BAYONET USED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23489, 28 October 1939, Page 8

BAYONET USED

MILITIAMAN .KILLED^ AUSTRALIAN INCIDENT®.'' SENTRIES AND SOLDIERS" [FROM OUR OWN CORRKSrONDENT] SYDNEY, Oct." 19 Robert Hunter, a 21-years-old militiaman, was bayoneted and killed by a fellow member of a guard o n - sentry duty at an oil depot in New. castle. Ho suffered a large wound in • the chest and died about half an, hour after being admitted to hospital. . An official police report states that Private Robert Hunter had been relieved of his "appointments earlier in the day because' he was drunk. The corporal who relieved him told; Hunter that he would recommend.to the officer of the guard that he should- be jplaced under arrest. Hunter is thought to have gone to his tent to sleep. It is believed that Hunter awoke about 9.30 p.m., and, wearing uniform walked to where Private John William - King, aged 18, was on duty. AVhat -transpired then has not been' mada dear, but it is believed that there was a struggle, and Hunter, who-was much taller than King, and more powerful fell wounded. King immediately secured help and sent for ' an ambulance He suffered so severely from shock that he had to receive medical attention After a military inquiry, the' e'vi- ' dence will probablv be laid before a coroner's inquiry. 'I here is some doubt however, as to the position of the ' coroner in the case of the death of a man who. enlisting for home defence is killed on active service in time of war. . , A non-commissioned officer of the Army Ordnance Corps was bayonet*! in a cnipp near' Sydney by a sentrv from Jus own unit,' hut was n„VI slightly injured. He had refused satiZ factorily to answer the sentry's chal lenge. The bayonet pierced li'is great coat and jacket, - and gashed hi? abdomen. " The bayoneting occurred. through a misunderstanding. The S..C.O' did not : know that sentries had been that night. When challenged, Rt searching, with the aid of a torch' far a pair of his socks, which had hw off a clothesline/ He thought it .a 3oke and did not moly. To the second challenge he replied:' "It's pumpkin-eater.." The sentry /the? lunged with -his bayoneted rifle Hncalled for aid immediately he knJ that the N.C.O. had been injured