ACCIDENTS & FATALITIES

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 17, 21 January 1897, Page 7

ACCIDENTS & FATALITIES

Fred Apporley, 14 years of age, was drowned whilst bathing ab Hasting;., near Napier, on January Ist. Pat McLaughlno, night watchman oh the ship Euterpe, v.a» found drowned alongside bho vassal ab Wellington on January 11th. George Ramsay, aged 20, wan drowned on Jan. 17 whilo bathing in the Castlohill Company's dam, Kaitangatu, Ot.ago. Ho was seized with cramp, and sank in aboub ten feeb of water. Two girls named Birdie and Clydie Sawyers, danp.hter-! of the ohief officer of the stoamor Oreti. were drowned in a luke on the Hen n ing ton Eetate, near Foxtoti, while bathing. They had been attending a picnic. A buggy accidenboccurred near Mnsberton on Jan. 11 by which two daughters of Mitt*. Cullen. J.P.. wore seriously injured. Anive. aged 21, having eevoral ribs broken, and Poor!, aged 13, sustained concussion of the brain. William John Cave, an employee at Messrs Leyland, O'Brh-n and Co.'■ timber mill, Custom-street West, foil into the water in the temporary booms alongside bhe mill on January Bih, nnd died in the Hospital iiexb day from injuries.

j A man named Wm. Evans, aged 90, was found dead in bed on Dec. 31 ab Nelson. Deceased was formerly a farmer in Waimeas. He owns property, and a Post Office bank book found with him ehowa a credit balance of over £300.

A man named Robert Brown, who was admitted to the Hospital recently suffering from burns, and whose arm was amputated ab the shoulder joint on Jan. Bth died on the Monday following. Mr Pi row n meb with the (.ccideub at a house at Kauaeranga.

Charles Earp, an architect, and a recent arrival from Home, died in the Wellington Hospital. An inquest was held on Jan. 9i_i, and a verdicb was returned to the effecb thab death was the result of uremal or Bright's disease. All the interna, organs were in a diseased state.

During the voyage of the Soukar, Ernest Winter, 19, assistant steward, was missed on November Bth. It was supposed that he had fallen overboard, bub as a heavy sea was running and no boab could live, and the vessel was going over ten knots, ib was thought useless bo stop and look for him.

An inquesb was held on Dec. 28 on the body of a man named Michael Byrne, aged 72 years, who was found in a house between Waiomo and Tapu, and who, ib was supposed, committed suicide. A verdict waa returned thab deceased died from the effect of a bullet wound in the bead, self-inflicted while be was in an unsound state of mind.

A man named Joseph Hynes, ganger for Seavor Bros.1 * at Maroboto, Upper Thames, dropped dead on January 17th. An inquest waa held ab Paeroa, when a verdicb of ''.Death from heart disease" was returned, in accordance with tbe testimony of Dr. Forbes, who mado a post mortem examination. Deceased was 45 years of ago.

An accident occurrod ab bhe Auckland Trotting Club races at Pobters Paddock on December 30th which resulted in the death of John R. Huxtable. a well-known jockey. Huxbable was riding a pony named Fauntleroy in tho Sbeeplechace, and during the contest his mount came to grief at a atone wall at the far side of the course,

A shearer named Maskall, working at tho Morven Hills Station, Ofcago, met his death by. an accidenb on Christmas Day. He was sitting down after bathing, sharpening his shears, when one ot his mates challenged bim to raco. Ho started running, but tripped and fell. The shears he had in hit band pierced him, and be bled to death.

