ELOPEMENT AND DEATH

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 114, 4 August 1927, Page 1

ELOPEMENT AND DEATH

A CHRISTCHURCH GIRL FALL FROM SYDNEY CLIFF By Cable.—Press Association. —Copyright SYDNEY, Wednesday. The dead body of Sarah Wayne, aged 19, formerly of Christchurch, New Zealand, was found at the foot of a cliff at Coogee. An inquest concerning tile girl's death was held to-day. John Vernon Donnelly deposed that he eloped with deceased from Christchurch and came to Sydney. Here they lived together. Witness said he gave the girl £l5O on July 18. She placed the money in a linen bag which she hung round her neck. He left the flat where they were living and when he returned deceased was not there. On the following day witness searched for the girl, hut found no traces of her. He then sent a cablegram to her mother stating: "Sally Is missing. I expect she has committed suicide.” Deceased’s body was subsequently found at Coogee, but when the moneybag was opened at the morgue it was empty. The coroner returned a verdict to the effect that Miss Wayne died from injuries received through falling over the cliff at Coogee, but the evidence did not enable him to say whether or not she wilfully cast herself over.—A. and N.Z.