Maribel French Muirhead, 1884-16/12/1926.

FALL FROM A TRAIN.

FATALITY IN OTAGO. 

ACCIDENT NOT WITNESSED.

[BY TELEGRAPH, —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] DUNEDIN. Thursday. The Dunedin police have received telephonic advice from. Poolburn that a passenger by the Central Otago train, believed to be Miss M. Muirhead, fell from the train at Poolburn Gorge and was killed. She was travelling on the return half of a Dunedin-Cromwell ticket and was alone. No one saw the accident. The body is being brought on to Dunedin by this evening's train.  -NZ Herald, 17/12/1926.

FATAL FALL FROM TRAIN.

SINGLE WOMAN'S DEATH. 

EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST. 

[BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] DUNEDIN, Friday. The inquest was opened to-day into the death of Maribel French Muirhead, a single woman, 42 years of age, who fell from the platform of the Otago Central train yesterday and was killed. As far as can be ascertained no one saw the accident, the victim being the only occupant of a second class carriage. 

Mr. H. W. Bundle S.M., was the coroner, Sergeant McCarthy representing the police. 

Margaret Muirhead identified the body as that of her daughter, who had lived with her at St. Kilda. The deceased had been in ill-health for some time and received medical attention. She was returning home from a holiday with her sister at Alexandra when she met her death. The inquest was adjourned sine die.  -Otago Daily Times, 18/12/1926.

An open verdict was returned at the adjourned inquest in Dunedin on Maribel French Muirhead, whose death occurred on December 16 as the result of being run over by a train on the Otago Central line. The Coroner, Mr. H. W. Rundle, said the evidence showed that deceased was the only passenger in the carriage adjoining the van. The gangway and the rails between the van and car and the gates on the car were in good order. The gates being shut at the time, it was impossible to say how deceased’s body got on to the track. Whether she fell off the platform, or whether the mishap occurred as the indirect result of her bad health, was unknown. The coroner found that there was no possible negligence on the part of the Railway Department.   -Poverty Bay Herald, 24/1/1927.

Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin. DCC photo.