ENGINE-DRIVER KILLED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21328, 1 November 1932, Page 8

ENGINE-DRIVER KILLED

j fail k railway yabdsJl I " '.-fjjjfj CRUSHED BY COW-CATCHER 'll .jpl FATALITY AT TAIHAPE | I.ET 11—IC-iiArH—C - 1 N O?R2I2SPC 1 | _ TAIZirZ. § tafcal aries were received by i[ r> : «i Frederick William Atkins, ecgine-driTer, ;o: la-har-e, wrer. h-? zed iron and s a :.||j At tr.e rnqnest this mrrnir.g Charles . j|| j driving the en-:-- in question toward tha ll i pit at the railway yards when deceased, ' M { who v-i? - .3n -iinn cn r.£? si&s of crosi:» ov«rr limti tcs to tr.t? f' s.u<? '!] of the cow.i-s;cher. A;~e«: immediately witness heard him call cat. Witness ap. plied the emergency brake and brought f the engine to a stands::!!. He found deceased lying on the left side of the eh cine |i just clear of the rails. He appeared to ?« ...|l j seriously injured. Witness asked him what happened and f' i Atkins replied that he .slipned and ccuhl * ji t not get clear. $ In answer to a question witness said it -j! j was the usual practice to travel- on th« j front of the cow-catcher and step from cna i side to the other. j John HanSey, engine-driver, who wit- | nessed the accident, stated that deceased ; appeared to bp crushed by the cow-catcher. Donald Alexander Munro, locomotive I foreman. Taihape. said . that the track > where the accident occurred was in gcod j order. There was nothing to make the en- _ f gine jump or jerk. | Dr. M. Kronfe'd. Taihape. stated that deceased's injuries consisted of severe laeer- | atiori.s, fractn:.Ts of both legs and the right i thigh. Deatja was due to shock and j hemorrhage. In witness' opinion the iaj juries were caused by the cow-catcher i striking deceased and not by the wheels j passing over him. j The coroner returned a verdict of i.cciJ dental death, and added a rider that he i was of opinion that ail regulations had been complied with and no blame was ' attachable to anybody. Mr. Atkins was married and had 'itiree young childre-n. He was 43 years of age and was well known on the Main Trunk j line. He had been stationed at Taihape for about eight years. He was the driver cn Ihe Auckland-bound express from Wellington to Taihape on the evening of j his death.