Eliza and Thomas Bell were on holiday - passing through Wellington on their way home to Nelson.
They had been persuaded to stay one extra day by friends they had visited.
At 5.30pm on May 3, 1907, they got on one of the iconic Wellington trams heading from Brooklyn into town. There were only a few onboard and driver John Reay had reached a steep portion at Nairn Street.
As they reached the top the tram began to go backwards, out of control.
The front of the troller, where the overhead lines were connected snapped off, leaving the tram running down the hill and derailing, toppling over on its side.
Nearly everyone was injured, but Eliza was crushed beneath the tram.
In the still evening it made a huge noise.
"A roaring noise, a rumbling and finally a tremor of earth made house-holders near the tramway line on the Brooklyn Heights fear that an earthquake had visited them last evening . . . the cause of the disturbance was a large electric car . . . which left the rails while it was whirling down at terrific speed and plunged over a bank." was reported by the Evening Post.
People rushed to help and other injured passengers helped free Eliza who was pinned under the tram. It took more than an hour in darkness for equipment to be brought that let a group of men lift the tram enough to get Eliza out.. But she was too injured to survive.
Her husband Thomas had managed to hold on and not be thrown from the car.
An inquest was held a few days later. It appeared the tram had started rolling down the hill after backing into a passing loop, possibly because the driver had left the reversing lever in the wrong position.
It was a steep section of line - often thought to be too steep - and the tram's brakes had failed.
Thomas told the inquest the driver had stuck with the car until it fell but he was only able to be there a short time. He spent nearly three weeks in hospital recovering.
It was his third bereavement in his family, he and Eliza had lost two children.
Eliza was born on October 6, 1862, to John and Eliza Sheat in Nelson. She had married Thomas, a sheep farmer, in 1886. They had eight children but two had not survived to adulthood.
Thomas was a member of the Inangahua County Council and a successful farmer on the Four Eiver Plain, near Murchison, but has lost a considerable amount of money in gold dredging.
He has made a study of ambulance work, and there being no medical man within 70 miles of the township, had set many a broken limb and relieved the suffering of the injured and sick in the wild bush district where they lived.
Eliza is buried in the Richmond Cemetery.
Photo from Te Papa’s collection.​

When you think of Napier, you think Art Deco.
The buildings - a great many of which arise out of the ruins of the 1931 earthquake, have a look - as does the Marine Parade, a lot of which came about after the earthquake as well.
And there are a number of little spots that are special. One is the sundial - given to Napier by former Gisborne mayor James Robert Kirk who was impressed by the spirit of rehabilitation of the city.
The sundial - and a great many buildings are the work of James Augustus Louis Hay - who is the architect behind Napier’s “look”
Louis was born in Akaroa, Banks Peninsula on January 14, 1881 to James Hay and his wife Frances. The family moved to Napier in 1895 where Louis went to Napier Boys’ High and then joined the architectural firm of C T Natusch.
He shifted jobs a number of times before being employed by the Department of Lands and Survey in Invercargill.
By 1906 he had returned to Napier and within three years had set up his own firm. Initially most of his work was residential homes, often for wealthy landowners looking for grand villa-style homes.
In 1917 he joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and went to training at the Trentham Military Camp where a year later in September 1918 he married Margaret Ross McPherson. A member of the camp orchestra, he had stayed at the camp just long enough to avoid travelling on a troopship whose outbreak of influenza decimated the troops.
After the war he returned to Napier and his work. He was quickly becoming noticed for the quality of it.
He was working on the St Paul’s Presbyterian Church at the time of the great earthquake - it was destroyed.
But worse was to come for Louis, his beloved wife Margaret was seriously injured.
He became a member of the Napier Reconstruction Committee and established a group of architects to cope with the amount of work.
In particular he designed a number of reinforced concrete structures for the new look of the city, incorporating what were then the principles of earthquake resistant construction.
And he added the art deco touches.
His buildings include the AMP building, the beautiful National Tobacco Company building, the Hawke’s Bay Art Gallery and Museum and the Napier club among others.
