SAVED BY TELEPHONE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 58, 2 December 1926, Page 10

SAVED BY TELEPHONE

FOXTON PILOT’S GOOD FORTUNE The ringing of a telephone bell was probably the means of saving the life of Mr. \V. Signal, of Norbiton Road, Foxton, early on Monday morning. Mr. Signal, who is well known in Wellington, lias been acting as pilot in tlie absence of Captain Larsen, and about 3 o’clock on Monday morning he went to the pilot station at tlie beach to let the steamer Kennedy out. Captain Stewart, of the Kennedy, got into telephone communication with Mr. Signal shortly after 3 a.tn., and was informed that it was too dark to let the vessel out and to ring agtlin in twenty minutes. After lie had hung up the receiver Mr. Signal went outside, and shut the door of the pilot station, but collapsed with a heart attack on the steps. He managed to struggle up the steps and into the pilot station again, but knocked his head and fell unconscious. After about twenty minutes Captain Stewart again commupicated with the pilot station, and the ringing of the telephone bell partly brought Mr. Signal to a realisation of his predicament. With a great effort he managed to unhook the receiver but again collapsed. Meanwhile Captain Stewart could henr nothing but moans through the telephone, and lost no time in communicating with a doctor, and together they set out for the beach,, where they found Mr. Signal unconscious on the side of the pilot station hill. He was immediately removed to his home and treated for heart seizure, but is now on the way to good health again.