f Melancholy and Fatal Aci cident

Northern Advocate, 11 August 1888, Page 3

Melancholy and Fatal Accident

" • g DEATH OF MES A. C. COURTNEY. f On Tuesday a most melancholy case of c drowning, occurred here in the per--0 son of Mrs Courtney, aged 43, wife is of Mr A. G. Courtney, of this town. On * the morning of the same day an inquest was held by Win. Bedlington, Esq., coroner, before the following jury: — 8 Messrs J. Wilson (foreman). Corns, c Bishop, Peterson, Dent, and Bevis. 7 The evidence adduced was of the most 3 meagre kind. As no one saw the accident all was inferential. Prom the j statements of both Mr Courtney and hia 5 son, it appears that deceased rose some- [ what earlier than usual on the inorning L in question. Her husband awake about | six o'clock, and found that deceased was J already gone from bed, and also heard her in the kitchen walking abont. The 1 son stated that he also on waking heard i deceased in the kitchen clearing ashes fiom the grate. He came down stairs, 1 and went into the shed to clean his [ boots; on returning to the house he [ missed deceased, and saw that the fire was laid but not lighted. He looked , about for the bucket used for drawing i watery but could not find it. He then i went into the yard, and saw that the | kettle was by the well, but no bucket, and on looking into the woll for the , bucket he there saw his mother, H e l then went to his father's bedroom, and told him that his mother was in the i well, and they both went thither to get i her out, and on doing so found her quite 1 dead. Deceased had been generally unwell for two months, but was always ' cheerful. She sometimes complained of giddness. The well was a bricked one, i with a cover, but no pump or windlass, the water being drawn by a bucket with ' a cord attached. The theory is that | deceased, after straightening up the kitchen and laying the fire, had proceeded to the well with the bucket to draw water, and that, either from s^ddness or from the weight of the bucket, had fallen into the well. After ; a few minutes consultation, the jury \ returned a verdict of " Accidental death i by drowning."