The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1879.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 140, 13 June 1879, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1879.

a fatal accident occurred at Dovedale yesterday afternoon to Albert, eon of Mr Appo Hocton, a lad of about eleven years of age. It appears that he and his brother Lewis, thirteen years old, had seen a rabbit, and ran into the house to get the.un to shoot it. Their mother warStK ot >

take the gun, but in their excitement they ran away with it befdre flho codld stoi* tlietth She then wfetot to tell their father, who was working a little way off, and he started off after them, but reached them just too late. ' A horrible sight awaited him on his ar- j rival. His son Albert was lying on the ground stone dead, with his brains spattered all over the place, and Lewis was standing by almost stunned, It wa3 some time before, he eould.leahi bow tbe terrible event had happened, but the story was soon told when the poor little fellow could collect his thoughts and find words to utter them. He had seen the rabbit, and quickly raised the gun to his shoulder and pulled the trigger, when at that moment the deceased ran across the line of fire a very few yards from the mueale of the gun, and the whole charge was lodged iv his head, death or course being instantaneous. From the fact^ that the shot entered in one solid mass, it is clear that he must have been very close to tbe gun. An inquest will be held by Dr Boor to-morrow. The return football match between the College and Town Clubs wiil be played in the Botanical Reserve to-morrow af ternoou. The game will commence at 3 p.m., and every man is expected to be there to time. The following are the names of the players : --College: Baruicoat, Biowu, Evans, Firth, Fleming, Harris, Lowe, McHardy, Mowat, Peat, G. Seymour, A. Seymour, Sharp, Thompson, and Trolove. Town : A. Askew, J. Askew, Burnett, Clouston, Flint, Harley, Holmes, C. Hodgson H. Hodgson, Pickett, Richmond, Richards, Spencer, Walker, Wells. Emergency men : Boddington, Wright, aud Pollock. At the weekly parade of the Artillery Compauy last night, Lieut. West spoke to the men ou the subject of the Native difficulty, and said that as it was possible that war might break out before the Government bad been able to muster a sufficiently strong force on the ground, an offer of tbe services of such of the Volunteers as would be willing to go to the front, if absolutely necessary, might be acceptable to the Government. He therefore asked those who would be willing to go iv the event of such a necessity arising to step out of the ranks, when, without a moment's hesitation, the whole Company stepped forward as one man. Thb Northern members of the Eoyal Commission on Higher Education passed through Nelson in the Wellington to-day, on their way to Dunedin, where they are about to resume their labors. An open meeting of the Loyal Nelson Lodge, 1.0. G.T., will be held in the Temperance Hall to-night, commencing at eight o'clock. Tub Tradesmen's Athletic Club held their adjourned meeting on Wednesday evening last, Mr A. M'Kellar Wix, Vice-President, in the chair. After some unimportant business had been disposed of, Mr F. N. Jones was unanimously elected manager of the Gymnasium vice Mr A. Chisholm resigned. The Club, which has been rather on the decline of late, will now, no doubt, spring to life again under the new management. There will be practice in the Gymnasium this evening. Ouk telegrams reported the other day the finding of a body sewed up io canvas on the Sumner beach, but it appears that there was a slight mistake about it. The Press says :■— Acting on instructions Sergeant Barlow, accompanied by Constable Ryan, proceeded yesterday to Sumner, to make inquiries into the finding of a dead body on the beach between New Brighton and Sumner. On examining the bundle, which was sewn up in canvas, instead of a dead body the sergeant found an immigrant's bed, which is supposed to have been thrown over the side of some ship entering the Heads. Edward Vaughan, a laborer, living on the Sumner road, who made the discovery, at once gave information to the police without investigating the contents of the bundle, which gave rise to the somewhat sensational account which was mentioned in yesterday's issue.