SENSATIONAL ACCIDENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1922, Page 5

SENSATIONAL ACCIDENT.

LORRY WRECKS A HOUSE.,, OUT OF HAND DOWN HILL. A sensational accident occurred in Brighton Road. Parnell, shortly before five o’clock on Wednesday morning, when a large timber waggon, belonging to J. J. Craig, Ltd., heavily laden with iron pipes, and drawn by three horses, careered down the hill and crashed into a house at the corner of Lee Street. The house, which is owned by Mr. A. Heape, and occupied by Mr. E. Faber, was greatly damaged, the verandah and two front rooms being practically wrecked. One of the horses was seriously injured, losing an eye, while another animal was also badly cut about. The driver had jumped off the waggon, and fortunately there was no one in the front rooms of the house, though Mr. Faber’s daughter, who was in the kitchen, was just about to go there. She had just reached the passage when the crash came, and the building was violently shaken. It is stated there was no brake on the waggon, but a. rope was tied to a wheel and part of the undergear. From the top of Brighton Road, at St. Stephen’s Avenue, to Lee Street, is 300 yards or 400 yards, there being a steep decline all the way. After the waggon had covered about 200 yards at a medium pace, the rope snapped, evidently having worn through, and the great weight of the pipes, estimated at two or three tons, forced the horses forward at considerable speed. The driver jumped from the waggon, but still retained the reins, and endeavored to turn the horses into Lee Street, The bar attaching the leading horse became unfastened and the horse swung away to one side. The other two horses failed to negotiate the corner and swept through the paling fence and plunged with terrific force across the verandah into the front of the house. Verandah posts were knocked down, two windows were shattered and a large hole was made in the front wall, some timber being splintered to matchwood. Damage was also done to furniture. It was some considerable time before the struggling horses, one of which lay partly inside* the house, could be extricated, a number of the pipes having first to be removed from the waggon.