FALL FROM WINDOW

Grey River Argus, 5 February 1941, Page 3

FALL FROM WINDOW

MAORI SOLDIER’S DEATH LONDON, November 15. The death occurred in the Victoria Hospital, Liverpool, recently, of Private George Ashby, of the Maori Battalion, who is believed to .*ave fallen 40 feet from the bedroom window of his lodgings. Private Ashby was found lying in the front garden of the house where he was spending a holiday. He had suffered severe injuries and died soon after be'ng admitted to hospital. It was stated that he was in his normal health when he returned to his lodging's that night. A man staying in the lodgngs said that Private Ashby was sleeping . in a room on the third storey. He said: “Another man was wakened in the early hours by the -sound of a thud and’ falling tiles. Thon he heard moaning, and went to see what it was. When he found, it was the soldier in the garder he rushed back into the house and roused us. We

I carried Ashby into the house. He ; was not fully conscious, for he kept ! moaning and complaining about his i shoulder. The garden was littered | with fallen tiles, and there was a I dent in the ground where he nad i fallen. I “An ambulance was immediately j summoned, and he was taken to hospital. We found later that the tiles were from the porch of the house, which he had evidently struck in his fall. I “The window from which he fell : was a narrow one, and not easy to fall through. The only explanation seems to be he must have fallen out ■ while sleepwalking or in a nightmare.'’