A Sad Ending to a Blighted Life.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 173, 4 March 1873, Page 7

A Sad Ending to a Blighted Life.

We take the following from' a late Grey River Argus: — j An inquest was held before 0. White- 1 foord, Esq., Coroner, on Saturday, 15th 1 ultimo, at Kelly's Hotel, at the Twelve- ; mile Landing, on the body of a young \ woman named Ellen Sweeney, who died on the previous day. The evidence laid bare an condition of social affairs, and the frightful disclosures made exhibited the gross immorality sometimes found existing on the gold-fields in its worst light. The girl formerly kept a grog shanty in No Town, where she was fined for selling spirits without being licensed, and she then gave up business. Latterly she lived with i a miner at Rough and Tumble Creek. According to his evidence, she went from the hut to Snnnybank to procure liquor, and she did not return for some days ; in fact, she did not return at all. She evidently got possession of a quantity of liquor \ by some means, although how she did so i did not transpire. She at length found i her way into the hut of another miner, who, when he returned from work, found | her lying upon his bed, with a bottle partly • full of brandy alongside her. Of course, ! the first thing he did was to drink the | brandy, and then, also of course, more had jto be obtained. This went on until the I unfortunate girl got into such a state that I she could take no more spirits, when she | began drinking water in immoderate quantities. The evidence on this point was | curious. A witness stated that the deceased i drank between twenty and thirty <; billiesful" of cold water in one day, and each of | these billies would hold about half-a-gallon. I She was during the time retching and ! vomiting violently. At length, two local j medical practitioners were called in, and ; through this the police became aware of | the case. Steps were taken, as soon as it was deemed advisable to move the poor creature, to forward her to Grey mouth, but she died in the dray in which she was being conveyed before the Twelve-mile Landing was reached. There was something rumoured about the deceased being seen " knocking about" a mining camp, in the neighbourhood of Black Jack's Creek, a day or two before she died, but the full particulars are not fit for publication. Dr Philips made a post mortem, examination j of the body, and found the viscera rent and | torn' in all directions from the effects of the j retching from which the deceased suffered | before she died. " There was not a trace j of solid food in the stomach, but there was a smell of alcohol." The cause of death was exhaustion and prostration from the i effects of alcoholic poisoning, and consej quent inflammation. The deceased was a native of Lancashire, England, and about j twenty-four years of age. Notwithstanding ! the sufferings which must have preceded such a miserable death, the features of the

deceased bore some traces of a handsomeness which it is said she possessed in her lifetime.