WAIKINO TRAGEDY.

Maniac's Terrible Act. SAYS HE CAN'T EXPLAIN IT. HEARTRENDING SCENES. CHILDREN'S TERRIFIED FLIGHT HEADMASTER SHOT FIRST. IN A CRITICAL CONDITION. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") , WAIHI, this day. It will be a long while before Waikino recovers from the horror of yesterday's tragedy at the public school. As I informed you yesterday, two of the children, Kelvyn Morris McLean, aged 13 years, and Charles Allen Stewart, aged 9 years, were" killed, eight other children were wounded, the headmaster j (Mr. R. T. Reid) was wounded, and Constable H. J. Olsen, of Waihi, was badly shot in the groin while trying to arrest the maniac who committed the outrage. The full list of the victims is as follows:— THE KILLED. Kelvyn Morris McLean, aged 13 years, son of Mr. Thomas Henry McLean, settler, of Waitewheta. Charles Allen Stewart, aged 9 years, son of Mr. Charles A. Stewart, locomotive driver, of Waikino. WOUNDED. Robert Thomas Reid, headmaster, shot in the jaw. Operated upon in hospital, and in a serious condition. Herbert J. Olsen, police constable, shot in the abdomen. Operated upon, and also in a serious condition. Peter James McKenney, aged 8 years, shot through the right hand. Kathleen Sarah McGarry, aged 13 years, shot in the thigh; condition serious. Alexander Bustard, aged 12 years, shot in the groin; condition serious. Peter Raymond Shaw, aged 12 years, shot in the hand. INJURED WHILE ESCAPING. James Cochrane, aged 12 years, right arm broken. Ashley Curry, aged 13 years, sprained wrist. Waikino is a mining township some nine miles from Paeroa and four from Waihi, on the Paeroa-Waihi Road. It is the centre where is situated the huge I battery of the Waihi Gold Mining Co., one of the large batteries of the world, the quartz being brought down from j Waihi by the company's own trains. J John Higgins, the man responsible for yesterday's unparalleled crime, is an elderly man, a firewood dealer and settler, who had been looked upon by the Waikino people as a somewhat morose sort of individual, but such an act of violence as was committed was never associated with him even by the wildest stretch of the imagination. Out of the Way. As the school is situated about half a mile from the centre of the township, and away up on high ground that rises rapidly from the road, it may be described as somewhat a lonely situation, and this facilitated the perpetration of the crime. It was about 10 o'clock that Higgins climbed the hill to the school, and rather dumbfounded the headmaster by saying he had come to shoot all the children in the school, and adding, "You can go and tell the police." Seeing at once that Higgins' was excited and far from normal, Mr. Reid endeavoured to pacify him and get him in a quieter mood, but Higgins. refused to be calmed. He reiterated his statement, and getting more excited drew an automatic pistol and began to wave it about. Seeing that things were approaching a crisis Mr. Reid shouted out to his assistants and the children to run for their lives. Headmaster Shot. AVhen this took place Higgins clearly showed that he intended to shoot, and Mr. Reid tried to stop him getting by to attack the flying children, but Higgins fired and hit him in the jaw. Mr. Reid fell to the ground and feigned death. Turning him with his foot Higgins muttered, "You're settled; you can dc no more damage!" Thinking he had settled the head master the maniac now turned his at tention to the children who were stream ing out of class-rooms that open intc a roofed-in porch at one end of whiel: the headmaster's room is situated.

