A DANGEROUS GAME.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1776, 19 June 1896, Page 3

A DANGEROUS GAME.

A boy named Edward Cuffe was killtd at, Flemington, near Melbourne, on May 7, by being struck on the head by a 91b hammer. Two men were in a paddock practising the game cf throwing the hammer, and the deceased, who was sitting on the rail of the fence round the paddock, was with other lads watching the game. One of the men in throwing, let the hammer elip, and the boy, seeing the hammer coming as he thought towards him on the rail, jumped down into the paddock, and thereby ran right into the danger, the hammer striking him on the right side of the head, knocking in a large portion of the bone of the skull. At the inquest on the boy's body the evidence went to show that he would not have been struck had he kept his seat on the rail, and that the men who were practising the hammer were trespassing in the paddock. The jury looked upon the ease as a serious one, as the men were playing a game which, according to their own showing, they could not control. It was apparent to anybody that such a game was dangerous. Ignorance was no excuse. The jury found that the man (Michael Branock) who threw the hammer was guilty of manslaughter, and he was committed for trial.