BURNED IN TAXI-CAB
LITTLE CHILD’S /DEATH.
A -terrible scene, in which a child was burned to death in a blazing taxi cab in the presence- of her parents, was described at an inquest at Glasgow on Marjorie Jean Hunter, aged four.
Mr James Robert Hunter, a Glasgow optician, stated that he, his wife, two children, and a- servant girl attended a pantomin? and were returning home by taxi-cab. The cab stopped for want of petrol. “The petrol tank was under the floor inside the- cab,” said Mr Hunter, “and we had to raise our feet, to allow the driver to fill it. The driver had the lighted oil side lamp of the car in one hand and a. petrol tin under his arm.
“He placed the lamp by the side of the tank, and then poured petrol into the tank. Then he held the lamp forward, apparently to see if the tank was full, and immediately there was a blaze, and the car became enveloped in flames. “I tried to break the window, but the door was opened from outside, and I fell into the street. I next saw the servant' lying with her head on the footboard and her feet jammed by the tip-up seat. I released her, and my wife and elder daughter escaped through the other door. The car was now a mass of roaring flames, and it was impossible to save Marjorie. Her body was fynud when the fire was extinguished. “My elder daughter and the servant are still seriously ill from burns in hospital, and I and my wife were also injured.” Mr Hunter denied that the driver requested them to leave the cab before he refilled the petrol tank. The taxi-driver stated emphatically, however, that he asked the . passengers to leave, and that they refused because the weather was bad. He denied that he carried the lamp, and said that when Ithe petrol tin was emnty there was a blinding flash. The verdict of the jury was that the driver used the lamp and did not request the passengers to leave the car. They made a recommendation that should not be granted for public motor vehicles where the tank was beneath the flooring.
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Bibliographic details
Greymouth Evening Star, 29 April 1924, Page 8
Word Count
369BURNED IN TAXI-CAB Greymouth Evening Star, 29 April 1924, Page 8
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