INQUEST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 68, 13 March 1902, Page 2

INQUEST.

THE LA.TE FATALITY AT INGLKWOOD* An inquest was held before the Coroner, Mr R. L. S'anford, and the , following jury:—Messrs James Tuck, ! J. Hunmer, K. P. Sawoon, H. Julian* : »•!. Taylor, and T. J.Nchols into the e.tutse of tho death of Thomas Nyhane. Sergeant H.addroll conducted the case for the police, and called : Pet>T Jackson, who said be was fire- > man of the engine which left New Ply- ■ mouth at 7.55 on Tuesday morning for Hawera with a train. The driver's ■ name was Thomas Nyhane. They left i inglewood at 9.12. About a quarter i of a mile south of Inglewood witness t noticed the driver took hold of the hand-m is and lean out of the cab. The 3 The engine was running tender first, 3 and was class N. Witness bent down r to attend to the fire, and on standing up d*ceased. Thought he hsd - gone along the engine to look at the * air-pump of the Westingbouse brake 1 or something which was on bis aide of f the engine. As be did not return witties* went over to his side of the en-

gine to look for him, but could not aee him. Knew something must have happened, and shut off steam, stopping the train at the Durham-road station. The train was travelling at from 15 to 20 miles »n hour when he mused deceased. Informed the guard, but a platelayer had alrtady informed him of the accident. Gnuld not eay ho* fw it was from Ngutoro bridge when he kst saw deceased, but should aay about a chain. Wituess had not taken particular notice of th« bridge, but slionld say there is about 2ft. to. spare between the eegine and the side of the bridgtf< Did not know of any rule tooompeloce to look out of the side of the engine. Should say a man would do thit on his own responsibility. Knew of no rule bearing on the point. Deceased m art have sttuck the slanting beam of the bridge. Had seen a driver go along the engipe while runoing, to look at machinery. It is not necessary to do so, as it can be looked to at a station. Witness took on a porter, and ran the train to Tariki, where witness got tb* advice of a svnior man. N class is a narrow c-liss of. engine, The <loable Fairley in a much wider engine, There is very littla to spire outside a double Fairley on thtee bridges. Witness had been soma six mooths on this ran, and was previously working in town. To a jurytaan who said there was a teport that the engine was not steaming well, the witness replied that if this was the case the driver would not 1 J. tL. aa tltA

need to. go outa'-de the engine, u the trouble would be remedied in 'hi fir* box. The only difficulty wu that the coil was not making steum well. There was nothing wrong with tbe engine, which worked all day and required nothing done do it. H. J. Stimson, platelayer on the Norfolk-toad section, said he waa on the south side of the Ngatoro Bridge at the train fr m' New Plymouth : passed. He W;s looking at th« t'ain, : and when it whs about two chain** from the bridge he saw the driver lean out, ho'ding on *o the banu r tils. He was l '.-kitig uudtr the engiue, and seemed to Iran out about two feet. > Witness saw his head strike tVe top of > the auperstiucture of the bridge. The* blow seemed to knock him into the cab, and when he got over the bridge he seemed to let go and dropped some 10 or 12 feet oltar of the road, towards the pier. This was only 10 or 15 yards from witness, and he ran down to him. He was lying with hit head down stream, and to the best of witn*M f knowledge was dead. He put on a jigger aud pulled to Durham-road and told his mate*. The ganger got a trolly and they brought the body to i Ingle wood. Witneso was four or five übaints from the place where tbe dtiver first leaned out, and the engine j tan about two chaines before he struck , tbe bridge. Did not think he fell on Any other part of the engine. When I the «-ngin« passed the fireman was , ati.opiun do*n attending tin firts, , Witness whistled, bu; cjuld not. make the fireman hear. When the d iver leaned out wiuuss saw he must a rike ' the bric'ge if he did not gen back quickly, but he could not do anything, Jijbsrt Swan, g«nger of itie Norfolk road section, give evidence of having assisted to take tbe body to Inglewood. He examined the place and found several hairs on the end of the bridge. Deceas d must have struck the fenoe - on the buttress very hard when be > fVll off the train as the top > rail was broken From wb*r« he first 1 struck to where he fell was about 78 ' feet. The bridge i* 11 feet 6 inch** - wide in tbe clear, and witm a* oon- ' sidored sufficient sp.ee for the widest ' engine used here. Did not know IT 1 drivers h»ve to lean out. Had seen ' tbem do it, but not often. Had heard ' of a similar accident, one osee beiog ' that of A driver named McQueeny, bat ' witness believed he struck a bolt. 1 To a juryman: The Did sof the bridge are required in this class of bridge. They o uld have Birder bridges, but got a longer span with this class of timber bridge, r To another juryman: Witness con- • sidoted the bridge qui'e wife for excursion trains with ptople leaning out s of the windows, at the foot plate ef an i engine is generally wider than a i carriage. The bridges her* are the ; &im« »s those ger.er.'Dy uted. They i am all built to the stme plan, A m "i • could stand between a pulsing train I at.d the side of the bridge quite safely, i as there is nearly 2ft 6in clear space. i Henry Steven ton, running *h*d foreman at New Plymouth, saw deceased • leave with his engine on Tuesday i morning. His engine was in good i order, and is so now. All the locomotives and men were under witnW i supervision. A driver was supposed i to look under his engine if neceesary. He would notice at once if anything was wrong by the sound. A driver | was very ki en to de'ect any : in the souud of working of bis engine while running, atd would naturally i look out to see the cause. Tbe deceased was fu'ly six foot, aud would lean outs good way if trying to look under his ' origin-.'. 11a was a good driver, and like all young drivers would be quick to notice everything about his engine. All young driven! aie. The engine was 6f' Oiu wiJr, leaving 2ft 4in OA euch side when cioti-sing a bridge. The Fuirlio engines ar.i seven foe' widr, and soiae engines are only Gft. The e wait no rule regarding the diivers looking 1 out. Every drivtr is supposed to know his road and b« careful. Witness eon--1 lidered the bridge wide enough. Charles B>yly, police-cons'able stationtd at Inglewood, took rharae of tbe body of deceis d. Found the left arm, the thigh, and the neck bixik n, aid a very la.'fe scalp wound out e Itft tide of the head. !'lia injuriesiu hi<i opinion were quite sufficient to oousa death, which must have been ins antaneoua. A verdict of accidental death was (recorded, no blam* being attachable to anyone.