Tales from the passed
Eleven-year-old Ivy Reid and her mother were riding top on the logs being transported by the tramway of Ellis and Burnand’s mill.
The pair, from Ōtorohanga, was on a holiday visit to Te Roa in January 1907 and were part of a group catching a lift to Mangapehi about 19 miles south of Te Kūiti.
Riding the logs from the bush was a common practice and about midday the trucks loaded with logs and a party consisting of Mrs Munro, Miss Angrove, Mrs Meynell and her child, and the Reids were on their way.
But when some distance had been travelled the king bolt of the truck gave way and it partially overturned, throwing the group to the ground.
Mrs Munro was slightly injured, and Mrs Meynell and her child were considerably bruised.
Miss Angrove was severely injured and later sent to Taumarunui by train for treatment. Ivy had been fatally struck by a log.
At the inquest a verdict of accidental death was returned, no blame being attributable to anyone. A rider, though, was added to t
he verdict requesting that in future Messrs Ellis and Burnand disallow the practice of people riding on the logs as it had always been considered highly dangerous.
This was not the first tragedy for Henrietta and Robert Reid. In 1893, the couple with their several children were living at Parawai, Thames when their seven-week-old daughter Maud Grace died.
Heartbreak struck the family again eleven months after Ivy’s death.
Their daughter Maud Violet, 24, had been working as a domestic in Auckland for Mary Jane Ward for about three months when she told her employer that she had quarrelled with her sweetheart.
Two days later Mary glanced a piece of paper in the kitchen fire and as it curled up in the blaze she saw the words, “See me no more” in Maud’s handwriting.
Maud became unwell and after some persuasion Mary discovered that the previous day Maud had swallowed the fluid obtained by soaking a box of matches in water.
The white phosphorous of match heads was very poisonous; ingesting it caused many accidental and deliberate deaths.
Dr Roberton was called and found that Maud appeared depressed.
She admitted she had also taken a second dose of the deadly liquid.
He sent her to Auckland Hospital, but Maud died seven days later.
At the inquest her mother said from childhood Maud had been of a melancholy disposition and suffered from asthma.
Maud’s aunt, Ephra Grose, stated that she had received a letter from Maud in which she expressed a desire to see her at once, as she wished to tell her something before she died. Tragically, the letter was not received until it was too late.
The jury returned a verdict that death was due to phosphorous poisoning, taken while in a state of extreme depression.
Maud Grace is buried at Shortland cemetery, Thames. Ivy May and Maud Violet are buried at Ōtorohanga.
