In 1887, Adelaide was a small, but growing settlement. Residents there were farmers. Cutoff from the city of Nassau by long, rocky impassable pathways and thick brush, the best and only way to get around was by horse, donkey or foot.
This is probably why it took a week to find a missing Granville A. Carey. He was only 2 years old.
“The deceased wandered from his home and died of starvation”… and eaten by dogs! – Granville A. Carey, 2 years old
On the morning of Thursday, 4th August 1887, his mother, left baby Granville in the care of his grandfather. Mother as was customary, went to work, all day farming in the fields. That morning was the last she, or the grandfather, would see the boy alive… or in one piece.
Soon after the mum left, somehow the baby boy disappeared.
Foul play or some deliberate act of violence could not be determined or even suspected, for two reasons. First, Carey’s house, was probably not near anyone else’s. No neighbours gave testimony at the inquest. Second, even if suspected, deliberate foul play, on the grandfather’s part, the last person to see the boy alive, could not be determined based on the state of baby Granville when he was found.
When Granville’s mother returned later that day, her father said the boy had wandered off. He couldn’t find him. In the thick brush and bramble of acres and acres of pine forest, the father has no luck finding the child.
Residents in the settlement of Adelaide were asked to help.
He was found the following Wednesday 10th August 1886. They found what remained of two year old Granville A. Carey under a tree.
All that remained were mostly bones. The flesh had been eaten away by supposedly some wild animal or wild dogs.
James Sweeting, Current Island, Eleuthera, eaten by two sharks
Current Island, Eleuthera was probably named thus because of the rough, unpredictable current. Little settlement fishing boats weren’t much in 1887. Out too far. A strong breeze or a rip tide appears out of nowhere and it’s Bible verse time.
One minute you’re in the boat, catching fish eat and sell; the next you’re under the boat, as dinner for the fish.
When James Sweeting little fishing boat capsized suddenly, he and a boy, who was with him, made for shore.
But James Sweeting thought that he should stay with his boat to secure the bits and pieces floating in the water. Sweeting must have thought little of it since they were quite near shore. Near enough for the wee boy to make it to land easily enough.
To attract sharks so near shore, Sweeting probably had fish that had been caught or pieces used for bait. Fish pieces mean blood. Blood attracts sharks.
Two sharks had poor James Sweeting for dinner, as the boy watched helplessly from shore.
John Moulding, Eastern District, probably Fox Hill, Nassau – face slashed to ribbons
In 1887, pain medication isn’t what it is today. And for that matter, neither were hospitals. Remember, amputation was a common cure for whatever ailed you. Operations were done with whiskey, bare handed and 90% mortality rates.
So when Jack Moulding’s face was slashed in a terrible three man fight, you just know Moulding was in agony for a very, very time.
