HUSBAND AND WIFE KILLED.

Shannon News, 29 October 1929, Page 3

HUSBAND AND WIFE KILLED.

CAB CRASH IN THE HUTT. -

A man and his wife were killed and three other persons were injured, when a motor-car in which they were pnceeding up Whiteman’s Valley Road, went over a bank and crashed down the steep hillside into the gully below at about four o’clock on Sunday afternoon. The victims were:— KILLED.

Edward James Elton, a plumber, Margaret Craig Elton, his wife. INJURED.

Leonard Frank Barton, traveller. Alexa Margaret Barton, married. Lexy Barton, aged five years.

Mr and Mrs Elton were son-in-law and daughter, respectively, of Mr and Mrs Barton. All lived at 49 Coromandel street, Wellington. It was a sharp bend, right at the summit of the Whiteman ; s Valley road, about five miles from Silverstream, that the accident took place. Mr Barton was at the wheel of the car which went over the steep bank when about to pass another car coming around the bend in the opposite direction.

Smashing and crashing over stumps and fallen logs, the car rushed down through the fern and underscrub on the lower edges of the gully. It did not lose its balance, however, until well near the foot, when-it capsized and toppled over and over to the bottom, some 300 feet below the roadway. Mr and Mrs Barton and their child were thrown out about halfway down the hill, and Mr and Mrs Elton were thrown clear some 50 feet further on. The former was killed outright and the latter only lived 20 minutes after the accident.