MELANCHOLY DROWNING ACCIDENTS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2200, 16 November 1875, Page 3

MELANCHOLY DROWNING ACCIDENTS.

The body which;was, fpund in the Eauwaeranga Biver on Sunday nfeht was brought to : town-yesterday morning by the police. The body was first observed by .Mr ]f. J,: Anderton, settler, on the lau waeranga";Valleyj in the water nearly opposite his place, about a milo above the booms..'' 'Having taken" the necessary steps' : to'secure it,warded to the and this-morning 'the body-was brought to'thoShortlahd police station, It has evidently been in the water for three or four days, perhaps roore,for-ithas already advanced'towards decomposition, although the'features are still recognisable. 'The'deceasedhasnol yet been identified, '''although a iaan named Edwards, a packer, states that he has some faint recollection of seeing such a man- on the'track "towards the gum diggings.nbouta.week ago lying on his back with his hands stretched out as'if under' the influence of drink." He can-, not, however, state positively that it' is the same man. -He is evidently a bushman or gum .digger/ from his garb; aqd the following is his description :—He was from 5 feet 8 inches to 5 foot 9 inches high, apparently from.3s to 40: years of age. : He had a fair complexion, with whiskers and. moustache. .He wore a dark striped Crimean shirt, under a blue serge shirt crossrstitched on the back, and dark tweed trousers. He had laced boots, which wore tied with flax;

_ Last evening some persons who had inspected the body of the deceased expressed their conviction that it was that of a man named George Tawnbr, who was formerly in the Armed Constabulary service, and who in Colonel Moule's office acting as clerk. .TaVernor was at the Thames about four months ago, lodging at the Provincial Hotel, Queenstreet, and from thence he went to the Waikawau, where he worked as a bushman. Within the last'week or eight days ho has been again at the Thames, arid from what we can learn he: left with the intention of going up the Kattwaeranga, The description of the body tallies pretty accurately with that of Tavernor, but we have no doubt, before the inquest takes place to-day, it will be. more fully'idcntified, as several porsons acquainted with Tavernor will inspect the remains..

A notker drowning accident occurred in the Kauwaer&nga river yesterday morning, about half-past '7 o'clock,' ' The victim,in this. case was a young man named Josiah Winter, aged 21 years, who was employed by Mr Hulme, butcher, to ride for orders. Mr Hulme has a piece of land on the peninsula, between the Thames and Kauwaeranga rivers,pnwhichhe.grazes his cattle and hbrsesj and the ford or crossing is a little

clow the Parawai gardens. The young nan went, as usual, to those paddocks for he yesterday morning, crossing the iver in a boat,,. On his return he iltempted'to rido"'the- horse across the brd. .Twomen—Messrs Mark Donovan, Iraughtsman at the Government offices, md Geo; Bobson, chemist; ; of Mary-treofc-had just finished bathing.at the commenced to ride across, and vere then dressing themselves. Winter iang out to them to know where the ford vas, and Mr Bobson pointed out to him vhere bo had seen others crossing. f7inter then rode into the water. The ,ide waß of more, than tho ordimry Height at this, timei being almost evel with the banks.: Messrs Donovan ind Eobson:. observed tljat the .horse' iwam fairly about half-way across the ■iver; when he. began to plunge, He ■eared slightly, and then swam on again vith Winter on'his back,; They observed bat he was drawing the rein tightly, and iang out to let the horse go, at the same ime asking 1 Winter if he could swim, lo replied, that' he could not, and just hen the liorse went down out of sight. iVhenherose Winter was struggling iu' be water near/the horse.'. Messrs Donovan and Uobson attempted toun--oose a small boat which was padlocked' o the landing,.but after a few seconds, inding they could not succeed easily, Mr iobson stripped :aud swam towards iV inter, who was then struggling in the vater* and Mr Donovan went for a canoe' vhicb was a little lower down the stream. Ur JBobson reached to within six yards if Winter befqre he sank. He swam iround for three or four niiuutes, and lived to find the man, but ho never ose from the time he first sank, md it was supposed that the horse must lave struck him in some way. Infornation was brought to town as soon as lossible, and a search party, set but to ecovcr. tbe body, headed by Mr.nJ. lortley, of the Shorllaud fire brigade, md comprising Messrs Wilson and others. .'t was anticipated that when tho tide fell'. le would be found on the mud. Subse[U'ehtlythe body was recovered by some latives.who had observed the v accident, md information having been conveyed to' he police it was brought down to the 3uke of Edinburgh Hotel Jo, await an nquest. . 'the;.deceased was. a comparatively recent arrival in the: colony, and had no sedatives here. He was- a passenger by the ship 'James Wishart'to Auck land about- sixteen months : ago, and has been ch'iefly employed since l 'his arrival at the Thames in the capacity ho .occupied aB the time of his •death. .He was a native of Kent,in England, where his relatives now. reside.;

