AN AGONISING DEATH.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 75, 3 April 1901, Page 2

AN AGONISING DEATH.

PINNED DOWN BY A BIG STONE. (By Telegraph—Press Association). Napier, last night. An inquest was held to-day on the body of the man Henry Hughes, who died as the result of an accident caused by a stone falling on him and pinning him in the river at Mangawharc. The evidence showed that on tho morning of the 27th March, deceased, with his son Stanley Hughes, went to work splitting a post. The son was sent for some tools, and on returning found his father sitting in the river with a stone, weighing about 15 cwt, on hitj legs. Wfitcr was shallow, reaching up to tho man’s waist. It was not until about 3.30 p.m. that the stone could be moved, owing to its weight and the distance from which assistance had to be brought. The man was then taken to the Napier Hospital, but died the same evening at 7.30. The medical testimony was to the effect that nothing had been bound round the legs to stop the bleeding, and that death was occasioned by tho shock, loss of blood, and inflammation. A verdict was given in accordance with the medical testimony, and the jury added a rider to the effect that more attention might have been paid to the deceased aftor bis rescue from tho water.