CORONER'S INQUEST.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1147, 2 April 1872, Page 2

CORONER'S INQUEST.

An inquest was held at the British American Hotel, HaftePs i Terrace, Nelson Creek, on the, 31st, March, before O. Whitefoord, Esq., Coroner, on the remains of a miner named' William Robb, whose body was found drowned in one of O'Donnel and Magee's water-dams on - Saturday, 3>oth' March. A jury having; 1 been sworn, Mr Arthur Ellis was chosen to act as foreman, and they proceeded to v? view the body. From the evidence it; appeared that the deceased' had been working for wages for M'Bride ; arid party at the left-hand branch of Nelson r Creek, about four miles from, the: townr! A ship. He received his wages on Tuesday, ;; the 26th ult., and remained at the town until Thursday, the 28th. About Jtwo> s o'clock on the afternoon of that day, he^ H left the town in company with a miner named Morris, and went to the^hili of : the latter in the gjilly where ; the dany^ is built, in which his body wfc afterwards |J found. It was agreed that the deceased should commence working for M6rris!and' ,.. party next tlay, arid in accordance : with s 'h • i this arrangement he left; to fetch hisr :. swag, which was. lying where he waa staying while working for M'Bride and- .i party. Some time after dark the same ! evening he came to the hut eof , James 4 Anderson and partjy, near Morris's house, and asked fer a bit of candle and some ' matches. He got these, and left on his way to the township at; Hatter's Terrace, as he said. He was not seen alive afterwards. When Morris .returned to his hut about ten o'clock that night he found '*"" ,that some .person, had been there r and he, suspected it was Robb, because: a bottle'" of brandy was gone which he (Robb) left there in the afternoon when he went tp^bring his swag. ; Next m6rning?when Morris was clearing up his hut he found Robb's cap. The evidence on this point, j vras : , taken. very ; minutely,;and;:the : m^ nesses were closely examined by theiuryi- " A witness named Robert M'Alluter, who lives with Anderson/ stated positively that when the deceased came' to their hut for the candle hei had a hat or ..cap on his head, and this was partly -cor? - roborated by Anderson;; The "deceased didf * bring his swag, but he leftitatjthe hut of *~ V oung and party, where Morris^and Robb had dinner on Thursday-' ori their way to Morris's hut* Timothy O'Donnell proved :l to finding the body in the ? dam about 8 o'clock onthe;morning of Saturday; r His attention was drawn to it by observing a pannikin which' wasiastened to the belt the deceased, wore round his- waist ;: The dam was]formed by the building of aaem- -s bankment across No. 3 Creek. , There would be Bft or :9ft of water in^it on Thursday, but it broke away, and a con-_ . siderable quantity of water escaped on « Friday. The body oi , the deceased would* "'* not be seen else, supposing it to have fniipn iri*r> ttio A*m nr> fr^TiTqdav There were 2ft 6in of water in the'dam wMmaio— ._ body was found. The body was leanings against the bank of the dam with the feet! resting on the ground, and there were marks on the edge of W terrace ' and along the ; face of' the/cliff aa i of : ' J ' ceased fell over off th^ track, which waa not generally used except by those work- • ing in the vicinity. ••« . '; The evidence was not clear, as to ihow the deceased got into the dam ; if he fell over the terrace the fall would.^ about 25ft before the water was reached. One of the witnesses said that the deceased might hayegotto the dam by way ofjthe bed of the creek j but it was not likely he could do so in the state he was in. The jury after consultation returned a verdict of accidental death. ,v. C,r ' The, deceased, was a resident of vthe*^ Nelson Creek district for ttielast.'fbur'or|. .fi,ve yearsj and he bore tine character of ' being a hardworking 'industrious manj He was "a native ; of Ayri' in^- Ayrshire^ '^ Scotland^ and about 44 years of age. ! iHe did not appear to have: any relatives in New Zealand, but he had an intimate friend named /Alexander i Moore: residing' with whom he regularly cor-'-o responded, sChe funeral' tbbk 'place od -Sunday evening, and 1 the remains were - foUowed to the cemetery at Try-Again Terrace by^nearly ininera and" " other residents of the creek. Mr Whitefoord read the burial service at the grave, and by about six o'clock the melancholy^ proceedings terminated. r. '