BALLROOM TRAGEDY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3831, 14 August 1928, Page 1

BALLROOM TRAGEDY.

MAIDS’ MISADVENTURE. FELL THROUGH SKYLIGHT. YOUNG GIRL KILLED. PRINCESS MARY A GUEST. Attended, among other distinguished guests, by Princess Mary and her • husband, Viscount Lascelles, a recent dinner party and dance ended with tragedy at the house in Grosvenor Place, London, of Mr. Walter Guinness, the Minister of Agriculture, and Lady Evelyn Guinness. Two maids, watching the dancing on a floor below, crashed through a sky-light and fell 30ft. into a lobby. One of them, Dorothy Maud Martin, aged 16, was killed outright. The other, Bessie Tipping, aged 15, was taken to a hospital suffering from cuts and other injuries to the head and wrists.

The two maids, on their way ti their rooms upstairs, about midnight, apparently tried to watch the dancing below by climbing on to a balustrade and then to the skylight. This skylight commands a view of the main-lobby to the' ballroom, through which the guests were constantly strolling. The girls knelt on the frame-« work of the skylight and peered down on the brilliant assembly below'. In their excitement, it is thought, they leaned too heavily on the thin glass, which gave way under their weight, and they went crashing through into the lobby. They lay in a crumpled heap almost at the feet of two guests who were sitting in an alcove. Dorothy Martin sustained a fractured skull and died at once. The house is one of the - most beautiful in Mayfair. The ballroom, lighted by a wonderful chandelier, is in striking contrast to the dining room, which has been furnished after the style of an old country almshouse. Refectory tables and wide-backed chairs are of solid, unpolished oak, and the table decorations at dinner parties' are often simple country flowers, arranged in pewter mugs and vases. Mr. Walter Guinness and his wife entertain the King and Queen at least once every year. ‘ GUESTS GREATLY DISTRESSED Immediately the tragedy became known dancing was suspended, and messengers were sent to St. George’s Hospital, nearby, for assistance. . Two doctors came "at once, but Miss Martin was already beyond their aid. All the guests were greatly distressed after the accident. The dance band left, the party broke up, and most of the assembled company gathered in the drawing rooms of the house.

It was some time before several of the women guests had recovered from the shock of the tragedy sufficiently to leave the house, and Mr. Guinness and his wife, Lady Evelyn, stayed up for several hours to keep in touch with the condition of the injured girl. Besides Princess Mary and Viscount Laseelles, the company included many other distinguished people. In the early hours of the morning there was still another mishap at the house. The staff were cleaning up the debris when Frank Crush, aged 63, a night watchman, who was carrying a quantity of glass, slipped down some stairs and broke his ankle. Like Miss Tipping’, he also had to be taken to St. George’s Hospital. At the inquest on Miss Martin, a constable explained that the accident occurred on the fourth floor of the house, where a skylight of nine panes served as a high light for the hall. This skylight was railed round, but by stepping on to the woodwork it was impossible to look through a hole in the centre pane down into the hall below. Obviously, this is what the girls were doing. For all practical purposes the protection of the skylight was adequate. It was impossible to watch the dancing from * this point, but couples sitting out in the hall could be seen. A KITCHEN MAID’S EVIDENCE. Betty Taylor, a young kitchen maid, described the accident. “The scullery maid and myself,” she related, “went to bed together, and two other maids came and spoke to us. We went to the landing where the skylight is, and the other maids told us we could see the ladies as they walked up the steps. Two knelt down and put their hands'on the glass, and I was going to kneel down also when I heard the glass crash. I tried to catch them, and I saw them go down. I had one hand over the small rail that goes round the glass, and I pulled myself back. The two girls who were looking seemed so far over.” The coroner: How did you get into the enclosure?

Witness: We opened the gate and stooped down to get in. In, summing up, the coroner remarked: “There is nothing calling for comment in the case, because the place was perfectly safe. This girl lost her life through natural curiosity in looking at the guests in the hall. I shall record a verdict that Miss Martin died from injuries received when she fell through a glass skylight, and say that her death was accidental.”

During the coroner’s summing up, Miss Taylor, who had given her evidence in tears, sobbed bitterly, and lay in the arms of a woman friend until the close of the inquiry.