ACCIDENTS, ETC

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12002, 26 June 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

ACCIDENTS, ETC

An explosion, of gas occurred in a house situated in Franklin Road, at about half-past nine on June 22, several persons being injured, and much damage being done to the building. The house is owned by Mr. D. Parker, and occupied by a widow named Mrs. Davis and her family. There was a strong smell of gas in one of the front rooms, and a Mr. James Turner struck a match and searched in the ceiling for the leak. Suddenly there was a great explosion, which smashed the glass in the front windows, and blew a hay window clean out, besides doing other considerable damage. A Mr. George Williams had his face and hands burned) and Mrs. and Miss Davis were also burned. The injured persons were taken to Dr. Moir, who dressed the burns. None of the victims of the accident are seriously hurt. While a cargo of timber logs was being discharged from the scow Hawk, at Freeman's Bay. on June 21, the master ot the vessel," Frederick Irving, slipped or fell between two of the logs and was terribly crushed. The unfortunate man was immediately brought ashore and was taken to the hospital by Constable Finnerly. living's body and legs were crushed in a frightful manner, and in spite of all that could je done for him he expired about an hour and a-half after he reached the hospital. Deceased was quite a young man. being about 33 years of age. He leaves a wife and family. The facts were reported to Mr. Gresham, the coroner, who has decided nut to hold an inquest as Irving had stated before he died that it was a pure accident, and no one was to blame, and Dr. Collins, medical superintendent at the hospital, is prepared to give a certificate to the effect that death was due to shock. Mr. Wimberley, secretary of the Hot Lakes Steam Navigation Company, was found drowned in Kotorua Lake on June 22. At the inquest a verdict was returned of accidental death. William Bishop, engineer of the Champion dredge, Beaumont, was caught in the machinery of the dredge on Friday, and died from the effect of his injuries on Sunday. Alfred Bruton, Dunedin. aged 14, while driving a cart near St. Kilda Hotel on Saturday, struck the horse, which became restive. The boy then jumped off the cart and fell, a wheel of the cart passing over his head. He was taken to the hospital about half-past one o'clock, and was found to be suffering from fractures of the upper part of the skull and severe injury to the brain. The lad died at half-past three. Between half-past six and seven o'clock oil June 6, a. carter named Alexander Sneddon, reported to Constable Carroll, at the Eden Terrace police station, that he had discovered the dead body of a man on the railway line in Boston Road, near the gaol. Constable Carroll, on going to the spot indicated, found the body in a shockingly mutilated condition. The top of the head had been taken off, and both legs and the left arm were very badly crushed. The hat and pipe of the unfortunate man were found on the line near the Khyber Pass bridge, and an examination showed that he had apparently been run over by the early morning train, and dragged along the line for a short distance. On the body being removed to the morgue it was identified by Constable Finnerty as that of a labourer named Patrick Bartley, residing in Unionstreet. Bartley who leaves a widow and family, was of feeble intellect. An inquest was held at the Criterion Hotel, on Saturday, the 7th of June, before Mr. Grasham, coroner. Sergeant Hendry represented the police. After evidence was taken, corroborative of the above, the jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased was killed by the train, but that there was not sufficient evidence to show by what means lie got on the line.

On June 9 Inspector Cullen received a report from Constable Scott, stationed at Aratapu, giving particulars of the supposed drowning of a young man named William Keane, a fireman, 22 years of age, employed on the s.s. Ethel. It appears that on the evening of Wednesday, > June 4, Keane left, the steamer at Dargaville Wharf, to take a keel boat to another wharf, about a-quarter of a mile away. The captain walked along to the wharf to help Keane haul the boat up, and when about half-way he thought he heard a groan and a faint "coo-ee." After waiting for some time at the wharf, and finding that Keane did not put in an appearance, the captain aroused the crew, who searched for Keane for miles up and down the river, but neither man nor boat could be found.

A native named Takirau was accidentally scalded to death at Tokaanu, T'aupo, on June 9. Whilst going to a bath he fell into a boiling mud spring alongside the path, and was with difficulty extricated, owing to the treacherous nature of the ground. He lingered until about noon in intense agony, as the whole of his body below the neck was terribly scalded. A little girl named Ivy Gertrude Brown, about tFree years of age, only child of Mr. and Mrs. A. Brown, of Kaukapakap;i, but formerly of Taukau, . was accidentally drowned on Saturday, June 7. At the inquest a verdict of accidental drowning was returned. The body of a miner named G. Smythe has been found in the Inangahua River. It is supposed that he slipped into the river and was drowned. At seven o'clock on the Bth of June, the man Hugh Sullivan, who was found lyjnc on the foreshore at Custom-street West on the 3rd of June, in a dazed condition, with a nasty wound on the head (supposed to have resulted from a fall from the breastwork) died at the district hospital. An inquest was held, and the jury returned a verdict that " Death was due to congestion of the lungs and brain; the latter occasioned by an accidental fall from the breastwork, off Nelson-street, on the 3rd inst., whilst deceased was intoxicated." A boy named Dender, five years old, while playing in his father's workroom, Palmerston North, on Wednesday, 11th 'June, was caught in the fly-wheel "of the gas-engine and whirled round, Ms head striking the concrete floor several times, concussion of the brain resulting. He was removed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. At the inquest on June 13 the jury added a rider to the verdict of accidental death, that notwithstanding the certificate issued by the inspector of machinery, they did not consider the engine was properly protected so as to ensure immunity from accident. On June 14 a visitor from Kaioara, named Grey, was drowned while taking a bath at iCamo Springs, near Whangarei. Deceased was recovering from an attack of pleurisy and congestion of the lungs, and was in a weak state. An inquest was held before Mr. J. M. Killen, J.P., and a verdict was returned that deceased met his death from suffocation, accelerated by a weak state of health. Deceased was well known in Kainara, being secretary of the Kaipara Agricultural Society,