Mid North Coast Pioneers - Newcastle to Lismore and beyond

Some info on Mary Pearson (McElhinney) Stuart. Maybe you have it but here goes.

Born Jan 1794 in Letterkenny, Donegal, Ireland Married Richard Pearson in Ireland in 1818 Immigrated to Sydney, Australia in 1841 via 'Cadet' Died9/2/1869 'Violet Hill' Armidale, NSW, aged 75. Senility' !!! Buried 11/2/1869 Presbyterian Cemetry Armidale NSW, in R Pearson Family Plot

Some info on Mary Pearson (McElhinney) Stuart. Maybe you have it but here goes.

Born Jan 1794 in Letterkenny, Donegal, Ireland Married Richard Pearson in Ireland in 1818 Immigrated to Sydney, Australia in 1841 via 'Cadet' Died9/2/1869 'Violet Hill' Armidale, NSW, aged 75. Senility' !!! Buried 11/2/1869 Presbyterian Cemetry Armidale NSW, in R Pearson Family Plot

Wording supplied by May Upton.

MAGISTERIAL INQUIRY. STRANGE DEATH AT SOUTHPORT. At Southport on Saturday last Mr. Hyde, P.M., presided at an Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death ot John Henry Casper Meyer. The evidence was in charge of the police, and Mr. T. J. O'Shea watched the case in the interests of the representatives of the deceased. Robertina Catherine Meyer, daughter of the deceased, deposed she resided with her mother at Main Beach Hotel, Southport. On 15th instant she accompanied her father (the deceased) from home to the South- port Railway Station at 5.45 p.m. Deceased held the horses while witness got a railway ticket. Her father then got from the carriage, and witness put him into a first-class smoking carriage, which she thought was attached to the train for Brisbane. The carriage was lighted, and after he was comfortably seated he told witness not to wait. After that witness never again saw deceased alive. He was going to Brisbane. She was not aware whether Dr. Hirschfeld was asked for a certificate of death. She did not know if Dr. Berry was consulted by deceased. She heard there was a mark on the back of deceased's neck. Mrs. Shaw told her about that mark.

Frederick Schilling, porter at Southport Railway Station, deposed that he did not know deceased. On the 15th instant he was on duty at the station, and checked the passengers' tickets before the train left at 7.10 p.m. If on elderly man had been in one of the carriages comprising that train he thought he would have seen him. It was customary for some of the carriages to be left behind, and sometimes there was only a small space between the carriages that were going and those left behind. It was the practice for the porter to examine the carriages that did not form part of the train to see if any passengers were in them, and It was done on that occasion eight minutes before the train left. It was possible a gentleman like the deceased might have been in the carriages that formed part of the train without being noticed by the witness, if he was lying down. He did not go into the carriages to examine. He went through the station- yard at 11.30 the same night. Deceased might have been about the yard without witness seeing him.

James Dinning, a lengthsman employed on the Southport line, deposed that he knew deceased. On the night of 15th instant he saw deceased at the station at twenty-five minutes past 7. He was waiting near the station-master's office on, the side next the weighbridge. That was ten or fifteen minutes after the Brisbane train left. There were others about the platform at the time, but deceased was speaking with none of them. He did not see deceased leave the station.

Ernest Edward Taylor, relieving station master at Southport, deposed he did not know deceased. About six or seven minutes after the Brisbane train, left an elderly gentleman came to witness's office. This was about twenty or twenty-five minutes past 7. The elderly gentleman asked what time the train left for Brisbane, and a conversation ensued, during which the gentleman said he wanted to have gone that night. Witness told him there was no chance of his going to Brisbane till the next morning. He said, “I got into the carriage at the back, thinking it would be taken on. What am I going to do tonight ? I live five or six miles away?" Witness replied, "I don't know." He asked, “Can I sleep in the carriage to night?" and witness said, “No, you can't sleep in the carriage or on the premises at all." He remained at the door about a minute, and then turned away. Witness did not see where he went He next saw him between 8.05 and 8.10 p m., having been up to the town in the meantime. When approaching the platform he noticed a man lying on his back in the roadway, about in a line with the front of the station building. Witness went up to him, struck a match, and looked at him, recognizing him as the old gentleman who had lost his train. His left hand still held his umbrella and bag. He thought the man was intoxicated. He spoke to him, and, receiving no answer, took him by the arms, and tried to shake him up. His efforts were unsuccessful, and he went to the gate and asked a young man for assistance. They failed to rouse the old gentleman, though various ways were tried. The young man went to Doherty's to see if they knew him, but they did not. They then carried the man across the station-yard. Witness went to the School of Arts, and two young fellows came back with him. They recognised him but could not call his name to mind. On their suggestion, wit- ness took possession of £5 in sovereigns and £4 in notes. A cheque for £1 was also found on the man, and one of the young fellows, seeing the signature, recalled the name of the man as Meyer, and stated that he could not possibly be drunk, as he had never been known to be in that state. Doherty afterwards came over, and also recognised him. The doctor was sent for, and the old man was carried to Doherty's' house. The doctor pronounced life extinct.

The police came with the doctor. The doctor's examination disclosed no marks, whatever on the body. The property found on deceased was handed over to the police, who also took charge of the body.

Francis Doherty, manager of the Railway Hotel, Southport, also gave evidence.

A doctor's certificate, giving the cause of death as disease of the heart, was handed in.

This closed the inquiry

Wording supplied by May Upton.

MEYER.—On the evening of 15th October, suddenly from syncope, at Southport Railway Station, Johann Henry Casper Meyer, of Main Beach Hotel, Southport, aged 73 years and 3 months. Deeply . regretted.

DEATH OF MRS. REBECCA MEYER. The death occurred on Wednesday last (writes our Esk, correspondent) of an old and highly-respected resident of Queensland - Mrs Rebecca Meyer (nee Pearson), relict of the late Mr. J H. C. Meyer (her husband), of the Main Beach Hotel, Southport. The deceased, who was 87 years of age, came to Esk about 12 mouths ago, and was staying with her daughter, Mrs A B Canter, until a few days before her death, which took place at the residence of another of her daughters in Brisbane. She was an old resident of Sandgate, Brisbane, and Southport, and leaves a family of three sons and five daughters. The deceased lady had lived in Australia for 75 years, having landed at Maitland (New South Wales), in 1839, and over-landed across the Range from that State into Queensland, many years ago, the present road being then merely a bridle track. The funeral took place at the South Brisbane cemetery.