ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19969, 10 December 1926, Page 12

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

TRUCK OVER BANK. * (Per United Press Association.) WHANGAREI, December 9. Alfred Alexander, aged 22 years, of Pr.kotai, was driving a motor truck, when steering gear locked, and the truck fed 12ft over a bank. Alexander was taken to the Whangarei Hospital, where it was found that his upper jaw and both nasal bones were broken. BURNT BY EXPLOSION. (Per United Press Association.) WHANGAREI, December 9. Alfred Beal, a storekeeper at Hikurangi, spilled vinegar on a cask of carbide. Ini order to ascertain if the vinegar had penetrated the cask he approached with a lighted candle. A violent explosion threw him 6ft, and burned his face and head. His eyesight s uninjured. RETURNED SOLDIER’S DEATH. (Special to Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, December 9. The death of William Henry Ashton, aged 32 years, who was found dead in the Auckland Domain on Wednesday morning, has been investigated by the coroner, Mr F. K. Hunt. The evidence showed that death was due to taking poison. Deceased was a returned soldier. He had a shrapnel wound in the lung which worried him considerably. A verdict of suicide was returned. A BATHER DROWNED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) QUEENSTOWN, December 9. A young man named Eric John Thompson, aged 21, met his death at half-past 4 yesterday afternoon by drowning in a pool in Hayes Creek, close to where it junctions with the Kawarau River. The deceased, who was cooking for the shearers at Watt brothers’ station, Gibbston, was returning from Arrowto\yn in company with his brother, Ernest Thompson, and two others named T. Carmichael and Frank Kippenberger. He and Kippenberger decided to strip off and have a bathe while the other two went shooting. Both dived into the pool, which was 10 or 12 yards wide. When Thompson came up he swam a few yards and f then appeared to be in difficulty. His brother, who was near by. called to Kippenberger so Thompson clung t Kippenberger, and to go to his asistance, and when he did both went under momentarily. Kippenberger did his best to get Thompson ashore, but, being exhausted himselt, had to let go. Deceased’s brother, who was unable to swim, then made an attempt to save him, but the body had gone down. Help was summoned from a half-mile distant, but by the time the body was recovered life was extinct. An inquest was held at Arrowtown today before D. P. Sutherland, cproner, when a verdict was returned of accidental death. Deceased was the youngest son of Edward Thompson, a well-known Arrowtown family.