WORRIED TO DEATH BY A PIG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8986, 25 February 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

WORRIED TO DEATH BY A PIG.

On January 5 Dr. Hunter Hughes held an inquest at Pentrefelin, near Portmadoc, on the body of Robert Owen, aged 8." J years. Deceased lived at Mynydd Du Farm with his son, the tenant, and evidence was given to show that, being subject to fits, he was advised to take as much outdoor exercise as possible, and lately he seemed much better. He was accustomed to walk round the barns and outbuildings, n:id then return to the house. Taking two grandchildren with him, he left the house and got as far as the cowhouse, when the children went back for their tea. Afterwards the boys went to see the little pigs in the back yard. Here they were met by a most terrible spectacle. Their grandfather lay on the floor of the pigsty, and a sow was in the act of devouring the body. The brute was driven away, and the remains were removed to the house. The sow had eaten deceased's face, throat, and had completlev severed the back from the trunk, and with its powerful'-tusks had also stripped great pieces of flesh off the body. The supposition is that the old man went into the pigsty to sec the litter of pigs, and that while there the sow either attacked him, knocked him down, and then worried him to death, or else that he had a fit, and while unconscious, was attacked, with the horrible results described. The brut© was not known to be more vicious than other sows arc when in charge of a litter. The jury found a verdict in accordance with the facts.