FATAL ACCIDENT.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 139, 9 July 1872, Page 5

FATAL ACCIDENT.

A painful sensation was created in town yesterday morning when it became known that Mr Thomas Hutton, a carpenter in the employ of Mr James Taylor, had met his death by accidental drowning on Sunday night. Our reporter visited the scene of the sad occurrence, and ascertained the following particulars from Mr Thomas Primate, the ferryman in charge of Mr Richards’s punt:— Mr Hutton crossed the ferry from the Bannockburn side shortly after dusk, and remained at the ferryman’s house until about half-past nine o’clock. He was in the habit of sleeping in Mr Taylor’s workshop, of which he had charge ; and having received a message from his wife (who resides in Cromwell) requesting him to send home some coal, he crossed the river in order to arrange with Mr Primate about getting a supply forwarded. On leaving the house to return to the Bannockburn side, Mr Hutton led the way down to the punt, the ferryman following at the distance of a few paces, and having a lantern in one hand and a lump of coal in the other. (The coal was to have been carried home by Mr Hutton for his own use.) The men were engaged in conversation from the time they left the house until they reached the punt. The night was rather dark, and the ferryman proposed placing his lantern at the end of the gangway next the opposite side of the river. When the ferryman was about midway between the landing-stage and the farther extremity of the deck, he saw Mr Hutton stumble, his foot having most likely caught on an iron screw-nut, or struck against one of the iron bands which serve to strengthen the “ tail-board.” A moment later the ferryman heard a heavy splash : his companion had disappeared for ever in the the cold, dark, relentless current. Half a dozen fathoms astern, and in all probability within a few inches of the bight of the tail-rope or stern-line, was presently heard a sound as of a man regaining his breath after immersion. Nothing could be seen, and the ferryman’s cry met with no response. Yesterday the river-banks were searched for ten miles on either side ; but not a trace of poor Tom Hutton’s body could be seen. He was in the prime of life ; of Herculean frame, and possessed of extraordinary physical strength. A grief-stricken widow and five young orphans remain to mourn the fad and sudden removal of their nearest and dearest friend. “Fleet-footed is the approach of woe, But with a lingering step and slow Its form departs.” The people of Cromwell have a sacred duty to perform : let them not be slow to succour in the hour of need.