TRAGEDY AT TRENTHAM

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 154, 17 March 1923, Page 4

TRAGEDY AT TRENTHAM

FATAL HORSE-PLAY IN CAMP YOUNG MAN BAYONETED UNFORTUNATE END TO RIFLE MEETING

The closing scenes of what had proved to be a particularly successful rifle meeting were disturbed by a tragic occurrence which took place late on Thursday night in a hutment occupied by a number of Territorials, mostly from Otago.

Just before 10 p.m., when tho occupants of No. 52 hutment, were either in bed. or undressing, a shower of water, followed by a number of tin basins, descended on the beds near the door. Several of the occupants slipped on their clothes and rushed out. Seeing no one outside, they went into tho next hutment (51) and remonstrated with the men there. In a moment a rough and tumble took place, someone turned the electric lights out, and the invaders retreated. As they entered their own hutment, J. S. Lean, who was last, called out, “They got me! They got me!” threw his tunic off, and fell on the floor. The others rushed to him and found blood gushing out from a wound in his back. Assistance was procured, and Lean was removed to the Trentham Hospital, arriving there at about 10.20 p m Every attention was paid to him, but seeing the wound was serious —a bayonet having entered the abdomen in front and gone right through his back—Dr. Kemp was sent for from town. ‘The doctor ordered tho lad’s removal to the Wellington Hospital, where the ambulance brought him about 2 a.m., but nothing could be done for him, and he expired at 5.25 yesterday morning. Lean’s companions stoutly deny that there was any horseplay in their hutment or that anything at all took place of an untoward nature in it. except the throwing of the water on their beds from outside. Ono peculiar fact was that the scabhard of the bayonet of M. McLeod, who admitted he had accidentally inflicted the wound, was found outside tho hutment. Captain Montgomery, tho well-known shot, who was away at the Hutt at tho time of the occurrence, states that on leaving Port Chalmers the deceased’s father asked him to keep a:.i eye on the. boy, as a number of parents had done, and he promised ho would. Mr. Montgomery adds that the lad was quiet and well behaved, and not likely to join in any horse-play. The result of an inquiry held by the military authorities yesterday will be forwarded to the G.O.C. and the Minister of Defence. It is not yet available for publicationThe deceased was one of two sons of Mr. and Mrs. William Lean, old residents of Port Chalmers. The father is employed by Messrs. Stevenson and Cook as a boilermaker, and the son was in the shipbuilding department of the U.S.S. Co., at Port .Chalmers. The Minister,of Defence, directly after his arrival in camp yesterday, dispatched, through a friend of the parents at Port Chalmers, a telegram of sympathy and condolence. Two other men concerned in the affair received bayonet cuts also, ono on a finger and the other in the arm near tho shoulder.

CORONER HOLDS INQUEST McLEOD GIVES EVIDENCE Mr. F. K. Hunt, coroner, opened an inquiry at Trentham in the afternoon. A number of witnesses described the occurrences in the hutments, their accounts agreeing substantially with that given above. One witness said that he saw Private McLeod in hut 51, of whichQio was an occupant. He had a rifle with bayonet fixed and covered with the scabbard. After the lights came on witness asked “'Who did it?” and McLeod said he did. Witness did not see the bayonet after the row. An occupant of hut 52 said that ho went to the htit about 10 o’clock, and found his companions excited. As it was the last night of camp some liveliness was expected, and during tho evening some water and tins had been thrown into their hut which they sup-' posed came from No. 51. Mr. Ppattie, a reservist,'who was in charge of hut 52, decided to go into 51 and try to get the occupants of that hut to stop the game. Witness and others followed Peattie, and on reaching tho door of No. 51 they saw a barricade, which they looked upon as a joke. Half a dozen men of No. 51 bad bayonets fixed, with scabbards on. There was so much noise that Peattie could hardly make himself heard. His threat to report their conduct, and his admonition to the men to “put tho riflles down and not bo silly, were received with derision, and precipitated a melee, in which the men of 51 endeavoured to put those from 52 out, and were strenuously opposed. The lights went out, and someone called out that a man was hurt. When the light was restored—the darkness lasted not longer than a minute—witness saw deceased lying in a bunk with a bayonet wound in the back. Donald Morrison McLeod, bank clerk, of Gore, after being formally cautioned, said ho was eighteen years of age. He went to hut 51 to go to bed. At about 9.45, while ho was undressing, someone threw stones on the roof and water into the hut on to the beds. There were about a dozen men in tho hut, and when some fixed bayonets he followed suit. The scabbards were left on. When tho lights were turned off he went to switch them on. To do this ho had to lean over his bed, which was next to tho door, and he had difficulty in finding the switch. When he got the light oln jwitness saw Lean Stagger land \ fall towards the wall. To get to the point where ho was, deceased must have gone over a table. Witness had his rifle in his hand all the time, but when the light came on the scabbard was gone, and the bayonet had blood on it. He could only suppose that in the scuffle during the darkness the scabbard was pulled off, and as witness leaned forward to roach the light switch deceased was pushed over thio table, and on to the bayonet. Witness had taken rm part in any raid before, and he knew nothing of water and tins being thrown into No. 52. The inquiry will be continued in Wellington to-day.