A TRAM ACCIDENT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 591, 20 August 1909, Page 6

A TRAM ACCIDENT.

•p : rNQSJEST..QN,: wlmam'dempsby.; ■', •"AtJth'e.hospital yesterday, afteriaoon,- the'• district coroner. .(Dr,' A. W. M'Arthnr, S.M.);.'conC ducted ;au.mquiry'.tbuching the oir6umstances connected,*ith the;,'detth ol; William Dempsey, who.died at the hospital on Wedriesday last, as the result of injuries sustained when knocked down by,a,tramcar;in;,Yiyian Street on August -assisting to- load up a lorry.. On behalf of. tho ; tramway authorities, there wire present -.-'Mr. O'Shea : (city solicitor), -Mr. StU-art^Eichardson:(city-electrical engineer),- and Mr..iCable:,(assistant- engineer); Mr. O'Leary appeared .for-J.. A.:Dotchin>(motorman' of the car': concerned .in: , the accident);: and- Mr. :Blackie, secretary 'of the Drivers' Union, reprethe 1 interests;. of '.deceased's'relatives and the union., '; .' '."•;, - 1 ,•' . ' , , Dr. 'Sydney James Simpson, resident'-house surgeon at i the hospital, testified that deceased ,Was admitted' at 6 p.m.: on 'August' 16, andon examination -it was; :found : thp.t the left side of the chest was considerably crushed, and the ribs.-,broken'■ in several places; ■■ TBere were several, scalp. and face- wounds, the left hand was badly fractured,, while the leg's were ibruised... The pleura, on the left side was perforated by.the,fractured «nds of the;ribs, and ,tho,left:lung -was Deceased was conscious,; though suffnring from shock. .'• Under treatment, deceased recovered from the,shock, and ,was progressing '.favourably, but : tho day afterwards symptoms of pneumonia 'appeared, set up,, by the •'.injuries' received,, and: he died of cardiac; failure, accelerated by pneumonia, ■ on' Wednesday.--; .r., •'. ■. . ...',- ~'• ' '.

Patrick John O'Neill, painter and' paperhanger; said thatj between 5.15 and. 5.20 p.m.-, on the date of the .accident, he was in Vivian Street,, watchingi a load of ohaff being adjusted. Thire was.a man on'top of thp load,,while two others were on the road, assisting/ 'One of them,..l)empsey, walked round to the' side of the lorry,- adjacent to the tramway, presumably' to direct'the landing operations. A car : came along from NewtoWn,' arid from;-witness's point of view, Dempsey -appeared to standin its track. He. then: walked towards the- back of the lorry, and shortly, afterwards witness heard a-cry from the. car, and saw some sacks and a man. slip from the top of the load on the tramway side of tho lorry. r Derapsey, at that moment was. observed to pnt up his hand as if to stop , the car, which was then quite'closo. To"witness/ it seemed as if one of the falling sacks hud struck the car and rebounded against Derapsey, who staggered, and. fell , forward in front of thecal , , at a' direot angle. Deceased appeared to make an'.endeavour to recover himself,- bnt;.was prevented:by the moving, sack,whioh was pressed forward'.by-the car. Both the sack -and deceased were forced under-the oar's life-guard, and-appeared to be carried 'along for. .about 18or 20 yards, before thn car was stopped. Other.cars had passed the lorry during-tn« loading operations. 'So far as he could see, the lorry, which was,facile- in.the Newtoiyn idirectipn, had not shifted'.its position, nnd the car which struck Dempsey had a clear run. Deceased appeared to be standing clear before the sacks plipped just-prior to the accident.. ■ : '..' . .'.' .. -. : . .

To' Mr. O'Shea: Thought that the real cause of the accident was the eack striking Dempsey,. and throwing him down. Some sacks fell after the accident, and one of them injured a bioycle, suggesting tho'. idea that; the load was insecurely fixed.. He did not think the motorman could have avoided the accident. :

.Witness was also questioned by. Mr. O'Leary, and the proceedings were then adjourned until nine o'clock this moxning.