THE TRAGIC DEATH OF MISS SWAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8065, 5 October 1887, Page 5

THE TRAGIC DEATH OF MISS SWAIN.

Commenting on the story of Miss Swain's tragic death, which has filled so large a portion of public attention in Melbourne, and the main features of which our readers are no doubt familiar with, the Australasian ays :—" Whatever the true version of the story may bo, it is certain that Captain Moore's present position is most unsatisfactory. His contention is that it was a clear case of suicide. This statement the jury positively declined to believe. We think that their incredulity was fully justified. Captain Moore's story is not consistent with that of the other witnesses. Further, in his view there was literally no motive for the suicide. Girla do not usually walk with their lovers to a bridge and throw themselves from a great height into a river by way of amusement. Then there is the captain's subsequent conduct. He told the jury that he is quite a heroic person—that he jumped, three or four years ago, at night, into the Bay of Biscay to rescue a seaman who bad gone overboard—and yet he could see his betrothed bride drowning within a few yards of him without an effort to save her. It is true that he said he had a bad fall; but he is a strong man, and a good swimmer, and was able to get about with only a few bruises. The jury evidently thought little of this excuse, for they censured, in a rider to their verdict, both him and Flynn for their unmanly conduct in leaving the unfortunate girl to her fata under their very eyes. No man is legally bound to risk his life for another. But we trust that there are few men in Victoria who, if they were placed in similar circumstances, would exhibit the like cold-blooded prudence as Captain Moore and Mr. Flynn displayed. Flynn was a mere stranger on the scene, and owed no other duty than the instinots of a common humanity. Bat what can be said of the hero who braved the waters of the Bay of Biscay, and yet quietly watched the girl whom he loved as she sank screaming for help in the Yarra ?