FATALITY AT CLAREMONT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 9 June 1924, Page 8

FATALITY AT CLAREMONT.

A SCHOOL BOY FATALLY

INJURED

On Friday afternoon, George Greon, a school boy 6 years of age, son of Mr John Green, farmer, of Claremont, met with a serious accident, from which he died on Saturday evening. An inquest was held at the Courthouse in Timaru yesterday afternoon, before Mr E. D. Mosley, District Coroner. Dr. Unwin said that on last Friday afternoon he received an urgent call to go to Sister McCarthy’s hospital to see the deceased, who had been taken there by Dr. Paterson. When witness arrived Dr. Burns and Dr. Paterson had already dressed the boy’s left leg, which was very extensively damaged. There were lesser inquries to the other leg. The boy suffered severely from shock. It was found necessary io amputate the left leg at the knee. The child srtod the operation well, tut died about four hours later. The cause of death was shock, from the injuries received. John Green, farmer, Claremont, said that the deceased (his son), was six years of age. Witness knew that his son was in the habit of riding on the motor lorry. Roderick Selbie, a lad of seven years, said that he went to the Claremont school. Last Friday afternoon he was going home from school with Francis Green and his (witness’s) sister. Near “The Kennels,” Mr Hamlyn came along with his motor lorry. He was driving slowly, and was pulling up to give them a lift. Witness got into the motor, and got hold of George Green’s hands, and a boy named Tom Prior tried to lift him up. Then Tom Prior let go, and witness’s hands slipped. George Green fell on the ground and a wheel of the lorry went over his left leg. Mr Hamlyn pulled ’.p quickly, got out, put George Green on the grass, and stopped the bleeding. Mr R. Hamlyn, sawmiller and contractor, said he had known the deceased lad for some months, and had been in the habit of giving him a ride in his motor lorry when going to' and from school. About 4 p.m. on Friday last witness was driving along the Claremont Road, when he overtook some boys near “The Kennels.” One of the children called out for a ride, and witness replied “Wait till I pull up.” When he was changing gears and applying the brake to pull up, the boy Selbie and his sister got on to the lorry. The boy Selbie tried to help the boy Green on to the lorry, catching him by both bands. Witness put the lorry out of gear and applied the brake, but lie heard a shriek and stopped the lorry dead, got out, and saw the boy Green, in a sitting position, with his left leg badly squashed. Witness carried him to the grass at x .lie side of the road, and bound up Ihe wounds as well as he could to stop the bleeding. He made a pillow for the lad in the lorry, and took him to Mr Solbie’s Lome, about half a mile* away. "Witness then went to the nearest telephone : and rang up Dr, Paterson, who conveyed the injured lad from Glen-iti to Timaru: From where the boy fell to the place where the lorry stopped was 5i feet. This was all the evidence.

The Coroner returned a verdict cf accidental death, through the deceased having tried to board the lorry before it had stopped.

The Coroner added a rider, calling the attention of parents and school teachers to the necessity for warning children against the extreme danger of attempting to board a motor vehicle white it is in motion.