FALL DOWN CLIFF.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 4, 28 September 1937, Page 6

FALL DOWN CLIFF.

ManKilledWhen HeLost Hold on Rope ; SYDNEY TRAGEDY " " . SYDNEY, Suly, 30. ; ThomaB .'Harrlsdn, 33, of Carlisle Street, Lelchardt, Tell about 80 feet, and was killed Instantly, ,wh©n he lost his grip on a rope with" which he had been climbfng the cliff lace neir Ben Buckler yesterday after--noon. ' Police and others, woyktng by the glare of a searehlight froin tlie pilot steamer, Captain ComIi, last night rioked their lives in an attempt to recover the body, but eventually had to abandon the project ' until • the morning, ■ Where the accident occurrqd the cliff is one of the highest along the coastline, the top being more • than 300 feet above sea levbl. Men who fish from the rocks at the base; have found a way down the. cliff face, but the path is imposslble without the use of ropes. . Harrlson went there yepterday for the first time, with Kis brother-ln-law, Mr. Beach Lewis,: of Carlisle Street, Rose Bay, who knows - the cliffs well. They returned towards evening. Harrlson had successfuliy passed" %th'e most difficult part oi, the climb, and was using the rope to walk up the sheer face, when, apparently, the task proyed too much for him, and he released his hold. BROTHER-IN-LAW HELPLESS. "I had to watch my brotLer-In-law slipipng down the rope, without1' being' able to moVe a fitfger to help him," Mr. Lewis "said "last night. "Cllmbing up Ae cliff witb . ropes , is not difficult. it is all a matter of coniidence, Being used to it myself, 1 did not realise that Tom's con^dence i^ight.be shaken. "I went ahead, to . show. the way, The rope woulu not stand M;e weight of the two of us,' so I .went up to the point where it .-was fastened, about 90 feet above, the rocks, • "My brotherrin-la,w, had come most of the way, and had actually passed ths most difficult spot, wlien he called out something- like 'I can;t make it.' i shputed "to him: 'Twist your legf in the -rope,' but he seemed to "slacken. his . grasp, and " then" slid down the rope. After a time he had no chance of stopping. himselt. . "I went down again at once, but there was' nothing I could do, as he was' dead." ' , . Mr. Lewis notified the Bondi uolice, • but dusk had fallen before they arrived. They stood for hours on the cliff edge, > and showed the Captain Cook where to go by mes-sages-in Morse • with an - electric '.orch.