Louis also had a plan for a Marine Parade entertainment centre and Albion Hotel that were never built.
But when former Gisborne mayor J R Kirk gifted Napier with a sundial it was designed by Louis.
There are quotes on the dial “Calamity is a Man’s True Touchstone,” “Smiles equal sunshine in helping folks along,” and “Serene I stand amidst the flowers to tell of the passing of the hours.”
As well as an architect Louis was a boat builder, oarsman, water skier and actor and a noted flautist who had once considered a musical career.
His figure was a familiar one in Napier - in summer he wore white suits, bow ties and a panama hat and was often accompanied by his fox terrier Spark.
His health deteriorated in the 40s and he died in Napier on February 4, 1948, and is buried at Park Island Cemetery.​

Lieutenant John Moncrieff and Captain George Hood got into their Ryan B-1 Brougham plane - called Aotearoa - in Sydney on January 10, 1928, and took off intending to make the first trans-tasman flight to New Zealand.
They were expected to do the 2335 km distance in around 14 hours.
Somewhere between there and here, they vanished.
They were late taking off, but 32 minutes later the officer of the watch on the ship Maunganui heard the engine, although he could not see the plane.
Moncrieff and Hood were planning to head to Farewell Spit.
They were supposed to send out a radio signal tone for five minutes every quarter hour but the schedule was not adhered to.
Twelve hours after they took off, and when they should have been about 320 km off the New Zealand coast, the signals from the plane stopped.
A crowd had gathered at Farewell Spit and as anxiety increased, spotlights were used to light the sky, to no avail.
In Wellington, at the Trentham racecourse where they were expected to land their wives, Laura Hood and Dorothy Moncrieff had waited for hours.
Sightings of the plane began to come in over the next two days. Many claimed to see the lights of the Aotearoa - but in fact it had no lights.
Many also thought it might have made landfall somewhere else. Searches were started with the hope of finding them on land or wreckage at sea. Nothing was found.
The Aotearoa was the first plane to go missing near New Zealand.
John Moncrieff had been born in Scotland in 1899 coming to New Zealand aged 16 training as a motor mechanic before joining the New Zealand Air Force in its early days.
He was rejected for active service flying in World War One on account of his youth, but joined an infantry unit and from there was transferred to the Royal Air Force, with which he served in France. On his return to New Zealand in 1919 he was posted to the Territorial Air Force Reserve, and here the two met.
George Hood was the son of a pioneer Wairarapa settler and was born in Masterton in 1893. He left the farm to serve in the First World War, and returned to New Zealand with only one leg. Despite this he was posted to the Territorial Air Force Reserve where he continued to be keenly interested in aviation.
They are presumed to be lost at sea.
In 1931, the Masterton aerodrome was renamed Hood Aerodrome and there are a number of streets around New Zealand named Moncrieff or Hood.
Photo from the provincial archive of Alberta.​

William Fraser McIntosh was found lying in his own wood shed, murdered at Moa Creek in Otago on September 28, 1949.
He had left for work after lunch in the afternoon on his farm, just like he always did.
He was going to bag some rabbit skins and move some sheep.
His wife Margaret was expecting him to return around 3pm to listen to a Ranfuly Shield rugby match on the radio.
Initially she was not worried when he did not show, but by 7pm with no sign of him she became increasingly concerned.
She called a neighbour and a search was organised. William, 63, was found an hour later facedown in the wool shed with his head bashed in.
The only lead the police had was the appearance of a stranger wearing a light blue suit at the house shortly after William had led to work. Margaret said the dark haired man asked her the location of a nearby neighbours house which she gave him. He told her then he had made a mistake and left.
He never turned up there and was never seen again.
Police began the search for a weapon, draining local ponds, but in the end an axe believed to have blood on it was found in a wood shed.
The residents around the area became terrified, locking themselves in at night and local farmers kept their guns on hand.
Police offered a 500 reward but no one ever came forward.
The inquest held at Alexandra courthouse was packed.
A pathologist believed William had been killed by three blows to the head by an axe.
