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Doncaster rail crash


neddy

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Not sure where to put this one so stuck it here seeing as its got Sheffield names.

THE DONCASTER RAILCRASH 1887

The inquest in connection with this disaster were opened on Saturday.

There were two--one as to 19 persons lying dead at Hexthorpe,

and the other as to four persons who died at the Infirmary.

Mr. F.E. Nicholson, the County Coroner, in opening the former inquiry,

said that at present it would only be necessary to call evidence of

identification, with a view to the burial of the victims.

He had recieved from the Board of Trade a telegram to the effect that

Major Marindin had been appointed to inquire into the circumstances

of the accident. Mr. William Pollitt, the general manager of the Manchester,

Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway, said that on behalf of the directors of that

company he wished to state how much they all deplored that terrible accident,

and how deeply they sympathized with the families of those who had succumbed

to their injuries and with the sufferings of those whose lives had beeen preserved

and, he trusted, would yet be spared.

They felt that this was a terrible fatality, and he was sure the company would give

the Coroner and the jury every assistance in their power.

Mr. Morgilston, assistant superintendent, and Mr. Loveday, chief inspector of the

Midland Railway Company, intimated that they were present on behalf of that company.

The jury then viewed the bodies, 14 of which had been identified.

The Coroner then took evidence as to identity, and the inquest was adjourned.

The inquest in the borough was subsequently opened by Mr. Thomas Atkinson,

the Doncaster Coroner, and evidence was taken as to the identity of the four bodies

lying in the infirmary.

The following is now a complete list of the dead so far identified :-

Edward Dockerty-72 Arundel Lane Sheffield

Harold Russell-59 Dorset Street Sheffield

Fred Thorpe-15 Great Charlotte Street, Infirmary Road Sheffield

George Rodgers-150 Lansdowne Road Sheffield

Thomas Bradbury-55 Randall Street Sheffield

Mr. & Mrs. Beaumont- Sheffield- presume - (James William & Susannah)

Jane Hale-19 Warburton Square,Matilda Street Sheffield

Jane Rodgers wife of George Rodgers--presume as above-

Elizabeth Middleton-Brammall Lane Sheffield

Walter Middleton--presume as above-

Mary Alice Fillingham-139 St. Marys Road Sheffield

Fred Lee-50 Field Head Road Sheffield

W. Hardy-Thorne-hill,Masborough

James Moxey Swift-38 Fitzwilliam Street Sheffield

Mary Birley-Sheffield

Henry White-Sheffield

Frederick & Mary Callow-Sheffield

Arthur Mitchell & his wife-Brightside Farm Sheffield

William Swift-Sheffield

Frank Kirkham-Matilda Street Sheffield

Henry Barnsley-Crown Street Wellington Shropshire

Daniel Hawksworth-91 Leadmill Road Sheffield

-------------

The Queen has telegraphed to the Mayor of Doncaster,

Mr. Henry Wainwright, her condolence with the bereaved and suffering,

and has asked for particulars as to the condition of the injured.

Daniel Hawksworth, the last on the list of the killed, died yesterday morning

in the infirmary.

The bodies upon which inquests were opened on Saturday were removed to

Sheffield during Saturday night and yesterday morning, the railway company

providing special trains for the purpose, Yesterday pulpit references were made

to the calamity in places of worship in the town, and the scene of the accident was

visited by thousands of persons.

Mrs. Osborne who resides at Hexthorpe was an eye witness of the collision.

She was in her bedroom which overlooks the sidings, where she saw the excursion

drawn up to let the collectors take the tickets.

Suddenly she heard a great crash, and looking to the rear of the carriages, saw a

poweful engine ploughing its way into the woodwork.

One coach, the vehicle forming the tail end of the train, appeared to have simply

been wiped out, and the locomotive had forced its way ito the other, losing in its

thrust the funnell and piercing the woodwork up to the cylinder.

With the shrieks of affrighted and mutilated passengers was mingled the hissing

of the steam engine, which for the moment cast a veil around that portion of the wreck.

