TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Patea Mail, Volume I, Issue 8, 17 November 1887, Page 2

TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

TWENTY ITTI-: LIVES LOST.—SIXTY PERSONS INI UR ED, One of the most appalling’ railway collisions of recent years occurred about noon on Soptoniber 10, at Hext lorn io. a R’ilo or so from DoncasWr X Midland excursion train from SliefSi. Id to Doncaster, crowded with, passoiicovs on their way to seo the race for tho D.-moasTor Cup. was ran into by an express train from Liverpool to Hull. Several oi tho closely packed carriages were telescoped, and the line was strewn with dead and dying. The mimher of tho killed is twentylive, Tho injured, many of whom were in a shockitm’lv nm'ilatecl condition, were Between sixty and seventy. The excursion train left Sheffield at 11.2 d, ia charge of John Mason, an experienced Midland driver. At the time of tho accident—a fow minutes past twelve —it was drawn up at llexthorpe for the purpose of ticket takingThe passengers on pleasure bent wero beguiling’ tho interval of waking with fun and merriment. Suddenly it was noticed that a platelayer on the lino was furiously waving a rod flag. Some of the passengers, looking out to ascertain tho cause, were horrified to find a train coming up behind them, apparently at full speed Before they could fairly grasp the situation • the catastrophe had occurred. The express had dashed into the roar'of the excursion train with a fearful shock. The engine, a powerful express locomotive, forced its way through the rear coach uf the stationary train, which was a composite carriage, including a brake van and passenger compartments with a fearful shock This carriage and a third cl.issc; -Triage which was next to it were smashed to snlinfct-rs Few of tho occupants escaped injury, while the third carriage from the rear was also severely damaged, and throughout the train the concussion was very severe. The engine of the Manchester .Sheffield, and Lincolnshire train had its funnel knocked off in tho collision, was iu other respects badly damaged; Suit, fortunately, it kept the track, and fciio consequences to tho train behind it were, therefore, not serious.

"When tho passengers who wore unhurt had got out, of the Midland train :i bnr jail scene presented itself, bcoros ~f i ooplo lay upon tho railway linos, bloodia;; or dead, and many were wedge! iu among trie splintered woodwork and other debrie. Tho shrieks and groans of tho living wero most painful lo liner, yef many of them wore in such a pu! ion {hath was impossibi' to release them until mechanical appliances arrived. 'Manv of llio dead wore taken up sho ’king’y mangled, v, ith arms and leg-; si vered from the bodies; others wor - almost decapitated, ami some wore disembowelled In several cases identification was only possible by the clothing - . Tho oodi.es were laid out iu a mo ”dow adjoining tho siding, and Idle injured wero placed on carriage doors and window frames and conveyed ro buildings iu she neighbourhood A i oi o;lorliou of t ho injured suffered hoiu broken legs, and iu many cases ;,,i.!-.;at;o!i had. to bo resorted to ut the inlirmary. Tim guard of tho .Sheffield train, ('’handier, had a narrow escape. He was out of his van at the time. Most of the killed were iu the carriage of wilicit his van formed a part. One '.inf-irllimit.h woman was killed whh her baby in arms- The iniaut was taken out of the wreck uninjured. In another ii.ista.nco both mother and child perished. <no man whose head was completely torn off, was found sitling upright upon a seat. Iu tho case of a number of tho injured tho efforts to extricate them by saw and axo wore the occasion of much pain. Tho accident caused great excitement ia Doncaster and tho immediate neighbourhood. Largo crowds collected ou all the approaches to the railway, and wero with difficulty kept hack by the railway officials and the police. !ho permanent way was not seriously damaged, and tho traffic, which was exceedingly heavy, was only torn porarily delay* d kVheu tho dead ami dying' had boon extricated, the wn-ekage was thrown lo tho side of the line .or ivmcval at leisure Inquires made as to the cause o tho accident show that the train which ran into that from Sheffield was the 8.10 a in express from Liverpool, via tl io Cheshire lines, and through IVnishmeand Barimh-y to Hull. In tho ordinary course, tickets would bo examined at Moxborcugh, ami it would not stop at Hexfchorpo, where there is no regular passenger station, llexrhorpe is a point at which there is a largo number of coal sidings, and there are ticket platforms at which excursion trains are-regularly stopped. The block system, which is enforced throughout the Manchester, (Sheffield, and Lincolnshire system, is on these occasions suspended, and the traffic is worked by means of hand signals with lia;.rs, largo numbers of men being employed for !iis purpose. The driver of thj Liverpool train, whose name is Taylor, has bet n a lour, time iu the service of tho company Although not seriously injured he was much shaken. A coroner's inquest was held, and an exhaustive inquiry made into tin* cause of the sad disaster, tho jure, ai; --r some if-.-lib rauoa, returning a verdict of manslaughter against Taylor, the driver, and Davis, tho fireman of tho Muneue.ffier. hhelileld, I and Linculn.-lure tram. The men j were, tnereiore, taken into custody.— European Ali.il.