RAILWAY DISASTER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3586, 13 August 1890, Page 2

RAILWAY DISASTER.

1 Dreadful stmgjlj. ' A disaster of a terrible nature hap.^ L pened to a passenger train, in Cali- ' f fnrnia recently, The accident occurred at Oakland, asuburb of San Francisco, I with which it iB connected by large . ateam ferry boats. A railway train f which had just connected with ono of I these boats from . San Fianoiscp > approached Oakland ; ' Creek, an ' estuary of San Francisco Ba)y .about ■ three hundred feet widp and! twenty deep, while tha drawbridg/waippeCV r A yacht had passed through, and th» ' 1 keeper was winding the bridge back t into its place, when the train came v_ in sight, rounds curve, at a high rato \ i of speed, The engineer, whon he t saw that the bridge was not olosed, reversod the lever, but the momentum was too groat, and the train could . not be stopped, The weight of- the , engine and the first carriage broke the coupling, and left .the two other 0 carriages of tho train standing on the s track, The second carriage ran about c. e a third of tho way across the bridge and stopped j but the'j'ir was sufficient e to break epon the front of the car- 1 t riago, and many of the passengers 1 were thrown into the water, b The first carriage, which . had followed tho engine to the bottom the muddy estuary, soon rose, and j those of the passengers who had t esoaped were picked up by the yaoht, and some boats which had gatheredon the spot, but no fewer.than thirteen lives were lost, Neatly the victims bolonged to well-known families of San Francisco and Oakland, Tho bodies recovered were * liothinf, ac the mouth, and bore other evidences of a dreadful strugglo for , life, Two women wero almost with* r out a abrcd of clothing, their garments having been torn completely off, and [ thero wero cuts and bruises which the ! mere fall of the car would not account j for. It looked as if the occupants of the car rushed upon each other and , fought to gain the doors and w'ndows, and made desperate efforts to foroo themselves through the shattered glass, Thrilling stories are told by those who escaped. Captain M. R. Itnberts, his. niece and I her two daughters occupied seat* , near tho front of the car, and so were tho first to be submergedi i Captain Roberts saya that when the. ' carriage struck the bottom the coup, i ling connecting it with tho tender , broke, allowing that end to come to [ the surface, This happened so quickly i that the first thing the captain realised was that he was floating under the car vontilators, with one of i his grand-nieces'olinging to his neck and his niece and her otter'daughter struggling in the water. iMsing**" his danger, he called to the others to follow, and immediately pushed ■ the car door, which was submerged. On coming to the surface he found a boat, to which ho and the others dung until the arrival of a second, which took them to tho wharf, Mr Henry S. Austin and his daughter Florence were drowned j but another daughter, May, was saved. She tells this story of her expericnco: I was seated on tho left side of tho car which went into the water, one ' sent ahead of tho one which my father and sistor occupied, When;' the , crash carno all the pooplo in the car screamed, and I clung to my sister Florence until the force of the water compelled me to let go. Everybody tried to get on the top of the car, and! remember that a man in tho seat in front of mo broke a window with his fist, and somehow got out, M When I waa rescued I was nearly unconscious, and I cannot tell how long I was in the water. My father and sister perished. Everything happened with such terrihlb rapidity that I can hardly realise .what an awful experience I have had." Tho engine-driver and the stoker jumped jijto the water as the locomotive went over the end of the trestle work, and wero saved., Thoy found the crowd ; which immediately gathered' so hostile to them on account of their A auppoaed wfanesa, that fled \

in fcsr of violence. The responsibility of the disaster appears to rest on tbe engine driver, who failed to obey tho diingor-ftignnl baisto:! by the bridge* keeper. .He apparently expected tint tho drarcbridgb would bo closed by the time tho train reached it.