TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS IN THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1305, 25 May 1878, Page 3

TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS IN THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH.

[From the “ Murruruudi Times.”] Mr Keys, a butcher of Quirindi, having purchased a number of sheep from Mr Berry, a selector on 4b station, went, in company with Mr Henry O’Brien, to bring the sheep into town. They arrived in the neighbourhood of the selection, and found that a fence had been erected across the old track. Keys, whose horse went over the fence, proceeded towards his destination; O’Brien, unable to get his horse over, followed the line by the fence up the mountain for about a mile. He then gave up the idea of getting round the fence, made an opening by strapping the wires together, and led his horse over. Seeking to return to the plain, he proceeded about ”500 yards, when ho fell about 6ft. over a ledge, and for fear of further accident he resolved to remain there for the night. In a short time, however, he thought it better to make for the level country in search of some hospitable roof. But within five or six yards of where ho first fell he stumbled down a precipice 30ft. deep, and was helpless. Nothing more was known of him for three days afterwards, when he was found by a shepherd in the employ of Mr Binnie lying at the foot of the precipice, his left hip and thigh broken, and perishing from thirst and hunger. Throughout the heavy rains on Sunday, and the cold nights that intervened, the wretched man had been in that condition, enduring excruciating pain and all the miseries of privation and exposure. For those three long days he did his best to crawl up and down the rocks, traversing a measured distance of 210 yards ; pushing his injured limb before him with the aid of his hands and some sticks, and on one occasion forcing his way under the fallen limb of a sapling only a foot or so from the ground. On the way he rolled half across a nest of large soldier ants, and being unable to free himself from them, the brutes swarmed over and stung him severely. The only approach to moisture obtained all the while was the juice from a few handfulls of grass which were found and eaten ; the agonies of a burning and unslaked thirst at length leading to this as the only resource open. Considering the circumstances of the accident, and the fact that during the whole of Sunday, and afterwards, heavy unceasing rain fell, it is a marvel that death did not end his sufferings. As a final effort the victim had set to work at the foot of an overhanging rock to excavate a large hole in the sand, t\nd succeeded in removing almost sufficient to roll in, intending as he says, to use it for a grave, and so to protect himself from the birds, which in great numbers already hovered about him, as though eager for the prey. As soon as possible alter discovery his position was made known to Mr Berry, who, with a horse and cart, brought provisions, and the necessary conveniences for his removal. So distressing were his sufferings, however, that he could not bear removal in a cart, and a message had to be despatched to Walhollow for a sofa and four men to effect this more easily. While waiting for these to be brought, the famished sufferer seemed to forget his tortures in the desire to appease his appetite, and having been gradually revived by stimulants, ate and drank with the greatest avidity anything that was provided. Splints were improvised, and the injured limb was bound as well as circumstances allowed by his hospitable entertainers. Subsequently Dr. Knowles was called in, when the necessary surgical attentions were secured, but the injuries are so serious that recovery will be attended with much difficulty.