RESCUE BY POLICE

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29316, 22 September 1960, Page 6

RESCUE BY POLICE

Woman Caught

Under Couch

An elderly woman, trapped for two or three days beneath a couch in a house at 151 Chester street, where she lived alone, was rescued by the police in the early hours of yesterday morning. The woman, Miss Nicola Welsford, was discovered by Sergeant J. F. Waugh and Constable J. J. O’Halloran. She was taken by St John ambulance to the Christchurch Public Hospital and admitted at 3.45 a.m. Mr W. N. Williams, a milkman, of 41 Howard street thought that there was something wrong at the house when he saw that newspapers and milk bottles had not been collected. He' telephoned the police. The police shone torches in through the back windows and heard the sound of tapping and a voice weakly calling for help. The two policemen climbed through a window and found a heater and a radio going. Miss Welsford was lying on her back underneath the couch and was unable to move. The couch was lifted off her and she was made as comfortable as possible until the ambulance arrived. It is not known how Miss Weleford came to be beneath the coueh.