Watcher Sees Girl's Fall to Death

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22540, 3 October 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

Watcher Sees Girl's Fall to Death

Looking through binoculars, a man on a recent week-end holiday in Westmorland saw ft girl fall down the side of a mountain. He was the first to reach her, but she was dead when he arrived. This story was told by the man, Mr. Robert Charles Walker, of Nottingham, at a Patterdale inquest on Edith Annie McCrone, aged 22, who died as a result of a fall on Helvellyn. George Allen McCrone, Miss McCronq's cousin, told the coroner they were on the ascent of the mountain when they rested at Striding Edge. After about ten minutes Miss McCrone suggested moving on, took two steps, and fell over the edge. " We heard a scuffle," he continued, " and when we got to the edge we saw her rolling down about 30ft. below. We watched her roll about 100 ft. further." Coroner: Do you think she over-balanced? —No, unless she turned giddy and fainted. He added that Miss McCrone had not done any climbing before. Another member of the party, James Ewan Johnston, ot High Hesket, Carlisle, stated that he thought the extreme height caused the girl to fall, but she was wearing a pair of white crepe rubber-soled shoes which had worn rather smooth, and these might have contributed to the accident. . Dr. Colin Bostock Byrd, of Glenridding, explained that the cause of death, which must have taken within a few minutes, was dislocation of the neck. The verdict was " Accidental death.