CURIOSITY COSTS GIRL HER LIFE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18546, 21 August 1928, Page 3

CURIOSITY COSTS GIRL HER LIFE.

SKYLIGHT ESCAPADE AT A MANSION DANCE. (Special to the “ Star.”) LONDON. June. 20. “The place tyas perfectly safe, and the girl who lost her life was indulging in natural curiosity— to look at the guests below. There were other methods which were safe by which she could have seen the guests." Mr Ingleby Oddie. the coroner, made these comments in his summing up at the inquest at Westminster yesterday on Dorothy Martin, a domestic servant at the house of Mr Walter Guinness, Minister of Agriculture, at Gros-venor-place. \V., who was killed on Friday by falling through a skylight. Miss Martin and another servant climbed a balustrade to watch a dance taking place on the floor below, and fell a distance of about thirty feet through the skylight. Miss Martin died almost immediately, and the other girl was seriously injured. Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles were among the guests present when the tragedy occurred.

Police Constable Poole said that the fourth-floor landing at the house was a large one, and in the Centre was a square opening with nine glass windows.

This looked down on the hall on the second floor twenty-six feet below. The square, was enclosed by a railing three feet high, and at one point there was a. gate giving access to the square, ap. parently for the purpose of cleaning. A wooden walk round the was perfectly safe. A person standing on the walk could not see through the glass because it was opaque, but in the centre there was a small hole for ventilation purposes through which it was possible to see.

Mr A. 11. M. Wedderburn, who appeared for Mr Guinness, said in reply

to the coroner that, the dance was in the drawing-room, but one or two guests were sitting out in the hall on which the girls looked. Betty Ta>*lor. a kitchehmaid at Mr Guinness’s bougie, said : “I was with Miss Martin on the landing where the skylight is, and the two other maids told us that through the skylight we could see the ladies as they walked up the steps. Four <?f us went in. Thev knelt down and put their hands on the glass. “I was going to kneel down, and just then I heard the glass crash. I saw them go down, and I had one hand over the small rail that goes round the glass, and I pulled myself back. “They had to open the gate to reach the enclosure, and the two girls 'who were looking seemed so far over.” She agreed that it was possible for any of the servants to see the dancing while walking up the back stairs. “It was dangerous to put any weight on the panes,” said the coroner in his summing up, “and any one should have known this.” The place was carefully guarded by means of a railing.” The coroner recorded a verdict of “Accidental death.”