WASHED OVERBOARD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 98, 27 April 1922, Page 9

WASHED OVERBOARD.

\ FISKZKMAN ? S LAST CBTTISH. \ WlKE'tf Sl'SPll lONS. I cßy Telegraph.- -Press Association.) , I DUXEDIN, Wednesday. I An inquiry was held thitj morning into I the death ol John McMillan, a married ] man, aged 4-1 year*, who was lost over-, * board from a li-liing launch on January % and -wno-f bodj was never recovered. In evidence. Robert Thomas Medex, '.'.chernian. in whose launch the deceased worked, .-tuu-J that when aboiit four :l es from ihc Otagn hoads, the deceased steering , , witness being in the engine- ■ --c. Thei>' iviic a rough, choppy sea. oti etiiii™ cinder! witness to look round, I ad he heard t> deceased fall into the! v ea. Witness- related how he tried to recover the deceased without success. . Witness ,-tat<Mt that he and the deceased were on the best of terms. The lifebuoys were kept under cover to preserve them. Sergeant McMahon read a statement by the deceased's wife, who was in too nervous a condition to attend. In this ! statement the wife said she distrusted Medex, for the reason that once she heard him, when speaking of another man, say if he got him out in the boat he would come back alone. The statement admitted that Medex and the del|v . se d to be good friends. '| Tie coroner said it was unfortunate ■ woman had made such a state- , raent. He recalled Medex, who called jig '■""? statement "tommy rot. :. He had HI 1 own the .deceased since boyhood, and |fI him a place in the boat because V ■• vs out of work. I i • coroner, in finding accidental ■ o m'ing, said he could see nothing to Lt justify the extravagant suspicions in the :: ifes statement, which appeared to be -hat of a nighly-etrung nervous wo: ian. The accident could readily happen in a rough sea where there was a relaxation of care.