People were calling loudly "Help help", and some sought for water.

Mrs.Osborne, taking some requisites for the wounded, hurried to help the passengers.

The sight was sufficient to unnerve the boldest. The end of the engine, a part of its buffer

had broken by the impact, had gone right into one carriage and buried itself half way up

to the driving wheel.

The compartments were smashed into matchwood, and mingled with the splintered seats

and panels were mutilated bodies.

Some had evidently been killed outright, others were embedded in the timber, and had

literally to be cut out with axes and hammers.

A woman and child dangled beneath the carriage floor-the lady particularly noticed the

little red socks of the child.

When the vehicle was pulled to pieces to admit of the sufferers being extricated the

woman and child dropped through on to the line.

Mrs. Osborne saw a young Sheffield lady hanging out of a carriage and went to her.

She looked very ill and faint, and her handkerchief was saturated with blood.

Asked whether she was very much hurt she replied " Both of my leggs are broken and

my shoulder is put out".

A gentleman, hearing On the Course(presume the race course) of the accident, hurried

to Hexthorpe to search for his wife and daughter whom he thought to be on the train.

Mrs Osborne asked him to describe their dresses, asking whether the child wore red.

The gentleman said "yes" and he was then assured the daughter was alive; but the

discription he gave of his wife's dress tallied with that worn by a lady who was killed.

"I could not say anything to him" said Mrs Osborne " for i knew his wife was dead".

One poor fellow Mrs. Osborne noticed sqeezed between the compartments until he

looked quite flat; he was literally pressed to death. In that carriage there were two men

dead, one of whom had dropped through onto the line.

One elderly man, who had had his thigh broken, kept pleading to be taken to the infirmary.

Of the six injured carried to a shed Mrs Osborne noticed every one had his legs broken, and

one his nose shattered.

The carriage seemed to be full of arms and legs, and through the woodwork could be seen

two heads.

One man had his head stuck out through the roof of the carriage, almost touching the end

of the one next to it. He was taken out dead. A child seated on her mothers knee,

was killed on her lap; another baby, who's parents are believed to be among the killed,

was found uninjured, and removed to a signalman's house.

Mrs. Osborne noticed what struck her as remarkable, that most of the sufferers had their

clothes torn to shreds.

One girl had both of her sleeves torn right from the waist.

She says that when the bodies were being lifted out, and the injured removed, rain began to

fall pitilessly, and the poor sufferers seemed to feel the discomfort acutely.

The police took off their coats and wrapped them round the injured ; while the other

workers tore up the carriage blinds to make lint,ripped the stuffing out of the cushions

to pad the splints for the broken arms and legs, and made stretchers out of the

broken doors.

Mr. Frederick Ellis-43 Sitwell Road Sheffield, was a passenger by the ill fated excursion

having missed the earlier train. He went into a carriage in the middle, and into the central

compartment. All went well till Hexthorpe was reached. "We stopped" he says,

"to take tickets, and I saw a clerk on the bank taking down thetime of the train.

At his side was a man in a railway porters clothes, with a flag furled under his arm.

A moment or two after somebody in the compartment shouted 'look there' and looking

out Isaw the same man waving his flag furiously. It was a red flag. Immediately after

I felt a shock. I was standing up looking out of the window, and was not thrown down.

I saw the train coming up,but never thought it would run into ours.

When I got out I saw that the compartments on each side of ours had been smashed.

It was a terrible sight. One man disembowelled lay in the bottom of the carriage.

A woman was quite as horrible. The front of her head had been caught and crushed

between the woodwork of the carriage, and the back towards her neck was burst open

and the blood and matter running out. I believed her brains were forced down through

the back of her head.

Then right on the top, jammed in between the timber, was a man, pale of face, who had

both legs broken. He never murmered, though it was about an hour before we got him out"

Mr Ellis says that he saw the Liverpool train come right up to their train,and he adds

that he heard it said the vacuum brake would not act, and that the driver consequently

could not pull up his train in time to avoid a collision.

