ACCIDENTS, ETC

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12074, 18 September 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

ACCIDENTS, ETC

Ox the arrival of the s.s. Zealandia Vn: Auckland, from GJsborne, on September 14, the foreeabin steward (Charles Rowley) reported to Constable Fitzgerald, <,& wharf duty, that a, steerage • passcnijei* named William Smith, a. farmer, of Albert? Forest, near Ashburton, had been missing since the previous night. Mr. Rowley stated that he last saw the missing ma«. shortly after ten o'clock far September 14* going up the stairway of the forecabin. Win. Staiidin, a through passenger for Sydney, stated that he saw Smith at half, past ten on Saturday night, standing by the rail, and ill from seasickness, Smith would be about 60 years of age, and had a grown-up family. The. chief officer oE the Zealandia informed the polite that the missing man had a considerable amount; of money, as he had produced a large roll of notes when paying his fare. At halfpast ten on Saturday night, when Smith was last seen, the ship was off Cape Runaway, standing 10 miles out. Constable flancox (of Gisborne), who was a passenger by the Zealandia, in charge of three prisoners, reported as to a search being made for Smith on Sunday morning. He considered that the missing' man, who was short in stature, must have been precipitated into the water whilst standing on the rail vomiting. A gun accident occurred at .Mauku on 4th Sept.. by which Mr. laic Oilfillan, traveller for Messrs. A. K. Patersou and Co., of Auckland, received the contents of his gun in the lower part of the chest. It appears that. Mr. Eric Gilnllau went cut with Mr. Frank Kavariagh rabbit shooting. Returning home, the two young men got through a barb wire fence. Mr. Gilhilnti put ins gun through the wire, then got over, turned round, and took hold of his gun. by the muzzle, and in drawing it. towards him the rigger must have caught, for it exploded, and the contents of it were lodged in his side, inflicting % very ugly wound. An eiderlv man Ml oil' the platform of a carriage while a train was going through Lyttelton tunnel on September 5, and his right arm was cut oft' at the elbow by a carriage wheel. lie was taken to the Lyttelton casual ward, where he said his name was J. M. Clark, but refused to give any further information about himself. Il* died at half-past seven. Papers found oft him show that he came to Christchurch from Dunedin. He was a shearer, and lias been in almost all parts of New Zealand, as well as in Australia. An inquest was held on Saturday, the 6th of September, and a verdict was returned that deceased was killed by falling off a train in Lyttelton tunnel, while ho was under tho inUuence of liquor. Joseph Kennedy, it lad of 17, sustained very severe injuries through an accident on the Millerton incline on Aug. 29. He; was jammed by a runaway truck filled with' coal. He was removed to the hospital, where he died at night. ! A sad accident occurred at Tataraimaka oftl August 29. A young man named Valentinei Wareham, while bush-felling, was struck! by two limbs of a tree near to the one be had just felled, the limbs being brought down by the tree falling. One limb struck him across the thigh, and the other across the neck. His mates at once carried him out of the bush, an axeman preceding them, cutting a track through the underserub. The injured man was brought to New Plymouth Hospital, where it was found his left foot was almost severed at the ankle, and several ribs fractured. He died on August 30. at the hospital, and at the inquest held; next day a. verdict of accidental death was; returned. An elderly woman named Lousley, wife ojf; a settler at Kurow, was burnt to death osl: Sept. .1 by falling into the fireplace of thw room she occupied. When found the was' dead with her fare and head terribly burned.i An accident occurred on Saturday, Sept. I 6, as the result of some children play-, ing with railway waggons on the gas* works siding, Anderson's Bay Road, Dunedin. H. W. Kitto, 11 years old. got his head caught between the buffers of two trucks,, with. the.result that the skull was severely, fractured.' He died at five o'clock on on the Bth September. At the inquest the jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death." adding a rider calling the attention of the authorities to the necessity for taking precautions in future to prevent similar! accidents. A man named Archie MeGiven, employed as a driver by the New Plymouth Harbour Board, was cut to pieces, by the tram near the breakwater OB! September 8. He was picked up dead. The body of a widow, Mrs. Sarah A. Pembetton, aged 69, was found Moating in 01 ago Harbour on Sept. 3. She had been suffering for some time, and. took some painkiller on Sept. 2 before going to bed. She was.' missed, and a search made. The body was; found about half-a-mile from her residence..; At the inquest, no evidence was forthcoming as to how deceased got into the water. A! verdict of found drowned was returned. A man named Hoffmann, a piano-tuner,' was picked up in an unconscious condition oa Napier Beach Road on Sept. 4, and, it being supposed that he was suffering from the* effects of drink, he was placed in the lockup. Later his condition caused apprehension, and a doctor was called in, when 1 Hoffman was found to be suffering front' apoplexy. He was at once removed to h'» home, where he died on September 5. At: the inquest the jury found that deceased' came by his death "through a fall on the road, causing a fracture of the skull. A boating accident occurred at Gisborn»; on the 3rd of September, when a boat con-i tabling six young men from Te Rau Nativ* College capsized in breakers off Kaiti Beach,* One of the party, a, European named Cart-! wright, a theological student, lately front England, was drowned. The others, aIL native students, were picked up by the* launches Tuna and Noko in a state of ex-' haustion. Two were sinking for the last time, when they were saved. ; John Rieley, 63 years of age, a farmer, at! Otakia, Taieri, was killed by a bine gum! tree falling on him. He was felling the tree' with bis sons, and in running back when it; was falling deceased tripped, and.was pinned' by a branch. The body of Jessie Smith, an elderly i woman, was found on Friday, August] 30, in a tank at the back of her house, at Te Aroha. Deceased disappeared **■■ week before, and.search parties had. beenout every day, but the tank was not : not: examined until August 30. The unfortunate woman had just been discharged from the asylum, to which she was coin-' mitted some mouths ago.