One witness, William James McEwen, had been cutting wood nearby. He had a view of the main road throughout the afternoon - and he had not seen any car or person except a public works van.
No one knew a reason William would have been killed.
Which led to a possibility that the man seen that day was actually looking for the neighbour John Sullivan. But that only raised more questions because Sullivan told the inquest he did not know the man, why he would be looking for him or want to hurt him.
In the end no one was ever brought to justice for William’s murder.
William was born on August 3, 1877, to Alexander and Ellen McIntosh. He had married Margaret in 1911.
He is buried in Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Pic by Tony Litvyak.​

Next year another of the landmarks of the country will fall.
Smith and Caughey’s, one of the oldest department stores in New Zealand will close, bringing to an end 144 years of history.
It’s a sign of the times that once was the pinnacle of shopping can no longer compete with modern times. Online shopping and a pandemic have put an end to what used to be considered destination shopping.
The shop was the brainchild of a woman. Marianne Smith, a notoriously private woman, who nevertheless has had her name remembered for decades.
Born Marianne Caughey on March 10, 1851, to James and Jane, one of seven children in Portaferry, County Down, Northern Ireland.
Marianne worked for charity missions in Belfast before marrying William Henry Smith on July 21, 1874, who worked with her brother at a drapery store.
After a short time in New York, they returned to Belfast to start a charitable mission but William’s health deteriorated and they decided to come to New Zealand.
They arrived in Auckland and Marianne started Smith’s Cheap Drapery Warehouse on Queen St. With the business only just starting, William initially worked for another draper, but by 1881 it was doing so well, he left to join Marianne.
She had several principles that served the store well including “small profits and quick returns” and she advertised in a Maori language newspaper Te Korimako.
Andrew Caughey joined the business in 1882 and the name changed to the familiar Smith and Caughey.
The shop moved to the western side of Queen Street and began importing goods which upset local wholesalers.
Marianne’s role - although vital to the company, as founder and buyer was - as was common for married women at the time, rarely acknowledged.
Behind the store, Marianne continued Methodist mission work and helped establish the Helping Hand Mission which along with the Sisters of the Poor helped nurse people in their homes.
She continued with charity work all her life.
The couple had wanted a family but Marianne suffered a number of miscarriages and stillbirths and on a trip to Britain in 1908 informally adopted a boy called Reginald.
William died four years later leaving Marianne a wealthy widow. She joined the Smith and Caughey board as a director and was often called Mrs Caughey Smith.
In 1916 she gave her and William’s former home, The Grange in Herne Bay, to the Salvation Army to become an orphanage.
She donated a great deal of money to hospitals, and gave two parks to Auckland - Quinton Park after Quinton Castle in Portaferry and one in Green Bay.
Her charitable work was recognised in 1935 when she was given an MBE.
She remarried in 1932 to Reverend Raymond Preston.
Marianne died on September 1, 1938 leaving a huge estate, most of it went to set up homes for aged infirm and impecunious women. The trust she established held half the shares in Smith and Caughey Ltd and administered the Caughey-Preston Rest homes and Geriatric Hospital in Remuera.
She is buried in Purewa Cemetery.
Photo of Queen St from Te Papa’s Collection.​

George Ollandt was murdered, there is no doubt about that. But who did it and where he is now is a mystery.
George is, by himself, a bit of a mystery. But what we do know is he was born in Hamburg, Germany and came to New Zealand in 1875 where he was doing business with someone he considered a good friend, Harry (Hans) Thompson.
The pair were well-known in Woodville where George ran a cheap boarding house (opposite what still is Murphy's Hotel) while Harry ran the bakery attached to it.
Harry was of German heritage too, born to German parents in Australia.
They had met while working in Seventy Mile Bush, a heavily forested area between the Wairarapa and Central Hawke’s Bay which in the 1870’s was being slowly tamed.
The two were supposed to be good mates, but numerous people felt the relationship was strained
On November 22, 1877, the few men staying at the house were called to breakfast by Ollandt.
One of them, Samuel Kemp said he heard from Thompson that Ollandt went into the bush to cut palings. Thompson was seen coming from the direction Ollandt had gone in.
