THE LATE MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT WITH FIREARMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 653, 4 June 1864, Page 5

THE LATE MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT WITH FIREARMS.

An inquest was held on Wednesday last by H. W. Robinson, Esq., Coroner, on the body of Samuel Miller, who was killed by his own brother on the evening of the 24th instant, by the accidental discharge of a pistol. Mr Allan Fitch was elected foreman. The jury were then sworn, and after returning with the Coroner from reviewing the body, Alexander. Miller, who had been at large on bail, was brought up before them and charged with shooting at and causing the death of one Samuel Miller on the night of the 24th instant.

The first witness called was Mrs Mary Ann Grindley, wife of Mr Wm. Grindley, butcher, Clyde, sworn, deposed : I know the deceased Samuel Miller. On the evening of the 24th instant as myself and the wife of deceased were standing at the door of my house, which was next to that occupied by him, but separated by a narrow right-of-way, the deceased came up and spoke to ns, and then passed on towards,his dwelling. Immediately after he had left, I heard an explosion like that of fire arms, and saw deceased fall. He appeared to turn right round before he fell, but never uttered a word. I observed a quantity of smoke but did not «cc any one discharge firearms. The person who did so must have been in the passage between the two dwellings, and concealed from my view. When deceased fell I ran up to him and unbuttoned his neck-tie, he was insensible. There was a wound on his right temple from which a large quantity of blood was flowing. A crowd collected immediately, and some person ran off for medical assistance. Dr Morice was immediately in attendance ; deceased was then carried into his residence

By a Juryman : Immediately after de«eaged fell I saw his brother, Mr Alexander Miller, standing close by. Evidence resumed :— There were plenty of guns being fired that evening, bonfires were lit, and people were enjoying theniin honor of the Queen's birthday. Alexander Miller clasped his hands together and made exclamations of mental distress. I then ran into deceased's house to see his wife. Alexander Miller must have been coming down the passage while the deceased was passing across. I saw the prisoner several times during the day, but not with firearms in his hand, but I understood, that both he and deceased had been firing off guns at the back of the stables to the rear of my premises. By the Police' — I did not htar the deceased direct the prisoner to fire off the pistolin such a manner as to frighten any one. John William Holdsworth sworn, deposed : Am a miner living at Dunstan. I tnow the deceased by sight. Yesterday about 10 p.m. I was returning from the rocks to the rear of the township, where I had been making a bonfire, and as I was proceeding up Sunderland-istreet in the direction of the residence of the deceased, I observed two men walking along the street before me, one of them had a pistol ■which he carried behind his back. The man who carried the pistol was not two yards • from me ; it had either one or two barrels. I heard the shot fired, but did not observe the act, Immediately afterwards deceased fell on his right side. His feet were towards Mr Grindley's shop, and a large quantity of blood came streaming down. A person exclaimed " Oh, my God !" and them ran off in the direction of Dr Morice's. I then proceeded on my way home, and meeting Detective Cassells, informed him of the occurrence. I recognise the prisoner as the man that carried the pistol. The one produced is similar in appearance to that carried by the prisoner. Wm. Chadwick, a Baddler residing at Clyde, sworn,, deposed : I know both the deceased and'the prisoner, they were brothers and reside immediately opposite my premises. On the 24th "instant, bonfires were lit just behind the township. There was also a general discharge of firearms. About 10 p.m., while standing at my door, I heard tae report of firearms, and saw the- deceased fall. The distance from where Iwas etanding was only ten or fifteen yards. . I then ran over, and found deceased .tying on the ground, apparently dead. He was partly on his right side, with his head towards the street. I observed a wound on his right temple, from which blood was flowing freely. The prisoner was standing by looking on, exclaiming, "Oh dear! Oh dear!" Deceased's wife was there also. She said, " Oh ! Sandy, it's your brother ! " The prisoner appeared very much distressed in mind. There wa3 a pistol lying on the ground close to my feet. It was- picked up and handed to me, it appeared to have been but recently discharged and was wet with blood. By the Police: The brothers were always on the best of terms, and much brotherly love appeared to exist between them. I believe deceased's death to have been the result of accident. Charleer Morice, a legally qualified mcdi- !

