Incidents in Irishtown

Late in 1864 the manager of the Bendigo Waterworks Company, Mr A. Sprigg made a complaint to the Sandhurst Borough Council regarding the water pipes being undermined in Irishtown.
According to Sprigg, Sullivan and party were, through their alluvial mining operations, responsible for the undermining of the water mains and subsequently their damage.
George Avery Fletcher, the town surveyor, was instructed by the councillors to ensure that no damage to the Bendigo Waterworks Company mains was done by Sullivan and party.
A few weeks later the council received correspondence from Edward Chaplin, secretary of the Waterworks Company explaining that Sullivan and company were working under the pipes and had created a large hole, leaving the pipes unsupported.
The unsupported pipes, it was argued, would either crack or shift and create leaks at the joints as they were made of lengths of cast iron.
It was the intention of the Waterworks Company to prosecute Sullivan and party.
The Mayor however, pointed out that Sullivan and party had the council’s permission to mine the roadway and then they had to reconstitute the road in an improved state.
George A. Fletcher was to inform the Waterworks Company, to the effect that Sullivan and party had to complete the work as originally agreed by the council.
Many readers will be familiar with Bakewell Street which was one of Irishtown’s major roadways leading north; Bakewell had a store for general supplies situated there.
A certain William Oliver had stolen a quantity of mining tools from Bakewell’s store.
Oliver, according to the police, had on-sold the tools that he had stolen.
These tools had been identified by Bakewell as having come from his place.
In December 1863 an accident having fatal consequences took place in Irishtown to a local resident, Johann Frederick Illies, whose house was located on Bridge Street.
Illies was the owner of a horse-drawn dray, in which he was standing while holding the reins of a mare harnessed to the dray.
It transpired that the mare in harness had never been in a dray before.
This was why another man, an acquaintance of Illies, was helping lead the horse which had blinkers fitted to its head. Illies’s mate held the halter while walking with the mare.
When they were close to England’s Hotel, the horse suddenly shied and started running, Illies’ mate pulled hard on the halter and brought the horse to its knees.
Illies continued to hold on to the reins while he jumped out of the dray and onto the roadway, his intention was to take hold of the mare’s blinkers.
The horse however had other ideas and was back on its hoofs, shaking its head vigorously, attempting to shake off Illies’ hold.
Immediately the horse began to run and, as Illies still had the reins in his hand, he too was forced to do the same in order to keep up.
After some distance Illies fell and was dragged along the gravel-surfaced street, then the steel-tyred wheel of the dray ran over the abdomen of Johann Illies.
The weight of the dray was about 600 kilograms. Illies managed to rise from the roadway and started to struggle to walk to his home.
Some men came to Illies’ assistance and helped to get him to his simple abode.
Dr Harry Leigh Atkinson was called and he knew that the internal pain that Illies was suffering from was not a good sign.
Johann lingered for several days and succumbed to his injuries, rupture of the intestine as well as the liver.
Bakewell incidentally, apart from being a store owner was also the water rates collector for the Bendigo Waterworks Company. 

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