ELECTROCUTED.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18424, 3 July 1925, Page 7

ELECTROCUTED.

_—# MAN DIES AT HIS GATE. EARLY MORNING TRAGEDY. Through walking into a live wire that was hanging in front of his gate, James Ward, carter, of 30 Hawford road, Opawa, was electrocuted early yesterday morning. "Ward was a married man, 34 years of age, with three young children.

The high-tension electric light wires had been brought down by a wattle tree, which had grown on the land of his neighbour, Mr P. If. Harman. . At about 0.30 a.m. Ward, who was employed by C. Hunter and Co., carting contractors, of Tuam street, left the house and wheeled his bicycle to the front gate. There he met" the live wires, one of them evidently striking hiui just below the left eye, and he was probably killed instantly.- Mr J. W. 11. Hoskins, who discovered the body, had a narrow escape from electrocution. He trod on one of the wires and received a shock which made him believe a tree had fallen on him. The wires carried between 300 and 400 volts of electricitj'.

The Inquest. I The inquest was held at the home of [ the deceased yesterday afternoon by the j Coroner, Mr H. Y. Widdowson. j Dr. A. J. Orchard said that he had known Ward for six years, and he considered he was a strong, healthy man. At about 7.30 a.m. witness was called to the house, and on arrival found that Constable Eowe was applying artificial respiration, which was the correct treatment for the case. The man was dead, and had apparently been so ever since ho received the shock. There, was a deep excoriation on the left side of the •face just below the eye. There was no charring and no other marks on the body. The mark had evidently been produced by contact with a highlycharged circuit. Death would have been practically instantaeous. The cause of death was electric shock.

Evidence of Widow. Isabella Ward, widow of the deceased, said she was married in 1917, and she had three children. Deceased had never suffered from any disease. He loft the house at about (5.30 a.m., taking his bicycle with him. About 7 o'clock she hea'rd people talking at the front gate, and going out she saw two men standing there and her husband lying on the footpath. One of the high-tension electric wires was lying on the ground near him. Deceased was a native of Ireland, and he had been in New Zealand since 1911.

Unpleasant Experience. James William Henry Hoskins, residing at 91 Wilson's road, St. Martins, a boiler-maker employed by the Lyttelton Harbour Board, said that when he was going to catch the morning, train to work he noticed a bicycle on the road and a body lying on the footpath. "I came across the road at an angle," said witness, "and when I got within six feet of him I got a nasjy shock that , turned me right round.'' Witness went to a Mr Scott and got him to ring up the police and the Electricity Department,- and later waited ta warn people who were using the road. When, he came back he found that all the hightension wires were down, and blue flames were emanating from them for the length of the street. A tree had evidently brought the wires down. One of the wires was touching the head of the body at intervals, and another one, which witness had stepped on, was on the ground. It appeared to Witness that Ward had walked out with his bicycle, touched the wire, and fallen on his back. If witness had walked straight across the road, he would probably have been electrocuted as well. Speaking of the shock he received, witness said: "It was the hardest kick I ever got in my life; I didn't know whether it was a tree that fell on me or what." The Coroner said that witness deserved to be commended for what he had done.

Constable E. J. Bowe said that when he arrived Ward was lying in the bedroom. A large tree further up the road had fallen across the wires, and it reached across the street. None of the neighbours appeared to know what time the tree came down. "When he arrived artificial respiration was being carried out by Mr Scott, and witness did the same until the doctor came. There were •no signs of life.

Coroner's Remarks. The Coroner remarked that hightension wires on a wet morning were highly dangerous things. He did not know the exact voltage, but it had been sufficiently powerful to cause death under the circumstances. It was a particularly deplorable accident. A healthy young man had been cut down outside his gate, and he had left a wife and three children. He. would find that death was caused by an electric shock, due to Ward coming into accidental contact with electric light wires, which had been brought down by a tree overnight.