A TRAM ACCIDENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 592, 21 August 1909, Page 13

A TRAM ACCIDENT.

DEATH OF WILLIAM DEMPSEY

INQUEST AND VERDICT

At the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, before Dr A. W M'Arthur, S M., District Corqnar, tho adjournod inquest on th,p circqnißtanoos opnneot-nd \n\i\ the death of William Dom,pspy, vhe died at tho Hospital on last, as the result of injuries sustained wh,en knocked down by a oar Vihilo assisting to loload a lorry, was resumed, Mr O'Leary appeared for tho moterman (Mr. J, A, UpMun), Mr, O'ghea for the tramway authorities, Mr. Blackio (secretary of thq Privfr^ , WWn.). repreatinted the mUtiyes of deceased, and bergcant Rutledgo appeared for tho police The ovidonc© or Joseph Small, car-con-ductor, who, while off duty at the time or the accident, chanced to b.e standing on the opposite side of Vivian Sfaeet from that upon which the Joiry in question was standing, was to tho effect that tbreo or four sacks of chaff wero observed, by him to fall trom the load One of the,m stiuclc the man standing on tho tram tiack, which knocked him over, and a car whioti was coming along Vivian Street at about half normal speed, and was only ahou,t three, ya,fds off when tho sacks fell, skidded, a.nd parried deceased and the sack about 20 yards along the road/ Before the eaok.p fell, thq track was cfenr, and, under the circumstances, it would lwe been' impossible for any motorinan to. have prevented, tho acoidont. To Mr, O'Leaiy. Twenty yards was an Tinusyal distance for a car tp skid pfter the bTakpa wore applied, unless, of course, tho track was greasy, a, circupiptance: which the motorman \n charge of the oar could detornune better than 1 the spectators William Arthur Andrews, a driver for D Andrews, Tory Street, deposed that he was in charge of ft two-horae lorry, loaded with eighty sacks of ohaff, whiob. ho was driving from the wharf to his employors' yard in Tory Street. While 'proceeding along Tarasaki Street, two saoks fe]l off, and were replaoed, properly, on the top of tho load There waa no rope used. In Vivian Street I about twejvo or fifteen sack.a fell off the Ipad on to the footpath. He ha.d p companion with him, George Hanna, who stood on the shafts, while be (witness) walked alongside. ■The lorry .was pulled up, and drawn in close up to the footpath,, with a clear space be- ! tween it and the tramway.' Deceased (Dempsey) came along to assist in the reloading, and all were fdn'aced but one, whieh Dempsey earned on ljis shoulder , to tho offside of the wagon; W.itiiess.i wjho was on top of the load, prepared to it, when the sack he was on gevfi way, &\\s, togothei with both sacks, he foil on the track, but got clear of the <iar, Dempwy was then standing up, Jbat> os, picked himself up ie saw Dampfiey by tha car and mocked down In the Opinion of witness, tho diatajipo between the apprqachmg car and DempSey at tfte moment the {aoka struck tho ground would be about a dq?an yards, with one of ihe sacks between. Deceased had time to get out of tho way, a,nd there i appeared to witness to be na reason why docqa.sed did not do so. The lorry had been originally loaded up by 'witness and Hanna,, and, the witness \ considered, this work was property done The load was not ropod.' Most people were accustomed to rope such loft da, He and Hanna were perfectly sober. <t To Sergeant Rutledge i Th,ey had had two drinks that affcei-nqon. Ho was jiot so excited when he fell off tho load just previous to the accident gs not to be certain ■of all he s,aw. George Hanna, who was also on tfop. lorry ift question, examined by the corqnerj Rutjedge, a,nd ?Ir. O'Shea He corrol}pr a to4 ths evjdepoe of -he previous witness. Properly stacked, ..he [pad in qtiestian qhou|d jiOV h required ropes" Pressed by the edroner, witness admitted that the load was not properly stacked. Ho did not see the car stake deceased, >nor could ho' explain h'ow he (de--oeasqd) got oil to fhe line at aj|. , , Janlea T A n -pqtphjn 4 'mptorman,,in $%TRf,*f the car concerned in the accident, saiditliat us car had, stopped at the Tory Street lOopiq.ajlqw sq'me passengers to abght/l At thai time the only t vehicle between"' Tory Street and Taranak! Street was a l63ded lorry, standing well clear of the track"," on the r-ighWiand side. Ho had a olbar v>ow> along as far fta Cuba Street. Leaving the Tory Street loop, he worked the car on to th 6 "pataljej" liptches" A speed i ; of from \Q to '12' <jn. four. He suddenly perceived a sack bounce on tho track about 12 yajde fiJieat}, l]j> applied, the emergency brjike, %nd immediately tqe brakes operated lit notjgecj a, mau between the lorry and the track step towards the sack as if to drag it out of $9 way« As he di 4 M fithor sacks fell, one of theftl str-iking the 'man on the shoulder, knocking him 'forward to tho centra qf thq fracl*, bw ffiflv towards the car The. aaok diseppos,red under the par, and glei) tllQ nian, The. car lifeguard camo infitenWy WtP qpeiatjon, aa by the appearance pf tfre, foqt-qqlt on the motorplfttfcrm, Witness also "sanded" tho Unp to. assist m stopping the car's "way" The liKikej became etfectjjve within about a second, covonng s, space of about five yards The tota]" distance travelled aflor the accident waif about 23 yards When the car stopped deceased's feet were observed to be projecting pn , tho right of the car Mp H6y, of the tramways department, afterwarde took chaigo of the uijurcd man When deoeiißod was first sighted he was about eight yards off, but he (witness) had applied the before that, and his ITjjolp pttentjqn jvas, then concentfatod on ptopning thp car To Hβ rang the gong o|ica, and then shifted his feet to the sandliolt Hq did everything possible to avoid tha acoident, but the collision was inevitable n To Mr, Q'SJjea: It was correct thijt on a flre'vipli's occasion of emergency (jn Molesworth Street) he had saved the lives cf two chiWrep bv jumping te the front of his car, and at thi nsk pf his life pushing them ou pf the way He was awarded a grant of £5 by the corpoiation in recogiutioq of his pHv»eJiqu pf mind This wal ill tlio evidence. The finding of tho coroner was to the effect thatithe motorman must be held to be GlPJff 9f in the matter, and that he did everything he possibly could to avert lljo aoci|leilt. 'I'ho inen who Iqacjed the lorry ueio deserving of the severest censure for attoliiptijlg to takft a Iqad, pf 8Q sacks of thaff through the streets without taking piopep Rrt-caiifcioiip in th,e WW pf Rcoprely binding the load with rope , Ih bis ppit iqn deceased meit with his acpjdept through bciiif? thrown, jn fropt of tljo oa,r by a sack which fell from the lorrv, (