A TERRIBLE DEATH

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 149, 20 July 1909, Page 3

A TERRIBLE DEATH

SUFFOCATED IX THE MUD. YOUNG MAN'S AWFUL FATE. Fuller particulars regarding 'death of the late Mr. J. Wallace, son of Mr. Wallace, blacksmith, of Ekctahuna, which occurred last week, are now available, and these disclose the fact that deceased met an awfnl fate. Deceased left Rakaunui (near Pahiatua) on Monday morning with a dray and three horses loaded with stores for the Waiwaka district, and under ordinary circumstances the trip during .winter months is fraught with great danger owing to the impassable state of the roads. The first intimation that an accident had happened was given by the leaders of the dray galloping in to Rakaunui and suspicion was immediately aroused and a search instigated. At a slip on the road about a quarter of a mile from the township the party came upon the upturned dray with the shatter floundering in the mullock. But where was the driver? After some difficulty the rescuers cut away thc horse and 'overturned the cart. A had sight met their gaze. EnHbedded head downwards in mud up to his waist and pinned down by a sack of potatoes was seen the unfortunate young man who only an hour previously had left the township in thc best of health and spirits. On the body being extracted it was found that life was extinct.

How the accident really happened no one knows, but it is assumed that while endeavoring i to .negotiate the slip one of the leaders shied, and while in a perilous position the. hooks on the shafts to which the leaders .were attached snapped and the dray went back over the embankment.—Eketahuna Express.