CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2561, 6 May 1903, Page 30

CASUALTIES.

<o While Albert Collins, a boy of 15, was .driving along a street in Palmerston North or the 27th ult. he was fired at by another boy of tlie same age, named Woods, who was amusing himself with a ealoon rifle, in which he was using BB shot. The shot struck Collins just under the right eye, and has not yet been extracted. A curious accident happened at Nelson to Cuthbert Harris, aged eight. His companion was playing with a whip, when the handle flew out and struck the eye of Harris, destroying his sight. The lad was taken to the hospital, where his eye was removed. It is unlikely that he will lose the eight of the other eye. Mrs Jefcoate, of Lochindorb Station, broke her leg on Sunday, 26tb, by slipping on the grass in her garden. The fracturo was reduced by Dr Fleming, of Puerua, and the patient is now doing well. An accident of a very 6erious nature occurred at Napier on the 29tb. The Cca•iliation Board were engaged in hearing the wharf labourers and stevedores' dispute, and decided to pay a visit to the wool .ship Hermione in order to ccc the conditions under which, the labourers worked. Captain Tonkin, •who had pleaded the case for the employers before the board, was acting as cicerone to tbe party, and as ho was ascending to the vessel from the deck of the lighter Fancy the V light screen " on which he had stepped gave way beneath him, precipitating him Heavily to the deck, with the result that he sustained, a compound faeture of the left leg, besides two broken ribs and a severe ssalp wound. He was immediately brought ashore and token to the hospital, where he is doing well. Some years ago Captain Tonkin Lrd his right leg broken through a bale of wool falling on it. The board on meeting expressed . sympathy with Captain Tonkin in his mishap, and adjourned until next morning. At the- inquest regarding the sudden death of William Miller at Ashburton the jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence — that death was due to eyncope, accelerated by dropsy and dilation of the heart. Alfred Good, surveying near Hokitilcn, was seriously injured by a tree falling on bin. No hopes of recovery are .held out. A man named John Williams was Beri.ously injured by the untimely explosion of a charge of dynamite that he was laying at Hillsborouga, Canterbury. The finger 3 of both his hands were blown off, and his face tern. A boy named William M'Kee, of the Balelutha High School, met with an accident at football on Tuesday, 28th, whereby he sustained a fracture or the collar bone. Tho goods train of 20 waggons leaving Masterton at 8.35 on Saturday evening ran into a horse at the Cemetery crossing, near 3?eatherston. The engine and cix waggons were derailed. The Weetinghouso brake brought, the train to a standstill. Heard, the driver, was stunned and badly shaken. The -fireman (Harry Fee) was pinned under the cab. The gauge-glass burst, and he was eeriously scalded by the escaping steam. Both men were brought to Masterton by epecial train about 3 o'clock a.m. on Sunday. Fee, who is unmarried, was brought to the Masterton Hospital, where he died at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Heard is confined to bed, but not seriously hurt. Towers, the guard, •was uninjured. The line was cleared on Sunday. At the inquest on the death of Henry Fee a verdict of "Accidental death" was returned, with no blame attachable to Uiyrjnn. John Stevens, formerly fireman of the steamer Athenic. wa3 thrown from his horse at Martinborough, Wellington, and tilled. A fatal accident occurred at Auckland. Arthur Jackson, a school teacher, not noticing the approach of a tram in Kyber Pass, was knocked down and co severely injured that he died on th© way to ths> hospital on Thursday, 23rd. A child named James Bevan was accidentally killed at Auckland on the 23rd by being run over by a milk-cart. Two boys driving the cart did not notice the child. A tram conductor at Auckland on the 23rd fell off the top of a car and suffered concussion of th& brain. He was unconscious for five hours, and his condition is serious. At Auckland on the 27th inst. J. Moore Hume, 60 year 3of age, blew hi 9 brains i out in Symond street. For some time | Hume, who is said to be the son of an I English admiral, was private secretary to , Mr Walter Bentley, the actor, and subse- j qoently manager of an hotel. He had seen j active service in the army, and was a pioneer. He h«6 been depressed for some time. The man put the revolver in hi 3 mouth and blew the back of his head off. At the inquest evidence was given that deceased had lately been worried and depressed. A verdict of "Suicide while temporarily of unsovnd mind" was returned. A death occurred in the Auckland hospital early on the 27th, the victim being a man named Newall, admitted la?t week suffering from the result of a fall of earth in a gravel pit near Elfcham. A young man named William Lingar, a recent arrival from Germany, shot hinvelf through the head in one of the city reserves at Wellington. He lies in a precarious condition. He has no friends in the colony. He says that life 13 not worth living. At an inquest at Lawrcrce on the 27th into the death of William R^idy, who died from the effects of a fall from a '.or*c, tho jury returned a verdict to the effect lhafc deceased had died fitrn ooncu.-non of the brain as the remit of an aecid-orvt. It was made perfectly clear in the evidence that der->nsed was not under the influence of liqtic.-. A «udden death took place at Napier. Mrs Grace Willcocks. wife of R. Willcocks, who was quite well in the morning, was suddenly attacked with fainting fits, and was taken to the hospital, where she died almost before assistance could he rendered. The cau a e of death was heart failure. James Ferguson, stonemason, was killed at Awarue, Auckland, by a fall of earth in a lime kiln. " At the inquest held at Napier on Mrs Grace Wilrock«, the medical c-vidence was to the effect ihat death was due to h^n;-rc-orlnge 'of the brain, and a verdict was returned aecordimg'T A child named TJav ag=d 'wo yenrg. w?s bnrnt to death at Karpm^a. We='lard. by its c!otbe= catching &li^';t at the fireplace A man nnmod William Wem-or »g:ed 66 years, cut his throat at Gernldinp on April 23 He hid hen a little childish of late. His vfp. hean ■* s^"one groaning in the corner of a par'ao-A where her huf-

