ACCIDENT AT THE CHAIN HILLS TUNNEL.

Evening Star, Issue 3734, 10 February 1875, Page 2

ACCIDENT AT THE CHAIN HILLS TUNNEL.

TWO MEN KILLED. A serious accident happened at the Chain Hills Tunnel this mo tiing, resulting in the instant dea hj of two men employed on the work. The accident happened at the > ortb, or top end of the tunnel, and this side is divided into three shifts (that to which the accident occurred consisting of fifteen men), under the direction of Mr Kerr From what we could learn, it appears that about seven o’clock this morning Thomas Kerr (foreman), Patrick Dempsey, Geo. Turnage, aQ d vVedloek, and others commenced working on the tunnel, and after they had been so engaged for about an hour, some seven or eight feet <■£ bluestone fell from the roof of the tunnel, covering the four men named. Wedlook and Turnage were the first to be got out, and as both were seriously injured, they were mm diately taken to the Hospital j the others must have been instantly killed, for when their bodies were uncovered, life was extinct. Kerr's head was split open from the right eye aeross the temple, and hie neck was broken; Hemp, sey’s skull was split open about Sin. wide behind the right temple and across the face to the left eye. The upper por.ion of the head was almost severed from the lower part, and a more complete disfiguration could hardly be imagined, while any attempt at identifiettiun of the features would be abogether out of the question. Kerr’s watch, which was broken, had stopped at five minutes past eight. Kerr was a married . a ” d ," 18 w ' fe and seven oh ldren reside at Fairfield, close by, and his eldest daughwas working within a very short distance of the scene of the accident. He was about forty years of age, had been fourteen years m the district, had been working at the tunnel for about twelve mouths and was greatly respected. Dempsey was about thirty years of age. In his purse was found a ticket for admission to the hospital, bear* ing his name. Willia n P. Pattieon, who was in charge tfcfc eblty tfanr tfr fifths iWeß,antt

uncovered the men at the risk of his own life, as the stone continued falling after they were got out. The tunnel was timbered T* i j D ve where th men were ki iled, anl bricked to within twenty feet; ms weuld be about seven chains from the mouth of the tunnel. 4 Sergeant-Major JSevan, from Dunedin, was almost immediately on the spot, and had the bodies removed to Jenkins’s Kese, Shamrock, and where m inquest will probabJy be held to-morrow. The saddest part of he affair is that Dempsey, Wedlock, and Turnage only went to the works for the first tune an hour before the a.cdent occurred, and all had been thoroughly enjoying themselves at a ball held at Green l a la don the previous night About sixty men are now working in the tunnel and after tbe accident work was immediately susp-.nded On making inquiries at the Hospital this afternoon, we learned from the injured men that no warning was given of tue ground falling. Wedlock t has his right leg broken ; Turnage both legs broken, one being a compound fracture. He is besides very much cut and bruised about the head.