Mr Thomas Osborne, manufacturer, of Hexthorpe, was on the scene a few minutes

after the accident. He says the rear bogey carriage of the Midland excursion train

was buried into by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire engine, the funnel

being cut clean away, and the cylinder partly stuck in the woodwork.

One gentleman, well dressed, with opera glasses in his hand got out of a damaged

carriage, gave a hasty glance around, wiped his face with his handkerchief, and

then walked straight away to Doncaster.

In one carriage Mr Osborne saw two doctors come upon several people who were

jammed together. The police lifted two of them up and called for aid; the doctors

shook their heads and covered up the poor fellows' faces.

Mr Osborne, who is familiar with every inch of the ground, says:-

"If the driver did not observe the flag signals he could not have seen anything of

the excursion train until he got through the bridge, which is about 200 yards from

the point where the rear of the excursion train was standing.

According to all accounts, the driver ought to have seen the signals when he

got out of Wormsworth cutting.

There is a curve round to the bridge, and then a straight run to the siding.

One man who was collecting tickets had got to the rear carriage when the roar of

the engine broke in his ear. One glance, and he cleared the fence into the field."

Mr William Roberts, of the firm of Messrs.Roberts and Simms, silversmiths, went

by the Midland train with his wife and son,William aged 13 years. They were in

the carriage next to the guard's brake, and there were ten persons in the compartment.

At Hexthorpe, the ticket collector had just been in, secured the tickets, and shut the

door, when there was a loud crash, and the compartment they were in seemed

" to close up like a book." The passengers were all thrown together on a heap,

with broken woodwork on the top of them.

Several gentlemen got out first, and then assisted Mr Roberts, who was badly hurt.

Mrs Roberts and her son then got out,and she says the carriage seemed reared up

"like two match-boxes." Mutilated remains were to be seen around them.

Her baby, which shehad also with her, she kept in her arms all the time,

sheltering it from the falling wood with her arms.The child was uninjured.

Mr.Henry Redfern, of Totley Brook, Derbyshire, was severely cut in the face,

had the bone of his left leg split lengthways, and the muscles of his spine crushed.

He was in the bogey composite carriage next the guards brake.

He states:- Our tickets had just been collected and I put my head out of the

window to see why we were not going forward.

I heard the roar of an approching train, and on looking out saw an express coming

towards us on the same line of rails at a great speed. I exclaimed to my companions

" My word, that man must have a tremenousley good brake if he means to pull up"

I noticed railway people with red and white flags. Everything seemed alright that way.

I watched the train as it rounded the curve.

The driver never slackened or whistled. He seemed to take no notice of us at all.

"Look out" I called, "its upon us!" One passenger, a young man, leapt clean out

of the window. The doors were locked, and before they could be unlocked the

engine dashed into us. The three of us were thrown together in a heap.

My two companions being young men, clambered out of the window. Being an old man

Icould not go that way, and had to wait until assistance came.

The steam and the black smoke and the dust caused by the ripped cushions was blinding

We were afraid the boiler of the engine would explode, or the fire ignite the compartments.

One passenger urged the stoker of the liverpool train to rake out his fire, and he did so.

The scene was terrific. One man hurled to the roof remained there hanging by his head

and arms, his legs dangling below.

Others lay bleeding masses under the broken woodwork. Having no thoughts of peril,

I watched the approaching train quite coolly.

My impression is that the driver never knew our train was there until he had all but

dashed into us. I could see his engine glass, but there was no head there on the

look out. Either he did not see us or his brake failed. Accustomed to drive right down

to Doncaster, I think he must for the moment forgotten about the race week and

the special signalling adopted for the traffic. The compartments on both sides of

mine were crushed up like cards.

end.

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I love reading these old newspaper reports. They're full of small details that, while disturbing, don't seem to have the sensational element that plagues the present tabloid press today. Many thanks for the posting.

Below is a another typical example, courtesy of Rotherham Web, the Glass Coffin!

