LEAP TO DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20481, 5 February 1930, Page 13

LEAP TO DEATH.

GRAFTON BRIDGE FATALITY.

CONSCIOUS WHEN PICKED UP.

MAN IN GULLY SEES FALL, Severe injuries to the head, from which he died about an hour after admission to the Auckland Hospital, were sustained by Llewellyn Mayson, aged about 45, married, in jumping from the parapet of Grafton Bridge shortly after 11 o'clock yestci'day morning. Mayson, who had been employed as a battery-hand at Karangahake, near Waihi, had suffered from ill-health, and had only recently moved to Auckland after being discharged from hospital. The leap from the bridge was mado at the spot where the main span joins the first pier, and where the drop is over 100 ft. The man, who was immediately picked up, was conscious, and was removed to the hospital by ambulance. Shortly after admission he sank into a state of coma and died shortly after noon. There were a, number of passers-by on the bridge afc the time, while two men were standing quite near to Mayson when he threw himself over. Afterwards they stated that they thought he was a workman engaged in inspecting or repairing the outer portion of the coping, as he climbed over the edge with deliberation and calm. When ho was noticed to have disappeared, they looked over the parapet and saw him lying below beneath the trees, near another man who was walking toward him.

The man at the foot of the gully and who witnessed the fall was Mr. G. Ross, retired engineer, of Bluff, who was inspecting the bottom of the arch to see what provision had been made for the expansion and contraction of the concrete He was looking upward when he saw something crash through the few trees at the spot an;! strike the ground with terrifii force on the southern side of the bridge, only a few feet away from him

Mr. Ross did not at first realise what had occurred, and it was only when he was about to walk away that he re membered instances of men committing suicide at this spot. He then walked under the bridge and found the man lying face downwards on the grass under the trees, which had not broken the fall to any appreciable extent.

At the same time the two men on the bridge who had been attracted by Mayson's disappearance shouted to Mr. Ross, and ho called to thein to summon tho police and the ambulance. Immediately after the body was seen a crowd commenced to make its way through the cemetery, and the gathering increased until with the arrival of the police it was necessary to close the cemetery gates. Mayson was carried up to the waiting ambulance, and within a few minutes was admitted to the hospital. Deceased's wife lives at 1, Rocklands Avenue, Mount Eden. There are three children, aged 21, 19 and 12.