THE LYELL IN OLDEN DAYS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, 24 March 1921, Page 2

THE LYELL IN OLDEN DAYS

A correspondent contributes the following to the Westport News: — | Sometimes I think that the people of | the Lyell were just as good at commit(ting suicide us those in any other town ; in other parts of the West Coast. | Some splendid attempts wer© made ' from time to time to try and hurry | over the Great {Divide. (.Some wore ! successful and others failed. I remember reading of a case down the Coast, when a. couple of miners were sinking a shaft for gold. One man used to wind the windlass at the lop while the mate went below to fill the buckets with sand. One- day the man below became tired of life, so bo tied the rope round his nock and called out to the man on top to heave up. As the windlass man wound up the bucket, as be thought, he found his mate banging there instead, and got such a shock that he lot go the handle of the windlass, and Jet his mate flop to the bottom again. At the inquest the jury disagreed as in whether it was suicide* or whether the man got killed through his mate letting h ; m down flop again. A good story comes from Burnett’s Face. Some years ago iL Swiss, by the name of Big Cliriss, got low spirited, ■and was telling his troubles to a young fellow by the name of Ted Tudor, ("hriss got to work there and then. He emptied a, box of matches in some hotwater until the heads melted, then he swallowed the lot, in front of Tudor. Ted cut across the road to Harry Patz’s hall and told a mob of footballers, who wore playing cards at the time, of what had happened. The fellows immediately mixed up a pannikin of mustard, salt, Epsom salts, vinegar, and water, and filled a football pump with the contents, and then wont across to Chriss’s hut. They found'him kicking on the floor. Jim Newman held his legs, Dongle Peacock held his mouth open, while Tony McGee forced the full charge* into the stomach with such a force that you could hear it splashing against the- pelvis bones. It immediately made Chiiss sea sick, and brought all the phosphorus up again, and he swore by all h e would not do the like again. Georg© Zanatti, of the Lyoll, thought lie was as good a.s the next one at the game, and tried it on at Westport. George had been drinking ginger ale with something mixed with it, in town for a few days. He was staying at the Empire Hotel at the time. When retiring one evening, lie just got. into bod and blew the candle out, when suddenly lie saw a man with one leg and a cow’s hoof on it, two horns on his head, and long finger nails, climbing up the wall like a fly. George thought it was no place for him, so ho opened his upstairs window, and jumped out info the darkness, and dropped with a dull thud on to a flock of' geese that was camped under his window, killing a prize gander belonging to Johnny Hughes. The geese broke the fall, but the geese got a bigger fright than George did. A very daring robbery took place some years ago by a Lyellite by the name of Louie tho Muff. Louis was in Nelson, and collared a peacock from one of the hotel yards, and brought it to the Lyell in a box, on horse back, to Ins farm. A policeman from Nelson was sent after the bird, and to arrest Louis, but- when Lou hoard of the cop coming' he plucked the peacock and left it skin bare. When the police investigated the fowl run ho found no peacock. He was no bird fancier, and did not know the difference between a plucked peacock and a scalded gander, so Louis '■on that time. One Sparklet- Bulb makes n quart of 1 delirious Water. Ruin,, Bor 0 cow procurable from all dealers. ! Srnding; gardem-. and smiling gar-1 moon, wberem c NORTH BRITISH 1 1 iR DEN nOSl: D used Years vfj , I '.! -c.-tl .' ! !'• C 1 o!' ■*, {? rc'pni,-- 1