Photo of the grave courtesy of the Find a Grave Website.

By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc.

James Bourke a resident of Orchard Hills died in High Street Penrith on Friday on the 2nd January 1925. Mr Norman Wade was driving his car up High Street and when opposite the Federal Hotel he saw James crossing the road. He blew his horn and swerved his car but continued on when James suddenly staggered in front of him. He was driving slowly and pulled up quickly but his car struck James and his body was pulled along by it. James’s body was taken by Norman to Dr Higgins who pronounced life extinct and his body was then removed to the Hospital morgue. THE INQUEST. The district coroner Mr Arthur Judges held an inquiry at Penrith Court House on the Tuesday morning. Dr Higgins stated that on Friday the 2nd of January at about 8 pm he examined the body of James Bourke in the car in front of his surgery and found that life was extinct. He had known the deceased for about 24 years and about the last six or seven years had treated him for various conditions especially vertigo and sent him down on one occasion to consult a specialist about it. In this condition there is frequently a disturbance of equilibrium and general instability of movements, attacks of dizziness being common, sometimes at intervals of a week or more and sometimes continuously. It is usually due to trouble either in the middle lobe of the cerebellum or also in the Labyrinthine portion of the internal ear. He thought he also suffered from fatty condition of the heart. He had a scalp wound but there was practically no haemorrhage which is very unusual as the scalp is very vascular. For many reasons he considered that death was due to natural causes and not to injury by contact with a motor car. No bones were broken and in addition to what he had already stated that the deceased was deaf. Frank Herbert Judges (storekeeper) stated that on that evening about 7.45 p.m. he was standing on the pavement in front of his store and saw the deceased leave the footpath on the opposite side of the street and at the same time he saw a car approaching from the west. The driver swerved when near the deceased and he saw the deceased hesitate and seemed to be confused and lurched forward in front of the car and he believed the driver of the car had the brakes applied at the time and was traveling not more than eight miles an hour. He saw the car strike the deceased and his body was carried along the length of the car. Both wheels on one side went over the body and the brakes must have been well on as he was afraid the last wheel of the car would rest on the body. The body was then picked up by the driver of the car and taken to the doctor but he did not recognise who was injured. Norman Victor Wade stated that he was a motor driver living in Belmore Street Penrith and on the night about 7.40 o’clock he was driving in High Street in an easterly direction accompanied by Victor Purcell and another passenger, driving about nine or ten miles an hour and when opposite the Federal Hotel he noticed a man crossing the street. He blew his horn and the deceased stopped. He swerved the car and continued on when suddenly the deceased seemed to stagger in front of the car on the offside. He pulled up about the length of the car and picked the deceased up and took him to Dr Higgins in his car. He then reported the occurrence to the police while the doctor was examining the body and then he took the body to the Penrith morgue. He has been driving a car for ten years and he was a careful driver. When he blew the horn he continued because the deceased just stood there and he thought he would be able to pass him and he would have done so if he had remained still but he fell forward and there would have been no necessity for him to pull up if the deceased had stood still. Victor Purcell stated that he was a motor driver and resided in Station Street Penrith and he remembered the night he was in a car with Norman Wade at about a quarter to eight. They were going in an easterly direction travelling about 9 miles per hour at the time and when opposite the Federal Hotel he noticed a man crossing the street and he said to the driver “Norman look out for the chap coming across the street.” Norman blew his horn and the man seemed to stop to let us go past but he then staggered and fell in front of the car near the offside wheel and Norman pulled up the car and we then picked the man up and took him to Dr Higgins and reported the matter to Constable Whitten and then he assisted the Constable to convey the body to the morgue. He could feel that the wheel had gone over something. Constable Whitten stated that at about a quarter to eight Norman Wade and Victor Purcell called at the Penrith Police Station and Wade told him that he had knocked over a man in High Street and believed he was dead. Dr Higgins said that the body was sent to the Hospital morgue. He then removed all clothing and examined the body. There was a wound at the back of the head that was bleeding. Later he examined the spot where the deceased had been knocked down and it was close to the footpath near Judges’ Pharmacy. The coroner stated that he must be guided to a certain extent by the doctor’s evidence where he stated that death was possibly due to natural causes and believed the whole thing had been purely an accident due to the shock of being hit by the motor car. James was born in Greendale in 1860. He married Annie Wedesweller at Camden in 1882 and was a retired Engine Driver.  Photo of the Grave courtesy of the Find a Grave Website.

Source: Nepean Times Saturday 10 January 1925, Ancestry.