CROSSING FATALITY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18627, 24 July 1930, Page 9

CROSSING FATALITY

FURTHER DETAILS. By Telegraph—Press Association OTAKI. July 23. John Stewart (29), was killed yesterday as a result of a collision between his motor lorry and the New Plymouth express. Stewart was driving a motor lorry for his brother-in-law at about 11.30 a.m., and was going over the railway line at Fraser’s Crossing, 9 miles south of Otaki, when the north-bound New Plymouth express crashed into the lorry, broadside on, and carried it 50 feet before depositing it upside down past the cattle stops. Stewart’s head, face and chest were badly cut and crushed, and both his arms were broken. The bodywork of the lorry was ruined, while the cowcatcher of the train was also damaged. Stewart was conveyed to the Otaki hospital by private car, and succumbed to his injuries shortly after his arrival. The crossing where the accident occurred is not a dangerous one, vision being unobscured for approximately one mile on the south and half a mile on the north. Deceased had lately been out of permanent employment, and leaves a widow and a few weeks’ old baby. An inquest will be held at Waikanae on Thursday morning. As a result of the collision the New Plymouth express was nearly an hour late in arriving at Palmerston North.