BY HIS FOREFINGER. Moments of Awful Torture for a Dockman.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 246, 14 March 1888, Page 10

BY HIS FOREFINGER. Moments of Awful Torture for a Dockman.

J J i riiH LrMxjci st, a dockraan assisting in bin loading of the British ship Hartfield f wvs subjected by accident to an ordoal that wvr, as painful as tho terrible tortures jo the Inquisition or the fiendish penalties of the ancient Persian?. The vessel was talcing on cement in barrels, which were being lifted aboard in a si i no; by means of a crane. The tackle ran lluough a series of blocks along a spar, :iii r J power was furnished by a donkey engine or. board. Lundqueet was slinging a py: imi-J of three barrels when the word to start was prematurely given. He threw the, Inolc over the sling just as the ropes drew taut, and started to leap back from the lisMi'j weight. By some mischance the foiahr.ger of his right hand caught in the bight formed by the hook and the to] )3. He involuntarily cried out with pain, jtnd endeavoured to jerk his hands free. The engine caught full headway, and the sti .'itnmg lines ran rapidly through the pulleys, lifting thu heavy freight. A halfdo/,en bystanders ran forward to liberate fclic man, but without avail. Swiftly tho barrels rose, the rope drawn \\y more than 1,000 pounds weigh*;, tightening on the finger till the blood bin st through its pores. Upwards the load went until the unfortunate man, crying in agony, was lifted clear oft" tho ground. Still upwards the merciless engine drew its* bu.don until, suspended by his finger alone, the dockman, livid with agony, swung 10 feet above the wharf. The horririod onlookers lifted loud cries to stop the engine, but were unheeded. The crushed bone and torn flesh of the irapruoned member at last gave way under the terrible strain, and the hook tore out.' Painting and' splashed with' blood Lundrmest foil back into the arms that were upraised to receive him. He was taken to the receiving hospital, where the finger was amputated at a lower joint. More' serious ' results may develop^ from the terrible. 'no'rvous shock wKich~;his entire 'system u (fared. """ ' "

John M. Ives, Mho arrived in San Francisco on Saturday, January 24th, by Mio Zealandia, as a credited voluntary a£ent of the forthcoming International Exhibition 'at Melbourne, is nlling the California papers with interviews, setting forth reasons Why the Golden State should play an impdrr tanfc p*rb In the way of exhibits at the exposition. ' ' , i