RAILWAY HORROR

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 56, 6 November 1913, Page 5

RAILWAY HORROR

FRENCH TRASH DISASTER. BIG DEATH ROLL. [By Electric Telegraph —Copyright] [United Press Association.] Paris, November o. The Marseilles express collided with a mail train at Melnn. Seven carriages of the latter were completely smashed. The wreckage caught fire ’immediately and prevented the rescue of the victims. Twelve arc known to he killed, but it is feared the death roll will reach fifty.

The driver of the express lias been arrested.

PITIABLE SCENES. The passengers were mostly Dutch. Several more bodies have been recovered, including Captain Amic, whose wife is still pinned in the wreckage. Many of the injured were sent to the hospital. Dumaine, the driver of the Marseilles train, who was slightly injured, jwas travelling at 90 kilometres an [hour in a thick fog. He declares that [lie saw the line at “clear.” His fireman was uninjured. I Owing to the mistake of a searchlight being omitted, for hours the res'cuers worked by the fitful glare of !the burning wreckage and a few handeights. j Fourteen bodies were recovered by two o’clock, mostly those of postal employees. Of 60 postal men, 21 are missing. The wreckage is still burning, and the screams of the injured can be heard. Passengers can he seen under the wreckage. The wife of an officer, whose Imsjband was aboard the train, maintained [her courage for several hours, hut is (now pitifully imploring rescuers to save her from the flames.

The English mails for India and the East were burnt. The driver of the Marseilles train jumped from the engine at the moment of the collision, and escaped injuries. He has been arrested for overrunning the signal protecting the postal train. AFTER HOURS OF AGONY. (Received 8.40 a.m.) Paris, November 5. Madame Amic, after eight hours agony, died pinned under the tender of the express. It is estimated that 40 were killed.

HEARTRENDING SCENES. - ■ r 3 ,■ , i THE DEATH OF MADAME AMIC. .VALUABLES IN THE .WRECK AGE*-.. (Received 9.45 a.m.) Paris, November 5. It is practically certain that 40 were killed, of which 24 bodies were re-, covered. Nine of them were badly burned, five more are visible under | the. tender. , Twenty-two post-office sorters are i dead or missing. I Many of the survivors are badly 'burned, but their injuries - are not critical. Repeated efforts are being made to rescue Madame Amic, who was buried under 40 tons .of wreckage, with her limbs crushed and mutilated, and her head painfully suspen- f ded by entangled hair. Rescuers crawled through the wreckage and severed her hair. Later, upon the flames approaching, she gave the docjtors her wedding ring for her husjband and implored them to terminate her sufferings. The doctors injected morphine until she died. Many jewells and bank notes were found in the wreckage of the mail vans. A quantity of diamonds and I jewellery was found scattered along the railway track.