WARKWORTH COACH FATALITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13049, 14 December 1905, Page 6

WARKWORTH COACH FATALITY.

. THE INQUEST. An inquest was held at Devonport yesterday by the coroner (Mr, T. Gresham) into the circumstances attending the death of Joseph Scholium, who was hurled from the box of the Wark worth to Devonport mail coach on the previous afternoon. Dr. C. H. Bennett said when he saw the deceased he was suffering from fracture of the skull and injuries to the spinal cord. It was a hopeless case, and Scholium died a few. hours after witness saw him. ; John Barton, sen., the owner of the coach, said the accident was caused by the horses shieing at a newly-formed culvert on the main road. ~ Deceased was seated on the box with another passenger named Casey. Witness was pitched off his seat, and Scholium jumped off as tho coach was overturnin"-. He fell on his feet, but turned over, and his head struck the ground with some force. Witness picked him up, but he was then unconscious. The horses had been fully two years on the road. Tho accident was quite unavoidable. In reply to the jury witness said a ratchet brake might have steadied the vehicle, but would not have prevented the accident. Mr. H. M. Wilson, civil engineer, who was in the coach at the time of the accident, said Scholium tried to regain the reins, which had fallen on to.tho horses when Barton was thrown off. Barton was a thoroughly competent driver, and a steady man. The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death."