A SHOCKING ACCIDENT.

Western Star, 3 February 1922, Page 3

A SHOCKING ACCIDENT.

FOUR MEN DASHED TO DEATH. SEVENTY-FIVE FEET FALL DOWN

LIGHT WELL

AUCKLAND, February 1. Four painters fell' to an awful death through a light area in Eudean’s Buildings, a t the foot of Queen Street, this afternoon, through the collapse of one of the bearer beams of a scaffolding. They areCharles' Courtney, 46, widower, Point Chevalier, six children, Die youngest 14. Donald Campbell married, Morningside, two young children. Walter Moore, 38, married, Ponsonby two children. George W. Jones, 27, married, City, two children. _ 1 The gang comprised six painters in the employ of tlie firm, of John Henderson, and this morning started calcimining the five-storeyed building. Most of the forenoon was occupied in rigging the scaffolding. First, three long bearer beams of Oregon Pine, 6x4 inches, were, -put into position near the top, the endb on one side being secured through the windows of offices and the other ends extending over the bannister rails, to which they were lashed. Between the middle and south beams some seven planks were laid and a hanging stage was rigged. Before the men started work the Inspector of Scaffolding inspected and -passed the gear. After lunch five men, the four who were killed, and G. Burrows, were working on the .platform, with a sheer. drop of about 75 feet below 1 them. About a quarter to 2 o’clock the foreman, Courtney, instructed Burrows to one of the landings. There seems no reason for supposing that he. was afraid of the strength of the scaffold. Burrows thinks that the foreman simply decided that four men were sufficient for the work at that place. Within three minutes the middle beam snapped like a carrot andl the four men were plunged into eternity.The people in the offices had hardly started at the sound of the breaking wood before the awful spectacle of four white-clad figures amidl pieces of timber flashed past the windows. It is not known- if anyone wag in the vestibule at the time.

All the men- appeared to have had their heads crushed, and sin one jor two- instances they were almost beyond recognition. Many bones must have been broken.

One man appeared to be alive when the police and doctors arrived, but if go fhe lived only for a minute or two.

Inspection of the broken beam 1 showed that it had snapped) through at a fairly sh-arp angle at a place where there was a large knot find practically a cross-grain in the wood. The break did not consist solely of fresh wood. Apparently the crack, had started! some time ago, for a discoloration similar to the effects of exposure to water and air extended for an inch or moj-e into the break. The timber had been in frequent use for scaffolding.