LAKE COUNTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1897, 12 June 1890, Page 18

LAKE COUNTY.

Junb 9.—The most delightful weather oon(; " to prevail, to the great chagrin and disappoint': ' of our sluicerß, quartz crushers, and stockowner« t an unseasonable nnd delayed winter always medirty and late summer, with all the heatcro» into the first few months of next year. Hoy • ■ growl as we may, the clerk of the weather h - obey orders, and it is no use to be too severe ii|/ him. It will rain and snow some time. What Struck Buckxky ?— A carrier m- ■ Thomas Russell was giving Mr Joe Woodhead.co'i roadman, a lift while driving a team alon,; I Main road at the Swiftburn, where preclpioes f> • and cliffs beetle, when suddenly the driver sur(i • Mr Woodhead by tumbling out of his seat vT ■ • any apparent cause. Righting him in his poßit ■■• Mr Woodhead saw that there was something I' matter with his companion, as he w»b inoapat>l" holding the reins, upon which Mr Woodhead t charge of the horses. Recovering himself, Russell told his companion that arookhad6lr" and knocked him senseless—a .statement wli ' seemed to be confirmed by a wound on tho h> ■ whloh, however, was not serious. Somewha' i credulous, Mr Woodhead walked back to see wh* ' really was that " had struck Buckley," and mad" i ■ discovery that a sheep had been tryini? to turn som saults upon the steep siding of the cliff overhang • the road, and had paid the penalty with its life the experiment, while its dead body lying upon road accounted for the accident that had happ- •• to Mr Russell, who fortunately escaped serious inj.' Near the same spot another singular accident I) > pened to a swagger a few years ago. He was ma' a near cut from the Crown Terraces for the V • road, and tried to get down the cliffs at the f ■ spot where the accident happened. He soon fon himself in such a position that it was impos?ibl" turnback, and to proceed meant certain death. A yethecouldnotstopwherehewns. Justasconsoi • ness was about to desert him, he felt himself slip! into space, when suddenly he experienced a vi' I shock, and collecting his tenses found himself en . in the jaws of two projecting cliffs, which held I>. by tbe hips suspended in mid air. Below him, f ■ thousand feet or more, he could see nothing, for : cliff overhung the ohasmlof the Swiftburn, and a' him was the^sky. Move he dared not, for the r no more than just held him from slipping thror between them, and to fall meant to be dashe * pieces upon the jagged stones of the Swiftbu However, he ventured to coo-ey with the least ) sible bodily exertion. It so happened that at ! time a gang of men were employed impr Ing the road in the violnlty, and ti hearing his persistent cries, after some I' diicovered the unfortunate man suspen' 1 in mid air, Plenty of ropes and tackles being v < the spot, for the men at the road works had to c?. on most of their work while slung in ropes from ! i cliffs, the man was after considerable troubl" • leased from his airy prison. He was a married m■> and when he reached his home tbe day after the :i venture his family did not know him, though I had scarcely been a month away. He hasn't V that road since. Another incident which Mr 1! sell's accident brings to mind happened on the M;i town dray road, while in course of construction, 'i dray road replaces an old pack track, several hum! feet above the road, which winds along some v ■ ugly precipices below Bracken's Gully. The p' track, of course, had to be used until the dray re was completed. One day, at a spot on the new ro where about a dozen men were working close ' gether, the alarm of "Look out I" was suddf given. Looking up, the men saw several feet abr> their heads some dark object in the air, which solved itself into a howe, and which by some me-> had fallen off the track above, but striking sot projecting point just before coming to the new ro bounded up into the air like a gutta-percha ball, i 1 touching mother earth until It landed an unre." > nlsable mass In the bed of tho Arrow river, 500 V below from where it had fallen off the track. At < I identical spot accidents somehow or another alwr occur at the most dangerous places. Some years i vioua to the laßt related acoldent a married worn fell down the same sidling, but being einbonpoiv' which in the vernaoular means being "as broa<! long "—she took to rolling instead of bouncing, »• managing to keep clear of all projecting pol' 1' made the 500 ft of descent in the most comfort;' manner under the circumstances, and had it i 1 been for a boulder stopping her progress rather m denlv when near the bottom she would have c • off literally without a scratch. As It waß, she bbruieed her ankle against the unfriendly bouli 1 ' When picked up her first query was about the sa*( of some creature comforts she had been carryinf a bottle. It Is such Incidents ns these that pre\' life and travelling in Lake county becoming mo> tonous. Plenty of similar accidents might chronicled, few of which, however, ended so fes nately for the victims as the last one. Many ava able life has been lost amongst our mountains I such accidents as the above. Obituary.—Last Thursday there passed away V James lieid, who with her husband came to <' district in the early digging days. The dece^ was universally respected, and identified her. wirh most of the sooial movements of the place. ? was the mother of a large family, and proved her • a true and valuable colonist. The deceased had trailing for some time from what was ultimately fon to bo cancer In the stomach, and after a pain! lingering illness succumbed to the Insidious ailmrThe remains were interred in the Ariow Cemffi last Sunday, when a very large cortege testifu 't the great esteem in which deceased was held In 1-' diitrict. The Key. D. Ross conducted the obseq'i' in a most impressive and feeling manner. Bunny from the Oihbr Point of Vibw.- "* John Findlay has jußt finished a most Bucces ) rabbiting raid, resulting in 3500 skins being taken the past four months off 800 acres of land at Mi' 1 "' Flat, in the very heart of a settled locality. Amoin other things, this proves that bunny can be ca':_ in the summer months; that his number itil' legion ; that per se he can be made to pay ;— • ' there, I am content to " shut up," as I do not into to offend anybody. RIFLE CORPS.—A movement has been Bet on t" to resuscitate the defunct volunteer corps in ' I Lakes district by forming them into rifle cr-\ There ii every likelihood of the movement bci. brought to a successful Issue.