CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 27

CASUALTIES.

A well-known resident of Motupipi named Ernest Winter was accidental ly poisoned on the Bth. He was stumping some land, and was using rackarock, and had the liquid ingredients in a bottle similar to another containing tea. He took a drink fro.n ths wrong bottle, and died shoitly af tar wards. He leaves a widow and two children. A. W. Money fell from a Christchurch tramcar on th© 6th. He was removed in an unconscious condition to the Hospital, and died on the bth. Mr Haselden, coroner, held an inquest, and a verdict of "Accidental death' was returned. A Maori, aged 21, known as " Smiler," was drowned whilst crossing the Waikohu River, Poverty Bay. He was washed off his horse and carried down the stream. Earl M^Masters, a son of the late D. M'Masters, was found dead in an avenue at the -homestead, Carterton. When a boy he had a fall from a horse and fractured his f-kull. A year ago he went to England for a.n operaTion on his brain. It is thought that he had a fataJ relapse of his oid complaint. He was 23 years of age. The danger which is ever present when dealing with " live " electric wires was forcibly illustrated on Wednesday, Bth inst., by a. lad named Jas. Martin, who was assisting in the installation of the electric light at the house of Mr John .Sidey, at C.ivershara. Martin, who is in the employ of Messrs A. and T. Burt, did not know that, the current had been turned on, and sei7ed one of the wires, at the same rime clutching one of the iron pipes. This completed the circuit, and the lad received the shock from an alternating current of 230 volts. He was unable to release himwlf, and when Mr Reynolds (the electricrm) answered his cries and got the current switched off and the boy free, bis hands were frightfully burned, and his face badly cut through contact with the floor, induced by the agony he suffered. Dr Howard was called in, and the lad was taken to his home in Green Island. He had sustained the shock for nearly two minutes, and very few seconds more would have meant death. The body of Dudley M'Kenzie, drowned in the Waihuka River, Poverty Bay, on the 6th, was recovered on the 10th inst. Twin brothers, named Sutherland, 12 years of age, were out shooting hawks with a pea rifle at Admiral Run, Masterton, when the g>un was accidentally discharged, and one boy was shot in the groin. He died in the evening. Wilhelmina Melrose Hendry, the child who was injured on the Roslyn tramlineon the 4th, died in the Hospital on the 10th. The child, aged 1 year and 10 months, ran in front of a car, and al- , though the driver pulled up quickly, one of the wheels had passed over her foot. At the Hospital the toes had to be amputated. The child was quite prostrated by j shock and suecuniKed. An inquest was opened, but adjourned after taking formal evidence. Mrs Jennie M'Curdy, 54 years of age, residing at 173 Cumberland street, died suddenly on Thursday night. Death is supposed to have been due to natural causes, but as the rW-eased had not been •medically attended to for some time an inquest i.s called for. Mrs M'Curdy had 1 •not enjoyed good health for about a year. James E. Rowley. 38 years of age, saloon steward of the steamer Flora, ■w a,s drow ned near Auckland on the 11th. The steamer was loading lime at Limestone Island and the deceased went in for a swim and is believed to have been seized with cramp. James Tasquith, a married man, aged about 50, employed by a local stevedore, fell down the hold of the Shaw-Savill steamer Aiawa at the wharf at Wellington on the 10th. He sustained such injuries that he died 10 minutes after being pkik-ed u,o. AH. the inquest a verdict of accidental death was returned. The police were notified on Sunday by telephone from the manager of the Ocean Beach Freezing Co., near the Bluff, that

an employee named Archibald Nelson had been found dead in his hut in the morning. He had been at work till 5 p.m. on the previous day and appeared all right then. A few days previously, however, he had been complaining of not feeling very well. It was stated that his wife resided in Dunedin at an address in George street, but the police found this incorrect, and at a late hour last night had not succeeded in discovering her residence. A Lawrence message states that Michael Cody, 75 years of age, and an old-age pensioner, died suddenly in his hut at Beaumont on Friday. He had recently been treated for heart disease. Andrew M'Leod, aged 48, fell off a tramcar at Auckland on the 11th. He was> found to be suffering from concussion, and* was removed to the Hospital, where h» died on the 12th. Clarence John Petersen, 18 months of age, was found drowned in a creek at Kiore, Taranaki, on the 11th inst. At th* inquest a verdict of "Accidental drown* ing " was returned. At the inquest on John M'Tainsh, wh« was killed on Saturday as the result of the express from tho south running into his trap at the Sockburn railway crossing, a verdict of " Accidental death " was returned, with a rider to the effect .that? the department might consider -the qiies-. fion of placing a orossing-keeper at thf crossing. An old-age pensioner, William Stoke* (73), was found drowned in Winding Creek, Waikaia., on the 12th inst Our Balclutha correspondent advises us that Mrs Thomas Bishop, aged 64 years, died on Monday afternoon as the result of injuries sustained through an unfortunate accident which occurred on Sunday, morning. While the deceased lady and her daughter were going to church on Sunday they met a man named Ingram, who was riding a bicycle. As the cyclist was endeavouring to pass a trap his machine swerved, with the result that ho collided with Mrs Bishop, who was knocked down. She was carried to Dr Stenhouse's residence, -where she remained in a semi-conscious state all the afternoon. She then recovered sufficiently to be removed to her home, and she appeared to make satisfactory progress during the night, but on Monday morning she suddenly became wor&e, and sank rapidly dying at 4 p.m. The cause of death was hemorrhage of the brain, caused by an injury to the skull. Mrs Bishop is survived by her husband, a family of grown-up sons and daughters, and a number of • grand-children. ■ The family is well-known, in the district, having" resided there for many years, and' deep sympathy _ia expressed for the v be-reaved ones. .