WOMAN DROWNED

Taranaki Daily News, 26 November 1934, Page 13

WOMAN DROWNED

THREE OTHERS RESCUED. MELBOURNE CAR TRAGEDY. Running off the end of Short Road,' Port Melbourne, at the Williamstown ferry, on the night of Saturday, November 10, a touring motor-car containing four young women, who are well known in social circles, plunged into the Yarra and turned over. Three of the young women opened a door and rose to the surface, but the driver became wedged, and, although desperate attempts were made to rescue her, she was not released until half an hour afterward, and she failed to revive. The young women were:—Drowned: Miss Josephine Webster, aged 23, df South Yarra, daughter of the late Dr. Percy Webster and Mrs. Webster. Rescued: Miss Diana Mann, of South Yarra, daughter of Justice Sir Frederick Mann; Miss Mary Armit, of East Gippsland, daughter of Mr. Duke Armit; Miss Jane Hood, of Hexham, daughter of Mr. R. A. D. Hood.

Having accepted an invitation to an officers’ dance on the U.S.S. Augusta at Port Melbourne, the four young women set out in Mrs. Webster’s car, which was driven by Miss Webster. Miss Hood and Miss Armit were sitting in the back seat, and Miss Mann was sitting in the front seat beside her cousin, Miss Webster, who is a niece of Sir Frederick Mann.

When the car reached the junction of Short Road and the road leading to Prince’s Pier, about 9.30 p.m., Miss Webster turned into Short Road, believing that she was driving toward Prince’s Pier. Less than 100 yards from the brink of the river, according to a short statement made by Miss Mann to the police, they saw a warning sign which they thought bore the words, “Danger. Bridge; 40 yards.” Actually, the sign reads, “Danger. River; 40 yards.” Before the car could be stopped, it ran off the end of the dock, turned completely over, and plunged into water 12ft. in depth. ESCAPE OF THREE GIRLS. Screams and a splash were heard by motorists on the bank and on the ferry which was beginning to cross from the Williamstown side. From the overturned car, which was lying on its hood with the bonnet facing the dock, Misses Hood and Armit escaped by wrenching one of the back doors open and struggling to the surface. Miss Mann escaped from the front seat. While Miss Armit and Miss Mann swam to the end of the dock, where they were pulled ashore by the motorists, who linked hands, Miss Hood climbed on the top of the car and stood up to her armpits in the icy current. It is believed that Miss Webster was stunned by being thrown against the windscreen. She became wedged between the steering wheel and the floor-boards. Headlights on the cars on the ferry were switched on, showing Miss Hood’s head and shoulders above the water. When the hands on the approaching ferry threw her a rope and begin to pull her on board she screamed: “There is a girl underneath. Do something for her.” Without removing his clothes Mr. Frank Robinson, the collector on the ferry, dived in bOside the sunken car. Lieutenant L. B. Puller, - of the U.S.S. Augusta, who was returning from a rifle shooting competition at Williamstown, also dived, although he Is not a good swimmer. Miss Webster was floating against the floorboards in such a position that their many efforts to release her were unsuccessful. RESCUE COMES TOO LATE. About half an hour after the accident Constable Dudley, of Port Melbourne, and' Constable Brown, of Newport, arrived, with Mr. Keith Gardner, of Camberwell, and his friend, Mr. Jones. With a stout rope from the ferry they dived jn, and Constable Dudley succeeded after several attempts in tying the rope round one of the rear wheels of the car, and the other end was attached to a police patrol car which had arrived a few minutes before. When the patrol car backed, the submerged car turned over on to its wheels, and Miss Webster floated to the surface through a rip in the hood, after having been under water for 35 minutes. A doctor detected a slight pulse when Miss Webster was brought ashore. With the four men who had brought her out and a nurse he gave resuscitation treatment. Sir Frederick Mann and Mrs. Webster, accompanied by a doctor, arrived soon afterward. In spite of strenuous efforts to revive Miss Webster, extending over nearly an hour, she failed to rally. She was taken to the Alfred Hospital, where a further examination showed that she was dead. The other three young women, who suffered greatly from shock, returned to Melbourne.