CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3101, 20 August 1913, Page 32

CASUALTIES.

George Pardy, a married man, was found dead in Grey Lynn, Auckland, on the 15th with a bullet wound over his right ear, and a revolver at his feet. At the inquest on the 14th inst. Sergeant M'Donald stated that he searched the body and found the following letter: “It has always been my wish when dead to be buried at sea. 1 have many friends among fishermen, to whom I am well knowm, and I know one of them if asked would be only too glad to do this last favour. A pauper’s grave is what I ever dreaded. Lately an aching heart and no future seems to me the only thing left. God only knows I have tried to be kind to my two little ones. (P.S.—The revolver is the property of Mr C. Davis, in whose house I am living. We have no money and are in debt.)” A verdict was returned to the effect that deceased met his death by a bullet wound self-inflicted while in a state of extreme mental depression. Katherine Hynes, aged 35, committed suicide at Foxton by taking poison, which she purchased from a chemist on the litli and put into a teapot, from which tea was served to the family. One child and the husband are out of danger, but the other child is very ill. The woman had been melancholy for the past two months. The family recently arrived from Pahiatua. At the inquest touching the death of Mrs Hynes, her husband stated that the deceased said on the morning of the tragedy that she felt lonely. After the children began to vomit the deceased said: “1 have poisoned the lot of us.” Witness did not drink much tea, but the two children did. One is now out of danger, but the other is seriously ill. The deceased signed for the poison under an assumed name. A verdict of death from the effects of poison, self-administered while in a depressed state of mind, was returned. A bushman, known as Terry Hughes, employed at a district sawmill, met with a painful accident to one of his feet while at work on the 11th (says the Wyndham Farmer). __ He was taken into the township* and after being attended to by Dr Fadie, who ordered him to the Invercargill Hospital, he took his departure by the evening train.

David Duncan, employed as a cook to Messrs Thompson and F arrer’s survey camp at Taringarnutu, was found dead by the party on returning from work on Tuesday night of last week. Deceased had evidently only just expired, n« a pot of boiled potatoes, newly-strained, was found beside him.

A patient named Kllen May Hubbard committed suicide at Porifua Mental Hospital on the 13th by hanging herself to an electric light bracket in Hie lavatory with a piece of ticking from a mattress. The evidence at the inouest showed that she was admitted .to the institution in March from Wanganui. She did not at any time display suicidal tendencies. She was discovered hanging by a nurse, who said she must have been at the other end of the ward when deceased left. A verdict was returned that the cause of death was suicide by hanging, no blame being attachable to the nurse or anyone else.

William Jacobs, an employee at the Hillside Workshops and residing in Begg street, sustained a fractured skull on the loth through an iron plate falling on his head. He was removed to the Hospital, where he now lies. He has recovered consciousness arid his injuries are believed not to be serious. Mr Daniel M’Foe, a very old resident on the West Coast, dropped dead in his yard at Arthurstown on the 14th. He was 78 years of age, and leaves a grown-up family. A man named Benjamin Johnston, employed in gold mining at Macraes Flat, met with a painful accident on the 14th while blasting. Ho happened to strike the detonator he was using with a stone, and the resulting explosion blew away three fingers of his left hand. He was brought down to - the Duneoin Hospital. Johnston

is a young married man with three children.

Robert Stevenson, 60 years of age, employed at R. W. Smith's sawmill at Mataroa, was found dead on the 15th inst. lie had been at the mill for only two days. An inquest was held at Wairoa in regard to the accident at Ruakituri, by which Joseph Brown lost his life through falling over a cliff. An open verdict was returned. The later evidence did not disclose anything in regard to the reported scuffle. Tahu Roira. better known as Geo. Royal, was killed by being thrown from his horse while riding from (Jtaki to Mohunoa on the 14th inst.

On the 15th inst. a young man named Walter Price was found in a state of helpless drunkenness near Woolston. He appeared before the court at Christchurch next day, and stated that ho was suffering from asthma and consumption. As he appeared to be in a bad state ho was remanded for medical treatment. Price died in the Hospital on the ISth inst. At the inquest a verdict was returned that death was duo to cardiac failure, brought on by pericarditis and pneumonia.

An old man named Patrick Hogan died in the Hospital on Sunday as the result of a fracture of the loft log and injuries to his head, sustained on August 8. On that date he was collecting small wood from a building in the course of demolition at the corner of Hanover and Cumberland streets, and some rafters and bricks fell on him, causing the injuries referred to.