A Faulty Signal.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 31, 28 May 1914, Page 5

A Faulty Signal.

“GREEN” INSTEAD OF RED

IN WHANGAMARINO ACCIDENT. [Pub Peesb Association.] Auckland, May 28. Immediately after the railway accident at Whangamarino, a numbet of railway officials and passengers proceeded to the build’..ig in which the signal levers were boused, anu found the lever in position to display the red light for danger at the home signal 200 yards distant. The fog was sufficiently dense to make it impossible for the porter, who operated the lever, to see what light was showing from the station platform. After having noted that the lever stood correctly set for danger, and was still locked with the patent lock, the party proceeded to the signal and found the green light displayed instead of red. The night was very cold, and it is presumed that the wires contracted and caused the wrong signal to be hoisted, as was the case in the Temora New South Wales, railway smash two months ago.

THE THIRD VICTIM.

George N. Grimstone, lately of Wellington, who was recently transferred to Auckland to the position of Registrar of the Tokerau Native Land Court, who was severely inju ed internally, succumbed in the hospital at Hamilton at 3.30 p.m. TRYINC EXPERIENCES. Among some remarkable escapes recorded, that of Tablet-porter William Donaldson was probably the most extraordinary. He was sitting on the points, side-tracking the goods train, with which the express collided. It was while he was thus occupied that the express came thundering through, catching the goods train fairly amidships. The big express engine crashed straight through the trucks of the freighter, and passed right over him. He was carried some distance amid the debris, and was found afterwards in an unconscious condition lying amongst the wreckage of the destroyed goods and cattle trucks. He sustained a broken arm, and was badly ctt» the face and body, but his escape from bu stant death and mangling was truly remarkable. Equally sensational and equally providential were the escapes of F. Parkington and •J. Stone, the fireman and driver on the express. When the collision occurred the train was travelling at a speed of well over 30 miles an hour. The driver and fireman of the goods train, Hill and Collett, also escaped injury. Guard James Wilson, when interviewed at the scene of the accident, skid' that the first intimation of anything wrong was when the Westinghouse brake was suddenly applied. When the express had come to a standstill, he immediately went to the front of the train, where he was surprised to find the engine lying on its back, and the two front cars telescoped. Piteous cries came from the occupants of the sleeping carriage. The guard rushed back to the guard’s van for a light crowbar and axes. The interior of the sleeping car was but a heap of wreckage. Those who were caught in the debris,* and who were still conscious, were calling for help, and urging the rescuers to use every possible haste in their work. Mr Petersen was one of the first bo whom assistance was rendered. Ho was caught between the shattered walls of the car, with his head projecting through one of the compartment windows. Crowbars and axes had to bo used to release him. Death occurred shortly after Petersen was got out.

Mr Stevens had evidently died before anyone could get to him. The bodies were conveyed to the little wayside station, where it could be seen that both had been terribly in-jux-ed. Stevens had sustained a terrible crushing, his skull being almost crushed in. Petersen had .also been fearfully crushed, and that there would have been no hope for either was clear, even had no time whatever been lost in recovering them from the wrecked car. The injuries were confined to occupants' of the sleeping car. According to another passenger: It seemed as if the whole carriage had collapsed upon us. The lights were extinguished by the shock, and we were left in darkness, ignorant of what had happened, and confounded by ignorance of what might happen. Someone called out, “Strike a match!” but others shouted a warning as the gas was escaping and filling the car. “I have been in a smash before, and if anyone strikes a light, ‘there’s no hope for us,’ ” someone exclaimed. For a long time everyone lay still, until at last the silence was broken by groans, and one of the injured passengers called out, “My God! Lift this up!” Someone smashed the only window that was at all clear. Then we cleared away most of the broken glass, and crawled out. Only two men were groaning, and we could not imagine that any others had escaped alive. Then an acetylene lamp was brought, and those who had already started to release the imprisoned passengers were !able to see a little better, though the lack of light, owing to fear of using matches, severely handicapped their

efforts. Fortunately for the relief of the

injured men, one of the passengers on the train was jNurse Mrs Melville White, of Temawhai, near Te Kuiti, and she worked heroically in directing measures for the alleviation of their pain. Mr Petersen was alive when he was released from the wreck, and on her advice two men worsen for nearly an hour in endeavoring to restore respiration. He seemed to recover consciousness for a moment, but immediately collapsed. Mr Gri nstone was also found to have been very gravely injured. Ho stated that he had no sensation in the lower part of the body. Mrs White did all she could to relieve his suffering. She also temporarily set the porter s broken arm when he was found unconscious alongside the track. Wo expected to find the men in the postal car all killed, hut they had escaped injury. They were discovered in the forward end of the van, imprisoned by wreckage and soaked by water which had escaped from the tank in the roof of the van. They were drawn out through a window, and it was found that the only injury was a cut above the eye in the, case of one man.