Lawrence.

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 476, 1 April 1873, Page 6

Lawrence.

(From our own Correspondent.) March 31. On Friday last, one of those melancholy affairs occurred which tend to remind us how uncertain is our tenure of life, and by what unaccountable motives or causes some are impelled on to 3elf-destruction. Ifc appears that a man named Robert Lowden, who has been for some time past superintending the improvements at the coal pit, and was esteemed by his employers as a hard-working steady man, went to Dunedin a short time since with a view to bringing his family (who reside at Caversham) to Lawrence, but not succeeding therein, he returned alone, and on Friday, at about 11 o'clock in the morning, some men working at the pit upon going into the stable discovered the body of poor Lowden suspended by a rope from a rafter, and quite dead. The body was brought into the township, and an inquest held, when a verdict of temporary insanity was returned. On the same day a man named Robinson, who lived at the Beaumont, died suddenly from the bursting of a blood vessel. Cormack and Nicoll intend to proceed at once with the erection of the bridge at the Beaumont, and will advertise at once for tenders for the work, so that with the bridge, the railway, and Blunicipal works there will soon be abundance of work for both skilled and unskilled labor. On Saturday Mr Hay sold by auction some small sections near the Hospital, which realised the handsome price of L 122 an acre. Of course there was an alluring bait to purchasers in the shape of deferred payments, which will run up to 12 months. However, the deposits, 25 per cent, were all paid, and 13 evidence of faith in the terrestrial value. I hear that leave of absence for twelve months has been granted to our respected Magistrate Vincent Pyke, Esq., and doubtless he will be glad of a temporary cessation from official duties. I have not heard the name of the happy place where he will enjoy his otium cam dignitate. A somewhat romantic account appeared in our local paper, the 'Tuapeka Times,' which I observe you quoted, of one Ferrara, who is reported to have passed an eventful life in Europe and America. According to the article alluded to, he should be 80 or 90 year 3 old. The fact is, he is really only 63, never saw Napoleon, Elba, Leipsic, or San Francisco ; but although only a prosaic old wanderer, he has a history of his own, being in fact a lineal descendant of Andrea Ferrara, of Toledo, in Spain, who gained a world-renowned fame as a manufacturer of swords. The cuuningness of the craft has in some degree descended to this the last of his line — Jaques being, according to all account, a very keen blade himself.