Two Children Murdered. Although it is not very clear, it eems pretty certain that Higgins did lot actually go into either of the classooms—there being one on each side of he poreh —and that he did the shootng from the vicinity of the headaaster's room, which commands the exit loors. Firing shot after shot at the strug;ling mass of children Higgins, although ie fired somewhat wildly, hit many of hem, and killed two of them outright —McLean and Stewart. At last the last of the screaming ■hildren got out of the building, and hey all ilew down the incline towards he main road. The Village Alarmed. In the meantime the fusillade had >een heard in the township, and a num>er of men ran out to the school to nvestigate. The terrified children jiiickly told them that a man was shootng with a revolver and that he was jtill in the school. Rushing up the men saw Higgins standing at the window of the headmaster's room. When he saw them he lot more excited and yelled out to them to come closer as he wanted to shoot them, waving his revolver madly. As they were quite unarmed, and they did not know what weapons Hi<:Tins had they kept out of range, and *ome of them went back to the village to get some firearms. They raked up several, including a Territorial's rifle. Still Firing. While this party had gone down to get arms, Iligghiis liring through the window at which he had stationed himself, aimed at the men who had remained behind to watch him, and several of the shots went perilously near their mark. Meanwhile the Waihi police had been telephoned for, and quickly covering the four miles between the two townships, Sergeant O'Grady and Constable H. J. Olacn were soon on the scene. The headmaster's room, with the window through which Higgins had been liring, is situated on the eastern side of the building—that which faces away from the main road. What is actually the front of the school —the door into the roofed-in porch—faces the west, or the side fronting the road and the railway line. % School Besieged. . Some of the onlookers wanted to rush the building, but Senior-Sergeant O'Grady saw that would be foolish, as no one knew what ammunition the madman had, or what arms he carried. Going round to the western side of the building, the police found that Higgins must have followed their movements, and he must have left his station at the window of the headmaster's room, for the police were fired on when they tried to get in at the porch door. Higgins then turned his attention once more on the crowd on the other side of the building, and Sergt. O'Grady fired a couple of shots at him througli the fanlight over the entrance door of the porch, but Higgins evidently expected something of the kind, for he crouched down behind a cupboard. Higgins Fired On. By this time there were several riflea and revolvers among the men who had come up from the village, and the police gave them permission to fire on the maniac inside the building. Owing to the nature of the ground, however, and the fact that it was necessary to take what shelter there was, they could not get in a straight shot at Higgins, who could dodg* fcack from the window and screen himself by the woodwork. His attention being attracted by this shooting on the eastern side, the sergeant and Constable Olsen rushed in through the porch door ahd along to the shelter of the wall of the headmaster's room. The door from the porch into the headmaster's room is on the left hand side of the wall, and in this door there was a hole knocked by a bullet. Kept Up Shooting. The police demands to Higgins to surrender were disregarded, and the madman kept up shooting whenever he heard a stir. Constable Olsen then edged from the shelter of the wall to the door to take a look through the bullet hole to see exactly where Higgins was standing. Higgins must have heard him, for, whipping round from the window, he blazed at the door, and a bullet hit Olsen in the groin. Constable Trask had by now joined the sergeant in the building. Sergeant O'Grady made several more shots at the murderer, but as he could not see what he was aiming at none of the bullets took effect. Surrender! Some time had now elapsed since the awful tragedy began, and whether Higgins saw that it was all over or whether his frenzy was passing off it is impossible to say, but he plainly showed that a change had come over his mad manner, and he showed a disposition to listen. He was again called on to surrender by the sergeant, and after some hesitation he threw his revolver out of the window. The police then burst in the door —though they had no idea whether or not Higgins had a second revolver — and immediately seized the man, who made no resistance. He was felled and handcuffed, and taken to the police,cells at Waihi.

The Dead. In order to get Constable Olsen out without molestation the police had barricaded the door leading into the headmaster's rooms with desks, in orde r to block Higgins if he should attempt to rush out and surprise them. When the door was finally burst open by the police' the headmaster, Mr. Reid, was found lying on the floor in a pool of blood. It was naturally thought he was dead, but after the capture oi Higgins he got up. Luckily for him he feigned death very well, or Higgins would have finished his dastardly work. Mr. Reid was hit in the jaw, and the bullet seems to have injured his turoafc. His condition to-day is serious. There were pools of blood where the two children had fallen, one being in the porcli and the other in the right hand class room. Tending the Wounded. While the siege of the school was going on, Dr. T. E. Short, of Waihi, who had tome over with the police, and Dr. Cole, who quickly followed, had been attending to the wounded children, who were hurried off to the Waihi Hospital by ambulance. There were most painful scenes when the two little children who had fallen innocent victims to the maniac's revolver were carried down the hill and laid out in the Waikino Hall—the building where the children had so often been merry at entertainments got up for the benefit of the school funds by their energetic headmaster, who always took such a keen interest in everything pertaining to the school life. The Motive. At first people were at a loss to assign any motive for the crime. Higgins was not a very sociable man. but lie had never been associated with any idea of such an appalling thing as had happened. It gradually became known, however that during the morning he had received a letter from the education authorities regarding a boy who was not being sent to school as required by the Education Act. It is thought that this caused j him to go up to the school to interview I the headmaster. On two occasions ITig- ! gins has been fined for failing to send J the boy to school.