CAR OVER CLIFF

Northern Advocate, 8 April 1931, Page 8

CAR OVER CLIFF

DROP OF 100 FEET. MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR. (Special to “Northern Advocate.”) AUCKLAND, This Day. After crashing down a 100 feer cliff at Orakei early this morning, a black and white taxi-cab finished Itw career with wheels in the air and with a body almost flattened te the ground. The vehicle was damaged beyond repair. <

There was nothing to indicate that there had been any occupants at the time of the smash. Anybody in the vehicle would have been seriously injured, as it turned over and over, tearing away pieces of rock in its 109 feet crash.

The car-landed on its hood, and the body was crumpled into an unrecognisable shape by the force of the impact with the ground. The engine had shifted from its foundation. Practically every window was smashed, but, curiously, those in the left door and the rear were unbroken. One of the right-hand doors was lying some distance away from the wreck, and the mudguard and pieces of the body were sflattered over a wide area.

The benzine , tank was evidently empty when the crash occurred, because the tank remained intact and the cap was still on the funnel this morning. There were no signs that the petrol had leaked out. The hand brake was off.

The smash occurred at 3 p.m. according to an eye-witness, who rushed round to,the bottom of the cliff to render assistance. He judged, however, that the car had not been' occupied during its career down the cliff. He had seen the vehicle go over. The car, he said, had stopped on, the road on the edge of the eliff, and shortly afterwards another car had arrived and had turned into a near-by street, where it had waited.

The eye-witness said the ear which he subsequently saw at the bottom of the cliff had been turned round facing the cliff! and that the lights were burning before it went over. Immediately after the crash, he said, the second ear drove away. The owner of the wrecked car, Mr J. T.' Mantell, reported this morning that' the vehicle had been taken from the driver's place last evening.

“When search was made of the r.vreeklage, a lady’s purse was found, containing a safety pin, a receipt and an address.