INQUEST AT THE HOSPITAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 11670, 1 February 1902, Page 3

INQUEST AT THE HOSPITAL.

An inquest touching the death of the man Valentine Grey, who died on Thursday night from the result of injuries received at the Harbour Board's quarry on Wednesday morning, was held at trie Hospital yesterday afternoon, before the Coroner, Mr C. A. Wray, and a jury consisting of Messrs J. J. Grandi (foreman), J. H. Parks, W. Karton, J. Currie, J- N. Jarvis, and W. M. Howe. Sergeant- Warring appeared on behalf of the police, and Mr Perry for the Harbour Board.

W. O'Brien, employed at the Harbour Board's quarry, said that on Wednesday morning at about 9 o'clock a number of men, including deceased, were stripping clay from the rock. Deceased was standing about twelve feet away from witness, and was shovelling the clay into a barrow. The bank from which he was shovelling was a little over six feet hfeh. First saw pieces of clay falling from the bank, and ran back about two feet, bnt fell over a boulder. As he moved back he called " look out," and a large quantity came down, covering his legs up to the knees. Looked round and could only see deceased's head above the clay. Witness freed his own legs, and helped to extricate deceased, who was got out in about ten minutes. He was conscious and spoke about the fall of clay. He was then removed on a stretcher. It had been raining heavily the day before, and this probably caused the clay to fall. No picking had been done that morning, and they were merelv removing the hpose clay left the nii-ht before. Deceased V arted working at" the quarry on last Thursday week. His wife and family lived in Victoria. James O'Connor, ganger at the quarry, said that he was about 59 yards away from the spot- where the accident happened. He heard the fall of earth, and someone calling out. "Witness ran up and saw the last witness and deceased down. Five or six men were getting Grey out, and witness lent them a hand. About two cubic yards had fallen, and deceased was covered up to the waist. The heaviest lumps had come on his legs. Thought his legs were broken bv the pressure of the clay when it- first fell on him. "Witness sent for the doctor and gave him a. drink of water a-t iiis request. Deceased thanked the men after thev had taken himout. He was taken' to tliehospital about a quarter of an hour after the accident. Could not understand how the accident happened, except that the wet of the day previou had an effect on the clay. Witness watched constantly when the men •were at work to see that everything was safe. The bank was undermined about ten inches. There was no sand or substance between the clay and the rogk. On Monday night he inspected the work the men had done, and on Tuesday he went over to see if the clay was in a fit state to work, but everything being wet no work was done on that" day. On Wednesday only shovelling had been done. Had had no slips at the quarrv before. Albert Ernest Austin, engineer to the Harbour Board, said that he knew the spot where the accident happened, and thought the slip was caused by the rain on Tuesday. Considered all necessaiy precautions had been taken, and that it was an unforeseen accident, of which no blame was attributable to anyone. It was a low face, and he would not anticipate that there was anv danger of it falling in. Tt was the ganger's work to see that there was no ; danger of slips. Dr Logan, resident surgeon at the Timaru hospital, said that diseased was "brought in on Wednesday moraine, and was in a state of profound shock. His left thigh was broken, his left foot crushed, and there was a compound fracture in the middle of the right leg. Dr Betts assisted witness _to reduce the fractures. The patient improved slightly on stimulants, but he began to lose ground again, and gradually sinking, he died from shock, about 36 hours after his admission. Witness heard Mr Evans, chairman of the Harbour Board, ask deceased whether he anticipated any likelihood of a slip, and the patient replied that there was not the slightest indication of such.

The jury returned a verdict that Grey /met- his death lay accident, no blame being attributable to anyone, and added a rider to the effect that if, in the future, wet weather follows after the bank has been undermined, it should be felled "before loose ' clav is removed.