A SECOND DEATH

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 62, 24 December 1935, Page 3

A SECOND DEATH

GAS POISONING AT DUNEDIN. CAP REMOVED FROM A PIPE. (Special to the “Guardian.”) DUNEDIN, December 23Apparently as a- result of gas poisonin" a youth was found dead in a house inArthur Street this morning. His mother and his sister were admitted to hospital in a semi-comatose state and the latter died to-night. Tire boy was Kenneth Godwin, 16 years of age, an apprentice lilrotype mechanic in the employ of the Evening Star Company. Those admitted to hospital were Annie Godwin, his mother, aged 38, and Nancy Godwin, his sister, aged 10. The family of three had been living in Queen Street, and on Saturday' they moved to a six-roomed house in Arthur Street. According to a statement made by Airs Godwin to a milk boy, James Tweedie, who visited Kenneth Godwin on Sunday, she was experiencing some difficulty because neither the gas supply nor the electricity supply was connected. Although on his round this morning, Tweedie’s Jirothei, who is also a milk boy, and later Tweedie himself, tried to waken the household, there was no suspicion that a tragedy had occurred until shortly after 10 o’clock, when Air James Preston, an employee of the gas department of the Dunedin City Corporation, arrived at the house to reconnect the gas service in accordance with instructions received at the Town Hhll on Saturday. When Mr Preston arrived at the front, door, he received no response to his knock, and noticed ah almost overpowering smell of escaping gas. Looking through the letter slot in the door, he could see a woman on the floor of the passage, and he at once summoned a neighobur, Mr A. L. Fleury. The two men entered the house through a window in the breakfast room, and Preston turned off the tap of the gas meter, which he discovered in a cupboard under the staircase. The house reeked of gas, and a search revealed Mrs Godwin lying halfway through the door of a front bedroom in a. semi-conscious condition, and her daughter completely unconscious in a bed. All efforts to revive Airs Godwin and her daughter proved unavailing, and they were sent to hospital in an ambulance. In the meantime, Mrs Godwin’s husband, who lives in Royal Terrace, arrived at the house, and at once made inquiries about his son. At this time Messrs Preston and Fleury had no idea that the ladi was in the house, but Air Godwin rushed upstairs, and found the boy dead in bed. A peculiar feature of the occurrence is 'that, although the thick leaden cap with which the disconnected pipe had been sealed had been removed, no trace could be found of any wrench or tool, without which, according to Mr Preston, removal of the cap would have been impossible. Present appearances point to an attempt having been made to obtain a supply of gas without waiting for a plumber to arrive, and that after this the pipe was left unsealed.