THE RICCARTON DROWNINE CASE.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7778, 4 February 1891, Page 6

THE RICCARTON DROWNINE CASE.

An inquest was held at the jßagh L Riccttitou. at 2.40 p.m. yesterday, bS Mr it. Beetham, Coroner, aud aX vihoin Mr J. Hamilton was choseu Kb* man, touuiiing the deaths of SataS iiichaid Muruon and Isaac James Hum wiio were drowned the previous day Sergeant-Major McDonald conducted*!* inquiry, aud alter the jury had vieweS bodies* and the place where the tleceasS were drowned, the folio wiutf evldisa was called :— Thos. Wilson, a lad, stated that he in at Maroon a mill-dam the previous d« and h«w that the deceased's boat ew capsized and one of them was etriklnfrlS hands in the water. He saw the bodLa the deceased takvn out of the water «m time afterward-* and recoguised them Richard M.ueuall stated he vraeattii dam shortly utier tho ..ccidcut. mi'Z deavoced wich others to recover the bote, He dived ou Jβ and traced where they $*m with a pole. The itodies werewcorerJ after the water had been let out. Tllebas was a small unsafe tiling. No one uawtli deceased go out in the boat. WftnesoiS been out in it, and found it was veryeaiik Mardou could swim but JEvntu couldaoj, i'he jury retuiiied a verdict of "Ac* deutully di'owned."

The spot where the deceased raet tteii deaths is abouc a hundred yardsabowrti mill, where the water atuiue a deptheJ about twenty feet. The creeK, whtcil S one of the main tributaries of the Ara is supplied by springs, and the wsierlf intensely colli. The ooat, whiell belo»<t to the deceased, was coustructed wiia | white pine frunic mid covered with m vas, which h.id been coated wlthtKtf urnke ie waterproof.