ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3863, 4 July 1874, Page 2

ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

There has been an ordinary amount of accidents and crime in the Province during the past month, a noticeable feature being the comparative large number of the ship Asia's immigrants charged with varied offences—from the biting off of a constable's nose, to stealing jars of honey—scarcely a day passing without some of Mrs Howard's consignment appearing in Police custody. It has been currently reported that the Government intend to give them free passages home, and thus make the best of a bad job. To judge from their capabilities, to adopt such a course would be a gain to the Colony. A .labourer named John Buck had a most remarkable escape from a terrible death, early on the morning of the Bth ult. T He was walking along the Railway line, opposite the Distillery, and attempted to cross a portion of the enclosed sea beach, which is nothing more than a bed or pool of black seething mud, and having walked into this quagmire he would probably have been suffocated, or else, being unable to extricate himself, the tide would ha7e risen and drowned him by inches, had he not been rescued. A gentleman proceeding home heard his cries, and with some assistance some sleepers on a temporary tramway were pulled up, and a stage rigged in order to reach the sinking man. The poor felldw appeared quite exhausted, and he had sunk so deep that it was with difficulty a sleeper could be placed nnder his arms; but eventually he was dragged out from what, would soon have been his tomb. When safe on teira firma a gate was unhung and improvised as a temporary stretcher, by which means he was taken to the Hospital, and, with careful attention, soon revived. Had it not been for the prompt measures taken by the gentlemen who assisted, Buck might have sunk and rotted in the mud, which is a disgrace to all who have the power to fill up such a frightful man-trap. ' A brutal case of attempted homic'de came before the R.M. Court on the 9th ult., when a foreigner named De Buisson was committed to the Supreme Court for trying to take his wife's life by choking her. The modiis openindi was most deliberate, he first drugging her, and then pressing the root of her tongue with his fingers, almost causing suffocation. It was stated that he Ttept company with a Frenchwoman of bad repute, and therefore tried to get rid of his wife. One of the most destructive fires which has occurred in Dunedin for some years took place on the night of the 35th ult At ten minutes past eleven o'clock the alarm was given, and a dense volume of smoke rising in Stafford street, near its junction with Princes street, soon made known the whereabouts of the fire. When the bell first rang, no flame was visible; but when the Brigade arrived on the spot a few minutes afterwards a large body of flame rushed out through the front windows of Mr G. F. Reid's large store, and almost simultaneously the flames burst through at the back, in dangerous proximity to the premises of several shopkeepers whose places of business front Princes street. The members of the Fire Brigade worked, however, with their accustomed energy, and in a very short time three jets of water were brought into full play. Two were directed through the windows of the store in Stafford street, and the third was used at the back of the burning premises, the supply of water being obtained from the Stafford street main. At this moment the fire was raging fiercely both in front and rear. There was evidently a very large quantity of inflammable goods on* the ground floor of Mr Reid's store, and the excitement was considerably increased by the report that some gunpowder was stored on the premises. It was even stated that Hudson, Mr Reid's storeman, was courageous, or foolhardy, enough to carry out a keg of powder. Before the water was properly brought to bear upon the back of the stores, the flames had reached the upper storey and were bursting out at the roof, the goods of the Mo?giel Woollen Factory Company— who occupied the first floor—having thoroughly ignited. An additional hose was now brought over the roofs of the shops in Princes street; and in conjunction with the Stafford street hose, a large body of water was thrown upon the back of the building and through the windows with telling effect. In a quarter of an hour it was evident that the Fire Brigade had obtained the mastery, and that without much difficulty the fire would be confined to a comparatively small space. The flames were beaten back from the windows

