TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN FRANCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 318, 21 November 1888, Page 4

TERRIBLE RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN FRANCE.

Full accounts have come to hand during the week of the terrible accident nea r Dijon, on Wednesday, September sth, which was briefly reported in the 'Latest New&' of last week's 'Budget.' The express train No. 276, which leaves Macon soon after midnight for Paris, ran off the rail in a cutting near the Vedars Viaduct, seven miles north of Dijon. Almost immediately afterwards, the down Paris Geneva express — the Rapide No. II — which left Paris at twenty-h've minutes past nine, came upon it at full speed. There was a terrible collision, the results of which are appalling. One locomotive was dashed to the right and one to the left, both tumbling over into the side ditches. Nine carriages were .smashed to splinters, while many otheis were more or less damaged. The number of killed is believed to be twelve, and some forty or more are injured.

Thfi Story of a Survivor. The London correspondent of the ' Daily News ' sends over the following account of a traveller in one of the trains :—: — The darkness tor awhile made the .situation of the &uivivors> unutterably dreadful. ' We were just able to see the 'wo pides of the cutting rising high and almost vertical above us. The shrieks and groans intensified the horror. One almost envied the dead, the condition of the living was so agonising. In getting 1 oxit of the compartment where I was I stepped on a head which was fearfully crushed. Ib turned out to be that of an Artillery officer. There were many who were as if in prison, the compartments which they occupied being hemmed in between the rocky side of tho cutting and the carriages of the other train. Nothing could be dono for them for some hours, and there was the danger, as we imagined, of some other express rushing down upon us. The wife of an artillery officer showed singular pre sence of mind. All the lamps having been put out in the collision, she took some matches from her reticule and lighted with them her pocket-handkerchief, and then her straw hafc. This enabled her to see that she had lost her husband and her little &on, whom she had placed in a corner seat, and who was asleep when killed. He was heronly child. After » short period of darkness a guard lighted -ome lamps. A man who knew the place then went to the village and a .small station about a mile away and got them to ring the alarm bell, to hang 1 danger signals out, and to telegraph to Dijon, whence a relief train came ds day was breaking. A fearful scene met our eyes in the grey morning light, but, as a guard said, it might have been worse, because if the collision had happened at the viaduct everyone must ha\e gone to destruction. Tho-e who were safe and sound were for the most pait stupefied. They could haidly tealise their position.

Delay in the Arrival of Help. Some haii breadth escapes are recoidod. A little girl was found with the broken floor of the carriage almost touching her. When picked up by a railway official *he smiled. Nobody knows to whom she belongs. An officer's wife, whose husband and child were killed by her side, was unluub. She had been on the point of entering a sleeping car, but at the moment of starting changed her mind. This sleeping car was crushed to atoms. M. Lorette was looking out of the window, and was killed by bi& skull being crushed, whereas his wife and an officer in the same compartment were uninjured. A lady with a child went rushing among the men clearing the line. She cried out, 'My husband's head is cut off,' and I laughed hysterically. Most of the killed and injured were crushed or ljurt in the head, as though they had been looking out of the window to see the reason of the shock caused by the train going off the rails. The tardiness of the rescuers is much commented on. The Vedars villagers did not arrive till half -past four, and the first lelief train from Dijon nob till nearly five. For seme time the unfortunate injured persons were left without any surgical or other attendance. Sevei'al batches of injured person? were brought into Dijon in the course of the clay. The first arrivals were not bandaged, as there were neither surgeons nor special appliances sent in the relief train that went to fetch them. Whatever kindness could dictate was done for them, but that was necessarily little, and they had to be laid on seats, from which some fell off, being unable to hold on. The Miss Marriott who was one of the killed i& Miss EdiMi Marriott, daughter of the late General William Frederic Marriott, of 41, West Cromwell Road, S.W. ; and Captain Marriott, of the Indian army, one of the injured, is the young lady's brother. Miss Marriott's age was twenty- eight, and the circumstances of her untimely death are peculiarly sad. The mother of Miss Marriott, who had been for some time ailing, died three weeks ago, and the brother and sister left their home on Tuesday morning en route for Geneva, whither they were going to recruit their health. The first intimation of the terrible calamity was received by another brother, Major Marriott, who was staying at Tolegate, Sussex, and this accounts for the conflicting addresses published in the telegraphic accounts sent trorn the scene of the accident. The first telegram from Captain Marriott to his brother was in the following words : — ' Bad accident. Sister is dead. I am badly wounded in hospital. Come at once.' Major Marriott) hurried up from Polegafce to West Cromwell Road, and left London on Wednesday night. Yesterday morning he telegraphed to the family residence that Cap tain Marriott has his right arm and right) leg injured. Mr Marriott, aged twentyseven, who is stated to be among the injured, is not related to the family of the deceased young lady. Mr Finch-Hatton, who is believed to be the late member of Parliament, of White's Club, St. James's-streeb, was a traveller by the same train, but fortunately he escaped without any broken limbs. Miss Murriel, a governess of Chester, sustained numerous serious contusions ; Lady Bowen, of London, is slightly wounded ; and Mr and Mrs Blumberg, of London, are slightly bruised. A Miaa Green, also of London, is being cared for afc the Hotel de la Cloche, Dijon. A later message says the condition of Captain Marriotb and the young English student, Mr L. B Edwards, remains serious. They are suffer* ing from broken limbs and internal injuries"

The Causo of the Accident. The cause of the accident is now said to be analogous to that which led to a train with 300 passengers running, off the rails at Gemaux on the Paris and Lyons line last April. The sleepers at the foot of a gradient | gob loosened because the engine drivers I came down at a high speed to make up for I the loss of time in ascending. The enginedrivers in France are given a premium on all the coal they economise, amounting to half its value, and so take advantage of i downward gradients to go fast at a small expenditure of- fuel.. Last June a train was nearly wrecked at Genlis through ■ the sleepers getting loosened. At the foot of a hill, such accidents' are at some time ov another inevitable.