The recklessness of a chauffeur is alleged to have been the cause of a serious accident at Wamtsaopang at 9.26 o'clock on Tuesday morning, which resulted in several men being sent to hospital.
It appears that the driver of goods lorry No. 5232 (F. 198), belonging to Messrs. C. Eddie & Ca., was driving his vehicle to Woosung with provisions for the U.S.S. Huron. Coming to the Wantsaopang Station, he is alleged to have ignored the warnings of the crossing-keeper that a train was due at that minute from Shanghai, and attempted to drive over the crossing, in spite of the closed bars. The front part of the maching is believed to have got caught and the motor stopped.
The man made frantic efforte to release his car, several of the eight men who were on the lorry scrambled off and signals were made to stop the train, but these were of no avail, for the Jatter could not pull up in time and the collision took place.
Three men wha remained on the lorry were thrown to the ground and sustained injuries which necessitated their being taken to hospital. The motor lorry was crushed and the front part of the engine was slightly damaged.
Following the © accident. the chauffeur, who is alleged to be responsible for the accident, is said to have admitted that it was his fault and that, before his lorry had tried to cross, he saw the train coming but thought he might run through first before the train He admitted that it was From other sources it is claimed that the truck was stalled on the crossing but the driver of engine No. 56 failed to stop in response to a signal, resulting in the motor being badly wrecked. Two men were sent to hospital, with injuries to their legs.
It is believed that a couple of sailors were on the lorry but this has not been confirmed.
The scene yesterday showed that the lorry had been thrown against concrete post on the east side, smashing it. This post was later replaced, and the damaged lorry was brought back to Shanghai yesterday by Messrs. G. H. Thompson Tt was pointed out, when inquiries were made at the Shanghai-Nanking Railway by a representative of the "North-China Daily News" yesterday, that a train could only pull up at double lengths of the train, a distance of about 1,200 feet, and as the emergency signal was given when the
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