THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: Ballycarry farmer is killed after his horse bolts

Robert Mackey, aged 62, a farmer from Leafield, Ballycarry had tragically died from injuries he received when he was thrown from a trap after the pony he was driving had bolted, reported the News Letter on this day in 1937.

Mary Mackey, the sister of the dead man, stated at an inquest held in Ballycarry that he brother had set out with two cans of milk for Ballycarry Creamery but that about half an hour later she had seen the pony coming back towards the house alone and with its harness broken.

She then ran down the lane only to find her brother lying in the roadway.

She told the inquest that the pony had been a lively creature and had bolted several times but that her brother had driven the animal to Ballycarry many times before the accident that day.

John McKinstry, a farm labourer, told the inquest that he had been walking down Limeworks Lane on the Wednesday morning in question and had narrowly escaped being knocked down by the pony and trap.

As the pony and trap careered past him he had seen the deceased man holding on to the reins and shouting.

He had then seen the trap strike a bump in the roadway and overturn throwing Mackey out. Constable J W Geoffrey of Whitehead RUC told the inquest that when he arrived at the scene of the incident he had inspected harness and had found it to be in a very bad condition “being old and worn and badly in need of repair”.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded at the conclusion of the inquest.