Fall From Tree

Northern Advocate, 18 January 1936, Page 6

Fall From Tree

Bird Nesting Fatality Boy Dies Of Injuries TJOW A FALL FROM A TREE DURING BIRD NESTING CAUSED INJURIES, WHICH PROVED FATAL, WAS TOLD AT THE INQUEST INTO THE DEATH OF HILTON JOHN TRAIL, AGED 10, WHICH WAS HELD AT THE WHANGAREI DISTRICT HOSPITAL AND AT RUAKAKA YESTERDAY.

The accident occurred when three children were playing at Ruakaka on December 12. Deceased was attended to by Dr Greenwood, of Waipu, and later admitted to the Whangarei District Hospital, where it was found that he was suffering from a broken leg, broken arm, and severe bodily injuries. Evidence given by Dr Eric Tewsley Dawson, acting medical superintendent, yesterday, was to the effect that the boy remained practically unconscious until December 31. He then improved in all ways until January 13, when he complained of pains in the abdomen, and gradually relapsed into a semi-conscious state. The cause of death was meningitis. - How Accident Occurred. Details of how the accident occurred were given by Violet .Josephine Trail, aged 12. She said that she had never seen her brother so high up a tree before. While he was climbing he kept saying jokingly: “Look, I am slipping.” He was not frightened and there was no wind to disturb his balance. He was hanging on to an overhead branch, and was walking along another, neither of them thick, when they broke. Her brother fell fairly close to where she was standing underneath the tree, his head appearing to strike a log as he hit the ground. Mrs May Victoria Trail told how she had warned her son, when he was half way up the tree, that he was climbing too high. He denied this, and she went back to milk the cow. Still feeling worried shp started back to where the children were playing with the intention of insisting that he descend. Heard a Crash. “I had only walked half way across the paddock,” she said, when I heard the branch crash, and Violet came running up to tell me that “Jimmie” (meaning Hylton) had fallen. He never spoke.

The husband arrived- within a few minutes. Dr Greenwood was called, and an hour and a quarter after the accident their son was admitted to the Whangarei Hospital. 34ft Up Tree. The father, Mr Albert Ernest Trail, said that measurements disclosed that deceased was 34ft up a pinus insignus tree when he fell. The ground was fairly hard, and after falling Hylton had probably rolled over and hit his head against a strainer. The branch, which had broken—which was about 2%i/i thick and six feet long—coming from such a height, would probably have struck the boy a severe blow. The coroner, Mr C. F. Collins, returned a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony.