MOLESWORTH-STREET FATALITY

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 15, 17 July 1918, Page 3

MOLESWORTH-STREET FATALITY

INQUEST OPENED

Afc 4- o'clock yesterday afternoon, Mr. W. G. Eiddell, S.M., opened an enquiry into the circumstances which, led to the death of Ormond Cholmondeley Cooper in. the Thorndon Private Hospital on Saturday last.

Mr. H. F. O'Leary watched the enquiry on behalf of Michael Kearney, m whose taxi-cab the deceased was riding at the time of its collision with a horsedrawn lorry owned by Munt, Cottrell, and Co. The latter firm was represented by Mr. T. TCnave. Mr. .T. O'Shea, City Solicitor, attended the enquiry on behalf of the City Corporation, and 1 Acting-Senior sergeant Wade represented the police. I)r. C. Pattie, in the course of his evidence, eaid that he was called to Barraud's Pharmacy on Wednesday last about 6 p.m., to attend to the deceased, who was obviously seriously hurt. He had great difficulty in breathing, and complained of severe pains in the left sidß of his chest, at the back. Witness examined him as best he could, and had him removed to the Thorndon Private Hospital. Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., brother of the deceased, said his brother was a married man, 48 yeara of age. Michael Kearney, taxi-driver of Karoriroad, said he was returning from the races in his car with five passengers, one of whom was the late Mr. Cooper, when the accident occurred. Witness left the racecourse a little before 5 p.m., and returned via Molesworth-street on account of the bad state of Thorndonquay. The car brakes were in first-class order, but the road surface was wet and greasy. Coming., along Molesworthstreet there was a car twenty or thirty yards ahead. From the Princess Hotel there was a tramcar ahead, and it slowed down on the loop near the Metropolitan Hotel. Tho taxi caught up to a tram, which was slowing down at the next loop, and just as it got abreast a motor-car ahead swerved on to the tramline. Witness at once applied both brakes. The horse lorry then came into view, carrying no lights, about two car lengths away. When the brakes were applied the back, of the car skidded into the gutter, and at the same time tho tram struck the front part of the •car. The left shaft of the lorry then struck and went through the back of the car body. The taxi was travelling between six "and seven miles an hour on account of the slowing up for Hill-street. The horfes were coming up the hill at a walking pace, but got frightened at the tramcar and plunged. There was not room for two vehicles and the tram on that side of the road, and the only course open to him was to stop dead. To Mr. O'Shea: The tram had almost stopped when it struck the car. To Mr. Neave: Tho collision occurred a little above the chemist's shop. Wit-, ness first saw the lorry when he was almost ahead of the tram, so that there was only a moment between the first sight of the lorry and the collision. The lorry had no lights as far as witness could see, and the driver picked up no lamp. He told witness 1, when questioned, that the lamp was underneath the lorry, but though' witness struck matches, he could not find it. The horses pfunged on to the footpath and the lorry was partially taken on to the footpath as well. To Sergeant Wade : There • was sufficient room on the proper side of the road for the lorry to have passed the tram. On the side of the road witness was on there would be sufficient room to pas 3if another vehicle on the same side was drawn close up against the footpath. Allan Scott Orbell. sheep-farmer, Waikouaiti, a passenger in the taxi-car, said he was sitting on the dickey seat, and had a fairly good visw of the road. As tho taxi came into Molesworth-street the car passed one tram and was running level with another, with a motor-car in front (of the taxi), when the driver, Kearney j put his brakes' on haTcl. The taxi was then going about 10 or 12 miles an hour, not fast, but it skidded across the road from left to right. The car was hit by.the train and thrown back on to tho lorry,' one shaft of which came through the back of the car and struck the deceased in the back. Kearney was driving carefully, and seemed to have control of his car all the way in. The only thing he might have done, instead of applying his brakes, was to have gone on, and lie might have got through, though the chance was uncertain.

To Sergeant Wade: Had witness been driving he would not have expected to find a lorry on the i side of the road the vehicle in cjuestion was.

Arthur Hyde, tramway motorman, said he was driving a tramcar from the Gardens to Kilbirnie, about 5.50 p.m., down Molesworth-street. He first saw Kearney's car as ie was at right angles to tho tram, right up against the ■ front step. The horses' heads, coming up tho street, were about level with him at the moment of the collision.

To Mr. O'Shea: The 'tram was not going at a fast rate, about four or five miles an hour, and was pulled up by-re-versing the power.

To Mr." .Neave: Tho tram-line at Barraud's corner was about eight feet from the edge of the footpath. It was a dangerous place for a big lorry to get into, and lorries seldom were seen on that side of the street, except when loading or unloading. The lorry Was moving towards the wrong side of the street.

In answer to Mr. ' O'Leary, witness said that had the lorry been drawn up parallel with the gutter, and close to it, there would have been room for the'car to get through. Witness heard the driver of the lorry and Kearney talking about a light. . The driver said, "You would not expect to find a light on the lorry after a collision like this."

To Sergeant. Wade : Any amount of vehicles were passed by tho trams on their left side going up. As a rule they stopped, and the moto'rmen were extra careful. Witness.. had never passed a big lorry moving up on that sicla. but had passed them every day while loading find unloading.

Sergeant Wade said that the tram-lines were actually 9ft 2in from the edge of the footpath. <*

At this stage the enquiry was adjourned till 2 p.m. tj-iay.