ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF DEERSTALKER AT ARTHUR’S PASS

Grey River Argus, 19 February 1949, Page 2

ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF DEERSTALKER AT ARTHUR’S PASS

Finding that Leonard Clement Anthony McCann, a railway surfaceman, of Arthur’s Pass, died there on January 9, the cause of death being a gun-shot wound in the head received when -the rifle he was carrying was accidentally discharged, the District Coroner, Mr M. J. Fogarty J.F. concluded the inquest at Greymouth yesterday. The inquest was opened on the day after McCann’s death, when evidence was given by Constable J. P. Larmer of the finding of deceased’s bedv on Avalanche Peak, with a .303 rifle firmly clasped in the right hand, and the barrel facing from the body at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. A" hat was found some feet away from the body, with a hole in the crown. The evidence of two Canterbury College students, David John Byres, 18, and Ross Thomas Menzies Hilson, 19, both of Christchurch as to the finding of the body at, 3.35 p.m. on January 9, was given when the inquest was opened. » The police, who were represented at yesterday’s proceedings by Sergeant B. W. Wootton, produced a report from Senior-Sergeant G. G Kelly, of the Arms Bureau, Wellington, ’ who had examined the rifle. In this Senior-Sergeant Kelly stated that the mechanical condition of the rille was good, but the trigger pull was heavy at nine pounds, against the normal army requirement of five pounds. The bore was rusty and corroded, indicating improper or inaderiiiate cleaning. “This fatalily does not appear to have been a case where the firing pm was forced forward without the employment of the trigger,”' stated the report. “I am of the opinion that the shot was fired by the full force of the mainspring on the free firing pin. This could have occurred when the action was fully cocked, and the trigger pulled or forced backward. There is no physical indication as to how that trigger movement occurred.”

A statement by the widow, who is now in Invercargill, was read by Constable Larmer. She stated that her husband was an experienced deerstalker, who frequently went out shooting alone. He enjoyed good health ,was always happy and had no financial worries. Her husband was a verv careful man with a firearm.

In supplementary evidence, Constable Larmer said that his inquiries showed that deceased left home at 8.30 a.m. to shoot a deer on Avalanche Peak. At 9.45 a.m. a report of a shot was heard by a resident of Arthur’s Pass. It took the constable one and a quarter hours to climb from Arthur’s Pass to where the body was found, and it seemed that deceased had only reached the spot when the fatality occurred. He had no financial worries, was not depressed, and had given no indication of intention to take his life.

Dr. B. W. Nixon, of Greymouth, who conducted a post-mortem examination detailed the injuries to deceased. A bullet had entered the under side of the jaw to the right, travelled directly upwards, and the po : rii of emergence was about tin 1 size of a man’s hand. Jv his ooinoi, the bullet lu’.d been filed from a r <rge of Jess than six .-nchn.-. It cuulJ have been sei:-inflicted or done accidentally The Coroner returned J-.is verdict as stated.