Several people asked after Ollandt that day but the next day he still had not returned and a party was got up to look for him.
They found him lying near some cut supplejacks in nearby bush. The body was badly cut up, with an eye completely removed.
A search of the boarding house found a billhook and bloody clothes along with bloody vegetation and towels.
Police were quickly on the case and arrested Harry Thompson who within days was brought before a coroner’s inquest. Back then a jury made findings on the inquest - including viewing the body - and they found he had committed wilful murder. That was enough to send him to the Supreme Court in Napier to stand trial.
But despite the Supreme Court jury hearing about arguments between the two, and the circumstantial evidence of the blood, they were not satisfied with it and acquitted him.
Thompson was released and he returned to Woodville where he had a very chilly reception. He eventually left the area.
Two years later, a fire raged through the area, destroying the boarding house that had been empty since George’s murder
Sometime after the murder an odd fact arose that made many - including the police - wonder if there was another explanation for Ollandt’s murder.
An Irishman called Peter Kane had gone missing about the same time as Ollandt was killed.
He had been at Porangahau at a farm there on November 20, 1977 while the murder was three days later.
He appeared to be missing. He had left Sanson in June and was travelling the East Coast looking for work like a swagman.
It led to speculation that either he had something to do with it, despite knowing nothing at all of Ollandt, or that he had suffered a similar fate.
Kane had regularly sent letters to his family until November. Then there were no letters and he did not return for Christmas after saying he would.
While he had some money he was not wealthy, and Ollandt’s boarding house would have been the sort of place he would stay.
If it is true that he was presumed dead and maybe met with foul play, that would have been two people killed in a short period of time around the tiny settlement of Woodville.
Even if he wasn't, it doesn't answer who killed Ollandt or where he is now buried.
We usually finish by telling you the grave is. Not this time. There appears to be no record of what happened to his body. Which is almost as odd.
Pic from Te Papa’s collection.​

It was not until Douglas Robertson was in jail, serving 15 years for manslaughter that it was discovered that was not his name.
Robertson and Francis Perkins went into the Commercial Bank in Hampton, Melbourne in December 1924 just as the bank was closing.
Behind the desk was clerk William Charles Almeida, working alone and about to shut the bank.
One of the men pointed a revolver at him telling him to put his hands up. Almeida jumped behind a partition and grabbed a gun himself. He was immediately shot and lay injured while the two men robbed the bank. He managed to get up and grab hold of Perkins as help arrived.
Perkins was tried first and found guilty.
But it would be another year for police to find Robertson.
He had lept onto the running board of a moving car and been taken out to St Kilda where he proceeded to hide out for three months, barely going out into daylight.
He grew suspicious, even of the men who were helping him hide and fled to Sydney then on the mail train to Brisbane then on to Innisfail.
There he gambled for money to make a living then moved on to smaller towns, using small time swindles to survive.
But he became worried about his nose - it was badly crooked - and a description of the man from the bank robbery mentioned this. He decided to see if it could be fixed and went to Sydney to St Vincent’s hospital to have an operation before intending to flee the country.
But by then police had noticed him and nabbed him, well before the operation took place.
He was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed.
Then he was recognised. He was in fact James Francis McMahon - an escaped prisoner from New Zealand whose description included his very crooked nose.
McMahon had served in the army, going to war with a man called Douglas Robertson who he befriended. Indeed it was Robertson he fled to after the robbery.
The real Robertson - a nice chap who had little idea he was being used - was a hairdresser from Napier, New Zealand now living in Australia, who had taken McMahon to the St Kilda house, little knowing he was helping a killer.
After his prison term he seems to have vanished - possibly with yet another name.
Almeida, who was only 22, is buried in the Ballarat Old Cemetery.
Picture by Braydon Anderson.​

The old Auckland Supreme Court - now the High Court - with its pointed arches and colonnades has a few striking faces on them.
They are the work of Anton Teutenberg - German born stonemason, jeweller, medallist, carver and engraver.
