ACCIDENTS, ETC

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11824, 29 November 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

ACCIDENTS, ETC

FATALITY ON A BARQUE. BOATSWAIN SHOT DEAD. Coromandkl, November 25. Yesterday a fatal accident happened on board the barquentine Senorita, anchored in Kennedy's Bay, when George Buries, boatswain, was shot by a revolver. Buries, who was shooting seagulls, was on the poop, when the mate joined him. At the time of the accident there weie no othera of the crew on the. deck. Buries only lived half-an-ltour after he was shot.

An inquest was held before Mr. A. H. R. Swindley, coroner, at Kennedy's Bay at noon to-day. Captain James Farrell gave evidence. He said he heard a shot and went from his cabin to the poop to sea what the shooting was about. Deceased told him he was firing at some birds. The captain went back to his cabin, leaving the mate and deceased together. Shortly afterwards lie heard a second shot, and the mate went down to the cabin and said "My God, I have shut the boatswain. Come on deck and look." He found Buries lying on the deck on his hip and shoulder. He asked him what was the matter. Deceased answered, *' I am done for." These were the only words he spoke. Witness then examined him and found a bullet wound in the right side. He died within half-an-hour of the occurrence.

The stevedore also gave evidence. Dr. Cheescmau made a post-morten examination, and found that the bullet entered the right side, cutting through entrails and arteries, and lodging in the skin on the left side. The, jury returned the following verdict: —" That deceased met his death by a revolver bullet wound on the barque Senorita. on the 24th inst,, but there was no evidence, to show who fired the shot" George Buries, the deceased, was a married man, 46 years of age. Up leaves a wife and family in Sydney. -November 26. In connection with the shooting fatality on board the barquentine Senorita, Symons was brought before Mr. T. W. Rhodes, J.P., this morning, and formally charged with the capital offence. Mr. W. A. Cornell appeared for the accused, on the 'application of the police a remand ti Wednesday, December 4, was granted. Bail was allowed in two sureties of £250 each, and accused in his own rccognisanco of £250.

A man named Jeremiah Sullivan, 28 years old, was proceeding to Lis work at the Wailii mine on Novem. 12, and fell down No. 2 shaft, from the No. 6 to the No. 7 level, a distance of 110 feet. Sullivan and his mate Noonan went down in the same cage. On reaching the level, the latter stepped out on one side and lit his candle, starting to go to the place where they were working. Sullivan left the cage on the other side, and to reach his work would have to pass in front of the other division of the winding shaft, and thence by the gangway on to the other side to join his mate. The men heard the chambennan, Sam Paul, shout out "Man gone down the shaft!" which proved to be too true. It is surmised that Sullivan, not seeing very well, just coming from the glaring sunlight, had miscalculated the distance, and mistook the shaft for the gangway entrance. The chamberman asserts that the bar was in its place in front of the shaft where Sullivan fell. This renders the accident all the more inexplicable. When brought to the surface Sullivan was just alive. Dr. Guinness was sent for, and on examination he found no external marks of injury, but the inside was shaken to a pulpy :.;-■-'-!. Sullivan died shortly after reaching t;- : surface, apparently from severe internal injuries. He leaves a widow and child about three years old. Sullivan's people live at Kihikihi. He has had hard luck, breaking an arm a short time ago which incapacitated him for many weeks. He was just getting on his feet again when the accident occurred. A fatal accident occurred to a seven-year-old son of Mr. J. W. Brady, a settler, of Papamoa, between Tauranga and Te Puke, on November 16. The little fellow was climbing a haystack on his father's farm, and must have put his foot on the handle of a hay-knife sticking in the stack. The knife gave way, and fell with the boy to the ground. The blade, entering a lower part of the abdomen, made- a terrible gash, extending right up to his chest, cutting into both liver arid lungs. Dr. Fooks was sent for, but found the case utterly hopeless, and death took place early on November 24.

A fatal accident happened about one o'clock on Monday afternoon at the post office, when a man named Andrew Ferguson, a carpenter employed by the Public Works Department, fell down a lift at the rear of the post office in Port-street, and sustained injuries to his head which ultimately resulted in his death. iJeceased was a married man, 52 years of age. A youth, about 16 years of age, named Frank Pulford, son of Henry Pulford, a farmer at Clive, was found dead on the road between Whakatu and Clive on Mon day. It appears the lad was. taking milk to the creamery at Wakatu, and, though the occurrence was not witnessed by any person, it is evident the horse must have bolted, and the voung fellow been thrown out of the cart, as the horse and cart were found some distance away. Whilst engaged at blasting operations near Taihape two men named John Holroyd and David Bernard met with a serious accident. One lit a fuse and threw the match into a keg of gunpowder, with the result that both were terribly burned. The men were brought down to Wanganui Hospital. Mr. John Wright, member of the iirm of Messrs. Wright, Stephenson and Co., and son of the founder of the firm, met with a. shocking death at Dunedin, on November 18. He had been worrying for some time about a manuremixing, machine, and Messrs. Chambers and Son, who supplied the machinery, put in a man to run it for a week. The elevator became choked, and the belting driving it slipped off. Deceased went up the ladder, but whether he tried to replace the belt, or intended to wait till the elevator was cleaned, is not known. Somehow he got caught in the shafting, which was revolving at the rate of 150 revolutions per minute, and was carried round with the shaft. As the latter was less than three feet below the beams the man's lower extremities struck the beam with every revolution, and the body was terribly mangled before the engine could be stopped. Death was probably instantaneous. At the inquest a verdict of accidental death was returned, no blame being attached to anyone. Deceased was very popular among all classes, and his death caused a great' shock. Most business places displayed flags at half-mast, He leaves a widow and several young children. Early on Monday, Nov. 18, Inspector Cullen received a telegram from Constable W. J. Rist, stating that on Thursday. Nov. 14 a man named Frank Purchase left Whitianga by water with fish for Taiiiia. The boat was picked up on Sunday, bottom upwards, and with sails set, but' no trace had been found of the missing man. The Collingwood correspondent of the Colo-nist-telegraphs, that on Nov. 12 the three-year-old son of Mr. John Richards, of Ferntown, in the absence of his mother, pulled a bucket of scalding water over himself. The child died next dav.

On November 12. at*Dargaville, a young man named William John White, second son of Mr. H. White, of Henderson, was accidentally killed by a fall from a horse. Walter Livesy, aged 26, a fireman on the Kittawa was drowned at Westport at two o'clock on November 16, from the steamer. A shockingly sudden death occurred at Timaru on Monday, the 18th of AToember at Rowley's Dental Surgery. A yotong woman named Annie Morris was nut under the influence of chloroform to have her teeth extracted, the operation going all right, 'then the patient suddenly passed away, and all the efforts to restore animation failed. A doctor was present, ft is supposed that death resulted from shock. A gumdigger named William Muir. about 55 years of age. was burned to death in his whare at Brigham's Creek, near Kunieu, at Cve minutes to two o'clock on November 27. The whare was discovered to be in flames by Messrs. Ellice, Sinlou, and others, and the man was burnt before assistance arrived. When the body was rescued it was found that the legs* and arms were burnt off. The unfortunate man has no known relatives here, and was a single man of Scotch extraction. It is stated that the man had been drinking since November 24. and it is supposed that he set fire to the whare while inebriated.