CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 65

CASUALTIES.

A Maori girl named Whakaxa, aged 17, was drowned on rfoe 7th while Lathing in the Waiau Hirer, 40 miles from Wairoa. Incmas Casey, an elderly man, found dead at Whatatua. It is? supposed that he shot himself. At the inquest a verdict of Buicide was returned. At the Blufl, William Wilson, a boy. with his two yo anger brothers, was shooting with a Remington rifle. When he was about to aim his brother Richard, aged six, ran in front and received th.c buUot in the head. His brothers carried him oveT a mile to his home through a den s e scrub and bash. A doctor was immediately sent for, but the boy expired just its the doctor arrived. A waggon and five horse team driven by Andy Wintle got into deep water in the Waikato River at its exit from Lake Taupo while the horses were being given a drink. The waggon and horses sank in 20ft of water. Wintle and his three children (who were having a ride in the waggon) had a perilous experience. The children clutched Wintle and drew him under the water. Two boats put off and rescued Wintle and his children. The loss of the team represents about £300 to the owners, Goodson Bros. The Pakeha, which arrived at Auckland on the 6tn inst. . ha-d a rough trip across the Indian Oc-ean. and on Wednesday, 6th inst.. prior to making Cape Maria Van Diemen she accidentally lost a deck boy named Kenneth MTherson overboard. When the Rarawa reached New Plymouth on the Bth inst. from Onehunga Mrs Haltett was fouDd dead in her She was going to visit her daughter (Mrs MacEwen). A dastres3ing accident happened to William Jenkins. 19 years of age. at th-e Crown Terrace on the Bth ins,t. He wa.? oding the cogs of a chaffcutler vhlle it was "in. motion, and his coat & 7 ee\e nas canght. in the co-^s above the e'bo.-. He was dragged in. and when tho L"jfc were tt-oj.psd it v. ys found that t'.e f.e.-h ©f t!;e ?vm t-o tue s?io\ilu-er v,>- torn sway. The arm Lad to he am^ulatccl.

He died in the Arrow Hospital on the 10th. A motorman^ named Taylor, while driving an electric car from Onehunga to Auckland, suddenly shrieked, and, falling, was thrown from the front of the car. He apparently had a narrow escape from being electrocuted, the curreint having struck him through ' the controller. Taylor suffered considerably, and is now far from well. The body of a newly-born male child was found on the water front at Auckland on the Hth. There was a tragic occurrence at Whangarei on the 10th., during the performance at O|NeilTs buckjumping circus. Whilst Te Kooti, one of ths wild horess, was being saddled in the ring, the animal lashed out and it was first believed kicked Richard Treleaven, aged 23, on the body. He a clown, was hurled several yards. He fell to the ground, rose in mortal agony, and then dropped again. He was carried from the ring, and expired in a few minutes. The evidence at the inquest revealed the fa-ct that death was not due to a kick, but to the diseased slate of his body. The jury brought in a verdict in accordance with this evidence, adding that ] death was accelerated by exeitment and drinking. A child 10 months old, daughter of a i Sydenham resident, met her death in an | unusual way on Saturday evening. She ! was put to bed in her cot "at 6.30. and the j mother went into the kitchen. Later on ' she found the child with its head nipped between two of the curved bars of the cot framing. The chih? had evidently put its head through the bars and then fallen. The neck was caught in the narrowing width, and suffocation followed. At the inquest a verdict was returned of ''Accidental death." The Christchurch police authorities received information from Cheviot on the 11th that a prisoner named Patrick Begley had committed suicide by hanging himself in the lockup in the "township. I It appears that Begley was arrested at Cheviot on Saturday on a charge of having stolen a horse, saddle, and bridle at Geraldine, and it was intended to bring him befoie the court on the 12th and get him remanded till the 19th inst. | j An inquest was held on the 11th on the ■ i body of an infant found in an unused well in Quean's Park, Invercargill. The ■ medical evidence was to the effect that | the child had not breathed after birth. A verdict was returned that the body had been placed in the well by a person or persons unknown. The body of Jnhp Kennedy, v ho worked I on the dredge Matau, near Clyde, and viiO \ was drowned on the evening' of December I 30, was picked up on Sunday.