A TERRIBLE DEATH-TRAP.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1289, 12 November 1896, Page 9

A TERRIBLE DEATH-TRAP.

One of our readers who is a police constable (ssys an English paper) sends us an account of a terrible accident which he witnessed some years ago at a sea-coast holiday resort in the south. Along the sea front there is a row of houses with French windows on the second floor. The windows are in pairs, each pair belonging to one room, and having a balcony. At the time one of the houses was occupied by a lady and •gentleman, their son, and a young lady who was staying with them. The local surveyor had been round some time before, and had passed one balcony as safe and sound that was the one in front of the left-hand pair of windows — but he had condemned the other as unsafe, and the workmen had come and taken it down. Now it happened that the room it belonged to wanted re-paper-ing, and the lady and gentleman decided to take this opportunity of getting it done. The upholsterers' men came, and went to work, and on leaving at night they flung the two French windows wide open, as the weather was fine and settled, and the fresh air would do the room good. The last man away had been told to lock the door, to make all safe, but instead of doing so, he had forgotten, and simply shut it to, went downstairs, and out of the house—home. It so happened that I was on duty that night, and there being a lovely moon I was standing, looting up at the jjap where that balcony had been, and thinking what an eyesore it was on the row of nice-looking houses, when I saw the young lady come cut of one of the left-hand windows, and lean over the rails of the 'good' balcony. She stood there a minute or two, looking to sea, and then the young gentleman walked out too, and they began talking. By and by, he leant forward as if to kiss her, but she gave a little, teasing sort of laugh, dodged him, and slipped back through the window, him after her ; and I could hear them laughing and running round the room.

Out she came again, ran along the balcony, and in through the other window, with him close behind. I didn't see no more of them for the moment, and turned to a couple of men who were looking on enjoying the fun, and we agreed that he'd caught her at last. In another instant, though, my heart came up into my mouth, for I saw a light flash suddenly into the other room, and the \oung lady came, laughing with glee, the young sent after her, and both running straight for the balcony that wasn't there !

"Stop, miss, or you'll be killed !" we all three shouted, but she was too excited to hear us, and came straight through the room, and out of the window just as the young fellow overtook her, and grabbed the end of her sash !

Over she went, shrieking, poor girl ! ; and hung, dangling, and then as we shouted "Thank God, he's got her! Hold on, sir, for a minute ! " the bow of that sash untied, there was another dreadful scream, and gasping sort of sound, and she came, head first, thirty feet on to the hard pavement. Stone dead she was when we picked hetup and carried her inside, and then I rushed upstairs, for by the silence there I knew something was wrong. We found the young gentleman in a swoon, tying half in and half out of the window, with the end of that pale blue sash still clutched in his hands ; and when he came round again it was as much as the three of us could do to keep him from throwing himsolf out after her ! They were to have been married that autumn, and that was the end of it,