ACCIDENTS OFFENCES, ETC.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2750, 13 December 1894, Page 4

ACCIDENTS OFFENCES, ETC.

Hawthorn, magazine keeper at Mount Eden, Auckland, was found shot with a bullet through his head. At the inquest the verdict was that Hawthorn committed suicide while temporarily insane. A miner named Barratt was killed in the Talisman claim, Karangahape, Auckland. A girl named E. Bid dick, two years old, was found drowned on the Eohimarima beach, Auckland, 200 yards from her home. The wife of James Moyle, aged 28, was drowned while bathing in a creek at Miranda, Auckland. She leaves a husband and three children. Robert Redman, a sailor aged 20, belonging to the brigantine Defiance, was drowned while bathing at Tekopuru, Auckland. Thomas Edward Walton, clerk at the Auckland Racing Club office/ was thrown from a young horse he was riding on Monday night. He fractured his skull and dien on Tuesday morning. ; At Napier a man named George Marsh, aged 40, single, was killed whilst quarrying on the Bluff hill on Friday morning. He fell 100 feet, bringing a quantity of earth down, and was partially buried in the debris. His heck was broken by the fall. At Wellington the Supreme Court was occupied bearing a claim for £6OO damages brought by a young woman named Dorothea Hansen against the City Corporation for injury sustained by falling into a drain which it was alleged was unprotected. Plaintiff met with the accident iu June last and is still confined to her bed. The defence was that proper precautions had been taken, and that there Was contributory negligence. The jury awarded the plaintiff £l5O damages and costs according to scale. At Wellington at the Inquest on the body of l-obert J. S. Todd, Jate’accountant in the Government Life Insurance Department, R. G. Thomas, a fellow lodger, Inspector Pender, Mr Somerville, ‘--.-♦•her-in-law of deceased, William Huduiv. -i. arv 0 f Government Inson, Secrtsi,. L j) r James were suranco Department), - • HGceitßed examined. Evidence showed v*... had been drinking lately, and before ho committed the deed, had to be assisted to bed. Very little drink affected him, and he had, in fact, not been himself for the past mouth. The coroner slated that he had seen a letter from a young lady in Victoria, to whom deceased was engaged, and whom he was about to visit. Hie letter contained nothing bat ordinary lady’s chit chat, and concluded with the hope that they would soon meet. It was shown that though Todd drank occasionally, he was not a drunkard in the usual sense of the term, and there was no reason to suppose that ho was iu difficulties. Nothing at all was adduced to which to Attribute the rash act, and his relations declared that there was no lunacy in the fhmily. Mr Hudson said that so far as the department was concerned deceased’s finances were quite in order, A verdict that “ deceased committed suicide while temporarily insane ” was returned. Deceased’s life was insured for £I2OO. At Christchurch, Taylor, who was badly burned at the fire in St Asaph street, died iu the hospital at 9 a.m. on Friday from the otlect of the injuries. At the inquest touching the death of Edward McGirr, the evidence showed that the four men in the house—Upton, owner of the house, Wilkie, Taylor, and McGirr—were all the worse for drink. The three former lay down and set the place on fire. All got out but McGirr, who was evidently forgotten by the others. The jury, after half an hour’s consideration, returned a verdict —“ That Edward McGirr met his death by the accidental burning of the house of Thomas Upton, and that tho evidence shows the fire was caused by the inmates whilst iu a state of intoxication.” The Coroner commented upon tho fact that the foreman of the jury was the licensee of a hotel, and recommended tho police iu summoning a jury in cases where a

question of drink was involved, not to place a licensee on the jury. News was. received, at Christchurch by the San Francisco mail of the death by drowning of Mr'.'E. A. Worthy,, for 25 years second master at Christ’s, College, Grammar School. He, with his family,' was staying at St. Raphael, in the Riviera, France, and Vhile bathing seems to have struck ' some object in the water while diving, 'The body was recovered. The news cast quite a gloom oyer the city. , The Papanui shooting case came before the Magistrate’s Court at Christchurch on Monday, when Charles Henry Wagstaff was committed, for trial on a charge of unlawfully wounding Charles.Langdon, and Langdon was Committed ou the charge of unlawfully attempting to'commit burglary at WagatafTs house. Rail,, was allowed, each of ; the.. accused self £IOO and two sureties, of £SO each, : . .....

i On Friday afternoon the body of Mr Neil McLean was found , in, the pond at the Rakaia domain. McLean, seen going to the pond in the morning with a towel, apparently for a swßn, and in the afternoon, his clothes were found on the bank, with a note on an envelope relating to his affairs attached. Lately Mr McLean has been a resident in Queensland, and he was over for a trip to New Zealand to see, his old friends. For many yeals he was manager of the Acton estate, and he was noted as a most powerful swimmer. It is said that at one time he swam the. Rakaia river . when it was in high flood, and the water almost bank to bank. George Vanstein has been committed for trial at Kaitangata on a charge of arson. The Dunedin police have arrested two men, George Gardiner and. John Bent, in connection with some recent burglaries and petty robberies. The. men are recent arrivals, one from Tasmania, the other from Australia. William McFarlane, while working in a gravel pit at Stoney Creek,. Southland, was buried by a slip. Be was extricated and brought to Invercargill hospital, but died from his injuries on Sunday evening. Two men named Thomas Ruudell and James Coyle were drownedhear the mouth of the Waiau river, Southland, at noon oh Monday by the capsizing of a boat in which they were fishing for flounders. , Rundell was married, and leaves a, .wife ..anJ six children in Invercargill; Coyle was single l , and a sawmill hand ,residing at .Colne. Bay. Both were good swimmers, but the water was rough. ...