TWO DROWNED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23413, 1 August 1939, Page 14

TWO DROWNED

MENTAL PATIENTS' FATE STRUGGLE ON RIVER BANK ATTEMPTED SUICIDE SEQUEL [from OUlt OWN correspondent] MELBOURNE, ,July 24 Two male inmates of the Kcw Mental Ffospital were drowned in the Ilivcr Ynrra at Studlcy Park after a desperate 'struggle on tho bank, in which one, aged 22 years, tried to prevent the other, aged 48 years, from .throwing himself into the water.

The medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr. 11. .Rogcrson, said that four inmates, under the care ol an attendant, were digging sand for building purposes at pits near the river. The one aged 48 years-quarrelled with one of the otber patient;-; but both were separated after a struggle. Dr. Hogerson .said the man aged 48 years then ran toward the river. The 22-year-old patient, who had taken no part in the quarrel, ran after the older man and caught him. The older man was then overpowered and was taken back to one of the sand-pits, whero lie was guarded until he became calm.

As soon as the man was freed again, however, he dashed once more toward the river. The young man again gave chase and the two became locked in a desperate struggle on a bank sloping down to the water, which at that point is about 12ft. deep. Gradually, the two men, still wrestling (desperately, approached the bank and fell over it into the river.

The young man was dragged below the surface b.v his demented companion. An attendant rushed back to a sandpit for a spade to assist the men from the water,' but when he returned they had disappeared. A bystander on the .opposite bank of the Yarra swam across the river to help in rescuing the men, but he arrived too late.