SPORTSMAN'S ORDEAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 141, 17 June 1929, Page 10

SPORTSMAN'S ORDEAL.

LONG JOURNEY TO HOSPITAL

BULLET WOUND IN LEG.

AMBULANCE OFFICER'S FEAT,

A sportsman, Henry Ruston, hairdresser, of 65, Parnell Road, who was accidentally shot in the leg while out pheasant-shooting in the vicinity of Muriwai underwent a severe ordeal yesterday afternoon. He had a journey of five hours before he was admitted to the Auckland Hospital.

The first part of the journey was over rough bush country, it being a long arid painful task for the bearers, and a trying time for the patient. St. John Ambulance, which left Auckland at 3.30 p.m. arrived back with Mr. Rushton at 6.30 p.m. The injured man, who was out shooting with three companions, between Waimauku and Muriwai Beach, was walking over rough country, about a quarter of a mile from the coast, when a gun carried by one of the men was accidentally fired. Shot entered Mr. Huston's right leg above the knee, and caused extensive laceration. First-aid "was applied by two of his companions, ■while the third man hastened for assistance. The two men who remained constructed a rough stretcher by procuring a pair of poles, over which they stretched two eacks. On this they carried, their heavy burden.

'Mrthe meantime, the third man had reached a , telephone, and Mr. S. E. Langstone, chief transport officer for the St. John Ambulance Association, set out from the city. He/ reached Waimauku, a distance of 30 miles, and picked up a guide When the ambulance arrived at a point some distance further on, a hedge was cut down to enable a route to be taken across open fields, thus avoiding the clay road, which' was in a bad con-, dition. After two and a-half miles over grass and scrub the ambulance was met by a party with horses. It was parked, and Mr. Langstone, with a collapsible stretcher and the necessary appliances, rode some two miles along a watercourse until the stretcher party with the wounded man was met. Mr. Ruston was numb with the cold, and was immediately wrapped in blankets. Dressing;were applied and the return journey was completed by 6.30 p.m.