FATAL INJURIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20128, 23 April 1928, Page 6

FATAL INJURIES

CAR S MAD PLUNGE Cabaret Party Has Tenible Experience ACCIDENT ON CHRISTIE'S HILL. The hand of Fate dealt a cruel blow to a party of young men and women on Saturday night when, ontheir way to the cabaret, they met with a disastrous motor accident involving the death of one of the occupants of the car, Miss Catherine Mary Ball, who died soon after being admitted to the hospitaL The otner members of the party, numbering five, miraculously escaped serious injury, although three are still in hospital. Two practically unhurt. The names and injuries of the ors are: Mr Edward Wylie, abrasions and MrCied tendons of the forearm. Mr Nelson Meuli, abrasions and gashes to the face. Miss Lee Swan, injuries to the ankle. Miss R. Jackson, deep cut in the leg. Mr Leo Udy, uninjured. All the victims suffered considerably from shock. The mishap occurred shortly after 8.30 o’clock, when, niter picking up Miss Ball, the party proceeded down Christie’s Hill. On rounding the beul immediately above Peat Park, the car, which was driven by Mr Wylie, skidded and plunged through the fence, which was flattened out as if by a st am roller. The steep deci;. ? accelerated the vehicle in its mad career downhill, and after rolling over several times it came lo rest upside down against a fence lower down, the rear portion striking a pine tree. Had it not struck this obstacla there was nothing to have stopped it from proceeding to the foot of the slope, and if such had been the case, the consequences must have been a great deal worse. Miss Ball, who was sitting in the front seat, was apparently caught by a portion of the hood structure and sustained terrible internal injuries, tho whole of the chest wall being crushed in. When she was admitted to hospital morphia was injected to relieve her suffering, death coming as a happy relief about threc-qui rters of an hour later. A Terrific Crash. An eye-witness from towards the Dublin Street bridge states that he noticed the lights of a car on the hill behaving in an extraordinary manner, and the next moment he heard a terrific crash. When he arrived at the scene of the accident some time later, the injured had been removed, two ambulances having been used for the purpose.

News of the accident soon spread, and all day yesterday many visited tho spot, where full daylight revealed tbs ghastly nature of the occurrence. There was only the fence holding the car in position, and those standing underneath it ’were advised to keep well clear in case the fence gave way. The car was badly damaged, its battered appearance giving full evidence of the force of its fall. The hood was completely demolishe»l, while there was not a particle of the windscreen reglass being strewn in all directions. The leather cushion of tho back seat was lying a long way below the car. The partition between th e front and back seats was stove in, while the frame of the hood was nothing more than a tangled mass of ft eel. There were other evidences of the terrible consequences of the crash.

The deceased was 22 years of age. being the second daughter of Mr C. H. Ball, of Raetihi. and the late Mrs Ball. Miss Swan had sufficiently recovered yesterday afternoon to be allowed to return home. The condition of the other three injured persons at the hospital was reported as satisfactory last night and all were comfortable.