CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2661, 15 March 1905, Page 34

CASUALTIES.

Almiraculous escape from a serions acci- ' Hent "occurred at the Waihi mine recently. A- man aarned Brooking was working at the lode, spreading mullock. Me " attempted to cross the shaft to get a .-shovel, when the plank on which he w - crossing slipped from under him and he feU a listance of from 90ft to 100 ft He landed upon his feet, and was ab.e to ■walk away from the 'spot without assistance sustaining no further injuries than » few bruises and scratches upon his lace and hands. . . . T An old resident of Ahuriri. Napier, J. W. Seymour, died as the result of poisoning. Be went into the -workshop, drank some ipirits of salts, and went to bed, telling t.is ' Wife to send Ms bod to him. The deceased told the boy that he was dying. Medical " aid -was summoned, but without avail. The jury returned a verdict of death from* - poison accidentally talten. -At -the inquest on William Anderson, a builder, who shot himself on the . 6th, evidence was given that the deceased had teen strange in his manner for years, ana of late had been afraid he would end his days in a lunatic asylum. The jury returned a verdict that deceased committeci - suicide. while temporarily insane.' Quite* a gloom was cast over Reefton l»n the 7th inst. by the intelligence that Mr J. Dickie (of Messrs Thomas and M'Bethe) had committed suicide by deliberately cutting his -"throat with a razor. About 12 months ago deceased quitted • Beefton^for Christchurch for the benefit of .his Jiealth.. Eb returned a. few weeks ago ".•apparently quite restored mentally. The malady must, however, have been more k-aerious than ,was suspected, the -uicide - having evidently been- carefully planned. -Deceased's wife, shortly -rafter lunch, found her -husband seated before a looking-glass _in his bedroom, with 'his throat severed, apparently by =a razor. Medical aid was Immmoned, but it was of no avail. At about 3.30 p.m. on the 7th a young man named William Barr; while driving a dray for Messrs Keast_and Co., contractors, met witth an accident. When nearing the end of the Battray street wharf Barr fell from the dray, and a portion of the loading coming off at the same time, it fell upon him, and he was picked up in a Bemi-uttoonscious condition and removed to the Hospital in the ambulance. After Examination and treatment at the institution he so far recovered that h© was able to proceed home. A' youth naifled Samuel Slutzkin, a native of Jerusalem, admitted to Auckland Hospital about a wek ago, died on Wednesday. He was to be tried on a charge of attempted Buicide by taking rough on rats. A man named Alexander Hughes, aged 60 years, died at the Wanganui Hospital as the result of injuries sustained by falling off a platform while working on a bridge contract near Mangaweka. At the inquest held on Wednesday the jury returned a verdict of accidental death, no blame being attachable to anyone, but expressed the opinion that the platform on which the man was working was too small. Deceased is a" widower, and has married daughters in the jSouth Island, but the police- so far have "been unable to locate 'them. _The police have received information that Mrs John Johnston, a married woman at Catlins -River, took ill on Wednesday, and died "sudde/ily.q There was no doctor in attendance, and the cause of death is attributed to a maternity trouble. A± the' inquest on the death of Samuel Slatzkin, 18 years old, a verdict was returned at Auckland that deceased committed suicide "by taking phosphorus paste while mentally deranged. A -girl nam«3 Rene Milverton, five- years bid, fell between the platform and carriages at -the Marton Station on Saturday, and was killed. She was travelling from Palmerston North to Taihape with her grandmother. Her father was in JDunedin taking part in the fire brigades' demonstration, and left by the north express traifl on .Saturday afternoon. A young man .named William Liddle died in the Auckland Hospital from injuries from bushfelling at Pahi. A motor -car, driven by two men, collided with a horffe in Auckland, upsetting the trap and its occupants. Mr and Mrs jtfyles and family. Mrs Myles sustained a broken collarbone and a fractured hip, and is~~in a rather serious condition. Sevei'al young men were bathing in a dam on Mr G. Wheeler's property at Stanway. N.1., on Sunda3", when one named A. Casneron, aged 21, endeavoured to swim across, the distance being about three chains. He had nearly reached the other side, when he called out to the others. They thought he was merely joking, until he" sank the third time, when B. Marshall, a youth -of 17, pluckily dived in and brought Cameron to the surface. A messenger came into town for a doctor, but by the time the latter had arrived his services were of no availKate Doyle, aged 28. was drowned m ik* Mangahao River, N.1., while bathing frith another young woman. When sinking iho called out to her compaaiion : "Don't borne in; I'm drowning." On Sunday afternoon Arthur Ree=e narrowly escaped "drowning in the IvTangatainoka River", only being rescued in time by & companion from Wellington.

Mr W. O. H. Tonking, chemist. Lambton quay, Wellington, died suddenly on Sunday night.