WOMAN’S FATAL LEAP

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 January 1931, Page 3

WOMAN’S FATAL LEAP

245 FEET JUMP INTO RIVER. Known far and wide as the “Bridge of Death,” no fewer than 35 unfortunate persons have ended their lives by leaping over the parapet of the Clifton. Suspension Bridge. Only three persons who have gone over have escaped death. One woman survived owing to a curious circumstance. It was in the days when women wore long sjkirts. In her fall, her skirts, lifted by the wind, acted as a parachute, and she marvellously escaped injury. The Clifton Suspension Bridge is known also for its great height and span of the Avon Gorge, Bristol, and recently saw yet another tragedy, anfi a life-and-death struggle between two men apd a woman who ultimately crashed to her death in tjie River Avon 245 feet below. The victim was a young married woman with a devoted husband and an only child, a pretty girl eight years of age. They had spent many happy years until the tragedy came with dramatic .suddenness. Mary Geraldine Rawlins,’the victipi, was born at' Bath 32 years ago. Her family 'had lived in the Crow Hall for over a century. They are well-Icnown and highly respected throughout the West of EnglandA relative gave an account of the trials whiefi ended so tragically with the woman’s death.

HUSBAND'S SEARCH. Mrs Rawlins, the relative said, was a lovable and much-loved woman. East June she began to do unusual things, and a specialist was consulted. Mrs Rawlins, however, became worse, and her husband was advised to place her in a private nursing home. She was not satisfied there, and he was later allowed to have her home with hjm in charge of a trained nurse. About ff.3o on the night of the tragedy she asked her nurse for’ permission to walk up and down the terrace in front of her home at 24, Royal York Crescent, Clifton, Bristol. Her wish was granted. A few minutes later she had vanished. She did not return to dinner. Her husband searched the district and could not find her. Mr Rawling did not see his wife alive again. His sad duty was to visit Bristol Bridewell to identify a coat which was then the only clue in the hands of the police in connection, with the identity of a woman who had been engaged in a life and death struggle on the suspension bridge with Mr Andrew Grieve and Mr William Grieve, father and son, of Bunn Wall, Leigh Woods, Bristol. Mr William Grieve said: —“I was crossing the bridge on my way home just after midnight when I saw a woman standing near the centre of the span. She appeared to me to be acting strangely. I went on my way, but watched her from a distance. She made no move to climb the parapet. My father was in bed when I reached home, and I related my experience to him. He was at once uneasy and dressed himself hurriedly, and together we went back to the bridge. At first we could see no one. Then we heard a voice say, ‘Will you?’ We looked over the parapet and found that a woman was hanging on the outsiffe of the railings at the side of I the bridge. We rushed to her and caught her by the sleeves of her fur coat. We tried to persuade her to keep still, but she began to struggle violently. She kept saying, ‘lt will be better for my husband.’ We told her we would try and help her back to safety if she would only remain still while we climbed on to the parapet to get a grip of her. She kept saying that we were detectives from Fishponds Asylum. She struggled again and we felt her slip from our grasp. We could not see her falling, but we saw the, splash in the river far below. The last, words I heard were, ‘lt is better; it is better.’ We then found that we were holding the sleeves of her dress.”

A distance of 245 feet below a further act in the drama was played Police rushed to the spot in answer to telephone calls. Several rushed on to the soft, slimy mud at great peril to themselves. Their torch lamijs and bulls eyes were flashed along the banks of the Avon as they searched for the body.