The Mokohine Fatality.

Manawatu Herald, 16 November 1893, Page 3

The Mokohine Fatality.

The Hnnterville correspondent of the Chronicle writes:— -A shocking catastrophe involving the death of Mrs Quillivan, her three children and a niece, occurred at about 10 a.m. on Tuesday at Makohine. It appears that the children were swinging from a tree near the road, when Mrs Quillivan, bearing a loud cracking noise up the slope and the children screaming, ran to the door, and saw a., large slip descending right in a lin6 with them. The maternal instinct prompted her to run and save her children, but when she was within about ten yards of them they were overwhelmed, and a falling tree striking her she was also knocked down and buried under the avalanche. The slip is about 6 chains wide and 10 feet deep on the road, and was caused by the weight of earth excavated from tunnels and cuttings on the railway works above the road. A large party of men from the adjoining works have been hard at work all day, and at half past v had succeeded in extricating the bodies of Mrs Quillivan and three of the children. They presented a shockingly mutilated appearance. Much sympathy is expressed for the bereaved husband and father. The names of the deceased are Johanna (the mother), John, Thomas, and Hannah (the children), and Popsey (niece).