NOT A DUD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 294, 6 August 1932, Page 6

NOT A DUD

BOMB SOUYENIR IN STORE CAUSES WOMAN'S . DEATH. HUSBAND'S FATAL MISTAKE. Killed by the explosion of a Mills jomh, a war souvenir, which was put on the fire in her hom i, Mrs. Florence Adelaide Nightingale Williams was stated at the inquest te have1 been the victim of a tragedy of inadvertenee. Mrs. Williams was found shockingly injured in the drawing-room of her house and she died in hospital. Her husband, Mr. Alfred Canning Williams, who was from 1910 to 1920 treasurer of the Edinburgh and Leith Corporation Gas Commissioners, told the coroner that his son brought the bomb home in 1917, and assured him that all the explosive material had oeen removed from it. His son said that a sergeant at a dump on the Menin Road gave him the bomb and instructed him how to remove the contents. After Mr. Williams had removed the pin a spring flew out, and he saw a substance which he took to be lead. As he wanted some sinkers for fish-ing-lines, he put the bomb on the fire in order to melt down the metal. Mrs. Williams was sitting by the fireside. Coroner: Were you fully of opinion that the bomb was innocuous?" — "Absolutely." "I returned to my workshop," Mr. Williams continued, "and had not been there more than two minutes when I toeard a loud explosion. Husband's Discovery. "I realised instantly what had happened. I rushed baclc into the draw-ing-room and could see nothing, as .t was full of soot and smoke. "I opened the windows and doors, and when the smoke cleared I saw my wife lying on the carpet." Witness added that the fact that the windows were not broken bore out his contention that most of the explosive matter had been taken from fiie bomb. "Didn't it occur to you that it was mwise to deal with the bomb in this .vay?" asked the coroner. "Of course, I see now it was unwise," replied Mr. Williams, "but it .vas only through my being convinced hat it was harmless that I did it. My wife thought it was harmless oo." An emptv bomb was producM to the iury, and Inspector Groom 'explained .he mechanism. The metal which Mr. Williams thought was lead was, said

;he inspector, aluminmm. P.S. Franlclyn said from his experi•nce of bombs, he thought if this one had been fully charg M, it would have -xploded eight or ten seconds after 'he removal oi" the pin. Doris Stephens, 15, servant, who was in the room at the time of the explosion, was congratulated by the oroner on her escape. She sustain■ed a slight cut on the forehead and a burn on the neck. In returning a verdict of death from misadventure," the jury expressed sympathy with Mr. Williams. It was a particularly tragic case, ! remarked the coroner, as Mrs. Williams' death was caused by something her husband did inadvertently.