INQUEST.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18263, 23 December 1924, Page 4

INQUEST.

CYCLIST'S DEATH. The enq-irr into the cr.e or Mary Ei-.zab6tti Eudd. 52 years of age. late of Crescent road. Pnreyd'-in. who collided with a miikeart at the intersection of High and Madras streets cn We.lnesday mcrning last, was concluded by Mr H. Y. Widdowson. Coroner, yesterday. Serjeant W. T. Sell- conducted the enquiry for the police. J£r F. D. Sar-c-en- apcared for the deceased 'a hashed. and Mr A. J. Mauey represented the owner of the milk-cart, Mr fcchimar.ski. Gertrude Sehimanski. 1" years oi age. residing with her parents at Preston road. Marshland, said her father had a milk round in Christchureh. and the milk was delivered daily in a milk-cart by witness. Last Wednesday morning, at about 10 o'clock, she drove the horse and cart out of Ferry road, intending to drive north of Madras street, but just as she arrived at "lower Armstrong's corner." a motor-oar, proceeding south along Madras street towards the railway station, prevented her from reaching her proper side of the road in Madras street, so she drew over to the middle of the street. As soon as the motor passed, witness saw Mrs Rudd on her bicycle almost in front of her. Witness wa's still in Madras street near Armstrong's corner, and when she observed Mrs Rudd she endeavoured to pull up the horse. "But she seemed to hesitate," continued witness, "as to whether to go behind the horse or in front of it. She was quite confused, and the next thing that I saw was the iady falling off her bicycle. She was then a little to the right —my right — of the horse-'a head, and a'ne lay at the right side of the horse, and as far as I could see the wheel hadn't touched her, although the horse might have. I stopped the horse and stepped out of the* back of the cart, and I found her lying on the ground about the centre of the horse, on its right side." The point of impact was in Madras street opposite the King George Hotel. Cross-examined by the Coroner, witness said she had driven horses in town for about two or three years, and she had never had an accident before. Venus Diepenheim, aged 15 years, residing with her mother in Vo£C-l street, said she was in the cart with the previous witness on the morning of the accident. She gave corroborative evidence. Lily Robinson, a married woman residing at Tilford street, Woolston, said she had known Mrs Rudd for about 10 years. On Wednesday morning she was standing near Armstrong's corner when the accident happened. "Mrs Rudd seemed to " see something, and her handle-bar 3 shook, and the next thing the horse knocked her over, and she fell against the wheel all in a heap," said witness, describing the accident. Francis John Rasmussen, residing in St. Albans street, another eye-witness, also gave evidence. • Constable W. A. Howell, who also witnessed the accident, said the horse was travelling at a fast speed when the accident happened. The Coroner said that the medical evidence (which had been taken when the inquest was opened) showed that Mrs Rudd-had died from a fracture of the skull. After hearing the evidence, he was satisfied that the route Schimanski had taken had caused Mrs Rudd to become confused. A verdict was returned that Mr 3. Rudd died of injuries received through being knocked down by a milk-cart, at the intersection of High and Madras streets on Wednesday last. "That is, as far as Gertrude Schimanski is concerned, an open verdict," he said. "I will add a rider," he concluded, "to this effect: 'That, in the opinion of the Coroner, a constable should be placed on point duty at the intersection referred to.' "