HORRIBLE OCCURRENCE IN A CHURCHYARD.

Kumara Times, Issue 973, 12 November 1879, Page 4

HORRIBLE OCCURRENCE IN A CHURCHYARD.

A horrible occurrence is reported from a churchyard near Guilford—one, too, which throws a lurid light on the causes of fever and plague. It appears that in digging a grave in the adjacent parish of Shere a human body was- exhumed in a semi-decomposed state, lying only four feet beneath the surface. The brains and ligaments were still remaining in an advanced Btate of decomposition, and giving off a most horrid smell. A second corpse was partially to be seen within three feet of the surface. It was left in this Btate for 24 hours, and was within 30 feet of the house in the churchyard. The smell in the rooms facing the graveyard was so strong that it waß quite unbearable. In the meantime a large hound got access to the churchyard, and was discovered devouring the flesh from the portion of the corpse that remained. The medical officer states that the corpse was buried within nine feet of the churchyard house last year, and soon after there was a case of typhoid fever ; and the same in 1877, after a corpse had been buried close by. The churchyard is above the well that supplies the house, and there bodies have been boned in a line with it, while the whole of the yard drains into the stream close to it, while the whole of the yard drains into the stream close to it, and the water at the present time is used by several families in the village. The sanitary authority, it seems, haß forwarded the report to the Home Secretary and to the Local Government Board.

His Honor the Judge of Bow County Court estimates the value of a finger at LI 16s 6d, and that sum an apprentice has just recovered from his employers, who were engineers. The case is a Bingular one, as it demonstrates the simpls manner in which an employer of labor may be rendered liable for damages. The finger originally belonged to a young man named Smith, who was in charge of a lathe. Having to work after dark, Smith applied for a better light than the one he had, which was not good enough. The ' better light," however, was not granted and the apprentice cut his hand in consequence. In the end a finger had to be amputated, and for the value of this the young man sued, and obtained the sum mentioned above. It would be an interesting calculation to find out the value of the whole human body if one of the fingora is worth 36s 6d.