SHOTS IN THE NIGHT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 12 May 1928, Page 5

SHOTS IN THE NIGHT.

A SENSATIONAL AFFRAY. TWO ADEN INJURED. iBV TEOKGHAPn—PRESS ASSOCIATION . J TIAIAHU, May 11. A sensational affray occurred at Otaio in the early hours of this morning. It appears that Bernard Lewis Blackwell and Ernest AlcCunn, two potato diggers, journeyed with their employer to the lip use of a man named' Ancell, where it is alleged' the visitors forced an entrance by breaking down the. door. Airs. Ancell, in her night attire, made investigations, and found Blackwell, in the bedroom of her 18-year-old son.. She ordered him out, but .he declined to go and, it is alleged, struck the woman and her son. Mrs. Ancell then secured a shot gun, which she gave to her son. Blackwell then appealed Tor assistance to AlcCunn, and after an interval both the visitors left the housed Blackwell threatened to return, and the youth fired a shot into the air. Blackwell went to the house of Robert Barr, a brother-in-law of Alios. Ancell, close by, where, it is alleged, he at once- shattered some large windows and threatened to murder Barr. Blackwell entered Barr’s house, and when ordered out made threats, and. Barr hit the intruder over the head with a shovel. Blackwell then retreated, but returned and broke another window.

At this stage young Ancell fired a. shot at each man, hitting one in the leg and the other in the body. The men returned to their employer’s car. They were brought to the police station at St. Andrew’s, and later to Timaru, where both are now in hospital, though their injuries are not regarded as serious.

The cause of the disturbance has not been disclosed.