CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3195, 9 June 1915, Page 66

CASUALTIES.

Mr Malcolm M'Callum, an old settler, was killed on the Bluff railway on the 3rd. He was apparently walking on the line when he was overtaken, and his body was severely mutilated by the cowcatcher. Death was instantaneous. The body of the man found in the bush at Karon on the 31st has been identified as that of Matthew Byrnes Tolehurst, a wharf labourer, who was last seen alive on February 9.

Mr Edward Algor, an old-age pensioner, fell from a train at Heathcote on the Ist and was cut in two, a carriage and van passing over him. He was standing on the platform, and fell off as the train started to move.

Shortly after being taken to the Hospital about 2.15 p.m. on the Ist, John M'Carthy, a married man residing at 22 Arthur street, Mornington, died, it is understood, as the result of an accident during the loading of bags of chaff on a lorry at Messrs Dalgety and Co.’s store, where ha had been engaged the previous day. The bags of chaff were being sent down a chute to the lorry, M'Carthy catching them at the end, and another man doing the stacking at the front of the lorry. One bag scorned to strike the deceased on the shoulder, and he slipped, while standing on a tier of bags. He fell off the lorry on his head and struck the edge of the concrete floor about three inches above the planking on which the lorry was standing. M‘Carthy received a nasty wound about Sin _ long above the right temple. Ho is survived by a widow and four or five children. At the inquest the coroner stated that it was clear from the evidence that deceased, while engaged at his work, slipped and fell and was not knocked off the lorry. There was no negligence on the part of anybody. He would give a verdict that the cause of death was a laceration of the base of the brain, duo to shock from injuries received by an accidental fall from a lorry deceased v. r as engaged in loading. The body of a man found floating in the sea near Island Bay on the 29th has been identified as that of John William. Ralph, aged about 50 years, who rented a room in Wellington. The deceased was in receipt of a weekly remittance from a brother in Australia. He had no relatives in New Zealand.

Peter Antwis, a miner engaged in the Grand Junction mine, Auckland, was killed on the 2nd inst. by a fall of quartz in an underground stopo.

A young man named George Mitchell, a patient at the Porirua Mental Hospital, committed suicide by hanging. At the inquest evidence was given that Mitchell was a quiet patient, with no suicidal tendencies. He was left for a few minutes while ho wont to the lavatory, where he was found suspended bv a strap.

On Saturday the Superintendent of Police received advice that John Irvine (79), a retired miner, died suddenly at his residence at Kaitangata on Friday night. Death is supposed to bo due to heart failure. No information has yet been received as to the necessity for an inquest being held.

A SHOOTING FATALITY. WHANGAREI, June 5

A shooting fatality occurred yesterday at Manoapai. Thompson Fleming (18), of Whangarci, shot a cat. He proceeded to pick up the animal, leaving a doublebarrelled gun on a bank of earth. The gun had one charge in it, and the deceased bent to pick up the gun, when it discharged itself. The shot struck Fleming on the neck, killing him instantly. It is supposed that a twig or other obstruction on the bank caught the hammer or trigger. Deceased’s sister witnessed the tragedy. He has a brother at the front.