Accidents & Offences

New Zealand Mail, Issue 932, 10 January 1890, Page 13

Accidents & Offences

(PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.) Russell, January 2. The three victimß of the honey-poisoning were huried at Russell cemetery to-day. , The other 14 Bufferers ate nearly all recovered. Auckland, January 2. It is thought that the poisoned honey from which three Natives recently died at Russell, was obtained by the bees from the blossom of the whauriki plant, which grows in swamp land, and at the inquest it was recommended that some of the honey be analysed. Auckland, January 3. A boy named Alfred Skinner was drowned in the Waikato River last night through falling out of a boat. Gisborne, January 2. Yesterday afternoon, as a boat of the barque Peru was proceeding from the shore, the chief officer, Alex. Tytler, who was somewhat under the influence of liquor, fell overboard head first, and was never seen again. The body has not yet been recovered. Deceased was a married man with a family, 52 j ears of age, and was a native of Aberdeen. Timaru, January 3. A lad of 14, who had been ten weeks in an office as errand boy after leaving school, was committed for trial for forging his employer’s name to a cheque for £1 and uttering the same, changing it by buying 5s worth of stamps at a stationer’s. January 6. Two lads from the barque Lorraine, with a town boy named Powell and his sister, who were driving yesterday, one of the sailors being in charge, came to grief by the horce kicking. Powell’s skull w*a fractured —a bad case—and Walmsley’s (a middy) ribs were injured. Dunedin, January 2. By a fire at Opukerataki, near Waikonaiti, Savina, Louisa, and Madeline Ash well, a halfcaste mother and her two children, were burnt to death on Tuesday. George Ashwell, the father of the family, wss brought into the Dunedin Hospital severely burnt, and has since died from bis injuries. Dunedin, January 3 At the inquest on the Ashwell family, a verdict of accidentally burned was returned. It appeared that Mr Ashwell, cen., and his wife got out of the hut and rushed into the building to rescue the children. The wife was suffocated, and the body carried out by the husband, who was fearfully burned. George Ashwell, a boy, saved his youugnt sister by jumping out of the window with her. Blenheim, January 2. A crop of accidents occurred yesterday—three of them iu the decent of the Elevation Hill, near Pioton. One lady sustained a compound fracture of the leg, and another a fracture of the base of the scull. A fourth accident is reported from Onamalutu. A donkey frightened a cart-horse, causing it to capsize. The woman who was driving received a compound fracture of both arms. New Plymouth, January 4. Charles White, when bushfelling yesterday near Stratford, had a tree fall on him, injuring his Bpine. He was brought into the Hospital last night with his lower limbs paralysed. Invercargill, January 4. John Fortune, miner, of Orep-iki, was killed by a fall in his claim. His ma e Butler, who was standing alongside, escaped uninjured, as by a miracle. Fears are entertained of the safety of Mr C. J. Deck (dentist) and wife, who, with a boy, left Stewarts Island for the Bluff on New Year’s Day iu an open boat, and have not been heard of. It is quite possible they may have beaten back to Paterson’s Inlet. Invercargill, January 6. Needless alarm was caused by the report that Mr Deck, a retired dentist, residing on Stewart Island, with his wife and boy, had started in an open boat to cross the Straits and were missing. By the arrival of the steamer to-day it is ascertained that Mr Deck never had any intention to cross, and that some person seeing him sail ont of the bay to visit Port William assumed that be had left to cross the Straits, and reported accordingly. Alfred Bennett, contractor, was killed through hishorßes bolting. Gisborne, January 6. George Hay lock, an A.B. on the s.s. Tekapo, fell down the hold this morning and received a severe scalp wound. He was brought ashore and taken to the Hospital. He is expected to recover in a week or two. Christchurch, January 3. George Tillett, who made himself notorious in the Greendale district by sticking up lonely houses and demanding food, and who was sentenced to three years’ hard labour, attempted to commit suicide at Ripa Island to-day by throwing himself into the water. He was rescued by two prisoners. January 6. On Thursday week last a man was found unconscious in the stable of the Ashley Bank Hotel, at Ashley. Every care was taken of him, but he died next day. lor some time the police were unable to identify him, but now it transpires that his name is John Tanner, baker, and that he was formerly in the employ of Mr W. Thompson, of this city. Auckland, January 6. A gumdigger named Lorimer was drowned at Aratapu, by falling into the river. A man named Frank Bartholomew, a prisoner undergoing sentence in Mount Eden gaol, fell into a gunpit while working at Fort Caatley, and died of ooncussion of the brain. A gumdigger, Richard Rodwell, was found dead in bed at Northern Wairoa. The canße was spasms of the heart, the result of drink. Auckland, January 7. The dead body of a Native woman named Nuta was found at her residence at Otorohanga half eaten by pigs. It is supposed that the woman, whilst going to the well for -water, fell dead of heart disease, and that the pigs then attacked the body. Dunedin, January 6. A Jittle boy, seven years, was killed by

the tramway in the north end this afternoon. The boy was in the act of crossing King-street to join his father, a baker, who was standing with his cart on the opposite si'te, when a car knocked the boy down, ran over him and killed him. The driver sang out to the boy when he saw him, but too late. The whole occurrence took place in the view of the father, who was unable to do anything. He absolves everyone from blame in the matter. January 7. At the inquest on the boy Benton, accidentally killed on the tramway, no blame was attached to the driver. James Murdoch, a quarryman, fell over a cliff a distance of 40ft while firing a blast at the Heads to-day. He is not expected to live through the night, _ Gisb irne, January 7. The body of Alexander Tytler, chief officer of the barque Peru, who was drowned on New Year’s Day, was found washed up on the beach this afternoon.