ACCIDENTALLY KILLED

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8363, 25 February 1913, Page 10

ACCIDENTALLY KILLED

KNOCKED DOWN BY MOTOR-CAR. An inquest was conducted by Dr. A. McArthur, S.M., coroner, yesterday, touching the death of Guiseppi Pisam, a musician, who died at the hospital on Friday night after being knocked down by a motor-car in Willis street. Senior-Sergeant Mullaney, represented‘the police, Mr J. J. McGrath appeared for the driver of the car, -Mr D. G. Jackson for the relatives of the deceased, and Mr T. M. Wilford for the owner of the car (Mrs Nightingale). George Stuart Neish, driver of the car, stated that he was driving from Lambton quay to Willis street about! a quarter to 8 o’clock on Friday night.l Just as he had turned the corner, and as he .was following behind a tram, the front wheels, of the cai skidded over to the right side of the road. As he was trying to swerve the car on to the proper track, he noticed a man, who was walking to the Empire Hotel side of the street, and who was carrying a harp on his left shoulder. One of the lamps on the front of the car hit the harp, and the man was knocked over. Pisani was placed in the car and driven to the hospital, and witness then drove straight back to the Lambton quay police station, where he reported the occurrence. At the time the wheels skidded it was. raining, and the wheels and the tramline were wet. Thewheels skidded four or five feet, but not more than five, and when the car': stopped it was standing on the right; hand tram track. The skidding was the cause of the accident. The speed of the car was about four miles an hour, which was quite within the speed limits. In reply to Mr McGrath, witness said he sounded the horn when going! round the corner. He had no doubt that he was travelling on his proper side of the road. Possibly he was going less than four miles an hour. To Mr Wilford: The tyres on the car were called non-skidding tyres. I Witness had had experience of tyres' which were supposed to be non-skid-' ding, but he had never found them to be satisfactory. Evidence was given by Dr. Woodhouse, acting-superintendent of ■ the Wellington Hospital, that ho believed the cause of death was shook, following concussion of the brain. Olaf Jacobsen, a, passenger in the car, said he considered it was travelling about walking pace. It was on the proper side of the road. When the car got into Willis street it was a little bit to the right of the left hand track looking south. Senior-Sergeant Mullaney: What makes you remember so well the position of the car ? Isn’t it a fact that you and the driver had a conversation and decided to tell the story you give now ? Witness: No. Mr Wilford: I ask the SeniorSergeant why he should state that this witness and Neish should come here and tell a story which is untrue?, Senior-Sergeant Mullaney: I don’t say that. (To the witness): Have you and Neish conversed about the position since the accident? Mr Wilford: That is a wholly improper question. Senior-Sergeant Mullaney : I only want his explanation. Mr Wilford: You look like it.. Senior-Sergeant Mullaney: His Worship can stop mo if I am wrong. We are here to find .out the truth. Mr Wilford: Well, you can’t go on fishing expeditions and getting yarns in while I’m here, anyway. The witness said, ho had not seen Neish since the accident. After further evidence had .been heard the coroner returned a verdict that deceased was accidentally killed. From thb weight of evidence it ap peared that the car skidded to the right and struck the deceased, or tus harp. The cause of death was shock following concussion of the brain, the concussion being the result of the fal. to the ground.