THE MANCHESTER STREET ACCIDENT.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9387, 10 April 1896, Page 5

THE MANCHESTER STREET ACCIDENT.

INQUEST.

An inquest was held at the Hospital yei« terday afternoon before Mr Beetham, Coroner, and a jury, of whom Mr William Osborne was ohoseu foreman, concerning the death of a man who was knocked down by a cab in Manchester Btreet on Tuesday night last and died in tha Hospital on the fol<

lowing afternoon. The deceased had beck identified as Robert Milne, a station black* smith, but since then ib had been found that Robert Milne was alive, and the body a( the time of the inquest remained that of a person unknown. Constable Andrew deposed that at 9. IS p.m. on Tuesday, 7th April, he saw tbe deceased knocked down by a horse and oab driven by Albert Ansley, in Manchester street, about'the 'centre of the road neat its intersection with High and Lichfield streets. The deceased was bleeding freely from tbe back of the head. He was placed in the cab and taken to the Hospital, where his oiothes were searched, bat there waj nothing in them to lead to bis identification. The cab was empty at the time of the accident. The driver was sober.

John Smithaon, a butcher in High street, who was in company with Mr Barnes oa the night in question, gave corroborative | evidence. He beard the cabman call out to ; the deceased, but before he could stop the horse, which he was pulling up. the cat struck the man and knocked him down. The cabman used ordinary care, Edward Barnes, a clerk in the Lyttelton Times office, gave corroborative evidence. The cab was going at a moderate pace, compared to other cabs. The apot was a dangerous one, and at night it appeared to be insufficiently lighted. Albert Ansley, the cabman, stated that as he reached the fountain opposite Burkes Hotel he saw a man twenty yards ahead ot him crossing the road. Witness shouted out several times and pulled up, bub before he knew anything more " there was a mas into the cab." Witness pulled np, turned round the cab, into which the man wal placed and removed to the Hospital. The plaoe was rather badly lighted and dangerous.

Dr, Fox, assistant resident medical officer, stated that deceased when brought in was suffering from hemorrhage from tin f right ear and throat. He waa unconscious, and remained so until he died. Witney made a post mortem examination, and found extensive fractures at the base of tbe skull,

hemorrhage iato the brain, and slight pneumonia in the lungs. He ascribed death to hemorrhage, occasioned by the accident. Deceased, would be between fifty and fifty* five years of age. The jury returned a verdict of "Acoi* dental death," and Added a rider drawing the City Council's attention to the insufficiency of the lighting at tbe intersection of Manchester, High and Lichfield streets.