FATAL ACCIDENT AT PLAKO.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1296, 19 October 1880, Page 2

FATAL ACCIDENT AT PLAKO.

-. ,, — _ — *. — *+>■ i On* Saturday .afternoon an accident occurred at Piako, 1 which resulted' in the I'deat1 ' death 1 Of a man knotfn 'as "Deaf Jack," brit whose right name was x John Harrod. It appears that Mr K. H; Kelly, in company with a man named Mclnnerney, was' riding from i\\i Waitoa to "the Piako hti Saturday afternoou, when tile deceased, who was apparently under the J influence '<rfli(jttc»r, overtook. 1 them, riding fuvidusly and seeming to haye^no command'over his horse. He passed them at a gallop and was soon lost to sight. Aboi^t,anrhQur ( -aftjerward^ ou { ne.ar^ng the Piako, they observed the hors? of the man wtyo had passed'th'em gracing 6n the roadside iiiinus his rider. Thdy thereupon niade search, and sh'cfceeded in findiii^ 1 the bocly of the deceased ' in Murray's ditch', death having apparently resulted fronji suffocation, his head being in' the 1 water at tlie bottom of the ditch. Mr Kelly sent Mclnnerney back to, see if 'anybody was" on the road, and he ' fdnnd Mr Allwood's ilray coming fi*om Waitoa. ,The body was put into tne dray and conveyed to, the Nottingham Castle Hotel to await an inquest.

, The Inquest was held, at jblie Nottingham jCastle Hotel yesterday r morning before' 1 Dr Beale, cor&ne^, atid'a jury of twelve, of whom Mr Thomas Rowe was chosen foreman. The first witness called was John Allwood, a butcher residing at Piako, who deposed that he had known deceased for about twelve months. He last saw him alive atWaitoa on Saturday. He passed witness, who wds driving a dray, on horseback. He was a very indifferent rideir and was not sober. He passed witness, and he did not see him again until he saw him dead in Murray's ditch. Deceased was 41 or 42 years of age, and single. Edwin Harold Kelly gave evidence similar to that contained in the report above, and Molnnemey corroborated his testimony. They both agreed that death must have been the result of accident. Constable AVild also gave evidence as to examining the body and finding no marks of violence upon it, except such iu juries as must have been sustained on being thrown from the horse. The jury, after a short deliberation, returned a verdict of " Accidental Death."