RAILWAY FATALITY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 35, 9 February 1906, Page 4

RAILWAY FATALITY.

FTKEMAN KULED AT HENDKRSOIT. A lamentable accident resulting in the death of a young railway fireman named John Justin Norbert Hennelly, occurred near Henderson to-day. Hennelly was firing on the train which left Auckland for Helensville at 7 ajn. Driver Andrew Johnson being in charge of the engine. The driver states that Henderson station was left at 5.35 ajn., and as it was raining and the rails were greasy, he instructed Hennelly to get the hand sand gear ready in case the train should slip. The fireman pulled the lever a ijttle as they were crossing the 'Henderson Creek Bridge, about 500 yards beyond Henderson, and then the driver turned his attention to getting the pneumatic sand gear ready. A few moments later, just after the bridge had been crossed, fj he glanced round and discovered that his assistant was missing. He immediately stopped the train after it had gone some 150 yarda beyond the bridge, and notified the guard, John Colthurst, and the brakesman, Tomlinson, and then drove the train slowly back, the guard and brakesman keeping a look out for the missing man. The train steamed back over the bridge, and then returned, and Hennelly was then seen lying at the foot of the buttress at the north end of the bridge, about 20ft. below the rails. He had evidently pulled the lever of the hand sand gear, and then in looking over the side to see if it were working properly, had overbalanced and fallen through the bridge on to the bank of the° creek. The brakesman and guard immediately descended to the bank of the creek, where an examination showed that the unfortunate man was dead. He had evidently struck the buttress in his fall, as the top of his skull was reduced to a pulp. Death must have been instantaneous. The train was going about 15 or 20 miles an hour at the time of the accident. A ballast train was working at Henderson, and on this the body was immediately brought to town, arriving at the.Mt. Eden station at 9.45 a-m. Dr. Jones was here called in, but he could only pronounce life to be extinct, and the body was conveyed to the Morgue to await the usual inquest, which will be held -before Mr T. Gresham, coroner, to-morrow. Deceased, who was a few months under 24 years of age, was unmarried. He was very popular with his fellow .employees, and was a very steady man. He had been employed m. the Railway Department for about «ix years, and resided with, bis mother Jα Tole-efcraet, . _ _j j , _