FATAL TEAM ACCIDENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10597, 18 February 1896, Page 2

FATAL TEAM ACCIDENT.

A MAN CUT TO PIECES IN PRINCES STREET. "At the time at which thehoarding was first pat, up 'ground the corner of Rattray and Princes streets, where the Government Life Insurance department's new premises are in course of erection, attention was drawn in our local columns to the cericus encroachment.which was made on Princes street, so much so that only a few feet were left between tho ttsin Hue and the handrail ontskJe -tho narrow passage supposed to be intended'for pedestrian", aud the public were warned of the danger of accident and of the necessity nil kesping a sharp lookout for passing tramnara. With tne more frequent tram service and the regular running of drags past the encroachment in question, the ri?k of accident incurred by passers-by has recently bsen intensified, and the necessity of watchfulness on their pirt.has ,beoa iucrensed. It is on a Saturday night that the danger is most real The streets.are then generally thronged with people, so that at that particular part of the street many are forced or jostled out into the middle of the roadway, and. there ia also always a considerable amount of noise—the noise of the hum of voices aud tread of feet, of the rattling of vehicles, and of the voices of 1 street preachers at the , Cargill monument. On tho Ist inst. a chocking accident, with almost immediately fatal termination, occurred opposite the hoarding, a man who was walking up Princes street being overtaken by a double-decker car, which, with three hones and » "tracer," left the Grand Hotel corner about 9.10 p.m., and knocked down and terribly injured. The fact that he did not hear the warning cries from the car itnelf and from the police constable ou duty about the cpot is easily capable of explanation. At that particular time on Saturday night tha streets were exceptionally crowded. The mild weather had tempted out many moro than the regular bind I of predestrians and, the town being full of visitors,, .their numbers wore swelled by j strangers, and the noise was greater than usual, j especially as cabs and espressos were at that I time rolling np from the railway station with passengers and luggage from the north train. It is not unnatural that a person who, like the victim in this case, was passing up the street in conversation with a friend should, in a confusien of sounds, be unaware of the fact that he was being shouted at; nor wonld it be remarkable that a man, hearing the warning cries, should not have the presence of mind to put himself beyond reach of tha imminent danger.

The official report of the occurrence supplied to the inspector of police is to the effect that the victim, whose name was William Martin, a resident of Green Island, started from the hoarding .sido to walk across Princes street. He did not seem to notice that a tram had left the Grand Hetel corner and was coming up the street. Constable M'Cormack, who was on duty in Princes street about the centre'of the hoarding, shouted to Martin to look out, bat the Utter did not seem to hear him, and M'Cormack then rnahed to him in tbe hope that ho might get him out of the way, but he failed to reach him in time, and Martin was struck by the horses, knocked down, and run over by the team, which was driven by a man named John Whoeler, the conductor's name being George Allan. Prompt assistance was reudered by passers-by, and Martin was taken out from undar the tram. His injuries were so serious that Constable H'Cormack took him at once to tho hospital, but he died there live minutes after being admitted,

The deceased, who was 42 yeara of age, was the only son of Mr William Martin, an old and respected settler at Kaitfield, Grscn Island, and was a married msh. Mr William Arthur, a compositor iv the Times Offica, who happened to bs walking up Princes street almost abreast of tbe deceased, states that the latter hnd to pass two groups of persons standing in tho street, and that he walked outside them in the middle of the roadway. When the shouts from the rider of the "tracer," from the constable, and others were raised Arthur jumped in towards the pavement, but Martin seemed, he says, to disregard his cry to " look out " and to walk stcroaa the team lice. Upon au examination of the body of, the unfortunate man being made at the hospital it was found that his right thigh, his right anirte, and his left leg bslflw the knee wero all broken—the fracture in each ca«e being a compound one, — that savoral of his riba were crashed in over febe heart and also on the right side, that his left collarbone was dislocated, and that he had a large soalp wonnd on tha forehead. At the inquest, af ber hearing evidence, the jury intimated that they had come to the conclusion that tbe deceased wss Rcoidentally killed by being run over by a tramcar, and that there was no biamo attachable to anyone. They also considered that if the trace horse h'-d been in front instead of at the side the accident would not have occurred.