HURLED TO DEATH

Waipawa Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 149, 7 September 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

HURLED TO DEATH

A TERRIBLE SCENE AMUSEMENT PARK TRAGEDY Four people were killed and four weio seriously injured when they were flung from a flying boat roundabout it Margate, England, on Saturday, Juno Ihe machine, which consists of eight boats attached to a turning roof, was whirling round at a good speed when a bolt securing the rear supports of one boat to th e roof broke or fell out and the stays came adrift. The end of the boat dropped, and the eight occupants were hurled with great force thirty feet below. On 0 girl was thrown twelve yards and crashed through the roof of a children’s roundabout, a man alighted on the same roof, and another victim struck the framework of the scenic railway ten yards off- Two of the men struck the ground directly and were instantly killed, their backs being broken. One other was killed outright, and the fourth died in hospital. The pleasure ground, known as Dreamland Park, was crowded at the time of the accident, and there was nearly a stampede. Women shrieked, and several fainted as the bodies came flying through the air. The dead were: Frank Douglas Lane, aged 16; Waite. Humphries, aged 22; Horace John Death, aged 40; and Philip Finkelstein. Knocked Down by Flying Body Miss Florence Blewitt, one of the in jured passengers, said: “1 cannot bear to think of the terrible experience. •Sometimes I feel 1 am going mad when 1 remember it. It is awful to think that we were all laughing and talkingone minute and the next that half of us were terribly injured. Wo realised what was going to happen a few moments before we were actually thrown out of the boat. “When the'side wire slipped the fly ing boat swung sideways, but we could not do anything, and a couple of moments later the other wire slipped and we were flung into the air. I thought 1 was going to be killed- 1 remember seeing a man’s body against me, as it w r as pitched out of the aeroplane, but I do not remember anything else." It was Miss Blewitt who was thrown through the roof of the roundabout. Miss Page aud two passengers were thrown several yards, and, in falling, crashed into a man standing near, and knocked him down. This broke her fail considerably. Mr 11. E. Young said: “I had driven a charabanc party from London for the day, and on reaching the amusement park, they decided to sample the various machines. Some of them were on the flying boat, aud 1 watched them being whirled round. Suddenly I saw the boat give way at one end, and the next moment a woman’s body struck me on the face with tremendous force and knocked me dowm. I scrambled to my feet, and was attempting to pick the woman up when another body fell with a thud beside me.” Finkelestein, whose back was broken, called out for a cigarette as he lay on the ground and smoked it while a stretcher was being fetched“lt was like a Nightmare." A spectator said: “The crash came with such dramatic suddenness that it was almost impossible to see what actually happened. Many of us were standing by watching the boats go round, and several waved greetings to those in the boats. Without warning, one of the boats was seen to tilt downwards, and u a flash the people were flung out. They were thrown with such force that some of them fell about twenty feet away from the machine. One of them crashed through the roof of a children’s roundabout and wrecked a carriage. “Fortunately, the fair attendants kept their heads. The mechanism was stopped and the machinery came to a standstill within one revolution.” “It was the most terrible thing L have seen in my life." Mr 11. W- Davis, one of the roundabout attendants, said. “I was standing near the roundabout when I heard a terrifying scream. The next moment I was struck on the side aud saw a man drop at my feet. He was instantly killed. I looked up and saw other people crashing to the ground. It was like a nightmare, and to add to the pandemonium, the drop ping flying boat smashed dozens ot electric lamps which were placed round the sides of the roundabout.’’ “We wore about 18ft. in the air." said an oc upant of one of the boat-, “when there was a strange creaking sort of noise. T looked around and saw that one of the stays in a gondola had snapped and the occupants wen’ clinging on and screaming. Every ef fort was made to stop the machine, but before it came to a standstill, the people in one wore hurled through he air, and as long as T live T shall never forget their shrieks-" Machine Proprietor’s Grief Mr John 11. lies, founder and direc tor of Dreamland Park, said he could not explain how the accident happened. “In mv twenty-one years’ experience of amusement catering all over Europe as well flh in this count r\ I hfl% e known anything like it." he said. Pointing out that he merely let Ihe ground on which the machine si nod he stated that a replica of the machin • was passed as safe by the London Oountv O unci! for Olympia at Christ mas “You may take it that if il had a 500 per cent, margin of safety before, it w’ll now be increased to a 10, 000 per cent, margin. The 1 Atlantic Fiver’ will not be allowed here in IV hire unless the thing can be made .» safe that t will be impossible for un necident to occir. ” Mr Fritz 0. W. Schmidt, who owm-l and ran B e machine, was almost dis tracted- 11,» said: “It is terrible. I just cannot conceive how it happenel. Tamhe --1 broken Tam certain there was no negligence."