ACCIDENTS & FATALITIES

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8853, 2 July 1907, Page 2

ACCIDENTS & FATALITIES

Press Association. New Plymouth, July 2. An old man named James Grimes was burnt to death at Urenni last night. He was living in a small cottage belonging to Clifton County Council which, in some manner unknown, caught fire and was destroyed. Grimes was apparently in bed. Napier, July 2. A very old identity, Alfred Edser, son,, died yesterday after a briefpllness, aged 84. Hokitika, July 2. The skeleton of a man, found in the bush near Stafford on Thursday, lias been identified as that of Otto Hanson, an old man missing there since February. -New Plymouth, July 1. A young man named Angus Skinner attempted suicide ;by catting his throat this morning. He was promptly attended to and removed to the hospital. The wound is not dangerous. Skinner is alleged to have been drinking. Dunedin, July 1. The coroner conducted an inquiry into the death of William Cotton McQlashan who was found on Saturday morning in an attitude which pointed to suicide by shooting. Evidence showed that deceased lived alone and was the owner of considerable property. He had been in a very bad state of health for a long time past and had latterly become very despondent. About 9 o’clock he was found sitting in an arm chair with a doublebarrelled shot gun between his knees and the muzzle inside his waistcoat. Ho held a long wooden lath in his left hand. One barrel of the gun only had been loaded and the cartridge was discharged. There was a large wound in the man’s chest. The jury’s verdict was “suicide while of unsound mind.”

John Marsh, a miner, was drowned in the Molyneux river on Sunday while assisting to tow a punt across the river. He fell out of the boat used in the towing operations, sank and was never seen again.