1 band had gone to feed pigs, went to see I what had happened, and found the man lying with hia throat cut and a pruning ■ knife in his hand. Dr Hislop vras sent for and sawed up the wound, but from the first ' held out little hone. The man died from ' bis injuries in the evening. 1 A man named Thomas Lewis was i.'nrown ' from his hor=~ at G-reymouth and killed. At the inquest a verdict of accidental death 1 was returned. The seven-year-old son of Harry Bennett, , licensed interpreter, was run over on Thurs- , day near Atiku by a dray loaded with 1 metal, and died during the afternoon. I Alfred Good, working with a Government survey party in South Westland, was ! struck by a tailing tree ca Thursday and j severely injured. His back was dislocated and his liver ruptured, but the doctor states I that there is no immediate danger. j Last Tuesday at Queenstown the Government lineman there stationed (Mr C. Powell) , while lopping some trees at the back of his residence, was precipitated to the ground, a distance of come 20ft, where he was found lin an unconscious condition. He happily sustained no serious injury beyond a severe shaking. In a football match between the Wearoa Club, of Levin, and the Palmcrston North Club on Saturday a member of the former team, J. Baker, fractured his leg just above trie ankle. He had kicked the ball high, and, in attempting to smother it, fell, the ■accident occurring either through the leg twisting or the peculiar manner in which he fell. The body of Leonard Cross, late second officer of the Castle Holme, who was recently drowned^ in Wellington Harbour, was found on Sunday floating off Thorndon Esplanade. A lad named O'Brien broke his leg play- . rng in a football match at Granity on Saturday. James Hardinge, 55 years of age, dropped dead in the Royal Hotel, Christchurch, on Friday night. The evidence at the inquest showed that he bad had one glass of beer. A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was returned, that death resulted from heart disease. 1 While playing in the football match Dunedin Third v. Southern Third, at Cansbrook, on Saturday afternoon, a young man named Thomas Miller, residing with hi~people in South Dunedin, accidentally had his leg broken. He was removed to the Hospital, where he is progressing eatisfacj torilv. Inspector Cullen, of Auckland, has word ' stating that the house of Patrick Heath at Waiharara has been burned down. The whole contents a.nd the building were destroyed before any attemnt to save them could ba made. It was with difficulty that • the family escaped, and when the exciteI ment had died down it was found two of the children were missing. All search about the plaoa, and inquiry, failed to give any trace of the children, and on a search being made among the ruins their charrsd remains were found. Mrs Morris, an aged widow, who was brutally assaulted at her residence, Mangere, two months ago, lied on Sunday. She made a statement that two Maoris violently assaulted her, as a sum of £50 was in her house. It is supposed that robbery was the motive of the assault. Up to the present no information concerning tho perpetrators is available. William Lingar, a young man, who shot himself on the forehead at Wellington, ticcumbed in the hospital. Deceased was a German, and had only been in New Zealand about three months.