A MAN CRUSHED TO DEATH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 266, 12 November 1869, Page 2

A MAN CRUSHED TO DEATH.

0 (From, the Auckland Herald. ) We have to record, with the utmost regret, the first accident that has happened in connection with the Golden Crown Company's works, and which has surpassed, in the horror of its details, not only any occurrence on the goldfield, but even in the province. From the particulars which we append, it will be seen that the unfortuuate sufferer by this most sudden aud awful casualty was mangled in the most horrible tnauuer so much that the body complety defied identification. From the particulars as gathered by our reporter, who visited the scene of the accident a short time after its occurence, it would appear that there are two engineers in charge of the crushing and pumping works of the Golden Crown Company. These men work in twelve hour shifts, and one of them, the head engineer, byname Jobn Baxter, went to work at six o'clock last night as usual, and until half-past eight the operations of the macninery went on as usual, no one having occasion to visit the building, with the exception of Baxter, who was in charge. At the hour mentioned above, a straDger went to visit Mr. Cootes, who is in the employ of the Company, and occupies an office in the neighborhod of the pumping machinery, when he was horrified at perceiving the mangled body of a human being lying on the fioor of the machine room, close to the eccentric rods and the governing balls. The alarm was at once given, the machinery was immediately stopped, and a crowd soon congregated around the spot. The appearance presented by the body was of a frightful character, and not a feature of tbe countenance was recognisable, and the mangled and distorted limbs scarce presented the semblance of a human appearaDce. The viscera were protruding ; and, indeed, it may be almost said that the whole remains were a mass of mangled flesh. A strict examination of the immediate locality was at once entered into, and it was found that the governing balls were sprinkled with brains and blood, as were also the eccentric rods, and a large pool of blood was coagulated on the floor underneath the balls, and the oil-can used for oiling the maichinery was found at the bottom of the pit iu which the fly wheel revolves. From an examination of the remnant of torn clothes and the disfigured remains, it was found that the unfortunate man Baxter had met with a fearful death. Of course all ideas as to how the accident occurred must be merely and purely conjectured ; however, it is supposed that Baxter after oiling the bearings of the flywheel, incautiously raised his head, forgetful of the close proximity of the quickly revolving governing balls and was struck by them aud dashed, stunned, amongst the eccentric rods, which having torn the then senseless form, threw it in an undistinguishable heap on the part of the floor on which it was subsequently found.