INQUEST.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1900, 27 March 1880, Page 3

INQUEST.

An inquest was held at the Hospital on Thursday by J. W. Coward, Esq., Coroner, on the body of Elizabeth Gilpin, who met with an acoident on the railway on March Bth. Mr Back, the General Manager of the Railways, was present, and Mr H. Cotterill watched the caae A jury having been sworn in, and Mr John Walker chosen foremap, the following evidence was taken: —

William John Gilpin, sworn, said— The deceased was my child. She was hardly three years old. The accident by whioh she loot her life happened on March Bth. It occurred at Bnrnham station, on the Christchurch railway line. It was nearly half-past six o'clook. I came to meet my wife and children, who had gone to Christohurch. The train, which was a mixed one, came up, and was shunted on to a siding in order to let the luggage train pass. The train made a dead stop, and some passengers were getting out. I saw my wife oome to the door of the carriage to get oat. The deceased was along with her. I could not see her. The train then mad* a sudden jerk, and went on about six yards. I saw something fall which at first I thought was a parcel, and I was _ going to assist my wife, when I recognised my child's hat, and I then saw it was the deceased. I saw a man catch the child up, and snatch it up about fire yards from the rails. I took her from the man's arms and saw that her left arm was hanging only supported by a bit of skin underneath. I also saw the boot on the loft foot tightly pressed together. The guard of the express took me and deceased into his van on to Christchurch. On arrival I brought deceased to the Hospital. Dr. Frins dressed the deceased's injuries in my presence. By Mr Ootterell—To the best of my belief the accident occurred shortly before half-past six o'clock. I stood on the siding, as there is no passengers* platform. I stood nearly opposite to the carriage platform on which my wife would step to get out of the carriage. By a JiflKr—-There is a platform at the station, but none at the siding where the train stepped. By the Foreman—The train first made a dead stop, and shortly afterwards made a jerk. My wife had an infant in her arms when she got out. Frederick Baok, sworn, said—l am General Manager of Railways in Canterbury. The rule for passengers getting out at all stations where there is a single line of rails, and a single platform is that a goods train gives place to a passenger train on the straight. It was a mixed train that the accident occurred from. The same rules apply to that train as to a goods train. A goods train would give place to a mixed train and a mixed train to a passenger train. There are regulations to that effect, but they are not printed. It is the rule of the road, and I should think all the guards knew it. It is the custom on all single lines of railway. When a train draws up at a place where there is no platform, the passengers have to get out on the ballast. It is customary to draw the train clear of the points to allow the other trains to go out. Noticos are affixed on the doors of the carriages cautioning passengers of the danger of stepping on the platform. The guard irons of the carriages are too high to catch a child from falling, and I think the deceased must have fallen between the platforms of the carriages. I have known of several narrow escapes from that cause. By a Juror—The engine driver has no right to move the train on without the signal from the guard. I never knew an instance of a driver moving on without receiving the guard's signal. Charles Gilham Scott, sworn, said—l am a farmer. On the evening of March Bth I was on the platform at Burnham station waiting for the passenger train from Christchurch. The passenger train whistled before coming into the station, and then stopped, making a signal to the express train to come up to the Burnham station. The station master beckoned to the express to come on. Several passengers got out of the train from Christchurch before arriving at the station. Then the passenger train shunted on to the siding. It went as far as the main line, up to the far end of the siding, and then stopped again. It stopped for three or four minutes. The guard of the Christchurch passenger train, in which the deceased was, then ran on ahead, and I believe he shifted the points so that the train could go on to the main line, and thon came back to his own train. I was then speaking to the engine driver of the express train. I saw Mrs Gilpin and the deceased child getting out of the train after the second stoppage, when the train moved the length of the carriage, and then stopped, the shunting of the carriage caused the deceased to be thrown off the platform. There was a jerk whioh threw the child right on to the line. I saw Mrs Gilpin take hold of the deceased's shoulder as it left the carriage door. Mrs Gilpin turned on the carriage platform to pick up a bundle at the same time the train moved. She had not hold of the ohild then. I Baw the child fall then. On seeing it fall I thought it was a bundle. By Mr Cotterill—The siding is before getting to the platform. The mixed train then moved away, and did not come to the station. The child was jußt on the edge of the platform, and the shunting of the train caused it to fall on the line.

