TRAGEDY OF WAIKINO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18577, 8 December 1923, Page 13

TRAGEDY OF WAIKINO.

NEW DETAILS OF CRIME.

DEATH OF THE TWO BOYS.

INQUEST AND THE VERDICT.

*' -SHOT DEAD BY HIGGINS."

Try TELEGRAM.OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WAIHI. Friday The story of the terrible tragedy of October 19, when two boys, Charles A. Stewart and Kelvyn McLean, were shot dead at 'he Waikino schoolho-ase, while the headmaster, Mr. R. T. Reid, and Constablo Olsen were wounded, and several ..iher children v.'ere either wounded or injured while escaping from the building, was partly told at the Waihi Courthouse to-day. *1 ho district coroner, Mr. W. M. \Y_,ilnuti, resumed the adjourned inquesf icgnrding the deaths of the victims of the shooting, for which John C. Biggins j--.itier, of Waitcwhet-a, is being held on ,1 charge of murder. Police-Inspector Vohlimiim, of Hamilton, led the evidence. i'l. T. G. Short said that he arrived £* the srtioolhouso about .11 o'clock on October It l . After attending to Constable 01« en, who was wounded in the abdomen, lir> made a casual examination ox the lodies of the boys, which showed that d-wth had occurred about an hour before. \ detailed examination later showed that i(k W.v Stewart had a bullet wound in bis Kick, and the right side of the head, The bullet had passed through the brain, The ooy McLean had a bullet wound at the hi- k of the neck. The bullet had: passed through the neck and had come out of the left side of the mouth. There •.< as another wound at the left side of the spine. The bullet had passed through the abdomen and had come out by the bin. There was also a further "bullet wound or. the left leg. Death was duo t ■ hemorrhage and shock. Tw Graham, schoolteacher nt Waikino, •-aid "she was in charge of standards 2, 3, and 4 in the room opposite the infants' ip 'tvi. Between the two classrooms was the porch and the master's study led off from the porch. She had been teaching for about an hour when she saw a man walking along the.fence of the playground, but at the time she did not take much notice of him. She next heard the headmaster's dog barking, and heard Mr. ■Reid lift the window of the classroom of the sth and 6th standards. Her classroom and the sth and 6th room were divided by a partition, which did not reach to the ceiling, and conversation could be. heard from one to the other of the rooms. She heard Mr. Reid call to hi> dog to " lie down." and heard Higgins go into Mr. Reid's study. Later, said witness, Higgins walked into her classroom. She did not hear him speak. He went up the passage way between the second and third row of desks and commenced firing from something in his hand. The boy McLean was sitting in the second row of desks, next to the partition, and Stewart was sitting at the second desk at the end the row of desks. She could recollect hearing three shots, but there might have been more. She did not see any of the children hit. Pupils' Story of the Shooting. Daniel Bustard, 10 years of age, a second standard pupil, said that lie saw Higgins come into the school and go with Mr. Reid into the master's study. He heard a shot come from Mr. Reid's room and then he saw Higgins come into the porch and fire three shots. The man then came into witness' classroom and said, " I'll have a shot at you lot." Higgins bad a revolver in his hand and ho fired two shots toward that part of the class room on his (witness') right hand. Wit- j ness was sitting near a window in the second row of desks. The boy Stewart was in the same row behind him. The 1 man fired in the direction of witness, who immediately afterwards saw blood coming from a wound on Stewart's face. Stewart then ran towards the door and fell by the stove. At this stage the boys and girls were rushing out of school, some (limbing through the windows. Witness got through a window. His brother Alexander had been sitting not far from him and was limping when he left the desk. He found out afterwards that Alexander had been shot in the leg. Richard Fitch, another pupil, after corroborating the evidence of the previous witness as to Higgins coming into • ' th>s school'-and shooting, said that he saw the boy McLean shot. McLean got up from his desk, and putting one hand up to Ins face and the other to his shoulder, hurried away in the direction of the porch. Witness ran and got behind a cupboard where* some of tbe teachers had already taken cover. After Higgins left the room witness came out from behind the cupboard and as he was going out, saw the boy Stewart lying in a pool of blood near the stove. He did not see Stewart shot. Carrying Out The Bodies, ' Frederick Newton Franks, in charge of tho Waihi Goldmining Company's foundry at Waikino, said that some time after 10 o'clock on the morning of October 19. his boy came to him and said that Higgins was snooting the children at the school. Witness, with others, hastened to the scene, and on a shot being fired By Higgins from the master's study, proceeded to the back of the school. " In company with a man named Bland they entered the school, where they recovered the body of the boy McLean, and placed it in tho shelter shed. Witness then re-entered the school building and went to standards 5 and 6 classroom, looking for the headmaster. He the went into standards 2, 3 and 5 classroom, and discovered the body of the boy Stewart lying in a pool of blood near the stove. He carried the body out and placed it with that of the other boy. Some time after the police arrived Higgins, who had locked himself in Mr. Reid's study, and from which he fired several shots, surrendered. When Higgins was arrested he had no revolver, having previously thrown it out of the window. Witness then went to Mr. Reid's assistance and helped to carry him out of the study. " Come and Have a Go!" Senior-Sergeant O'Grady, of Waihi, stated that, on receiving news of the shooting, he went., accompanied by Constables Olsen and Whiting, to the aikino School, which was surrounded by people. He saw Higgins standing inside the study near an open window. As soon as ho approached the window Higgins called out, "Is that you, sergeant; come and have a go." Witness told him to throw the pistol out of the window, whereupon H:ggins repeated his challenge to "come and have a go." Witness then went to the rear of the school snd entered tho corridor and found that the study door was closed. Again he asked Higgins to tlirow his weapon away and come out, but the latter refused, saying ho wanted to fight to a finish. After Constable Olsen had been wounded wtness warned Higgins that he would be shot. Meantime Higgins had fired several shots through the study window in the direction of those outside. Witness, continuing, said that later Higgins threw the pisiJ out of the window and intimated that it was "all over." The pisto 1 was a 32-calibre Browning automatic magazine pistol and it contained 'two live cartridges. He. found a number of other cartridges lying about and aibo a bowie knife and three plugs of gelignite with a fuse and detonator attached. Higgins was arrested and removed to the Waihi lockup. Witness also found in the study an extra magazine, containing seven live cartridges. Prior to Mr. Reid being carried out the impression was that ho was dead. This concluded the evidence. Verdict of the Coroner. Tho coroner returned a verdict to the effect that the two lads, Stewart and McLean, were shot dead by John Christopher Higgins. The Police Court proceedings, at which Higgins will be charged with murder, will be opened at Paeroa next Friday, before Mr. J. H. Salmon. Upwards of -10 witnesses will be called.