THE SALISBURY SMASH.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8230, 6 September 1906, Page 7

THE SALISBURY SMASH.

28 LIVES LOST BY RECKLESS DRIVING.

RAILWAY COMPANY ACCEPTS FULL RI3SPONSIBILITY.

Twenty-eight lives is the terrible price that has been paid for the , recklessness with which the AmeriL.ioan' boat train from Plymouth *waa driven on the morning of July Ist. Our readers will remember only too well the appalling story of the disaster which overtook the train at Salisbury on Us way to London. There was a frightful smash uj,. Of the passengers 27 were killed immediately or died aeon afterwards, while one lived for a week. After deliberating for an hour and a balf the coroner's jury at Salisbury which investigated the catastrophe found that the VICTIMS OP THE BOaT TRAIN disaster met their death accidentally from the derailing of the express, oaused by the excessive speed at which the trim was being driven, contrary to the company's regulations. They added as a rider that they were of opinion that the driver of every train not stopping at St lis > bury should have his attention specially called before starting to the regulations affecting his journey, which they considered was not done in the present case., Replying to the coroner, the foreman of the jury said they considered that a CERTAIN .AMOUNT OF* BLAME attached to the company as' well as to the driver. Mr Aoland, on behalf of the S. W. j Railway, said he was desired by the direotors to state that they had carefully considered their position in regard ta, this matter, and they accepted full responsibility for the aocident and its legal consequences. There was a consensus of opinion among the railway witnesses that Robins was driving the train AT AN EXCESSIVE SPEED. He was running at 70 miles an hour between Dlnton and Wilton, at 69% between Wilton and Salisbury, and he passed the west box at more that 60 miles an hour instead of the customary 30. Everyone noticed the high speed of the train, and the guard went so far as to put the vacuum brake on for a moment to call the driver's attention to the fact. Robins, the driver, had run the expresses between London and Exeter since June, 1898, but he was accustomed to stop at Salisbury. He bad never before been on the boat express, but there was no difference between driving one and an ordinary express. In fact, the boat trains were driven by any express drivers whose torn it was for duty. Mr French, the ohief assistant to the mechanical engineer, said that he examined the engine after the accident, and found no cause for the derailment of the train. Steam had been shut off, but the brake apparently had not been applied. The engine was first used in November, 1905. All the wheel flanges WERE IN i*IRST-CLASS CONDITION, and there was nothing to show that they had been in contact with anything. The engine was properly oiled and the bogey pivot was in good , running order. Mr Frenoh explained that an order dated April 20th, 1904, pointed out to drivers that the speed through Salisbury must not exceed 30 miles an hour, and by an order issued last February the speed was reduced to 26 miles an hour between the east and west signal-boxes. Mr Hood, the ohief engineer of the line, explained the curve to the jury. "Have you formed any opinion as to the cause of the accident?" the ooroner asked him. "Yes," Mr Hood replied "Highspeed.*" This, too, was the opinion of the jury, whose verdict was as given above. • The twenty-eighth riotim of the Salisbury calamity was Mr E. W. Sentell. Mr Sentell was a solicitor, of New York, and in the smash bis wife, sod (also a solicitor), and his two daughters were killed. The deceased gentleman made a long struggle for life, but succumbed eventually to his injuries.