THE KAITANGATA FATALITY.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 193, 22 August 1901, Page 2

THE KAITANGATA FATALITY.

ACCIDENTAL DROWNING WHILE MUSTERING.

Tun search for the body of the young man William Blain was continued yesterday, and it was recovered early in the afternoon by Mr William Morris and others, with the aid of grappling irons. Early in the morning a party from Ormond, consisting of Mr Blain, tiro father of the young man, Messrs Noonan, R. Bruce, J. Ciesar, Constable Farmer and others, arrived near the scene of the accident and assisted those who wore already engaged in a diligent search. Diving was not successful, but the grappling irons wore used with success. The body, as surmised in the Times yesterday, was found to bo in a hole ; the depth of water therein was 15 feet. An inquest on the body was hold, the acting-Coroncr being Mr J. Ciesar, J.P., and Mr James Orr being foreman. A verdict was returned that the young man had been accidentally drowned whilst mustering cattle. The body has been conveyed to Ormond, where the funeral is to take place. FURTHER PARTICULARS. ROUGH EXPERIENCES OF SEARCH PARTY. The Times correspondent at To Karaka telegraphed further particulars last night of the sad accident. An examination of the body showed that the neck had been broken. The horse had evidently slipped on the papa and fallen on tho young man, or he had been thrown heavily on the rocks and his neck broken before the body rolled into the water-hole. Tho locality where the accident occurred is described by those who havo travelled a good deal as the roughest they have seen anywhere in tho colony. On either side there towers a steep cliff sixty feet in height, and to get to the spot whore the fatality occurred one had to go a mile out of tho ordinary course. The sun never reached tho depths of this lonesome ravine ; the water was icy cold, and those who undertook tho work of searching for the body had a hitter experience in that respect. They could not endure more than a few minutes’ stay in the cold water. It was found necessary to light a big fire along the bank, so that those who had been in the water could go to the

fire to get their blood in free circulation again. A peculiarity of the effect of tho fire on the cold papa slab was that the stones cracked with a report like that of a gun being fired. A pitiful phase in connection with the sad affair was the

manner in which the young man’s dogs behaved. Two of them remained on the bank in the vicinity of the accident, and howled dismally tho whole night, and all efforts to coax thorn away were unsuccessful. Finally they had to be forcibly led away. The third dog (the deceased having had three with him), set out from Kaitangata for tho young man’s home at Ormond, where ho arrived during the evening. A grief-stricken little brother took the dog down to Constable Farmer, saying, “ Willie's dog has come home.” It wittj was great difficulty that the body was removed from the creek: It had first to be hauled up the side of tho cliff to the top, a height of sixty feet, and then from Kaitangata to Ivaraka, a distance of twelve miles, it had to be packed on horseback, over an exceedingly rough road. From the latter place the body was conveyed in a cart to Ormond, arriving there iate last evening. Much sympathy is felt throughout the district for the relatives of the deceased.

He was a splendid young fellow, aged about twenty, and had been employed at the station since February last, and was thought a great deal of by all who knew him.