ORDEAL ON CLIFFS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 28, 14 November 1935, Page 8

ORDEAL ON CLIFFS

j GIRL’S TRAGIC STORY. i Upon the ordeal of two girls who iwere found—one dead and the other iinjured—among rocks below a. 350%. lcliff on the Dorset coast, light was Ithrown at an inquest at Dorchester lrecently. . ' , , ‘ The survivor, in her account of the sufferings of herself and her comlpanion before they were discovered, ‘said, “\Ve both wanted to die together. . . . .” The victim of the tragedy, Miss Elaine Ogilvy, aged 21, was killed, and her companion, Miss Wendy Rvathbone, aged 19, was injured during an attempt to scale the cliff near Lulworth Cove after having been cut off by the tide. The two girls were on holiday, and were camping at Worth Matravers with Miss Anne Monier~Williams. When they failed to return from a walk in the evening, Miss Williams went to find them. Miss Williams sobbed as she told the coroner how she and RC. Northover searched the cliffs until dawn. . “It was a very dark night,” she said, “At dawn I walked with the police—man along the cliff again to Arish Moll Gap and then down on to the shore, where we found them. He sent for help.” ‘ The constable told the coroner that while. searching the beach he heard a, faint noise near a rock. He listened and heard it again. It seemed to be in thevclifl‘. “I got upon the rock,” he added. “and found the two girls. They were lying face to face. The injured girl complained of the cold, and I put my cape round her. She said she had fallen down the cliff.” While, waiting for a boat to take them off, Miss Rathbone made a full statement to him, the policeman added. She said, “We had been for a long walk and got to Lnlworth Cove from Arish Mell Gap. .On our return we could not get along the beach to anes Bay, and meeting some boys we asked if we could walk along the beach to Arish Mel]. They said we could, but we found we could not get round. “’6 were in a. hurry, and my friend said, ‘Let us climb up the cliff.’ I waited for my friend, who I thought was losing her nerve. I tried to cheer her up. Then she slipped and fell, and I could not see where she was. I climbed down, and when 'I got some way I saw her covered in blood, and then -I hurried too fast. I cannot remember any .more. ‘ “When I woke up- I- heard my friend calling for help. We talked together, and gradually she moved toward me. She died some time during the night. We both wanted to die together.” The coroner returned a verdict of “Death by misadventure.”