ADDISON'S FLAT.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 562, 2 October 1869, Page 2

ADDISON'S FLAT.

THE LATE EXTRAORDINARY 1 AnnrorcsLT. On Thursday we reported the ocI curreuce of an extraordinary accident i which happened to a miner named I Patrick 0 JDoughlin, who fell over a > precipice two hundred feet high, yet > escaped death. A correspondent"' at ; Addison's Flat sends us the follow- ; ing further particulars : •" _ After crossing the Totara O'Lough--1 lin ascended a terrace, when he was on the level on which the tents of his party stood. Feeding himself out of all danger, and so near home, he sat down for a few minutes' rest. On again starting, being too confident of the road, he toojc but little notice of it, but before going far he found he was off the trade. (It was by this time dark.) He • fancied, however, that he knew his position, and without hesitation turned to the right, to bring up the track. Instead of . doing so, it took him straight away from it. Ho went ahead for about a mile, when he came to a place which looked like an open Hat on which the tents stood. In going on to this supposed flat, he walked directly over an immense precipice about two hundred feet high. In his fall he encountered a small tree growing out from the face, to which he tried to hold on, but could not, as the beef on his back prevented him from sustaining himself in the air. Lie was compelled to let go, and fell the remainder of the distance to the ground, burying his legs nearly up to the knees in the soil. Ho thought at first his back was broken, but soon found it was not, for he could sit up, and with much difficulty got off the'swag. He now discovered that his right fejj was broken below the knee. He coufd not set off the boot (a Wellington) and. having no knife to cut it off, he tried to do so with the steel clasp of a purse, but did not succeed. The horrors of this first night, during a pouring rain, may be more easily conceived than described. At last the morning came, and the poor fellow crawled"to the river to drink, and would have crossed if he could, but the water was too high. Night again came ou without another night of horror was spent, but on Tuesday, about ten o'clock, he was discovered by some of the searching party, which by this time extended over the whole neighborhood. There is a moral connected with the result of tin's accident which miners generally Would do well to consider. This man belonged to a well-known party of miners called " Clears," two brothers of that name, Johu and Torn Clear, being mates in it. They are generally considered to be a " lucky " party, as for many years they have never been for any length of time off gold, but it is a question if their "luck" is not more attributable to their own exertions than to any influence derived from the wheel of fortune. They work hard, live on the best, and are extremely sober in their

habits, without being afraid to spend a pound. Is it any wonder that seven such men are successful? Their work for the past month ia a proof that it is not; for, some five weeks since, being iiooded out on the Shamrock, they did not sit down and wait for something to turn up, but, having a notion of gold beiug in a terrace four miles off, they went to try it, and in a little more than three weeks they sunk four shafts over forty feet deep, timberiug every inch as they went, drawing tne slabs from one shaft to timber the next. They have not been successful up to the present iu striking gold, but the work is considered almost incredible. Men of such habits are, of course, very strong and in good health, and it is to this, as well as originally being of an iron constitution, that Pat. O'Loughlin owes his life. When he was found he was sitting quite composed, wet, of course, and nothing on him but shirt and trousers, and a Grey River Argus made into a hat; lie had lost his own. He said to his deliverers " Good morning. I thought you wouldn't let me starve." As usual on such occasions, all Addison's Flat and Shamrock Lead turned out when it was known that Pat. O'Loughlin was missing. The bush was scoured, tracks wero cut in an incredible time ; drags were made to search the river ; and everything done that could be of use under the circumstances; and finally, when the poor fellow was found, a large number assisted to convey him to the "NVestport Hospital.