WEEK-END ACCIDENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 October 1933, Page 7

WEEK-END ACCIDENTS

‘ SYDNEY LAUNCH WRECKED I* . FIVE LIVES. LOST ' [BY CABLE —PBESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.] (Recd. October 2, 8 a.m.) 1 SYDNEY, October 1. Rough weather along the coast was responsible for a boating tragedy today in the vicinity of Cronulla. Seven young men, despite the rain and treachous surf went deep sea fishing. The launch overturned and four were drowned and three rescued. The victims were Stephen Gleeson, William Burrell, and two brothers named Hodgson. The anchor rope fouled the propeller, which was. put i out of action. The boat was driven on a reef and smashed. The men were thrown into the sea. Two occupants swam ashore, and a third was rescued by a life saving reel. The other four were dead when brought, out in the same manner. PEOPLE WATCH TRAGEDY. (Received October 2, Noon.) SYDNEY, October 2. The victims of the Cronulla tragedy are as follow: —John James Hodgson, 63; Robert Bantock Hodgson. 65; Charles Lamph, 37; Seymour Burrell, 63. Stephen Gleeson is missing. The bodies of the first four were recovered. • -

People on the shore saw the men go to death, but were powerless to help owing to the heavy seas. The launch drifted ashore a total wreck. One of the survivors, P. Purches, 24, was lowered overboard on a rope. He attempted to free the propellor, but could make no impression on the rope. The anchor chain then snapped, and, tossed by a big waye, the launch turned turtle, and scattered the crew of eight in the water. Watchers, signalling with sheets,! vainly tried to attract the attention of a collier, which passed within half a mile of the launch.

Lamph had two artificial legs. His widow stated that he was a powerful swimmer,, and had he had time to take off his legs he would have reached the shore.

STRIBLING LOSES FOOT. (Received October 2, 1.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, October 1. A message from Macon (Georgia) states that W. L. Stribling, heavyweight boxer, was critically injured, when struck by an automobile, while riding a motor cycle, necessitating the amputation of his left foot. BOY DROWNED. HASTINGS, October 1. A sad drowning fatality occurred at Haujnoana, seven miles from Hastings, at four o’clock, on Saturday afternoon when William Kershaw’, aged three years, lost his life. The boy was visiting the beach with his parents and four other children, and was pjaying at the mouth of the Tukituki River, when a large Wave was seen to approach the child. Some fishermen nearby shouting a warning to him. He stepped back to avoid the wave, and fell into the mouth of the river, which was running very swiftly at the time. A man jumped in to save the boy, but his efforts were of no avail, the child being swept past him. The body was not seen again, and search parties scoured the beach until ten on Saturday night, w’hen the body was found, a mile from the mouth of the river.

KILLED BY PIG,

AUCKLAND, September 30. A'pig ■was the cause of the death under unusual circumstances of a Maori child at Whangaroa in the far north. The baby which was 12 months old and delicate had been put to bed on the floor of its . home. In the temporary absence of the child’s mother the pig. wandered into the house and trod on the baby, injuring its head and chest. The child was taken to the Whangaroa Hospital where it died from shock. At the inquest the Coroner returned a verdict accordingly. The parents of the child w r ere Mr and Mrs H. W. Foster.

SCHOOLBOY’S FATAL FALL. NEW PLYMOUTH, September 30. A fifteen-year-old high school boy, T. Downey, fell forty feet from the top of a pine tree to a hillside below shortly after noon to-day and broke bis neck. The fatality occurred when the lad was gathering pine cones. He was discovered by his brother, when the latter came to call him for lunch. Apparently, Downey, who was wearing football boots, slipped, and there were no branches on the side of the tree to break his fall. CAR AND CYCLE COLLIDE. AUCKLAND, October 1. Grave injuries were suffered by a motor cyclist and a pillion rider as the resu.lt of a collision between a machine which they were riding and a motor car at Grey Lynn last night. The car driver was also injured. The three victims, all of whom are suffering from . concussion, are:— Frank Powley, aged 1-1 years; pillion rider; condition serious. Tom Griffin, aged 20, cycle rider; condition serious. W. Gregory, middle-aged, car driver; not serious.

COAST ROAD MISHAP. While proceeding to Greymouth, from Westport .on Saturday afternoon, a Hupinobile car, driven by Mr Jones, of Nelson, went over a. four teen-feet bank near the Twelve Mile, on the Coastal Road. A stone weighing about half a hundredweight, had fallen across the road. The left-hand front wheel of Mr Jones’s car struck this, and the machine swerved over the cliff, making two somersaults before it landed upside down, on the beach below. Mr Thomas Millar, of Runanga, arrived on the scene almdst immediately following the accident, and went to the assistance of Mr Jones. He found the latter in an unconscious condition, with the, steering wheel pressing across his neck. Mr Turner, of Westport, then arrived, by which time Mr Jonds recovered consciousness, and apart from slight shock, was none the worse for his experience. The car was towed to Greymouth, by Baty’s wrecker, for repairs.