cal practitioner, living tit Clyde, sworn deposed : About twenty minutes past nine on the evening of the 24th inst. I was called to see the deceased Samuel Miller. I found him lying on his back in an oblique direction across a right-of-way, between his and Mr Grindley's premises. There was a large gaping wound in the side of his head, a little above, and in front of the right ear. It was a contused penetrating wound, the contents of a pistol discharged at close quarters, although not loaded with ball would produce a similar wound. I examined the wound, it was a horizontal one, and about three inches wide, and four and a half in depth. I afterwards made a post mortem examination of the head. I found no ball there, nor any other foreign matter, save a small pulpy substance similar to a piece of paper blackened with gunpowder. There was a small piece of stick near the orifice of the wound, but it did not penetrate far in. It did not appear to have formed any part of the weapon. Its presence can be accounted for by deceased falling upon the ground. I am satisfied, from my examination, that no hard substance had penetrated the skull.

John Cassells, detective constable, stationed at Clyde, sworn, deposed: While on duty in Sunderland street, about 10 p.m., on the 24th instant, I was informed that a man had been shot. I at once ran down the street, till I came to the Commercial Sale Yards. In a passage leading into the yards, a crowd of people were assembled. I wa« told Mr Miller had been accidentally shot by his brother. There was a large pool of blood flowing towards the street. I immediately sent information of the occurrence to the Camp. About a quarter to eleven I met the prisoner near the Port Phillip Hotel ; he appeared to be in great distrest of mind. He voluntarily accompanied me to the Camp when I charged him with shooting and killing one Samuel Miller. Upon searching him, I found neither fire arms nor ammunition about his person. He was afterwards liberated on bail. While he was at liberty, I asked him what had had become of the pistol, he informed me that when the occurrence took place he dropped it on the ground. He desribed it as having been loaded with powder and wadded with paper, and represented it as having been discharged frequently during the evening. I then made a search for the pistol, andfound it in the possession of Mr Chadwick, a previous witness, from whom I obtained it. Upon examination I found that it had been but recently discharged; it was also clotted with blood. The prisoner frequently kept exclaiming, " Oh, dear me ; one that I loved so much.* 1

This ended the examination.

The Coroner then proceeded to recapitulate the evidence, and, in addressing the Jury, said that the present was one of the most painful occurrences that had ever happened in this district, and cautioned the Jury that they should be entirely guided by the evidence they had heard, and give their verdict without either fear, favor, or affection. He then explained the law relating to homicide, both wilful, accidental, or justifiable, and quoted several learned " legal opinions" on cases' similar to the one under consideration. The room was then cleared, and the jury, after half an hour's deliberation, returned through their foreman a verdict of " Accidental Homicide,"

The prisoner, after a severe reprimand from the Coroner on the careless use of firearms, was discharged. During the long and painful examination the prisoner was very much distressed, and appeared quite stricken with remorse at the mischief, of which he had been so unwittingly the cause. The remains ol the unfortunate man were interred in the cemetery yesterday afternoon. The funeral cortege, besides the friends of the deceased, was composed of nigh every male inhabitant of the Dunstan, all were clad in garments appropriate to the occasion, and fully testified by their presence the great esteem in which they held their now deceased fellowtownsman, who came to so untimely an end in only the twenty-sixth year of his age. The funeral service, that of the Church of England, was performed by Mr H. Stratford, district lay reader, in a very effective manner, and apparently made a deep impression on those present, who then had heard the dull "thud" of the earth failing over one in whose company they had not forty-eight hours previously been enjoying themselves in celebrating the natal day of then* beloved Queen. The deceased leaves a wife and young child to mourn his loss. — Requiescat in pace.

An Irish barrister having lost his cause, which had been tried by three judges, one of whom was esteemed a very able lawyer, though the other two were but indifferent, some of the other barristers were merry on the occasion. "Well, now," said he, "who could help it when there were a hundred judges on the bench ?" " A hundred !" aaii & stander-by ; " there were but three," "By Saint Patrick," replied he, " there .were one and two cyphers." We don't like to see a lady with very minute feet. Ladias shouldn't stand upon trifles.

THE DANGER OP SLAUGHTERING DISEASED CATTLE. By JOHN QAM GEE, Esq.,

Professor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, New Veterinary College, Edinburgh.

