DOUBLE ACCIDENT.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 16, 21 January 1901, Page 3

DOUBLE ACCIDENT.

TWO VEHICLES OVERTURNED ON RIVERSIDE EMBANKMENT.

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE,

Shortly before 5 o’clock on Saturday ® ve m°B a serious accident happened at ‘ The Kooks, along the Riverside road, a narrow siding on the bank of the Waimata river. Misses Wyllie and Laird, nurses at the Gisborne Hospital, had been out for an afternoon s drive in a gig, having with them a little child named Garlick, who was being cared for at the Hospital. On their way home, when near the poplar trees at the upper end of the Riverside cutting, their horse noticed Mr Maelaurin’s buggy coming from the opposite direction, the town side, and as Mr Maclaurin’s horse came steadily round he bend, the horse driven by Miss Laird shied and made as if to turn back. Mr Maclaurin, whose horse was taking matters coolly, gave the reins to one of his companions, and jumping out, ran to the assistance of the ladies in the gig, but before he could get to them the horse had backed over the embankment. He scrambled down to the side of the bank to give assistance, and had just learned that the injuries were not as serious as might have been feared, when a glance along the road showed that his own buggy had been backed over the embankment. The buggy contained Misses Mackay and Scott, visitors from the Waikato, and Miss Bright, hospital nurse. The buggy went over and over down the steep bank, a fall of about 3o feet. The vehicles were a distance of 20 yards apart at the points where they went over Mr Palairet, senr Mr M. Foster, and Mr G. Palairet (on a visit from the Waikato), were out cycling, and just got within sight as tho vehicles were coin" over. It'seemed to them a miracle that anyo'no would ’ escape alive, the occupants of the traps being so violently thrown about. The tide was in at the time. Miss Scott was plunged into rather deep water, and the back of her head was badly cut on the papa rock* Miss McKay was severely cut about the face, and had her elbow badly injured. Misses Wyllie, Bright, and Laird were severely shaken, and sustained bruises, Miss Laird being bruised about the forehead. Miss Wyllie pluckily held the baby, which escaped with a deep flesh wound in the right leg. The blood-marked, bruised, wet, and mud-stained ladies, the wrecked vehicles, and the struggling horses presented a startling spectacle, and it was well that m the sad plight assistance was so readily to hand. The horse attached to the gig extricated itself from Us position in the mud by struggling until it broke the shafts from tho body of the gig, and it then swam the river to the Kaiti side, having pieces of the harness and the shafts still attached to it. The other horse, to prevent further injuries to the individual:,, was promptly released. Mr Maclaurin, with the assistance of Messrs Palairet and Foster and others who came to hand, helped the ladies up the bank, and Mr Holden happening to be driving on his way home from town, just arrived in good time, and kindly conveyed all the ladies and the child to the surgery of Dr Craig, where they were quickly attended to, Mrs Craig also giving valuable assistance in the dressing of tho wounds. Bad as the accident was all were astonished and thankful that it was not worse. “It was a miracle,” said one of the eye-witnesses to the Times representative, “ that no one was killed.”

AN INTERVIEW. Interviewed by a representative of the Times, yesterday, Mr Maclaurin stated that he was driving home on Saturday afternoon about 5 o’clock in company with Misses Mackoy and Scott (of Waikato) and Miss Bright (nurse at the Gisborne Hospital). When passing along the Riverside road, near the rooks, they saw a trap containing two ladies and a child coming towards them. He recognised one of the ladies as Miss Wyllie, but the other, Miss Laird, who was driving, he did not know. The road being very narrow, he kept close in to his side, and the driver of thq approaching trap kept to her side, but appeared to be nervous in handling the horse. When the traps were about twentyfive yards apart the horse of the other trap commenced to back. His horse was taking it very quietly, so he jumped out of the trap and, handing the rains to one of the ladies, went to Miss Laird’s assistance. lie got close to the trap, but was too late to seize the reins to stop the horse going over the embankment, the trap breaking through tire brushwood and coming with a crash on to the rocks below. The vehicle turned over as it went down the embankment, and the occupants were thrown out, the trap reaching tho river first. The noise of the falling vehicle, and the cries of the occupants, frightened his own horse, which also backed over the hill antVlancled in the river, a distance of over thirty-five feet. Mr Maclaurin followed the first trap down the embankment to the river, and after seeing that the occupants were not killed, he turned his attention to his own vehicle and its occupants. Mr Holden came along tho road in his trap almost immediately after the accident, and kindly drove thcladies to Dr Craig’s residence on the Kaiti. A number of other gentlemen were also early on the scene and rendered valuable ' assistance. 'When the first trap went over the embankment the occupants were thrown out below it, but the trap must have gone over them again, for it was further out in the river than the occupants were. Miss Wyllie also states that she remembers being struck by the trap after they went over* the bank.

SCENE or THE ACCIDENT. The scene of the accidont was visited by large crowds of people on Sunday. They came on foot, or drove, cycled, or arrived in boats. The wrecks of the two buggies had been placed on a grassy bank by Master Rice and others. The tidal water had not effaced the marks on the mud, and the crumbled clay and papa -down the side of the bank showed where each vehicle had rolled over, the sides being so steep that a person could only clamber up and down by grasping the vegetation. Here and there were to be found portions of the traps and harness, and Miss Wyllie’s whip was discovered under a bundle of dried sweet pea that had been dragged down from the side of the bank. Near where ihe gig went over there are some poplar trees, •iitree, and tutu brush, and had the capsize taken place a few yards further back, it is probable that the poplar trees would have proved a useful barrier. The steepest part of the bank is that where Mr Maclaurin’s buggy went down. “The Rooks ” was at one time a great bathing resort, and fell in favor mainly because there was more than one mishap there; persons not fully acquainted with the locality were apt to dive into what they thought deep water, to realise their mistake when they had struck a rock. Miss Seott nearly got into one of the deep holes, but fortunately fell short of it, though as it was she got very wet.

THE VEHICLES are a study in themselves, owing to the peculiar way in which they were wrecked. The horse in the gig snapped the shafts off close to the swingletree, and then swam the river, boys yesterday morning being out collecting the shafts and harness, which were scattered over a paddock on the Haiti. The splash board of the gig was wrenched off by the screws and smashed in two or three places, the ironwork having been embedded nine inches in the mud. The iron rails above the seat were broken, being twisted into the shape of an Son one side; the lamp sockets were almost severed, and the ironwork was smashed to pieces. The framework was broken, and the springs on the left side were wrenched apart. The fore-carriage of Mr Maclaurin’s buggy, a double-seated vehicle, was severed, also the shafts,.both wheels being shattered, and every spoke being knocked out of one wheel; in fact, the whole thing was a wreck. The sides of the seat were smashed, and the whole body of the carriage was broken, the step being bent until it almost touched the ironwork. The lamp sockets were broken off, and the brake knocked out of shape. The two front wheels were still attached to the body of the vehicle, but some of the spokes were broken, and the others were sprung. An examination of the vehicle certainly make's it appear the more surprising that the occupants did not suffer more severely. Strange to say, the horses escaped without any serious injury; they had a few cuts and hpiises, but nothing to unfit them for work.

JHE SUiTEREJIB.

From enquiries made yesterday by a Times representative we learn that the ladies and the chi/d are all progressing well. Miss i x

Wvllie was able to resume duty yesterday morning, and the other ladies are making good recovery. In the ordinary course Miss McKay was to have returned fo Auckland by yesterday’s steamer.