A DRUNKARD'S DEATH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 173, 19 July 1878, Page 4

A DRUNKARD'S DEATH.

We tako the following from the Thames Advertiser:— Mowbray Megget, a sea captain, who has for some ttvme post gained s livelihood by hawlring Btnallware, was yesterday found <*pad in his cottaee, Sandes-street, BVk 27, aooffipr victim of ance. D^ceaeed was hat Been alive on Monday, when he seemed as usual His house hud since b*en locked up, and a neighbor named Henderson, who suspected that something wag wron* got iasidfl the house yesterday morn^ ins% and discovered the occupant reclining with his head in the Srepla^, but on. examination found he was q n he dead, Deceased was an old colonist. A» early as 1844 ho wbs commander t>f a trading barque between Auckland and Sydney. Captain Mesget was well-known as the master of the English bistque Terror and ran in company with Captain Daldy, or Auckland in the Shamrock. He afterwards owned » smart little schooner, and traded to the Islands, and then left Auckland for Sydney, where, for some time, he was in one of Captain TowWb traders. He next tamed up *c the Thames, a few years ago, land when he had exexhansted the remittances of which he was ia periodical receipt, be gained a livelihood by hawking smallware goods ia n basket, and traversed the hills m search of customers. But he waa frequently of late found in a state of stupefacation from drink, and neglected faitnaelf himself to so great an extent that those whe knew him feared be would oome to an untimely «od. His remittances were invariiably banked and drawn upon until exhausted, and laat Week he suffered forty . eight houra' incarceration for his besetting sio The examination by the jury of the houee— or rather shanty— occupied by the deceased disclosed a shocking state of affaire. The house is very leaky and nearly the wh Q le of the windowpanes are broken, and boards nailed over them. The floor was literally covered with filth, and the stench arising therefrom was simply unbearable Deceased must have lived a miserable life. The furniture was of a wretched description, consisting of a rickety table, a chair, and a stool. There was no sign whatever of a bed of any kind ; <he. only article approaching one being the remains of what had evidently been a blanket, which was spread on the floor. In the way of eatables, about a enckful of bread crumbs lay on the floor, some of them having probably been there for a long time ; end suspended from the rafters were foim 1 three mutton chops, which were nearly iv a putrid state. The deceased had the means of purchasing nonrishment. ae the cum of £1 43 was found in the bouse, whilst it ia believed he had a further cum of £20 or £30 lodged in one of the local banks. When found tha deceased had parts of his body exposed, and hie clothes were in a very worn-out condition. A few days previous to his decease he he proct-eded to a neighbour's, and, hearing one of the daughters playing the pianoforte, be said it reminded him of bis daughter at home. He said (hat he had a wife and daughters in England, who were well married, and they were in the titbit of forwarding him remittances by every mail.