CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3513, 12 July 1921, Page 38

CASUALTIES.

Oliver Scott, a single man. aged-. 44 years, died .in the 'Wellington hospital” following an ansesthctic. Tiie deceased was a mechanic, and resided with a sister at Hataitai. i A trucker named F. Jack was killed in the Westport Goal Company’s iron Bridge mine on the 4th inst. through being caught by the coal tubs on the haulage road. John Finnerty, aged 60, who resides at Leith Valley, and is employed at the City : Corporation quarry, was admitted to the | Hospital on Tuesday suffering from burns about the face, received while engaged in blasting operations at the Leith quarry. Alired Judd, 59 years oi age, residing at 57 Young street, St. Kilda, and employed at tiie rope works, was received into the Hospital on Tuesday. He susi tained a fracture cf the right arm while : following his occupation at the rope works. Joyce Austin, a daughter of Mr L. :). Austin, musical director of a Wellington Theatre, accidentally set herself on lire. She was severely burned and was removed \ to the hospital, and is now progressing I as .satisfactorily as possible. I On entering the bedroom of her soil, John j Fair, aged 24, at Wellington, his mot her j j found the young-man lying- lull length upon | a bed with a bullet wound in his head, and j a sporting riiie beside him, which had reI oently been discharged. A string was j tied to the trigger. Deceased was a j law student, and was well known in the city. At the inquest a brother of deceased stated htat he saw deceased alive ai n m j night on Wednesday, when he was quite , normal, and had no mema: -., Deceased used to clean his rifle, and it was ' about due for a clean when his brothel- I died. The coroner found that death was due j ;(o a gunshot wound self-inflicted, but | : whether accidentally or not there was no i evidence to show. A report that a piece i of siring was attached to the rifle is not 1 correct. AN INFANT’S DEATH. An inquest into the circumstances of the death of Gavin Stuart Buchanan, the infant son of Mrs J. W. Buchanan, Fox street, Port Chalmers, who was found dead in bed by his mother early on Wednesday morning, was conducted by Mr 11. Y. Y\ iddowson, S.M., as coroner at Port Chalmers on Thursday. Sergeant Dougan appeared for tho police. Dr W. H. Borrie, who received a call at about 6.30 Wednesday morning, stated in evidence that he knew the parents well, and that he saw the child last, alive about three weeks ago. and that the deceased infant was ten weeks old, and had been quite healthy. On his arrival he found Mrs Williamson, a neighbour, nursing the child before the fire. On examining the child he found that, life was extinct, rigor mortis ! having commenced. There were no marks of violence about the body. The mothersaid that she had fed the child at about 2 a.in., lifting it out of the cradle near the bedside, and taking it to bed with hex-. When she awoke at about 6 o'clock she found the baby lying fare downwards in ihe bed, and thinking it dead she called her husband. Witness said that the child must have been dead several hours, and that death was caused by suffocation, duo to over-laving. It was purely an accident, as Mrs Buchanan was a caveful mother, and very attentive to her children. Emma Jane Buchanan, mother cf the deceased infant, gave corroborative evidence as to finding the child in bed. Mrs B. Williamson, a neighbour, also gave evidence as to being cu lied in by Mr Buchanan, and attempting to restore animatron by heat and rubbing. The Coroner returned a verdict that death was due to suffocation through having been accidentally over-lain.