NARROW ESCAPE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 1, 2 January 1936, Page 10

NARROW ESCAPE

MOTOR-CAR CRASH

PROMPT ACTION BY YOUTHS

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, January 1

■ Crashing through the railing of the approach to the overhead bridge at Pokeno on to the main trung railway 30 ft below, in an eight-cylinder sedan car at about 5.20 o'clock this morning, two Auckland residents were injured, but the prompt action of two youths saved them from death and can, in at least some measure, be credited with preventing damage to the New Ply-mouth-Auckland express.

The two victims of the accident are James Alexander Grayson, dentist, of Epsom, injury to left knee and numerous abrasions, and William Gaitt Clavis, Mount Eden, extensive head abrasions.

The youths, whose presence of mind and quick work were so invaluable, were James Leathern and Walter Russell, farm hands in the employ of the former's father, Mr. C. Leathern, whose residence fronts the road about 180 yards from the bridge.

After remaining awake to see the New Year in, Grayson and Clavis left Auckland for Napier. While seated in the farmhouse taking their pre-milking cup of tea, the two youths . heard a car pass and then a crash. They rushed out on to the road and noticed that the bridge railing had been carried away. A smal' column of dust was also rising. They ran to the spot and say: the car on its hood with the bonnet across the rails and back -gainst the far side of the cutting. One man, who proved to be Mr. Grayson, the owner and driver of the car, was lying inert across the rails, face downward by the front window.

The youtfis were quickly in the cutting and lifted him to safety. They then became conscious of the sound of a train approaching. It was the express rounding a bend half a mile away at about 40 miles an hour. Young Leathern ran as fast as he could along the line to-\yards it, waving his arms and shouting. Fortunately the driver saw him in time and, applying the brakes, managed to stop the train within about 20 feet of the car.

In the meanwhile young Russell had looked into the car. Clavis was lying stunned across the seats. He seized his clothing and managed to drag him through one of the shattered windows and away from the rails. The train crew and a large number of passengers who had alighted came along and Grayson and Clavis were carried to the guard's van. '