SUDDEN DEATHS.

Evening Star, Issue 4120, 11 May 1876, Page 3

SUDDEN DEATHS.

A painfully sudden death occurred on Monday between one and two o'clock, at Harrisville, near Invercargill. Mary Jane Boyd, aged thirteen years, and daughter of Mr William Boyd, builder, while standing in the doorway, said to her mother, " I want a drink of water," and instantly thereafter she dropped dead. The girl was healthy and vigorous, and had just partaken of the midday meal, which cousißted in part of stew.

Mr J. E. Smith, who, for some time past, has been carrying on the business of a butcher, in a shop situated at the corner of Torridge and Thames streets, Oamaru, was yesterday found dead in a small room of the shop, under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Some persons, in passing the shop, observed through a broken window a man lying on his back in the room mentioned. The deceased was fully dressed, and lying on his back on the floor, with a small piece of rug under him. The arms were drawn up until the hands were in a line with the top of the head, and the legs crossed. On the left of the body an empty brandy bottle stood on the floor, and on the right stood another bottle with a small quantity of spirits in it. Deceased for some time past had been drinking heavily, and was last seen alive on Monday afternoon. He has a wife and grown-up family, but we understand that owing to his intemperate habits, his wife has not been living with him lately.— ' N. 0. Times.'