INQUEST.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 96, 21 October 1908, Page 4

INQUEST.

An .inquest was held at Takagau yesterday afternoon, before the district coroner, the enquiry being into the circumstances attending the death of; Thomas George Jackson, a young man, aged about 22 years, who was killed while' employed witi the telegraph construction- gang at noon, yesterday. It appeara tWt tho gang was working under_-the superintendence of Mr O'Hagen about tyro miles on the Daiineyirke side of.. Takapau, and -had just started work after lunch. Mr O'Hagen and: deceased were about to attach the arms to the pole, which the rest of the gang were preparing to erect. The pole was an iron bark one, aboiit 23 feet long, and weighing about 8 cwt, and it was necessary to turn it over in order to get the holes, through which the arm bolts are inserted, in- the Tight position. Mr .O'Hagen and deceased were engaged in doing. this> bufe in turning the pole over, it rolled too far, and as it was .lying on a slight slope, it soon became evident ta Mr P'Hagen that they could not hold j t back. He accordingly called out to deceased to let go, and a ft«r waiting a sufficient time to enable him to do this, he jumped clear, himself. What happened next he is ; not quite certain, bijt when' he looked, round i&e moment afterwards, he saw deceased lying on the ground, and the pole, rolling over his head. He oa-n only surmise' that the insulator pin, which was driven into the end of the pole, must iiave caught in a •portion of deceased's clothing, and thrown him o* to the ground in front of the log. The rest of the gang at once came to Mr O'Hagen's assitance, and thepoie was lifted off deceased who, howerer, never spoke or gave signs of consciousness, and about 15 minutes later he died. The train running to Taka-pau-shortly afterwards was; stopped, and the body • placed, on board and taken, to Takapau, wiiere it waen examined by Dr "Barraclough, who pronounced life to be extinct, and thatdeath was due to a fracture of the base of the skull. This was the embstaiice of the evidence given at the inquest, and the coroner . returned a verdict that death was due to a fracture of the base of the skull, caused by a telegraph pole accidentally rotting upon deceased, no blame being attachable to his fellow employees.; Clodstable McLeod represented the polic* at the inquest.