ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS.

Evening Star, Issue 14034, 15 April 1909, Page 4

ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS.

The adjourned inquest on the remains of Thomas Rattigan was resumed at Waikouaiti yesterday before Mr Hutchieon, district coroner. The following verdict was returned:—"That the deceased died from natural causes—to wit, heart disease—and his bodv was thereafter burned in a fire, whereby his dwelling was destroyed, on April 6, but there is no evidence to show how the fire originated." Since deceased's brother expired suddenly two years ago from heart failure, deceased himself always entertained a strong presentiment that the same fate woukf overtake him.—Own correspondent. An elderly man, whose name is unknown, was knocked down in Wellesley street, Auckland, by a tramcar last evening and received injuries from which he died whilst being conveyed to the hospital. The man stepped on to the line a few yards m front of the car, and althouah the brakes were promptly applied there was not sufficient time to avert the accident. AP. A. message, received this afternoon, states:--The man killed by collision with a tram last night had in his pocket an old age certificate in the name of Murdoch M'Leod. Harry Dudley died in the ambulance yesterday on the way to the Auckland Hospital, "he deceased wa6 a painter, working on a building at the Chelsea. Susar Works, and the injury from which he died was a fractured skull, caused by a fall from the ;oof of the building. The deceased was holding up a sheet of corrugated iron on the roof, and the wind striking it caused him to overbalance and fall. The Auckland. police were notified yesterday that the body of a man had been found .on the beach at Coleman's Bay. Manukau Harbor. The deceased had ev'identlv been in the water for three weeks, and the face was unrecognisable. The remains were those of a man about thirty years of ase. Albert Hancock, employed bv the Ferroconcrete Company, while' engaged in stripping piles beneath the Queen street wharf at Auckland, slipped and had a serious fall. He was picked up and taken on to the wharf in an unconscious condition, and it was found on examination that he had fractured the pelvis bone. Claude Cato, a well-known accountant and auditor, shot himself in a passage at his office in Browning street, Napier, yesterday. He fired a revolver shot through his head, and died when beina taken to the hospital. No reason is known for his act. The deceased, who was fortv-six years of age, leaves a widow and.one child. _ A fisherman named Gundeson went out in a motor boat at Tim am yesterday momins, and a mile past the outer mole something went wrons. A benzine explosion occurred, and the boat was set on fire. Gundeson threw water on the fire, but to no purpose, and the boat's sides began to burn. He was driven to the bow. and was just about to jump over and swim ashore when another motor boat rescued him. The burnincr boat was taken in to-n-, but sank before the shore was reached. Gundeson was badly burned about the hands and arms. A Hokitika message states: A =ad shooting fafcalitv took place early this mornintr. resulting in the death of Robert M'Millan, borough inspector. It appears that the deceased went into the yard to shoot a cat, and a few minutes later was found in a state of collapse, a pea rifle havinc- srone off accidentally and the pellet entering his breast. He' died half an hour later. The deceased leaves a widow and a family of nine. _ Joseph Thawley, an old resident of Wellington, was run over by the train at ParapaTaumu this morning) and injured so much that he died. His sons are grocers in Wellington. The deceased was about sixty-eight years of age, and had lived here for twentv-five years. He recently went to live at Paraparaumu for the bene": fit of his health.—Wellington P.A. wire.