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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 74, 23 February 1872, Page 2

Butchering on a Large Scale. — A correspondent of the Sydney Empire thus describes the slaughter of sheep by a railway engine: — " It was raining heavily, and the night wind was cold, as the 1 p.m. train left Goulbourn for Sydney. Eugs and overcoats were in requisition, and everything made snug for a comfortable snooze, the disposal of passengers and train, being left in the hands of the engine driver, and guard. Suddenly and .unexpectedly, however, they were startled out of sleep by a shock that caused rugs and heads to rise up as if by the wand of a magician, the heads expressing surprise not umningled with alarm, for some obstruction unknown had almost brought the train up standing while proceeding down hill at about twenty miles au hour, after passing Sutton Forest. In reply to a voice from a window, demanding in an illogical manner, i What's up ? ' the engine-driver said he thought a bullock was down ; but on further search it was discovered that we had run into a flock of fine fat sheep, whose instinct had led them to get through the railway fence for the purpose of camping oa the dry metal instead of the low swampy ground chosen for them alongside the line. Their instinct appears to have been right enough, but, having no time-table, they were not prepared for our train, and suffered severely in consequence, for the guard, on going back, discovered that the mutilated fragments of not less than a hundred sheep lay along the line, end clung to the wheels of engine and train. The whole thing must have been done io two seconds, and the poor sheep swept at last into a heap, through or over which the engine must have almost made a leap, fortunately remaining on the rails. Of course the train was stopped for some time for the purpose of ascertaining these facts, after which the surviving sheep again camped among their butchered companions, and we resumed our journey."