BOYS CAUGHT BY RAIL-CAR

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28981, 24 August 1959, Page 10

BOYS CAUGHT BY RAIL-CAR

One Badly Hurt On Bridge

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, August 23.

An 11-year-old lad was seriously injured and others were forced to scatter for their Jives when a south-bound rail-car surprised a group of boys playing on a bridge north of the Buckland railway station on Saturday afternoon.

The injured boy, Bruce White, son of Mr and Mrs J. J. White, of 63 West street, Pukekohe, was admitted first to Middlemore Hospital, and later to Auckland Hospital, suffering from head injuries and concussion. His friend, Victor Henry Wootton, aged 14. whose parents are Mr and Mrs H. Wootton, of 59 West street, jumped from the bridge into the creek about 12ft below.

Four other boys threw themselves clear of the line at the end of the bridge. Tonight, Bruce was reported to be “very sick, but a little better."

The driver of the rail-car, Mr G. Cooke, said at home in Frankton Junction tonight that when he saw the boys on the bridge he was only about 200 ft away. Trees growing on the bend obstructed his view.

“The rail-car was travelling at about 45 miles an hour,” he said, “but it responded very quickly to the emergency brake.” Residents near the bridge expressed amazement that there had not been more accidents there.

“It is the general practice for children to come down by the bridge and sometimes spend a whole day there,” said Mr H. Van Der Putten, whose market garden property looks out over the bridge.