The Fatal Accident on the Railway.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3091, 29 December 1888, Page 2

The Fatal Accident on the Railway.

- INQUEST. , An inquest was held on Friday afternoon on the ■ body of;W llliain Gudsell, engine driver on the Mas-, terton-Jlangaboe Railway before Mr B. -Von Stunner,: Coroner, and the following jury. Messrs J. -Graham, (foreman), A, Hendorsoiij J, Carpenter, J. Petne, J. W, Gordon, and S. Baitlett I The jury having been duly Bworn, proceeded to view the body. l)r Beard deposed he had examined the body of tlio deceased and found i an extensive fracture of the skull on I the left hand side suth<?ient to causo i instant death with less extensive inoxtcrnally to the scalp than to the bkull which was extensively fractured. There was a superficial excoriation on the outside of the upper part of the left arm,' also a bruise over the region of each collar bona neitlki- of which were important.■ 'The injuries to deceased would be accounted for by his bead coming in contact witli a stationary object while the train was iii rapid motion. Death must have ensued before the body fell into the water. He must have died instantaneously from the fractured skull. Ho was not drowned, neither could a fall cause.tlio fraoture.

. At this stage, Sergt. Price asked for an adjournment to allow the attendance of, Mr Dawson, Traffic M anager, who was on his way lip from Wellington. : The inquest was then adjourned to the Courthouse at 9 p.m. on the 29th inst, and the Jury bound over in the sum of £lO each to appear at the same. . ■ On being,resumed this morning: the following o'vidence'was taken. Gilbert Smith deposed : L am employed as fireman on the railway lineaud I,kne*v the-deceased. Yesterday, morning deceased and myself started froui Mauriceville on the 7.10 train. As wo approaohed the Kopuaranga Greet deceased called my attention to a black object on the line.- Near .the bridge 1 looked out from the engine, and on looking back I missed my mate/ I was then on the Masterton side of the bridge. I

heard iio thud or shout but the noise of crossing the bridge would destroy the sound. I gave the whistle, applied the break and stopped the engine. The train : was then 200 yards beyond the bridgo. I sang out to the guard and asked him if lie had seen my mate. He replied •' No," and I took the train back when I found deceased in the witter of the Kopuaranga creek, whioh was four or five feet deep, and in a sitting position. '■ The. bridge is an open one and a person, might fall through ; it. The .distance from the bridgo to. the water is about 25 feet.. We are able to look in front of the engine through the windows or bulls eyes. We were m the habit of looking put from the side of the engine toaee ifpigs were pelting about the wheel?.

The Coronor: In case-pigs were

there you coUld do nothing to. savo theini It would be more to gratify your ourioeity than anything else that you would act in that way.. /Witness continued..vk person looking out as described might .have his head struck by the wo'odwork of the bridge. The engine at the" time of the occurrence was travelling at the rate of 15 to, 20 miles an hour. Deceased spoke to me when wo' were half way butween 'the two bridges. With thq assistanoo of two passengers and tlie guard, I took the body out of the water and brought it on to Masterton. When found deceaued

was quite.dead. John Craig, guard on the train, corroborated the evidence of tile previous witness as far as recovering the body was concerned. To the foreman: We very often have pigs and sheep straying on the the line; : , Lawi'io Henga, a hborer, said lie was on the train in question and was looking out, He saw two sucker pigs on the line, and also the engine driver leaning out from the train. The pigs were opposite the wheels; the driver was looking back towards Mauriceville. Witness did not see the accident. . Three or four minutes afier, the train stopped andwituesß assisted to get the driver's body out of the river. . Arthur L. Beattie, looomotive engineeron the Wellington and llauricovilla section said deceased was work- : ingunder liim sinoe 29th November. He.was athoroiighly steady man and had a remarkably good record.. The bridge on which deceased lost his life is situate 1J miles from Mauriceville. The bridge has a dear space of 12 feet which Jb the standard width for New Zealand railway bridges. The engine is seven feet but the rails were laid slightly to one side giving an inch and a quarter more space on the side the enginedriver stood,; -Between the outside cab of the engine, and the nearest! timber of the bridge is 2 feet 7J inches. On examining the- bridge, a mark was found' on-the timber, with some hair attached.- Thjs mark was 7fc C|in from the rail level, and Bft Gjiii from -tho' footplate level, making it evident that deceased was in a stooping position. The mark was at the end of one of tlio trusses. The fact that the; body -was found somewhere further, on would be accounted for by the momentum. of the train. (The oap.wom by deceased at the time of the accident was produced, and showed* break corrreaponding with the. wound on the head of deceased). There was no necessity for the driver to lean out for tho purpose of seeing the line clear, and it was no doubt over zeal on his part Deceased ;.was 'bom 1860, and the ' railway servico in March 1887. After casually acting as driver for four years - he wae permanently appointed driver on 24th November, 1888; - Ife wa§ a married man with two phildrep. ' Constable Q'Connor gave evidence i»s to. receiying the body at t the Masterton statjon. He examined it and found a deep wound on the skull over the left ear, another on the right temple, aud onea little'higher up- . ! * The following verdict ,waß returned "That the said-William;'Gudsell oiiTriuu;",'!_? 2 8tli day of December, 1888, .whilst standing on the engine pf train running between Miunceville' anf - tho Jflin being -at • t|ie : tirria • in potion, did - stake bis lieaft against -9 portion ; pf. the Kopu'arangS Bridge, from tfie effects of the said blow, was thrown off the ppgine into the creek below, and then and there inßtanuJ^-^f^r wise, and that there; is no:!)!?M. 3ttajiJ)§(} to anyone."