DEATH OF MR. O.C. COOPER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 256, 17 July 1918, Page 6

DEATH OF MR. O.C. COOPER

; , OPENING OF INQUEST The circumstances attaching to the • death of the late Mr. Ormond C. Cooper, who died on Saturday last as the result of an accident in Molesworth Street on the previous Wednesday, when the deceased was returning from the Welling- < ton races, were investigated yesterday by ' the Coroner, Mr. W.'G..Riddel], S.M. Sir. H. F. O'Leary appeared for Michael Kearney, driver of the motor-car in which Mr. Cooper was travelling at the time of the mishap. Mr. T. Neave Topresented Messrs. Hunt, Cottrell, and Co., one of whoso lorries was involved in the accident, and Mr. J. O'Shea watched the proceedings on behalf of the City Corporation, and Sergeant Wade conducted the inquiry on behalf of the police. Dr. C. F. Pattio stated that, on Julv 10 he was called to Barraud's Pharmacy to attend Mr. Cooper. He examined him as far as he could, and said the deceased was obviously seriously injured. Deceased complained of severe pains in tho left'part of his chest. When witness saw him lirst ho was practically pulseless. Owing to tho severity of his injuries witness ordered the patient to he conveyed to the Thorndon Private Hospital. Daniel G. A. Cooper, Stipendiary Magistrate, brother of the deceased, tendered formal evidence as to the identity of deceased, who, he said, was 48 years of ago and married. Michael Kearney, taxi-driver, of Karori l!oad, raid that he was returning from the races 011 Wednesday last, and in the car there were four people hesides Mr. Cooper. They left the racecourse a little before 5 p.m., and after leaving the Ilutt Koad proceeded up Tinnkori Koad and down Molesworth Street towards the city. The brakes of witness's car were in first-class order, but the ■ road was greasy. Coming along Molesworth Street there was a motor-car twenty or thirty vards ahead. From tho Princess Hotel there was a tramcar ahead of witness, and tho car slowed on the loop ahead of the Metropolitan Hotel. Witness caught np to a tram in front of him, which was slowing down at the next loop, and just as lie got abreast of the first tram ho saw a motorcar in front of him swerve 011 to tho tramline. Witness applied both brakes. What camo into his view _ then was a two-horse lorry, with 110 lights, about two car lengths off. When witness applied his brakes tho back si' the ear skidded into the gutter, end at the same moment tho tram struck the front of tho car. The shaft on the left side of tho lorry struck witness's ear and went through tho body. Before 110 came into collision he was travelling bc-tween six | and seven miles an hour, on account of slowing up when nearing Hill Street. When the front motor-car swerved on to the line 110 was travelling at eight miles an hour. The horses in the lorry plunged and reared, and the driver had a job to stop them. They wore coming np the hill at a walking pace, but got frightened at the tram coining into them. Tho tram was just moving whon it struck witness's car. There was not room for two vehicles and the tram on that side of ti:? road. The only courso.. witness had irns to stop dead, and he had stopped when tho tram hit him. To Mr. O'Shea: No damage was dono to the traincav. The reason why the motor-car hit the tramcar was that it skidded 011 the slipperv snrfaco -when lie applied the brakes. The tram stop closod np when the motor-car struck it. To Mr. Neave: The collision occurred : a little to the north side of Barraud's 1 Pharmacy. He was following another motor-car, and was less than a length and a half away from that car. Ho first • saw the lorn' when lie was almost ahead . of the tram" The lorry was not hauled up to the kerb, and was not stationary.' The horses were moving np Molesworth Street. As far as lie could see the lorry ' had no lights. When witness questioned [ the driver of the lorry about lights the [ driver said tho lamp was underneath. , Witness searched for it but could not ' find it. The horses plunged 011 to tho ■ footpath. i To Sergeant Wade: There was sufficient room 011 the proper side of tho road ! for the lorrv to have passed the tram. .Allen Scott Orbell, sheepfarmer, of I Waikouaiti, one of the passengers in tho motor-car in which the late Mr. Cooper j was travelling, said that he had a fair- , ly good view of the road. When ihey ■ got into Molesworth Street they passed , one tramcar and came level with an--1 other, when witness saw a motor-car in front. Kearney applied the brakes linrd. 1 Witness did not notice the lorry until after the accident. When the motor-car struck the tramcar it. was thrown on v; to tho lorry. Kearney was driving core- • fully, and appeared to be quite a comt potent driver. Had Kearney not applied • the brakes, but gone straight, ahead, he - might have got through, but. the result s might have been quite uncertain. Mr. r Cooper was sitting on the back seat of tho motor-car, in the left-hand corner, on the side of the lorry. Had witness been driving the motor-car he would not have expected the lorry to be pulled up on the side of the road it was. Arthur Hyde, niotornian of the .tramcar concerned in the mishap, said the first thing he saw was Kearney's mntor- . car almost at right angles to the front, of the tramcar, which wa-> travelling at about four or five miles an hour. Kearney was going in the same direction as witness. The impact between the Irani and the. motor was not a severe one. When the motor-car came into collision the driver of the lorry appeared to be pulling his horses up. The lorry was sido 011. To Mr. O'Shea: As soon as witness saw ' tho motor-car imninging on to his front step lie applied the brakes and the car I stopped. The ear was not going fa=,t , enough to be pulled up by the magnetic brake, the power-reversing gear being sufficient. In reply to Mr. Neave, the witness said the spot where the accident occurred was very narrow. The lorry was moving toI wards the wrong side of the street. 5 At this stage the inquest was adjourned until 2 p.m. to-day.