SHOCKING SUICIDE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 239, 9 October 1877, Page 4

SHOCKING SUICIDE.

A terrible death took place lately on the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway. Wheu the 6 p.m. train from Windsor to- Melbourne had left the Richmond station, and when the wooden bridge leading to the Botanical gardens* had been passed, a man jumped Upon the live about twenty yards in front of the train, and waa immediately run over and tilled. The engine- driver saw the man jump, and has no doubt that he did so witb a suicidal intention. Owing to the short distance the train had to^travei'before reaching the deceased, it waa impossible for the driver to prevent the fearful occurrence. On arrival at Melbourne the driver reported what had taken place to the station-master, who at once despatched Constable Flannery in a cab to bring the body of deceased to town. The constable found the body in a terrible mutilated condition. Tbe back of the head was extensively fractured, and this injury alone must have caused instantaneous death. . The back of the left shoulder was smashed to a pulp, -while the left leg was smashed below the knee, and was hanging only by the sinews. From these injuries it would appear that the deceased had been struck on the shoulder by one of the buffers of the engine, and on the head by the guard-iron, while the wheels had passed over 1 the left leg. His coat was ripped open behind, and both his boots had been dragged off in some "way. His hat, umbrella, and meerschaum pipe were found lying near the body. On searching his clothes the constable found no money, and the only thing in his pockets which may afford a clue to his identity was an empty envelope, addressed, " Richard M'Grrath, friendly Societies' Dispensary, Smith street, Fitzroy," and bearing the post marks of Dookie South (August 22nd), (August 24th). The deceased appears to be ,a man from thirty-five to forty years of age, and was nearly 6ft in height.

x A new cotton piant has been found in Egypt which is so wonderfully prolific tbat it may prove a dangerous enemy to the American cotton-growing interests. The plant haa a tiny stem and no branches. Ifc bears an average Of fifty pods on each bueh, while the usual yield of the pluut is about thirty. It yields from 395 to 675 pounds per feddao, thus doubling (ha crop. A smaller quantity of aoil is nee lei ; but the greater drawback in Egypt ia that it requires much more water, which necessitates the alternating of the crops with grain and vegetables. Ia the sea islands of the Atlamic coast along the lower Mississippi it would prove°wonderfuily prolific.