THE LATE LOSS OF LIFE ON THE SHOTOVER.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 28, 5 August 1863, Page 5

THE LATE LOSS OF LIFE ON THE SHOTOVER.

An inquest was held on the body of Robert Weir, one of the seven men killed by the late landslip at Moke Creek. Michael H. Egan, miner, living one and ahalf miles above Arthur's Point, said—Deceased was my mate; we were living in the same hut. About midnight, the waters having risen so high we were obliged to leave our hut, and deposit our blankets in the tent we had pitched in the range. The deceased was with me and my other mates (seven) when we went out. Six of them returned again. Wm. Thomson and I then went with our blankets to the tent, to come back directly. As we were returning, when within 70 feet of the hut, we saw the hill give way close by where we were standing. I made the best of my way to the hut, but could not find it after the slip. When I was leaving I saw the deceased sitting by the fire. The next time I saw him he was lying dead in the river ; this was on the ninth day after the accident.

By a Juror.—The whole of the seven in the hut were lost.

James Caulfield, sworn, said he was a miner on the Shotover. On Sunday morning, the 2nd instant, when walking along the banks of the Shotover, he found the body of deceased among some wood. He immediately gave information to the police. He had known the deceased previous to his death. The body now lying at the Police Camp and viewed by him, was the same.

Dr. Pelley said—l have examined the body of Robert Weir, and consider the cause of death to have been suffocation by drowning. Both bones of right leg were broken at the knee, and the muscles of the calf torn away; left side of chest crushed, right eyeball torn out, all bones above right orbit broken. The eyeball appears to have been torn out before death. Could not say whether the limbs were broken before or after death.

By a Juror.—The eye might have been removed by roots, or any snag or rock, in its passage down a rapid river. Constable Patrick Finegan Fleming, sworn, said he was a constable in charge at Arthur's Point. On Sunday morning last, J. Caulfield stated to the police that he had seen a dead body one and a-half miles above Arthur's Point. He proceeded to the spot, and searched the body. Found two Miner's Rights in deceased's name, two pipes, two pencils, a knife, and portemonnaie. J. Caulfield and others accompanied him to search the body.

The jury returned the following verdict: " That the deceased, Robert Weir, came by his death on the 26th July, 1863, one mile and a-half above Arthur's Point, on the Shotover river, by drowning, having been precipitated into the river by a landslip."