ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19585, 15 September 1925, Page 7

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

A WOMAN. DROWNED. (Peb United Press Association.) WHANGAREI, September 14. The body of Margaret Neale, a widow aged G 3 and a resident of Mama, was found floating in the Upper Whangarei estuary yesterday. She had been mentally incapacitated for several years. She left the home of relatives in Whangarei on Friday, ostensibly to visit other relatives at Kauri. This morning her clothes were found under a bridge on the opposite side of the stream, and as her body was clad in a nightgown it is thought that deceased had the hallucination that she was going to bed. A ImOKEN ARM. ACCIDENT TO OTAGO PUL 13-BACK. (Peh United Press Association.! WELLINGTON, September 14. E. Stevenson, the Otago full-back, who had a bone in his arm broken during the Weliington-Otago match on Saturday last, is remaining in Wellington for medical attention while the Otago team visits Waira-. rapa. COMPANION KILLED. LOADED RIFLE TRAGBDT. {Pee United Phess Association.! . CHRISTCHURCH, September 14. Andrew Giffney, aged 27, was accidentally shot dead at New Brighton last evening. Bernard Deidrich, Giflney’s companion, , said that he fired his Winchester repeating rifle, believing it to be unloaded. He was, he said, eplaiuing the mechanism. At the inquest on Giffney, the coroner (Mr H. Y. Widdowson) said that the occurrence was one of those particularly sad ones in which people examined rifles without first ascertaining whether they were loaded. One wondered that people diA not first see that the weapons they examined were unleaded. It was to bo hope® that this would bo a warning to people to lie more careful. There was no doubt that the whole thing was an accident, and , he sympathised with Diedrich in the loss of his friend. He returned a formal verdict of accidental death. A TRAGIC DEATH. MOTORMAN’S SUDDEN DEMISE Under tragic crivumatancee a tramway motormau named Edwin Montague Rix, aged 45 years, died suddenly of heart failure at his residence, 175 Melbourne street. South Dunedin, yesterday morning, leaving a family of nine children. Rix spent Sunday evening at his home. Ho was quite well until he had a sadden seizure, experiencing pains in the chest and a choking feeling. He wont to bed, and his wife sent for Dr Lindon, who prescrilied for the man, thinking his condition was not serious. During the night he did not seem to be suffering any pain, and at 8 o’clock yesterday morning ho asked for a cup of tea When his wife retimed she found him. as she thought, unconscious. She immediately sent for Dr Lindon, who found that the man was dead. As Dr Lindon is prepared to give a certificate to the effect that death woe due to heart failure, an inquest will not ■ be necessary. LOST OVERBOARD. VERDICT OF ACCIDENTAL DEATH. On August 2 last, while the trawler Silver Crest was making her way to the fishing grounds outside Port Chalmers, Albert Norman Thompson disappeared. Yesterday, under section 257 of the Shipping and Seamen’s Act, an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his disappearance was conducted before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M. „ . ■ The police were represented bv Chief Detective Lewis', and the Marino Department bv Captain Fraser. Hugh" Albert Parker, the first witness, said that arrangements to go fishing had been made with Thompson on August 1, , and at about 4.15 a.m. the following day they had gone aboard the trawler Silver Crest. Alter staying in the cabin with two members of the crew for about 20 minutes they had gone on deck just as the boat started, and they had sat On the right hahd side of the bow. They had returned to the cabin later, but Thompson very shortly afterwards had decided to go on deck again. Witness had said that it was rather cold, and had remained in 'the cabin for about half a minute. Then he too gone upstairs, but did not see Thompson, whom ho expected would be in the wheelhouse. Members of the crew, on being questioned, said that they did not know where Thompson was, and a search was made without success! It was very dark at the time. When it was found that Thompson was missing the captain had turned back. There had Been no liquor consumed by witness or Thompson, who appeared to be in good health. It was difficult to get about as the boat was strange to them, and in the dark they had to grope their way. Nothing was paid for the trip. Fred Gurnett Asher said that it was he who had arranged the trip for the previous witness and Thompson. Thompson had askec! him if it would be possible to have a day's trawling, and witness had approached the owner of the Silver Crest (Mr Tulloch). who had consented to take Thompson and Parker, provided that they were on board by 4.15 a.m. on Sunday. Witness had last seen Thompson, with whom he and the previous witness worked, at midday on the Saturday. A brother of Thompson, Robert Stephenson Thompson, said that his brother occasionally went fishing. Parker had called for his brother on the Sunday morning, and they had left at about 3.15 a-m. Fis brother, who was strong and healthy, did not seem to worry about anything. He did not know of anything that would induce anybody to wish his brother out of the way. The owner of the Silver Crest, George Robert Henry Tulloch, of Timaru, corroborated Asher’s evidence regarding tho introduction of Thompson and Parker. Ho had considered Thompson an exceptionally merry young man. He had heard, Thompson ask Parker to go on deck and see the sights. When about six miles from Dunedin the boat had been turned back, and the channel had been searched, but there had been no sign of the missing man, who had been wearing a long canvas coat, fastened with straps and buckles. If he had tripped he would have bad little hope of recovering his balance. Witness told Captain Fraser that he did not hold a master’s certificate for river or extended river limits. The boat was not registered to carry passengers, though it was quite usual to cany passengers on Sunday mornings. No charge had ever been mad® to these passengers, nor over a period of 20 years had there been an accident. James Edward M'Kenzie, a member of the crow of tho Silver Orest, said that he hud been in the wheel house when Parker had made his inquiries regarding tho whereabouts of Thompson. Charles Robert M’Farlane, employed on tho Silver Crest, stated that he saw somebody come up from tho cabin and sit on the starboard side. It would 'be quite easy for anyone strange to the boat to trip over tho grating instead of stepping on it. Detective Russel! said that on August 3 he made an examination of the Silver Crest. There was nothing unusual about tho boat. Ho had been conducting the inquiries into the', circumstances of tho disappearance, and it was his opinion that there was a big possibility of a stranger meeting with an accident on board the boat. There was nothing to indicate suicide or foul play. Mr Bartholomew sard that the evidence showed that Thompson had stumbled or tripped and had fallen overboard. The verdict would bo that Tiompson was accidentally drowned by falling over the side of the Silver Crest in Dunedin Harbour on August 2. KNOCKED DOWN BY MOTOR ONE KILLED; TWO INJURED. (Pin United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, September 14. " The week-end was darkened by still another motor fatality, the victims being: Killed.—A. Armstrong, aged 50, of the Lower Hutt, believed to he a messenger in tho Internal Affairs Department. Injured.—Miss Edith Hopple, aged 28. of Lower Ilutt, who was sent to tho hospital suffering from concussion. Mrs Fake, of Lower Hutt, bruises and abrasions. She was able to proceed to her homo. Armstrong, with Mra -rake and Miss Hopple and the latter’s two daughters, went cut to the Lower Hutt by the 8.45 train, and on arrival were crossing the road, when a passing motor car, driven bv George James Cooper, a seedsman, of Wellington, ran into tho party, wdth fho remit that Armstrong was terrfby injured on the head, death being apparently instantaneous. It, is stated that rain made the bitumen track shiny, and as another motor was approaching at tho time with bright lights Cooper's vision of the roadway was distorted.