Berthon Deane Shute, 1905-23/12/1943.

FALL FROM HOTEL WINDOW

MAN IN SERIOUS CONDITION 

A man who fell out of a first storey window of the Customhouse Hotel, at Port Nelson, late on Saturday night, was taken to the Public Hospital, and his condition to-day was reported to be serious. The man was Berthon Deane Shute, a lodger at the hotel. How he came to fall from his bedroom window is not known. His bed showed signs of having been slept in. There was another lodger asleep in the room at the time.  -Nelson Evening Mail, 20/12/1943.

FATAL FALL FROM A WINDOW

EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST

“There appears to be only one way it could have happened, that is. that deceased wriggled through the window in his sleep.” commented the Coroner, Mr F. Mitchell, yesterday afternoon at the inquest into the death of Berthon Deane Shule. The evidence showed that deceased fell from his bedroom window which was on the first floor of the Customhouse Hotel, Port Nelson.

Death was due to multiple injuries culminating in heart failure, said Dr. J. N. MacFarlane, assistant medical superintendent at the Public Hospital. A cyclist who was passing the hotel at night, Arthur Edward Bloomfield, said he saw a man fall on to the pavement. He did not see him actually fall from the window. The man appeared unconscious and severely injured.

The room mate of the deceased, William James Hunter, explained that part of Shute’s bed was alongside a double window, which was open. At 11.45 o'clock on the night in question he was awakened by a person calling out from the street. He looked out of the window and saw his room mate lying on the path. There was no evidence to show why deceased went through the window. Shute was a quiet man and did not disturb witness when he went to bed, and witness had never seen him under the influence of liquor. The window alongside accused's bed was open 17 inches, said Constable A. G. Lake, and the bed was almost level with the open window.

The Coroner's verdict was that death was due to heart failure following upon multiple injuries received when Shute accidentally fell through the window on the first floor of the Customhouse Hotel.  -Nelson Evening Mail, 24/12/1943.

Wakapuaka cemetery, Nelson.