Accidents & Incidents
19th Century News
Newspaper articles that offer insights into life in Bothwell during the 1800s.
Sources Used: TROVE. https://trove.nla.gov.au; FamilySearch: Australia, Tasmania, Government Gazette, 1833-1925. https://www.familysearch.org.
⚠️ Accidents ⛪ Church & Community
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⚰️ Deaths, Inquests & Obituaries
🌧️ Floods, Fires & Storms 🏛️ Municipal Council
👮 Police, Court Reports & Bushrangers
🎯 Rifle Club 🛤️ Road Trust
🏫 School News ✒️ Testimonials
An awfully sudden accident occurred at Bothwell on Thursday night last, the 21st inst., which by one fatal step, it may be said, hurled into eternity our chief district constable, Mr Edward Rainsford. The circumstances are these - It appears that on the afternoon of the same day a drunken affray took place on the township amongst three or four fishermen, which resulted in their being lodged in the watch house. About ten o'clock that night the wife of one of the prisoners requested Mr Rainsford to liberate him on bail, and that Mr Rainsford, in consequence, proceeded to the watch-house; that after seeing the man referred to, he turned into the watch-house keeper's quarters, where he remained until about 11 o'clock, when he left, the watch-house keeper holding a light, to enable him to clear the immediate precincts, which are anything but safe to grope about in a dark night. That Mr Rainsford then called out "all right," and the watch-house keeper went in and shut the door. Almost immediately after this, Mr Rainsford must have literally walked over a perpendicular solid mass of rock, which skirts the pathway, to a depth of about 25 feet, falling into a small hollow, on a sloping bank of earth beneath. Here he was found the next morning between three and four o'clock by a man named Charles Thorpe, a shoemaker, who was proceeding by the spot to follow his accustomed sport of rabbit-shooting, lying insensible on his back, one arm underneath it, and his head downwards. Assistance was immediately obtained, and he was conveyed to the house of Mr Hinchy, situate on the banks of the river, and only about ten yards from the place. Very shortly afterwards Dr Teush, accompanied by the police clerk, Mr Robinson, was with him. He was found to be labouring under the usual symptoms of severe concussion of the brain. There were no external marks of violence except a small flesh wound on the left cheek, and a few very slight scratches on the fore part of the head. The greatest attention was paid by Dr Teush and those about him, but as no improvement in Mr Rainsford's condition had taken place by 4 or 6 o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, with Dr Teush's concurrence Dr Doughty was sent for. On his arrival certain additional remedies were suggested, but unfortunately without avail, for there the patient lay as it were in the sleep of death until half-past eight on Sunday morning, when he finally ceased to exist, leaving behind him, to the mercy of the world, three almost helpless orphan children. It is now to be hoped that the local authorities will take immediate steps to impress upon the Government the absolute necessity there is - either to remove the watch-house to the settled side of the township, or otherwise have the road to it made secure by a fence or wall, for it is terrific to contemplate that men engaged in that performance of public duty, namely securing the peace and good order of the community, should be liable to the continual risk of their lives even in the day time, a powerful and desperate man in being taken to the watch-house, has it in his power to hurl even two or three who may be escorting him at once into eternity. Mr Rainsford has been in the department since 1840. Death had recently been busy in the deceased officer's family. About twelve months ago he lost his wife, after a lingering illness of three years. About six months ago, a fine boy of his, about twelve years old, was drowned.
On Monday, a fearful accident occurred to the wife of Mr John White, storekeeper of Bothwell, who, it appears, was attending her usual duties in the kitchen of the dwelling house, which is some distance from the place of business, at which the other members of the family were engaged, when, by some mishap, her dress took fire, and there was no one else in the house at the time to assist her to put out the flames. She ran out of the house, towards the shop, but before she proceeded far, tried to put out the flames by rolling on the ground, when a woman, who was washing, attracted by her screams, ran and succeeded, by throwing water upon her, in putting out the fire, but not, unfortunately, before the poor sufferer was dreadfully burnt. Dr Campbell was speedily in attendance, and applied the usual applications, but little hopes are entertained of her recovery, as the unfortunate lady is advanced in years, and is very severely burnt.
On Monday morning, the 19th, intelligence was brought in from the Blue Hills, that a lad, about 11 years of age, son of a shepherd named John Pulford, in the service of Mr Duncan McRae, of the Blue Hills, had accidentally shot himself, whilst out shooting opossums the previous evening. Dr Campbell at once proceeded to the scene of the accident, although, from the account brought in by the messenger, he had but slight hopes of his arriving in time to be of service.
A very shocking accident occurred on Wednesday last at the township of Bothwell, by which a fine little girl, aged about ten years, named Julia Craig, daughter of a man named Henry Craig, formerly in the rural police, but now obtaining his livelihood by wood carting, met her death. It appears that Craig was loading his dray with heavy logs of wood close to the door of his house, when his daughter jumped up on one side, he being on the other. He saw a log of wood fall from the dray, the little girl falling with it, and immediately ran around to her assistance, when he found the child lying on her back under the log, which had fallen upon her chest from a height of about four feet. He lifted the log off the child when the blood gushed from her nose, mouth and ears. She never spoke, but expired in about two minutes after the occurrence. Dr Campbell was at once sent for. An inquest was held at Bothwell on the following day, and a verdict returned in accordance with the facts.
