Young NZ traveller dies for 11c on Boston subway

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

A young Howick man touring the eastern United States after working in a summer youth camp has been killed jumping on to an electrified rail track for the sake of 11c.

Matthew Gallagher, 22, died in Boston early on Friday after a friend had noticed some stray coins in the subway track pit.

The former Macleans College student and business graduate from Manukau Institute of Technology was waiting for a train just before 1am with fellow Aucklander Craig Jonas, 25, after celebrating their last night in Boston with a few drinks.

Mr Jonas, a swimming instructor and trained lifeguard believed to be from North Shore City, told police he scooped up 11c but was unaware Mr Gallagher was behind him before hearing him scream from brushing the subway's 600-volt third rail.

He and a bystander pulled Mr Gallagher back to the platform at Haymarket Station in Boston's tourist district but failed to revive him and he was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital.

It is the second time in a year that a young New Zealander has been electrocuted on a railway line.

Promising Tauranga motorcyclist James Dean, 21, was killed when he tripped and fell on a 650-volt line while crossing tracks on London's Underground in November.

Mr Gallagher was an active sportsman and had just spent the northern summer teaching pre-adolescent boys to waterski at Camp Modin in Maine. But according to camp director and owner Howard Salzberg he was not foolhardy.

"There is nothing bad I can say about him - he was the sweetest kid in the world, not a risk-taker, not a crazy kid," Mr Salzberg told the Herald yesterday.

"He was a great kid, everybody loved him - he was very popular among the staff and with the kids he worked with.

"He worked with boys about 10 or 11 years old. They loved him. He was one of their favorite counsellors. They are all devastated and the staff are very upset."

Mr Salzberg said he understood from Mr Jonas, who was staying with him in New York while recovering from the tragedy and reviewing his travel plans, that the pair were simply passing time while waiting for the last train and had acted on impulse.

"Craig told me that he never saw a sign warning of the electrified rail."

Although the pair had been drinking in a bar, he did not believe their judgment was affected, and it had not stopped Mr Jonas from doing what he could to save his friend by using his first aid training.

He said Mr Jonas was still too upset to discuss the incident with reporters, although he had phoned Mr Gallagher's family in Auckland.

Mr Gallagher's mother, Gay, said her only son was "a pretty solid guy" who lived life to the fullest with an enthusiasm for a wide range of sports such as snowboarding and hockey.

"He was terribly organised. He was one of those people who are fanatical about having everything organised really well."

She understood he and Mr Jonas had gone out for a farewell drink "for Boston", intending to head for New York the next day to meet another New Zealand friend for the next leg of their trip - Britain.

Her son had taken leave from a marketing job at the Gough Group's Caterpillar earthmoving equipment division in Auckland and had hoped to broaden his skills in London before coming home.

Massachussetts Bay Transportation Authority police spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the death was an "unimaginable tragedy" and the first electrocution on the tracks in his seven years with the agency.

He said there was a sign on the platform warning passengers about the electrified track.

There was no suggestion the New Zealanders had reached for the coins because they were short of money.