INQUEST OPENED

Southland Times, Issue 20616, 15 October 1928, Page 7

INQUEST OPENED

YOUNG MOTOR CYCLIST’S DEATH. SEVERAL WITNESSES HEARD. As a sequel to a fatal accident in which a motor cyclist rode into a large gravel lorry on the North Road on the evening of September 29, an inquest was opened on Saturday morning by the coroner, Mr G. Cruickshank, into the death of Findlay McMcGilvray, a young motor mechanic, 19 years of age, who was the rider of the cycle. Mr Eustace Russell appeared on behalf of David Baird, the driver of the lorry, and Mr A. F. Hogg for the parents of the deceased young man. James Barnett McGilvray, a farmer of West Plains, the father of deceased, said that he had last seen his son on the night before he died, in the hospital. He was quite conscious. Questioned as to the accident, he said: “I couldn’t help it; the car stopped right in front of me.” He did not say anything more about the accident. Everything, including the brakes on the motor cycle was in good order. To Mr Russell: I did not tell Dr. Wilson that my son told me that Baird was not to blame. He had spoken to Dr. Wilson about the accident after he had seen his son. To Mr Hogg: Baird had come to his place on September 30; before then witness had not known Baird. Baird told witness that it was he who had hurt deceased and offered his car as a peace-offering; it was the car he was driving, not the motor truck. It was all he had in the way of compensation, he said. He had a house and furniture, but it did not belong to him and he was not insured against accident. He said he would come in to the funeral, but he had not had any conversation since with him. To Sergeant Abel: His son had a license to drive a motor cycle. To Mr Eustace Russell: Baird did not say who was to blame when he spoke with witness; he merely said he had hurt witness’s son. There were several other members of the family present at the time of the conversation. Dr. B. Wilson, assistant medical superintendent at the Southland Hospital, said that deceased’s injuries were a fracture of the right leg, a fracture of the right elbow, bruises about the stomach and cuts on the face. He was quite conscious all the time he was in the hospital until near the time of his death at 10.45 p.m. on the 29th. The cause of his death was shock. He was quite healthy apart from his injuries. To Mr Hogg: It was really internal injuries that he died of. He had a large internal haemorrhage. In deceased’s case these injuries did not cause intense pain. He had pains in the stomach but not at the fractures. Deceased had complained to witness at different times of the pain. To Mr Russell: He saw deceased’s father at the hospital on the evening the deceased died, after his father had seen deceased. Witness was standing by the bed with the nurse and the father stated there was no blame attachable to the driver of the lorry. Deceased could have heard what his father was saving and was quite conscious. Madge Clark, night sister at the Southland Hospital, said that when deceased was admitted, she said to him ‘‘lt was hard luck for Mr Baird.” He replied: “It was my fault, I was watching a car.” Deceased was quite conscious when he made that statement. He complained to her later of a little abdominal pain. To Mr Hogg: Witness did not know Mr Baird except by knowledge from his first case. Her remark “It’s hard luck for Baird” to deceased was the first she made to him. She had some sympathy for Mr Baird. To Mr Russell: She had previously questioned deceased as to his condition. Henry Joseph Butler, a labourer employed by Mr Baird, said that at about 6.15 he was in a lorry driven by Mr Hoffman. It was travelling about three or four chains behind the lorry driven by Baird along Bay road. He saw Baird’s lorry turn the corner into the North Road and it was not going at more than four or five miles an hour. He saw the lorry stop and then deceased and the motor bicycle fall beside the lorry. When he arrived on the scene, the bicycle was half under the lorry and deceased was on the ground and someone was holding his head. When he examined the lorry later that night, he saw that the cycle had hit the tool case on the running board and that there was a deep cut in the wood on the under side of the floor of the lorry. There was another cyclist with him who to avoid the lorry swerved into Bay Road and went for about a chain before he stopped. The two cyclists would have been travelling together. The lorry on the North Road was well in the centre of the road with the front wheels one foot from the tram rails. On the way to the hospital, deceased said to witness: “I was going too fast to stop; I was going between 35 and 40.” He said he was watching a car coming along the North Road. There was room for traffic to pass both in front and behind the lorry. He did not know deceased. To Mr Hogg: When witness spoke with deceased, they were the only ones in the back seat of the car. In the front seat was the taxi-driver. To Mr Russell: Deceased inquired how badly his bicycle was damaged and the driver of the taxi replied that it was not badly damaged. On the way in to town, they were travelling fairly fast. David Campbell Burn, a taxi-driver, in his evidence said that on September 28, he was driving his car south along the North Road at about 6.20 p.m. He saw Baird’s lorry stop in the centre of the road. He had no idea why it should have stopped. When it stopped he saw a cloud of dust arise from what appeared to be the back wheels of the lorry. He saw another cyclist stop just about the corner of Bay Road and North Road. He conveyed deceased to the hospital and on the way there, witness said to him: “You must have been travelling fast,” and he replied: “I must have been, although I did not think I was. ’ To Mr Hogg: That conversation took place while the witness Butler was in the car. They were moving at that time. Mr Butler should have heard that conversation. Witness had not heard Butler’s conversation, but owing to the noise of the car, at times he could not hear what was being said in the back seat. Between the time the lorry stopped and the time the dust rose, witness had only travelled three yards; probably 20 seconds would have elapsed. To Mr Russell: When he saw Baird’s lorry first on Bay Road there was no vehicle between the bridge and the corner. The motor bicycles must have been going at a greater speed than the lorry. The inquest was then adjourned till Tuesday afternoon.