REMARKABLE INCIDENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 221, 16 August 1927, Page 2

REMARKABLE INCIDENT.

INJURED MAN’S FEAT,

Per Press Association

WELLINGTON, Aug. 15. A somewhat remarkable incident occurred in the early morning of August 5 after a motor car driven by Janies Hargreaves, of 4 Karori Street, Miramar, collided with a City Corporation milk cart, driven by William Patrick O’Gorman. The story told concerning Victor Wilde Smith, a married man, aged 31, of 4 Karori Street, Miramar, who was an occupant of the car and who died on August 10 from the result of his injuries, was that with a dint in his head as big as an average fist, with a bad fracture on the skull, and with a bone driven some inches into the brain, he yet could tell his friends that he was feeling alright and could walk away. He was found later in a Kilbirnie tramway shed. According to the evidence at the inquest to-day Smith was quite con- ! scions when he was admitted 10 the ; hospital on August 5 and after an operation he rallied for a few days but died not long after the second operation. I The evidence showed that ueceasei, Hargreaves and some others in the car 'had been to a dance party. Port wine was drunk, but the driver and deceased were sober. When the collision occurred both cars and the milk wagon were on the wrong side of the i--ad going in the same direction and Hargreaves said that he was travelling at !15 miles an hour and did not see iLe [milk car, which he contended had no jlights, until too late to avoid a collision. , . O’Gorman said that his vehicle haa lights. The night was very wet and the visibility was poor. As it was possible that there might be an action for negligence against the City Council, the coroner, Mr E. Page, S.M., said that he would not comment on the evidence beyond saying that apart from being on the wrong side of the road neither party appeared to have been negligent. His verdict was that deceased died on August 11 from injuries received in a collision at Kilbirnie on August 5.