THE TUAPEKA WEST TRAGEDY.

Evening Star, Issue 14638, 7 August 1911, Page 4

THE TUAPEKA WEST TRAGEDY.

THE INQUEST. The inquest held at Tuapeka West on Saturday to inquire- into tho drcumstajices attending the death of Thomas Patrick Colehan and his wife Agnes Golehan was conducted by M.r T. Pilling, J.P., acting coroner, and a jury of six, of whom Mr H. Cameron, J.P., was foreman. Evidence was first taken m regard to the —Death of Mrs Golehan, — and evidence of identification was called by Sergeant Higgins, who had charge of the- inquiry. Dr Sutherland, on examining the body of Mrs Gol-elian, found a wound on tho 'eft side of the head in front of tho upper part of the oar. Tho wound was such as would be caused by a .22-bore- rifle, which must have been 2yds or 3yda away from deceased wheof fired, as there were no powder marks around the wound. The wound penetrated through the skull into the brain cavity, tho bullet traversing in a horizontal direction along the base of the skull. Death must have ensued in a very short time—if not instantaneously. There wea-e no other visible marks of injury to the body. There was no'-probability, from the peculiar nature of tho wound and tho absence of powder-marking in tho locality of the wound, that the wound had been selfinflicted. Margaret Johnston (housekeeper to Mr John Stanton, one of the nearest neighbors) paid Mrs Golehan a visit about. 3.30 o'clock in the afternoon of tho tragedy, leaving about 5 o'clock- Sho stayed iu the kitchen while in the house with Mis Colehan. Golehan was in the front roum, reading a. newspaper, when witness entered the house, and he remained there all tho time. She saw nothing unusual or peculiar about either Colchan or his wife. Mrs Ccienan wns cheerful and in good spirits, and. the and her husband appeared to h'j on the very best terms. Witness saw .v> signs of drink about Golehan while sh:j wis in the house. She knew that Golehan bad a rifle, hut did not see him handling it during 1-er stay in tho house. To a juror : There was no disagreement between Colehar. and his wife while witness was in the house. Mrs Golehan mad* afternoon tea and asked her husband if ho would have a cup, but ho declined.

John Thomas Cowie, a farm hand in Colehan's employ, deposed that on the morning of the day on which the tragedy occurred he was at.work on a fence not far from the house, and was assisted by Colehan. They went for dinner about noon. Witness had his dinner in the kitchen with Mrs Colehan. Colehan.stayed in' the front room, and came into the kitchen for his dinner just as witness was leaving the table. It was about quarter to one when witness loft the house, and he did not return till about quarter to sis for his tea. When he came to the kitchen to get a towel for a wash he found the door was partly open. Looking round he caught sight of Colehan's and Mrs Colehan's body on the floor. He called to his fellow farm servant (Michael Fahey) to strike a light. There was no life in either body. Mrs Colehan was lying on her back, with her head partly on the sofa, and there was a wound, from which blood was oozing, on the left temple. Colehan's body was lying on its back alongside that of his wife, with his head on her breast, and between his legs there was u pea rifle, with the muzzle upward towards the seat, and the right hand over the breech part of the rifle, with the thumb pressing on the trigger.- Deceased's left hand was resting on his chest. There was a wound, from which blood flowed, on the right temple. When at work at the fence in the morning he noticed nothing unusual about Colehan, who was cheerful and in good health, and there was on sign of liquor about him. Colehan kept liquor in the house, and took a drop occasionally. He was a very quiet man, and appeared to get on well with his wife. Replying to the acting coroner, witness said that "when Colehan came into the kitchen for his dinner he said nothing to his wife, nor did witness think anything arose between them to cause strained relationship. Constable Coppell, who reached the scene of the tragedy on th© Thursday night about 10 o'clock, deposed that there was a newspaper on the kit-chert tabic, on which there were a number of blood spots, from which he judged that Mrs Colehan was leaning over the table reading the paper when she was shot from the doorway of the front room leading into the kitchen. Witness examined the br-eoch of the rifle taken from between the. legs of the dec-cased Thomas Colehan, and found that it contained an empty cartridge shell, and another empty cartridge shell was picked up in the front room. In deceased's waistcoat pocket witness found two loaded cartridges, and on the mantle-piec-e in the front room was a box containing several .22 cartridges. Witness searched the hou.se carefully, but could find no notes or writing of any kind in explanation of the committal of the tragedy. Ho found jug and glass on the table in the pitting room ; the jag cont cud about a teaspconful os whisky. Thea'e wa.s also a quantity of whisky in a jar in the bedroom oft the sitting ram. There was nothing to indicate a- struggle on the part of either of the deceased. From the position of the bodies and the surrounding circumstances it looked to witness as if Colehan had first shot his wife and then lain beside her and ended his own life. At the close of the evidence bean'rag upon Mrs Colehan's death, the jury agreed to defer their finding until the conclusion of the evidence bearing upon the —-Death of Thomas Colehan.— Tt was further agreed, as there had been proof of the identification of the body, only to hear one witness—viz., Dr Sutherland—accepting as material, where applicable, the depositions which had boon tendered in Mrs Colehan's inquiry. Dr Sutherland deposed that in his examination of Thomas Colohan's body ho found a small wound in front- of the upper part of the ear on the right fide. The size of tho wound corresponded with that which would be produced by a rifle bullet of .22 ralibre. Death must have been instantaneous. If the rifle (a_s stated by the witness Cowie) was found enclosed in Colehan's right hand, with the thumb on the trigger, then he (Dr Sutherland) was quite satisfied, from the position and appearance of the wound, that the wound was selfinflicted with a rifle bullet. He had heard the opinion expressed by Constable Coppell that it was very probable Mrs Colehan was leaning over the table reading a. paper at the'time she was shot, and it was manifest to witness that the entrance mark of the bullet on the skull and the line it traversed would justify tho assumption that the shot was fired from the doorway of the front room. After tho acting coroner had briefly reviewed the evidence tho jury deliberated for a few minutes, and then returned a verdict in tho case of Ajjneis Colehan (as indicated in our Saturday's issue) that she met her death from a rifle shot inflicted by her husband when apparently in a state of unround mind ; trad in tho cases of Thomas Colehan that he met his death by a rifle shot self-inflicted when ho was apparently in a state of unsound mind.