FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT.

Kumara Times, Issue 505, 10 May 1878, Page 2

FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT.

The Wellington Post reports that a •fearful accident occurred on Mbnday last, at Messrs. Godsiff and Niton's sawmills, Clova Bay, Pelorus Sound, I by which a youth, named John Henn, aged 17 years, lost his life in a most j appalling way. One of the large circular saws is diiven by a belt from a drum, propelled by a shaft from the maiii steam eugine, and when required to be stopped is thrown out of gear by slipping the belt"off this drum which is below tlie level of the floor. Henn was sent to;stop the machinery, and instead of carefully slipping off the belt in the proper way, gave it a careless kick. His foot instantly was caught by the belt, and he was. carried round with terrific velocity, striking one of 'the flooring boards—a stout plank an inch and a half in thickness—with such violence as to break it iu two places. His fellow workmen rushed at once to the rescue, stopped the machinery as quickly as possible, and extricated the uufortunate youth from its fatal embrace. It is needless to say that life was totally extinct, the corpse being mutilated in a most horrible manner, in fact torn,and battered out of all sem> blanceof humanity, while the blood, brains, bits of skin and flesh, and fragments ofclothing were sprinkled all around. The mangled remnants of what only a minute before was a living breathing human being, were gathered reverently together, and, being placed in an impromptu coffin, were sent to Picton by one of the coasting vessels for interment.