Pyjama Party Ends at “Suicide Corner.”

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6627, 14 August 1931, Page 5

Pyjama Party Ends at “Suicide Corner.”

MOTORISTS PERISH IN FLAMES A ROADSIDE INFERNO A pyjama motor car party was brought to a tragic end in tho early hours of tho morning at ‘ ‘ Suicide Corner, ” on tho Walford by-pass road, near Elstrcc, England, with a head-on collision between two cars, resulting in two men and two women who were in one of the cars being burned to death in a lake of fire.

Some of the occupants of the second car were in pyjamas and bedroom slippers at the time of the crash. Four were taken to hospital—a Japanese man and throe London girls. When tho collision occurred ono of tho cars burst into flames, and its escaping .petrol ■turned the road into a mass of flame, involving the other car. One of the injured girls, “Queenie” Matthews, was in despair for fear her injuries would spoil her career as an artists’ model.

The disappearance of the fifth occupant, tho driver of tho car, also a Japanese, caused some anxiety. The polieo made inquiries, believing ho might liavo been injured and left in the darkness. Twelve hours after tho accident he entered Edgware Koad police station and gave an account of it. It appeared that he had been suffering from severe shock. Great Pluck of Japanese Witnesses of the tragic scene declare that a Japanese showed great pluck in trying to rescue tho people trapped in ono of tho cars. Ho dragged one woman from the flames, but she died soon afterwards. Tho romantic career of the artists’ model, “Queenie” Alatthcws, was described to a “Daily Express” representative by her sister, Mrs Reeve, of [Seymour Place, Fulham Road, S.W. “Gwendolen is a very charming and attractive girl,” she said. “She won a beauty competition in tho Channel Isles when she was only 17, aud then Koyal Academy her up. ‘‘They said she had one of the finest heads they had ever seen, and she has often been painted for the Royal Academy and the Paris Salon. A bronze of her was exhibited a few years ago. She is a beautiful dancer too, and was a dancing instructress at the Queen's Hotel, Leicester Square, W., for a time last year.” Horrifying Spectacle. Afembcrs of a family named Gough, who live in a cottage overlooking the road, told a dramatic story. Airs Gough said: “When I heard a crash I dashed to the bedroom window. I saw'a huge

sheet of flame on tho by-pass, and little black figures struggling in a roaring furnace. A terrific glare lit up the wholo district. I could just mako out that two cars were burning. My husband and two daughters rushed out, while I telephoned for tho police, the ambulanee and tho fire brigade.” ■ Aliss Gough, who ran to tho rescue, said: “Just as wo got to tho spot a woman rolled through tho flames on to tho road from a small car. She was conscious and her clothes were burning. ‘I am dying,’ she cried to me. ‘Mother, I am dying! ’ I went forward to place my coat over her—all her clothes woro burned away. ‘Arc you going to let me die?’ the girl moaned. ISho was bleeding from a head wound and repeated reproachfully, ‘Don’t let mo die!’ “She was taken away in a motor car to hospital and died later. Through the leaping flames I could see two people hanging out of the windows of the blazing car.

“It was a small car and it was locked head-on with tho larger car. 1 could hear tcrriblo cries coming from the occupants, but wo could do nothing. The petrol which had flowed all over the roadway, was blazing, and we could not get near tho cars.

“The people in the largo car had been travelling in th Watford direction. Two of them were girls, and one of them said to me. ‘Let me kill myself. lam disfigured for life. My face is ruined. Sho had a cut on her face. I told her she was all right, but she and her girl friend were in a panic and they wandered in pain down the road. They soou returned in a car, however. “A Japanese in the larger ear burned his hand very badly in trying to pull a woman out of the car. The road was a sheet of flames, and no vehicle 1 could pass in either direction. The blazing cars lit up the whole roadway for miles. Tho two cars wero interlocked, and the small car was burned out completely. Burst of Flame Air. W. Dcaley, a motor coach driver, said: “I saw a burst of flame as I was driving up the hill. The two cars were ablaze in the middle of the road. I saw a man stagger from behind the small car. His clothes were completely burned off, aud as I turned a lire extinguisher on him he collapsed and rolled to the side of the road.

“There wore two girls seated by the side of the road . One of them asked me if I thought sho was very much hurt, and when I said ‘No,’ she said: “Let me go and help those poor things in the car, but she could scarcely walk.”