BLOWN OVER A CLIFF.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13790, 23 October 1908, Page 7

BLOWN OVER A CLIFF.

YOUNG LADY'S NIGHT ON A ROCK.

The coastguardsmen at Beacby Head were notified about eight o'clock on a recent morning by a prawner that a young lady was signalling for help from a ledge on the cliff. Chief Officer Hogben and several of his men proceeded with ropes to the. spot about 1 00 yards west of Lloyd's old signalling station, and steps were at once taken to effect a rescue.

The cliff at this point is almo»t perpendicular and nearly 600 ft high, but Chief Boatman Hinds pluekily allowed himself to be lowered on the end of a rope to the projection where the young lady was found. Although in a nervous and distressed condition, she allowed the rope to be placed round her body, and she and the officer were then slowly hauled up to the summit. She was conveyed to the coastguard station and afterwards to the residence of the chief officer, and it was learned that she had been in her perilous situation all night. She gave her name as Miss Spiers, of Tooting, and stated that she was staying with friends at Fairlee, Chesterfield Road, Eastbourne. On the previous evening she sat reading a book for some time on the edge of the cliff, and when, about seven o'clock, she arose to go, the wind blew her oifer the edge of tho cliff, and she found herself lying prone on a rough ledge. She became very frightened and called loudly for assistance; but there wan no response, and darkness coming on she resigned herself to her unfortunate predicament. Sleep was, of e-our6O, impossible, and as the night turned out very wild she had a most trying and anxious experience. In the morning two parties passed along the beach far below, but failed to hear her calls, but later she attracted the attention of the| prawner who gave the alarm. Miss Spiers, who is about 26 years old, was brui&ed and shaken, but otherwise she felt no ill-effects from her unpleasant experience. She received every attention from the coastguardsmen, and a relative having arrived she was driven to Eastbourne.