CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3337, 27 February 1918, Page 47

CASUALTIES.

On Thursday, 14th inst., whilst bathing in the river at Patea, Joyce Hemingway, the second daughter of Mr E. F. Hemingway, proprietor of tho Patea Press (and a member of tho Wanganuj Education Board), aged 13 years, lost her life. The body of an unknown man found in tho Manawatu River last October has, through means of a tooth found amongst tho effects of a shepherd who disappeared from Pongaroa last July, been identified as that of George Foley, a single man of 45. A New Zealand Times reporter was informed that a fireman named John Gourley jumped overboard from a Union Company's cargo steamer recently during tho passage from New Zealand to Australia. A boat was lowered, but when Gourley's body was picked up, 25 minutes later, lifo was extinct. Rule Smith, 18 years of age, was killed at Weber on tho 18th through horses bolting. Deceased was employed as a teamster by the council. His parents reside at 19 La vsori street, Roslyn. Arthur Walden Allan, aged 15 years, was drowned in the Wooloton Baths on 'the 19th i»st. A four-year<-old child named Marjorie Helen Buxton, residing at Shirley, died from tho results of scalds. The mother of tho child was washing in an outhouse, and in her absence the little girl poked tho fire, upsetting a kettle of boiling water and scalding herself. Tho New Zealand Herald states that the dea'th occurred on the night of the 13th at. Tirohia of Mrs Mary Sutcliffo, aged 36 years. On tho previous day she was seen to enter a small outbuilding, and it is stated that she was carrying a rope. Some time later one of her four children found Mrs Sutoliffe unconscious. Around her neck was a rope, the other end of which was fastened to a rafter. Apparently the woman had attempted to stranglo herself. The child gave the alarm, and Mrs Sutcliffo was taken into tho house, where she was attended by a medical man. It was at first thought she would recover. Tho deceased had been suffering from nervous depression. She leaves a widower and four children, the former being employed on a farm. Enoch Richards, a storekeeper at Waipaoa, was found dead, face downwards, in a drain on Saturday, 16th inet. He left Gisborne by the afternoon train, and must have disembarked at the first station. Ho was found dead shortly afterwards. There are no suspicious circumstances. Mr John Pawson, who was injured m a motor accident on Sunday, died in tho Hawera Hospital on the 20th. A motor accident occurred on the 19th on the Manaia road, when a young man named Bunn, of Kapuni, who was riding a motor cycle, collided with a motor car. The bicycle was smashed to bits, and the motor car was badly' damaged. Bunn, whose leg was badly fractured, was removed to the Hawera Hospital. The body of a man in an advanced stage of decomposition was washed up on 'the beach at Taylor's Mistake, near Sumner, on the 24th. At the inquest the body wasr identified as that of Edmond Morrison Blake, labourer, aged 50 years, who had a hut in the neighbourhood, and who had been missing for more than a fortnight. Tho verdict was "found drowned, there being no evidence to show how; the deceased got into the water." John Truman, a retired farmer, in comfortable circumstances, was found hanging in a shed at Spreydon on the 24th. The deceased left a letter, stating that he was determined to do away with himself, and that he would probably be thought mad, but he was not mad. He was suffering from sciatica, and, believing that he was permanently disabled, he did not desire to become a burden 'to his children. The writer added -information as to where his body would be found. At the inquest a verdict was returned that the deceased had committed suicide by hanging himself while of unsound mind. James Garden, 56 years, married, . was killed on a steep hill near Fairplace Estate, Riversdale, on Saturday through his wagon, containing fencing posts, capsizing. At an inquest on the 24th a verdict of accidental death was returned. _ Deceased's wife resides at South Dunedin. William Dixon, 26 years of age, was admitted to the Hospital from the Outram district on the 25th with two bones in his left leg fractured, as the result of an accident concerning which the Hospital authorities were unable to gain any intelligible information from him.