MOOR TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 5, 7 January 1938, Page 11

MOOR TRAGEDY.

GIRL LOSES LIFE.

PROLONGED EXPOSURE.

PARTY BUZZARD-BOUND.

(•Special.—By Air Man.)

SHEFFIELD, December 17.

"This will not deter me; I intend to carry on with my rambling," said Miss Margaret Dearnley, of Staniforth Sheffield, 19-years-old girl survivor of a tramping tragedy on Broomhead Moor. Bandaged from toe to knee, unable to walk owing to snow blisters, she had just been carried to a car by officials of the Sheffield Coroner's Court. In the Court she and the two young men in the tragic party had told of their night blizzard-bound on the moor, with the fourth member, 17-years-old Nora Leary, of Birch Road, Sheffield, delirious through exposure. They told of their dilemma when at dawn they found that Nora was dead. 400 Yards From Path. The coroner, Mr. J. Kenyon Parker, recording a verdict of death from cold and exposure, said that no blame attached to any member of the party. Tlie two men, he added, had behaved very pluckily in getting Miss Dearnley to safety and then joining the search for Miss Leary's body. Earlier, before hearing evidence, Mr. Kenyon Parker told the jury: I "This is a sad case. A girl of 17 lost her life—and in my opinion she should not have done so." He explained that from his own experience of rambling in the district, he knew that the party were lost only 400 yards from a path that would have led them to safety. "It seems to me that some serious errors of judgment have been made. "Why did this party not turn back? Were they right in leaving this girl alone? I think it is a rule of conduct among climbing and walking people that a member of a party who is ill should never be left alone. "However, the last point does not arise here. It seems almost certain that the girl was dead, and in my opinion the two men acted rightly and wisely in concentrating on getting the other girl back to safety." Albert Leary, giving evidence, said his daughter was in good health. He pleaded with her not to go on the moors been use of the snow, but she said she would be all right. Dr; Wilfred Hvnes, of Sheffield Royal TT"S| itiil. said the cause of death was prolonged exposure to cold. A police sergeant described the search for the body. The party of nine men. be siiid. had to wade through eight feet of snow for five miles and at times were up to their knees in icy water. The body was found under Sft of snow, covered with a mackintosh. The dead girl was warmly clad and well shod. Miss Dearnley then described the route taken by the party over the moors. It was not until six o'clock, she said, when the moon was shining, that Xora started to complain of being tired. "We all lay down together, covered bv mackintoshes," Miss Dearnley said. "Xora. once sat up and shouted. "Mother, mother." Then she liecatne delirious. I made her lie down, and after a time she went quiet and I thought she was asleep. "We Were Willing." "One of the boys began to lub her hands and face. He felt her pulse, and then said he thought she was dead. It was snowing and blowing at the time. We lav in the ditch until daylight, and we then set off for help, leaving Nora covered with a mackintosh.

"Ultimately we reached a farm where I stayed, while the boys pushed tin to Broomhead Hall for help."

In answer to the foreman of the juryMiss Dearnley said: "We were willing parties to the ramble. The boys warned us the snow would be deep."'

Albert Garfitt, aged 26, of Fitzwilliam

Street. Sheffield, one of the men in the party, said:

••[t took us four and a lialf hours to decide what to do after Nora's death. Margaret was fretting downhearted, and it was still snowing hard. We thought it was better to fight for the life that was living than to fight for the one who was dead. We thought of carrying Nora's body with us, but realised we could not."