A sudden chance of mortality for life

This gravestone beside St Paul's Presbyterian Church on Albert Road in Devonport caught my eye because of the blankness of it. Philip Henry Ford was 16 when he tragically died, but the rest of his family are not here with him. The wording got to me too: "who suddenly chanced mortality for life."

Sad Accident.

Tins afternoon a painful feeling was created in town by the intelligence that a lad named Ford had shot himself at the North Shore. Phillip Ford, aged 16 years, son of Mr Ford, baker, Devenport, was going out to shoot about noon, accompanied by another lad named Green. They were proceeding towards Narrow Neck, when they started to run, in order to leap the fence which lay in their path; and in doing so he slipped and fell and the fowling piece which he carried being loaded, was accidentally discharged. The full charge of shot struck him on the head, near the ear, and inflicted a deadly wound. The lad Green at once gave the alarm and had his unfortunate companion carried home, but his injuries were so severe that he died almost immediately after removal. 

Waikato Times, 1 July 1884

This one, in the same area, is just sad. Inscription long gone, the stone obviously was broken at one point then reset. It's simply a testament to the weathering power of the elements when it comes to our memory, I guess. Fortunately Philip Ford's stone has withstood that test.