SHANNON INQUEST

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 167, 16 July 1937, Page 6

SHANNON INQUEST

Verdict of Accidental ill Drowning Returned SMALL BOY’S TRAGIC DEATH I From Our Own Correspondent. SHANNON, Last Night. BI _ , r A verdict of accidental death from I drowning was returned by the Coroner. ' j Mr. G. D. Hamilton, at the inquest at a Shannon to-day into the death of Bcr- • 1 nard Lawrence Prier, infant son of 5 Mr. and Mrs. R. Prier, of the old Foxton road, Shannon. •, The first witness to be called was the , * district nurse, Miss Alexander, who h stated that /it about 1.10 p.m. on Wed- ; aesday afternoon Mr. Prier sought her assistance. He told her that his little t s boy had been drowned, and that he ( 1 thought it was too late for anything to { 1 be done. Proceeding to Prier’s home, ( ' she examined the child, but could not 1 find any flicker of heart-beat. Artificial z respiration was applied without avail. 9 Dr. Miller, of Levin, arrived and after ' examination pronounced life to be ( * ! extinct. : Reginald Prier, father of the child, 3 stated that Bernard was aged two years " , and one month. Mr. Prier was in the 1 cow-bails, a short distance from the ( house, when he met Mrs. Prier who was looking for Bernard. He then heard Mrs. Roberts cry out for them to come \ quickly, as Bernard had fallen into the , j | drain by the bridge on the road about two chains from the house. He ran to the bridge, recovered the child from the r drain, and applied artificial respiration [ until Mr. A. C. Secord arrived, when ; r leaving the latter to carry on with the treatment, he cycled to Shannon, and i j telephoned for Dr. Miller and the disj i trict nurse. Dr. Miller, of Levin, gave evidence to i i the effect that in his opinion death had 1 , taken place within half an hour before < ? his examination of the body, which dis l » closed signs consistent with death due < ; to drowning. The body appeared to be < t that of a healthy child. Catherine Mary Vera Prier, mother i r of the child, stated that at about 12.45 p.m. on Wednesday in company witn i Mrs. Roberts, a friend, she had gone ; into the garden to get some vegetables. ; Her two small children were with them. Some minutes after going back to the - house she had missed her son Bernard ‘ and went towards the cow-bails in J search of him, while Mrs. Roberts went • * towards the river bank. She heard r Mrs. Roberts cry out that Bernard was 2 in the drain. With her husband she J ran to the bridge, where she saw the 1 child in the water. Mr. Prier got the : child from the water on to the bridge. e where he applied artificial respiration. r 1 which was carried on by Mr. Secord. Mr. Secord carried Bernard to the j house, where the treatment was continued, but without success. Some little '* time after, Dr. Miller arrived, but after an examination pronounced life to be ( extinct. Bernard must have wandered ( C out on to the road after she had got ( the vegetables, the gate into the garden 1 being open. She thought that both the } children had followed her back to the | house. ‘ Albert Charles Secord, a labour- , er, of Shannon, said he was working at , the back of Mr. Prier's house at 12.45 - 1 p.m. on Wednesday, when he heard some ; Ij one cry for help, and on looking up saw ! j Mr. Prier liftiug a child out of the . 9 drain on to the bridge six or seven 1 e chains away from where he was working. Immediately he ran over and c found Mr. Prier attempting to bring the u child round with artificial respiration, u He carried on with this while Mr. Prier •.* set off for Shannon on his cycle for the j doctor and the nurse. He continued to s work on the child for a quarter of an e hour or 20 minutes and then carried the boy into the house, where the treat- >- ment was continued. At no time while u be was applying artificial respiration u did the child show signs of life. Mr. W. Laston also attempted to bring the t! child round, and then the district nurse u and Dr. Miller from Levin arrived. Myrtle Elizabeth, Catherine Roberts stated that she went with Mrs. Prier u into the garden, where they got some vegetables, and returned to the house thinking that the children were following. A lew minutes later they noc ticcd that the little boy Bernard was missing. Mrs. Prier went towards the e cow-bails looking for him, while she 1 (Mrs. Roberts) searched towards the river bank. On crossing the bridge over the drain, she discovered the boy * in the drain, his head being abov the " water but he was neither moving nor ' struggling. She cried out and Air. Prier ran over and took the child out * of the water and laid him on the bridge, and there attempted to revive him. The t child was later removed to tho house where further attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. From the time that sho last saw Bernard alive, in the garden, until the discovery of tho body, Mrs. Roberts thought that not more than 15 minutes had elapsed. ’ Constable Boyd, of Shannon, said that he had received tho news of the accident at 1.15 p.m. When he arrived e at Prier’s home, Dr. Miller was examinj ing deceased. He stated that at the bridge off which the child had apparent-, ly fallen, the drain was about Bft. deep k and 3ft. of water, grown over W’ith , t vegetable matter. The distance from the house to the drain was a little over j two chains. s A verdict as stated was returned by the Coroner.