TRAGEDY AT CROSSING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20862, 2 May 1931, Page 10

TRAGEDY AT CROSSING.

TWO WOMEN KILLED.

CAR WRECKED BY TRAIN.

| MAN AND WIFE IN HOSPITAL. DRIVER'S CONDITION SERIOUS. [BT TELEGRAPH. —rHESS ASSOCIATION.] NEW PLYMOUTH. Friday. The south bound New Plymouth-Wanga-nui passenger train struck and overturned a five-seater motor-car at the Seyton Road railway crossing, Stratford, this afternoon. Two women were killed and ;i man and a woman were injured. Details are:— KILLEO. Mrs. J. A. Miller, aged 68, widow, of Wellington. Mrs. McKenzie, of Hamilton. Injured. Mr. William Hathaway, of Flint Road, Stratford, seriously injured about head and chest, and has broken shoulder; condition serious. Mrs. W. Hathaway, severe bruises and shock. Mrs. Hathaway is a daughter of Mrs. Miller. The engine struck the rear portion of the car and sent it hurtling through the air to crash a crumpled mass against a telegraph pole. People who saw the accident or were on the spot soon after the crash say that Mr. Hathaway was driving and his wife was also in the front seat. Mrs. Miller and Mrs. McKenzie occupied the rear seat. The car had almost crossed the lines when the engine struck it. The car came to rest lying on its side, facing almost in the opposite direction to that in which it had been going; So violent was the impact that Mrs. Miller and Mrs. McKenzie were hurled from the rear seat, a distance of five or six yards, through the door of a garage. The two ladies were lying inside the garage wheD helpers rushed to their assistance.

The four motorists were picked up unconscious. Mrs. Miller died on the way to the Stratford Hospital and Mrs. McKenzie after admission.

Mrs. Hathaway was admitted to a private hospital. Her husband, who is 75 years of age, is in the Stratford Hospital. Mrs. Miller and Mrs. McKenzie arrived at Stratford last Saturday to spend a holiday with Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway.