Some fragments of the carriages and a few of the bodies had been thrown promiscuously down the embankment by the force of the collision, but the bulk of the wreck and the greater part of the unfortunate victims were to be found within a limited area. Eighty persons were killed, nearly all children, and about 400 were injured. The work of extrication was horrible, many of the passengers being so crushed and battered as to be absolutely unrecognisable, but they were eventually laid out on the bank with care.
Great honour is due to the heroic conduct and intrepidity displayed by a soldier—Private Cox, of the Royal Irish Fusiliers—who was in the runaway train. When he realised that no human power could avert the appalling disaster, he stepped out on to the foot-board, and, with death staring him in the face, withdrew the frightened children from the compartments as rapidly as he could, and dropped them on to the bank, where they were afterwards discovered almost unhurt. Nor did he desist until the trains had almost met, when he sprang off just in the nick of time to save his own life, and worked arduously in the extrication of the dead and injured. This was truly a splendid exhibition of courage.
A TERRIBLE EMBRACE—THE SMASH UP OF THE CAPE MAIL EXPRESS.
Petherick, Taunton, Photo
Norton Fitzwarren, a short distance from Taunton on the Great Western Railway, was the scene of a calamitous catastrophe on November 11th, 1890, when the Cape Mail from Plymouth dashed into a stationary goods train while hurtling along at 50 miles an hour. The 6.45 goods train from Bristol had been shunted on to the up line at Norton Fitzwarren to let the 9.55 express goods train from Bristol pass by. It was about 2 o'clock in the morning, and while the slow goods was thus waiting on the up line, the signalman received warning of the approach of the special express train carrying passengers from the Cape liner Norham Castle, which had arrived at Plymouth the evening before, to London, and, forgetting all about the goods train, signalled "all clear." The result was a frightful collision.
CARRIAGE WRECKED AT NORTON FITZWARREN, SHOWING INTERIOR AND LUGGAGE ON THE RACK.
Petherick, Taunton, Photo
Both engines were locked firmly together and completely wrecked; all the exterior fittings, including the funnel on the boiler of the express, were demolished and carried away, while the boiler itself was torn open. The broken carriages, trucks, and other débris made an awful pile about 30 feet in height. Neither the fireman nor driver of the mail were killed, though they were terribly injured, owing to the fact that the engine had a heavy coal tender, which telescoped into the carriages immediately behind it, that bore the brunt of the crash from the rear. The driver of this train certainly was not born to be killed in a railway smash, having been in two serious accidents anterior to the Norton disaster, narrowly escaping with his life each time. A party of miners returning from the South African mines to the North of England were travelling in the first carriage, and were nearly all killed on the spot. So were also a party of card players in the same coach, with the exception of one young fellow who, having suffered great losses, had the good sense to give up playing and to leave the compartment at Exeter for another one in the rear of the train, and thus he probably saved his life. In one compartment the occupants, including women and children, had a most marvellous escape, the glass in the windows not even being broken, while that in every other compartment was shivered to fragments.