CABLED ITEMS

Hokitika Guardian, 29 April 1939, Page 8

CABLED ITEMS

BOYS ADRIFT IN HEAVY SEAS. ; BRISBANE, April 16, After several hours in heavy seas apl high winds, Griffiths Roberts, 15, William Kiilpw, 16, and John Derrick, 16, landed at St. Helena late on Friday night. They had been reported missing in Moretoii Buy.. . 'v The boys, who are sea scouts, comprised the crew of one of five sharpies which, were being sailed to More ton Island for the Easter holidays. :A police launch and a plane had mad© an unsuccessful search i - The mast of their boat was broken, and the boys drifted for hours. .After they reached St. Helena they had to scramble over half a mile of. broken coral. , - ,

DEATH OF SWORD SWALLOWER.

MELBOURNE, April 18.

John Lilja, 53, a professipnal swordswallower, died in the Royal Melbourne Hospital last night from a cut on the inside of las throat.' . '.V ,He wounded himself while swallowing a sword at ,a Mordialloc Beach carnival, on Saturday. '

He had safely swallowed two swords, two feet long, but a third out him.

A dpctor treated the wound, but it became worse on Sunday;- and he wa3 admitted to hospital.

Complications developed in his chest Lilja was married. He- jived in ville, a' Melbourne suburb.

TRAIN KILLS PLAYING CHILD

WOLLONGONG, April 18. Running into ; the metal train at Kiajna.! to-day, .a fpur-year-old.lgii;l_ w.as killed instantly. v f

, She was Helen Robinson, of Bombo. A few minutes before, the accident the child was sitting with her mother in Memorial Park. . Apparently, §'he ran off to play. Searching for “the child, the mother found her dead on the roadway. At the time of the accident, the train-driver estimated his speed at four miles an hour. •' =: - ' :;:'

The'metal; train conveys metal from the, State. quarries' "to, ■ the jetty at Kihma daily. . -i. - ABORIGINAL GAOLED FOR MAN- ' -.SLAUGHTER,' " ; " ,h . DARRIN, April 18, , ’.Victor, an aboriginal, was sentenced to 10 years’ hard labour, to-day when found guilty of manslaughter. ■ He . had been charged . with the murder of an aboriginal boy, George, after a. quarrel in which Victor’s wife, Brumby,: was also killed. ' Victor was reported to have said said‘ that he hit. Brumby on the head w}th' a. nulla-nulla only to make Tier understand that she cou]d go with 'urn

other man

tie auued that he had not meant to kill her.

Ihe jury returned a verdict of manslaughter', "with a strong iecom.Jueuaation to mercy.

Judge Weil told Victor^that he would have imposed a life imprisonment had tpe jury not rtoonunendect mercy. Victor'had not been charged” with killing Brumby', but there had been “wholesale slaughter.” “Anyway, Victor will probably be much safer in jail than out of it,” the judge added. FIFTY FEET DIVE AND RESCUE. THEN RACK ON JOB. ‘ ,; V : ■ SYDNEY, April 19. “I didn’t look to see how far it was, I just went in after him.” Constable Gordon Rottomley, 21, of Balmain, said this yesterday after he had dived from irp.n Cove Bridge, Drummoyne, to rescue a main The bridge is 50 feet above the water. ‘Uf a had not gone in straight away, he would have .' drowned,” Constable Bpttomley .said, : The nian lie rescued, had escaped half an hour “before from Callaii Park Mental Hospital. Aged about 40, the escapee was six feet ta11,,, and heavily built. He maßer-the jump afewnmiutes/

before 8 a.m., when Constables Bottomley and Grover, on motor cycle pai; trol, reached the Drummoyne end of

the bridge. ; : - ' V Constable Grover went to a boatshed, and procured a launch.

“T knew the launch would not; reach him in time, so I pulled off iny tunic and went in,” Bpttoiiiley said. ■ ‘ ‘He was nearly done when I reached him.- -

“I dragged him a few yards to one of the bridge-pylons, and supported him until the launch arrived.” The man was taken ashore in the launch, and was returned. to'Callan Parß. Constable Bottomley returned home to change his clothes, and resumed duty until 3 p.m.