FATAL MOTOR COLLISION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 20039, 24 March 1914, Page 2

FATAL MOTOR COLLISION.

BOY KNOCKED OVER

CORONER'S INQUEST

INTERESTING EVIDENCE

VERDICT OF ACCIDENTAL DEATH

Considerable interest was manifested in the inquest held on the body of the six-year-old boy. Leslie Goswell, who was injured by being knocked over by a motor ear on Saturday afternoon, and subsequently died in the hospital.- The inquiry was held yesterday afternoon by Mr W. Kerr, S.M.-

Senior Sergeant Bourke conducted the case. Mr A. Hogg watched the proceedings on behalf of the parents, and Mr McCaul represented the owner of the oar. C. N. Fercie.

Eliza Caroline Goswell, mother of the child, deposed that she resided with her husband at Putiki. On' Saturday she went into town, taking with her the deceased. Witness returned across the town bridge at about 2.30 p.m. She was accompanied by her mother, Mrs Roloff, and five children. She left the deceased and another child with her mother on the Taylorville side of the bridge, while she went into a butcher's shop across the road. While she was getting her meat, her attention was attracted by a noise, and turning round, she foundjier child lying on the ground a point on the road on the south side of the bridge. The car stopped on the bridge, and the child was picked up by by-standers and carried to the car, and Mr Fernie conveyed it to the hospital. The child was unconscious, and died on Monday morning without regaining cousciousness.

To Mr Hogg: The, car had gone fully i ten yards before it pulled up. To Mr McGaul: Witness estimated r.hat from the time she left the child to the time she heard the noise was about five minutes. The car gulled up on the left-hand-side of the hridg&. Sarah Elizabeth ftolotf. of Xo. 2 Taylorville, grandmother of the deceased child, said that she* went across the bridge with her daughter .and her children. A Mrs Dudley was with them. Mrs Goswell went into the butcher's shop and witness and Mrs Dudley stood on one side of the road near the bridge. ■ Witness had the deceased and another child, a girl, with her. The girl ran across the road towards the butcher's shop, and witness went to get her. Mrs Dudley, who also had a child with her, was standing by. The deceased was standing on the footpath near the telegraph, post within a few yards of the bridge on the Uutiki side. When wit • ness tunfed round to get the child that ran away, a motor car flashed past her. Just then Mrs Dudley's child ran across the road. Witness heard a thud, and found that Mis Goswell's "child had been knocked over. Witness did not see the car strike the deceased. She thought it was Mrs Dudley's child that had been knocked over. The deceased was laying near the post -when it was picked up. She did not know whether thchild struck the post or not. The deceased was standing on tho footpath immediately before the accident. Witness did not know whether the child started to cross the raad.

To Mr Hogg: Mr Fernje and witness did not speak of the speed at which the car was travelling. When Mr Fernie camo back to where the child was layin pc he said, "My God! What have I done? I would not have that happen for auything. Had.l seen the child I would have endeavoured to pull up." Witness thought the car travelled for a quarter of the distance of the bridge before it pulled up. Witness said that lib warning of the car's approach before the accident was given. She admitted she was a little deaf. Witness thought that something had gone wrong, and that the driver did not have control of the car. Witness said that the foot-' path at the point where the accident happened was almost flush with the road. She regarded it as a death-trap. To Mr McCaul: Witness was certain that immediately before the car came, the deceased was on the footpath. Witness, was talking to Mrs Dudley as the ear approached, and the car passed between her and where the deceased child stood. She lost sight of him till the car had passed, Mrs Meie Kingi, of Pitiki. deposed that she was within two and a-half yards from the scene of the accident when it happened. The deceased was standing with his grandmother and another woman in the middle of the road as the car approached. Witness was about to walk on to the bridge, and heard the car coming. The deceased ran across the road to the telegraph post on the other side. When he reached a point a foot away from the post, the car struck' the boy. The car was travelling quickly, and its two left wheels ran over him. The mudguards of the oar strucß the post. Witness did not see the little girl run across the road.

To Mr Hogg: Witness and her cousin, Mrs Ross, saw the debased ru-i across the road. Witness did not see another boy do so. That may have happened before witnfess came along. The horn of the car was sounded some little distance-' before it approached tho bridge.

