FATAL ACCIDENT.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 112, 11 April 1868, Page 6

FATAL ACCIDENT.

/On Monday last, an inquest was held at Hyde’s Commercial Hotel, Blenheim, by C. H. Moffitt, Esq., and a respectable jury, of which Mr. W. Budge was foreman, upon the body of George Ball, who was found ■drowned on Saturday last, the 4th instant, -under the circumstances detailed in the following evidence:— 31 Mary Anne Ball deposed that she was the wife of Mr. H. A. Ball, brewer, and deceased was her son. His age was 4 years and 8 months. . She last saw him alive about 10 a.m. on Saturday. He had been absent about two hours when she spoke to the girl, who had been seeking him some time. She had missed him, but did not think anything was amiss. The girl said she'Could not find him, and witness replied -—“ Surely he has not fallen in the creek.” On going in search, she found he had fallen off the bridge; he appeared to be standing upright in the water; his head was just beneath the surface, and she could see him quite plainly. Upon seeing him she screamed out, and Mr. Action came and got the child out of the water. She felt Sure,the child was dead when she saw him. She knew by the time he was in the water. 3>r. ; Horne was sent for, who came immediately. The child was found near the middle of the creek, and just beneath the smsfll bridge crossing it. Li John Action, laborer, deposed that on .Saturday at 12-20 p m., he was sitting dofrii to dinner, when he heard a female scream, and rushed out. He then saw Mrs, {Ball on the bridge crossing the creek adjoining the house, who cried out that her son was drowned. On getting to the bridge saw-the child in the water. He then got down, and lifted up the child to Mrs. Shopboard, who was standing on the bridge, whu took it from him. It looked as if it had been dead some time, as the water was fibt:disturbed. The bridge is the one the Jury have just seen. Lewis K. Home, a surgeon practicing at Blenheim, deposed to being called in to Mr. Ball’s on Saturday afternoon, when he found fieebased wrapped in a blanket. He appeared to be quite dead, and the body was •perfectly cold. Should think he had been dead more than an hour. From the description of the witnesses and the appearance of the body, he must have been dead when ■first-taken out. jiNA-:verdict of “Accidentally Drowned” Vas-found by the jury.