FALL FROM A HORSE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18528, 15 October 1934, Page 11

FALL FROM A HORSE

CORQNIAL INQUIRY

DEATH FROM CONTUSION

An inquiry into the death of Peter Reginald Drummond, 17, who fell from a horse at Haiti yesterday ,_ was held before the district coroner, Mr. E. L. Walton, S.M., this afternoon. The verdiet was that death was due to contusion of the brain following on the fall.

Edward Arthur Robinson, manager for East Coast Airways, a second cousin of the deceased, said that the deceased was giving tho horse the last try-out over the hurdles, and at the fourth, a brush jump, the animal failed to rise, and crashed through. Witness was about 300yds away at the time, and he believed that the deceased misjudged his distance. Herbert Roland Williams, manager of Dalgety and Company, Gisborne, said he saw the accident from about 30 or 40yds away. It was only a small brush fence, which the horse had cleared a short time before. The deceased was an excellent horseman, and had beep riding for a number of years over fences. Dr. H. Colliding Rice said that when he arrived on the scene he found the deceased suffering from a severe cranial injury, and the whole of his left side appeaved to be paralysed. After consultation witli Prs. Gunn and Brown, it was decided to operate, as there were signs of haemorrhage continuing within the scalp. The purpose of Hie operation was to decompress the brain and to control what haemorrhage was accessible. The patient withstood the operation well, but at 5 p.m. suddenly failed and died shortly after from .bis injuries. A post mortem examination this morning showed extensive haemorrhage within the brain itself and severe contusion. The cause of death was contusion of the brain substance. The verdict of the coroner was as given above.