KUROW ROAD TRAGEDY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 2 May 1925, Page 5

KUROW ROAD TRAGEDY.

|| "*■ ENVELOPED IN MYSTERY. THE SEARCH FOR HUDSON. Advice fnuh Oamiivu savs that the tragedy -which occurred at Wlihrejtim is still enveloped in a pall of , «y s ** r >'; What is known is that Olive Rutherford, of Caversham, Dunedin, who attained her eighteenth 'birthday last -week, had a slight difference with her mother in regard to her employment. On Tuesday morning she-.packed a basket, left home, and did not proceed to the office of the Otago .Farmers- Union,, where she was employed. She had been keeping company for some years with Philip Hudson, son of- Mr Robert Hudson, of Dunedin, and -the young couple, with flip consent of their parents, became engaged. Wiss Rutherford met Philip Hudson during the day, and the two went to an hotel .where a room was taken and the basket left. About 6.30 in the ev- _ ening Philip Hudson obtained the conL sent of his father to take a three-seater p Austin car to go for a drive. T From what can be gathered the young man and his fiancee left Dunedin for his brother \s sheep run, in the car together Tate in the evening. Young Hudton took with him, as had been his custom, an automatic Winchester rifle. ~ . Apparently the couple spent, the whole of the- night in the ear, for they were seen at Wharekurn shortly after / o’clock in the morning. The distance they had travelled would be about 130 miles. STANDING CAR SEEN. Passing along the Upper Waitaki road about 7.10 a.m. on a motor cycle, Mr Cecil Condon, of Kurow, saw an Austin car pulled up on the side of the road at the scene of the accident. As he passed the male occupant of the car waved his- hand as if to indicate that all was well. Neither was out of the car at the time. A little later a .shepherd named william Gibb passed—about 7.3 o—and, although a heavy fog was down, he notiecd a disturbance of the metal on the Hhroad. After proceeding some distance he returned and investigated, and on looking over the cliff saw the remains of the car and a body lying on a ledge about 50ft. down. Dr. G. Matheson, of Wharckuri, was communicated with, and, with the assistance of Mrs Matheson, he rendered first aid to the young lady. The girl was unconscious when found, and was removed to the Ivurow Hotel. WHAT THE UOLICE FOUND. A number of articles were found by the police, including the watch of young Hudson, which was discovered beside the body of the girl, and had stojiped at the hour of < .25. Hudson s hat was picked up near the girl’s body, and it had two punctures in the top. The girl’s hat was found some feet away, and one of Hudson’s gloves and his handkerchief, saturated with blood, was found near the body of the gill. An empty cartridge was discoiered near the body, and another empty cartridge from a Winchester rifle near the car.” Blood stains were found leading from where Miss Rutherford was found • down the side of the hill. There was no sign of blood about the car, but stains * were traced over the stones down to the water ’s edge. The stains were not • extensive, but 'were sufficient to indicate the direction in which Hudson went. - From here the trail was lost. Hudson is believed to have been drown--ed in the river, and as the rifle was not -discovered it is presumed that he took It with him. VARIED THEORIES. The theories of the police are as varied as they are inconclusive. One prominent police officer ventured the opinion that only the girl went over the cliff in the car. As the rifle is missing, be considers that young Hudson could mot have been in the ear when it fell. The officer thinks it highly improbable that he could have escaped serious injury, or that even the rifle would have escaped damage. What happened before and after the car went over is a matter of pure conjecture. Unless the man is found alive, which is considered highly improbable, the mystery may never be solved. THE GIRL’S INJURIES. From the time that the girl was di-s- ---. covered it was felt that her chances of were small. She had a deep round puncture in the top of her head, arid a compound fracture of the skull. There were many abrasions about the body, tut no bones were broken. Her face was badly bruised and scratched. After Dr. Douglas and Dr. Watt had operated upon her on Thursday she showed some slight improvement. She spoke once or twice to her mother, who came up from Dunedin to nurse her, but made no reference to the tragedy. A post-mortem examination was made by Drs. Douglas and Orbe-11. The brain was found to be lacerated, and a bullet Is understood to have been discovered In the base of the skull. Other injuries to the body were of a superficial •character.