To Mr McCaul": The horn was sounded three times. , AVitness was quite certain thrj-car struck the post. -Or- Hutspn. medical superintendent M the-.Wangarrui Hospital, said that the .deceased, I^sKe Goswell,- was admitted .f-ort'he Jfospjtal on afternoon. "Hfe vwas'"sg>ini-cdn^eions. .and suffered "from a fraotnfred .skull "and f v&tn afrax:tured ,faw';^De(Sease"d;' iilust'h.avß-received -a hard -bldw..:'"" There" -was nothing' to indicate tliat- -£he;;»Secep.Bedr^ '%ad"^-%&en struck^y^th-e.^jlas^T^ay^^^^ .Knackett. up-;agaiasfe: the: : tiiiS' fec'eiiv TJio -*child.rdi§d^.'€rc>ttiv Ciii:a¥ti£CfedV s kulf

"Christopher TNfqrjvoad ;Ee'mie\ :reth*?d sheep i arhifeW of. Church Hill" Ni.'.-l Lina '. o:vu«sE.-ancl clriyer of the <^i; in-question, gavo evidence that.Ho jfta>d~b£en' driving' his .own mote? car" fo>- three weclos." ~'M 1.45 orblock'on Saturtldy :ufte,rndorf h"e: nlrovo alt>ng*tho I'utikr-. road . towards'\Vftnftamii.- m.Hjs sister.-.'via Hvjth'- him.' About, 100. -yarjlss irdmJtim. bridge- lie, slowed down to-serw) inilosr*.an- hour. Then-he- sQUTid^d his horn-four .times ,'-at-• ?. dist"anoe"of.4)Q i L.w^e'n &no-hui}dretLyards~ anil _fifty,ydras"iisp.m. the''Bridgo. ; The ' horii could bo. Leard* 'for '.& cfuirfcef ofainil<«. ." "Witness-: said"- when.- he--got \o withm fifty yards-of. the Tjridg'e Jie slow-' ed.do'wn1 i-o the -limit- of ,the car,- Sivo miles sin'hour. - -Thelre were'-tjireo or foiir women .standing-Jxi'the" jnicEdle of tho- rcrad" and -ifi- the fa"ir\yay" of the hnfJge.^.'As- he got .abreast bf:the group ] tiv(>-cni]dren>an'dut.' "Witness was un- i der Uio impression, that the girl ran ■ back. Th^ boy darted out about a yard | in front of the car. and the left-hand

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side of the car struck him. Witness 1 turned the car in towards the group of -J women to save the boy from being run j over. He swerved the car on to the ' bridge, and stopped within a car's I length of the approach. Then he waited i to see what had happened. He offered j to take tho child to wherever they want- j ed him to. The car passed a yard away : from the footpath. The women being in ; the middle of the road caused witness to ; divert his course from the fairway. The deceased was not standing near the tele- ■ graph post. The car struck him as he was running across the road. The mud guard of the car did not strike the post. To Mr Hogg: Witness had driven the ear into town about fifty times. He had taken his first lessons in car-driving about a month ago. Mr Hogg cross- ! examined witness as to his knowledge of the speeds and brakes of his car. Wit-> '■ ness said he looked at his speedometer immediately before the accident. !

To Mr McCaul: The rear guard may have struck the post, but he was cer- : tain about the front guard not doing so. ! He could not say whether lie said, "Had T seen the child I would have endeavoured to have nulled up." Th C' H

I o tile oronet . c considered nimself a competent driver. He did not ! i lose control of the car and he preserved , his self-possession. He held that the child darted out in front of the car, and that the accident was inevitable. It was impossible to avoid it. i

Maud Mary Fernie, sister of the i«», ' witness, deposed that she was in xi.o car at the time of the accident. The , horn was sounded four times, and the i speed was reduced to five miles an hour. , Witness said the little girl ran otit from the group of women and went back. The boy darted out quickly and it was impossiblelo avoid an accident. ; Witness noticed llie speedometer, and that indicated that the speed at the time of the accident was five miles an hour. I

Mary Eleanor Bourke, of Dune Hill, ; said she was on the second span of the bridge whenthe accident occurred Wit- ( heard, the toot of the car. and the acci- i dent seemed to happen in a flash. The ; She did not see the boy before he was : knocked over. i

His Worship returned the following verdict: "From the evidence given i:i this inquest. I find that the deceased. Leslie Gosnell, died at the Wanganui Hospital, on Sunday, 22nd inst.. as the result of injuries received on the previous day through his being accidentally knocked down by a motor car driven "by one Ferine "

The Coroner remarked that that it was an accident there was no doubt. Whether there was carelessness he would not •express anjy "opinion, because Tipori| it there was a conflict/of evidence, particularly in regard to the speed at which the car was travelling. Any attempt at fixing the rate of speed must necessarily bo conjectural. It seemed to him that by expressing his opinion it might prejudice, or tend to prejudice one side or other in any civil proceedings the unfortunate parents might take.