PORTUGAL.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 55, 7 February 1843, Page 3

PORTUGAL.

Horrible Affair. —Lisbon, June 20. Permit ! me to call your attention, to one of those domestic tragedies, which, unfortunately, now and then occur to harrow up the feelings of the feeling, and to awaken us to a sense of our nothingness, and which took place on Friday, at a small village on the south side of the Tagus, about three miles from Lisbon : —A la-

bouring man, with his little boy, four years of age, left his home in the morning, for the purpose of digging potatoes, large quantities of which are grown upon the sandy soil which characterises th£t part of the country. By a lamentable fatality, the heavy hoe, Which is made use of by the peasantry here, descended upon the head of the child, and killed it. The father, frantic at the accident, went to communicate the sad tidings to his wife, who, in her agony, rushed out of the house, accompanied by her husband, to bear home the dead body of their son, leaving an infant asleep in’ the cradle. Judge of their renewed horror, when, on their return, they beheld their second child nearly devoured by a sow, which was dragging it about the room, feeding upon its entrails. The mother suddenly disappeared, and her corpse was discovered the following morning, in a well adjoining the premises. To complete this appalling catastrophe, the man, whose existence had become too dreadful to be febrne, placed the muzzle of a gun to his throat; and terminated his misery. Thus, in a few short' hours, a whole family have been swept from the' living, and in a manner which has thrown alt the place into the deepest consternation, as he was much esteemed for his exemplary conduct and kindness towards his wife and children.