FEARFUL ACCIDENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1062, 1 February 1883, Page 3

FEARFUL ACCIDENT.

A shocking accident occurred at the Helensbrook Flour Mills last Friday to Mr Patrick Walsh, the proprietor of the works. It appears that while he was in he act of oiling the tnrbm wheel his foot slipped, and his clothes were caught by the upright shaft, which revolves at tho rate of about 600 revolutions a minute. He was taken round several times, and to save himself from falling down on the wheel below, clung to the shaft with his hands and legs, but before he was extricated from his perilous position every stitch of clothes, with the exception of one sook, was torn from him. The enginedriver, who was .attracted by the screams of the poor fellow, immediately stopped the engine, and when he readied the scene of the accident, at the other end of the building, he saw Mr Walsh’s wearing apparel wound round the shaft and literally torn into shatters. The unfortunate man was terribly injured in various parts of the body. Immediately after the accident he managed, during the excitement, to reach his house, a distance of about 100 yards, but directly on arrival fainted. Medical assistance was soon obtained, and everything possible was done to alleviate his sufferings. At a late hour the same evening we were informed that Mr Walsh was making satiafactory progress towards recovery, but was still in a critical position. He is suffering great pain, and it is not yet known whether or not his injuries will prove fntal. It is feared that inflammation will set in, which, if it does, will end in his death.—Bruce Standard.