RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN CANADA. NINETY-SEVEN LIVES LOST.

North Otago Times, Volume II, Issue 33, 6 October 1864, Page 1 (Supplement)

RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN CANADA. NINETY-SEVEN LIVES LOST.

The " Montreal Herald " gives the following particulars of this, the most frightful accident of modern times : — The accident occurred apparently through the negligence of the engine-driver, who, as we shall have occasion to notice presently, has heen placed under arrest. The Neckar, a large packet, similar to those which bring the emigrants to New York, left Hamburg about the 18th of May, and arrived at Quebec on Monday, 26th June, bringing out 538 emigrants. These consisted of Germans, Norwegians, and Poles, whose destination was principally Western Canada, and being bound for the Western States. AH had considerable means with them. On Tuesday night they were forwarded, with the exception of about thirty of the poorer class, by special train from Quebec. There must, therefore, have been fully 500, if not more on the cars, which proceeded without accident to Beceill Mountain. Here the Richelieu is spanned by an iron bridge, on the top of which the cars pass. A drawbridge forms the connexion between the last pier and the abutment on the Montreal side. This bridge is about 1 100 feet in length to the opening of the drawbridge, and about 45 feet above the water, which is some 10 feet deep in the canal under the drawbridge. It appears that the rule of the company is that this drawbridge should always be supposed to be open, and that the train should therefore come to a dead stand on coming to the bridge, and not attempt to proceed until the 'proper signal had been given. But at fifteen minutes past one on Wednesday morning, the special train approached ; the drawbridge was open to permit the passage of a steamer which had some barges loaied with grain in tow ; and, as we are informed, the train did not pull up at all, notwithstanding the established rule and the display of the danger signal — the red light — which should immediately have warned the conductors of the train to stop it, and not go any further until the light was changed into a white one. The position of the bridge gives a view of the signal from a distance of 1625 feet. Hence the mystery of the conduct of the enginedriver, Berney, who, it is stated, could have stopped the train in from five to six hundred feet. Berney, it is said, admits having seen the danger signal, but alleges that he found it impossible to stop the train in time. All we know is that the train was not stopped, but came dashing on at a considerable speed — the drav/bridge was swung round, and the cars crashed headlong one after the other into the yawning abyss, bringing death and destruction upon the unfortunate occupants. The locomotive and tender, with the first five cars (baggage), went in first of course, the six passenger cars pulling down on top of i them with terrible violence, being precipitated to a distance of some seventy feet. At this very moment, as we already mentioned, a steamer was passing through with six barges in tow, and the accident would undoubtedly have been of a doubly mournful character had it not so happened that the cars fell on one of the barges, sinking it of course, but preventing the wreck from being submerged to such an extent as it would otherwise have been had the canal been clear. The last three passengers' cars, falling on the accumulated debris of the others, shunted slightly to one side and over to the opposite embankment, on the Montreal side. From these the living were chiefly taken, the other cars containing few who had escaped a watery grave, or mortal injury in the horrible crash. A large number of the employees of the company had been sent at an early hour, and on our arrival at one o'clock we found that every exertion had been made to rescue the living and recover the bodies of the dead. No one was taken out alive, we believe, after 12 o'clock, when a little child was found, singular to say, altogether uninjured, lying in its dead mother's arms. We are told that the man in charge of the barge sunk, had a narrow escape along with his family. He heard the train thundering along, looked up and saw the draw open, and being then immediately underneath, had just time to snatch his wife and little children away before the cars descended on his vessel. Forty-five dead bodies were recovered early in the day, only eighteen of these being adults. The remains were conveyed to a shed by the river side, where they presented a most sad spectacle. Many of the dead were most terribly disfigured and injured, and some of the children were only a year or two of age — families, in fact, having apparently perished together. Many poor creatures were wandering about seeking relatives or friends, bemoaning their sad fate and the melancholy ending of their hitherto prosperous voyage, and dissipation of their hopes and anticipations formed on coming to try their fortunes in a new country. It was now that the Germans and other interpreters who went out proved useful in making known the wants and inquiries of these poor people. During this time further exertions were being made to get at those still buried in the cars submerged in the river. No one who had looked into one of those which might be reached from above would ever desire to see such another sight. It was truly appalling. The bodies were swollen and frightfully disfigured and the stark, stiff hands and feet of the dead rising out of the water were sufficient to shock any spectator. The latest advices state that 87 dead bodies had been recovered; three out of the 383 wounded passengers sent to Montreal had since died ; and 97 persons in all were believed to have perished. Many of the injuries sustained are of a very serious character.

A Yankee ijj never upset by astonishing. He walks upon the Alps with hia hand in his pockets, and the •moke of his cigar is seen among the mist of Niagara. One of his class sauntered into the office of the lightning telegraph, and asked how long it would take to transmit • message to Washington. ' Ten minutes, ' was the reply. • I can't wait,' was the rejoinder. A bottle wat picked up at tea, off Ilfracombe, on the morning of July 6, containing a paper on which the following wm written in pencil ••—•" The Ocean Queen, G. Armstrong, master, has been sunk off Bermuda, Feb. 4, 1865. All band*, with the exception of two—James Daddi and John Williams, who were drowned — are in the boats. She gailed from Lirerpool, December 11, 1863, and the t>wner# are Mown Johnson and Lake, U+jrpod.—Gr. AjuNtntoira, lfMt«r."