MAN OVERBOARD.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11840, 1 May 1909, Page 5

MAN OVERBOARD.

LUNATIC DROWNED FROM

TUATEA

The cry of "A, mail pv£rfeoard" caus : ed some excitement, amongst the passen •: gers on the s.s. Tuatea as that vessel was proceeding down the river this morning, with the outward passenger-, for the s.s. Victoria, and the sudden stopping of the Tuatea's engines in the middle of the channel caused considerable speculation amongst tlie people on shore. The cause -was soon apparent; A man named John Watkins was being escorted by Const. Dwyer to the Avon-' dale Mental Hospital, to which institu-. tion he had been committed yesterday.; With the constable, Watkiris Vtfas stanching on the poop deck of the Ttlatea as she was steaming down the river, and presently he _?at down on the edge of the railing. When the (Steamer wasj about half way down the channel - Wat-j, kins was seen to fail backwards. The constable grappled : with him, but was unable to hold him, and the prisons.* got into the river- The alarm; was giveri and immediately the engines were* stopped, but beWe she could be brought to a standstill the Tuatea had gone about 80yds from where the man fell in. "A boat was lowered with all haste' but before it could' reach , the man he jhad disappeared. When be fell into th^ river the man commenced to swim tof wards thej,. wharf, and thus increased the gap between himself and the Tuatea by 50 yards. Had he made towards the breakwater he could have* got hold of the beacon and held on until help ar. rived. There were some men on the breakwater at the time, and they threw a lifebelt to the unfortunate man,* but it was unheeded. At that time he was not far from the breakwater. ' After lower*, ing the boat .the Tuatea proceeded on her trip to the steamer in the bay. Dragging operations were instituted by the police,. but 'the body has not yet been recovered. 1

The deceased; was a ; single <. man. 45 years of agd He has been in the'dis-trict-.for some time, and had been working at bridges and road . work in the Hangaroa '..district. He came into town early this week And on 'Wednesday walked^ Along the line to Te Karaka. He remained about Te Karaka all Thursday, and that evening some residents caught him and placed him 'in a boarding house. He left these quarters about 1.30 a.m. yesterday, but later on during' the day he was taken in hand by Constable Doyle, and' brought to town* when ho. was medically examined arid committed to A vondale/Mental -Hospital. Dc-^ ceased' s madness was in the forn*i of inspecting the railway. He said he had instructions ;from: his dead brother, wllb spoke to him every nighty to inspect the railway. . - . - - '. \ , >.: