THE WAIKAIA FATALITY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11229, 27 September 1898, Page 7

THE WAIKAIA FATALITY.

ACCIDENTALLY DROWNED.

. Careful inquiry made by the police and Chief Detective O'Brien into the circumstances connected with the death of William Georgo Parker, at Upper Waikaia, dispel all idea of foul play. As already explained, Parkor, who was a single man, 33 years of 'age, was the Kconseo of a small run which he carried on in conjunction with gold mining, and lived by himself. On the evening of the 23rd August he visited the huts of novae of the men employed by the Upper Waikaia Hydraulic Sluicing Company. He spent some time, after having tea, with Patrick Eeilly in social converse. He visited the hut of a man named Riordan with a man named Cormaek. His last visit was to the hut of John Kelly and Samuel M'Auley. About 10 o'clock in tho evening he left there for his own hut, having to ascend a steep hill", down tho face of which the company's pipes are laid. The next morning, on the men workiDg the mine pumping out the water, the body of tho deceased was found f ally dressed, except the hat, lying at the bottom oi the mine. Deceased's walking-stick, broken,- was found on the hillside overlooking the claim, and a little distance away the hat was found. As tho deceased was familiar with the ground, the chances of his meeting his death accidentally by rolling into tho mine, if he fell, wero thought to be small, and when it was reported that pr Murphy, on making a post-mortem examination, had found marks of violence on the body, a suspicion of foul play got abroad. At the adjourned inquest on Friday, held before Mr Taylor, J.P., acting-coroner, it was shown that the sum of £1 7s 6d, which had been paid to Parker, was in one of the pockets.. His watch had stopped at 10.20, or very shortly after he.had started on his way home. Further, it was stated that tho ground was very hard, owing to frost on the night of the 23rd, and it was highly probable that a man losing his footing at the point where tho broken stick was found would roll down the steep face into the mine. The most conclusive ovidenco, however, was that of Dr Murphy, who stated that the reports concerning the marks of violence on the body wera untrue. The only mark of injury he found on the body was a slight abrasion on the front part of the head, which might havo been caused by the gravel in the mine. Further, there wero no marks on Uie throat. On the chest there were traces of skin disease; tho liver was diseased, and greatly enlarged. The jury were unanimous in returning a verdict of accidentally drowned.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE OTAGO CENTRAL LINE.

A sad accident, with fatal results, occurred on the Otago Central railway on the 16th instant. - Mrs Crichton, a passenger for Kckonga, was accompanied by her grandson, Leslie Lye, aged four years and three months, son of Mr Josiah Lye, printer of the Otago Witness. As the train was about to leave Hindon, Mrs Crichton, who was on the platform of the carriage giving her grandson a drink of tea, made an attempt to enter the carriage holding the boy by the hand, but the sudden jerk of the train starting caused the little boy to be dragged out of her hand, and *he fell between the carriage and the station platform. Mrs Crichton made a desperate effort to rescue the boy, even at the risk of her own life, but she was unsuccessful. The tram was almost immediately brought to a standstill, and the littls boy picked up between the rails. On examination it was found that life was extinct. The wheels of the last two carriages had passed over the little fellow, and the body was badly mutilated, the head being crushed and one of the legs badly mangled. At the inquest the jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased was accidentally kiiied by falling from a train, and that no blame was attributable to anyone.

James Rattray, a settler at Inchclutha, 83 years of age, was found dead in a paddock near his home on the 3rd about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Heart disease is believed to haye been the cause of deaths