FATAL SHOOTING EXCURSION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 17 August 1926, Page 4

FATAL SHOOTING EXCURSION.

HAWERA RESIDENT’B DEATH. FOUND BESIDE DISCHARGED GUN MISHAP NEAR NOLANTOWN. At about 7.30 o’clock last evening, the body of James Edgar Walker, who had been fatally shot, apparently about two and a half hours previously, was found lying beside, a fence in a lonely paddock bordering the, eastern bank of the Tawhiti stream, near Nolan town, Hawera. Mr Walker was a married, man, 2G years of age, and resided with his wife and their daughter, aged .about- three years, in Victoria Street, Hawera. He was a member of the, firm of T. 11. Walker and Sons Ltd., proprietors of the Hawera Bacon Factory, and acted as secretary. So far as is known no one witnessed the occurrence, and the exact- circumstances which resulted in Mr. Walker’s death are largely a, matter of conjecture, but it is known that at about 4.35 p.ni. he left the factory carrying a double-barrelled Shot gun, which he had borrowed from one of the factory employees with the intention of going hare shooting on the adjoining properties. He had said lie would return in about half an hour, and had jokingly promised one of his friends that .he would share the trophies secured with him. About ten minutes or a. quarter of an hour later a. solitary shot was heard by some children who live in the vicinity, nothing of unusual importance was then attached to the sound. His failure to return by 5.45 p.m. caused some uneasiness among those waiting for him at- the factory, and his father, Mr T. 11. Walker, accompanied by Mr C. M. Bailey, made a brief excursion in the direction Mr Walker junior had taken, but failed to discover any signs ot him. Returning to. the- factory they organised a. large, search party, eight others joining the. original two. They set out in the dark at about 7.15, and a quarter of an hour later Mr P. Sowerby, whose daughter had indicated the direction from which she had heard the shot, previously mentioned, came upon the body of the missing man. It was lying close to a barbed wirefence. Life was apparently extinct, and on the right side of the head a large wound was evident, apparently the result of a shot from the gun. The butt of the gun rested on tlie third wire of the fence and the muzzle of tlie gun was embedded in the ground by the side of the body. One charge had been exploded, and tlie hammer of tlie other barrel was cocked. About 20 feet away, on the other side of the fence, a cap was found, the fabric being damaged by shot. From these signs, it is believed that Mr Walker was in the act of climbing or getting through the fence when the gun trigger caught in tlie wire, thus causing the discharge which proved fatal.

Dr Ru G. B. Sinclair, who arrived on the scene, shortly after the discovery, could only endorse the opinion previously formed that death had been instantaneous. The body was removed by tlie police and formal evidence of identification is to be- taken before tlx Coroner this evening. Mr Walker was a well-known and popular personality in the district, and much sympathy is extended to- his sorrotving" relatives. The funeral takes place to-morroAv (Wednesday) at 2.30 p.m., leaA’ing his late residence, 100 Victoria Street.