The Star (Ballarat, Vic. : 1855 - 1864) Fri 27 Nov 1857 Page 2
DREADFUL SUICIDE.
A shocking case of self destruction took
place yesterday forenoon about half-past
eleven o'clock, at the Homeward Bound
Claim, Golden Point Lead. It appears that
the unfortunate man, whose name is George
Wright, had only been about three or four
months in the colony, and had found great
difficulty in obtaining employment. A few
weeks ago he had been engaged as a
shepherd somewhere in this neighborhood
at one pound per week wages, but after the
first or second week his services were
dispensed with for some reason or other.
He then returned to Ballarat, and being
acquainted with the engineer of the
Homeward Bound claim, was in the habit
of visiting him now and then; on one
occasion he worked a shift in the claim
for one of the shareholders who was absent;
he was, however, unable to procure
permanent employment, or so far as we can
learn, even sufficient to maintain his family,
which consists of a wife and child. He
became very desponding in spirit, and
yesterday forenoon, when he visited the
Homeward Bound claim, he was
even more so than usual. Sitting himself
down on a bench in the engine room,
and resting his head between his hands he
complained bitterly of his misfortune and
cried for about half an hour. The engineer
endeavored to cheer him up, but without
success.
About half-past eleven o'clock the up
unfortunate man, who was also an
engineer by trade, got up and requested
the engineer of the claim to bring him
some hot lime; the latter, concluding from
his manner, and the strangeness of the
request, that the deceased was becoming
deranged, went out of the engine room
for the purpose of getting some of the
other men belonging to the claim to take
him away. He had hardly left the engine
house, when the miserable man went
quickly up to the regulating handle of
the engine, which was then fixed at less
than a quarter speed, pulled it quickly to
full speed, sending the engine flying at a ter-
rible pace ; he then stepped quickly
along the platform, and deliberately placed
his neck between the spur wheel and
the pinion wheel, and in an instant his head
fell into the pit in which the fly wheel re-
volves, while his body lay quivering on the
platform.
Owing to the closeness with which the spur
and pinion wheels are fitted together, the
intervention of the neck of the wretched
man cracked the larger of the two wheels,
to such an extent as to crack it in two
places, while the jarring shock of the
mutilation wasfelt through all the machinery,
even to the pump rods that were working in
the shaft. There were two men belonging to
the claim in the engine room at the time the
unfortunate occurrence took place, but
before they had the slightest idea of the
object of the movements of the poor fellow,
his body lay mutilated before them. They
quickly pulled it away from the wheels,
and the engineer returning immediately,
stopped the engine, when the head was
lifted out of the pit ofthe fly-wheel. On
examination it was found that the head
was uninjured, except at the point of
severance, which was a Iine running
from under the chin to the lower part
of thehead or the top of the neck. No
part of thetrunk was mangled, except
immediately above the shoulders, though
the collar of the waistcoat and the top of
the dress was jagged and cut by the teeth
of the wheels. A few slight bruises were
observable in the back of the fingers, as if
in the falling of the body they had come
slightly in contact with the wheels, or
violently with the floor.
From the breadth of the teeth of the two
wheels (3 or 4 inches), between which
theunfortunate man placed his neck,
theyseemed just to have covered his
neck, for none of that part of the body
was attached either to the head or the trunk,
having beenapparently crushed to atoms by
the immense force of the wheels The
remains were soon after conveyed to
the Pacific Hotel, where an inquest was
held in the afternoon. Deceased was a
tall powerful man, of aboutsix feet, and
was only about 26 years of age. He was,
we believe, a native ot Northumberland
or Durham, and a steady sober man.
The following is the evidence taken at the
inquest -
Jacob Carr, sworn-The deceased was a
shipmate of mine, and he has been about
four months in the colony ; and about eight
o'clock this morning, the deceased came
into the engine house of the Homeward
Bound Company's Claim, where I was
driving the engine, he told me he had been
looking for a situation, but had not got one
and he then said he would go down to Mr
Foster, at the camp, for some object, and he
returned in about an hour, and said that
" he had not got one," he then sat
down in the engine house for about an hour.
He was all that time in very low spirits, and
appeared to be crying. He got up several
times and walked about the engine house,
and sat down again, and some time after
he became excited, and I thought he was
out of his mind, as he shoved me about the
engine house, and ordered me to go out for
some hot lime and other things of the same
kind. The engine was going all the time
pumping water. I went down the ladder
for the purpose of getting assistance,
and as soon as I did so the deceased
opened the valve to put the engine to
its full power, and he then put his head
between the pinion and spur wheel, and
his head was immediately severed from
his body. I then stopped the engine, which
was going about one hundred and fifty in
the minute, and found his body at one side
of the wheel and his head on the other. He
was an engineer himself.
David Jones sworn, deposed-I was out
for some oil for the engine, and came into
the engine house about eleven o'clock this
morning, and saw the deceased standing
at the steam valve and opening it, and
immediately after ran over to the pinion
and spur wheels, and put his neck in
between them, and immediately after I saw
his body without his head. As I was going up
into the engine room the engineer, Jacob
Carr, was going down the ladder. I then
went out and called in other men I never
saw the deceased before. He was not a
shareholder in the claim.