If anyone is going near them - .... "Alfred Motherstone"
What is the easiest way to see the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum records for the year 1868, in Australia.
A distant g~grandparent had this written about him - and I would like to put the picture together...
this article make the story more intriguing.
Bruce Herald, Rōrahi V, Putanga 230, 23 Mahuru 1868, Page 5
We, ‘Daily Times,’ mentioned a few days ago that Constable Hunt and Mr Colclough had been stabbed by a lunatic at the Cardrona ; but that the wounds were not, in either case, likely to endanger life. We now learn that Alfred Motherstone, the lunatic, was a labourer, and had for some years lived, alone, in a hut at Butcher's Flat. Of late, he had frequently threatened violence to those who approached his hut. The police were communicated with, and Constable Hunt was sent from the Arrow to arrest the man. On the morning of the 10th inst., Hunt, who was on foot, went near the hut, being followed by Mr Colclough on horseback. Hunt called to Motherstone, who was in the hut, "Come out, I want to speak to you." Motherstone rushed out "like a mad dog," it is said, at Hunt, who struck him with a stick. Motherstone retreated, but almost instantly made a second attack, and again he retreated on being struck with the stick. Hunt fired his revolver twice over the madman's head, thinking so to frighten him ; but the man rushed on again,- knocked Hunt down, and stabbed him repeatedly with a large knife, like that used by butchers. Hunt cried, "I'm stabbed;' and then Colclough ran in, and, in attempting to ward off a blow aimed at Hunt, he himself received a wound 7 ins. to 8 ins. long, and very deep, on the fleshy part of the left arm. Some men who came up carried Hunt to the hut of a man named Kearns, while others overpowered Motherstone, and handcuffed him. Hunt was very weak from loss of blod ; and Colclough bled so freely, that he fainted from exhaustion while walking home. It was found that Hunt had six nasty wounds on the left side of the back. Some of the madman's blows were struck at Hunt in front; but Hunt's life was most providentially saved by the knife striking his watch, which was thoroughly shattered. Motherstone is to be brought down to the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum.