On the 22nd of October, 1863, a bull was taken ill on a farm and in a county which I decline to name. My reasons 'for not mentioning the place are, that every effort has been made to keep the secret, as iv a host of similar cases, and it will serve no purpose whatever to expose those who, in ignorance and in consequence of the lax state of our laws on this subject, acted as their neighbours would have done. A labourer on the farm, who had been formerly a butcher, volunteered to slaughter the sick bull, that its carcase might be saved for the butcher's stall. Unfortunately, the poor man had previously injured his hand with a spade, and he performed his task without due regard to the condition of his wound. It is said that the bull was dying from pleuro-pneu-monia, but others declare the disease was of too rapid a type to be the very prevalent lung complaint. Certain it is that four pigs died after eating part of the viscera of the bull, and two dogs nearly lost their lives in the same way.

The bull was disposed of to a butcher for the sum of L 5, and after this, not only was it seen that the pigs and dogs had been injured by eating the flesh, but the labourer suffered intense pain in his hand, was seized with severe febrile symptoms, and died on the fourth day after dressing the bull.

I am favoured by a surgeon with the following report of the case : —

" I saw the man for the first time on the second day before his death. I then found a ragged wound, about an inch long, nearly dividing the tendon of the back of the second finger of the right hand. The edges of the wound, for about three-eighths of an inch all round, were very much swollen and dark coloured ; in fact, the wound looked like an opening made with a blunt instrument. The swelling wa3well defined; there was also severe cellular inflammation of the arm to the eibow, with theusual boggy feel all over, from the back of the hand upward. Fever and the usual symptoms of severe cellular inflammation prevailed, notwithstanding tonics .and stimulants. The man sank rapidly (the fever having turned to typhoid), and died on the second morning after I saw him. He was much addicted to the habits of intemperance." Many of the readers of "The Lancet" may suppose that this is, a solitary case, or at all events, a rare one. The usual question may be asked, Why should I, as a surgeon of so many years' experience, not have heard of or seen such cases ? To my own knowledge, four other men have died, presenting symptoms such as the above, under similar circumstances and in the same county, during the last four years. Another man, a butcher, nearly lost his life, and the surgeon who attended him asked him what he had done with the diseased catile he had dressed. This question was asked as the surgeon feared that the carcases were at that time being cut up in town where they had been slaughtered ; but he was somewhat consoled by the usual reply, "They're been sent to London."

During the past year the attention of a number of. gentlemen has been directed to cases of serious illness and death in various parts of the country. A landed proprietor wrote me concerning an instance in East Lothian. An animal was slaughtered, packed in a basket, and sent either to Edinburgh or London. After the carcase had been despatched, the pigs were taken ill, and several died ; they had eaten of the animal's entrails. Tne man who dressed the bullock nearly lost his life, and only recovered after nearly losing his eyesight. Some liquid from the thorax was splashed against this man's face, and he suffered severely from inflammation of the face and trunk. His eyes were moat seriously affected, and vision has only been restored in one.

In the Edinburgh slaughter honses similar accidents have been witnessed, though every effort is made to conceal the truth; and one case, which occurred in 1863, was identical with the one that occurred in East Lothian. During the out* break of malignant anthrax in Lincolnshire last autumn a shepherd scratched bis arm whilst dressing a sheep, and he very nearly lost his life. It is now about 14 years since I first began to agitate the question of cattle disease in relation to the public health. During that time I have reported oafbreaks of anthrax and of splenic apoplexy, and have repeatedly drawn attention to the deaths amongst pigs, dogs, ferrets, &c, frdm eating the viscera of diseased cattle slaughtered. I have striven, as beat I could, to specify the form of disease communicable to map, and which renders the flesh of such animals unwholesome; and my opinion, based on a very careful consideration of the whole subject, is, that the public health is materially affected by the wholesale slaughter of diseased am-

mals as human food. Several years ago I declared that it was impossible that human beings were not frequently iujured by the easing of the flesh of cattle that had died of splenic apoplexy in this country; and the reason why cases have not been published is, that the carcases have been sent to large cities, where they would not be distinguished from the carcases of perfectly healthy animals, and the evil results of eating the poisonous flesh could not be distinguished from any ordinary case of dysentery or typhus. The best proof of defective observation oh these subjects is afforded us by the trichinous disease, of which not a single fatal case has been recorded in this country, but many abroad. That the disease is often amongst U9 ifc certain, and the infant that died in Paisley last year, as the result of eating "measly (?) pork," undoubtedly, ia my mind, succumbed to trichmous infec» i tion.