William Bachelor sworn said—l am a guard on the railway, I was guard of the mixed train which took the deceased child to Burnham on March Bth. We arrived at Burnham at 6.22 p.m., and had to stop out on the main road to let the express get up to the platform. I told some of the passengers we wem stopping for the express, and when she came up we should pull in to the siding. Wo pulled in to the siding, and the south end points were locked, and there was not quite room for our train to pull right in to the siding. I jumped ofE my van to unlock the points ; the train stopped before I could get to them. I unlocked the points, and told the driver to pull in dear at the other end, so as to allow the express to go by. No sooner had he started than we heard some one sing_ out. I stopped the engine directly I heard it. The driver had not got a waggon length from where we started. I did not see the child or the accident. I saw no one attempt to get out of the carriages. We generally call out at the station for the passengers to

get out. When it is proper for them to get out we tell them, but had not done bo on this occasion, as we had not got in off the main road when the deceased fell out.

By Mr Cotterill —The train morely stopped sufficient time for me to unlock the points. The whole operation did not occupy more than three minutes.

By a Juror—There is no special pointsman kept. Mr Back —The Btation-master unlocks the points at one end and the guard locks them at the other.

Thomas Undrill sworn said—l am an engine-driver. I drove the engine which took the mixed train to Burnham on March Bth. The proper plan for passengers to get out is when the train gets to the station. We could not get up to the platform, because the express was standing there. We accordingly went into the siding. When we get in clear at the bottom end iB the time for the passengers to get out, but we were not in when the deceased child was injured. The guard and station-master each call out the name of the station when the train arrives. That is the time for tho passengers at that station to get out. The name of the station was not called out by the guard. I stopped twice in going on to the siding ; once for the guard to unlock the points at the upper end ; previously we stopped outside the station altogether, to allow the express to come in to the platform, so that he should not run in to the tail of my train.

By Mr Cotterill —I don't think there was more than half a minute's time before stopping the second time and starting. I gave a long whistle. By a Juror—lf there had been a man at the points the train would not have stopped a second time. There was no intimation given by the guard or station master that the passengers might get out. I did not on this occasion hear the name of the station called out by any person. Dr. Prins sworn, said—l was called to the deceased on the evening of March Bth at the Hospital. She was conscious. The left arm was completely broken below the shoulder and hanging by a bit of skin. The left foot had a compound comminuted fracture across the instep. There was a slight bruise over the left eye and forehead. The child was attended to and progressed favorably until about the seventh day after the accident. Sickness and diarrhoea then set in and the wounds took a sloughing character, and in spite of all the core and treatment the child sank on March 23rd. The immediate cause of the deceased's death was sickness and diarrhoea. The child was feeble and fragile, and the sickness and diarrhoea was aggravated by the accident, on account of the loss of blood and the low condition it was in after it. By Mr Cotterill —lf the sickness and diarrhoea had not supervened I had every hope of the child's recovery. By a juror—There wbb no Bign of sickness or diarrhoea when the child was admitted into the Hospital. The child's chances of recovery from the sickneas were lessened by the accident. This was the whole of the evidence brought forward by the police, but tho coroner informed the jury that if they had any doubt of the cause of the deceased's death after hearing the evidence of Dr. Prins, it was competent for them to call the house Burgeon of the Hospital, Dr. Davis. The jury having intimated their desire to hear what Dr. Davis could say as to the cause of the deceased's death, he was called, and being sworn, said—l saw the deceased child daily after its admission into the Hospital until its death. The diarrhoea came and ceased several times. I do not think it was suffering from diarrhoea at the time it died. I attribute tho direct cause of the child's death to exhaustion caused by diarrheal and sickness.

After deliberating for a short time the jury returned a verdict—" That the deceased child died from diarrhoea, aggravated by the accident on tho railway," and further added a rider to the effect " That when a passenger train is drawn on a siding the passengers should not be allowed to leave the train until it is brought up alongside the platform; and further, tha*; it should be the duty of a pointsman to attend to the points, that of a guard, whose bueiness it is to attend to the passengers."