CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3808, 8 March 1927, Page 37

CASUALTIES.

ROTORUA, March 2. Tom Booth, aged 78 years, was crossing a street,_ and in avoiding a motor car stepped in front of another car driven by a lady. He was caught by the starting handle and dragged 60 feet. He was sent to hospital suffering from serious injuries. WELLINGTON, March 1. An inquest was held to-day on the body of Joi Neroli Reid Toll, aged six, who was killed on Friday in Vivian street by a motor lorry driven by Michael Carey. Mr E. Page (coroner), returned a verdict of accidental death. Kenneth Jack Reid, the little girl’s brother, said another little girl was chasing deceased with a piece of tomato, and sna . ran off the footpath on to the road. Michael Carey said the deceased ran out from in front of a stationary tramcar, and the front mudguard seemed to hit her She was injured on the back of the head. Other evidence to the effect that the lorry was not travelling more than eight miles an hour was tendered. A verdict of accidental death was returned, no blame being attachable to anyone. J n WANGANUI, March 1. Walter Hamer, aged 11, died from a seizure while bathing in the baths at Aramono to-day. ... . ""NELSON. March 2. ~A . tho result of a horse bolting through the blinker strap breaking, Mr John Chapman and hig wife, of Pangatotara, suffered rather serious injuries. The runaway conMAVi Or S ° me but in street, Motueka, an attempt was made by a passer-by to stop it. The horse thereupon swerved, and crashed into a stationary rootor car Mr Chapman had tw o ribs orqKen, and his wife received a fractured wrist. POLICE CONSTABLE INJURED. J° bn Clarke, a police constable aged 25 years, a single man, met with a serious accident in Castle street on Friday mornuig. He was riding a heavy 10 or 12 horse-power motor cycle and collided with a tramcar about 12 yards from the intersection of - Castle and Dundas streets. He was admitted to the Hospital at 9.30 su “ 6 ? ln S from a compound fracture of the right leg and injuries to his head. He is on the dangerously ill list. His people Itve in Auckland. The machine ho wa s riding is a total wreck. MANGLED BY A BULL. - inquiry touching the death of . . yknm Henry Clemtree Dixon, who was killed by a bull on a farm near Romahana, was held at the farmhouse of Mr , • Sargent on Tuesday afternoon, beiore Mr G. W. Wood, J.P., acting coroner, and a jury comprising Messrs M. 1. Jackman (foreman), Henry Evans Geo Hay, and Samuel Henry. Constable 1 earcc, of Balclutha, conducted the inquiry on behalf of the police. Alice Christina Dixon stated that her fatlier was 63 5 ears of age, a widower, and had resided with her on their farm near Romahapa, where they carried on dairy farming in a small way. She last saw him alive on Monday morning between 6.30 and 7, when he left the house to bring in the cows. Afterwards some of the cows came home without him. and witness at 9 a.m..went out and had a look round the hill, but she did not see her missing parent. At midday he had not returned, gully and came on her father’s body lying quite dead. _ Witness then ran to Maslin’s paddock, adjoining her father’s place. She looked round, and after a while found her father’s cap on the edge of the bush and saw footmarks of the bull at the spot. A little dog _ had been with her father in the morning made its appearance, and she followed it and the tracks down a gully and came on her father’s body lying quite dead. Witness then ran to Maslin’s place, where she told Mrs Maslin what had occurred. The bull had never taken any notice of witness, but she had reason to believe that the a.nimal was not altogether safe. Neither she nor. her father had ever treated the bull as being dangerous. Arthur Douglas Pearce, police eon stable, stationed at Balclutha, deposed that about 5.30 p.m. on February 28, with Maslin and Sargent, he went' to the scene of the tragedy. Before reaching the body of deceased, lie saw a Holstem bull in the open, which, as soon as it sighted them, came towards them, roaring fiercely. From the actions of the animal and from what he had heard, he decided that it would not be safe to attempt to remove the body until the bull had been drawn off or otherwise disposed of. They drove the bull off with rifle fire, and, witness then examined the body and the scene of the accident. For a distance of about two chains through the bush small trees were broken and uprooted, and there were tracks of a heavy animal ell the way to where the body of Dixon was discovered. Round the body there were numerous tracks and cattle marks. The body was almost completely naked, the clothes having been ripped off. Tfiere was a large gash on the inside of the left thigh, another under the left armpit, the man’s chest -was completely crushed .n, and his back was broken right through. The body also bore numerous small cuts and bruises all over it. Witness was of opinion that a heavy animal had kneit on the body and had spent a considerable time goring it. To the Foreman: Witness had no doubt from what he saw of the bull, the state of the bod.v, and the surroundings that the man’s death had been caused by the bull. To a juryman: Sargent called to the bull, and the moment the animal saw the party he charged them. That concluded the evidence, and the jury returned a verdict that the deceased met his death by being gored by a bull. The jury added an expression of

