INQUEST

Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1937, Page 2

INQUEST

DEATH OF JAMES MURTHA JUNR.

An inquest was opened at Westland Hospital on July 27, before Mr A. EBenjamin, Coroner, touching the death, the previous evening of James Murtha Junr. Sergeant Gilligan conducted the proceedings for the police. Gilbert Joseph Murtha gave evidence that he was an assistant brewer, employed and residing at Reefton. The body he had just seen in company with the coroner was that of his brother James Murtha Junr., who was born at Kumara and was 41 years of age, single 1 and resided with his parents Mr and Mrs James Murtha Senr. of Kumara. His brother was engaged as a brewer’s assistant at the Kumara brewery. The health of the deceased was good, as was also his sight and hear ng. He was a splendid bushman, an occupation lie had followed for years before taking up his present occupation about ten mouthy ago. Part of his duties as assistant- brewer was to keep the water race, supplying the brewery with water, in order. The race brought water from Sandy’s Hill down to the brewery. It was about a mile in length. Part of. the race is on-a sidling and part on the flat. The race is 4ft. bin. wide and 3ft. deep. He had breakfast with deceased on Monday July 28 at /.30 a.m. He was then in perfect health. After breakfast his brother left for h s work. That was the last lie saw of his brother prior to'the accident. At this .stage the inquest was ad journed sine die.

INQUEST RESUMED

The inquest was resumed at the Courthouse, Hokitika, yesterday aftei,noon when the following evidence was

given:— Dr. B. L. Wilson gave evidence that on July 20, James Murtha was admitted to Westland Hospital. He met the ambulance on the way down from Kumara. He found Murtha deeply unconscious, suffering from a fractuied l base of the skull, haemorrhage and laceration of the brain. There was, a ; small cut wound on the right side or the temple, containing a little dirt. On arrival at the hospital at 2.30 p.m. lie ;was at once operated oil. He found ' some bruising of the muscles on the | right side of the head. There was also much haemorrhage under the skull, which was dealt with. Tne general condition of the patient improved for a while following the opt, ation, but he did not regain consciousness. Later he became worse and he. died at 8.40 p.m. the same day. The cause of death wag a fractured base of the skull and I internal laceration of the brain. The cut was’a fairly clean cut, but contain--1 ed a little dirt. It was hot very deep I and in appearance suggested it *vaI due to deceased having fallen on some ' projecting object. Did not notice any . bruising of other part s of the body. The , cut t|ip w ,;i,o,ighbouj-hqo4 of tjie , injury to the head, indicating the deceased had fallen on his, head. The I injuries could quite definitely liavu j been caused by the deceased slipping j while crossing a race, and falling on to I his head. The deceased was apparently j conscious when he got home, though i dazed. His relapsing into unconsciousI ness then would be caused by the conJ tinuanee of the bleeding into the, . brain. There was nothing unusual ill the deceased remaining conscious for a period after receiving the injury. The fact of the deceased walking would have a tendency to increase the bleeding into the brain. * ' Ethelbert Henham, a ..miner of Beach Road, Kumara, gave evidence, that at 9.15 o’clock on the morning of July 26, he was cycling along the old back road, below Sandy’s hill, Kui mara to his claim, when he heard some one caTI out “Hello Ethel”. He looked and saw James Murtha reclining on the lower bank of the old Government race that supplies water to the Kumara brewery. Asked what was he doing there and Murtha replied that he was crossing the water race on .a 1 rotten log when it broke and he fell into the race and hurt his head, that, he must have fainted and did not know how long lie had been there. Witness told him to come down and he did so and deceased said he had hurt his head and to see how deep the cut was. He examined his head and saw a cut on the right temple 1-f to 2 inches long about J inch wide. Told the I deceased ,the cut was not. deep. It was not Bleeding, but there was a little blood qn it. It was not a clean cut. Then offered deceased his bicycle to go home but lie would not accept '«t, stating lie felt a lot better, and he then started to walk home. He seemed to be walking all right till he got out of sight about 100 yards away. Deceased was carrying an axe. That was the last he saw of deceased. The deceased stated he had fallen into the water race. His trousers were wet from the k’tees down. The water race is on the hill side. It is about 6ft wide at th» bottom, the highest bank is Oft high and the lower bank about sft. There were about 8 or 9 inches of water in the race, which is a very old one and has much obstruction in it consisting of roots, branches and roet-s. Made an investigation next day with Constable Studholme and found a broken rata root in the vicinity of where the accident occurred, on which be considered the deceased must have stood and that it hro'-g under him. He had seen deceased on other occasions in the race repairing it, and having an axe. He was employed at the Kumara brewery and the cleaning of the race would be portion of his work.

Constable Lindsay Studholme. police constable at Kumara stated on July 2" in company with the previous witness,

E. Henham, he examined the water race in question. It is situated on the hillside about 260 feet above the old back' road to Kumara. About 40ft from where the last witness first saw Janies Murtha the ferns wefe broken and brushed back on the east side of the .race whjch clearly showed that some person had scrambled, out. About 4ft north, on the east side of the race is an old rata stump, part of which extends out over the water race towards the west side. Part of this stump had been broken off recently, there being a piece about a foot long lying in the water race below. r Jlie bank ot the race on the west side is about 9ft high,, and on the east side sft. From the stump in question to the bottom of the race is about nine feet. The sides consist of fern, tree stumps and boulders, and there was about 9 inches of water in the race. He made a careful examination at this spot for blood stains, without result. From the conversation deceased had with tn 6 previous witness and his °' vu observations lie felt satisfied that the deceased had stepped on the rata stump referred to in an endeavour to cross the race and that it broke away under him when doing so, and that he fell into the race and came into contact with a boulder or tree stump causing the injury to his head. There was no indication at any other part of the race of any person having been in the race. He examined the axe that deceased had carried the previous day. There were no signs of blood stains or human hair. The only marks about the race were at this particular spot and they indicated that some person had fallen into the race there and had. climbed out again. From enquiries made from Charles Murtha, a. brother of deceased, a brewer employed by Westland Breweries Ltd., at the Kumara brewery he was informed that oh the day he met his death, James Murtha was working on the water race for the company and the reason the deceased took an axe was for the purpose of removing any obstruction in the race. This concluded the evidence.

The Coroner returned a verdict as follows :—“That James Murtha died a c Westland Hospital on July 26. 1937, as the result of injuries accidentally received, from a fall when attempting to cross a water race near Sandy’s Hill, Kumara, earlier in the day.”