Several mysterious points arose in the continuation before Mr. C. H. Haines, Coroner, in HM. Police Court yesterday of the inquest on Mr. W. J. C. Shoppee, who was killed after falling down a lift shaft in Broadway Mansions on December 31. Medical evidence previously given indicated that Mr. Shoppee had fallen on his feet, but a barrier three feet high was stated by a witness in yesterday's hearing to have.been found placed across the lift dóor on the second floor immediately after the occurrence, The barrier showed no signs of having been disturbed. The witness who gave this testimony, Mr. F. M. Howard, engineer of the Shanghai Land Investment Ca., said that he could not suggest any Way in which Mr. Shoppee could have got through the barrier, and have left it as it was found, "He might have thought that he was going down a staircase, but in that case, he must have pushed it aside", said Mr. Howard, "it would have been difficult for him to topple over it without the barrier showing some signs of damage. But I don't think it likely that he would have mistaken the lift shaft for a staircase, especially as he was a man who knew the buildings."
Mr. Howard said that after the accident he and Inspector Moir of the SMP. went up to the second floor to see if the barrier was in place. They found the barrier in place, and one light on. This light was only about four feet away from the lift. The only other door close to the lift was tha: leading into the hotel foyer just opposite. This was a swing door.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.