ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 February 1927, Page 10

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES

■DETONATOR EXPLODES. (BY 'XBIiKUIIAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION.) DANNEVIRKE,, Feb. 6. An inquest was bold at Whetukura this afternoon by the coroner, Mi* Dobson, on the body of Walter Fdinond Jierkham, aged 24, u single man, who was found dead on Saturday morning on the soldiers’ monument with Ins head badly injured. There were indications that lie had been playing with a detonator which had exploded, causing fatal injuries to the head. 'No* one was present when the explosion occurred. The coroner returned a- verdict that death was due to haemorrhage caused by the laceration of the brain, apparently owing to the explosion of a detonator held in deceased’s hands. His mother .resides at Whetukura. SMALL BOY DROWNED. GISBORNE, Feb. 7 A small hoy named George Spill was drowned yesterday afternoon Jin the Waimata River. His parents _ and a party had been swimming during the afternoon, and the little chap, in his bathing costume, was playing around in the water keenly enjoying himself and in no danger, for he was in full view of the bathei#. By 5.30 everyone had left the witter and' between that time and six o’clock the boy was missed. Search was instantly made, and the body was recovered, caught, in a isnag, a short distance up the river. TN.TTTBED IN MOTOR COLLISION. CHRISTCHURCH, Feb. 7. S. Rogers, a young man belonging to Sprevdon was badly gashed and bruised about the legs and arms yesterday through a car running into the back seat of another on which ne was sitting. KILLED BY MOTOR-CAR. CHRISTCHURCH, Feb. 7. Edwin John Leathern. aged 63, of Lincoln Road, was killed by a motorcar while crossing the .street on Saturday evening. He was wheeling two bicycles, when a car driven by Robert Patrick Grant struck him. YOUNG) MAN DROWNED. CHRISTCHURCH, Feb. 7. .Ronald George Wilson, aged 22, was drowned in the Selwyn. River yesterday wliPe bathing with two other lads. He had a seizure. WIFE’S TRAGIC DISCOVERY. AUCKLAND, Feb. 7. William James Lane,, a married man. aged 59, committed suicide at liis residence at Haydon Street. His wife found the bedroom door barred. When an entrance was forced,, she found her husband dead with a gas tube in his mouth. The coroner returned a verdict of suicide, death being due to gas poisoning.