BOY FATALLY BURNED
A boy named Albert Moyle, aged 14, who resided with his parents at Thames street, Mossgeil, was admitted to the Hospital at 6p.m. yesterday suffering from burns about the face and body. It is understood that he was working with a brooder on a poultry farm where he was employed, when the lamp exploded, burning him badly. He was placed on the dangerously ill list and died at 11.25 p.m. -Otago Daily Times, 11/11/1932.
FATALITY ON POULTRY FARM
INQUEST INTO BOY'S DEATH
“This tragic occurrence was one of pure accident,” said the coroner (Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M.) at the inquest yesterday afternoon into the death of Albert Moyle, the boy who died in the Dunedin Hospital on Tuesday evening as the result of extensive burns received when a kerosene lamp he was using on a brooder at a poultry farm at Mosgiel exploded.
Evidence of identification was given by the father of the deceased, John Adam Moyle, a railway employee, of Mosgiel, who stated that his son was sixteen years of age. When witness returned home on Thursday he found his son severely burnt. The boy spoke to witness, but he was unable to explain what had happened. He was attended to by Dr Peters, and was then removed to hospital.
Dr R. Blunden, a house surgeon at Dunedin Hospital, who examined the deceased on admission said that he found him to be suffering from extensive burns, covering the head, chest, abdomen, back, arms, and both thighs. There was little hope of his living through the night, and, although he was treated for shock and burns, he slowly became weaker and died at 11.25 p.m. In witness’s opinion the cause of death was shock following burns.
Frederick George Russell, a poultry farmer at Mosgiel, stated that the deceased had been employed by him for the past two years. About 4.30 p.m. on Thursday witness and the deceased were attending to the brooders, the deceased filling the lamps while witness cleaned the boxes. Witness left the boy to finish the work and went away, but a few minutes later he heard a scream, and looked round to see the boy in flames, and Mrs Munro putting a bag around him. Witness immediately extinguished the flames with the assistance of a younger brother of the deceased, and only a matter of seconds elapsed between his first discovering the fire and its being extinguished. Witness and his wife did what they could to dress the burns. When questioned, the boy said that the brooder lamp had exploded and that the shed was on fire. Witness went to the shed and dealt with the outbreak, and returned almost immediately. In the meantime the boy had been attended to by Dr Peters, and was later sent to Dunedin Hospital. Subsequent examination of the brooder lamp showed it to be in pieces. The bowl of the lamp was strongly constructed of some metal, but witness could not say what the metal was. The deceased had been used to filling the lamps by himself. Witness was at a loss to assign any reason for the explosion; there were no lights burning in the vicinity of the lamp, and the boy did not smoke.
Lily Gwendoline Munro stated that about 4.30 p.m. on Thursday, as she left the doorway of the house adjoining Mr Russell’s poultry farm, she heard a scream and saw the deceased running towards her in a blaze. Witness called her husband, and, going to the boy, she found him attempting to extinguish the blaze with water. Witness put the flames out with a bag, and she and her husband took the lad home after doing what they could to dress his injuries. Witness asked the lad what had happened, and he told her that the lamp had exploded.
The Coroner said that the tragic occurrence was one of pure accident. It could not be explained satisfactorily how the lamp came to explode, and he could only find that death was due to shock following extensive accidental burns. -Evening Star, 12/11/1932.
East Taieri Cemetery.
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