TWO MEN KILLED

Hokitika Guardian, 23 March 1932, Page 5

TWO MEN KILLED

FOUR OTHERS HURT BY FALLING WALLS. (By Telegraph — Pe. Press Association/ WELLINGTON, March 22. The collapse of the walls of a large strong room in course of the demolition of the old Government Life insurance Building, at the corner of Jcrvois Quay and Brandon Street, this afternoon, caused the death of two men, and caused serious injuries to three others. Several tons of debris had to he shifted, in the course of which another man was injured by a falling brick, before the last body had been recovered. The victims are:— Dead. Harry Byford, single, age and address

unknown. Richard Harold Wilson, sing'e, aged in years, of 9 Caprera Terrace, Melrose.

Injured. Leonard Walter Lang, married, aged 89, of 15 Apuka Street, Brooklyn •. fractured elbow and shock. JdmeS Summers, single, aged 28, of 58 Ira Street, Mitahial*; head injuries and shock. Alexander Donaid, single, aged 38, of 4() Abel Smith Street; bruises and shock. Lewis Ham, aged 36, of 54 Ira Street, Miramar; hip injuries and shock.

Those who were working on the job state that there was no warning of the impending disaster. Standing at the rear of the building on the level of the first floor, there stood a laige and very substantially-built strong room. There was a gang making pre-

parations to demolish the stout twelve inch walls of the strong room. The walls had been deeply, scarfed all round, and the roof was strongly

“tommed” to prevent any preliminary fall. No one knows precisely what happened, but at 2.50 p.m. there was suddenly a loud crack and the thud of falling masonry. Where formerly stood the strong room there was an ugly heap of jagged masonry and brickwork. . \ It was known at once that human life was imperilled, as five men had been engaged in and about the room. Fortunately, some of the men were outside the wall of the room, or otherwise all must have been crushed to death by the weight of the masonry in the walls and the roof of the strong room.

One of the injured men was pushed | over the edge of what remained ol the floor, and he fell some fifteen feet to the ground. This was James Summers. He was taken to the hospital by theJJj'eg_ Ambulapee. Leonard Lang, builder, of Brooklyn, aild foreman of tile work then proceeding, had an arm broken, and received a lacerated face by the falling masonry. Ho, too, had to be despatched to the hospital, Alexander Donald, who was also badly bruised, and bad injured his back, was likewise sent- to the hospital. Harry Byford was caught by fulling rubble near the outer side of the strong room. He was rescued ill a badly crushed state, and he died on the way to the hosptigl. Richard Wilson, son of Mr H. Wilson, was literally buried alive. Tt is understood that Wilson was standing- out on one of walls, away from the strong room, when he was asked to take a rope to the workers in the strong room, and when he was delivering it, the whole place collapsed and lie was entombed. 1 When the injured men were got , away to the Hospital, the contractor, \ Clemenfc Capill, and his men, started j at once to recover the body of the hoy j Wilson. This work involved over three , hours. As showing the great diffieul- ' ties with which the rescuers were con- j fronted, a manual winch had to be J used to li r t the great blocks of debris, j Capill and his men attended to the ad- j justing of the rope on an elevated j floor 150 feet away. I

Even after part of Wilson’s, body was uncovered, it took another hour to free it entirely.

Cap ill, who worked hand to hand with his men right through the rescue job, when seen this evening said that he much regretted the tragic accident which had occurred, and he felt deeply for the relatives of those who had suffered so severe a loss. t r p to the present there had been few accidents on the job to speak of, and none of them serious. How this one had occurred lie had not the. slightest notion. He was not on the spot, or within sight, but was standing in the yard where the lorries load up with debris. "1 work with the men—if there is a risk, I share it with them,” he added.