FATAL ACCIDENT.

Evening Star, Issue 3450, 13 March 1874, Page 2

FATAL ACCIDENT.

{From the Bruce Herald. ) A. sad anti fatal accident occurred in the neighborhood of Balclutha on Tuesday afternoon last. While Messrs Cousens and Tosh’s thrashing-mill was at work on the farm of Mi’ Thomson, Invertiel, one of the men employed—and who was cutting the bands on the top of the machine—in an unguarded moment stepped backwards, and his foot beoming entangled in the machinery, hia leg was lacerated in the most dreadful manner. A messenger was at once sent for Dr -Smith. The doctor lost no time in reaching the spot, and relieved the poor fellow from his painful position. The injuries were of such a nature that the case was pronounced a hopeless one from the moment the doctor saw him. He was then quite conscious, and expressed a desire to a clergyman, Dr Smith sent his buggy for the Rev. Mr M‘Ar», who remained with him till he died. He did not live two hours after the accident. The body was interred in the Balclutha Cemetery on Wednesday afternoon. The name of the deceased was William Rose. He was a cabinet-maker to trade, and was engaged to begin work on Monday with one of the Blaolubha carpenters. He was a passenger in the ill-fated ship the Surat. ’ He has left a widow in London, The following evidence was given at the inquest Hugh Ayson : “ I was working as machine feeder, and the deceased as bandcutter and passing the sheaves to me. About half past three in the afternoon, I was in the act of putting some loose straw through the mill, when the deceased fell against me. Deceased had a sheaf in his hand at the time he fell, and there was no loose sheaf lying either on the platform or on the top of the mill. The place was not Hampered with sheaves, everything being clear, The forker passed the sheaves in the usual way to the deceased. I have no idea how the deceased got his foot into the corn-case. He was in the habit of moving about, and I warned him repe-tedly, and also showed him. where to stand.” William Taylor and the farm laborer, saw the deceased fall across the drum, but did not observe whether he had anything in his hand at the time, nor did the witness know what could have caused him to fall. The sheaves were put in the usual place for the band cutter te receive them. When deceased fell he gave two or three shouts, and said he w as cooked. James Cousens, one of the owners of the mill, said : “I was in charge of the engine on the day of the accident. During the afternoon something went wrong, and the belt was thrown off the pulleys. I shut off the steam, and thp feeder (Hugh Ayson) called oqt to me that the deceased was in the drum, r We I afc cube ee'ht for thb cfoc’tbV, and while we (

were awaiting his coming I endeavored to extricate the man, and at length succeeded, by unscrewing several parts and driving back sundry bolts. When the doctor arrived he found the right leg shattered to the thigh. He lived two hours after the accident, and remained sensible until death took place. He was only a day in my employment as a mill hand.” The jury returned a i verdict of accidental death, and that no blame was attached to anyone. The place where deceased’s foot went through and w*s caught is a small aperture at the side of the opening where the sheaves are put into the mill. A gentleman who examined the machine after the accident states that the foot must have gone through the- small opening lengthways, and that only a very small foot, like the deceased’s, could have passed through even that way.