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Fatal Accident at Adelong Adelong and Tumut Express and Tumbarumba Post 29 November 1907 |
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A
sad accident happened on Monday night last, resulting in the death of a very
old inhabitant of Adelong. Mrs.
Racecourse
road hill, and about ¼ of a mile from her residence, the horse got the reins
under its tail, commenced to play up and buck, and finally bolted. Mrs.
Cheetham tried to jump out, and in spite of the efforts of her son-in-law to
restrain her which was a difficult task as he was hampered with his efforts
to control the horse, she did jump out just missing the step of the sulkey and falling on the back of her head on the hard
road, the wheel of the sulkey passing over her
breast and right arm. Mr.
Ballard succeeded in pulling up the horse within a hundred yards, and on
going back found his mother-in-law unconscious. Messengers
were at once sent into town for the ambulance and the doctor, but when the
ambulance reached the spot it was decided not to use it, on account of the
bad state of the road, so Messrs King, W. Boston and Donovan placed the
unfortunate woman on the stretcher and carried her down to her residence,
when she died within ½ an hour of the arrival of Dr. Cook. The Inquest. An inquest was held at the residence on
Tuesday morning by Coroner A. W. Molineaux. Wm.
Ballard, son:in:law of the
de ceased, gave evidence of the accident as set out above. Wm
Cheetham deposed he was the husband of Margaret Cheetham, deceased, who was 63 years of age and they had
11 children. He
was on the spot where the accident happened within ¼ of an hour when he found
his wife unconscious, and she died shortly after being brought home. Dr.
Cook deposed he was on the spot within ½ an hour of the accident and found
the deceased unconscious and suffering from concussion of the brain, which
could have been caused by a fall from a sulkey. He saw at once that the case was hopeless. Nevertheless,
he did what he could to relieve her, but she remained unconscious until she
died about ½ an hour after he arrived. The
Coroner returned a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony. The
funeral took place on Tuesday afternoon, the remains being followed to the
grave by a large number of relatives and friends. The
funeral arrangements were carried out by Messrs Boston. Bros. Tuesday 3 December 1907. In our report of the fatal accident last Monday week, the victim was
Mary Cheetham, not Margaret, and the deceased's
husband John Cheetham. |