Fatal Accident.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 28 August 1917, Page 3

Fatal Accident.

4 INQUEST AT OTAKI

On Friday last a young man of 31 years met his dentil at Otaki suddenly through his horse bolting and throwing him from a baker's cart. His name was Vernon Liddicoat and he had not long been married.

Liddicoat had been out with the cart and was returning to Otalci at about five o'clock in the evening when the Ne*v Plymouth express was coming into the st ition. Descending th-' hill just ou.'side the town the engine whistled and blow off steam. This caused Liddicoat's h'irse to bolt. Me had been sitiing on the side of the cart and when the horse bolted he had to get into the cart, thus taken at a. disadvantage, bin ho manas/od to ;'c*" Lo'd of th" re us aiid tried to hoi:l the horso i;i.

The anim.il, however, was .pin;: at a mad /•; Hop 'd ran pa t tin goods sh"<i, then o i to the • t■ I-;

yards wlie. e in try to cr- the lino the sviietd of the c.;r: f !id along tlit rail and ujwet, throwing the drivvr < «;'• lie i itched upon his head on the rjii, and then che wheel of tiio i art p.issed over his head. Liil:lico;iu rose with his hands to liis In.-ad, walked a few stei,s and then fell down.

Tli nse on the platform of the train saw the accident, and when the train pulled up the enginedriver ran lo assist the unfortunate n:u:\ A porter brought an ambulance! s:;-cichor and he was taken into the lobby of the railway station. lie v.-as heard to groan slightly, but did not recover consciousness and was taken to the hospital in a motor car, where he died not long after admission.

Dr Hathwaite, in his evidence at the inquest, stated that he found a larg.-i wound extending from the top of the head down behind the liizlit ear nearly to the neck. There was a go"d deal of bruising on tho right side of the neck and there were traces of a discharge of bloou from the right ear. The base of the skull was fractured by the fall.

The Coroner, Mr W. C. Nation, having heard the evidence of three or four witnesses, returned a verdict that deceased met his death accidentally through being thrown from a cart.

Liddicoat had Otaki for about two years and was a very quiet, steady fellow, respected by all who knew him.