FATALLY CRUSHED.

Northern Advocate, 3 July 1917, Page 2

FATALLY CRUSHED.

BETWEEN *WO fHUCKS.

MISHAP NEAR OAKLEIGH-,

An accident, unfortunately attended by fatal results, occurred yesterday morning at the railway construction works at Mangapai. A man named Reuben Hunter Ratcliffe, who w,as being temporarily (employed as fireman, was caught between moving trucks while endeavouring to put the brakes on, and received injuries which caused dieath almost immediately after, The body was conveyed from Tau. raroa .to Whangarei this morning, and Coroner Killen held an inquest at the Police Station-. William R. Waugh, quarryman, employed in the Public Works quarry at Tauraroa, having identified the body lying at the morgue, .deposed that he had known deceased over 26 years; he was a married man, living apart from his wife. Hβ was a native of Bradford, and had teen in New Zealand for about 32 years. His age was fifty-five. He had two children—a son aged 28, and a daughter aged 24. Deceased breakfasted with witness yesfcrd'ay morning, and tthe latter was then in his usual good health. He was a handy man on the work, employed in differ-

ent ways, and yesterday was occupied as fireman on the iiavvy ioodmdtivc, in the absence of the usual fireman. Witness was not present at the time the accident ■occur.riecL

John W. Mann deposed that he was | an iengine-driver in charge of the steam navvy locomotive at Tauraroa. He was dn charge of it yesterday at about 11.30 a.m. Deceased was acting temporarily as fireman. He had only acted -once before in the capacity of fireman. 'Besides firing, his duty was to couple the trucks together and release the brakes. Yesterday there were four loaded trucks in the "rak'?." He Wad connected one to the engine, and 'they came down slowly on an. inclined grade, and thj e , driver (witness) brought the engine back on to the other three trucks. It was deceased's duty to couple all the trucks before releasing the brakes. He must have released the brakes before coupling the trucks, else they would not have got away. Deceased overlooked the coupling, and gave witness the signal, "All right." Immediately after he gave the stop signal. Witness stopped immediately, and saw the trucks that were not coupled moving away down ehe incline. Witness jumped out and chased th| e , trucks, to put the brakes on. It was then that he saw Raicldffe stagger out from the opposite side to that he .had gone in. Deceased collapsed .inimediate'ly about a couple of yards from the truck. Witness caught the trucks and brought them to a standstill. He tlxn came back and found Ratcliffe unconscious. Deceased did not speak at all after being hurt. He did not regain consciousness.. Witness assisted to remove him to Oakleigh. He believed thj 2 man died, on the way. Witness thought that when deceased saw that the trucks were uncoupled he gave witness the signal to stop, and must have gone in bi-'hind the second track from the engine with the object of putting the brake on Xo. 3 truck. While doing that, 'No 2 came down y-i him, and caught him between its buffers and thos j£ , of No. 3. Deceased was conveyed on a train to Oakleigh. It was not usual to employ an inexperienced man as fireman. Witness was instructed by the overseer to employ deceased, as the usual fireman was shifting his ca-mp. 'Deceased hafl once told witness that he was lompolyed in Petone Railway Department workshops. He could not say whether the man had had much experience of this kind of work before. The trucks employed in navvying- were different from the usual railway trucks, and the coupling ©* them required a little more care. Th !£ , accident could not have occurred if deceased had coupled the trucks properly. Deceased had run two previous trips yesterday morning. The trucks had required coupling on both occasions, and there was no one but the deceased to do that work. Th, 3 trucks were not self-coupling, and the brakehandles were right over the buffer.

Tom Brstich deposed that he was a labourer employed on the Public Works at Tauraroa. «c was employed yesterday at the cutting, with the steam navvy. He hauled the trucks from the navvy on to th j? siding, and put the brake on each truck. Yesterday he had the four loaded trucks ready for the engine. He saw Ratel iff,;, there; witness was standing in an empty truck about half-a-chain away. He saw two trucks running in front of deceased, and witness jumped out and ran to stop the two trucks. Deceased was right in the centre o f the line; he was running and applying the brake. The third truck came down behind and hit deceased and he uttered a moan. Witness went to get a stretcher for him and when he .got back with it he heard deceased say, twice, "Dave me alone." Witness helped to put him on the stretcher, and h; was carried down to the station yard. Ho did not see him again. Constable Paine deposed that he had examined the body of deceased at the morgue this morning. There were bruises on the lower portion of the abdomen and thighs. He was also badly bruised in the middle of the back, near the buttocks. The bruises could have been caused through bing crushed between the buffers of the trucks, as already stated. Witness was present on the railway works and saw the working of these trucks. Judging by the position of the buffers, he should say that the injuries could have been received in the wa 3 r described by witnesses.