MOTOR TRAGEDY

Hokitika Guardian, 20 June 1933, Page 8

MOTOR TRAGEDY

~ FOUR PERSONS KILLED, CAR TORN TO PIECES. SYDNEY, May 31. One of the .worst level grossing •,accideait >s that h s happened- in New South Wales occurred late on the night of May 30, when a, motor-oar and a fast-travelling electric train collided %ith great force at the Warwick Farm level crossing, near Liverpool. • Four peop.e—three Sydney business men end a young woman—were killed. Their bodies were teased past a. signalbox and over the platform into a, gu-'ly. The young woman and a man were killed instantly. The two other men survived only a few minutes. The motor-car: wag torn into hundreds of and the larger p rt 9 of its engine were moulded into scrap-iron. The leading carriage -of the train was derailed. The victims were:— Miss Ellen Lee Count, aged 27, of Camperdown ; Pierce Neil Cfla,rk, aged 36, of Kirr.billi ; Cedric Dalkeith Scott, aged 24, of Neutral Bay; Leslie William Patterson aged 37, of Summer nil. The wene -of the tragedy is fairly well lighted, and there are many signals warning motorists of the crossing. a. number of people have been killed there in recent years.

Eye-witnesses declare that the motor, car was travelling frst. The driver, they str.fe, evidently endeavoured to pns fi jn front of the train. Apparently he was vnacquainted with the crossing, as the ear crashed through one arm of the pressing gate. The impact, was so great (hat a beam four inches snuare w h Hhattered, and the stee 1 lattice work was folded back again the post.. The car did rot .appreciably slacken pace.l tbad p-ssed one >*et of rails, lend was crossing the other when an electric train of two carriages, which was triivellin<r-at a high speed toward [.vjerpool from .Fleimington, collided with it.

TERRIFIC CRASH; The crash was terrific. The heavy motor-pair, with its four occup ntg, was hurled high in the path of the train', ft crashed down on the platform; tear-, ing great grooves in the surface. Parts . became detached and were smashed to pieces under the train, which humping over 1 the. sleepers with b its lead : ng bogey derailed. The nrrin parts of the cair remained on. the platform, but hundreds ,of pieces wer e scattered. Some of ’ them fn 1 1 more than 40 yards from the crossing. . . The geat s of the ear. with the occupants, were hurled high over the platform, and fell in a marshy gully o.n the' far side. Miss Count was thrown rt least 40 feet. She wag terribly muti’ated. Her neck was broken, her tegs were crushed,; aind : one : .shoulder was practically torn- away. She was evidently killed -instantly bv the force of the collision and ’was dead when she struck the-ground. ' ;

Two of the men .fell close- to each oher pt the base of a telegr'ph pole about 18 feet from the girl, and one man.. narrowly missed the signal-box on the platform. He was evidently. thrown from the wreckage first. Messrs Clark' a,rid Scott were .dead when the first’ rescuers arrived on the Rpene,• but \f'’ Patterson survived until, the ambuUneo, we won reached Liverpool Hospital, where he died almost immediately. Two men. No"m'i,o ReVlv... an -unemployed man, .and. Mr Faloway. .the signalman, lnd narrow escapes, Wreck-' nge fell on the’ signal-box', and part, of the body of the car piled up. against it. The engine and heavier parts of the •nr narrowly missed Reillv. who w»s bfgp'ttered with broken glas s and fragments of wreckage.

“Anything new in cigarettes'?” asked a customer of a Dunedin tobacconist. ‘‘Yes: here are two good brands. But why not roll vour own? The cheapest ready-mules' cost 6d for 10.: better grade cost 8d or 9d. Roll .your own and it will cost you 4-d for' 10 instead of 6d because a two ounce tin of tobacco, say ,n.t Is 10d, will make fully 50 full-sized smokes, a saving of 30 per cent. ; more' of course, in the case of the higher priced article. Bear in mind, too, that even the finest ready mrd.es rapidly lose their flavour bv keeping while those you make youmelf daily are always fresh and fro,grant. The tobacco? Well, I use New Zealand toasted myself. It’s unbeaten for flavour and aroma. The toasting cl so largely frees it- of .nicotine, so that ft is absolutely pure and cafe whether you rre Rivotrhend Gold, Navy Cut No 3 (Bulldog). Cavendrsh or Cut Plug No. 10 (Bulkhead).” The customer bought a two-ounce tin,, remarking that the saving was well worth while in these times. It certainly is.— Advt.