INQUEST.
An inquest was held at the hospital this afternoon touching the death of John Harbour, who died last night from tetanus, following on an injury received at the Woodhaugh Paper Mills on the 5th inst. Mr C. C. Graham, coroner, conducted the inquest, and the foreman of the jury was Mr A. Yates.
Mr W. L. Moore appeared for the relatives of the deceased, and Mr J. B. Lindsay (inspector of factories) watched the case for the department.
Henry Harbour, father of deceased, gave evidence as to his son, who was thirty-four years of age, having left his home on the morning of the accident, in good health. Deceased had not told witness anything as to the circumstances of the accident.
Dr Hall, house surgeon at the hospital, deposed that on the day in question deceased was brought in suffering from extensive injuries to the forearm and hands. Dr Closs treated the case at once, and the patient made a satisfactory progress fcr the following ten days, when symptoms of lockjaw set in. The forearm was amputated to remove the source of the poison, against which, however, the patient made no headway. He died at 11.30 pm. on the 19th. The cause of death was tetanus, the result of wounds received.
To Mr Moore: A consultation was held on the morning following the appearance of the symptoms of tetanus, and the arm was removed on the day after that. It would have made no difference had the arm been amputated the same day. It was necessary to watch the case during the period of incubation.
Michael O'Brien, laborer, Woodhaugh, employed at the mills, deposed thai he knew the deceased, who was also an employee there, his duties being general, but in no way connected with the machinery. Witness saw deceased a few moments after the accident, and held his arm till the engineer arrived and bandaged it, after which deceased was taken to the hospital. Witness did not see how the accident happened, but understood that deceased was cleaning some of the machinery in the vicinity of the rollers. It was part of deceased's duties to wash down the rollers. The machinery was going slow, as it always was at cleaning times. As a rule, deceased was a very careful man, and very steady.
John Hunter McLaren, engineer and acting manager at the Woodhaugh Paper Mills, said that he was called by one of the workmen on the day in question. The engine had been stopped before he got inside the mill. The rollers were going at about a sixth of their ordinary pace at the time of the accident. Witness rendered first aid to deceased. Deceased told witness that as he was wiping the rollers the rag he was using got caught. He grabbed it, and the arm was dragged in. Had he been cleaning the rollers on the "running out" side nothing could have caught. As it was he risked too much, and cleaned on the "running in" side.
To Mr Moore: They looked upon deceased as a good and careful workman. Mr Lindsay said that there was no reason to suppose that the machinery was left in an unguarded condition. After the coroner had reviewed the evidence, the jury brought in a verdict that death was due to tetanus, the result of injuries accidentally received, no blame being attachable to anyone. -Evening Star, 20/2/1904.
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