21st December 1841

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Guest Reddles

Hi, Really useful as I have just discovered a family member died of injuries sustained in this incident. Any follow up information relating to people hospitalised? Also I believe there was a subsequent court case but have been unable to confirm.

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Don't know if i've already posted this one but excuse if i have.

Sept. 1889

Attempted Railway Wrecking,

At the Sheffield Police Court yesterday, five little boys, named Charles Justice, Willie Skelton, John Colton, Joseph Lacey and Ernest Green,

were charged on remand with causing obstruction on the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln Company's line at Neepsend.

Mr. Hawkins, of Manchester, who appeared for the company, stated that on the twenty first of August an engine driver, employed by the company,

was driving a train from Penistone to Sheffield, and as he was passing the distance signal at Neepsend he noticed the signal board pulled off,

and he also saw that when he had passed it was not set at danger as usual--that it could not move, in fact.

At the same time he looked on to the down line and there noticed two platelayer's bars and two or three beater's sticks put inside the four-foot way of the down line.

Two of the bars were placed across the line, one across each metal, and the two pickaxes were placed crosswise.

The third bar was sticking up underneath the bottom of the sleeper so as to project in the direction of Manchester.

The driver on seeing this, hurried on to Neepsend, and as he neared the station, he noticed that the starting signal was off for a passenger train,

which was due to Manchester.

Fortunately he was able to warn the driver of the passenger train in time, and informed the station master of what he had seen.

On the following Saturday a permanent way inspector of the company was riding in the direction of Penistone from Sheffield,

when he noticed the five defendants on the line.

One was sticking a bar, which he had evidently brought with him, as it did not belong to the company, in the ballast, and propping it on the rail.

Another defendant was running up the signal post; the third one was half way up the signal post, and the two others were on the bank.

He shouted to them, but they took no notice, and as the train did not stop he got off at Wadsley Bridge, where he made arrangements for catching the boys.

He then returned with some platelayer's, and there they caught Skelton with a bar--the same bar that he tried to put across the rails.

The other boys, Colton and Justice, were also caught on the spot, and gave information which led to the apprehension of Green and Lacey.

Mr. Hawkins added that there was a curve at Neepsend, perhaps the sharpest between Sheffield and Manchester and the consequences would have

been disastrous if the passenger train had struck what he might safely call the diabolically arranged obstruction.

After the evidence had been heard at great length, Colton, who had been sent to the truant school for setting fire to the grass, was remanded;

Green was ordered to be sent to an industrial school, until he was sixteen; the other three defendant's, Lacey, Justice, and Skelton,

were sentenced to receive six strokes with the birch rod.

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Guest railwaydoc

Hello this is my 3rd time of trying to post this...so fingers crossed...

I am so pleased to have come across this piece as I am a railway historian putting together a book on such incidences

but from 'the people's' perspective i.e. not the company's or technical problems per se..

and would appreciate being able to use this (with acknowledgements of course)

would also appreciate any help regarding sources or background reading material you can suggest...

many thanks....

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Hello and welcome to the Site Railwaydoc; hope you have fun and find loads of stuff and help. I agree with Neddy, fill yer boots, it's only information gathered. Some of it has taken years and a lot of effort, but it's all good and intended to be shared.

Hello this is my 3rd time of trying to post this...so fingers crossed...

I am so pleased to have come across this piece as I am a railway historian putting together a book on such incidences

but from 'the people's' perspective i.e. not the company's or technical problems p12er se..

and would appreciate being able to use this (with acknowledgements of course)

would also appreciate any help regarding sources or background reading material you can suggest...

many thanks....

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Guest Reddles

hi railway doc,

I have done a lot more research on the Hexthorpe Crash since my last entry. My GGGrandad died as a result of injuries sustained. He was on the train to attend court to speak for his son who was facing charges of 'card sharping' at the races - a very human and sad story unravelled by inquest and newspaper reports. Happy to share information I have found about the crash if its of interest

reddles

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