It is not often that we hear of babies being bom into this world with teeth, but if we are to believe the Cobden correspondent of the Greymouth Star, an event of that kind has occurred at that place. He writes thus:—“ I beg to communicate to you the fact that Mrs Clark, wife of the Into Mr Christopher Clark, was confined of a hoy, oa the 17fch March, having a set of teeth—an occurrence the like of which I havu never hoard of before.” What a blessing it must have been to the parent, to be relieved of all the anxiety and the worry which the infant would have caused •during the preoesi of veetMnv !
An Australian Incident
The Northern Argus (a Rockhampton journal) relates the following gloomy facts in connection with a pair of handcuffs fished out of the river;—-Many of our readers will recollect the murder of poor Fanny Briggs; and those who wore not hero when the frightful tragedy took place, have frequently had the tale told to them, and have had pointed out to them the almost deserted cottage near which the' remains of the unfortunate girl lio buried. Those were wild times, and the shooting down of the blacks who were supposed to have committed a double deed of atrocity was looked upon as retribution, and, in tact, us necessary, in order to prove to the aborigines that the white man was not to bo wronged with impunity. It is a matter ot local history that one of the blacks concerned (so it vas believed) in the outrage, was locked up in prison for a time, brought up for trial, and yet could not be convicted : there was not evidence sufficient to hang even a black man. While the law could not sentence him to death, it was felt injudicious to allow him to go free, and the white man found a way of getting out of the difficulty. The black was handcuffed, and told to go down to the river, which was running not many yards below the barracks where he was confined, and fetch a pail of water. When the poor fellow reached the bank he made a dash for his freedom, and plunged into the river ; hardly had he risen to the surface when a bullet from the trooper’s rifle killed him dead, and he sank like a stouc, and nobody looked for or cared what became of his body. This was nearly ten years ago. On Saturday a person was fishing in the Fitzroy, over the spot where the black sank : he felt something heavy at the end of his line, pulled up, and found that the hook had caught what at first appeared to be a lump of stone and mud, but upon looking more closely it was found to be a pair of handcuffs, the connecting chain of which was perfectly hidden by rust, mud, and pebbles. In the centre ot the chain, imbedded in one of the links, was a small round black substance, which, when scraped with a knife, was found to be lead. Mr Elliott and others who have seen the handcuffs are fully impressed with the belief that they are those which encircled the wrists of the unfortunate black who was shot ten years ago. The theory is that the bullet passed through the man’s body and lodged in the chain. We, of course, give no opinion upon the subject ; there is a probability that the prevailing idea is correct, an the spot where the handcuffs were fished up is precisely the same as that where the black was shot, and the bullet goes to Show that whoever wore them must have met a violent death.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CROMARG18700427.2.28
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Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 24, 27 April 1870, Page 7
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622Untitled Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 24, 27 April 1870, Page 7
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