LIFT WELL TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 2, 3 January 1924, Page 4

LIFT WELL TRAGEDY.

YOUNG MAN'S DEATH. FALLS THIRTY-SEVEN FEET. IN SHORTLAXD FLATS. Lennox Owen, a bricklayer, aged about 19, who resided with his parents in Vincent Street, leaned over a lift well from the third floor of a building on which he wais working shortly after eight o'clock this morning, evidently with the intention of grasping the ropes of a block and tackle which was suspended from a pulley in the roof, took hold of a loose end, was swung out into the well, his weight running the rope out at a great speed and consigning the man, who still held on, to an instaat death in the basement, some 37 feet below. The scene of the accident was the Shortland Flats, a new block of resi-. dential buildinjrs which are in thn course of erection at the top of Shortland Street. Deceased had gone up on to tbe third floor of the building, with, it appears, the intention of looking for his tools. There is some mystery surrounding his attitude in leaning over the edge of the -well as he did, for his trowel was found on a box alongside the place where lie stood just prior to his death. Workmen, however, state that it is sometimes the custom for men to grasp the ropes and bend over with the intention of calling to other men below. There were four ropes altogether. Had the unfortunate man (and this he evidently intended doing) taken hold of all these ropes, he would have been, safe. Instead of that he grasped the loose one which was used to pull the other tackle up, with the result that the tragedy occurred. The possibility that the man tripped and made a grab at the ropes has also to be taken into consideration. The mouth of the well was unguarded except for one board nailed 4 at an angle from side to side. jUen working in the building state that they -were previously guarded, but the lift* construction people had lately started work, and the barriers -were removed. Boards had been placed across the top of the well on the ground floor, and deceased struck these on his fall, carrying some down with him into the basement, where he was found lying in a ; corner.

Dr. Drier arrived after the accident, but could only pronounce life extinct. Constable Buckley then removed deceased to the hospital morgue in the ambulance.

A sad feature of the tragedy is the fact that Mr. Owen had become engaged to be married on Christmas Day. and further, he had only returned to "work this morning after an absence of ten days, caused by a minor injury to his foot. Ho was an apprentice to the trade, and had been working on these buildings for some months. An inquest will be opened before Mr. J. W. Po.ynton., S.M,. at 7.3Q o'clock this evening- at the Hospital morgue.