THE WELLINGTON TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 74, 26 March 1920, Page 7

THE WELLINGTON TRAGEDY.

CORONER'S INQUEST. I DEATH FROM SHOCK AFTER j ASSAULT. ! WELLINGTON. Thursday. | The circumstances of the fatality on the steamer Armagh on Tuesday night , were investigated by the District Corn- I ii"r to-day. ,vh-n an inquest was held' concerning the death of Robert McNab, storekeeper of the steamer Waikawa. In connection with this affair a fireman named Benjamin Henry Bright stands charged with murder. ! Alfred Farnsworth. able seaman, said he was talking to Quartermaster Arm- j strong at the. Armagh's gangway when j the accused Bright and a friend came i aboard. When a man named Collins appeared on the scene in company with McNab. Bright said to Collins. " Come' here. Charlie." Collins approached Bright, who hit him on the mouth, knocking him down. The deceased Mr- . Nab -ias leaning against a ventilator, smoking a cigarette, and Bright re- ■ marked to him. -What did you hold mc for?" McNab made a-reply! and Bright then strmk him in tiie face. The de- I ■eased fell to the deck and while he was lying there Bright kicked him on the I ho.lv three times. Witness did not see McNab interfere with Bright. The ac- . used did not ki-k the deceased very j hard. " j William John Armstrong, quartermaster of the Armagh, testified to see- I ing a " bit of a tussle " between the de- j -eased and Bright. His attention had j been attracted before this by Collins] exclaiming. ''Don't hit mc again. I'm I crook'" Witness saw the accused kick at M"Ns . about three times. McNab ; went ha-'k about three yards before fall- I in-. " , I Dr. King-ton FvfTe. who made a post- j mortem examination of the body of the j •'■•va-'l. stated that he found a super- j hhil bruise about an inch above tb> left eye. another over the rio-lit eve. and ! there v.iis a third bruise below the left j knee. There '.vi_ no fracture of the skull ir ribs, neither was there any iniiirv t" the brain or f-icture or disloca- ! turn of the nek. The only cause of de-th witness could eve was shock. The c-,roner's '-erd : -t was that the deceased died on the desk pf t''e >rmac. of ter being knoked down a-d kicked by Beniamin Hcnr<- Bright, the cause of death being shock. .