John Harold Woodgate, (1907-23/5/1934). "a truck out of control"

DEATH FROM INJURIES

WORKMAN’S LEG SEVERED 

(By Telegraph - Press Association) OAMARU, This Day. John Woodgate, aged 27 years, married, who received severe injuries at Waitaki hydro-electric works, died in Oamaru Hospital. A truck out of control passed over his legs, one being completely severed and the other severely injured.  -Nelson Evening Mail, 24/4/1934.

DEATHS

WOODGATE. — On April 23, 1934 (result of accident). John Harold, beloved husband of Alicia Woodgate, in his twenty-eighth year. Deeply mourned. — Friends are Invited to attend the Funeral, which will leave St. Luke’s Church To-morrow (Wednesday), April 25, at 11 a.m., for the Oamaru Cemetery. — Stringer and Middlemass, undertakers, Oamaru.  -Otago Daily Times, 24/4/1934.

WAITAKI HYDRO FATALITY

VERDICT OF ACCIDENTAL DEATH 

An inquest concerning the death of John Harold Woodgate, who succumbed to injuries received at the Hydro works, was concluded at the Waitaki Hydro before the coroner (Mr W. H. Frith). Sergeant F. H. Fearnley appeared for the police. 

In evidence, Arthur Edward Hooper gave particulars as to the system employed on the concrete ramp, at the foot of which Woodgate was engaged. Witness said that at 2.30 a.m. he secured a rope to a truck by a pin, and had pushed it over the top of the ramp. After having tested the rope he was sure that the pin was properly fast and that it was down through the eye of the rope. It might have been possible for the pin to have missed going through the eye, the rope being jammed between the pin and the side of the framework. He first noticed that the truck was out of control when it was 15 feet down the ramp, and he called out a warning. When the truck reached the bottom it jumped clear, and the body of the truck broke apart and struck Woodgate. 

Evidence was also given by John Andrew Johnston, Harold William Hewart, and Albert Robert Nash. 

Dr R. S. Fitzgerald stated that when he made an examination Woodgate's legs were almost amputated, and he was suffering severely from shock and loss of blood, from which he later succumbed. 

The coroner returned a verdict that the deceased was accidentally killed by being struck by a truck at the Waitaki Hydro works, the immediate cause being shock, resulting from injuries as described by the medical evidence.  -Otago Daily Times, 2/5/1934.

Oamaru Cemetery.