Tuesday 3 February 1891

ENTERED INTO REST On the 15th Jan 1891, at Brakfontein, Victoria East, Charles Everard Bland, dearly loved youngest son of Carey and Alicia SLATER, aged 18 months.

ENTERED INTO REST On the 31st January 1891, at the residence of Mr. DEBENE, Station House, Grahamstown, Ernest Erdley William Stewart, dearly loved son of Carey and Alicia SLATER, aged 6 years and 4 months.
The parents desire to tender their sincere thanks to Mr. and Mrs. DEBENE, Dr. GREATHEAD, and the numerous other kind friends who rendered them assistance and sympathy in their time of trial.

We regret to hear that Dr. BOTHA, District Surgeon of the Paarl, died on Friday at the age of 52, from eating river fish.

Thursday 5 February 1891

MATRIMONIAL
Mr. McADOO, the leader of the Jubilee Singers, was married at Johannesburg by the Rev. J.T. DARRAGH on Tuesday week to Miss Mattie ALLEN, the lady with the “tenor” voice.

Saturday 7 February 1891

MURDER IN PORT ELIZABETH
The town was shocked on Wednesday afternoon to learn that a murder of a peculiarly cold-blooded description had been committed in Parliament-street on the Hill, in broad daylight. The perpetrator of the outrage is a coloured man named Wentzel WILLEMSE, and his victim was a respectable coloured girl in domestic service on the Hill named Sanna UITHALDER. The murder was committed in a very cold-blooded manner. As Police Constable MARUM was on duty in Parliament-street he saw WILLEMSE walk up to Sanna and strike her repeatedly. The woman fell, and until he got up to her he did not see that she had been stabbed. He had meanwhile arrested the man, and so sure were the stabs that the woman died while Dr. GRIFFIN was examining her. The body was removed to the mortuary, and Wentzel to the gaol. The only reason so far assigned for the deed is that Sanna rejected WILLEMSE’s overtures. – E.P. Herald.

A SNAKE BITE
Miss PIKE has had a very narrow escape in connection with a snake bite. Yesterday morning before 7 o’clock she wished to go outside, and proceeded to the kitchen to get her galoshes, galoshes having necessarily been the outdoor companions of most ladies lately. She put her hand down to pick one up, when she suddenly drew it back with a scream, for a good sized rooislang had fixed its teeth in her finger and refused to let go. She managed at last to shake it loose, and it glided out of sight. The finger began to swell, and the case might have been serious but for that old and tried friend of the snake-bitten, Croft’s Tincture, a bottle of which was procured and applied externally and internally, with the result that Miss PIKE has completely recovered. Later in the day Mr. PIKE found the guilty reptile under a bin and dispatched it.

Tuesday 10 February 1891

FAIRBRIDGE
At Gong-Gong, on the 3rd Feb, the wife of R.S. FAIRBRIDGE (Manager of the Mashonaland Prospecting and Trading Syndicate) of a daughter.

DEATH OF MR. PETER ADAM
Mr. Peter ADAM died on Sunday last. He was a citizen of long standing and for many years kept a restaurant in High St. He looked much older than his 55 years and had been for some time in failing health. He had many friends here who will regret to hear of his death.

DEATH OF AN OLD INHABITANT
Sunday last witnessed the close of the life of an old Grahamstown citizen, Mr. W. YOUNG (known here as “farmer” in distinction to Mr. W. YOUNG, builder). Mr. YOUNG has been a continuous resident here for a long term of years, and in former times his scientific and practical lectures before the old Literary and Scientific Society gave evidence of his ability and shrewdness. The deceased, who had attained the ripe age of 79 years, had secured a competency by able farming, and used to lead a retreat life lately.

Another explanation of the singular death of Dr. BOTHA, District Surgeon, Paarl, is given by the Argus’s correspondent. He had been very partial to river fish, and it is said that he was partaking of the head of one, when he was taken ill. His dog ate a portion of the fish, and died as a result. It is said that Mrs. BOTHA also ate of it, but she was not affected. The Berg River is very low at present, and, as people bathe in it, and wash horses and clothes in it, a mass of filth accumulates at the bottom of the deep pools, and it is surmised that the fish eat of this and become poisonous. The doctor, who was a very stout man, suffered also from a very weak heart, and this, it is thought, accelerated his death.

