October 4, 1870

A MAN DROWNED. – On Sunday evening the body of a man was found in the Komani river near the drift. The body was much decomposed, the face being quite disfigured. From papers found in one of the pockets of the deceased it is supposed that the unfortunate man is a Mr GILBERT of King Williams Town, which city he had left for the Diamond Fields. No marks of violence was discernible, and it is thought that in making for the town guided by the lights on some dark night he must have missed the drift, and fallen over the steep bank into the river. Mr GILBERT was a member of the Oddfellows Society, and on the opening of the of the Lodge here formed one of the deputation from King W Town. His body was buried yesterday by the Lodge in this town. We hear that he leeves a wife and children, to who we tender our heartfelt sympathy in this sad and unexpected bereavement.

October 11, 1870

DIED, at Ardoff, near Windvogelberg, on Sunday, the 2nd of October, of hooping cough, the infant son of John and Celia Elizabeth SUTHERLAND, aged fourteen months.

October 14, 1870

BRITTISH SETTLERS. – The old Settlers are dying out very rapidly since the Jubilee. Two have passed away during the past week. Mrs PAXTON died at Grahamstown at the ripe age of 90 years, and Mr Henry FULLER of Albany died at Adelaide, aged 77 years.

October 18, 1870

[This paper is bound in such a way that I can only read parts of the notice] OBITUARY. - It is with regret we have to record the death, on Sunday afternoon ..., of Mr. Alfred T. WILLS, son of Mr H ... WILLS, Merchant, of Bristol, England ... lamented deceased came to the Cape ... time since in search of health. After ... residence at Natal, and an extended... through the Free State and upper dis- ... he settled in Queenstown, where he ... better health than he had done for .. About two months ago he was ... suddenly ill by the breaking of a ...vessel, and gradual declined until he... this life on Sunday last. Mr S... fortunately arrived in Queenstown...... week, and was with his brother ....last moments. The funeral will... the late residence of deceased...

DEATH OF A POLICEMEN – A member of the F.A.M.P., named Charles WELLS, met with his death on Friday afternoon last by the upsetting of the cart in which he was riding, on the Glen Grey hill. This is a nasty piece of road, filled with boulders. The wheel of the cart came in contact with one of them and the unfortunate man was thrown out, falling on his head. The body appears to have been dragged some distance as though it had become entangled with the cart. Deceased was much respected as a member of the force, and was for a considerable time in charge of the station at Buffel Doorns. Death must have been instantaneous.

November 8, 1870

SUDDEN DEATH. – Intelligence has reached town that a Kaffir trader, a German named HOWER has been killed at Braam Nek. He was thrown from the cart in which he was riding and killed on the spot. We have not heard fuller particulars.

December 2, 1870

VERY SAD ACCIDENT. – The Rev Robert JOHNSTONE, of Grahamstown, lost a little child last week through drowning. It was playing in High Street and fell into the fountain, and before it was noticed life was extinct.

December 9, 1870

DEATH BY LIGHTNING. – On Monday last the 28th inst., a very heavy thunderstorm broke over Mr. Isaak VAN HEERDEN’s farm, in the Middleburg district; during which the lightning struck that gentleman’s house, and entering a room in the gable end of the house, killed Mr VAN HEERDEN’s son, a youth of about 14 years old, and more or less injured five others who were in the room. Two children had their shoes torn off their feet, the lightning passing right through the foot of one, as though it had been a buckshot. Mrs. VAN HEERDEN, having a baby in her arms, was struck on the side of the face, but the child escaped uninjured. An elder daughter was struck on the back of the shoulder, the electric fluid passing round to her chest, and seriously injuring her. The poor young man who was killed was struck in the chest. The state of the room, after the accident, was exactly as though a bombshell had exploded in the centre of it. Strange to say, the house was not fired. –Cradock Express.

December 13, 1870

OBITUARY. – We regret to announce the death of Mr RELLY at Poplar Grove, last week. The corpse was brought into town, and on Saturday afternoon buried with Masonic honours.

[This article is bound in such a way that I can only readparts of it] DEATH BY DROWNING. – We regret to announce the death by drowning, of ... M PRETORIUS, senr., formerly of ...ontein, district of Cradock, but ... Somerset East. The melancholy ... happened in the Orange River, at ...rry. We perceive a paragraph in ...berg contemporary states that no ... was made to recover the body, ... a son of deceased was present when... nt occurred. We have been re- ...deny the statement. Mr Wm... son of the deceased, called at our ... morning, and informed us that he ... spot shortly after his father was ... wn the river, but was too late to ... assistance before death took ... and others made diligent search ... afterwards, but without suc- ... P. then instructed the editor of ... Advertiser to offer  alarge ... behalf of himself for the recovery ..., but which appeared in that..as a death notice, and stating... body was found and a respectable..., the expenses would be paid. ... body was write the above at request of Mr. .. in order to contradict the false... contained in a paragraph in the ..Advertiser of December 6, and ... the Journal of the 9th.

December 16, 1870

BIRTH – at Dordrecht, on the 5th instant, Mrs Horatio HUTCHONS of a daughter.

December 20, 1870

BIRTH at Queenstown on the 16th instant, the wifeof Mr Charles Edward NICHOLLS, of a son.

BIRTH – at Dordrecht, on the 11th instant, Mrs WilliamMASKREY, of a daughter.

December 23, 1870

THE LATE MR PRETORIUS. – Mr. C.W. MATTHEWS, of Suffolk, Albania, writes to the Colesberg Advertiser under date 8th Decr., as follows: - On Tuesday last at about 9 o’clock, the body of Mr. PRETORIUS passed my sons boat drift, just above Hopetown. The boat was unfortunately on the opposite side of the river, or I should have taken the body out and had it buried. The corpse was quite naked, and had evidently been in the water 5 or 6 days. Dark hair, but owing to the head being a little under the water and passing so rapidly, I could not see if any beard was on the face. Having since seen the notice in your paper, I thought it advisable to write to you, as his friends might still be searching for the body higher up.

December 27, 1870

BIRTH on the 22nd December, at Queenstown, the wife of T.H. THORNE, District Surgeon of Queenstown, of a son.