TERRIBLE RAILWAY HORROR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 20, 24 May 1915, Page 2

TERRIBLE RAILWAY HORROR.

THREE TRAINS COLLIDE. TROOPS AS PASSENGERS SUFFER SHOCKINGLY. United Pejcm Association. London, May 22. A collision took place between a troop Train and a passenger train at Gretna, near Carlisle. Both trains took (ire. j It is reported that many passengers were killed and three hundred soldiers were injured. London, May 2d. ' A local train from Carlisle was shunting at Gretna to enable the midnight express from F.uston to pass, when a troop train with companies of the Ist and 7th Royal Scots, proceeding southward, dashed into the local, part-

ily wrecking it. The troop train was telescoped to the centre . A tire started, and then horror leaped on horror. ( The London express dashed into the .debris of both trains, and everything was. piled in indescribable confusion. 1 A strong wind fanned the flames, and a great conflagration occurred, involving a long line of wagons on an adjoining siding. i Soldiers who escaped displayed fine I heroism endeavoring to extricate the injured. The tire was so fierce that I several carriages were unapproachable. 1 It is believed most of the express (passengers escaped. Three officers[Major Hamilton, Captain J. X. Mitchell, and Lieut. C. Salvesen, a nep[hew of Lord Salvesen —perished, and many soldiers were pinned under burn-, !jug wreckage, shouting- “For God’s .[sake get me out!” ( Dr Edwards showed great bravery, j He amputated one man’s leg and both legs of another man, one of whom died. There were 14 officers and 465 men on hoard the troop train.

The Red Cross amublance was quickly available. Hundreds of the injured were transported to Gretna and Carlisle. The groans and cries of the victims were pitiable. Fire brigades were despatched, but there was little hope from the outset, for the victims were pinned by the wreckage.

Twenty were killed outright in a telescoped carriage. A man was nipped by a door and only released by the amputation of his arm. No one was hurt in the local train, which was almost empty. The driver and fireman of the troop train were killed.

After the first collision the carriages ■and engines were hurled across the [London line. Almost immediately the express, drawn by two engines, tore mto the wreckage, and the four engines were bunched in a heap. 1 The heat drove the rescuers back re'peatedly, and they had to leave many victims buried alive.

An ammunition waggon, at the rear of the troop train, and its contents was removed safely. There were minor explosions from cartridges carried by the troops. Seventy-three bodies, including those iof a few civilians, have been recovered. Four or five express passengers [were killed.

RECOVERY OF 170 BODIES.

TALES OF BRAVERY AND SUFFERING. (Received 9 a.m.) London, May 2.‘L One hundred and seventy bodies have been recovered at Quinton Hill, including two little girls. One dozen 'succumbed in tbe hospital. There were four amubulances, and several of the injured died eu route. The King sent a message of sympathy. ■

There is urgent inquiry as to the sufferers.

One hundred and twenty-four were seriously injured.

It was eight hours before the flames were mastered by the firemen. At nine o’clock at night they were still pouring water on the wreckage. During the morning’s rescues, one officer 'lying on a heap of wreckage asked a soldier “Can you see me?” The reply was in the affirmative. “Well,” continued the officer. “1 am alive and can stand it sometime, but don’t forget me altogether.” Commander Oliphant, in command of a naval contingent aboard tbe exexpress freed himself and climbed on the roof of a burning carriage to release a Territorial. The roof collapsed and Oliphant disappeared in a | raging furnance. The sleeping secItion of the express was telescoped. I The consensus of opinion is that ■ the majority of those burned in the wreckage wore dead before the flames ireached them. The patience with jwhich the injured who were penned awaited rescue is described as acl--1 mirable. [ The death roll would have been heavier but for the soldiers’ cool discipline. THE DEATH-ROLL INCREASES. (Received 12.10 p.m.) London, May 2.‘b The death roll is hourly increasing. One hundred and ninety-five Royal Scots are dead, eighty-eight are missing, and 217 are injured.