ACCIDENTS & FATALITIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19814, 4 December 1919, Page 3

ACCIDENTS & FATALITIES.

A FATAL FALL. INQUEST ON VICTIM'. Tho adjourned inquest. into the circumstances attending the death of Frank John Merry, a workman, twentyfive years of age,-who died on''November 2d as a result of injuries received through falling to the ground from tho to)i of the building being erected for tho-Christchurch Tramway Board in Cathedral Square, wa.s held at the Courthouse before Mr S. .13. M’Carthy, S.M., District Coroner, yesterday afternoon. The deceased, who was a. plumber by trade, resided at 203, Kerr’s Road, Dallington. Mr 13. J. Stringer, Inspector ofScalfolding, appeared on behalf of theLabour Department and Mr G. T. Weston on behalf of the relatives of the deceased. Dr-A. B. Pearson, pathologist at the Christchurch Hospital, said that he had made a post-mortem examination of the deceased, and in his opinion death waa duo to shock following hemorrhage caused by injuries. Thomas Coster'Thornton, foreman for Graham and Sons, the contractors for Hie Tramway Board’s new building in Cathedral Square, said the deceased was in the employ of -Mr Vale, tho plumber ior the job, and on the day of the accident be was employed in cutting a joist in tho building. When witness found the deceased on the ground he was unconscious and bleeding from the mouth. lie was then rerngved to the Hospital. Tho distance which deceased fell was 33ft. As far as witness knew nobody actually saw the accident happen. Henry Alfred lister Vale, master plumber, said that the deceased was in his employ as a plumber on November 20. Witness sm\; deceased as be was leaving witness’s simp in Armagh Street at 8.30 that morning. Deceased was employed on the job in connecting up the radiators on the second floor ot the building. This would necessitate the cutting out of a certain amount ot woodwork, and in cutting, out this, it could only he assumed, that .he lost'his balance and fell. The distance jot'the fall would he about. 33ft, and lie would .land in the right-of-way underneath part of the building. . AVifiicss saw the deceased in Ins shop five or ten minutes before the accident, and he was then quite sober and normal. Ho did not see him again alive. Witness’s firm’ belief was that the deceased was working in a sate position but that he lost his balance. Deceased was a very wife worker. Deceased had boon on Hie job since the building was commenced, ami was familiar' with the building. .. -■... The (Joroner returned a verdict that (he deceased died from shock following hemorrhage, duo to injuries caused through accidentally falling to the ground, a distance of 33ft, from the top of tbe new tramway building in Oa--thedral iSqnarc. DEATH UNDER. ANESTHETIC. Tho death while under an amefthetio at the Christchurch Hospital of Benjamin Herbert Ashford was, the- subject of an Inquest before -Mr S. j3. -M’Carthy, Coroner, yesterday. Noel Stewart. A\ bitten, a. house surgeon at tbe Christchurch Hospital,.said that deceased wa.s .admitted to the hospital mi Monday afternoon. Arrange- , uients were made to operate upon him at. 12.30 p.in. on Tuesday. The operating doctor wan Dr Stanley 11. hosier. Witness examined the patient's heart after Hie usual procedure, and could find no abnormality. The' patient was given an atuesUietie, and when lie Had been taking it for about live minutes Ids breathing and Iris Heart sioaped. Artificial respiration was at once started, stimulants were given, and eventually Dr Foster performed an operation for heart massage. This failed to bring the patient round, and he died at about 12.10 p..m. that. :‘.y. Dr dames Ferguson Duncan said that be made a post-morlen examination of deceased s body, and lon ml that lie had been an old jnan who looked quite hiT age. His liver was very much or larged, and both lungs were slightly adherent to the ehest wall. His heat* was not enlarged, but showed degoivera live changes in Hie valves, especially the aortic valve. His arteries were thickened, and in places almost calcareous. In witness’s opinion h* died of cardiac failure, probably due ;0> straining while taking the amesth* lie. Such patients sometimes struggled a good deal, and sometimes with the degenerative changes in the heart, it would cease beating. These changes could not be discovered during life. He should say, from the post-mortem examination, the operation which wat undertaken was’a decidedly proper one ■ Mary Allison Hennings, residing at. ! -148. Worcester Street, said that deI ceased had hoarded with her for the ■ last ton years. So far as she knew. I deceased was a. married man, and his 1 wife and daughter were in England. | Ho was horn in the Wairarnpn, Valley j in 18o(j. Tho Coroner returned a verdict that deceased died during the administration of an amestlndie; also that the operation was a necessary and proper niie. ami that the amesthetie wa.s skilfully administered.