Coroner’s Verdict at Inquest on Railway Inspector

Grey River Argus, 25 March 1948, Page 2

Coroner’s Verdict at Inquest on Railway Inspector

A fatal accident in the Greymouth railway station yards on March 10 last, when Robert Cowie, 52, a widower, and Acting-Inspector of the Permanent Way, was run over by a shunting train, had its sequel in the Coroner’s Court yesterday when an inquest into his death was held. Mr M. J. Fogarty, J.P., District Coroner, presided, and Sergeant H. O. Hansen conducted the proceedings. Mr W. D. Taylor appeared on behalf 01 the relatives and the A.S.R.S., and Mr A. M. Jamieson appeared for the Railwavs Department. The Coroner returned a verdict that death was caused by multiple injuries received by deceased when in the course of his employment he was knocked down by a petrol wagon attached to a van and an engine being shunted along the Greymouth-Hoki-tika main railway line in the Greymouth passenger yard. A fitter employed by the Railways Department who saw Cowie struck by the wagon, Rovden Harcourt Washer, said that, on the morning of the accident he had gone to the velocipede sheds with the deceased. Witness had been detailed to repair one of the machines. The shed was .on the Greymouth-Hokitika main line. Witness was assisting Cowie to take the machine out of the shed when the accident occurred. Witness said: “He was walking backwards and the velocipede was almost out of the shed. He was about one foot from the near line when he was struck by the petrol wagon”. Witness saw the actual impact. Washer told Ihe Coroner that, shortly before Cowie met his death, he had apparently leaned forward as if he had seen the approaching train. Witness did not hear the shunt until it came into his vision. • Thomas Stapleton. driver of the engine which propelled the petrol wagon, gave evidence of having received instructions to shunt a petrol wagon from the top yard to the Vacuum Oil Company’s siding at Elmer Lane. There was a van in between the engine and the petrol wagon. The shunt proceeded along the main Hokitika-Greymouth line at about 10 to 12 m.p.h. with the engine last. He had no knowledge of' the accident until he was called by the fireman to. stop the train, which 'he did immediately. The shunt stopped a short distance further down the line.

Stapleton said that there were two shunters on the shunt, one standing on the ladder in the middle of the petrol wagon, and one on the leading end of the opposite, side of the van. He could see only the man on the ladder. Leonard Alexander Jarden, fireman of the train, said that, whilst. . the shunt was approaching the velocipede shed, he kept a sharp lookout, but saw nothing until, when the wagon was about 30 yards_ away, he noticed portion of a velocipede outside one of the shed doors. When the leading edge of the petrol wagon was about six yards from the velocipede, he saw'a man leave the shed hurriedly and attempt to pull the vehicle towards the track. “I pulled the whistle cord, which broke”, he went on. “The whistle gave a slight blast, but not loud bnough to be heard at any distance”. He saw the man fall under the wagon, and he called out to the driver to stop..’ Jt was his opinion that Cowie did not see or hear the shunt until he was struck. “Was there any lookout on the west side of the shunt except yourself?” asked Mr Taylor. Witness replied that there was a man between the engine and the van. Mr Jamieson: “Can I take it that you were excited and gave the whistle cord an extra pull, which caused it to break”.

Jarden: “I did pull it pretty vigorously’. A shunter who was on the side of the train which struck Cowie, John William Butterfield, said that he was standing on the leading end of the van. When the wagon was about five yards from the velocipede shed, he noticed a man pulling a machine out of the shed backwards. He called out at the top of his voice, and gave the signal to the fireman to stop. Witness added: “The man removing the velocipede did not look right or left, and, in my opinion, he did not see or hear us. I lost sight of him before he was struck and the shunt passed over him”. Questioned by Mr Taylor, Butterfield said that the velocipede sheds were frequently used, and, on account of their proximity to the line, were a fairly dangerous spot. The shunt was a special one, and unless deceased had made inquiries, he would not have known it would be on the line.

Trains were passing up and down that section of the line every day, witness told Mr Jamieson. Deceased looked neither right nor left. Constable G. Beardsley produced a plan of the area, and gave details of the recovery of the body, which, he said, was badly mutilated.