Herbert Cleveland was working for a fruiterer in Dunedin when he joined the Army during the Great War. He was present at the liberation of the French town of Le Quesnoy in 1918. His Army service was not unblemished - he was punished in June, 1919, for refusing to parade. He embarked for home the following month.
On returning to New Zealand he returned to his old profession and got married.
Herbert's story mentions his consumption of alcohol before getting on the tram to go home on the day he died. It is possible that he drank no more than the working man of his day. It is also possible that he was one of the many returned soldiers who struggled to deal with what they had experienced.
FATALLY HURT BY CABLE CAR.
DUNEDIN, September 24
Mr Herbert Cleveland, a married man, aged 39, residing at 17 Peel Street, Mornington, was knocked down by a Mornington cable car last evening, and admitted to hospital with severe injuries to his head, from which he died half an hour after admission. -Ashburton Guardian, 25/9/1933.
TRAM FATALITY
STOREMAN’S DEATH
ACCIDENTALLY KNOCKED DOWN
The adjourned inquest touching the death of Herbert Cleveland, a married man. aged thirty-nine years, who was employed as a storeman and resided at 17 Peel street. Mornington, and who died at the hospital on September 23 as the result of injuries received through being struck by a Mornington cable car on the same night, was concluded at the courthouse yesterday afternoon. Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., sat as coroner, and Sergeant Wade represented the police. Mr A. N. Haggitt appeared for the City Corporation.
Dr R. F. Stenhouse, a house surgeon at the Public Hospital, said that on September 23 last deceased was admitted to the hospital at about 7.15 p.m., and was examined by witness. He was unconscious and in a very shocked condition, his injuries consisting of abrasions on the left side of the face, deep wound on the right wrist, and deep wound on the right leg in the region of the knee. He had a broken collarbone on the left side, and the ribs on that side were crushed. He was bleeding slightly from the nose, his injuries being consistent with a fracture of the skull. He gradually sank and died about 7.55 the same evening. His injuries were consistent with his being crushed under a cable car. Witness noticed no sign of liquor on the deceased, but his breathing was not very deep, and it might have escaped detection.
Thomas Moore, a tram conductor employed by the city tramways on the Mornington line, said he was conducting a tram that left the bottom of High street at 6.20 p.m. on September 23. Witness personally knew the deceased, who boarded this car. In witness’s opinion deceased was under the influence of liquor, and before the car started witness asked the deceased to take a seat. Deceased said he was all right where he was. He was standing, but witness insisted on his taking a seat. He did not do so, and witness went down to the Grand Hotel corner to call a constable with the intention of having him removed from the tram. Before witness got to the corner he received a signal to return to the tram. When witness returned deceased was seated in the corner on the side of the tram. When witness gave the signal for the car to start deceased stood up, and witness stopped the car for the man's own safety. Witness requested him to leave the tram, and deceased eventually stepped on to the ground. Witness did not see the deceased again on that trip, nor did he see him on the subsequent trip when he left the foot of High street at 6.45 p.m. The tram stopped at Macnee street about seven minutes to 7 to set down passengers, and after going about fifty paces he felt a bump and the car was immediately stopped by Gripman Black. The gripman and witness got off. and they saw a man lying underneath the front of the car near the left wheel. Deceased was conveyed to the hospital by ambulance, witness and Constable Brown accompanying him. The line was well lit up at that particular spot, and witness saw nothing ahead. Witness could form no idea of how the deceased came to be under the tram.
To Mr Haggitt witness said that the gripman was keeping a proper lookout, and if the deceased had been on the line before they approached the gripman and witness must have seen him. There was a drizzling rain at the time, but visibility was good.
Edgar Black, gripman on the car on which the previous witness was the conductor, corroborated the evidence of Moore as to what happened at the foot of High street at 6.20 p.m. Deceased was not a passenger on the car which left the foot of High street at 6.45 p.m. Witness said that after going about sixty yards from the Macnee street stop he felt a bump, and applied his brakes, bringing the car to a standstill almost immediately. Witness knew the man they found lying underneath the tram to be Herbert Cleveland. From his position as gripman witness had a clear view ahead, and after leaving Macnee street saw no obstruction on the line. Witness could make no suggestion as to how the deceased came to be under the tram. Had deceased attempted to board the car after it left Macnee street, witness thought he would have seen him.
To Mr Haggitt, the tram was travelling at about ten miles an hour. It took about three minutes to get the car jacked up and the body out after witness felt the bump.
Gordon Hector Reeve, a conductor on the Mornington line, said his tram left the foot of High street at 6.35 p.m. on the date in question. Deceased was a passenger in that tram, and after collecting his fare witness took no further notice of him. Deceased travelled to the terminus and remained in the tram, and was still there when they started on the return journey. The gripman asked him where he was going, but witness heard no reply. The deceased appeared to be under the influence of liquor. Ho travelled back to Macnee street, where the gripman assisted him off the tram.
Alfred James McDermott. a gripman, corroborated the evidence of the previous witness, and said that when he assisted the deceased off the tram he took him to the side of the footpath.
Constable W. Brown also gave evidence.
The Coroner said that there was no explanation as to how the deceased came to be on the line. The verdict would be that deceased died of shock and injuries caused by being accidentally knocked down by a cable car on September 23. There was no evidence before him to show that there was any negligence on the part of the gripman or the conductor of the tram, and obviously the condition of the deceased as regards sobriety must have been the contributing factor to the accident. -Evening Star, 7/10/1933.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
Mrs Herbert Cleveland desires to thank her many kind friends and relations for messages of sympathy and floral tributes in her recent sad bereavement. -Evening Star, 12/10/1933.
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