INQUEST. . An-inauesfc' on the'body of Josiah. Winter.; was Jield'afc the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, Grey ■ street, Shortland, yesterday afternoon,' before Dr Eilgdur, Coroner, and a jury;\of whom Mr James Uae was chosen foreman. : George Hulme deposed: lam a butcher [residiug in Shortland. I was acquainted with and have known him three or four months. He was.a servant in my employ to carry out meat. The horses are usually turned out on Saturday night a6ross the .river. This 'morning he went across the river to fetch the horse which had t been' turned out there on Saturday; I did not see him at all.this inorhiiig. He was accußtomed to horses. He has been riding, now for a long time, and was a very steady, young man. ■■> MarkDonovan.deposed: I am employed jn.the Survey .Office. I,was in company with Mr|jß'obsoh about half-past seven this morning for a bathe atylankham's wharf. After having finished bathing, and about, half dressed, the deceased called; put to us to know whether we knew the ford ,or could direct.him. Mr, Bobson directedJiim as nearly as be could,, and that he was foolish for not frying' it a quarter of 8n; hour before, as there was then a strong current. The. next thing we niticed he was in the'river, his horse swimming. After he had got about three-parts of the way I saw the horse was drowning, and culled out to deceased to let go the reins, jffe did notdo so, an.d : ,shortly,aftertho ! hdrse sank. Deceased called; out to us to come on,

Mr Eobson plunged'iai the water, and T ran-for a Maori canoe that was lower down' the creek. Before., Mr Eobson could reach deceased ho sank, and I never, saw deceased after. I believe the body now on view to be that of the man whom I saw in the water this morning, I don't think deceased could swim. He made one. plunge, but seemed unable. He was not embarrassed with the horse.

By the Jury: T was 150 to 200 yards from him when he fell, off the hors& I did not think the'current too strong I was<'noty[undressed *when\ ho, called,; but MYBbbsori was' undressed and went in. He held the rein up to the last. I think had he given the horse tho rein he would have brought him ashore all right. Tho horse swam back to the other side of the river. "'

Georgo Eobson deposed: I am a chemist residing afc Shortland. About 20 minutes to 8 this morning I saw a man sitting on the bank of the river, I being then near Lankham's wharf. He shouted.to us, and asked if ,wc knew, the ford.' 'I Hold ; him''as'"'n'early as 'possible where I had seen otbor horsemen cross,, but instead of going as I directed him he put his horse straight for the other bank. After he got about halfway across ha seemed to be pulling the reins rather too tightly, and Mr Donovan shouted to him to give the horse his head, which he seemed to understand, but presently the horse began to plungo and went under water. Mr Donovan and I tried to loosen a: boat; and',when I next looked the horse had . left him, and ho appeared to bo striking out to swim. Just before: that I asked him if he could swim, and he said no. When we found wo could not loosen tho boat, Iran down opposite to where he-was and swam to-; wards him to within about 6 yards of whore he disappeared. , I swam for two or three minutes about the place, but he did not appear again, and I came ashore,' The body of deceased now on view is that of the man whom 1 saw drowned this morning.

By the Jury: He did not put the horse's head up the stream, but across it. When ho fell off thehorse he called for

help, and I swam towards him. I dived once, but the water was very.dirty. Tupotiki, a Maori, interpreted by Mr G. T. Wilkinson, deposed: I reside at Hauraki, near the scene of. the accident. I saw deceased going towards Spencer's fonce. The horse- was frightened to go into the water the 'first time, and ho re-

turned to cross tho main river,.and one of our people ran towards him, and told him to wait until the tide had gone down and then cross over. He remained about half-an-houiyand the tide then got up to high water. Wo were then getting our breakfast. The deceased got on his horse again and commenced to swim him across. After going about a chain the horse reared.; Our canoe was on jhis side- of

the river ■ at the time, having been brought over by one of our people iii the morning. The horse reared a second time and sank,...and a European shouted to him to hold on by his head. When deceased got on-the neck of thehorse, he shouted out to the Europeau-1 imagine about the boat, which was locked. The horse turned toswim to the other side of the oreok, and the deceased slipped or.jumped off his back.. ,One of the. Europeans on the , wharf then took his clothes off and went into the water, and r the other.went to get the. canoe. Tho European haf riot swam far- before deceased sank,, and he, (Mr Kobson) then dived, but did. not succeed in reaching him. They. both, made 'scaroh for him, : and then returned ashore, and the horse :got over,to,the other side. I.caught the horse arid brought him.oyer, and gave him to one of the Europeans who gave evidence hero.. He rodo off, and the -natives remained. After the tide had fallen a bit I went to look for the body, and my companion (the other native now present) came up at the time, I found the body at that-time, and we both it ashore.. A European then came up and told them to leave the body and fetch a constable, and thoy did so. We wanted to puti the body in a. canoe, and fotch it up, v By tho Jury: The horso swam back to the shore it had left. As soon as the horse came ashoro, I brought the horso back again with a canoe.

, This.waa all theevideuce; and the .'jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death by drowning"