CASUALTIES.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 17015, 11 December 1920, Page 9

CASUALTIES.

« . A MOTOR FATALITY. The adjourned inquest touching the death of Joseph Barraclough Wilson, who died on December 3rd as a res " of injuries received through his ™otoi cycle colliding with a post at Heathco/U----on December Ist, was concluded yesteiday before the Coroner, Mr b. i!/Pearson stated that death was due to acuto shock, following on hemorrhage of the head and brain. James Matthews, sheet metal worker, said that he met Wilson at the Gro*venor Hotel on December Ist, and they had two drinks, one before lunch and one after. They later left for Sumner, deceased driving the motor cycle, with witness on the back of the cyclo aim another man named Mullen in tlio side chair. Witness and Mullen had a drink at the Heathcote Arms Hotel, but the deceased did not. At McCormick s Bay the cycle swerved on to the side of the road for some reason that lie could not give, and ran into a post. W llson, .who was absolutely sobor, was injured, and witness and Mullen conveyed him to the Hospital. . . James Mullen, bricklayer, gave similar evidence, adding tlvat he had no idea why the cycle left tho road* Tho accident occurred just beforo they got to a bend. Walter Henry Newey, cycle maker, Woolston, said that a motor cyclo and side cliair carrying three men passed him near Smith street, going at about fortyfive miles an hour. He ran nearly into tho channel to pet out of tho road. At the Heathcote, Hotel, Wilson .remarked that he had come ut> from the Grosvenor in six minutes. He thought the men were slightly under the influenco of liquor. Jack Douglas McGregor, Jicensee oi the Heathcote IJotel, said that Mullen called for drinks, tut Wilson went oul and did not drink anything. Tho men were fill risht as far as ho could see. Blako Harcourt, employed in tho tramway quarry at McCormick's Bay, , said that at 3.45 he mw the. motor' cyde, which was travelling at from thirty-five to forty miles an ht&r. % It suddenly left tho rond, . and crasher! into a oost. The three men were all knocked out when he arrived. The Coroner returned a verdict that death was due to fnjuries following on the accident. He added a rider tha£ the curve at which the accident occurred would have been easy to negotiate if Wilson had heen travelline nt a reasonable pare, hut he was then travelline at about forty-fivo miles an'honr, ' and had just previously covered a disof four miles in t?ix minutes., ,Ho and h>'«< companions were slightlyunder the influence of drink,' but not drunk. A PBISONTCR'S DEATH. The inquest touching the death of Alexander Tough, an old man \vho died on Thursday at Paparua prison, when on a wee/c's remand for medical treatment on a charge of helpless drunkeuess, \va c continued yesterday before tho Coroner Mr S. E. McCarthy, and a jury of four. Dr. C. L. Nedwill, gaol surgeon, sai<J that he did not see the decoased before his death. Deceased had been placee on the usual treatment for such case;?, but as he did not show any improvement, tho treatment was discontinued on Wednesday last. On tho following morning witness was summoned to at-' tend to deceased, but, though ho immediatelv left for the gaol, the man was dead when he arrived. Tho deceased showed numerous superficial sores on the face, and on one foot ; which were usual with penile degenerat-on, and ho was in a wasted, emaciatecT, and generally unhealthy condition. A post mortem examination showed that his various organs were in a bad state, consistent with the effects of alcoholic poisoning. He had evidently been suffering from chronic alcoholism. Death was due to syncope, caused bv tho various fibroid organic changes due to alcoholism. Witness could not saved tho life of the deceased if he had seen him earlier. I Tho juiy returned a verdict in accordance with Dr. Nedwill's oridcnce. (PHESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) MASTERTON, December 10. John Cooper, aged 61, died in hospi' tal ©arlv this morning, as the result o5 a collision with a motor car last night Ho was riding a bicycle coming into Masterton, when the collision occurred. Deceased was a single man, a butcher by trade, and formerly resided in. Auck land.