ORDEAL ON CLIFFS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22714, 29 October 1935, Page 10

ORDEAL ON CLIFFS

GIRL'S TRAGIC STORY Upon the ordeal of two girls who were found—one dead and the other injured —among rocks below a 350 ft cliff en the Dorset coast, light was thrown at an inquest at Dorchester recently. The survivor, in her account of the sufferings of herself and her companion before they were discovered, said: "We both wanted to die together. . ." The victim of the tragedy, Miss Elaine Cgilvy, aged 21, was killed, and her companion, Miss Wendy Rathbone, aged 19, was injured during an attempt to scale the cliff near Lulworth Cove after having been cut off by the tide. The two girls were on holiday, uud were camping at Worth Matravers with Miss Anne Monier-Williams. When they failed to return from a walk in the evening, Miss Williams went to find them. Miss Williams sobbed as she told the coroner how she and P.C. Northover searched the cliffs until dawn. " It was a very dark night," she said. "At dawn I walked with the policeman along the cliff again to Arish Mell Gap and then down on to the shore, where we found them. He sci t for help." The constable told the coroner that while searching the beach he heard a faint noise near a rock. He listened and heard it again. It seemed to be in the cliff. " I got upon the rock," he added, "and found the two girls. They were lying face to face. The injured girl complained of the cold, and I put my cape round her. She said she had fallen down the cliff." While waiting for & boat to take them off, Miss Rathbone made a full statement to him, the policeman added. She said: "We had been for a lon.j walk and got to Lulworth Cove from Arish Mell Gap. On our returi we could not get along the beach to Mupes Bay, and meeting some boys we asked if we could walk along the beach to Arish Mell. They said we could, bu; we found w> could not get round. We were in a hurry, and my Wend said, ' Let us climb up the cliff.' I waited for my friend, who I thought was losing her nerve. ' tried to cheer her up. Then she slipped and fell, and I could net see where she was. I climbed down, and when I got some way I saw her co- ared in blood, and then 1 hurried too fast. I cannot remember .iny more. " When I woke up I heard my friend calling for help. We talked together, and gradually she moved towards me. She died some time during the light We both wanted to die together." The coroner returned a verdict of " Death by misadventure."