TWO WOMEN KILLED

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 184, 2 May 1931, Page 9

TWO WOMEN KILLED

Train Hits Motor-car VIOLENT IMPACT Man Seriously Hurt HON. J. A. MILLAR’S WIDOW By Telegraph—Press Association. New Plymouth.. May 1. Two women lost their lives, and a man was seriously injured when the southbound New Plymouth-Wanganui passenger train struck and overturned a flve-seater motor-car at Seyton Road railway crossing; Stratford, this afternoon. So violent was the impact that the two women, who were killed, were hurled from the rear seat, a distance of five or six yards, against the closed and bolted doors of a garage, shattering the timbers. The two women were lying inside the garage when helpers rushed to their assistance. . . • , The killed are ;— MRS. J. A. MILLAR, aged 68, widow of the late Hon. J. A. Millar, WeL lington, and mother of Mrs. IVHathaway, Flint Road, Stratford. Died on admission to hospital. MRS. McKENZIE, Hamilton, very seriously injured and died at Stratford Public Hospital. Mrs. W. Hathaway, another passenger in the car, is suffering from severe bruises all over, the body and shock. She is in « private hospital. Mr. .William Hathaway, her husband, is seriously injured about the head and chest and has a broken shoulder. He also was taken to the hospital and his condition is serious. . . The engine struck the rear portion or the car and sent it hurtling through the air to crash a crumpled ' mass against a telegraph pole. ' ' ' . Mrs. Millar and Mrs. McKenzie, arrived at Stratford last Saturday, intending to spend a ■ holiday with Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway. Mr. Hathaway is 75 years of age, and grave doubts of his recovery are entertained. People who saw the accident or were on the spot soon after the crash say Mr. Hathaway was driving, with his wife also in the front seat. Mrs." Milkr and Mrs. McKenzie occupied the rear seat. The .crossing is dangerous because visibility is . obscured by a shed. Apparently the car had almost crossed the lines When the engine struck the rear portion, flinging the car violently aside, turning it over, and bringing.it to rest lying on the side, facing almost in the opposite direction to that in which it had been going. ■ ■ STRUCK DOWN BY CAR Man Fatally Injured By Telegraph—Press Association. , Auckland, May 1. Francis John Johnson, 50. a married man, was struck and fatally injured by n motor-car at Westfield this .morning. He was employed at the freezing works, the gates of. which he was ■ entering when knocked down.