A PECULIAR FATALITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17324, 25 May 1918, Page 13

A PECULIAR FATALITY

TEL INQUEST. NO EXPLANATION OFFERED. Mr J. R. Bartholomew, as coroner, conducted ui) inque.it at the Hospital yesterday afternoon into the circumstances of the death of George Henry Joyce, who met his death as the result of a somewhat mysterious accident at the lift in Messrs Ross ar;tl Glendining's Clothing Factory on Thursday. Mr C. J. Payne appealed for lioss and Glendining, Mr Browott for the Department of Labour, Mr J. Nichol for the relatives of the deceased, and Seniorsergeant Murray conducted the case for tho police. Samuel Joyce, match factory foreman, living at 63 Easther crescent. Caversham, identified the body as that of his son George, 14- years of age. His son was apprenticed to Messrs Ross and Glendining to be a tailor. He was a strong, healthy boy, and left homo the previous morning in good health itnd spirits. Dr Bowie (assistant medical superintendent at _ tho Hospital) said the deceased "was admitted at noon the previous day in an unconspious oondition. There was evidence of_ a fracture of tho vertex of tho skull. His nose was broken, and there was a large blood tumour on the right side of the neck. There was also a bruise on the left_ shoulder and left upper arm. Tho patient never regained consciousness, and died at S p.m. The cause of death was injuries to nead and neck, probably caused by a' blow, but the condition of tho neck proved subsequent pressure. James Hector Murray (apprentice cutter), IS years of age, employed in Ross and Glendining's faotory, said ho had been working with tho deceased the previous morning. They took two bales of denim <off the lift on the first floor, and witness thought they were both flat on the floor. The bales were clear of the lift or the lift would not have gone down. After tho second bale had been taken off they went down to the basement, deceased jumping on the b'ft as it was going downLeaving deceased standing by the lift, witness went out to sec if there were any more bales to get. There were two packers near the lift, and they put another bale on. When witness returned to go up in the lift he saw deceased hanging from the lift. He called out to tho packers, who sent him to run up to the next floor. He saw the bale lying on deceased, and called out to others, who pulled it off him. Witness worked the lift going down, and had been in the habit of working it. Deceased was also quite familiar with the working of it. From the time he left deceased till he returned and found him suspended would be about two or three minutes. Witness had no instructions to use the lift. He had instructions from Mr Todd to take the bales off the lift. Alexander J. T. M'Kenzie (packer in Ross and Glendining's warehouse) said he had instructions to put bales of denim into the factory and to the warehouse. There were three bales and a case. They sent up the case first and then two bales singly. After that he saw the two boys on the bottom floor, and, with another man, he put the third bale on the lift. Witness went outside with a case, and shortly afterwards Murray reported something wrong at the lift. Witness could see only the boy's legs dangling down into the lift, and he went to the first floor and gave the manager and another a help to lift the bale off. The back of the boy's head was on tho floor, and the bale had been resting on the boy's face. The top railing of the lift was iust flush with the factory floor. He could not offer any suggestion as to how the deceased came to be in the position he was in. It was the bale that kept the body from dropping into the lift. To Mr Payne: It was the second bale taken up that was lying on deceased, and that bale must have been free of the lift or the lift would not have gone down. Alfred W. Hudson (another packer at Rosa and Glendining's) said he had been assisting the previous witness, whose evidence he corroborated. He could not account for the accident. He supposed the bales would weigh about 2£cwt. Victor G. Cavanagh (factory manager for Ross and Glendining) said he had been informed of the accident' about 11.30 a.m. He helped others to pull the bale off! The boy's back was on the top plate of the lift, and the back of the head was resting on the floor. The bale covered to his chin. It was lying almost level with the edge of the well. He could not offer any suggestion as to how deceased's head got underneath the' bale. The lift was about Bft in depth. Andrew Todd (foreman in the cutting room at Ross and Glendining's factory) said he had helped to lift the ..bale after the accident; Ho agreed with the previous evidence, and could not offer any explanation. The boys' work was opening the bales, and if they had kept to it it would have been all right. He had warned the boys about the lift many times, and had told them to go up the stairway. To Senior-sergeant Murray: There was no one in particular in charge of the lift, but he supposed that as foreman he was in. charge. William Anderson (inspector of machinery) said he had inspected the lift the previous day, and found it in good order and protected in every way. He could not explain why the lift stopped where it did, and would not offer any suggestion as to how the accident occurred. A person could release the lift and then go inside the cage. ■pie Coroner said tho position in which this unfortunate lad was found was quite a mystery on the evidence given. No explanation had been offered as to how the head got into the position in which it was. The bale was heavy, and it was not easy to explain how it came into the position in which it was found. They had it that the nature of the injuries was that they were rather those that would be given by a blow than as the result of steady pressure I here was no band or other hard material on the bale which would have caused the injury, and that made the position still more mysterious. The enly verdict he could_ return was that death was due to injuries to the head and neck accidentally received in the working of the lift.