THE ROSLYN TRAMWAY ACCIDENT.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2234, 26 April 1881, Page 3

THE ROSLYN TRAMWAY ACCIDENT.

We extract the following from the report of the " Daily Times" of yesterday. Referring to the accident the " Times " says : To fully understand tho occurrence and the reason of it, a brief description of the principle upon whioh the line was worked will be necessary. The length of the line is about three-quirters of a mile, and uphill the whole way, the grade of the incline ranging from 1 in 8 to lin 5. The starting-place in Dunedin was at the foot of Rattray street, about 200yds from Prinoes street, and at the junction of Battray with Maclaggan street. The other terminus was on the Town belt at Roslyn. The direct motive power was an endless travelling wire rope, driven by an engine at the top of the incline. The t' ft oS| whioh followed Rattray street up to the Salutation Hotel, had one considerable curve in it, viz., at tho junction of Smith etreot, between the High School and new Catholic Cathedral site. The wire rope travelled in a ohannel 2ft below the ground, and the cars were fastened to this rope by " grippers " —that is, from tho centre of the car a bar went down to the rope with two "jaws" on it, one "jaw" to catoh the rope coming down, the other the rope going up. The rope travelled at the rate of five and a half miles an hour. To start the car, a screw, worked by a man in the body of the car, made the gripper catch, and no more was needed. To stop it at any point dosired, the hold of the gripper was first relaxed. If nothing else was done tho oar, as may bo imagined, would very quickly run back to the foot of the hill (which, as will appear, was precisely the reason of the accident). To maintain it in position on the line, thorefore, a " brake" came into play. It whs of tho kind known as a "slipper" brake It did not act on the wheels, as brakes commonly do, but on the rails. Bimply stated, a piece of wood about two feet in length, and the width of the rail, was by great pressure screwed down on each rail, and thus bore the weight of the car. So heavy was the pressure that the wheels would be almost entirely lifted from the rails ; and a oar so held could scarcely have been pulled along by a couple of horses. It is now necessary to explain the construction of the part of the " gripper" we have termed the "jaw." Suppose a couple of books lying one on top of another, with a parallel groove in the cover of each to admit of their holding a wire rope between them. When the car was at a standstill the books would be considerably apart; when it was running, they would be screwed up together till almost touching—at any rate till the rope was firmly clutched. This may serve to give an idea of what the " jaws" were, except of oourae that instead of books they were iron plates. It will be observed, too, that with a rope always travelling, and therefore with a swaying motion to a slight extent, there might be a difficulty in getting that rope fairly in the groove between the plates. It might be in at one end and out at the other, so that in effect it would be in no safer position than if between two plain plates. This indeed, may also be characterised as a defect in the "jaws." Whether it could be remedied or not we cannot say, perhaps not j but it certainly is to this cause —namely, that a proper grip within the groove was not taken of the rope—that the accident of Saturday night is in the first place attributable. To come now to the accident. The Company —tho Roslyn Cable Tramway Company—had recently added a closed-in car to their stock. Their others were open ones. On Saturday night, to overtake the traffic, the three cars were all running, and the time was extended up till half-past eleven o'clock. At that time tho last car for the night, which was the close one, left the Dnnedin terminus at the Shamrock Hotel. It was in charge of Petor Hannah, the superintendent of tho line. He was driver —that is, he worked the " gripper " and the brakes. The conductor was James Forsyth. Two other employes of the company were also on the car—Erasmus Johnson, a driver on tho morning shift; and David Todd, whose duty was to keep the points in order at the sidings. There were eight passengers—Thos. Garrett, a young man well known in Dunedin, a saddler by trade, and whose parents live at Roslyn ; A. Thomson and John Strang, of the well known firm of Thomson, Strang and Co., drapers; Thomas Spears, employed in the Poßt-cffice, and whose parents live at Roslyn ; Thomas tind Herbert Diggins—one engaged in Messrs P. Hayman and Co.'s, the otner with Messrs Royse, Htead and Co., and whose parents live in York place ; John Conway, a butcher, who resides at Roslyn ; and William Stewart, a youDg man employed in the Telegraph offioe, and whose father is employed in Guthrie and Larnach's factory, and lives near the Episcopalian Cburoh, Roslyn.

