INQUEST.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18237, 22 November 1924, Page 8

INQUEST.

.... ■ ■ MESSAGE BOY'S DEATH. The adjourned inquest on Hector Gordon McDonald, a youth 16 years of &p;c, who died in tho Ciiristchurcn Hospital as a result, ot injuries received bv being run over by a hoiEO-dnvwn lorrv in Manchester street on Monday last, was concluded by Mr H. Y. VTiddo-, p., Coroner, yesterday. The lad was in the employ ot Smith and Anthony, printers and publishers. Manchester" street, and was en his way to deliver a message when the accident happened. Sir \V. F. Tracy appeared for Deyell and Co., the owners of tho lorry which ran over the boy, 31 r L. A. Charles for tho driver of the lorry, and Mr J. B. Batchelor for the relatives. H. Iv. Lovell-iSmith, in the office of .Smith r,nd Anthony, said the lad, who &P{X?ared to be careful, had been employed by the £l-01 for about- a fortnight. On tho day of the accident he was tent with a message to I'edferzis, printers, also in Manchester street. John H. O'Neill, a driver employed by Deyell and Co., said that on Monday last about noon he was driving a two-horso lorry dow> Manchester street in the direction of tho railway station. He was driving at about four or five miles an hour, and when ho drew near Tuam street ho saw the boy about ten. fe-et in front of him. Witness was on his correct side and rr.-d his horses, which were quiet, well in hand. Tho boy stopped suddenly and got off his bicycle immediately in front of the horses' heads. "Witness endeavoured to check tho horsea, but he was too near iind one of the animals trampled him with its'lioofjT and a wheel of tho lorry passed over him. Tho lad was picJced tip by a bystander and removed to tho Hospital in an ambulance which arrived shortly afterwards. Bystanders told wir.ness afterwards that the boy bad dropped some papers and jumped off his machine to pick themup. To Sergeant J. P. H. McNamara witness said he had no brakes attached to his lorry, but ho could pull up within lo feet. He had been a driver for 24 years and had been driving for his present employer for rJbout 19 years. Alfred Jolm Lawrence, who was {Ui eyo-witness of the accident, said he first noticed tho boy when he saw something white fall from his hand. Tho boy jumped off his bicycle in front of .tho" horses which reared and the hoofs of the offside animal seemed . to come down on his head. Ho was trampled under the horse's feet and a; wheel passed over him. Percy who also saw the accident, gave similar evidence. 111 his opinion the whole thins "was a. pure accident and the driver did all he possibly could to aroid it.

Harry Charles . Idanefield, monumental mason, gave corroborative evidence. Constable AY. J. Dobson gave formal evidence. Tho Coroner said tho accident was a very sad one. The lad was the only boy of tho family and had just started out in life. A full account of tho accident had been given and it appeared to l>e caused through tho dropping of the pajwr. No blame was attachable to tho driver of tho lorry. A verdict was returned that death w.is duo to shock caused by beinsc accidentally run over by a lorry on Monday last.