Ferdinand Anton Nicolaus Teutenberg was born on December 4, 1840, to Ludwig Teutenberg, who was a gunsmith to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, and his wife Franziska.
He learned engraving from his father then served two years as a military conscript.
His brother Frederick - believed to have been a mercenary - came to New Zealand and encouraged him and other members of his family to come out, which they did in 1866.
Anton had not been here long when he was offered the commission to carve the heads and gargoyles for the Supreme Court building being constructed under the supervision of architect Edward Rumsey. Anton had carved a piece of filigree woodwork for the captain of the ship the Rob Roy who had shown it to Rumsey.
For 15s. a day he carved six major heads in stone – a medium he had never before handled – and a number of gargoyles, along with a series of wooden heads for the gallery of the court room.
Many of the heads depicted judges and major dignitaries including Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, George Grey, Edward Gibbon Wakefield and HōneHeke. It is one of the first instances of public sculpture constructed in New Zealand.
Anton went on to sculpt heads for the post office building in Shortland Street.
He took on many commissions and his work was all over Auckland as wood carvings, St John’s Wesleyan Church, Pitt Street Wesleyan Church, the Bank of New South Wales in Queen Street and woodwork in the old Waiwera Hotel.
But most of his work that has survived is as a medallist. He opened a business with his brother Karl offering stamps,dies and presses. He created the United Fire Brigades’ Association of New Zealand’s five year long service medal - winning the design against an English firm. It is little changed from his design, even today.
Other works include chemists’ seals, ingot stamps from gold mines, prize medals and commemorative medals along with the New Zealand jubilee and Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee military tournament medal.
Anton also made silver jewellery and silver and gold napkin rings which are in the collection of the Auckland museum.
He was considered the premier engraver and medallist in New Zealand at the time.
In 2016, a brooch and earring set that appeared to have been made by Anton sold for $103,000.
He married Nannchen Nicolai on September 28, 1881. They had three sons. He died in Auckland on October 2, 1933 and is buried in Waikumete Cemetery.​

The crowd watched horrified as master parachutist Lieutenant Haarken Theordorsen Qviller struggled mightily to open his parachute.
He could be seen fighting with the line to the parachute about 200 metres above the ground but suddenly seemed to lose consciousness.
The newspaper reports of the time said the sound of him hitting the ground was of the bones breaking on impact.
It was supposed to be a spectacular death defying stunt before the crowd of 1400 that had gathered in a paddock near the racecourse in Oamaru.
Some of the crowd fainted at the horror.
Qviller had been touring New Zealand giving demonstrations in parachuting. It had been his specialty for decades.
Born in Oslo, Norway on March 31, 1896, to Theodor and Oline Qviller he had been captivated by flight from a young age.
He joined the Norwegian Air Force in 1913 intending on being a pilot, but in 1915 was in an accident that prevented it.
Qviller then went to university and on into journalism. Given he already had experience with flying, he was sent on flying trips to report on as a news stunt. He met famous British parachute pioneer Major Thomas Orde-Lees (who once jumped from the Tower Bridge into the Thames) and became fascinated.
He began learning and described his impressions for three leading Scandinavian newspapers.
He had been parachuting and experimenting on and off ever since, and had made more than 200 descents, instructing others.
Qviller began touring and spent three and a half years in Australia making exceptionally daring parachute descents. His leap from 10,000ft, seven miles out at sea was made with the object of showing it was possible to land by parachute under any conditions.
He arrived in January 1931 on the Maunganui and began giving exhibitions at air pageants.
It was during a demonstration in Oamaru that he died.
At the inquest Captain Trevor Watts White who was flying the plane said before they went up he saw Qviller lay out the parachute he used to check it. He examined it and refolded it himself.
Once they got into the air, they found the wind was a different direction so they changed their jump plan a little. Qviller had told White he was going to do a delayed drop, not opening the parachute until about 500 ft.
White said Qviller jumped cleanly but then he seemed to spin and the parachute did not open.
He said when he finally reached the body the ropes were entangled.
The coroner found it was a tragic accident.
Qviller is buried in Christchurch’s Bromley Cemetery.
Picture by Mario Majer.​