TERRIFIC CRASH

Southland Times, Issue 21093, 27 May 1930, Page 8

TERRIFIC CRASH

MOTOR COLLISION. STATIONARY CAR RUN INTO. PASSENGERS SERIOUSLY INJURED. (Special to the Times.) New Plymouth, May 25. A deep gash above the eye and temple and a fracture at the base of the skull were the injuries suffered shortly before midnight last night by-Norman Coburn, of Opunake, when he drove his car into a stationary car in Gill street and endeavoured to counteract the effect of the violent impact. Three young women were in the car with Coburn. Two escaped with bruises and shock and one suffered injuries that were treated in hospital. The names of the passengers and injuries follow: Norman Coburn, Opunake, music dealer and musician, lies in hospital in a critical condition. He is a married man with two children. He is still unconscious to-night. Miss Gwen Riley, of Ngamotu Beach, New Plymouth, who was sitting in the rear seat, received injuries to her head, shock and concussion. Her condition is thought not to be serious. She is conscious. Miss Elwyn Riley, professional dancing instructress, of New Plymouth, sister of Miss Gwen Riley, sitting in the rear seat, received bruises and shock. Miss Zeta Braund, of New Plymouth, who was sitting in the front seat next to the driver, received bruises and shock. Homeward bound from a dance, Coburn’s car struck the left front wheel of a parked car on a bend in Gill street. The stationary car was battered bodily and wheeled at right angles upon the footpath on the left side of the road. Coburn’s car sheered off to. the. right, careering madly and gouging tracks in the road. The evidence points to the fact that Coburn mistakenly accelerated and his car somersaulted and wheeled round facing the opposite direction and crashing upon its right side. Coburn was jammed with the steering column and Miss Gwen Riley, also on the right side in the back seat, had her head jolted.. The windscreen was shattered, fragments and large pieces deeply gashing Coburn’s temple, while his head presumably struck the back of the seat and fractured his skull. The hood of the car had to be wrenched off to extricate the occupants. Miss Gwen Riley was unconscious and Coburn was bleeding profusely and groaning. The two other occupants became hysterical as a large crowd grathered. The police could find no witness of the actual occurrence. Garage attendants a few yards away described a terrific crash sounding like sheets of iron being dragged, a roar like acceleratifjp and then another crash as the car somersaulted. Coburn is well-known as a proprietor of a dance orchestra. . * DEATH OF COBURN. (Per United Press Association.) New Plymouth, May 26. Norman Coburn, a musician of Opunake, who received a fractured skull in a collision between his car and a stationary one on Saturday night, died.in the hospital to-day.