ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS

Evening Star, Issue 22892, 25 February 1938, Page 8

ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS

SHOCKING INJURIES. Shocking injuries were received by an old-ag© pensioner, Mr Watson Mitchell, at the Stillwater railway yards (West Coast) about 6 o’clock last evening, death ensuing in a few minutes. Mr Mitchell, who was aged 80, resided in a hut across the railway yards at Stillwater, and was taking a short cut across the tracks when he was run over by a shunting engine. It is believed that ho was deaf and that he had not noticed the engine approaching. He was dragged over 50yds, and both legs were torn off near the knees, and the body was also extensively injured. Mr Mitchell, who had no relatives, was probably the oldest West _ Coast coach driver living in the district. STRUCK BY MOTOR CAR. Joseph Quinn, of Loburn, was killed when his cycle was struck by a car driven by K. G. Webley, a builder, of Kairaki, at an intersection near Kaiapoi last night. CAR FALLS THIRTY FEET. A miraculous escape from serious injury of six occupants of a touring car which fell over 30ft from the road to the railway line at Dobson Bluff, occurred- near Dobson (West Coast) last evening. A' fault developed in the steering gear, and the car plunged over a bank, hitting the concrete railway embankment and landing upside down on the line. The occupants were J. .Dunshea (driver), and Mesdames Young and Charman (all of Waiuta), and three young children, including a two-year-old baby. They were thrown in all directions, mostly into blackberry bushes at the roadside, and except for cuts and slight abrasions suffered by Mrs Young and one child, no one was injured. DEATH FROM TETANUS. At the inquest on Joseph Henry Pr-eston (35), aero engineer, at Wellington, the verdict was death from tetanus following an incised wound to the: right hand. While on a visit to Masterton deceased fell down some steps, at the foot of which was some broken glass, and nearby a flower bed containing horse manure. Preston cut his band, which came in contact with the flower bed. The medical witness replied to the coroner that horse manure was a common source of tetanus. FALL OR ELECTROCUTION. Injuries which proved fatal were received by Percy Holmes, an electrician, aged 30, a married mam' with three children, when he fell 20ft on to bitumen roadway in Devon street, New Plymouth, this morning. He was disconnecting temporary lighting when it is surmised that he received a shook, as his hands were scorched, but it is not established whether death was actually caused by injuries in his fall or by electrocution.—Press Association.