both at the front and rear, and although the fire burnt fiercely in the centre, there was no fear of its spreading farther at most than the adjoining premises of Houghton and Co. The fire damaged the latter premises considerably at the rear and on the roof, but did not force its way to the front, although of course the whole building is very much wrecked. In about an hour and a half the fire was thoroughly subdued, and scarcoly a sign of fire illuminated the blackened smoking premises of Messrs Reid and Houghton. Fortunately the night was very calm. Had the southerly wind been somewhat stronger, great difficulty would have been experienced in preserving the Union Hotel on the oppo site side of Stafford street from destruction. The new brick premises of Mmray, Roberta, and Co., adjoining Mr G. F. Beid's store, escaped unharmed, scarcely a window being broken. The last to leave Mr Reid's premises were Peter Thomson and Robert Nimtno, employed there, who left about half-past nine, when everything appeared secure. The first to observe the fire was Mr Lyons, of the Union Hotel, who made quick despatch to the Fire Brigade S cation. Insurances were effected as follows :—Policy in Norwich Union Company, £500, on G. F. Reid's building ; in South British, on fixtures, £150, and on stock in the same, £850 ; New Zealand, on Stock, £500 ; Standard, on stock, £500—£2500. Moagiel Woollen Factory—New Zealand, on stock, £2000 ; Standard, on stock, £1000. Brown's building—South British, £500. A quantity of the partially burnt stock was., removed from the Mosgiei Factory store. The salvage was sold at auction by Messrs M'Landress, Hepburn, and Co., and excited keen competition, the whole fetching high prices. Mr Reid subsequent'y entertained the Fire Brigade at a supper, for the services rendered, but the proceedings wero not made public. '■ A boy of eigiit or nine years, named James Williamson, was seriously injured by an accident which befel him on the 12th nit. He was climbing over a fence, and when making a Jump a-paling broke, apparently by his heel catching on it, and he was thrown to the ground, falling heavily on his right side. His right arm. was twisted round in such a way as to hit him hard on the face, and was fearfully dislocated at the elbow joint. The bone made a large hole in the flesh at the elbow. The little fellow nearly swooned from pain and loss of blood, bni he bore his suffering bravely. The accident happened hi a yard of a house in Cargill street. He went to the house and had the wound washed, and then, accompanied by a friend who took care of him, walked home to his house in York Place, and which was not far off. Dr. Burrows was sent for, and arrived soon. From the ugly appearance of the wound it was feared there was a bone broken, but Dr. Burrows, after putting the boy under the influence of chloroform, found on examination that the injury consisted of a compound dislocation of the elbow joint. Dr. Burrows then leduced the dislocation, and sewed up the wound. An explosion of' gas took place at' the residence of Mr Edmond, ship chandlery in Maitland street, at half-past 9 o'clock on the morning of the 15th ult. Mr Edmond found the gas escaping in one of the rooms, and went and turned off the supply at the meter. He went into the room, struck a match to try the burner. The gas being turned off, no ignitioa occurred. He then turned on the burner, and an explosion immediately took place. The explosion was a most violent one. The wall of the room, which forms part of the front of the house, was blown out from three to four feet, the side was damaged, and the roof over the room fell in. The roof of the whole of the house— a tolerably large private residence—was more or less lifted; one chimney was blown down, another was rendered so unsafe that it will have to be taken down and rebuilt, and a third was damaged. Plate glass windows, a quarter of an inch in thickness, were shattered to pieces by the explosion. Besides the injury to the outer walls, one of the partitions wasforced into the hall. Mr Edmorid was so much injured that he is confined to bed "He is badly burned about the face and hands, and the greater part of his hair and whiskers are burned off. The explosion I was attended by a loud noise. Neigh- ! hours flocked in at once, and with buckets of water extinguished the fire where it was seizing on the walls and furniture. The two fire-bells also rang out loudly, and the Fire Brigade came to the spot. The loss is put down at from £700 to £800—that including pictures, which were valued at £200. It seems somewhat curious that the explosion did not take place immediately on the match being lighted. From what we learn, it did not occur till the burner had been turned on, which was a few seconds after, the match was struck, ; A man named John Jenkins, was charged, at the Police Court, Tokomairiro, on the 23rd ult., before Mr Maitland, 8.M., with having, on the Ist of May, at Waihola, unlawfully, malici ously, and feloniously set fire to a dwel-ling-house, the property of John Donohne,: while three of Donohue's --.family were in the house. He was committed j for trial at the ensuing Criminal Sittings of the Supreme Court. The prisoner was afterwards admitted to bail on his own recognisance of £100, and two sureties of£so each. . • , Thomas Johns, aged about 17, met with a se ere accident at Messrs Gnthrie and Larnach's saw-mills on the 15th ult. He was cutting a piece of wood, and in stretching his right arm over the saw to draw it out, his hand was drawn in, and almost completely out through, below the wrist. The boy was taken to the Hospital, where T>r Hulme was immediately in attendance, and with the assistance of Drs Yates and Brown, amputated the hand at the wrist joint. A labourer named James M'Conchie had one of his legs broken on Monday afternoon last, while working at the Union street quarry, by a boulder striking him after rolling a distance of 20 