MAN FALLS UNDER CARRIAGES TRYING TO BOARD TRAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 21, 16 April 1927, Page 1

MAN FALLS UNDER CARRIAGES TRYING TO BOARD TRAIN

FRANTIC STRUGGLE WITH DEATH Press Associatioyi. WANGANUI, To-day. A shocking accident occurred at Turakine on the line between Palmerston and Wanganui on Thursday night, when a man named Timothy Hartnell fell on the railway track and was cut to pieces.

Hartnell and a friend named Peter Cameron were travelling from Wanganui to Marton on a slow train. The men had got off at Turakina, and were surprised to see the train start on its journey south after a stop of only two or three minutes. They made a bolt round the back of the station through the south entrance. With the train travelling three or four miles an hour, Cameron boarded safely, but his companion could not maintain his grip of the handrail, and despite desperate efforts to lift himself clear, he swung round between the rear carriage and the guard's van. The guard signalled the train to stop, but, still struggling, and his

grip weakening, Hartnell finally fell, and the van passed over his body, which was frightfully mangled. It was with difficulty that the remains were collected and placed on the station platform, to be removed to the nearby hotel. Deceased was a single man. of 4S years, a native of Australia. He resided at Turakina. An inquest was held at Turakina yesterday afternoon, and evidence was given corroborating the facts as stated. A verdict was returned that deceased was accidentally killed through being run over by the railway guard’s van, no blame being attachable to anyone.