Knowledge gathers slowly, and medical men must proceed with prudence in drawing inferences from cases observed ; bnt I hold that they have hesitated too much and too. long in raising their voices against the filthy and demoralising practice of slaughtering diseased animals as human food. With a proper organisation, I will engage to reduce the mortality in the London dairies from forty and fifty per cent, per annum to four and five. This would at once prevent the sale of several thousand diseased cows as human food in the metropolis alone. Would not such work bebetter worth paying for than inspection ' of markets and is it not worthy of the strongest recommendation on the ground of economy, if not on that of saving human lifeP We "strain at a gnat and, swallow a camel" when we condemn the French fof their vivisections, and allow our population to be cut down in thousands by painful and preventable diseases. On no ground can we defend the slaughter of diseased cattle, and medical officers of health need not wish to be fortified by evidence of cases of death in man from eating diseased meat in order to interfere rigorously with the traffic in diseased animals. That traffic ia the most potent cause of disease in animals themselves, and unless checked our stockowners will suffer even more in the future than they have in the past. We cannot keep pace with the demand for meat, and prices are ruling higher every year. To secure an adequate supply of wholesome animal food we must devote ourselves to the prevention of disease amongst animals, and no greater blunder was ever committed than that of declaring that our poor! must starve if we condemn all the diseased animals sent to the butcher. The, poor may ' console themselves a little by thereflec-, tion that it is the finest cattle in the best - condition that usually die of splenic appoplexy, and the accidents which befel the pigs and the ferrets from this cause are more likely to be witnessed in the homes of the wealthy than in < those of people' who cannot afford to pay the highest market price for beef. .

Islands of Volcanic Origin.— Since the 28th of June, 1831, an island, successively graced with the names of Ferdipand, (Jraham, Hotbam, Nerita and Julia, has several times appeared and disappeared off Palermo, and is now on th« point of getting above water again. There is no doubt that this curious phenomenon is attributable to rolcanic agency ; nor is it the only instance of the kind on record. In the neighbourhood of the Pbillippine Islands, and on other points of the Chinese waters, small islands occasionally rise and make their exit again without attracting much notice. Of this the "Patrie" relates the following curious instance :-A German slapper, Captain Hilmacher, who had passed many years of bis life in those parts, and knew every shoal and sandbank within 100 mites of the Chinese cocst, suddenly, about 20 years ago, discovered an island which, he was perfectly certain did not exist o& that spot before. He took his soundings, determined the latitude and longtitude, sailed all round it, and found that it was from 12 to 13 miles ia length and breadth, There were several springs of fresh water ia it, and it consisted of the richest pasture ground imaginable. CaptainHUmaoher instantly returned to Europe, remitted a number of German emigrants, bought, all kinds of seeds, agricultural implements, poultry ami ' cattle, set out again for this new Eldorado, and , in a oouple of years there might be ae^oiijtaa desert island a/.flourUliing villa(?e, .fieldijwaving ; with corn! meadowa .'peopled with oxen, and sheep, everything in short that tnig^t constitute a thriving colony. This happy stats of things lasted about five yeari. when a British merchant vessel unexpectedly made its appeary ance. The captain and orew expressed their astonishment at finding a European community in such an 'out-of-the-way place, entewd Into' amicable intercourse with the colonists,-, and rare ■ them a quantity of brandy in exchange for their produce. This unfortunate circumstance proved the ruin of the colony; drunkenness grew into a habit, insubordination was the consequence) and one fine day poor Captain Hilmacher, who "had '' hitherto rated his little kingdom with great wisdom, -was obliged to make bi> escapeln a boat - to avoid being murdered. He succeeded "in reaching a vewel, which took him homo again; trier* he easily obtained the command of a ship. ' which he took care to provide with plenty, of arms, foe the purpose of punishinar hisunmly subjects and miking them repent of their ungratitude. He set tail, but on arriving 'within the latitude where hb island had onto existed, ha wm astonished to find the' pl*» empty ; not a vestige ' of land was to be teen ; the island htdigene v v ! bad come. " Hid 'the' c«t^roph¥ ooeumd^fb ' suddenly « tojjreda.de of poMomfro£/Jw*per ; This iiwhat Oar)tainHilina^bM-aeT<iir'W9raW^-* ".WngMai/% : „ f\"~ *-'■'