A TRAMWAY MYSTERY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 195, 12 May 1908, Page 6

A TRAMWAY MYSTERY.

When an individual unwisely stepe from a moving tramway car, and suntains, thereby,: injuries ' which subsequently cause his death, it is reasonable to Buppoao .that the resultant

inquiry will elicit the evidence of the conductor and tne motor-man of the. ear concerned. It is difficult to conceivc how, otherwise, an accurate decision as to the question of responsibility for the occurrence can be arrived at. Yet, this is precisely what the inquest last week conducted by Dr. W. A. M'Arthur as to the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Joseph Petric, of Greymouth, failed to do. Between 1 and S p.m. on Monday, April 6,, the late Mr. Petric stepped from a south-bound car, which was then in motion at a point between .Hospital Road and the Newtown Fire Brigade Station. He fell, and, according to the evidence, apparently struck the car. The unfortunate gentleman died on May 4, nearly a month lator. . At the inquest, there was elicited, from the sworn testimony of (a) the man who ' picked the,, injured man up and saw him to his hotel, and (b) a lady who not only travelled by the same car, but actually sat on the outer end of the same seat as that which the deceased occupied, the following points:— / ■ 1. The deceased rang the'bell. 2. He stepped off' while the car was in motion. ■ 3. When the car pulled up at the stopping place a little farther on, the conductor ran back towards the scene of the accident. 1 4. A passenger remarked, .when he returned, tha,t it was " sheer murder—the man rang the bell." ■ 5. The conductor, hearing this, said' that there' was no stopping place at that particular point. G. He -,took the names of certain passengers! In the face of all this, the authorities were forced to confess ■ that thev had been unable to trace the particular car from which.the late Mr. Petric fell, onMonday, April 6. More extraordinary still, the jury at the inquest delivered a verdict' which entirely ignored: this most unsatisfactory circumstance. The result of the inquiry can hardly be said to have been such as might be calculated to re-' assure the travelling publid. '