GIRL FOUND SHOT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20704, 30 April 1929, Page 12

GIRL FOUND SHOT.

, MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR. SEVERE WOUND NEAR HEART. NO EVIDENCE OF FOUL PLAY.’ (Special to Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, April 20. Two loud shots, followed by the sounu of a body falling against his back door at 10.30 last night, startled Edward Joseph Fahey, a farmer, of Bombay, Leaving his bed and flinging open tbe door be saw Florence Horne, a young woman of 10, lying .senseless on the veranda. Her light frock was stained with blood just below the heart. The dramatic appearance of the girl caused a sensation in the household, and the element ol tragsdy was emphasised when her left breast was found to be punctured with a rifle bullet. Dr M'Whirtor and Sergeant Cowan, of Pukokohe, were immediately summoned by Mr Fahey, who did everything possible to make the girl comfoi table pending their arrival. A search bj the police revealed a rifle propped against a drain 20 feet distant from the farmhouse. Interviewed by Chief Detective Hammond at the Auckland Hospital after her admission in the early hours of this morning, the young woman stated that the shooting was accidental. An operation was performed this morning, and the bullet was removed, but the condition of the young woman is serious. It is believed that Miss Horne lias a sister living at Ouehunga, but the police have not so far located the girl’s parents. Miss Horne had been staying with friends at Ararimu, in the Bombay district, where she lived dome time ago, and is well known. She had been with her Ararimu friends since April 22, and was to have left last Friday to take a situation elsewhere. Her friends did not see Miss Horne after Saturday evening, when she left the house to attend a dance at Pokeno. Prom Saturday evening till late on Saturday night, when the police advised them of the girl’s plight, nothing had been heard of Miss Horne’s whereabouts. The police have ascertained the owner of the rifle, but the name is not disclosed. Chief Detective Hammond, accompanied by Detectives O’Sullivan and Nalder, left for Bombay--this morning to make a thorough investigation of the case. Inspector Hollis, officer in charge of the Central Police District, stated early this afternoon that preliminary inquiries had yielded no evidence of foul play. When the girl made her sensational appearance at Mr Fahey’s farm she was clad only in a light frock unsuitable for outdoor wear. She had no overcoat.