ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES

Evening Star, Issue 7362, 7 November 1887, Page 4

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES

A Recfton telegram states that while the Lynch Belhingers were crossing the Inangahua River the coach and horses were swept down the stream until stopped by a large boulder. The horses were released with great difficulty. The bellringers remained on the top of the coast) from midnight until four o'clock in the morning, by which time the river had fallen considerably and assistance was rendered. George Haines, the driver, and one Woolfe acted very pluckily.

Mrs Amelia Martin, wife of Mr J. Martin, landlord of the City Hotel, Wellington, committed Buicicle early on Sunday morning. For some time p ist Mrs Martin lias given way to intemperate habits, and often threatened she would end her life by taking poison. At midnight Mrs Martin informed her daughter, twelve years of age, that she had takon "rough on rat 3." The child, however, took no notice of her, but at the same time noticed that the parcel of that particular poison had been removed from the shelf. Mr Martin, who occupied a separate room to his wife, spoke to her at one o'clock in the morning, but the latter said nothing of having taken poison. At seven o'clock she was found dead in bed. On her dressing table was a glass containing traces of " rough on rats," while an empty box which had contained the poison was found in the drawer in her room. Mr Martin formerly lived in Hawke's Bay district, and is well known in sporting cireles as owning several racehorses. A sad accident happened at Idaburn on Friday {says the ' Mount Ida Chronicle'), by which John M'Donald met with an untimely end. Deceased was working in his coal pit, when a mass of coal, estimated to weigh about a ton, fell from the face, overwhelming and killing him instantly. Medical assistance was at once sent for, but of course it proved of no avail. Deceased was strong, hearty, and hardworking, and in the full vigor of manhood, and was highly respected by all who were acquainted with him. He leaves an ailing wife and five or six young children. The ' Dunstan Times' reports that Frank Young, who had been working on the banks of the Kawarau River, near the Roaring Meg, is missing. From the fact of his hat being found near the river's edge, it is feared that he fell in and has been drowned. A youth named John Lee, aged about eighteen years, and son of Mr Francis Lee, of Spottis Creek, fell down dead on Wednesday near Ophir. Dr Butler viewed Lee's body shortly after death, but declined to give a certificate without a post mortem; accordingly an inquest will have to be held.