CAR DRIVER KILLED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23705, 12 January 1939, Page 15

CAR DRIVER KILLED

REMARKABLE CLIFF TRAGEDY VEHICLE POISED ON EDGE (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, Jan. 6. With his motor car poised at a steep angle over the edge of cliffs at | Maroubra, only the rear wheels, running board, and cross piece gripping the rocks, the owner-driver either fell or jumped from it and was killed in a fall 60ft to rocks below. The accident occurred at 1.45 a.m. on Tuesday, and police are investigating a story that the man, James Thomas Marsden, 45, a grocer, attempted to drive the car, in which there was a woman passenger, over the cliff. The woman had scrambled from the car,. and was returning with two men whom she hacf summoned for assistance when they saw Marsden vanish. She disappeared after the tragedy, and was traced by the police several hours later. The woman, Mrs C. Nielsen, young and fair-haired, suffering severe shock and exhibiting painful bruises, refused to discuss what had happened. " I'm too bruised, sick, and tired to talk about it," she said. " I remember clearly what happened. Nothing can be gained by repeating the awful story. It's over now. There were people on the cliffs when it occurred. I'm trying to forget about it." The two men who attempted to i save Marsden were Douglas Parkes and a. Queenslander named McCombes, who was camped 100 yards away in a caravan. McCombes, who left for Brisbane later, was roused by Marsden, who asked for a match. Marsden left, and McCombes saw him re-enter the car 20 yards from the cliff edge. McCombes saw the car backed, then driven towards the rocks. He heard a crash and a woman scream, and in the dim light thrown by a street lamp saw it till a perilous angle and stay poised. He raced to a block of flats and roused Parkes. Together they.found Marsden seated at the wheel and Mrs Nielsen, outside pleading with him to get out. Mrs Nielsen, who holds a drivers' licence, had pulled on the handbrake, and had scrambled ot safety through a back window. The car was actually supported on the. cross bars beneath the running boards. "We persuaded Marsden to leave the car," said Parkes, "and got him and the woman away from the edge. They began to argue, and the woman wanted me to climb into the car and recover her handbag, but I was not game enough for that. A push would have sent the car. over the ledge. Thinking they ,were safe, McCombes and I returned to my flat, but a few minutes later the woman came to us and asked us to get Marsden out of the car again. We were within 20ft of the car when Marsden climbed out. He stood on a flat rock, and appeared to walk forward into space. The'woman was greatly distressed and asked us not to bring her into it. We would not have mentioned her but the police found her licence in the car." "It was a miracle that the car did not go over," said one police officer. "It was tilted at an angle of 70 degrees, and took two. hours to pull to safety." Police learnt that Marsden had been with a party of men and women most of the evening, smd after the others had gone home, had taken a drive with Mrs Nielsen. BRISBANE CLIFF TRAGEDY

Another remarkable cliff tragedy occurred on Stradbroke Island, in Moreton Bay, near Brisbane, two young women and two young men being swept from rocks two hours after they had welcomed the New Year with songs round a camp fira. The victims, Veronica Connelly, June Saunders, Blair Benjamin, and Harold Bradbury were last seen alive as they were climbing down a treacherous 120 ft cliff to ascertain the cause of a phosphorescent; glow in the sea. Edith Tighe set out with the party, but returned as she thought it was dangerous to climb down the cliff in slippery shoes. , The campfire party broke up between 1 a.m. and 1.30 a.m. and most of the members returned to the pamu a few hundred yards away. Benjamin, Bradbury, and Misses Connelly, Saunders and Tighe, decided to go down the cliff. When the party came to the top of the slope in front of Point Lookout, Miss Tighe decided not to go. She stayed for a time, watching the four make the descent until they were out of sight. She could see their torches flickering as they clambered down, and she then returned to the camp. When the campers awoke at 5.30 a.m. and found that the four were still missing, concern was felt for their safety. Several campers raced to the cliff face. Miss Connelly's body was seen floating in the sea and was recovered. Her head was badly injured. It is thought that she fell from the cliff face to the rocks below. The others, it is thought, hastened to her rescue, but were swept away by the seas which rush through a tunnel in the rooks with great force.