AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1486, 9 May 1873, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

" The police have not yet been able to recapture the prisoner Wilson, who escaped from custody at Castlemaine a few weeks ago, but traces," the Mount Alexander Mail states, "have been discovered of his whereabouts." "The catching of Murray cod in the Wiramera River, at Crowlands is," the Ararat Advertiser states, " now a common occurrence. A couple of days ago one was landed which weighed six pounds, and subsequently two others were caught, one of which weighed three pounds and the other two pounds and a half. Hitherto the Wimmera has been famous for black fish, but the cod will soon make all the smaller fry disappear." The following is given by' the Inglewood Advertiser as a caution to the public — " On Saturday last a man named Kelly was admitted into the hospital in a dangerous state. On the previous Friday he had eaten, in spite of the iemonstrances of his mates, some of the nuts from the castor oil;_tree, and ina;few hours became violently ill. He is now progressing satisfactorily." A pajuful accident happened |o Mr Bichard Richardson, of Newlyn. He was feeding a steam chaff-cutter, and by some means ha got his right hand entangled in the machinery, and before he was extricated the lingers and arms up to above the wrist were cut into shreds. He was ! taken to the Ores wick Hospital. "A shocking case of saicide," the Oveixs and Murray Advertiser states, "occurred at Hurdle Flat, near Beechworth. An elderly man named John Jones, a miner, residing in the above locality, was yesterday morning found lying dead in his bed, his face and head covered with blood, by a neighbour named Thomas Chapman, who had called on him, Chapman at once gave the alarm, and, accoinpunied by another resident of the place, returned to the hut. On a table close to the bed where deceased was lying was found an empty pistol with an exploded cap on the nipple, and a razor, the handle and blade of which were covered with blood. Subsequent examination of the body showed that a portion of the left cheek had been blown away, and it almost appeared as if Jones had first attempted suicide by cutting his throat, and then in desperation had placed the pistol in his mouth, and fired' the shot which caused' his death.Deceased had been for some time ailing, and had been an out-patient of the Ovens

district hospital. His condition seems to have preyed on his mind, as he had thrown out hints to Chapman, who frequently visited him, as to his intention of making away with himself, but the latter had made light of the threats, naturally thinking that the remarks were theresult of.petulance.causedby.sickness and poverty." : - " ; A sad accident happened in the bay between Schnapper Point and Mbrdialloe on Sundayjaight, 37th nit,, and , one ; lifewas lost. The yacht Secret, belonging to* Mr W. F. King, was returning from Schnapper Point to Melbourne, having on board the owner and his son, and several others, including Mr R. R. Campbell, a young man who was in the employment of Messrs F. and G. Dance, Flinders-lane. The yacht encountered heavy weather/and Mr Campbell, in attending to the foresail, fell overboard, and was drowned. During the efforts made to pick the unfortunate man up, heavy seas struck the boat, put out the binnacle light, and the vessel became unmanageable and went ashore about four miles from Mord^alloc , The ocoupants kept in the boat as well as they could till daylight, when they waded ashore... One of their number, a young man named Marshall, who had taken off his clothes to be ready 'for' a swim, and who did not put them on again, .was nearly killed by exposure, but according to latest information he was progressing favorably. . \ The Bendigo Advertiser has. received intelligence thafca brutal attempt to murder a Chinaman was committed at Colbinabbihafew*days ago. It appears that the Chinaman, who was staying on <Mr : Winter's station, was in his hut one evening recently, when a burglar, whose* name Is unknown, entered the 1 place and demanded his money. The Chinaman protested that he had no money, whereupon the scoundrel rushed at him, drew : a knife across his throat, and. knocked him -down. After ransacking the house he decamped, leaving the Chinaman in the hut. tunately it turned out that tKe wound was not a very serious one. He was sent to Runnymede by the station hands, and on Friday he was forwarded to Sandhurst. On arriving at the station Constable Dunlop took charge , of the wounded man, and conveyed him to the hospital. The offender has not yet been arrested, nor does there seem any : probability' of being caught, as his description is not well-known. The discovery of more Berlin nuggets is announced by the Inglewood Advertiser: — "Humors have at times reached us within the last few months of the finding of nuggets at Berlin, but in most instances the fortunate individuals' 'have, from reasons best known to themselves, kept secret the extent of their finds, and as it is our desire to always give authentic information, we have also refrained from mentioning the rumors as told to us, fearing that they might prove to be exaggerated. We are at present, however, enabled to state that a fine nugget was obtained on Wednesday last by a well-known Berlin miner named Archibald Gray. The piece was unearthed in Johns' grass paddock, near the schoo} house, only 3ft below the ,'surfage, and weighed 930z lldwt 6gr. After being cleaned, it was found to have lost slightly over 1 dwt, proving the purity of the lump, which a correspondent informs us was bought by Mr R. N. Williams, of the^EostjQffice stpre^lqr^ja sum, of over L3BO. This is; as .our correspondent remarks, '.not so dusty for a hatter for a day's work.' Mr^Gray appears to be particularly fortunate, having on the Ist of April of last year, in the same paddock, obtained a nugget weighing 180oz, and worth over L74X). : The finding f of the lump on Wednesday last has naturally caused a slight stir amonst the nuggethunters, and on that day a good many men were looking for claims. A few were bought, and it was anticipated that more wbuld be taken up yesterday.'?