INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 723, 6 September 1870, Page 4

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

An unfortunate case of suicide occurred ' a few days since, at Woodford, where Anno Humm, wife of Mr George Humm, "butcher, drowned herself under the influence of a tit of depression of spirits, the result apparently of a low state of physical health. >>m& The Betidigo Advertiser states " that on Tuesday evening ' Jamie Warden,' one of the oldest Bendigonians, died at his residence in Mundy street, in abject poverty. The deceased was an excellent musician, and generally played the bass fiddle at concerts, the theatre, &c. His daughter, Miss Geraldine Warden, who is well known as an accomplished vocalist, assisted her father by remittances, but at this time she is in America, and is therefore unable to help him.'* The Bairnsdale, Cjitrher relates the following case of disappearance, which seems to indicate a fatal ending :— " An old man named Sam Davis, lately living at Lindenow Flat — an old resident— came into Bairnsdale on Tuesday fortnight. He was last seen about 3 o'clock on the Bairnsdale side of the river, going in the direction of his house. He was considerable affected by liquor at the time, and was supposed to have a bottle of spirits with him. He never called for the horse left by him ou the other side of the river, nor has he since been heard of. / " On Saturday," says the Ovens Advertiser, "a regular hurricane was experienced at Benalla, which caused considerable destruction in its course. Roofs were torn from buildings, chimneys thrown down, and large trees torn up by the roots and thrown prone to the earth, fortunately the storm only lasted about an hour and a half, but limited as was its duration, it exceeded in violence anything that had been experienced for many years. About six miles south-east of the township, its couise was marked by trees levelled and fences thrown down, the tract of country over which it extended with the greatest severity being little more than half a mile in width. The telegraph had also suffered from the violence of the wind, and during Monday there was no communication with Melbourne by either wire until six o'clock in the evening, owing to the wires being blown down between Melbourne and Kilmore. The storms seem to have had a wide radius, as the wire via Kilmore and Sandhurst, and that to Deniliquin, were down during the day." On Sunday morning, 14th August (says the Geelong Advertiser), an accident happened on Lake Connewarre, which well nigh proved fatal to a lad named William Ash. It appears that a boat, the property of Mr Beech, had drifted away, and as ie was one in general use by the boys, the lad, unrequested by. the owner, set out in quest of it in a small shooting punt. The swell 3oon, however, proved too much for the little punt and its occupant, and a capsize was the consequence. The lad then threw himself across the bottom, and, in spite of the swell rolling him over and over, clung there well. In this sad plight he was seen by another lad, who had endeavored to persuade him from going. He gave the alarm, and several of the nearest residents were soon on the shore. But there were no means of rescue at hand save an old punt, deemed unsafe from the high swell on and the depth of water from the recent floods. The nearest boat was about a mile up the shore. Two men ran to get it ; but, while they were gone, the lad's brother had been informed -. of the boy's perilous position. He dashed away at full speed, reached the shore, jumped into the old punt, and succeeded in reaching his brother. But the lad, cold and benumbed, almost filled the punt in rolling in, and was no sooner in than down it went, end first. Both boys were now in the water, but they luckily caught one of the punts, and buoyed themselves up. This second capsize was expected by those who ran for the boat, and as they could find ho oars,' they set out paddling Maori fashion,- with hands, and succeeded in reaching and rescuing them in about half-an-hour. The first, when rescued, had been nearly an, hour and a-half in the water, and, with screaming and excitement, was delirious. It was thought that he would not recover, but after the appliance of suitable remedies, he began to improve rapidly. „ Writing on the inexhaustible' topic of the Poliban Waterworks, the Kyneton Guardian says: — "The digging of the aqueducfcj.so far as it has proceeded, has cost the country L 46,000, exclusive of the amount paid to Messrs Meagher and Co., -on account of their relinquished contract, which will bring the amount up to 50,000 in round numbers. What the expence of brick-lining the ditch would be wo are unable with any degree of acenracy to determine, but it would certainly not be less than an amount equal to that expended on the work hitherto, whilst the fall throughout is so great that it is. doubtful whether this expensive remedy would be found an effectual one. With regard to the Back Creek syphon, although there is no immediate danger, the fracture in one of the segments of the pipe which has been discovered points unmistakably to the insecurity of entrusting a daily pressure 55,000,000 gallons of water to such a. channel, and we believe few hydraulic engineers would risk their reputation upon a completion of this portion of Mr Christopherson's scheme. It will be remembered that iiri two out of the three designs upon which Mr Christopherson f oundeiUbii^pjm^ijk. was proposed to oafry'-the water across the Back Creek valley by a flume. Mr Brady proposed a syphon, at a cost of LIO,OOO, and this proposition was apparently adopted by Mr Chri3topherson, on the ground of economy : but when the syphon is completed, if it ever should be completed, it will have cost something over L 30,000, or vastly more that the amount set down by either Mr Brady, Mr Reilly, or Mr Wardell. This consideration is certainly not the least annoying part of the affair— that, whereas everything has been done on the most expensive scale, the failures have been qui'e in keeping with the expense." " The suicide of Lebrun de Massin," reports the Inglewood Advertiser, "is a wonder ful example of firmness and determination, scarcely to be accounted for on any supposition, except that the unhappy man's mind was diseasad. Prom entires made in his diary it appears that he had attempted his life several times by the method often employed by his countrymen—suffocation by the fumes of charcoal ; and faling in this, probably because he was unable in a tent to sufficiently exclude the air, he deliberately noted down that other' means must be used. On Thursday, morning last he shot himself with a' pistol, the muzzel of which he must have pressed

close to his side, as a piece of his flannel shirt was blown into his lungs, and this he accomplished a few minutes after failing to hang himself, the rope he used for the purpose not being strong enough to bear his weight, and having broken in the attempt. But even this does not show to the full extent his determination to carry out his purpose. Near the spot where he was discovered a razor case was found lying on the ground with a razor in it, from which it may be inferred that if the bullet had failed, as the rope had done, he would have had recourse to the still surer weapon with which he had provided himself. The unfortunate man had been sentenced to death in the colony for the murder of his wife through jealousy, but had been let off with five years' imprisonment, since which time he appears to have lived a lonely and miserable life, tortured by a rememberence of his wrong and his crime, a sufferer from sicknesss and unsuccessful in the occupation which he had chosen — that of a miner."