SMASHED TO PIECES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 347, 7 May 1928, Page 1

SMASHED TO PIECES

CAR ROLLS 300 FEET DOWN CLIFF RESCUERS FIND WOMAN COVERED IN BLOOD Press Association. GISBORNE, To-day. TO be dashed 300 feet down a precipitous bank in a closed car was the terrible experience which, last evening, befell Mr. and Mrs. Edward Meadowcroft, of Khandallah, Wellington. Mrs. Meadowcroft, apparently severely hurt, was found covered with blood, while her husband is suffering severely from shock.

A car containing four Gisborne residents, driven by Mr. G. W. Armstrong, was traversing Wharerata Hill on the South Road, when it encountered a man wandering along the road in a dazed condition, who said he had an accident half a mile further on. It was found that Mr. Meadowcroft. who was entirely unfamiliar with the road, had failed to negotiate a turn, and the car had crashed down an almost perpendicular slope. Mr. Meadowcroft, being unable to find any trace of his wife, had climbed back to the read in search of assistance. The accident occurred about 6.30 p.m. in heavy rain. The rescuing party scrambled down

the bank, first encountering the bonnet of the can- then the sidescrc-ens. and numerous items of luggage and fragments of the machine, and finally, about 100 yards down, the shattered remains of the car. itself. A search revealed Mrs. Meadowcroft lying about 50 paces away, unconscious. covered with blood, and obviously badly hurt. The rain was coming down in sheets and the party was faced with a difficult problem in transporting the injured woman up the 100 yards cf cliff to the road. Finally after much toil they accomplished the task and brought the injured people to the hospital.