The Railway Accident.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 120, 16 April 1884, Page 2

The Railway Accident.

a Terrible Sight. | Harrowing Details. [Per s.s. Wairarapa at the Bluff.] (UNITED PfIESS ASSOCIATION.) Melbourne, April 9. Information reached the city on Wednesday night last, April 2nd, of a shocking accident- which happened on the G-pelon£ line, by which several persons were killed aud a number of others were injured, besides great damage beinsr done to the tolling stock. The details show that the collision took place between the. up-passenger train, due at Melbourne at 10.45 p.m., and the down train, the latter consisting of about 35 empty sheep trucks.- On receipt of the intelligence, a relief train conveying laborers to clear the line, ami •loefcors for the wounded, with surgical appliances, anJ stimulants &c M likely to be required* was immediately Sent down. On arrival at the scene of the accident, wlrieh was bet.veen the Little i :iyer and. Werribee, a^ terrible, scene met the eyes of the spectators.. Portions of both engines w.ere embedded m each other, aud were shattered. The ironwork was thoroughly flattened, and appeared to . be completely entangled as far as the funnels. The goods train would appear to have suifered the greatest damage.; ..The tender was thrown off the line, and the v, heels stood against the engine at an angle of 45 degrees. The trucks were broken into matchbox splinters, and the ironwork was bent into extraordinary shapes. The passenger 'train was' thrown off the line, and the secondclass carriage next to the engine was demolished, whilst the other carriages : were much injured. An ambulance van was attached to the relief train, aud Dr Charles Kyan and Dr Eccles attended to the hurts of the passengers. "Kitchen, the driver of the goods train who was injured m the Hawthorn accident m 1882, was .found jammed between the engine and the tender, having been pinned by the falling coal. ' He was removed to a bank, where he died shortly afterwards. He was found clasping the staff authorising him to proceed with tho train.' Mrs Johnston, of South' Melbourne, also died directly. Deceased was m a second class carriage next the engine. Oraik, the driver of the passenger train, who sustained a fracture of one of his thighs, besides other injuries, also died after admission to the hospital. Fires were lighted from the wood debris, and the doctors did all m their power to alleviate the sufferings of the wounded, but the scene was one which will evor be remembered. Rain was tailing at the time, and the mud under foot, and the. lurid light of the fires lighting up the wreck of the two trains formed a picture; of desolation. The doctors having attended the cases of the wounded, the latter were convoyed to the relief train, which returned to Melbourne, when the sufferers, were taken to the Hospital. The cause of the accident, it lias been ascertained, rests with. Thomas .Biddle, the Werribee stationmaster, who was absent from his post, and who delegated his duties to his daughter, who made a mistake. Biddle, who -was" organist of the local church, went to choir practice as usual, without leave, and. his daughter gave the staff to Kitchen, the driver of the goods train, authorising him to proceed, aud she, at the same time telegraphed to Little JRiver, the next station, where the passenger train was, that the line was clear, and accordingly the passenger train was sent, on the single line. At the Hill the goods train was speeding on m the dark m the opposite direction but on the same line. When Biddle returned to the station he enquired from Little River where the mail train ;was, and the answer came, " You have sent the line clear ; a train was on its way almost immediately after I got news." Biddle's daughter was unable to explain why she-sent the message iUa.b the liae was clear when she know jitlaat rhe goods train was between the two &fcation«.