CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3832, 23 August 1927, Page 37

CASUALTIES.

THROWN FROM HORSE. AUCKLAND, August 16. A serious accident befell Mr E. M'Dougall, of Waihopo, the northern representative of the Producers’ Kauri Gum Control Board, when on his way to Waiharara on horseback on Sunday to attend a meeting. He had to pass a wrecked vehicle on the roadside, and his horse shied. M'Dougall was thrown heavily, striking his head and back, and he lay unconscious for four hours. He was found by Mr Leyland, to whose house he was conveyed. It was thought inadvisable to take him to. hospital by road, and a launch is being procured to convey the injured man from Waiharara to Mangonui Hospital. It is feared that Mr M'Dougall has suffered serious injury to his spine. A POSTMAN’S DEATH. AUCKLAND, August 17. Thomas Robert Alfred Smith, aged 38, a married man with a family residing at Onehunga, received fatal injuries in a lift accident at the Auckland Post Office this morning. At the time of the accident he was operating a goods lift between the basement and the main floor of the mail room. He had taken a basket of mail matter from the mail room to the basement, and an employee named D. Sallefi saw him deliver it at 10.15 a.m. Smith then re-entered the lift and was seen to be proceeding upwards. One of the employees heard a scraping sound as if the lift was going off the rollers, and on looking he saw Smith jammed' between the floor of the lift and the underside of the

floor of the main mailroom. His head and arms were inside the lift and his legs were dangling into the well. A doctor was on the scene within a few minutes and said that death had been instantaneous. It was some time before the body could be released. The floor of the lift and part of the floor of the mailroom had to be cut away. Mr Smith joined the postal service in 1905, and at different periods was stationed at Huntly and Brunnerton. He returned to Auckland after war service in 1916. and of late had been engaged as a postman. He intended to retire from the service on the 27th of the present month and to go into business at Onehunga. He had been cn t?aged on the lift for only a few days.

DEATH ON 11. M.S. DIOMEDE. ~. _ AUCKLAND, August 17. Signaller H. T. Huskey, aged 28, single, died from heart failure on board H.M S Diomede at Pago Pago on Julv 20. He took part in swimming sports in'the morning, and appeared to be in good health, but he expired suddenly in the afternoon He was buried at Pago Pago with full military honours.

TRAGEDY AT A DANCE. . ~ . . , WAIROA, August 17. A distressing fatality occurred last night at Nuhaka during the progress of a dance when John Nepia, a half-brother to George Nepia (the All Black), fell through the ceiling of a hall and received terrible injuries, to which he succumbed in a few minutes later. The deceased was a fine stamp of youth, and although only 16, was powerfully built, weighing 14st.

SERGEANT-MAJOR FOUND DEAD. .... . WELLINGTON, August 17. ith a rifle shot in his head, Regimental Sei gcant-major Hunter, 45 years of age, was found dead at Fort Dorset this morning. He left a note saying that his head had been troubling him, and he could not stand it any longer. He was married and had been a member of the Defence Force for many years. He was a popular officer.

BABY’S BODY IN TANK. WELLINGTON, August 17. On Monday afternoon last the intake pipe of' a septic tank at Lower Hutt became blocked. An investigation by the en gincer disclosed the fact that the blockacwas caused by a female baby, which the doctors declared to have been still born lhe Magistrate, at an inquest held to-dav, found that the body was that of a stillborn child, born a few days prior to August 15, and that there was no evidence to show how the body came into the tank.

MOTOR CYCLIST INJURED CHRISTCHURCH, August 16. White riding a motor cycle along 1 apanui road shortly after 7 o’clock last evening, Arthur Harold Blair, a<t)d 26 a single man residing at Ilighstead road’ 1 apanui, met.-with an accident that necessitated his removal to the hospital in an unconscious condition. His machine skidded and he was thrown heavily receiving injuries to his head. He was unconscious for some considerable time, but this morning had regained consciousness and was reported to be making o- OCM ] progress.

MOTOR CYCLIST’S LEG BROKEN CHRISTCHURCH, August 17. . While riding a motor cycle last even--111 ft. ,^'? ar^93 , Stevens, 24 years of age, collided with a motor car. His leg was broken, and he was badly bruised.

MOTOR AND TRAM COLLIDE. AUCKLAND, August 19. Two persons were injured in a collision which occurred between a motor car and a break-down tramcar at the corner of Eden street and Anzac avenue shortlv before midnight. Herbert Francis Helming, aged 35, of Mount Eden, received fractured ribs, and Gladstone Mahon, of Takapuna, suffered a compound fracture of the right leg and internal injuries. There was another occupant in the car, but he escaped injuries.