Thursday 12 February 1891

FATAL LEAP FROM A TRAIN
A fatal occurrence is reported to have taken place in a cutting between Bellevue and Alicedale. A man named NICHOLAS had arrived at Alicedale from Port Elizabeth, and owing to a mistake, changed into a train going back to the Bay. He did not realise his mistake till the train had reached the locality in question, when he jumped from the carriage window, and sustained such injuries that he must have died shortly afterwards. The body was found on the line and brought into Alicedale, where an inquest will be held.

Saturday 14 February 1891

DEATH
Mr. G. FUTTER, so long a resident of Grahamstown, but lately of Kareiga mouth, has just died at the advanced age of 80 years. He had many friends who will regret his demise.

Tuesday 17 February 1891

DEATH BY POISON
Mrs. GILBERT, wife of Mr. Thomas GILBERT of the Government Mounted Police Force, died in great agony on Monday morning on [Marnie] Farm, Kimberley. The D.F. Advertiser hears that the night before she drank a quantity of carbolic in mistake for castor oil. When the news reached Kimberley Mr. GILBERT lost no time in procuring medical aid, but too late.

SAD ACCIDENT
An upcountry paper says that three small children, daughters of Mr. John VOSS, while engaged in gathering brushwood on a small island on the Klipplaats River, near Mr. W.W. McDONALD’s residence, met with a painful accident. The one child in attempting to cross the river, which was rapidly rising, was rescued in an exhausted state by Mr. VAN STRAAT. Several attempts were then made to rescue the remaining two on the island, but as the river was still rising their efforts were futile. The river rose to such an extent that the unfortunate children were carried away by the force of the stream, and up to the present only one body has been discovered.

BIRTH at Grahamstown on the 17th February, the wife of Mr. Henry LAWRANCE of a son.

Saturday 21 February 1891

MARRIAGE IS A FAILURE in very many instances, and this term of the E.D. Court is by no means without renewed evidence of the fact. Some cases of judicial separation and divorce have already been decided, and there are more to come. The celebrated Humansdorp case of SMITH v SMITH and VON KOLLER is set down for next Thursday, and will be defended. For the same day LILIANVEDT v LILIANVELDT has also been provided, this being a case for judicial separation. In both these cases the husband sues. In GOOSEN v GOOSEN, which is also to come off (though perhaps not till next Term), the wife sues the husband, who departed with another woman for distant lands.

Tuesday 24 February 1891

DIED at Grahamstown 19th Feb 1891, at the residence of Mr. Charles [HANI...], York St., John George Steytler DE VILLIERS, aged 73 years.

DEATH OF MRS. JOHN ROBERTS
We regret to announce the decease of this much esteemed lady, so long a resident of Grahamstown, where she was greatly respected. Mr. and Mrs. ROBERTS have of late years been residing near Kimberley, and it is at that place that she died yesterday, in her seventieth year, of an attack of fever. Mr. John ROBERTS has, we are sorry to learn, been ill for weeks past. A month or two ago both were in town on a visit to their only daughter, Mrs. John WALKER, and were in very good health and spirits. A large circle of friends in this city will sincerely condole with the bereaved relatives.

FATAL ACCIDENT
A private in the Royal Scots, named DUNCAN, was killed at Maritzburg the other day by his horse stumbling and falling upon him, and dislocating his spine.

Saturday 28 February 1891

SMITH v SMITH and VAN KOLLER
This important Humansdorp divorce case is not yet at an end as we go to press. The details are not all of a publishable description, but we shall wrestle with them next issue. Curiously enough it was VAN KOLLER, the co-respondent, who first introduced the husband and wife to each other, and recommended a marriage, which plaintiff fell in with, thinking she would make a good wife, “and”, to quote his words, “she has made a good wife, with the exception of her conduct in this affair.” Now VAN KOLLER seems likely to part the parties as easily as he brought them together.
We heard once of a very generous act on the part of Mr. SMITH towards one of our townsmen. Mr. ____ went to Humansdorp, decoyed thither on a fool’s errand, on the understanding that he would receive employment there in taking over a business. His correspondent never materialised, and our friend was in great straits. Mr. SMITH took him in, lodged him and fed him for 10 days gratis, while he waited to see if his perfidious correspondent would turn up, and then, when he saw he had been humbugged, paid his fare back to Grahamstown.