DIED FOR DOG

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 67, 10 November 1931, Page 7

DIED FOR DOG

TWO YOUNG MEN AND GIRL LOSE LIVES SAYING PET. HEROISM IN GALE SWEPT SEA. TORQUAY. Hundreds of visitors and townspeople lining the sea wall at Livermead, Torquay to watch the spectacle of towering waves, lashing into fury by a 60-miles-an-hour gale, breaking over the promenade, were horrified witaesses of the death of three persons who had placed them-selves-in peril through an attempt by one of them to save a drowning dog. The Three who lost their lives were: — Miss Kathleen Jennings, 19, housemaid; Mr. Jack.Wych, of Prospect-road Birmingham; Mr. John Sidney Smith, 21 dairyman's porter, of Wellington-road Torpuay. " Miss Jennings, who was the daugth- . er of Mr. William Jennings, engineer at Torbay Hospital, was employed by Miss Ollerenshaw, of Under-hill,. Chelston, Torquay. The girl went to Livermead Cliff to see the waves rolling in, and was followed hy her employer's pet Airedale . dog, The terrier ran on to the slipway, which was being lashed by the waves. Miss Jenning pursued it, and the same breaker swept hoth her and the dog into the sea. . . ;As she left the road for the slip, Mr. Wych, who was.on holiday with his parents and Tbrother at Torquay, ran to pull her from the danger zone, but a moment after Miss- Jennings was washed . away he vanished in .a cloud of spray. The eouple were next seen ■ clinging to a piece . of • driftwood. Me'anwhile Mr. Smith tried to reach a lifebuoy attached to the sea wall. Drenched by spume he had almost reached it when a wave -caught him, lifted him off his feet, and swept him into- the sea. Lost to Sight. In a few minutes all three were lost to sight. The onlookers made desperate efforts to effect rescues. About 20 people rushed waist-deep into the. water and formed a humari chain, but in vain. No swimmer could live in that sea, and it was impossible to launch a boat. A graphic account of what occurred was given hy Miss Norah Fishleigh, one of the staff of the Livermead Cliff Hotel, which is opposite the seene of the triple tragedy. "The . girl," she stated, "leaned over the : steps to try to catch hold of the dog and seemed to slip into the surf. There was a cry from the crowd as the sea caught her and flung her away as though she were a cork. "Then, to my horror, I saw the • others go in. The gale was terribly strong, and the sea so rough that it! was a hopeless piece of heroism. All of them must have been lcnoeked unconscious the moment they struek the ; water. "Mr. John, the manageL of the hotel, rushed to the promenade and threw out our lifebuoy, and I saw | one of the men, try ta catch it. For an instant he seemed to have it, but j as the waves rose his head went ,imder. "I have never seen more courageous efforts by a crowd. It would have been suicide for others to try to swim out, but man after naan ran into the waves and tried to reach the drowning people: They tried to make a chain of hands and then a chain of ropes, but it was clear almost at once ; that nothing could be done." The body of Mr. Smith was fo'und j entangled in seaweed -about 100 | yards from the spot -where he disap- ' peared. The body of the dog has also been recovered, but so far there is no trace of the others.