The break-down car was proceeding up Anzac avenue and the motor car was coming out of Eden street. The car skidded in making the turn, and was struck by the front portion of the tram. The injured men were wedged in the motor car, and it required 10 minutes* work to extricate them. They were taken to hospital by the St. John Ambulance. Mr Mahon was in a serious condition. The collision occurred with severe force. The car was very badly damaged, the body being twisted out of shape, and the rear wheel and axle broken. The front of the tram was shattered, the controls being thrown out of position. At the time of the accident very heavy rain was falling.

FARMER FOUND DEAD. PALMERSTON N., August 19. At Bunnythorpe yesterday afternoon the body of Neville Thomas ‘ Winter Shute was found on his farm. The deceased, who was 65 years of age, had a grownup family, and had been in the district for many years, being highly respected. CAR’S FATAL SOMERSAULT. MARTON, August 19. A distressing accident, resulting in the death of Mrs John Ennis (aged 46), the wife of a well-known soldier settler, occurred yesterday on the Otairi road, near Hunterville. Ennis and his wife were returning home, and at a narrow portion of the road one of the front wheels of their car got into the water table. In an endeavour to right the vehicle the steering wheel was given a sharp turn. The car immediately shot aeross the road, and fell ever the side into a gully, somersaulting twice. A peculiarity is that passers-by shortly afterwards found the vehicle resting at the foot of the gullyon its wheels, the occupants being underneath. Mrs Ennis was dead, having been crushed in the car’s descent. Ennis was dazed and suffering from injuries. Both resided on Braefore Settlement.

VICTIM OF DEPRESSION. WELLINGTON, August 19. Mr W. G. Riddell (coroner) returned n verdict of suicide while in a depressed

state of mind in connection with the deathl of Regimental Sergeant-major Edward) Hunter, of Fort Dorset, on Wednesday morning last. The deceased, he said, had been worried because of illness in his family, and In d himself just recovered from an attack of influenza. DEATH FOLLOWS MOTOR j‘ COLLISION. AUCKLAND, August 20. Gladstone Mahon, a married man, residing at Takapuna, died in the hospital this morning as the result of injuries received in a collision between a motor car and a breakdown tramcar in Anzac avenue on Thursday night. FOUND DROWNED IN RIVER. GREYMOUTH, August 20. lhe body of George Low, single, aged 47, was found in the Grey River this morning at Katutu. He had recently suffered a heart attack, and it is thought that another caused an accidental fall into the river. CHILD DIES FROM BURNS. A TRAGIC OCCURRENCE. CHRISTCHURCH, August 21, Monica Claire Oldfield, aged five years and seven months, was playing in a bedroom at her father’s house at Broadfields, near Christchurch on Saturday morning, before an open fire, when her'nightdress caught alight. Her brother and sister tried to pull off the blazing garment, and the brother, aged 11, threw a blanket around the girl, but the child was severely burned, and died in the Christchurch Hos< pital on Saturday afternoon. At the inquest the coroner commended the brother and sister on their prompt action, and a verdict was returned that the child died from burns and shock accidentally received.

DEATH FROM GUNSHOT WOUND CHRISTCHURCH. August 20. lhe police received a message from Cheviot this afternoon that Alfred George IY-cmble, of Spottiswood, had been found dead with a gunshot wound in his head. He was 39 years of age. His mother iixes at Spring Creek. Marlborough, and he has a married sister in Christchurch. THROWN OUT OF GIG. , . INVERCARGILL, August 21. through being thrown out of a gi«r on Saturday, James Gerrard, aged 60 years, residing near V inton, suffered a severe fracture of the left leg. — AN INJURED ARM. ' ‘ Stiffering from injuries to his right arm received through being caught in a mortarmixing machine, Wilfred Qtienell, a married man. aged 33, residing at Benhar street, Mornmgton was taken to the Hospital at 10.45 yesterday morning. CHARLES JOPSONS DEATH. ' lhe inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Charles Franci* Jopson, who was knocked down by a cyclist in King stieet on August 9, and died shortly afterwards, was concluded at tho courthouse on August 15, Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., sitting as coroner. The coroner found that death was due to fracture of the skull caused by the deceased being knocked down by a bicycle. ' lhe evidence shows,” concluded Mr Bartholomew, *' that this sad fatality was purely an accident, and that the cyclist was in no way to blame. He is, in fact, entitled to every sympathy. The evidence also stresses tho danger of children playing in the streets and rushing out in front of traffic.”