STRUCK BY TRAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 286, 3 December 1938, Page 13

STRUCK BY TRAIN.

CROSSING SMASH. FAMILY OF FIVE HURT. TWO IN SERIOUS STATE. (From Our Correspondent.) PALMER STON NORTH, Friday. A miraculous escape from death was experienced by a family of five persons when the car they were travelling in was struck by the south-bound Napier express this afternoon at the Sheehan Street railway crossing at Shannon. They were: — Mr. Arthur John Hodge, aged 46, of Moutoa, Foxton, sharemilker, driver of the car; injuries to head, left leg and right wrist. Mrs. Alice Hodge, aged 40, wife of the driver, broken bone in face, bruises and shock. Bertha Hodge, aged 17, fractured left thigh, bruises and cuts; condition serious. Dorothy Hodge, aged six, fractured left thigh, fractured skull; condition very serious. Edwin Hodge, aged two, fractured collarbone. All the occupants were thrown out except Dorothy, who had to be removed from the car. Almost amazing was the escape of the boy Edwin. After the impact he was found lying on the grille of the cattle-stop close beside the line, the full length of the train having apparently passed over him, only the elevation of the actual track having saved him. After receiving medical attention the injured were taken by ambulance to the Palmerston North Hospital. The car was practically wrecked. The crossing is the same one at which a fatality occurred a few months ago.