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The Sydney Morning Herald,
Monday 29 November 1875 STARVED TO DEATH.—The following sad history is from the McIvor Times:—"A man named Edward Vine, aged 57 years, a native of Cornwall, was brought to the Heathcote Hospital on the 19th instant in a sad state of destitution and disease, and the latter caused entirely by want of proper food. He had been mining in a gully, about three miles from Whroo, and for the last six months his sole diet was tea and damper, the former probably minus both milk and sugar. On this he had worked from day to day, hoping for a change of luck, and unwilling to let his destitution be known. His earnings were unequal to a meal of animal food, of which he said he had not ate a pound for six months. At last he became too weak and exhausted to work, and for six days and nights had neither food nor drink of any kind—not even water. The attention of the police was then called to the case, and he was sent to the hospital, Mr. Welch, of Whroo, volunteering his trap and sending his son with him. When admitted he was found to be suffering from scurvy, the gums being flabby and detached from the teeth; there were numerous purple spots all over the body; the sight of both eyes was destroyed, the cornea or glassy part of them being disorganised. On the evening of the day after his admission, congestion of the lungs and bronchitis set in, caused by a cold caught on the journey, in consequence of the inclemency of the weather. He had complained of feeling chilled all the way down. He died on Monday." Contributed by Bob Bolitho |