HomeMy WebLinkAbout1381Article copied from the Pickering News, January 6, 1882, page 2.The Valentine Accident
On Thursday night George Valentine, a well known farmer of Pickering, and his wife were
killed at the Kingston Road crossing of the Grand Trunk Railway. The unfortunate couple
were on there way to market to Toronto with a load of poultry , butter, &c., when their buggy
was struck by a pilot engine; the women was immediately killed and the husband died twenty
minutes after the accident. The following evidence taken at an inquest held by Coroner
Riddell gives the details.Henry Worthington said that about a quaratear past eight o'clock
Thursday evening he heard the engine smash into a buggy. He ran in the direction of the
sound, and saw the buggy lying on the road upside down. Heard a man moaning beneath the
vehicle, and noticed something like a bundle of clothes near the fence on the west side of the
track. Witness then went for Dr. Carroll. Witness had noticed the engine coming down the
grade from Scarboro' with the tender first. It stopped about forty feet from the crossing after
striking the buggy. Witness did not hear any whistle or see any light on the engine before
hearing it strike the buggy. Saw two men come from the direction of the engine to where the
man was lying, and began to lift the buffy from him. After summoning Dr. Carroll, witness
procured a lantern, and returned to the scene of the accident. The engine was going pretty
fast at the time it srtuck the buggy, and witness heard a noise resembling that made by an
engine when reversed. Witness afterwards noticed that what he had before taken for a bundle
was the dead body of a woman.Dr. Carroll's evidence was then read. He related the
particulars following the time he was summoned to attend at the scene of the accident.
He found that the woman had received several wounds about the head and body, which had
caused instantaneous death. After examining the woman he went to the man. Witness found
him in a sensible condition, but suffering pain. He inquired after his wife, and the witness
made an evasive answer. Witness gave orders to have the man removed to the Generl
Hospital in the ambulance, where he died.Dr. O'Reilly, Medical Superintendent of the
General Hospital, was next called. He stated that the deceased, George Valentine, was
brought to the hospital on Thursday night, and taken to Ward No. 1. Before he could be
removed from the stretcher to the bed he died. Upon making an external examination of the
body witness found a fracture of the pelvic bone and injury to the spinal cord. Up to the time
he died deceased had been bleeding from the urethra, and witness was of the opinion that
the bladderr was injured. Henry Lomans, the next witness,
said that he was in the neighborhood of the Grand Trunk crossing between eight and nine
o'clock on Thursday night. He was about one hundred yards away from the spot when he heard
a crash at the crossing, and saw a horse come up the road. The animal was walking and had
harness on. Witness caught the horse, and taking it back close to the railway crossing, tied it
up. He then noticed a woman lying inside the fence near the track, also a man lying on the
sidewalk. Another man was holding him. Witness heard the injured man say his name was
Valentine. Witness did not pay any attention to the engine until he heard the crash, and could
not say whether it had whistled or not. When he arrived at the crossing the engine was standing
on the track a short distance south. Witness did not remember ever seeing an engine pass the
crossing without whistling.A young man named Alfred Wilson stated that he was about 100 yards
away from the place where the accident occurred, and heard a sharp whistle followed by a crash.
He afterwards heard a noise resembling that made when an engine blows off steam. Witness
proceeded in the direction of the sound. When he got there he noteced that the engine was
coming back towards the crossing. He noticed the waggon lying in the drain by the side of the
road, and heard a man groaning beneath it. Some men lifted the fragments of the waggon from
off the man, and placed him on the sidewalk, just before this witness had noticed the body of the
woman lying inside the fence. The man was taken into Mr. Booth's house, and the woman into a
new building close at hand.Several other witnesses were called who gave corrobarataive
testimony to that of former witnesses respecting all that was know of the accident. One of them,
Edwin B. Sparks, saw the engine coming down the line just before the accident, and heard two
very sharp whistled, and also heard the bell ringing. It was the custom for the engines to whistle
when coming to that crossing. After the whistle, and while the bell was ringing, witness heard a
crash.The inquest adjourned to Tuesday evening when after hearing other witnesses, a further
adjournment took place to this (Wednesday) evening.