker.' Inside there was an indescribable scene of confusion and splintered wreckage. Some, of the injured were pinned down, and had to wait until we released them with saws and axes or lifted heavy weights from their bodies. Once a man in one of the cai's struck a match and there was. an ignition'of gas, but this was instantly extinguished. The dead wero laid on the left-hand bank, overlooking tile Ongarue Jliver. or. cushions and.covered with rugs. The injured were also provided witli rugs, etc., as they were taken to the bank, all being got ready to be sent in to Taumarunui. All bore their ordeal bravely. "GOD WAS GOOD TO US." "The honor of the scene. was added to by Ilir. hissing of tho escaping steam from the engine and the- moniiti of tlie injured as 'they ■recora-ed irbm ike ■

wreck. I could not help noticing also the incessant roaring of the river as it raced over tlie rapids in the vicinity as though striving to minimise the human tragedy in which we were taking our grim part. God was. good to us. He kept, the weather fine and our efforts were unhampered. I could not but ad-1 mire the way in which the injured passengers toiled for the alleviation of those who had suffered worse than themselves. Yeoman service, for instance, was rendered by the Maori team of representative footballers who were on- the train. The first of the injured passengers were sent to Taumarunui within two or three hours after the disaster, and the remainder arrived there shortly after noon. There, was some delay owing, to .two or three-requiring surgical aid before they could, be transferred. The dead -were taken in to Taumarunui later."