An accident occurred on the afternoon of Monday the 22nd August, within a few miles from this township, to a lad named Alfred Blake, aged 14 years, son of Mr Robert Blake, a very old resident here, which had well nigh resulted in a horrible termination. It appeared that the lad, accompanied by Mr Shaw's two sons, aged out in the bush on what is called the Lime-kilns run, kangarooing, having guns with them and the string from which Blake's powder flask was suspended when he set out having broken, he very thoughtlessly put his powder flask, which at the time contained nearly half a pound of powder, into his right hand trousers pocket, in which were a knife and some lucifer matches. Shortly after, as might naturally have been expected, whilst Blake was in the act of running, a sudden explosion took place, which blew the flask to atoms, and set the owner's clothes on fire. One of his companions, who was a dozen yards or so off, ran up and attempted to extinguish the fire by rolling Blake over on the ground; presently the other came up, and taking out his knife quickly cut off the trousers of Blake, at least all that remained of them, for a portion had been blown to "smithereens." Fortunately, and by a miracle as it were, young Blake was not so badly injured but that he was able to walk some considerable distance to his brother Charles's farm at Grantham, from whence he was brought in a cart to his father's residence on the township, where he now lies confined to bed. On examination it was found that the whole of the right leg was as black as ink from the scorching, and blistered in small patches, and he is also severely burned all round the lower part of the body. It is a remarkable circumstance that two other sons have experienced accidents from this "vile gunpowder." It is rather better than a year ago that one was accidentally shot by a companion in the bush, and had to be removed to the hospital, there being at the time no medical man here, a "hiatus" still requiring to be filled up, and "devoutly to be wished for," and the third son referred to has had either a thumb or a finger shot off.
During the past week considerable excitement was manifested in the people of Bothwell by an occurrence of the most distressing nature - the loss of a child in the bush. At 8 o'clock on Tuesday morning, 18th inst., the wife of James Williams, a shepherd on the Cluny Park Estate, missed her eldest girl, Kate, aged three years and five months, whom she had seen at play outside the house fifteen minutes previously. She called her name and looked in every direction from the house, but not seeing her, she concluded she had run after her grandmother, who had gone to a well distant some few hundred yards such; however, was not the case, as the grandmother had not seen her. Terror-stricken, the poor mother rushed wildly with an infant in her arms over the neighbouring paddocks, still calling for her little one; she heard a cry and ran to the spot whence she fancied it proceeded, but could neither see nor hear her child. Now, almost frantic, she began to realise the possibility her little darling being lost in the bush, and prudently made the circumstances known to Mrs Brown, of Cluny Park, who, with that true maternal feeling experienced only by parents, at once summoned all the farm assistants, and mounted her horse to assist in the search for the missing child. After four or five hours fruitless efforts, Mrs Brown sent a report to the Superintendent of Police at Bothwell, requesting his assistance; unfortunately, he was absent at the time, but Constable Stewart was speedily on the spot, and with the father, who had been from home all day, renewed the search; night coming on, fires were lighted in the bush, and every window in Cluny Park illuminated with a view of directing the child should she see them. The bush in the neighbourhood was traversed all night, and the child's name frequently called, but all in vain. Soon after daylight on Wednesday morning the Superintendent of Police and about twenty persons from Bothwell, amongst whom were Messrs Bowden, Ife, Hughes Jnr, Maskell Jnr &c., arrived on the ground, and a systematic search commenced, and was continued while daylight lasted, and still no trace of the lost child. Reluctantly, and with harrowed feelings, the work was discontinued until next morning. Rain set in with a cold south wind, to which the little sufferer must be exposed, shivering, starving! The feelings of the parents are only to be imagined, not described. On Thursday morning the search was resumed by about thirty other residents of the township amongst whom were Messrs Arnett, Biggs, Bowden Jnr, Kemp, Moyes &c. Notwithstanding the frequent and heavy showers, the bush was scoured in every direction of the house; all ran, as they rarely ran before, until met by messengers sent out to inform them that the child was found. The glad tidings were received with such an outburst of hurrahs that struck terror to the kangaroos abounding in the vicinity, and of course, made the leaves of surrounding eucalypti “clap their little hands in glee.” Delight was visible in every countenance, and a feeling of joy pervaded all hearts. When found, the child had lost its boots and socks; its little feet and legs were much scratched, otherwise it did not appear much worse for its exposure and want of food for 56 hours. Its little hands were full of flowers!
