SAD FATALITY.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 June 1917, Page 6

SAD FATALITY.

I PINNED BY A FAILING WALL OF EARTH. AGONISING EXPERIENOE OF A WIFE. A particularly sad and tragic fatality occurred at Roseneath on Saturday. Mr. William Pearce Fitzgerald, residing at Crescent road, lost his life through being buried by the sudden subsidence of a bank adjoining his house. The circumstances of the occurrence were painful ill the extreme, inasmuch as the unfortunate man's wife rushed out in the rain to go to her husband's assistance, and bad to endure the agony of watching his life slowly ebb away without being able to lend the slightest effective aid. It was hours before the bodv could be sxtricated from the fall of earth.

What happened exactly was this: About half-past 8 o'clock in the evening, when it was raining so heavily, Mr. Fitzgerald heard the sound of a 'slight giving way of a bank at the. side of the house, which had been bricked up and also partly concreted. The bank had previously shown signs of breaking away with soakage, but not to any serious extent. Mr. Fitzgerald called out to his wife to look after the wall, as it might require some propping up. Immediately afterwards Mrs. Fitzgerald heard the collapse of the wall, and rushing out, found that he had been pinned against an outstanding chimney at the side of the house and almost covered with bricks, concrete and slimy earth. Tons of the material foraing'the bank had suddenly collapsed. She ran back for a light, and another fall took place while she was in the house. Otherwise she might have shared the fate of her husband. The children of the household ran to get the assistance of neighbors. Handy telephones were set to work, and any number of people were present to give assistance. Constable Le Fevrc, of Clyde quay station, was on the spot within half an hour of the occurrence, and Dr. Young and Dr. Elliott had also arrived. But it was too late. By that time the man had expired. The distracted condition of the wife in the meantime can be readily pictured. When the neighbors arrived she was desperately trying to get the liquified clay and earth away from the upper portion of the man's body. She was drenched to the skin, and her face was covered with elaj'—her handmarks as she in moments of anguish brushed awav the rushing tears.

All her husband could gasp out while lie lived was "Get help, get help!" Apparently his ribs had been broken, and they had penetrated his lungs, so that he perished from internal hemorrhage. The .task of extricating the body from the mass of fallen material was a most difficult and hazardous one. Ultimately the services of skilled laborers were obtained, and they worked under the supervision of Mr.' Ward, builder. It was not until 1 o'clock on Sunday morjiing that the body of the deceased was extricated.