THE TASMANIAN RAILWAY DISASTER.

Inangahua Times, Volume XI, Issue 1743, 13 August 1886, Page 2

THE TASMAN IAN RAILWAY DISASTER.

News from Hobart, dated July 82rd, states : — lntense excitement prevailed lank night when the n«wt came that

another terrible, and fatal railway disaster bad happened on the main line. The express due at 8.45 did not arrive to time. After a while rumors spread that a very serious accident had happeued. Telegraphic messages were received, and soon it became known that the up express from Lamueston bad u>et with a disaster on the Bridge water Viaduct, hut nothing further hac) been elicited, except that the stoker was missing and one or more of the passenger* Shortly after came a telegram to say that all the passengers were right, with the exception of one man named Daniel Turner, and the fireman, Win Shaw, who had been thrown into the water, and drowned. i Th»* passenger, Daniel Turner only I arrived in the colony a few days ago !by the 8.8. Elderelie. His occupation was that of a stoker, and it is sard he ; had a father residing in Tormhy, whom | he had »»ot seen for twenty or twvnty- ' five years, and had none up to pay him a I vihit. A relief train was sent up with < all possible speed, and it returned to town about 1030 p.m. Winging t!,e passengers by the train on to town. ) Mr T. Stevens, Director of Ednca* | tiou, who was a piasenger on he train, I states that everything went well until ! the viaduct at Bridgewat*>r was actually reached, but when the train was passing over the large iron swing bridge which spans the steamer channel in 1 the Dcrwent several very heavy jolts were felt by the passengers, M if , each carriage, was passing over • gap ■in the rails. Not mn<:h was thought , of the matter, except that the bumping ! was heavier than usual, and no one ; imagined that anything was the matter ! until Hivldetily tb« whole train came to a standstill with a crash and the ear* riageg left the rails. The passengers know nothing of the can*e until the noise of escaping steam told them that ' the. engine was in jeopardy. A rush was then made to git out the carriages j and several of the paeseugers, unaware '< of the formation of the line, fell : through the gaps of the sleepers into : the water beneath, and were for a time in ranch peril, though they were • eventually rescued through the prompt I action of the BrMge water people. j The night was intensely dark, and | the track could hardly be seen at all. The crash, however, alarmed the people at North Bridgewa!*r, which is only 200yrls distant, and lights were speedily brought, and it , was found that ihe engine had gone ; over the end of the swing bridge, which by some means, at present nttknown, , had been left open, leaving a gap of nearly a yard between the ends of the rails. The engine in going over fortunately struck one of the "dolphins," or pier heads on the opposite side, and thus fell ou itssjnV, stuck fust between the end of the swing bridge and the piers on the opposite side, and to this circumstance most >>c attributed the escape from a dire calamity. The engine went off on -tlw down stream or eastern side of the bridge, and had it not been held in a miraculous fashion, and prevented from going right into the water, its weight would have dragged all the carriages over after it, and a fearful loss of life would have lieen the result The first thing done npon the arrival of assistance was to get ap the passengers who had fallen into the water, which was quickly effected with ropes and other appliances, and also to rescue the engine driver, John Malcolm Robertson, who was found clinging to the top of the " cab " or shelter which is erected over that part of the engine upon which the driver and stoker stand. He was found to be very mnch cut about the head, also much shaken. The stoker, named Hhaw, must have been shot out into the river with frightful force, for he was never seen by anyone after the engine 1 struck. The passenger, Daniel Turner, ; it is said, had been speaking after the accident, but he suddenly disappeared, aud it is feared that he must have fallen down one of the gaps between the sleepers and l»eeu drowned. The nn foitunate fireman had a wife aud cbil- , dren dependent upon him for support, and a melancholy scene at the station was his father, an aged man, waiting for news. One of the passftosrrs I named Tapsell it reported to liavu B*e«i r very much cut about the hips, from falKng upon one of the sleepers. The only conclusion that can be arrived at is that the bridge had been maliciously ' unfastened, and that the weight and vibration of the train going upon it caused it to move out. At the in« quest a verdict of accidental death was returned.