FATALITY AT PORT CHALMERS
the inquest. The adjourned inquest on the body of John .Robert Sansoni was held at Port Chalmers yesterday bv Mr. J. R. Bartholomew (coroner), banaom was missing from nis home last Saturday night, and liis bodv was recovered by the police on Monday near the trawler Waiting!, on which he was working as a boilermakcr. Charles Philip Madell, a member of the military police force, said ho was on duty at the Bowen pier barricade between 6 and 10 p.m. on Saturday. About 6.15 a. man passed the gate, and when witness challenged him he replied that iic was a boilermaker, and was going aboard the to do something at tho job on which he was engaged. Witness saw deceased' board the snip and go down the ladder. He was then perfectly sober. Madell admitted to sergeant Dougan that he had previously told a poliocinan that Sansom was not sober but he had said so unthinkingly. He did not tell any one that he was afraid to say so in evidence, as it might affect tho paying of the insurance claim. Deceased might have had a drink, but he appeared to be quite sober. Mr A. S. Adams, who appeared Cor the relatives of the deceased and for tho Boilermakers Union, dre-w the coroner's attention to the fact that the witness Short on Monday had not stated that deceased had finished tho work before he left at 5 o'clock '/he coroner, after consulting his not-"s! confirmed this, but said that it did not apply to the evidence of Robertson. William Lean (boilermakcr) said there was a meeting of the union on Saturday night, and any member who was absent "from it without good rc-'ason \yas liable to a lin,:. Witness saw deceased about noon, and lie was then quite sober. Sansom said he would not be able to attend tho meeting as he was working late. Witness asked the secretary if an 'absent member could vote by writing, and when the secretary asked if anyone was working late, ho replied that Sansom was. The Coroner said l the evidence showed that deceased had got safely on hoard the trawler and that he was "not under the influence of drink, i A verdict of death from accidental drowning was returned.
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Otago Daily Times, Issue 17324, 25 May 1918, Page 13
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383FATALITY AT PORT CHALMERS Otago Daily Times, Issue 17324, 25 May 1918, Page 13
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