MYSTERIOUS SHOOTING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20255, 15 May 1929, Page 14

MYSTERIOUS SHOOTING.

* DEATH OF ROADMAN.

[MURDER THEORY WEAKENS.

.UNUSUAL ACCIDENT PROBABLE.

RIFLE LIABLE TO DISCHARGE.

[I)Y TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] OPOTIKI. Tuesday.

The mysterious shooting of the roadman, Samuel McAleese, on the OpotikiGisborne highway last Thursday, is now strongly indicative of accident rather than murder.

As the facts, rumours and theories are checked, flaws appear in the original complexion, and the tragedy emerges in the light of a fatality in which there .were no witnesses and no man-conceived violence. While the accidental discharge of the rifle found in the sack abo;it 10ft from the body explains everything but the injury to the dead man's nose and lip, the murder theory necessitates the acceptonce of a remarkable hypothesis and then ■'c lacks a motive.

j McAleese frequently carried his rifle with the stock detached. He would put the two parts in a sack and assemble them if game appeared. The weapon was of tho bolt action type and McAleese had procured it and secured a police permit only a few weeks ago. Carrying the arm in-this way ho laid himself open to the risk of taking it apart and returning it to the sack loaded and cocked. It is quite possible that he held the popular belief that because tho trigger remained with the siock tho breech action was tendered inoperative. This is contrary to fact, and when the action and bariel arc removed from the stock the loaded weapon would bo more sensitive to a blow or jar than in its assembled state. " How Accident Could Occur. Packed loosely in tho bag the cocking piece could be knocked by the separata stock and released by a drop of less than a foot. This can be demonstrated with this model of rifle and with several other makes. McAleese's shovel was found carefully placed against the bank. Having discarded that he very probably dropped tho sack containing the loaded barrel. It fell on sinail stones and hard clay. Its discharge into the unfortunate man's chest at a range of two or three feet is quite conceivable. The passage of the ballet corroborates the theory. It travelled for eight inches in an upward direction through the body. Such a wound could not have been made if the rifle was fired from the shoulder. Shot through the heart by his carelessly dropped weapon McAleese would fall almost instantaneously. The injury to his face would be absolutely consistent with him having pitched oa his face on a stone. Tho absence of a sharp fragment of road metal by his head is tho only weakness in such a series of movements. The rifle barrel may have projected, from tho sack and in this case the bag would reveal nothing. On the other hand a small hole in the sack such as would bo made by a .22 bullet might be found only after minute inspection. It will be recalled that when the bodywas first examined a hole was found in the singlet, but overlooked in th.e shirt. No Clues to Indicate Murder. Every avenue probed for clues suggesting murder has yielded negative results. The expert examination of the rifle' has revealed no finger prints and tests by an ammunition authority have proved that the fatal bullet is identical with the ammunition found in deceased's pocket. Deceased's employment imposed limitations on his acquaintanceships and narrowed down the scope of inquiry for a motive. The weaknesses in the murder theory are obvious. By restoring the rifle to the sack the murderer would only have prevented suicide from receiving the utmost credence. . The body lay on the brink of a precipitous wooded slope, which would have perhaps hidden for all time anything pushed or thrown from the edge. The road on which the body lay is hard and no dust lies to tell tales if a body were dragged to the cliff. Even taking a motive for granted, and accepting the belief that a murderer embarked on a plot which involved recourse to the victim's own weapon, it is carrying theory to the limit to explain this overlooking of an opportunity to rgmovo the trace of crime.

Reports of cyclists and fone horsemen on the road have all been followed up by the detectives without adding the smallest contribution to the first impression that murder was committed.