A correspondent of the Mercury, writing from Bothwell, says that on Saturday last Mr James Taylor, of Thorpe, whilst out shooting in the vicinity of the Quorn, had a narrow escape of his life. He was standing on a log, and was in the act of completing the re-loading of the second barrel of his gun, when his dog suddenly rushing close by him caused him to fall, and whilst doing so both barrels exploded, and wounded him rather severely in the inner part of the left thigh, some three or four of the shots, which were double B size, entering the integuments at the lower part of the abdomen. He also received some shots in the fingers of both hands. Mr Taylor very fortunately was accompanied by one of his sons, and had his chaise cart not far off at the time of the accident, and after some assistance was obtained, he was conveyed to his home. Dr Oldmeadow, who is in attendance on Mr Taylor, was unable to extract the few shots that are now in the body, but he thinks that they will, by the treatment adopted, work downwards.
I have taken up my pen for a more painful purpose, namely, to give you an account of a shocking accident leading to a fatal termination, which occurred here a day or two ago, and which should be a caution to mothers. A pretty looking and very intelligent child, Ada Elizabeth, aged 4 years and 8 months, daughter of Mr and Mrs John Hale of this township, whilst sitting at dinner on Wednesday last, and eating soup made from sheep's head, suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, mamma! I have swallowed a bone." The mother instantly jumped up from her seat, ran to her child, and endeavoured to extract the bone with her fingers, but not succeeding, one or two of the neighbours, as I was informed, endeavoured to do so, but without avail. The child was then brought to the house of the writer, who inflicted a rather smart slap on the back, which proving in vain, he ran upstairs to obtain a pair of scissor-handled forceps, but on his return to the child, about a minute afterwards, he was informed both by mother and child that the bone had "gone down." However, to satisfy himself, he had the child laid on the mother's knees and examined as carefully as he could the throat, but without observing any extraneous substance; the tonsils, however, seemed inflamed and swollen, and the child's voice was thick and coarse; he advised the mother to give her child a little castor oil, and both parties left. In the evening, your correspondent was requested to go and see the child, the messenger leaving word that it was supposed to have the croup. On arrival, he found the symptoms to resemble very much the characteristics of that disease as "laid down in the books," and in the absence of any medical gentleman a "Tartar Emetic" was given at once with directions to administer another in a couple of hours; sponging the throat with very hot water was resorted to, also a mustard poultice. Next morning the child was worse; there was great oppression of the chest, which heaved much, the breathing rapid and laborious, tongue dry as a bit of leather, furred brown and towards the back part of it black. Dr McDonald was telegraphed for at once; in the meantime, the usual remedies recommended in cases of croup were persisted in. The child, however, died about one o'clock the same day. I may mention that although the symptoms were such as to induce Mrs Moyes, of the Crown Inn, the mother of a large family, some of whose children had suffered seriously from croup, as also others, including myself, to be of opinion that the child was suffering from croup, in which the father concerned; yet, notwithstanding, the poor mother persisted all throughout that it was the bone, and nothing but the bone, which was the cause of all the mischief. I may remark that when I saw the child the morning of its death, it was quite sensible, and I put the following questions to it: "Do you feel the bone now?" Answer, "No." "Has it gone down? "Yes." Quite sure?" "Yes." The next day but one, I called upon the parents and obtained the consent of both to allow Dr McDonald to make a post-mortem examination of the throat, which he performed, kindly allowing me to be present, and in a few minutes proof was afforded that the mother was right after all. A flat piece of bone of triangular shape, rough-edged of course and so measuring at its sides as I afterwards found, 6-8th of an inch, was discovered lying flat against the larynx, or upper part of windpipe. Had the bone not been lying in this position, death in all probability would have ensued considerably sooner than it did, or if it been of a more irregular shape. The child was but laid on Sunday afternoon, four girls carried the coffin, and the Sunday School children, with their teachers, amongst several others, followed it to its last "little bed." The parents, especially the mother, are nearly broken-hearted at this sudden bereavement of their little one. Surely other parents will derive a lesson from this sad story, and be careful for the future of giving their children such food as soup without guarding that no insidious bones are ensconced therein.
A serious accident happened here on Thursday evening, 7th August, 1890. It will be remembered that about the middle of June last the bridge over the Clyde River on the township was partly swept away by the floods, and it has remained in the same state as the flood left it to this day, and no vehicle has been able to cross it since; foot-passengers have certainly managed to get over by climbing the old fencing and debris, with the assistance of a ladder, and at the risk of breaking their limbs. As regards the present accident, it appears that a respectable young girl named Elizabeth Sheppard, who is in the service of Mrs E. J. Webb, of Bagdad, came to Bothwell on Monday last for the purpose of spending a few days with a friend who resides over the river, and on the evening before mentioned had occasion to come to the township and she had no alternative to get across the old timber and debris and then jump a small creek, and in crossing the latter she slipped and broke her leg, and there the poor girl lay until her screams for assistance were heard by the police and others on the township, who at once went to her assistance, and carried her to the Crown Hotel, when the landlady, Mrs Paul, be it said to her credit, did all she possibly could for the comfort of the sufferer, who is an orphan, having lost both her parents years ago. She was on Saturday forwarded to the Hospital at Hobart. Had the Government repaired this bridge, and they should have done so many months since, this accident certainly would not have happened.