feet. -M'Conchie, who is a married man, with a family, has been singularly unfortunate, having only bp.en released from the Hospital six weeks ago, after a long confinement tnrough a broken limb. He was again admitted to the Hospital. i An accident occurred on the 23rd ult., near Caversham, to Mr James Blair, baker, of that township, by which Mr Blair was terribly cut and wounded, and, it is feared, injured internally to a serious extent. Mr Blair was driving his cart to the Glen along one of the roads from Caversham to that locality. Some large stones had been placed on the centre more than on the side of a "road formed to a not over wide extent, to be broken j into road metal. Mr Blair thought the better way to take his horse and vehicle ! past would be to get the horse to walk ! over the stones, so that the wheels would I pass over on each side of the heap. Un- I fortunately, however, the horse shied at ] the stones ; one wheel went on the heap, j the other kept on the road formation, and \ the cart was capsized. Mr Blair, who ; was sitting on the front of the cart—one ; of the description used by bakers—was pitched off. As he was in the act of' falling, the tire cut; his left knee-cap, I laying bare the bone over a space several I inches each way, and driving gravel into the wound. The body of the cart fell and i rested on his left shoulder, injuring it, I and causing him to feel very severe pain I in his chest on the right side. The acci dent happened at about half-past nine in the morning, and in. about an hour afterwards Mr Blair had reached the Hospital, where his exceedingly painful and serious injuries were at once promptly attended to. Mr Blair still remains an inmate of j of the Hospital, where he lies in a critical condition. . ] Another body—making the third <ne recovered of the four young men drowned

near Port Chalmers by the lamentable boat accident on the Queen's Birthday— was picked up on the Peninsula last Saturday. Although much decomposed. Mr Lenton identified the remains, by the clothes, as those of his unfortunate son, William Lenton. An inquest was held at Port Chalmers on the following Monday, before Dr O'Donoghue ; and after a repetition of the evidence adduced at a former inquest, the Jury returned averdict of "Accidentally drowned." The body was removed to Dunedin for burial, and the funeral cortege was a long and impressive one, being attended by the Cadets, of which deceased was a member, and most of those connected with the Operative Tailors' Society. An accident, says the Bruce Herald, which we regret to find presents all the symptoms of becoming fatal, ocjurred on Tuesday morning last, the 23rd ult., at Balclutha, to a waggoner from Dunedin or Caversham, named Mr Win. Graham, who arrived at the Balclutha Hotel on Monday evening, and whose waggon still lies just below the hotel, where his team was fed and turned out for the night. The accident happened as follows : In the morning, having fed his horses, several of them strayed afterwards from the spot, and he got upon the back of one which remained by the waggon, and went in search of the missing portion of his team, and while riding over the frosty and slippery ground, the horse fell, and rolled over him in the fall. This was observed, and he was carefully conveyed to the Balclutha Hotel, and at once placed under the surgical treatment of Dr Smith, who has but little hopes of his recovery, as despite every effort made to restore sensibility, Graham had not recovered* consciousness. i A fire that caused considerable damage to property occurred on the 26th ult.. i at about a quarter to six o'clock, at a stable next Mr Amos M'Keg/s White House Hotel, Taieri. Mr M'Kegg and his family were sitting down at tea at the hour mentioned above, when one of the grooms came in and stated that the loft! of the stable was on fire. M'Kegg immediately went out, and all available; assistance was procured, but by this time i the fire had obtained such a hold on the building that the only thing that could te done was to save the horses, of which' there were seventeen in the stable. The horses were all rescued, but not without great difficulty, for when the last animal was got out of the burning building, the flames were coming through the door. A quantity of harness was saved, but several sets were destroyed. In addition to the building and harness, a large quantity of oats and hay was destroyed. The stables were Mr M'Kegg's property, and were rented by Cobb and Co. The joint loss will be about £300, arid none of it is covered by insurance. The origin of the fire is not known. Our Riverton correspondent telegraphs last Monday evening : —" Thos. Cooper, a carpenter engaged on the Aparima Bridge, met with an accident which was nearly proving fatal at 12.30 to-day. He was carrying a plank across, when his foot slipped and he fell into the water on the upper side of the bridge. His arm and shoulder were dashed against some cross pieces in his fall, and he was driven by the rapid current against a pile. He retained his senses, and clung to the pile and called for help. Mr Dawson, one of the contractors, and another person engaged upon the repairs of the bridge, came to his assistance in time to rescue him from his perilous position. He is recovering.