GUNPOWDER EXPLOSION

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 22 February 1935, Page 11

GUNPOWDER EXPLOSION

CONDITION OF THE VICTIMS EVIDENCE GIVEN AT INQUEST ONE MAN’S GOOD FORTUNE. HASTINGS, Feb. 21. No change is reported in the condition of the victims of the explosion of gunpowder which occurred at W aikonini station on Tuesday night. The condition of both Mr. Thomas Connell and Mr Alexander Emmerson still remains very serious. That of the other three victims, Mr. Thomas Sanders, Mr. George Algie and Mr. Samuel Goalee, is unchanged. An. inquest concerning the death of Mr. Arthur Patrick McGuire, who died in hospital yesterday morning as a result of injuries received in the explosion. was opened to-day. Evidence of identification was given by deceased’s wife. Mrs. Janet McGuire, of Dannevivke, who said they had seven children, whose ages ranged from six to 16 years. The inquest was then adjourned. Good fortune attended a man named Wotherspoon, who had been present at the camp where the explosion occurred. Mr. Wotherspoon was camping with one of the victims, Mr. Geake. tliA pair sharing a tent about 400 yards away from the scene of the accident. The men were all about to have some supper, but- Mr. Wotherspoon decided not to wait and returned to his tent a short time before the explosion occurred. One of the victims states he saw the burning fuse , which Mr. McGuire had been holding, drop on to the bag- He did not know the bag contained explosives. That was the last lie remembered for some time. Their elotbes all caught alight and they had difficulty in pulling off the burning garments.