TRAGIC SHOOTING ACCIDENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21529, 29 December 1931, Page 7

TRAGIC SHOOTING ACCIDENT

PEA RIFLE ACCIDENTALLY DISCHARGED GIRL shot in forehead. (Per United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, December 28. A tragic shooting- accident resulting in the death of a girl of 16 years occurred at Te Atatu. The victim was Evelyn Adamson, who was wounded in the forehead following the discharge of a pea rifle carried by a boy who, was engaged m shooting blackbirds. The accident happened on a farm o\Vned by Mrs J. C. Williamson. Miss Adamson, who resided with her mother on property about , a mile and a-half from the scene of the fatality; left her home in ithe morning and was engaged in picking loganberries w™ 1 several other young people. She was working between the rows of fruit when Hubert Hassett. aged 16, who had been shooting birds that were eating the ripened berries, was climbing through a row about four yards away. The, trigger of the pea rifle he was carrying caught and Miss Adamson received the charge in the forehead. Medical assistance was summoned with difficulty. Miss Adamson was seen to be in a grave condition and she was conveyed to the Auckland Hospital in a van! An operation was performed, the bullet being extracted, but the girl died about two hours after admisSlC Miss Adamson, who was tW youngest of five children, was prominent among the vounn 1 people of the district. She was a member of the Te Atatu Lawn Tennis Club and also of the Te Atatu Girls’ „Glub, in which she took an important part in the gymnasium work.