TUNNEL FATALITY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17033, 5 May 1923, Page 1

TUNNEL FATALITY.

EVIDENCE AT INQUEST. AN OPEN VERDICT. The inquest into the circumstances attending the death of George Harvey Parsons, a public accountant of Christchurch, ay hose mutilated body was found, in the Lyttelton tunnel, about half a mile from the Heatlicote end, on the morning of Wednesday, May 2, was resumed at the Magistrate's Court this morning, before Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., Coroner. Sergeant C. Petersen conducted the irquest for the police, and. Mr A. C. Truman Avatched the proceedings on behalf of the Railway Department. Caroline Florence Parsons said she last saw her husband alive on April 16, when she Avent away for a holiday. Her husband’s general health had been very good lately; he always had good he a He was sixty-six years of age. He had no financial worries, he had suffered from bladder trouble foi four or five years. She did not know why he was in the train going to Lytteiton, as she was away from home at the time. Hilda Caroline Parsons, a daughter, said she was at home on the day of her father’s death, but she did not see him that morning. She saAV him late the previous evening after he had returned from his office. Ho seemed very cheerful—just his usual self. She did not hear him get up in the morning. He did not tell her that he intended going to Lyttelton. William James Mitchell, manager of the Royal Hotel, Lyttelton, said he knew Parsons personally and saAv him get oil the 7.55 a.m. train for Lyttelton at the Christchurch station. He ssav Parsons sit down in the carriage, but did not notice him again. Parsons may have got out of the carriage without his knowledge, but he did not get out at Lyttelton. He felt a bump in the tunnel, but as the train was very shaky in the tunnel, it was not an unusual thing, and he did not take much notice of it at the time. About 9.30 o’clock when he was told about the accident he recalled feeling the bump, and connected ft with the accident. As far as he was aware there were no conveniences on the train. To Mr Truman: The bump was not sufficiently clear for him to mention the itx> anyone else in the train. Did you think that anything was run over ? Yes, I did at the time. Did anyone leave the carriage while you Avere in the tunnel ? No. The doors were not opened v/hile the train was in the tunnel. John Andrew Veitcli, engine-driver or the 7.55 a.m. train from Christ church, said there was nothing unusual about that*rrtp."‘' v ‘ff?~t’A-me back from lytteiton to Christchurch with the 8.20 a.m. train. No trains had passed through the tunnel betAveen -these two trains. When within about half a mile of the Heathcot© end, he felt several very severe knocks under tho engine. He Avas under the impression that an engine failure had taken place, and he applied the emergency brakes and pulled up the train ip the tunnel to make an examination. He could not find anything wrong with the engine and was unable to account for the noise. He then took the train through to Heatlicote, where on making a further examination he found blood on the engine. He reported the matter to the stationmaster at 1 Ceatheote and requested him to have the tunnel stopped and searched. To the Coroner : There was a waterpipe on one side of the tunnel and a ditch on the other, but when he walked round the engine he did iiot have to go off the sleepers and solid earth. Edwin William Sinclair Chapman, a shunter residing at Lyttelton, who Avas one of the party instructed to search the tunnel, gave evidence regarding the finding of the body about ninety-one chains in from the Lyttelton end. The body was much mutilated from the chest upwards, and the left arm was nearly severed. “It can only be a matter of conjecture as to how this man came to be run over by a train in thA Lyttelton Tunnel,” said the Coroner. “It seemed, he added, that he had been happy in his private life, and prosperous in his business, and there AA r as no reason to suppose that he took his own life by placing himself in front of the train. It may have been that he Avent on to the carriage platform at Heathcote, because he suffered from bladder trouble. But he was unable to find whether he fell off the platform or was run over by the train Avhile he was walking through the tunnel. A verdict was returned that death was caused through injuries received through being run over by a railway train in the Lyttelton Tunnel.