An inquest waa held on January 15th before Dr. Philson (coroner) at the residence of Mr Thomas Ed. Fitzgerald, Kldon street, Parnell, to inquire into the circumstances surrounding bhe death of Mrs Catherine Nicholson, who was found dead on the previous afternoon in a bedroom in the dwelling. Dr. Gordon made a postmortem, and found that death was due to ftttby degoneration of the heart, intensified by valvular disease. The jury returned a vordicb of death from heart disease. An inquest was held at Lucas Creek Hotel on Chriatmas Day before Mr Thos, Leigh (acting coroner). On the 28th April, 1895, a man named Frank O'Donnell, single, gumdigger was reported missing from his wh are on the Lucas Creek gumfields. On Dec. 22nd lasb a gumdigger named Jlioab found the bones of a man in a creek uear where O'Donnell's whare stood. The jury ab bbc inquest expreseed themselves satisfied that the bones wero the remains of Frank O'Donnell, and returned a Yerdicb of "suicido while temporarily insane." The police buried tho remains. Mr J. H. Jackson, traveller for Brown, Barrett and Co., had his leg broken on bhe Thames wharf on December 24th. Jusb as the llotomahana was aboub to leave for Auckland Mr Jackson was standing on the wharf, and v.he.ti the whisble blew ib startled tho horses attached to a dray, causing a cask of cemenb bo roll oil. This struck Mr Jackson's leg, fracburing it below bhe kneo. He was removed to the Thames Hospital, where he died on January Bth. Tho young man wivs very popular amongsb tho.e with whom ho was brought into contact. The funeral took place on Jan. 10th at Purewn.

A pad boating accident happened near tho patent slip in X vans' Bay, Wellington, on New Year's Day. Mr William Hazolwood, middle seed, a sail maker, who resides at Nowtown, was cruising about the Bay in an open boat, and had with him a Mr Wilson and several young children, including Misses Wilson {3), Webb (2) and Craig, when bho boab capsized. Tho accident was oaused by tho boat jibbing, when she went over. Tho victims wore : Wm. Hazlewood, sail xm.ker. Mary Ann Craig, aged 12, daughter of Peter Craig, painter, and Jessie WiVvn, daughter of Alexander Wilson, groo&r. All wero residents of Newtown. Therewere seven others in the boat—one man and six young girls—and theso were rescued by the party which put out from tho patent slip.

A discovery wan made on December the 27th in the bush nt Plimmerbon, a favourite seaside resort near Wellington, of the remains of a man and woman. Tha skeletons had boen considerably disturbed apparently by roaming cattle, but the skulls wero intact, and in each was a bulletwound. Near by two revolvers were found, also a bottle, and the latter contained a note stating they were tired of life, and had determined to destroy themselves ; further that who they were was of no consequence. In the bottle were bovoo £1 notes lefb for the burial of bho bodies. A portmanteau found in bhe vicinity contained a "New Zealand Times," doted October 24, 1894, and ib is supposed that is aboub tbe date of tho tragic incidon.. Ab bhe inquest on the remains bub little light wos thrown on tho sad affair. The medical testimony was to the effect that the woman was under the age of 21, and thab the male victim was middle-aged. No evidence whatever woe adduced as to identification, bub there in libble doubb thab bhe vicbims loft Wellington, though bhey may not have been residents hero. A voidict of suicide was reburned. In connection with the mystery it has beon ascertained that a Mr Brookes (his proper name is Braybrook) came to Wellington with a young woman, who passed as his wife, somewhere about April, 1893, and went into lodgings with the Kings. While there Mrs King and her daughters had ample opportunity of seeing the clothes and effects of their lodgers, some of which they identified in connection with the articles found ab the scene of the tragedy, After living with the Kings for about three weeks Mr and Mrs Brookes took a boardinghouse in Ghuzneo-streeb, which they kept till July, and then sold out. Shortly after this they took another boardinghouae in Dixon-stree-, bub a little later on Mrs Bsookes seems to have gone away up country pomowhere, and bhen a second Mrs Rrookos with bwo children camo on the pcsiio. Tho first woman was about 20 year* of ago, and the second nearer 50. The Dixon-street boardinghou.o °l*o proved an un.ucce-i.fnl venture, and wae sold out by Messrs Townsend and Paul. Brookes was known bo make a trip inbo the counbry prosumab'y to fee young Mrs Brookes, and just prior to the supposed dabo of tho tragedy (October, 1894), he returned from one of tiie.e trips looking very eeedy and hard up. His position -financially had gradually been getting worse and worse, and then suddenly he disappeared and has not been heard of since. Where tho wife and children wenb to is nob yeb known, nor ho? Ib yot been ascertained who was the young woman who lived with Brookes as hi. wife, and who ia supposed to be one of the victims of the tragedy. Ib Is reported that Braybrook., whose name i. associated with the I .itnmerton tragedy, is related to Lord Broybrooko, whose family name is Neville.