MELANCHOLY DEATH OF CAPTAIN SPEKE, THE AFRICAN EXPLORER.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IV, Issue 203, 2 December 1864, Page 2 (Supplement)

MELANCHOLY DEATH OF CAPTAIN SPEKE, THE AFRICAN EXPLORER.

Captain Speke, the celebrated African explorer, while shooting on September 15, in the neighbourhood of Cershaw, Wilts, with his relative Mr. George Fuller, of Weston Park, on getting over a stone wall, accidentally shot himself. His relative, seeing the captain fall, ran up to him and found that the charge had passed through his chest close to the heart. lie was only sensible for a few minutes, and feebly said to Mr. Fuller, Don’t move me.” lie died in about ten minutes. A surgeon was quickly on the spot, but life was extinct. He was 37 years of age, and unmarried.

ah tiic uiLumoon tlio inquest «us iiclrl on tlic body by the Coroner for the Liberty of Cershaw, at the residence of Ins brother, Mr. VV. Speke, Monks Park, near Cershaw, to which place the body had been removed. ’ The first witness examined was Mr. George Fuller, son of Mr. Fuller, of Weston Park, who deposed :—“ About halfpast two on September 15, 1 left my father’s house with deceased, for the purpose of shooting partridges. Deceased had fired off both barrels before the accident occurred. About 4 o’clock I got over a loose part of a stone wall, and was about sixty yards from the place, when I heard the report of a gun, and looking round saw the deceased standing on the wall. Shortly after he fell into the field, and on going to his assistance I found him on the ground with a wound in his

chest, bleeding, which I endeavoured to stop. He was then sensible, and spoke to me, but did not long remain so. I stayed with him about five minutes, and then left him in charge of the keeper, Daniel Davis, and we"t for assistance. I observed the gun lying by the side of the wall. One barrel, the right, was half-cock, the other was discharged. I heard very little report, and should suppose that the muzzle of the gun was very near the body of the deceased when it went off. Daniel Davis corroborated the above statement Mr. Snow, surgeon, was called to the deceased. Found him dead on his arrival. There was a wound on the left side ‘such as would be made by a cartridge if the muzzle of the gun was close to the body. There was no other wound. It led in a direction upwards and towards the spine, passing through the lungs and dividing all the large blood-vessels near the heart, but not touching the heart itself. Such a wound would cause death. The coroner having briefly addressed the jury on their melancholy duty, and pointed out to them what he considered was the verdict they should return, the jury unanimously recorded their verdict that the deceased died from accidental discharge of his own gun after living a quarter of an loir. They also appended an expression of sympathy for the family of the deceased in their bereavement, which was a loss botli to his family and to the whole country. A deep gloom was cast over the meeting of the British Association at Bath by tire announcement that Captain Speke had accidentally shot himself It need not be said that this melancholy end of the enterprising traveller will be regretted not only in siimtifie circles, but among all Englishmen who sympathise with the daring spirit of adventure which is characteristic of the Anglo-Sax-son race. John Hanning Spake, the second son of Mr. William Speke, of Jordans, in Somersetshire, was born in 1827, and was educated in ono of the county grammar schools. His adventures as a mighty hunter and a scientific explorer in Semali land and other parts of Africa (1851-5) in company with Captain Burton, are probably familiar to our readers. From Africa ho went to the Crimea ns n volunteer in the Turkish contingent. He had a desire to explore the fauna of tlie Caucasus, but abandoned the idea on receiving an invitation to rejoin Captain Burton in another African expedition. When Captain Burton presented himself to receive the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society from the hands of the president, Sir R. Murchison, he said, “You have alluded, sir, to the success of the last expedition. Justice compels me to state the circumstances under which it attained that success. To Captain Speke are due those geographical results which you have alluded to in such flattering terms. While I undertook the history and etnography, the languages and (the peculiarities of the people, to Captain Speke fell the arduous task of delineating an exactjtopography, and of lying down our positions by astronomical observa'ions—a labour to which nt times even the undaunted Livingstone found himself unequal.” Captain Speke returned with Captain Grant last year from Africa. They had solved a problem which had puzzled the wisest men for 3,000 years—whence did the Rile take its source?— where were “ divitis ostia Rili ?” Homer spoke of the Rile, whose sources were 'unknown ; Herodotus confessed, himself unable to solve the mystery ; Alexander the Great, and Rcro the notorious, both were ballled in the search. The younger son of a Somersetshire squire traced the Rile to the A'ietoria R’yauza Lake. lie had been there in the summer of 1858, and went out again in (lie spring of 1859 to make assurance doubly sure. It is hardly necessary to mention tiie enthusiastic reception given to Captain Speke on his return to this country. He was the lion of the season. lie was received by the Royal Geographical Society at one of the most crowded meetings (out of their regular session) of that learned body with the heaviest welcome. Thu remains of Captain Speke have been removed to the family mansion, near Taunton. A cast lias now been taken of his face, “so that,” writes Mr. Kinglake, “a faithful likeness may now be formed and preserved in imperishable marble of the lamented hero of the Rile, and servo to adorn the sculpture gallery of Somersetshire worthies, w'here memorials of the great and good men of the land—Blake and Locke—are visible in the Shire-hall.” —Home News.