The car proceeded up to tfao Smith street corner without the slightest mishap. Evidently, however, the rope had never been fairly gripped within the grooves mentioned ; and this is what happened. There is a ourve to the left rising up Rattray street, and the strain of the rope is conse quently there sideways from the gripper. Being held only by the plates it slipped out, and the car at once stopped its upward course and began to move downwards on the rails. Exactly the same thing has happened on previous occasions. The remedy was simple. It was to screw the brakes down hard on each rail. Mr Hannah had the brakes in charge. Here it should be explained that on two other oars the brakes were worked by lever handles; on this one they were workad by a screw. From the information that can be obtained, it seems that Mr Hannah turned the screw the wrong way, thus lifting the slipper brakes away from the rails instead of foroing them down upon them. The consequence was that the car got way 011 it rapidly, and in almost the twinkling of an eye it reached the bottom of the hill. The distance is under 400 yards, and the grade 1 in 7h or 8. At the end of the line is an underground drum, round which the wire rope travels. This portion of the machinery is covered by wooden planking 4in. in thickness. The gripper-bar (the one connecting with the "jaws" before mentioned) is an inch and ahalf in thickness. The car travelled at such a rate that this bar cut its way like a knife through the planking, a distance of about 6ft. The way was thus taken off the car, which then rolled over on its Bide. Had there been no such thing as a gripper-bar it is hard to say what would have happened. The car would most certainly have continued on its course across Rattray street after leaving the rails, and would have demolished the opposite buildings—the Crown Hotel, for instance. Strange to say, the car sustained little damage. Beyond soma of the panes of glass on the under side getting broken whon it rolled over, no other harm was done, and the framework is intact.

And how fared the inmates ? It is an old rule in connection with runaway buggies that the safest plan is to keep your seat. It proved so in the present case. Those who remained in or on the car escaped with little injury, whilst those who are worst hurt are those who jumped off for safety. The majority of the passengers were on the platforms at either end, and not inside. It is almost impossible to get from any one of the passengers a full account of what happened. The whole thing was over in a moment or two. Under such circumstances it would be hard to give a detailed account of what each passenger did. In fact, even they themselves, in some instances, scarcely know. The fact that the rope was out of the gripper was noticed by some of the passengers ; but it was not an altogether out-of-the-way occurrence, and they sat still, thinking that, as before, the brakes would be put on and the oar stopped. When the speed began to increase the most of the passengers jumped off. William Stewart was one of the first to jump, and he got off with nothing worse than scratched knees and hands. Thomas Wiggins was one of those who thought little of tho gripper losing the rope, but shortly afterwards made up his mind to jump. Some person, however, touched him on the arm, either intentionally or otherwise, and the momentum rapidly increasing he determined to stay. His injuries were very slight. Ho saw one or two jump, and mentions one as having landed on his head with terrible violence. This must probably have been Garrett. Mr Strang was one of the first to jump from the car. This he did opposite Messrs North and Scouller's workshop. He states that he considered how he should land, and made an attempt to run with the car, but he was knocked down and rolled over without being able to save himself in any degree. He got badly cut about the face, but he was able to walk down to the Shamrock Hotel and make inquiries concerning his fellow sufferers. He afterwards walked home. John Conway also seems to have got off at an early stage, for the prinoipal injury he has received is to his knee. Young Garrett was picked up opposite Speight's Brewery. He was quite insensible, and must have received a terrible shock, for a pool of blood of large dimensions marked the spot where he fell. Mr Thomson was also picked up in a state of of insensibility a very little way above the

Shamrook Hotel. We oannot ascertain certainly whether Spears jumped off also, but it is probable that he did. The only passenger who is positively known to have stuck to the car is Thomas Liggins. Of the Company's employes, the whole four remained in the car until it stopped. A very clear statement is made by Divid Tedd of what occurred. This young man is the son of the Company's enginedriver, and, as has been stated, is employed .looking after the points. He was on the ear,'and had justseon that his points were all right at the Smith street siding when, with one foot on the step and one on the platform, he turned to talk to John Conway, whom he knew, and who was also standing on the platform. He felt that the rope had left the gripper, and noticing that the car started to go backwards, turned naturally to look into the car. Ho at onoe saw that Hannah was screwing the brakes the wrong way, acd called out something to this effect, "You're turning it the wrong way, Hannah!" Then he opened the door and rushed inside, but such momentum had the car gained by this time that ere ho reached the screw and put his hand on it they were opposite North and Scoullar's workshop, or about half-way down the street. Ho cannot say whether Johnson, one of the four employes, helped with the brakes or not, but believe that Forsyth, the conductor, aided Hannah and himself. They had made five turns of the screw when the bottom of the hill was reached, and Todd, who appears to have kept his wits well about him, is sure that the brakes were beginning to hold. If so, there can be littlo doubt that in another hundred yards or less they would have been able to stop the car. After the shock, Todd has no exact recollection of what became of anybody. He got a blow on the chest in somo way, and a match box he had in a front pocket was damaged. Forsyth, ho thinks, got his injuries by being thrown against the end of the car. Hannah was jainbod against the side of the car by the handle of the gripper bar, which got bent in that direction, as the lower portion was cutting through the planking. He had to be taken out with assistance, but although he was considerably shakon was not badly hurt, and was able to knock about.

The news of the accident soon spread. Indeed the noise made by the car as it rußhed down the hill, and more especially as it struck the planking at tho bottom, was heard on all sides. It was like tbe crashing of a falling building. People flocked to the scene in great numbers, and of course tho wildest rumours were in circulation as to the results of tho accident.