STRANGE MISTAKE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 8 (Supplement)

STRANGE MISTAKE

; BURIED IN WRONG GRAVE ; EXHUMATION PROBLEM { As a result of an error of identifii cation, an extraordinary situation has ! arisen out of a motor-car accident at Tarleton, near Preston, Lancashire, recently. Four people who were killed in a collision were believed to be: —Annie Mackillop, aged 25; Harry Boocock, aged 34; Hannah Boocock, aged 37, the last-named's wife; and Albert William Green, aged 24. Two were injured: Maurice Boocock, ;the 11-year-old son of Harry Boocock, and a man who was at first thought to be Bonald Mackillop, the husband of Annie Mackillop. For a week the injured man lay at the hospital at Preston in a semi-conscious condition and with his head swathed in bandages, and meanwhile one of the dead men : was buried at Bradford as Harry Boocock in the same grave as Mrs. Boocock. 1 The first hint that a mistake had ibeen made was given when the sister and sister-in-lavV of 'Mackillop. visited the hospital and declared that the man lying there was not Mackillop.

The man himself in moments of consciousness declared that his name was Boocock, and tho latter's relatives visited tho infirmary and definitely declared that lie was Harry Boocock. Therefore, Konald Mackillop has been buried under a wrong name and with the wife of another man. Discussing how' the error arose, tho Preston coroner, Colonel H. Parker, stated: " Both the men whose identity got confused were badly damaged. The relatives identified the bodies from the clothing and personal effects, and were largely influenced by the fact that tho little boy, the son of Boocock, who was with them when the accident happened, and who survived, was asked which man was wearing a blue shirt, and he said his father was not but Mackillop was. " It now appears, however, that it was Boocock and not Mackillop who was Wearing a blue shirt, and tho little boy was mistaken." G l olonel Parker added that he had DO idea what tho position would be in regard to the exhumation of Mackillop and reburial in another grave. If it were in his district, at the request of the relatives he would have Mackillop exhumed, but that rested with tho Bradford coroner now. 1 The Register-General might decide that Mackillop's body must be taken up and brought back to Preston for another identification. . The Bradford coroner, Mr. J. G. Hutchinson, stated that tho exhumation of Mackillop was not within his jurisdiction, as the inquest was hold at Preston.