A SHOCKING DEATH.

Evening Star, Issue 4082, 27 March 1876, Page 3

A SHOCKING DEATH.

Yefiterdayaftemoonthe town* Was startled by afiepOrt (which unfortunately proved to be true) that Constable Vernon had'been killed in the railway'tunnel at Caversham, It appears that a little- after eleven yesterday morning, three lads, who were going through the tunnel for 1 a walk, had their, attention attracted, while in the tunnel, by the barking, of . their dog, and oh,.sinking a couple of, matches they perceived, laying alongside the rails what they took "to be a bundle of clothes. Closer examination of the object to themJhe,body;ofh man,„face downwards,, and covered-with blood. They did not stay to examine it, but conveyed to - their parents," who reside"iiear Caversham, intelligence of whattheyhad sw^^dsubseqiueutly fave information to the' police. Constable I‘Kelvie, stationed at Caversham, and Dr Batchelor , immediately wenfr- out to the tunne},. ,and four, hundred yards, from its mouth, iOU) the right hand side, they came upon; the body*; which proved to be that, of Constable Vernon. lt was fearfully mutir lated.-o The head was flattened to a sleeper, the bodyiflaying obliquely clear of the rail. All the. limbs wiare broken, the left leg being . twisted across,the abdomen. His collar and tie were lying alongside ancLiis watch and chain behind the body. The watch had stopped at: 5.2(1, having evidently, run down, A pair of handcuffs in the coat pocket of deceased: were broken in pieces, but his hat could • not he discovered, though eveiy,. search was made for -it in the tunnel. With the. assistance of some men from the Immigration the body was placed on a table and removed to the station at Caverpital it now lays awaiting aU' enqumba'jhq#tuted ; ;hy the police hfterthe become known throw little - hght< uppi ( 'The;- deceased. ,had , been bn at the races on Saj^yday,.;and .left the; course at 6.30 p.m. From the fact of the con-

stable at Caversham having, as we are informed, parted with him at the head of the Forbury road, opposite the barracks, shortly before seven o’clock, it is assumed that he was not in time to catch the last train leaving town at 6.45 p.m., and therefore set out to walk home along the line. Then it is difficult to account for the two hours and a-hal£ that elapsed between him parting with Constable M'Kelvie and the arrival 7 m the tunnel of the down train, which would have passed through at 8.43, and by which he 'is supfjoscd to have been run down. This atter assumption is strengthened by the fact that the Clutha engine bore .on, its front -blood :, and some human hair. It. is to be noted that the Caversham tunnel, as have all other tunnels of equal ‘length on the main line, has three recesses into which a man can go with perfect safety. The tunnel "was made for what is known as the ordinary engines, and not for the Fairlies, whpse , platforms are much broader than the former’s, and a man could stand bolt upright in the tunnel without danger from an ordinary engine. Had the deceased, when he became aware of the approaching train, had presence of mind to have'thrown himself to the ground between the rails and the wall of the tunnel, he would, have escaped injury. Constable Vernon came to the Province about three years ago, along with a detachment of the armed constabulary, when the town members of the force went out on strike, shortly afterwards joined the force, and has been in it ever since, being looked upon as one of its most active members. For the past two year& he has been stationed at Green Island. He was thirty-seven years of age ; married ; and leaves a-wife and young child to mourn his untimely, end.