CROSSING TRAGEDY

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 July 1930, Page 5

CROSSING TRAGEDY

EXPRESS STRIKES LORRY DRIVER’S FATAL INJURIES [PER press association.] OTAKI, July 23. John Stewart, 29, was killed yesterday as the result of a collision between his motor lorry and the New Plymouth express. Stewart was driving a motor lorry for his brother-in-law at about 11.30 a.m., and was going over the railway line at Fraser’s Crossing, nine miles south of Otaki, when the north-bound New Plymouth Express crashed into the lorry broadside'on, and carried it fifty feet before depositing it upside down past the cattle stops. Stewart’s head, face and chest were badlv cut and crushed, and both his arms were broken. The body-work of the lorry was ruined, while the cowcatcher of the train was also damaged. . Stewart was conveyed to the Otaki Hospital by a private car and succumbed to his injuries shortly after his arrival.

The crossing where the accident occurred is'not dangerous, vision being unobscured for approximately one mile on the south, and half a mile on the north. Deceased lately had been out of permanent employment. He leaves a widow and a few weeks’ old baby. An inquest will be held at Waikanae on Thursday morning. As the result of the collision, the New Plymouth Express was nearly an hour late in arriving at Palmerston North. COMPENSATION PAYMENT. CHRISTCHURCH, July 22. The insurance companies handling third party motor risks have decided to pay compensation in the case of a man who was killed on the Papanui Road by an unknown motorist eighteen months ago. The companies handling ths class of business held a meeting, and after discussing the situation, decided to pay the money out of a pool created by the companies handling this risk. CYCLIST’S DEATH. PALMERSTON NORTH, July 23. . Arising from the fatal accident that occurred on Mount Stewart on April 12, when a motor cyclist, Alfred Hickey, was seriously injured and died in the hospital, John Joseph Evans, a labourer, of Rongotea, was charged in the Police Court with driving a motor car recklessly, or negligently, thereby causing death. The accused was committed for trial at the next session of the Supreme Court at Palmerston North. ’ <