THE FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE GOLDEN GREY DREDGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2539, 12 November 1902, Page 4

THE FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE GOLDEN GREY DREDGE.

An inquest on the body of P«tev Sluller, who was killed on the Golden Glen dredge on Thursday, October 30, was held at Island. Block on Saturday, Ist inst., before Mr John Inghs, of Roxburgh, J.P. (acting-coroner), and [ » jury of six, of whom Mr Robert Stev/art, of Island Block, was appointed foreman. MrGreen, Inspector of Mines, appeared en behalf of the Slinep Department; Mr A. BHaggitt, of Lawrence, appeared to vatch proceedings on behalf of the owners of the dredge (the Otago Gold Dredging Company, Limited) ; %nd Mr J. G. Stuart, of Roxburgh, represented the relatives of the deceased. John Adamson Wallace, dreclgemaster of the Golden Glen dredge, being sworn, said: I remember last Thursday, October 30. I yras ■working 3n the dredge at 2.3 Con that after-

drum. I was at the winch. Knew deceased ;r he was winchman on the dredge. Deceased; was at the bow of the dredge. He was coiling the rope as I paid it out to him. It was the ladder-lifting line. The rope was a 2iini one. When we had about a dozen coils out the log which, we had under the ladder carried away. The first thing I heard was the engineer: calling out. I then ran forward from th« winch. I heard the deceased call out from up in the gantry. I saw deceased hanging: there by an iron stay. He waa holding on tot the stay with his hand. He was mangled a bit about the legs. He called out to me to> save him. He was hanging there for *" fewr seconds. He then let go and slid down, the gantry log to the deck. We bandaged him up as well as we could and removed him to hia tent. One leg — the right — waa pulled off afe the knee ; the other was broken at the ankle* Previously to that we had sent for the doctor. He came about 6 o'clock in the evening. Deceased lived about an hour after the doctor came. He -was conscious all the. time. He said mi two occasions that he was a fool foe stepping into the coil. The ladder was brought up because the line Ead slipped off the ladder barrel. We brought it up a sufficient distance to put the log under the ladder across the wellhole. The block -was about 7ft 6in in lengthf and between Sin and lft square. It was kauri wood, and I had used it before for the same purpose on other occasions. I did not examine it very closely on this occasion.' I cannot account for its breaking on this occasion. We had been working five or ten minutes after the ladder was ux> before the- beam l broke. There was no jerking to cause it to break. By the Inspector of Mines : .The ladder " r&n away " shortly after 1 o'clock. The' whole of the line slipped off the barrel and ran out into the river through the gantry sheaves. We fished the end of the line up. To do so we I took the end out of one of the sheaves to got a fair lead to the winches. TJie line waa , rather short. When the ladder was on lh<> I bottom there were only about four turns left I on the drum. The end of tue rope was secured ; on the drum by a bolt bent to the shape of the rope passed through the flange of the drum, and a nut on the end of the rope to tighten, the grip ou the rope. I was dredging 30ft to ' 35ft at the time. After we got the fair leadwe got' the ladder up safely without any difficulty. We then put the block under the ladder. Deceased and myself placed it under. X lowered the ladder on to the log by means oc the winches. I lowered it gently. After consideration, I think the log was about 10 x 10 square. The well-hole is sft 7in wide. The j log had a resting of about lft on each side. ' I have not seen the log since, except for a> ' few chips; it probably went down the river. I think the total weight of the ladder complete is about 30 tons, the ladder being suspended from the shaft. The log waa placed "about 10ft from the bottom tumbler of the ladder. Probably half the weight of the ladder was restingon the log. I had always considered the log sufficiently strong, it having been procured for i that purpose. I would not, after this experi- | ence, use a katiri log of similar dimensions. I I would use a bluegum .01 a hardwood lojr, they being tougher and stronger. In futuro I will discard kauri for this purpose, it being too short in the grain. I knew deceased well. I have known him for "two years. He had been working for me for five \freeks. I foundT him a competent winchman and a good work-, man. While Muller was coiling the rope I i caught sight of him occasionally through the ■ housing. I did not see" deceased caught by the coils, of the lope he had been working a - . . but think he must have been caught I think that this accident shows the necessity for dredgemen keeping clear of the coil and on the safe side. By Mr Haggitt: I had previously warned the deceased not to step inside the coil of the rope. He and others had been in the habit of doing so, and I considered it my duty to warn them, as I knew it was <i dangerous practice. Deceased said, after the accident, o,i on 3 occasion, " Was I not a fool for stepping inside the coil ?" and on ihe 'Other occasion La said, "I was a fool for stepping in 'the coii." or words to*that effect. The deceased was about 24 years of age. By Mr Stuart: I am employed by the Otago Company. Decaised would have been perfectly safe if the block of wood had not broken. On previous occasions the block had supported the whole weight of the ladder. Re-examined : He made use of the expression that he was a fool for stepping into tho coi! on his own account, and not' in consequence of any remark from me. On the second occasion I asked him a question in the tent relating to the accident — how it happened,— and he repeated his remark as to being a fool. The height from the deck to the iron stay is about 15ft. From where the ladder was lying on the [ log to its present position is about 7ft or Bft. The rope on the winch stopped it from falling lower. George Cruickshank, engineer on {he Golden Glen dredge, sworn, corroborated the evidence of John Adamsoii Wallace in every particular. I He was not sure of the size of the log, but i thought that the measurement given was abou£ correct. Witness was standing at the forge, nearer to deceased than Wallace. By Mr Haggitt : I heard the deceased say on. the deck that he was a, fool to get inside the coil. John Methers, firsman on the Golden Glen, dredge, also corroborated the evidence of John Adamson Wallace in every particular except that he did not see deceased hanging to the iron stay, and could not swear positively as to the dimensions of the log, .but thought it was about 10 x 10. By Mr Haggitt: Whan I was dressing his wounds I heard him say, '" Me the fool for standing in the coil." Charles Gillo!y, winchman, Golden Glen dredge, remembered the 30th October. 1902. At 2.30 in the afternoon he was standing ai the doorfo Foster's tent, on the bank of the Molyneux Ri-.er, overlooking the Golden Glert dredge. He heard a crash from the dredge as if timber were smashing, then saw a man thrown in the air from the deck of the dredge. The deceased Petar Muller was the man. Witness saw him hanging on to the iron stay with) his hands. He was hanging there for about half a minute and then dropped on deck. The engineer called to witness to go for the doctor? at once, and lie werft. By Mr Haggitt: Could not see from where he was how deceased was caught. He cou'.d not see the wire rope. The Jury brought in a verdict as follows: — • " That the deceassd died from injuries receievi by an accident on the Golden Glen dredge on the 30th Say of October, 1902."

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