MURDER, OR EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5, 20 November 1861, Page 5 (Supplement)

MURDER, OR EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.

An inquest was held before Dr. Preshaw, on Thursday last, the 24th October, at Elphiu, stone, on the body of a man found under the subjoined singular circumstances as detailed in evidence. John Broad deposed: lam a milkman, and live at the back of the Elphinstone Camp. Yesterday, about half-past four in the afternoon, I was looking for a beast. I searched the holes till I came to one where I thought I saw something. At first I took it for a horse, but on looking I found it was not. I called George Piercy, and then went and reported to the police. On returning with the police the body of deceased was got out. The hole was a square one and about ten feet each way, and nearly full of water. It had been dug above twelve months, but had been deserted, though a few diggers had been working about it not more than a fortnight since. I never observed anything peculiar about it before, though I have covered both this and others in order to prevent beasts falling in. Yesterday, I found the wood removed and shifted to the end of. the hole. A rope was wound round the thighs of deceased three or four times, then twice round his neck, then again to the rope round the knees, and then to a large stone (produced) about 50 pounds weight. The body and stone floated. I saw no hat or clothes * about except what was on deceased The stone must have been brought some distance, as there are no stones of such a size near. There was a smaller stone of a similar description, like the one described near. This was by the side of the hole. I do not identify deceased. The next witness, John Piercy, corroborated the evidence of the previous witness, as to finding the body i the hole. William Atherton, a splitter, sai that on Thursday morning last he took some water from the hole in qu^ti^ *~- rV^ use of his mates and himself. At that, timo o^ore was no appearance of any body, but when he got home his mates observed that the water was nasty. Constable Evirs gave similar evidence to "that of the first witness relative to the discovery of the body, which was much decomposed. It appeared to be that of a man about 5 ft. 9in. in height, sandy hair, no whiskers or moustache, broad features, no hat or cap. Deceased had on a monkey jacket, tweed trousers, a Crimean shirt, with blue stripes, and Wellington boots. On his person was a miner's right, dated Ingle wood, S—, name not legible, but like " li. Hebin, No. 94, to be in force until 15th July." The witness also found a copy of Bell's Life on deceased, dated the 7th May, 1861, and an empty purse. £To person had been reported missing in this district, and no idea of the identity of deceased could be formed. Dr. M'Grath thought that the body of deceased must have been under water for at least two weeks. As far as he could judge' there had been no violence. There were no injuries to the head, but from the decomposed state of the body he could make no examination of the viscera. The following verdict was returned : —" That the body of a man about 30 years of age was found dead in a water hole, near the Police station, Elphinstone, with a stone and rope round his neck, on the 23rd October, but how he got there, there is not sufficient evidnce to show."— M. A. Mail, 25th Oct.

Shoplifting by a Lady.—Miss Elizabeth Hawkins, a young lady, was charged at the Westminster Police-court, with stealing a'roll of ribbon in a mercer's shop in Chelsea. There was no question about the furtive taking and pocketing of the ribbon, but the defence was that the young lady was of a dull mind, and subject to fits of abstraction ; that when she knew not what she was doing ; in the words of the counsel who attended for her, "her mental power while in the prosecutor's shop was totally absorbed in matching the silk she purchased, 5 * therefore the taking of the ribbon was a purely physical act —her mind was not in it. The magistrate, after hearing much evidence in support of this view, decided on discharging the accused.

Some interesting experiments have been made before the medical faculty of Melbourne to test the relative value of two antidotes for snake bites, discovered respectively by Messrs. Underwood and Shires. The operations were performed upon a number of dogs sentenced to death for being unregistered. A large open box with wire slides was used in the experiments, into which was first placed a spaniel with an Australian Cobra, one of the most venomous colonial snakes. After the snake had inflicted its bite, the antidote not being applied, the animal died in convulsions in an hour and a half. Various experiments were then made and the antidote applied, with varying results. In many cases the antidote was ineffective and in others beneficial, and the general opinion was that the value of the antidote was extremely dubious. One Man as Good as Another.—lt is no uncommon thing for the drummer, who has to carry a great drum in an American band, to call to the major or colonel, " I say, Reuben, I guess I am tired ; get off your hoss, will ye, and give me a turn by carrying one md of this drum a bit ? I'll take to the parchment critter again, I reckon, and whop it catawompously when we gits among the houses ;" and the colonel or major is sure to comply, or look out the next time the parties meet to take an antifogmatic at the bar of some hotel. — Dr. RusseiVs Lette?' to The Times, from Washington, A Qubeh Bargain.—A young English girl fell in iove with Brigham Young at first sight. She had read in the Old Testament that Jacob had served seven years in order to get a wife, and, in the New Testament, that in the latter days all old things would pass away and be changed. She made use of this last passage by inverting the parts, and went and proposed to Mrs. Young No. 1, to serve her for some years, in order to have the right of afterwards marrying Brigham. The Mormon pope, informed of this singular proposal, gave his consent. The young Englishwoman faithfully discharged her duties as a servant, and at the close received for her wages the honour of becoming the thirtieth wife of the Prophet, to whom she has already borne several children. — A Jovruey to the Great Salt Lake Ciiy. By Jules JRemy and J. Bi'enchiey, M.A. The following appears in the Civil Service Gazette: —"New Zealand.—The Hon. John Carr, Chief Justice of Sierra Leone, has been appointed Chief Justice of New Zealand, in succession to the Hon.,' Mr. Arney."