RAILWAY FATALITY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2832, 25 July 1916, Page 7

RAILWAY FATALITY

INQUEST ON .HENRY RYDER,

An inquest concerning _ the death of Henry Ryder, an electrician, as a result of a. train accident at Lambton Station oil Thursday evening last, was held by Mr. W. G. Biddell, .Coroner, yesterday afternoon.

Winfred J. P. Neill, a painter, residing at. es- Hutt Road, Potone, said. that he was standing on Lambton Railway Station ; ;at abbut eight minutes to live on July 20i- He saw Ryder walk half-way across the platform, and step down on to the rails behind the van of a train which was standing at.the platform. Deceased walked straight on to the other line, on which an incoming train was approaching. Tim driver blew his whistle, and applied the brakes. Ryder looked round, and evidently fcaw the engine nearly on top of him. He ran up the line away from tlio engine, but it caught him and threw him to one side clear of tho rails. The train was pulled up suddenly, .and .when found deceased was unconscious. ■

To the Coroner: He could hear the brakes going on when tho engine struck Ryder. In: his opinion tho accident was quite accidental. . ' William • Wiles, engine-driver of- tho train which, caused the accident, said that when he saw the man walking across the line he sounded tho whistlo and applied.the emergency bTake. Deceased ap* peared to hesitate, and then made a dash across. Had ho stopped when he hesitated, he would not havo been killed. <Dr. R. Baxter, house surgeon at tho Wellington Hospital, gave evidence as to the nature of injuries received and the cause of death. After hearing other evidence of a corroborative nature, the Coroner said thai; the engine-driver did all ho could to avert the accident, and that the deceased died from concussion of-tho brain, caused through a fractured skull. The Coroner added that death was accidental, no blame being attachable to any of the railway'.. officials. '