THE TRAM FATALITY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14512, 19 December 1912, Page 10

THE TRAM FATALITY.

_ v ____— VERDICT OF ACCIDENTAL ! DEATH. 1 ...

! All inquest was held yotorday. ! before the Coroner (Mr H. \V. Bishop) ' touching tho death of tho t'our-yoar-old son of Alexander P. Campbell, who I \vu.s killed by bciny; run over by a tram ' car in Hi<_li street on Tuesday alternoon. iMr T. w - Kowe appeared on behalf of ! tlio Tramway Kit4>ioyet?s ? L'nion, ill* ! Anthony represented the Tramway ; Jjoard. and Mr Hoban appeared tor t_o I parents of tiie uec<.:i.*-ed. : Alexander P. Campbeil,' the father of 1 the deceased child, said his son was in the habit of playing on titc pavement, but not in the street. T:.e child was active. Witness, did not .see the accident hanp: 11. H i:e:i the cn.nl wa.s lifted irom imder tlie car ne was quite , dead. • l-rederiek Short, the moiorman on ] the car which ran ov<-i- tne deceased. • said tnat on luesuay aiteriioon no was I driving car No. 21 irom iSumner to tiio ' Square. lie stopped at Uarbadoe-i ; stroat. He saw several vehicles passI ins •''•■• between tin re and the scene j of"°tLo accident, but he saw nothing ' whatever on the road on tho side on ! which the accident occurred. One polo's distance from where the accident i happened, on the right hand side, wit--1 ness's attention was drawn to a vehieb '■ coming on that side. Witness said ho paid attention to this vehicle, as ho : knew the driver often drove a bad ! horso. As witness passed tho vehiclo ! rtv threw the current off his car. and ia* he did this ho saw a child come j right on to tho track. "Witness imme- ! diately applied all brakes, but ho had Sno opportunity of avoiding tho acciIdent. The front of the car struck the I child and killed it. Had there been no traffic on witness's left side, witness thought the accident would not havo 1 happened. j To Mr Hoban: Witness was travelling at twelve miles an hour when he saw tho cart. The cart was about a pole's length away when witness first saw it. The car was fitted with a fender, but the guard was not properly down. None of the wheels crossed die child, who was knocked down by tho front of tho car. Tlie child camo on to the lino from the direction of his father's shop Robert Thomson, who saw the accident, said -that when ho first saw tho child the car was about a car and a half's length away. Witness did not think there wa.s any chance of avoiding the accident. To Mr Hoban: Witness did not think thero was a fender on the car. If there had been a fender on the car. witness did not think it would havo saved tho child. To the Coroner: Witness would attach absolutely no blame to the motorman. Thoma.s H. Hughes, who also saw the accident, deposed that as tho car was approaching him his attention was drawn to the child running across tho road. The car obscured witness's view of tho impact. As far as witness could sco, it was purely accidental: "it "was all done in a second." To Mr Hoban: Witness thought tlie speed of the car '"was a bit easy, if anything." Tho Coroner said that ho would record a verdict that tho deceased- was accidentally killed by being run over by an electric cur. * Mr Bishop said it was one of those unfortunate accidents which occurred, and with small children running about tho streets it was a wordier that there wero not more accidents. He said that there was no suggestion of negligence on the part of anyone.