THE LATE JAMES SCHRICK

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 38, Issue 966, 22 May 1908, Page 3

THE LATE JAMES SCHRICK

! . ~~- ' I Referring to tlie death of James ! Schrick Inst Wednesday week " the | Dunstan Times says : It appears that Shriek, ' who had been engaged on the Wednesday in racerepairing work went down'to the Half-way House chair for tluv'puV- ( pose of dressing to his hut on'- the west side of the river. He was seen by Mr T. Molded (of the Half-way House Hotel) and' two or threo others, to, leave the staging clinging to the side '■ of the chair Mr Holdcn immediate- ' , ly rushed clown to render assistance, t but was only in time to see poor ' Schrick drop into the river beneath, a • distance of GOft. He came to the surface about 12 yards from where he sank, and immediately struck out ' strongly for the shore on the east bank. The unfortuuate young fellow, however, though he made considerable progress, and got very close'to the shore at a point where the current • ; beats of at almost at a right angle, suddenly,V disappeared, being: sucked under by a whirlpool, and was not 3& en .. a S a ! n ' -Diligent search has been maclßV'but-so far there,is no, sign of tfie body; • ■'■ J ... ...•.-.' '•',** .-. ", 'Tlie deceased, ' who was a singltj man, was a brother-in-iaaw of Mr R. M'Skunming of Patearpa. .

There have been no less "than seven accidpnfs'of a'.like lua.rure from this chair, six of then ending with fatal results. At a recent meeting of the. Vincent County Council the engineer reported that the chair was in good working order,' and that he had had it supplied with a new rope. From what wc are told, however it appears that the wire rope on which the chair is suspended is very loose, so much so that there i 3 a sag of some 6 feet when the chair is in the centre. This, it will be readily understood, makes the last part of the journey a very hard pull, and it is in order to get away pn that this very dangerous practice of shoving the chair off .and then springing into it is adopted The proper method of using the chair is to tie it before getting into it.