A BUSHMAN'S DEATH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 298, 28 September 1910, Page 4

A BUSHMAN'S DEATH.

Further Details. Further particulars of the distressing fatality which occurred last Friday are now to hand. It appears that whilst Mr Hunt's party were felling bush on Mr L. Vickery's place at Waitomo, an accident happened to Mr Johansen, a native of Sweden, whose home was in Hawke's Bay, which ended fatally. A large tree had been felled, when a loose branch, known as a "sailor," fell on to the unfortunate man. He was Btruck on the head, which was bruised in several places. He was stunned, but appears to have partially regained consciousness. Afterwards he grew worse and relapsed into total unconsciousness, and it was obvious to his mates that he was in a very serious condition. A stretcher was improvised, but as the track waß so rough it was found impossible to convey him to Mr Vickery's house, so it was decided to carry him into Waitomo, a distance of about six or seevn miles, which they covered in rapid time, and arrived at the accommodation house at about 8 p.m. The roads were in a dreadful condition, and the task was an arduous one, and except for the willingness with which recruits joined the stretcher party on the way, would have been nigh impossible. In the meantime Dr Fullerton, of Te Kuiti, was telephoned for, and although he was at the time attending another sufferer at Pio Pio, he was able, with the assistance of a Maori guide, to get across country at a very | rapid rate, and arrived before the stretcher party came into view. The sufferer had grown worse on the road, and the doctor could give no hope, and at about midnight he expired. It is cases like these that show the inestimable value of the telephone in the back-blocks, for if a messenger had had to ride in and take back a doctor, he could not possibly have been in time to do even the little that was possible in the case. Tho stretcher party consisted of Messrs Board, Sellwood, Hill, Vickery, Hunt, Mearn, Foster, Challice and Holden. At the inquest held on Saturday evening by Mr J. B. Teasdale, coroner, the following verdict was returned: - "That the deceased, Karl Peter Johansen, came by his death while bushfelling through the limb of a tree striking his head, which caused concussion of the brain."