ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 658, 8 November 1909, Page 6

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

STRUCK BY EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVE. : TRAP SMASHED; OCCUPANT KILfiED. ®» *»l«et*ph-Pre»t AisocialienJ , , > Christchurch, Novcmber-6. Ah . inquest touching . the death of Sydna • Carlisle Pr00, ; 35 yeara of age, who was killed v by collision lvith the eecbnd express at Temple ,' ton last evening, was held to-day., : r ' , ■■ Thomas Pringlo, ;loC6motiv% driver;, steted , wat ho had driven the train from Tinjaru, to Christchurch. .He femfemhfeted approaching \ the crossing where he. blew tho vhistle. Ho saw nothing, but hoard tome shingle fctrike, <. the front of,the engine. Such, an occurrence, was not unusual. The fireman then looted ,: •' back, and saw a spade stuck in'the buffer of the 1 first car. Tho train, at that time, w&s 100 yards past tho crossing, and witnes£ concluded that the engine had merely struck' • spade which had been left lying on the track. The train wfcnt on to, Hornby, and stopped ..there as usual. Witness's attention was there diaWn' to the fact that two stanchions on'tho front footplate had .been broken, and. Hp saw ... some ■ hair thero too. He took the train on to Chri6tchurch; and did not hoar'of the accident until .his tetnrn, from "Lyttelton. . Ho j, . would be travelling at. aboqt forty miles an ' hour over tho crossing—a-level one—and kopt a good look-out. The conclusion which he had come to was that they'had . struck a horse. Edwin Harvey Andrews, fireman on' tho tiairi, also gave evidence. Ho stated that he saw nothing,-either wliilo nearing the crossing ! (Jr when he arrived at it. ■ In reply to the coroner, Constable Pender I said that the spade had been in Froo's gig nt the time of tho accident. Thp fireman, continuing, said that ho had seen nothing of any contact of the ongino . with .the- gig. . . William Samuel Palmer, .platelayer, deposed that ho liad .found deceased lying : quite dead on tho 1 road,' and-the trap was smashed up. l'ho,liorse was also dead, having had its neck, broken.. . : 'The.coronor returned a vordiet that deathwas accidental. \ .-. v. - DROPPED DOWN IN THE. STREET. ■>:, (By Telegraph—Press Association.) ' V. Duttediri, .November.., 7. ■ A .man .named Innes, aged about. Oft years, died suddenly yesterday., ,He dropped down,in .: Princes Street, and .was .taken to- his homo ,:.... whoro he expired about two hours later , without having .regained consciousness. Death, n - supposed 1,0 have been .due to heart disease. . ■.. . . POUND DROWNED AT SEATOUN. . On Saturday morning, Mr. W. G. Ridtlell, S.M., Coroner, conducted an lnouest into tha circuirisiiandos surrounding tho'death "of Minnio Curran,:wli£ise lKidy wag found lying on tha bqchrat fiUftfiiUii iif the 1 early-morning of tho! previous.dayi' Evidence was tendered by An*,, ,nio KeritJ of : ;3G'Murrihy Street, Johanna '.Cuiv = v ran (sisters of the deceased), Guy -L'cstrango | Logan,. who'noticed the body lying on tho heaeli whilo bathiiig,Vaiid 'Coristablii Simfe, who out to briug.in.tho bodyi-i It*was stated, that the.decease^,.who'.was a domestioservarit, had; been, in indifferent health, ~hav- • ing suffered from asthma all her- life.; .Bho was a former resident of Dunedin, 46 years of , age, and had becn, ; four months in Wellington. Deceased was of nervous disposition,-and ' . prone tt attiicks of giddiness. She had lately. ' been- attended by Dr. Cahill, who - hRd 'diagriosed weakness of the heart. She .had last bt en, seen l on ;tho'afternoon of .Thursday,, when ~ she left the,residcnce-of to'visit her other sister (Johanna.Kent), at tht; Terminus! Hotel. ' ' The .coroner entered the following finding t— ~ "That, 'deceased Was found drowned on tho.- ■-. beach at Seatoun on ■ November,- 5, but. that: • there was fiot sufficient evidence to: show how - she had como by.-her death."- . FOUND DEAD.' A RESIDENT iOF MARTIN SQUARE. A woman named? Margaret: Bain, who haa resided a£ No. 30 Martin: Square (off Taranakl Street)' for three months past, was found dead in her bed on Saturday afternoon. The body was discovered by Sidney Herbert Newcombe, a labourer, two called at 2 p.m. on- Saturday to see how the deceased was getting on. When ho arrived-■ there,lie found.'the Minds'.-down. aiid thO; front; door locked,, ahd he summoned' a. woman who lives noxt door; to 6eoi if ad- i mittance. oould be; gained-- from tho baeki The back-door was found, to bo and thoy ' hoth r went ; in. and were shocked to-find the " woman Bain dead on-her bed. , Apparently she " h'ad died ''during"' the, .night,; as ,tno deceased •" had been seen in, her own-yard, at 8: p,mi on ; • Friday by two neighbours. : Dr.i Hogg nnd tho police, were notified; and the body-was 1 removed to tho morgue,, where.. an . inquest - ' will bo held this morning. ' . There is evidence that tho woman had com- ' plained of ill-health >latoly., The results ot .the • post-mbrterft • examination .by Dr. - Fyfl'e 1 '" yesterday will be made" known at tbo inquest. CAB AND ENGINE. COLLIDE. David Anderson (of Wilson Street), who drove a cab in the , vicinity of'the Queen's : Wharf on Saturday ovening, ia never likely.: to- bo nearer death than he was on that occasion. It ' ' is stated,'that, 1 as the 8.30 -p.m. train , from Lambton Quay to, 'IV Aro was passing'slowly along- Customhouse Quay, tho usual whistle was blown, prior to rtaohihg' the entrahro of - tho Queen's Wharf,,-The,horse:in itho cab' driven, by Andersen was so startled that' it became'-slightly restive, and, getting:' slightly : out of control, made down the wharf at tho •very moment that thevtraiu : was 1 Crossing. The engine struck the rear tot Of tlio feab, damaging it severely, and. the' driver was : thrown from - his seat, and sustained ■ a iseveve ■ wound near the ..base ,of the, skull.' Ho was taken at once to the-Tollh Office, when tie 1 wound was stitched np and dressed by Dr. Henry, Constable Faleonbridgo having,- ill the meantime, rendered first aid.: The damage to - tlio cab,-which is owned by Mr. George Richards, is estimated at .: about £30.' It was fortunate, •' indeed, : that the cab had no occupants at tho tiir,e, os only a-miracle could havo saved them from injury or death. 0 "MORALLY RESPONSIBLE." ' Gisboeno, November G. At an inquest on Heni WiHoughby, tho aged ' Maori woman who was burned to death on • Thursday night, tho coroner retprnod' a verdict ■that .there was no evidence to show how the firo originated,.and added. "I am of opinion that . Henry is Morally responsible for the death of Lis, wife, as tho, cy.idence -V has proved that he was at the 'flra broke out drinking;,'m -a neighbourin®i)Ußo, and was in a state of intoxication.".- •: