FATAL DRAG ACCIDENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2458, 31 January 1893, Page 3

FATAL DRAG ACCIDENT.

The Otago Daily Times gives the following particulars of the distressing accident which happened near Dunedin on Sunday, and briefly reported in our local columns : A terrible accident occurred on the Hawthorn road, leading to the Kaikorai Valley, at between 11 and 12 o’clock yesterday morning, which resulted in the {lesth of a young woman—Miss Mary (Opnpelly, and injuries to a young man named William Casey, and three young women—viz , Miss Mary Williams, Miss Margaret Casey, and Miss Mary Walsh. It appears that a party of young people ha,d doterjninpd qi> spending the day at Brighton, and in order to do this they hired from Mr John Gore, of Hanover street, a three-horse drag. The party consisted of William Casey (driver), Misses Mary and Maggie Casey, Leith averme; Patrick Walsh, Joseph Walsh, Misses Kate, Bridget, and Mary Arthur street; taßHofc Miss Maty 1 'Williaias, KaOil' ' street ; Archibald Ipiompson, Serpentine avenue ; Miss Kate Gillighan and Miss Nellie Cogvin, bamaru ; Miss Mary Connelly, Roslyu ; and Miss Mary Rattigan, Waikomiiti. From inquiries made from the young jaeu who were in the drag at the time of

the accident we obtained the following particulars The horses were driven quietly and wtihuut symptom of restiveness as far as the top of Hawthorn Hill, leading down to Kaikorai Valley, and everything appeared perfectly safe and secure. William Casey, the driver, had the horses well in hand, and began at a walk to descend the steep and tortuous road into the valley. Directly the descent commenced it was found that the brake would not act. There were seated in front with the driver, Patrick Walsh and A. Thompson. As soon as it was realised that the brake was ineffective Thompson and Walsh also took hold of the reins to assist the driver, and pulled the horses steadily back. The vehicle, pressing on the horses, caused them to become restive, and they swayed from side to side, threatened to become unmanageable, and soon started kicking violently. By this time some distance had been covered, the horses going at a good pace. Owing to violent oscillation of the drag the young women became alarmed, and four of them jumped out at the back before the pace had become very serious and escaped without injury. At this juncture the footboard gave way, and the three young men seated in the front were thrown off. Then the horses got their own way and bolted, Casey, whose leg was somewhat seriously injured, holding the reins for some distance on the road.

Miss Mary Connelly called to the others to jump out, and Miss Mary Walsh did so and received a nasty scalp wound. The horses were now rushing madly down the hill, and soon after Miss Walsh had jumped from the drag Miss Mary Connelly either jumped or was thrown out. She fell on the road with great violence, and received injuries that were almost immediately fatal. She appeared to be quite dead when the young men went to her assistance, and the opinion of the doctor is that death was almost, if not quite, instantaneous, as her skull was fractured and her neck dislocated. Other of the occupants of the drag either fell or were thrown out as it continued its course down the hill, Miss Margaret Casey spraining her back and the lower portion of her neck, and Miss Mary Williams receiving a slight scalp wound and injuries which indicated a fracture of the lower ribs at the back. The bolt was continued right down the hill, a distance of over half-a-mile, when the horses swayed over to the right-hand side of the road, and were brought up suddenly by a telegraph post, the pole of the drag passing between the two iron rails that formed the support for the wire. Two horses went on one side and one on the other side of the rails. The horses burst through a hedge and wire fence, and fell into a paddock some two or three feet below the level of the road at that part. The remaining occupants of the drag were thrown over the fence into the paddock, but were not injured beyond receiving severe shocks and bruises. The drag did not upset at all, and the horses escaped with a few scratches. Those who were most injured were the persons who jumped from the vehicle on the way down the hill, when the horses were going at a speed which was described by the onlookers as terrific. The place where the vehicle finally stopped was on a comparatively level part of the road, and almost opposite the residence of Mrs Eliza Bryant. Mr W. Warrington, who happened to be near at the time of the accident, obtained stimulants for the injured and rode away for assistance ; and the people in the vicinity displayed a most kindly and helpful disposition towards the injured. The owner of the drag, Mr Gore, avers that on testing the brake after the accident he found it in perfect order.