GRIM SPECTRES LIGHTNING SWOOP

NZ Truth, Issue 1080, 12 August 1926, Page 4

GRIM SPECTRES LIGHTNING SWOOP

Olil \¥spitian Hiirled)4sft^|o Instant Pobm;ln Full View of Horrified Spectators

FIRE... ENGINE SIREN WAS HER DEATH - KNELL

• . ' . .. (From "Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.) • .* THE startling cry! and the continuous shrill sounding; siren of the Parnell fire-engine as it dashed 1 through Broadway, Newmarket, the other day to the scene of an outbreak was more than a warn,ing to the neighborhood;:; ! ;~ j

TT- was the deatlvknelL -"ofo-aii pld ; lady^x 65.^ years of - age,;J who, walking into: thfe jiii^lclle ot 'tli'e street in ,ihe;way o:f the onrushing iire-engsne, . was clashed .tp instant dboni^— smashed and brokeji oii; a yerandah^post some 45 feet' away!' '■• :.:;; ; ■ ; . -

>« AVING life-arid property isC _CSn? the high and" humane call*V*JE^ \ ing of the iireman. To... 1 lit, Bf/^Sdn him the better to 'cope witli Slwßßßw his w'ork'he isi now. equipralSaSiw Vped Svith. thef. . best;, that "■i ' fr. modern skill and invention ''*{:'■■}■ ' can. devise. ....•.'.',..:■",, .•"':.■■; ■■ : .''K Parnell fire brigade is a unit of the Auckland city brigade, and is equipped with a heavy, fds't-;movirig..hre-engine and fire-figliting'ijlant. ' . - - : Daniel Richard Francis Gjennon is driver of the fire-enigne; . He is reputed to be a highly capable, efficient and reliable man m possession of a high -powered:; Vehicle. - and an able fire-fighter. ;>v . . ' Within a flash of the sounding of the alarm, Glennon and Fireman Thompson were dashing along the Parnell Road , towards Newmarket at a speed variously estimated at from 35 to 50 miles- an- hour. It was high -noon. The bottle-neck thoroughfare of Broadway, Newmarket, fjust ahead; was thronged with vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The stirring screams of the siren, vigorously sounded, brought to a standstill practically all traffic. ' In Broadway is a safety-zone, the channel, for. outgoing 'traffic. This thoroughfare was blocked Avith transportation. The road m front of the safety-zone was clear right ahead. A fire-engine has no time to await the convenience of slow-moving vehicles m a vortex of traffic. Life and property are at stake.. Thus It was that the ohrushing vehicle was piloted by Glennon to the

,I'ight of ". the safety-zone, to clear the ■traffic. . : :\. ..■",.;,.■. ■":.; ■■• ' '■"■ -\ ;, • Just then,"; with slow and de- ''-. "liberate step,- and y.lookjng to her - right — the .ojpp.osite' direction from . "the oncoming .'engine; — -walked an old. lady .whose grey hairs . and slightly stooping form told a tale of advancing years; .'•■■:•> v v . She was. making towards the safetyzone. The fire-engine at 30 to 35 miles an hour was about to Hash past it. .The siren was stiir sounding vigorously. '

"^ould the old lady be over m time? Did she see ,the blood-red leviathan descending upon her? Did she hear the fearsome snarl and howl whicli rent the air? Too late, the siren was the trump of doom. ' < The long years of life had impaired the hearing- of. the old lady and now acted as an instrument of death. The clamping of the brakes vi. that awful, moment was futile. A momentary pause, a backward step— and into the jaws of death. An agonising .smash, and the form . of the fraij old lady was hurled across the road, came violently into contact with a verandah • post and dropped to the ground — battered, and lifeless. The inevitable happened. The law took its course. Glennon appeared before Judge Stringer and a jury at the Auckland Supreme' Court last week on a charge of negligent driving causing death. . ■

5 . . 1 . .._ ... - Crown Prosecutor Meredith called the evidence of 'eye-witnesses -. along .the "lines, of the narrative above. . He submitted to the jury that the obligation of taking all necessary care on the: highway .was-as much applicable to lire-engine drivers as to others. 1 Ho also submitted that m steering over to the right' of ' the safety-zone Driver Glennoh took risks. Was he justified m, taking' such chances at a high speed with a ppwerful vehicle? ; .'•■ It was true the victim was an elderly lady ■■ who might have . been slow of hearing. "Such . pedestrians and little children had to be protected, however, ana it was for the jury to say if reasonable . care ha,d been taken. NOT GUILTY* .- Lawyer Allan Moody, for Glennon, m cross-examination, got from one or two witnesses that the driver had no chance ( of ; . avoiding; a smash and had acted^quite reasonably In -the circumstances. . ■;"•'. •■■.■, •• Counsel submitted, that there had been no evidence whatever of negligence. . . .. In steering into the .middle of -the road he had acted quite m keeping with the duty of a fire-engine driver, which was to reach the scene of , the outbreak with all possible haste.: <• '. Judge Stringer put it .to the ; jury that a, fireman was in' a different'position to, ah ordinary driver,- but that the usual standard of reasonable care must be.; taken so far as users of public thoroughfares were concerned. After a 'little more than.thr.ee hours' absence the jury returned a verdict of not guilty/ adding a, rider that fire alarm apparatus should be installed m Broadway as in' Queen Street. Glennon -was thereupon discharged.