CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3085, 30 April 1913, Page 59

CASUALTIES.

A married woman named Elizabeth Parker, 47 yearn of age, was found dead in an Auckland boarding-house. She complained of feeling unwell on tha 22nd. George Glasgow, a single man, aged 59 years, committed suicide at Thames by shooting himself through the mouth with a shot gun. On the 22nd he went home intoxicated, and his relatives remonstrated. Next morning Glasgow said it would not occur again, and he went to the stable and blew a hole in his head. The evidence in connection with tne coroner’s inquiry into the Talisman Mine fatality at Karangahape on March 28, by which M'Brido and Hyde were killed, was concluded on the 22nd. A verdict was returned that the accident was caused through the breaking of. a wire rope which had become deteriorated, but the evidence was not sufficient to show negligence. A rider was added that the ropes should be tested every three months. A fatal accident at a railway crossing occurred at Feilding on the 23rd. As the Auckland train was crossing Caindeh street an old lady named Mrs Grill, who was walking over the line, was struck by the side of the engine, and knocked down and killed instantly. The usual warning was given by the qnginc-driver, and how the lady came to walk into the engine cannot be explained. She leaves a family of grown-up children. At Napier on the 23rd a married woman named Mary Ann Mace wan, aged 36 years, committed suicide by drinking lysol. The inquest touching the death of John Poppelwcll, jim., the porter who was run over by a train at Mina, Canterbury, was resumed on the 23rd before Mr Bishop (coroner). The inquiry had been adjourned to enable evidence to be called as to the manner of the accident. William Henry APLcnaghen, ox-shunter, in the employ of the Railway Department, said he was cn duty at Mina with deceased" at the time of the accident. The engine went into the siding to do some shunting. The guard and witness did the shunting, in which the deceased took no part at all. They finished shunting and coupled on. and the guard went back to his van. Poppelwcll got into an I, wagon, and witness stepped on to the brake of a stock waggon and gave the order to pull out. The engine pulled out, and while it was doing so the deceased got out of the wagon and stood on the brake. Losing his balance, he fell between the .trucks and two stock wagons passed over him. It was one of those unfortunate accidents that might happen to any experienced shunter. Sergeant Jackson said that the stationmaster at Alina had made a statement to the effect that the deceased was never instructed to do any shunting. Mr Bishop said the first point was whether a lad of 17 vrars, who was inexperienced, and who had been only five months in the service, would bo instructed to carry out such duties. T'.iey had cleared that up A verdict of accidental death was returned. The Napier police have received intimation that William Austin, a shepherd, a single man, was run over on the Pora.ngahan road by a motor car on the 23rd, and that when picked «p life was found to be extinct. He was lying on the road, but ity is not known whether or not he was dead when the car ran over him. Percy Cornwall was making a trial spin in a 100 h.p. motor car at Alexandra Park in company with William Hinkley, a boy, when a tyre burst, and the motor crashed into a fence, and demolished about 20 yards of fencing. Cornwall was slightly cut, and the boy had four ribs fractured. A labourer named Kirby, a single man about 27 years old, was killed by a fall of earth near Hamilton, Waikato, on the 25th, while excavation work was in progress. It appears that he was backing a cart into the face when a fall of two tons of earth occurred, burying the unfortunate man. He was quickly dug out, but it was found that a stone had struck him on the temple, and he. died in a few minutes. By a collision at Timarn on the 25th inst. between a motor car driven by R. Porter and a bicycle ridden by a young woman named Daley the latter was seriously injured. Her face was much cut about, and the glass from the screen of the car injured her left eye. It is said she may lose the sight of the eye. Her left leg was also cut. She is suffering severely from shock. James Smith, a labourer, living at Kai taki, Hawke’s Bay. was found dead in a paddock on the 26th. He was engaged carting firewood, and his horse had evidently bolted. The cart he was driving capsized, and rushed him, causing injuries which resulted in death. The boy found in Auckland Harbour on April 1, has been conclusively proved to be Alex. Glendining, aged 37 years, an educated man from Home, who had been employed on a farm at Cabbage Bay, and who disappeared a month ago. Throe inquests were held at Wellington on the 26tb. The verdicts were that death was due to heart disease in the cases of Harry Williams and John Kimmins, and in the case of the negro Alfred Britis, who died in gaol while serving six months for sly grog-selling, the evidence showed that deceased was far gone in consumption, which was the chief cause of death. The constable at Pukekohe reported to the Auckland office on the 28th that on Friday a Maori named Marshall had been killed in the Onewhero Bush as the result of a log rolling on him. The death occurred at his home at Penrose of Francis Mason, a well-known hairdresser, of Queen street, Auckland, as the result of an overdose of opium, which was taken as a soporific. Mr Mason had been suffering for some time from insomnia, and in order to induce sleep he had been in the habit of taking each night a dose of opium. He was exceptionally troubled with sleeplessness on Friday evening after he had taken his usual amount of the soporific, and early on Saturday morning he took another dose, with the result that shortly afterwards he became unwell and a doctor was called in. Air Mason made some improvement in the morning, but later he became worse and died early in the evening. At the inquest a verdict was returned that death was due to an overdose of opium accidentally taken.

On the 27th an old resident of Invercargill named Frederick Weir, a fruiterer and bootmaker, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a revolver. He had been in ill-health • and under medical treatment. Thomas Hodden, aged 19, an employee of the Dunedin Engineering Company, while working- yesterday morning, was struck on the head by a piece of steel which flew out from a pair of tongs. He was admitted to the Hospital, where he was attended to. His injuries appear to be no more than a bruise on the head, and last night he was conscious and apparently doing well.