SHOCKING OCCURRENCE AT WODONGA.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2924, 29 June 1878, Page 3

SHOCKING OCCURRENCE AT WODONGA.

(tbom the bobdeb post, max 22.)

A great deal of sensation was created in Wodonga on Monday, when it was reported that a farmer named Magee, living at JFelltiinber Creek, near Wodonga, together with his wife and child, had been smothered to death by charcoal flumesit The particulars of#tbe distressing and fatal affair, are briefly as follows :—Mr Robert Magee was a farmer living at Felltimber Creek, about three miles from Wodonga. He had a wife and a family of some half-dozen children, and had lately erected a brick bedroom, in which he and his wife,»together with the youngest child —a mere infant—used to sleep. There^ was no fireplace in the room> neither' was it ventilated; and yet, in spite of the,warnings of neighbours, the deceased was in the habit of .burning . charcoal —^ we presume in some grate or receptacle—during cold nights. Last Sunday evening Mr and Mri. magee and the baby retired to rest at the usual hour, and as the night was cold, left some charcoal burning inujthe room^ The other children, whose ages r,ange From seven to 12, slept in a detached apartment. In the morning the eldest of these, a little girl 12' years of age, opened her parents' door about 8 o'clock, and immediately called out to her sister that her father was d^ad in bed. A neighbour named Dibley was then-informed of the occurrence, and on arriving at the bedroom he at once saw that Mr and Mrs Magee-were quite dead-." They were lying composedly in bed, as though asleep.. The 1 bedclothes were in order,,and there appeared to be no signs of a struggle having taken place. The child was lying across it mother's arm, and was alive, but the poor little thing expired about an hour afterwards. The affair was reported to the police at once. Dr Ryai,was sent for from, Albury, and on his arrival he pronounced life to be extinct. He made a post-mortem examination of the bodies. Yesterday, in the absence of Mr Foster, P.M., from Beechworth, Mr Bambrick, J.P., held an inquiry: on the bodies, and after hearing the evidence, a verdict was given to the effect -±hat d»ath had been occasioned through the inhalation of charcoal vapour. » Mr and Mrs Magee were in comfortable circumstances, having a freehold of 300 acres and a good herd of cattle, &o. The parents of Mrs Magee are residents of Chiltern, and are also in tolerably prosperous circumstances. Much sympathy has been expressed' for the bereaved family of little ones, who have been rendered orphans by the sad accident.