YOUNG MAN DROWNED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 974, 17 May 1930, Page 10

YOUNG MAN DROWNED

LORRY DIVES INTO RIVER TWO OTHERS INJURED Press Association WAIPUKURAU, Today. A fatal lorry accident occurred late yesterday afternoon on the M&karetu Road, three miles south of Ongaonga, the victim being Mr. Frederick William Spotswood, aged 20. Three men employed as a line party by the Post and Telegraph Department, Waipukurau, were driving along the road in a lorry. When crossing a bridge over the Tukitukt River, the steering gear apparently failed, so that the lorry crashed through the structure into the river, a distance of 12ft, Spotswood being pinned underneath. The cause of his death was apparently drowning. The other occupants of the lorry were Mr. Claud Page, aged 44, a married n\un, and Mr. Robert Stabler, aged 20. both residents of Waipukurau. They escaped with lacerations, bruises and shock. Mr. Stabler had severe lacerations on the right leg. necessitating the insertion of stitches. Both men struggled from the upturned vehicle in the river and made heroic but fruitless efforts to lift the lorry to extricate Mr. Spotswood. Mr. Page, although suffering severely, walked some chains to a settler's residence to advise the police, a doctor and the postal officials. The body was subsequently recovered. The two other men are in hospital. Spotswood’s mother lost one son in a motor accident, her husband died, and now her second son has been killed, all within 18 months.