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TOBOGGAN RUN TRAGEDY.

Captain Henry Singleton Peuuell, Y.C., Staff-Captain of the Administrative Staff of the Southern Command, died at St. Moritz from injuries sustained in an accident on the Cresta taboggan run. Captain Pennell, who was only thirty-two years of age, had a brilliant career. He won the Victoria Cross at the storming of Gargai iv the Tirah campaign as a lieutenant of the Notts and Derby Regiment. He made two heroic attempts to stive Captain Smith of his regiment under a murderous fire, and only desisted from his efforts when he found that the officer was dead. Captain Pennell was with his regiment in the heavy lighting in Natal before and after the relief of Ladysmith, and was wounded at Pieter's Hill.

During his Army service he received the medal and two clasps for the Tirah campaign, aud the Queen's medal with five clasps for the Boer War. and was three times mentioned in despatces. He obtained his captaincy in 1900, passed the Staff College iv 190:5, and was appointed staff-captain in 11)05. The Cresta run, where the accident happened, has a length of about threequarters of a mile, with several dangerous curves, where great banks of snow, sometimes supplemented by bundles of bay, keep the tobagganers on the track. Accidents are so frequent that only "one tobogganer at a time is allowed on the course. The speed attained in some places is seventy miles an hour. At one point, known as the Church Leap, the tobogganer flies through the air, regaining the track lower down. Last February two competitors, Messrs Davies aud Muir, were badly hurt.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WDT19070319.2.29

Bibliographic details

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LVI, Issue 8710, 19 March 1907, Page 6

Word Count
268

TOBOGGAN RUN TRAGEDY. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LVI, Issue 8710, 19 March 1907, Page 6

TOBOGGAN RUN TRAGEDY. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LVI, Issue 8710, 19 March 1907, Page 6