CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3523, 20 September 1921, Page 25

CASUALTIES.

A collision occurred between two tranicars in Auckland on the 12tli. The front car i stopped to set down passengers, and by ; some means the second car crashed into : it. The motorman’s compartment was wrecked, and the motorman, Reginald MTDermott, was injured by a blow on the head, necessitating bis removal to the hos- I pital. A seaman, named Frank Donnellay, while riding a horse at Auckland on the 10th inst., collided with a tramcar, receiving- injuries from which he died on the 11th in the hospital. Edward Goo-dey. aged 28, who shot himself recently, died in the Waikato Hospital on the 11th inst. At an inquest concerning the death of Leonard Finch, of Tasman, who was found with the top of his head blown olf by a shotgun, a verdict of death from a gunshot wound was returned, there being no • evidence to show how it happened. The -indications were that it. was self-inflicted while deceased was mentally deranged. A tragedy occurred on the 13th at Waiuia. Heinrich Ifeydon, aged 60, after working in his garden, entered a shed. Jlis wife called him for tea, and she then heard an explosion. On entering the shed she found the body of her husband with his head blown off. So far no explanation of the deed i„- known. James Farrow, a labourer, was fatally injured at Ormond on tite 14th inst. lie wenton horseback to assist in controlling a mob of cattle, and when galloping along bis horse either bumped or tripped, and Farrow had his skull fractured, death resulting immediately. A man named William Johnston, 70 years of age, living by himself in a small cottage in Fawcett street, South Dunedin, died suddenly at about 5 o’clock on Wednesday evening. Bo far as is known, be was in lii-s usual state of health practically until he died. A married daughter of the deceased (Airs A. Peat.) lives at Gore. At the inquest a verdict was returned that death was due to sudden heart failure foldeath was due to sudden heart failure following senile degeneration. At an inquest- at Westport touching the death of Edward Bradley, who was found on Wednesday in a dying state near his hut, and who shortly afterwards collapsed, it was shown that the deceased went to the hospital to sweep chimneys, and that a ; bottle of stout was left- out for his supper, I also that a bottle of carbolic disinfectant was left in the kitchen where it had been in | use for disinfecting purposes, and lhe de- | ceased had by mistake, on finishing his job in the morjiing, taken tho disinfectant away with him and swallowed some of it. I Apparently ho was trying to get back to the hospital when he collapsed on the roadside. A verdict of accidental death through taking poison by mistake was returned. •John Tattersall. 4-0 years of age, succumbed in the Wellington Hospital as a result of a fall from a tram while alighting at Island Bay. Thomas Win. Ellingham, one of the original settlers at Whetukura, was found dead on the 16th inst., alongside his motor ear, near Ormondville, with a gunshot wound in bis head. There was a double-barrelled gun in the ear, one cartridge of which was discharged. Deceased was en route to Dannevirke at the time of his death. He was a weli-knovvn farmer, and a member of the Dannevir-ke A. and P. Association, war j and repatriation societies, and the Waipawa j Hospital Board. At the inquest- evidence I was given to the effect that deceased’s financial position was satisfactory. The coroner found that death was duo to gunshot wound in the face, between the eyes. There was not- sufficient evidence to show bow the discharge of tho shot from the gun which inflicted the injuries was caused. Phoebe Turner, a single woman. 20 years of age, who resides with her mother at 140 a George street, was admitted to the Dunedin Hospital oil Saturday afternoon, suffering from shock and severe injuries sustained through a fall over the cliffs at the Second Beach, ,St. Glair. She was discovered at the foot of the cliffs by a picnic party. Up till late o-n Sunday she was still on the dangerously ill list, but ihe extent i

of her injuries is not- yet definitely known. An inquest touching the circumstances surrounding the death of Geoffrey A. Davis, a child nor, quite four years old, who died on Monday last at his father’s farm near Horiot, was he’d the next day before Air U. Quin, acting coroner. The evidence showed that ihe child was found lying under a gate loading l to the cow yard. It was supposed that while trying to open the gale to get into the yard (he gate had fallen on him, pressing him to the ground. One of the bars of the gate was pressing on his throat. The head had been pressed back. Artificial respiration was tried by (he father till the arrival of the doctor, who continued it- for over an hour without avail. A verdict was returned according to the medical testimony—that deceased met his death by suffocation, no blame being attachable lo anyone.