CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 25

CASUALTIES.

A middle-aged woman name 3 Robina Sullivan, who is supposed to have taken " Roush on Rats," died on the 26th February. She had been housekeeping at a boarding-house in Dannevirke. A man named Robert Rodflers, 50 years of age, died suddenly at Sydenham, Christchurch. Death is supposed to be duo to natural causes. H. Jonns, a man of middle age, was killed in the Taihape tunnel by a late train on Feb. 25. He was horribly mangled. It is supposed that he was going through the tunnel on hia way home, when he unexpectedly met a train returning with people who had been to the 6culling race. The body was discovered by a ganger. A lad named Lay, son of a storekeeper at Upper Hutt, whilst nlayinjr in front of his father's shop, was knocked down by a dray. The wheel passed over hie head, and ,he died while being taken to the hospital. John Hood, late of Lake Wakatipu, committed suicide at Rangiwahia on the 26th ■ult. by putting a windlass rope round his neck and jumping down a well. At the inquest a verdict of suicide while temporarily ineane was returned Howell. who suffered iniurv to his spine whilst wrestling at the Napier Caledonian, sports, died in the hospital on February . 26.

At the inqueet on Machin, who committed suicide at. Lake House, the evidence showed that deceased had been suffering from angina pectoris, and cut his throat. The -verdict was that he died from selfinflicted 'wounds.

A man named W. Carson, a wool-scourer, employed at Tomoana, died suddenly on February 28. He was seized with a violent fit of coughing, and died in a few minutes, from hemorrhage. The deceased was a married man, and resided at Haering6. Harry Wilton, aged 38, a plasterer, empioyed at the- Caledonian Hotel, Napier, di«d as the result of injuries sustained by a fall from a. scaffold. Deceased was a single man, and so far as is known had no relatives in New Zealand. At the inquest a verdict of " Accidental death was returned, the jury adding a rider to the effect that more care should be taken in testing timber for the erection of scaffolding , , The steamer Gael, plying between Auckland and Waipu, got into shallow water in Waipu River. A rope was requisitioned to haul her into the channel. David Stanock, her engineer, got his left foot caught in the bight as the rope tightened, and the foot was torn. The sufferer was removed to the hospital, where an amputation was performed. The sufferer lies in a precarious condition from the operation and the shock.

Mr S. R. Merrett, who was injured in the motor car accident at Christchurch on February 22, died at the hospital at 5 o'clock on the morning of the Ist inst. After hearing the evidence of Dr Crooke (house surgeon at the hospital) as to the condition of Mr Merrett when admitted, the inquest was adjourned until March 5 in order to allow of further inquiries being made as to the exact cause of the accident. Harry Tobee, aged 18, of Mount Roekill, who went for a bathe at Gisborne on the Ist inst., sank suddenly, and was drowned, although assistance was almost immediately to hand. The body was recovered four hours and a-half later. An elderly woman named Eliza Elizabeth Milton, who was proceeding to visit some friends at one of the bays at Waiheke Island, died in i email boat in which

ehe was being rowed ashore. The evidence at the inquest disclosed that she suffered from a diseased heart.

An old 3ettler named James William Reid and his wife, Elizabeth Reid, were driving in a buggy from their home at Parahaki to attend morning service in Whangarel on the let. The horse took fright and dashed down Paranui Hill, which is very steep. The vehicle capsized, being smashed to atoms, and Mrs Reid was so badly injured that she died three hours afterwards. Mr Reid was seriously shaken, but is reported to be doing 7 Well. Maggio Simpeon, a_ged 14, was badly burned on Saturday evening through her clothes catching fire while seeing the younger children to bed with a candle. She was taken to the hospital, where she died .at 1 a.m. on the Ist March. Theparents and an elder sister were absent from the house at the time of the accident. The body of William Matheeon, 26 years of age, a single man, was found in the water at Invercargill on the Ist. He was seen last at 8 p.m. on Sunday, apparently troubled over something. He was employed as a carter by an ironmongery firm in town. His mother resides at Riversdale. '.„ „ , Word has reached Inveroargill that on the morning of the second day after leaving the Bluff Captain Holverstcn. of the barque Perfeot, was found dead in bed. The Perfect left the Bluff for Adelaide on January W. A. Terry was drowned near Kaitangata on Sunday, Ist March. . The Bruce Herald says:— "A sad drowning fatality occurred on Sunday about 12. o clock at Coal Point Beach. A man named William Albert Terry, aged 23 (who .left the mine a few months ago to drive for Spr *arquhar, Stirling), went with a number of young fellows to Coal Point Beach to bathe. After a short time on the beach and daring the waves, « deceased went rather far out, and it -is preeumed he was knocked over by the backwash and could not regain his feet, and not being able to swim was carried out to sea. Frantic efforts were made to reach him, but all in vain. His body was afterwards seen floating on the waves seawards, and was recovered later."