ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7711, 13 January 1905, Page 2

ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS.

Railway Fatality at Stratford. THE INQUEST. Phe imjuest into the circumstances of the death of Cecil W a li uce Orock- /«.. kllled on thc railway i! t A«.?, r .? 11 Wpdneedtty.. was held y Mr 1. Hutchison, Coroner, at Mr Crocker's house, Devon Street on Thursday moi-ning. The jury was empanelled as follows Messrs Steven Hooper (foreman), C. Brown, A. Lcaland, E. Whittle, J, Harker, and W. Hart. Sergeant Haddreil conducted tho inquiry for the police. ,'""j Coroner said that as tho ma.T**- Mcro p »'Plojcd at Stratford the inquiry would have to be adjourned until the follbwW 2 P' m - The mediosl cvidcticc would be to tho effect that the causo of death was a broken neck. He would take formal evidence of identiAcation. Samuel lfill, Government Valuer j said he identified the body as that of Cecil Crocker, whom he bad known from childhood. Deceased was 2ii years of age. ,;. 1^ 0 '""fnest w a s then adjourned until -2 p.in, on Friday. j

The parents of the late Mr C W Crocker have; Jeoeivcd sheaves ' of telegrams of sympathy from all parts of the colony. One of those, from the Minister for Railways, at iwtorua, was as follows : "s, i* Crocker, New Plymouth,—l was very sorry indeed to hoar of the sad Occident before I left New Plymouth last night, and though I expressed my personal sympathy with you I wish to convey it now to yourself and Mrs Crocker. The blow is a heavy one to you both, but these unaccountable misfortunes in life como us .? U in sowe stape or other.— I U. G. Ward."

I- L . Stratford Post furnishes the ,y Jjllowing : —A sad accident occurred „. t the Stratford railway station on 1; the arrival of the mail tram last >. ("ednosday) evening, whereby Porter u Crocker, of Now Plymouth, lost his life. Porter Crocker came down on d the seven o'clocE train from New >' I lymouth to Stratford, for the pur- , pose of joining the mail train hero t as assistant guard. He was standt. ing at tho Fenton Street end of tho „ platform, and as tho train was coin* u ing in he attempted apparently to j board t-ho engine. A number of bVr standers were horrified to sec trim 0 fall between the engine and tho plnt- - , rm :. Jhe dliv er, by a projupt apj plication of the Wcstinghouse brake, _ pulled the train) up very quickly', find assisted in extricating tho por- . tvr, who,, it was seen, was seri--1 olls 'y injured, though not in any way mutilated. Dr. Anderson, of Ohristchurch, who was a passenger by tho train, at qnce offered his sor- [ VICCS . and under his direction Crock- • er was placed on a stretcher and taken to the van, for transference to ' New Plymouth hospital. The unfori tunulc man, however, died in u few ' minutes. (Per Press Association.) CIHUHTCHI'ItCH, Jan. 12. i Mrs liolmes, formerly propoletivsHi jof tho Upper Wai-au Ferry Hotel, u»d Miss Pugh were injured by bo- 1 ing thrown from a -buggy at Summer through the horse taking/Fright | uud bolting. Mrs Holmes w us caught in tho reins and was di-oemd for about a milo. She was tauv. fully bruised, and her clothes were f-nnHill Jl° 1108 in a I'l'OCUlioUS I condition. Miss Pugh hud a small i bone in the anklo broken i AVKSTPOUT, Jan. 12. 1 f. " allH,d Jol »i Champion, i ( i Jwis, "as run over bv u truck at Denniston. where he was i wwkmp for the Westport Coal Conn i l'unj. Jhe youth died at M.15 p.m. I MTi-i ALCKLAND, Jan 12 l>™,h !; K a hm ' sc nt "'"son's 1 C* thrown ' some" seven't' eigh- ' lenu!', l"f' th 'l7 '°° l " ,0 stirrup „ u," ' l;u, V« the girth gave way. . l»ck«l up unconscious, and expired shortly nftenvnixls 1 OISiiOHXK, Jan. 12. c a " ho vvns injured n j!" W l>y a kick from a e hprsc, died in the hospital last nisht i one of Ws loß ' s W J £„ »'«£ < LSS•