Fatal wreck on the C.N.R.

Train derailed in blinding snowstorm, carries crew to bottom of gully, near Leaside

A despatch from Toronto says: Forging through a blinding snowstorm under full ahead of steam, a Canadian Northern freight on Monday morning left the rails at Leaside, and the engine, tearing free, crashed down the steep embankment, hurling a fireman and brakeman to horrible death. In miraculous fashion the engineer shot through the doorway and landed unharmed farther down the hill. At the jerk and sudden stop the train train poured from the standing cars and rushed down to extricate their comrades. Nothing, however, could be done for the two, Fireman Thomas, of Parry Sound, and leading brakesman J. Smart, of Mt. Albert. The bodies were discovered close to the engine in a terribly mangled condition. A hurried police call was sent in to the city and ambulances and patrol wagons dispatched first to Rosedale and then to the Queen street crossing to intercept the dead and injured. Upon receipt of the message at the C.N.R. headquarters, a wrecking crew was immediately formed and dispatched to clear the line.

The three men in question were riding in the engine cab and were the only occupants of the fore part of the train. Had the main freight section followed the engine on its somersault down the hill the whole length of track would have been torn from its foundation.

Railways: C.No.Ry.

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