KILLED IN BATH

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 140, 10 December 1931, Page 11

KILLED IN BATH

LISTENING-IN TRAGEDY

MAINS USED AS AERIAL

A most unusual and unhappy ■ accident occurred in a' bo'aiding-house -3 ApuKa street, BrooTvlyU, shortly, after 8 o'clock last evening, when a.; young man, Leigh Holds worth Au'ton, aged 19, of Karamea, was eleetrQCutedin;a bith while listening-in to a radio 'broadcast PJI a erygtal set, .apparently wrongly connected to the power.nia.ins,., , : The young niau,' who had been a boarder there for \only, about, a fortnight, went into . tho> bathroom about 8.15 o'clock, and .a few.nii4utes afterwards another young mai'ln.. a,- room,: nearby heard peculiiir from the; bathroom. He went. to i.the door and tried the lock, but,the key was; turned. As ho could get no answer;.he went round to the window^ b,iit that, was also fastened, Obtainijig. .a , screv-driyerj he opened the fanlight, and aaw Auton lying in the bath with/a "pair of earphones on his head. Entering as' quiek-i jly as.he could he eufle.ayoured,;to pnll tho phones off, but received. # shock; He then pulled out the.plug.:to empty the bath, turned off the main switch, and, called the police. When they arrived Auton was lifted frpiu the. bath and artificial respiration was appjied for-an. hour, but Avithout success. It appears that the young man had connected one end of a coil of wire, found lying on the floor of the bathroom, to the aerial terminal of the set and had, pushed tho other end into the hot point, with the result that the sot became "alive" for tjio 230 volts sup* ply. Tho full facts will 1)0 investigated at an inquest.