sympathy with the deceased’s daughter and other members of the family in their bereavement. YOUNG MAN’S DEATH. That death was due to wounds caused by the accidental discharge of a rifle which' the deceased was using was the verdict of the coroner (Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M.) at the inquest on Colin Lorn Campbell, aged 22 years, who was found shot in the face at his home in Oxford street on Wednesday morning, and died in the hospital three hours and a-half after admission. Sergeant C. 11. Lennon conducted the case for the police.

DEATH OF A CONSTABLE. Malcolm John Clarke, the police constable who, when riding a motor cycle on Friday, collided with a tramcar, having his right leg broken and his head injured, died in the Hospital at 4 p.m. on Saturday. An inquest was opened at the Hospital on Saturday. evening, Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., presiding as coroner. Evidence of identification was given by Sergeant Dunlop, who said deceased, who was born in St. Arnaud, Victoria, vis 25 years of age, and single. He joined the Police Force on April 1,1925, and had been stationed at Dunedin ever since. Deceased possessed a 12 horsepower motor cycle, and witness knew that shortly after 9 o’clock on Friday morni g he went for a ride on the cycle. The next thing that witness knew was that Clarke had met with an accident.. The inquest was then adjourned sine die. DAIRY FACTORY MANAGER’S DEATH. James Findlay, manager of the Mosgiel Co-operative Dairy Factory, who was found in his office on Friday evening with a bullet wound in his head, died in the hospital on Saturday morning. He leaves a wife and five children. An inquest was held at the Hospital shortly afterwards, Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., sitting as coroner, and Sergeant Turner representing the police. Duncan Gordon Findlay, a butcher, identified the body as that of his father. Deceased was 58 years of age. Witness last saw his father alive at 7 p.m. on Friday, when he came into the house. He next saw him lying on the floor of the office about half an hour afterwards.- Deceased had a bullet wound in his forehead, and a rifle was lying between his legs. The rifle belonged to deceased, and was kept in the office. His father had been depressed lately, owing to a skin disease which he could not get rid of. Dr Archibald Durward, house surgeon at the Hospital, said that the deceased was admitted at 10.15 on Friday evening. He was deeply unconscious, suffering from a penetrating wound in the forehead. He Gradually became worse, and died at 6.55 a.m. on Saturday. The cause of death was laceration of the brain and haemorrhage in and around the brain. Constable Findlay, stationed at Mosgiel, said he received a telephone message at 7.30 on Friday evening, and, accompanied bv Dr Spedding, he went to the factory. They found deceased on the office floor, the blood coming from a wound in the forehead. There was a pea rifle lying alongside him, and he found a discharged cartridge in it. VZitness concluded that deceased had been sitting on the chair when he shot himself. Ha knew deceased suffered from a skin trouble that prevented him taking up certain duties in the factory. He appeared to be getting very depressed. The Coroner said that the evidence showed that deceased was in a very depressed slate, and this led to his rash act. The verdict would be that deceased met his death through _a bullet wound, self-inflicted, while be was in a depressed state, due to ill-health.