GRIM SECRET OF LONELY QUARRY

NZ Truth, Issue 1194, 18 October 1928, Page 7

GRIM SECRET OF LONELY QUARRY

Wfe Steered Gar On Girl's Tragic Journey O^ Roads? TMVELLED TWO HUNDRED MILES TO HER DOOM

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Commissioner.) . - ; ONLY SUPERHUMAN EFFORT could have enabled little Elsie Walker, of Cape Runaway, aged nearly; seventeen, to drive approximately two hundred miles over mountainous roads m her uncle's. Whippet car from Papamoa to Fapatoetoe. For, so far as is known, she had never driven a car a hundred yards m her young life. . „w,'” ~ ,„ Experienced motor-drivers who know the route' which the. dead girl traversed were of but one opinion when questioned by N.Z. Truths representative— that such a feat would be practically impossible for an inexperienced driver. Had she actually held the wheel of the car for that </u---tance, they were of opinion that her amateurish driving would have done very considerable damage to the gearing and brakes. The considered judgment of such men cannot be discounted. Therefore, there is the quest. on which remains to be answered: Did Elsie Walker drive the car; if she did not, who It is not a mere question of making mystery where there is none. The cold, hard fact has to be faced that here is a young girl — no stretch of imagination can make her out to be a woman, either m character or precocity — who accomplishes a Journey unparalleled m motoring history. And within twenty -four hours she is dead. There is a pool of blood beside the body; she has neither money nor effects With her. And there is the astounding fact to be faced thai she who had never driven a car, so far as is known, tackled two hundred miles of the most tricky driving m the North Island. Strong proof will be required to satisfy the public that Elsie Walker drove to her death alone.