CRUSHED TO DEATH

Hokitika Guardian, 18 February 1932, Page 3

CRUSHED TO DEATH

FATHER OF ELEVEN CHILDREN.

CRASH OF GIANT TOTARA

TE KUITI, February 16,

A labourer, Mr John Patrick Pulford, aged 44, of Te Kujti, ;was crushed to death by a giant ,totara tree which fell on him at 7.30 a.to. torday while he was .walking along a cutting. He and six companions were; walking from the unemployment relief equip at Rangit’oto through country which ..had been devastated by the bush fires,eai'lier in the week. As the men. werq.passing through a cutting they ,had constructed. a giant tree, the, trunk., ol which had been : almost completely bured througli, fell without warning. One of .the men looked up and saw the trunk .toppling. All made a, frantic effort to get clear, and the tree would have missed Air Pulford hut for the fact that it struck another st.unp and rebounded..,,, ~, ;

Another worker, Mr James Sterling, was struck a glancing blow and knocked to the ground, but was not seriously injured..

Mr Pulford was. a married nan, and leaves a wife and eleven young children.