A SHOOTING AFFRAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2857, 16 December 1908, Page 38

A SHOOT ING AFFRAY.

MAX WOUNDED IN THE LEO.

A sensational incident happened at North Dunedin about 7 p.m. on the 14th inst. A young man named John Stephen Toomey went to his lionie, Cumberland street North, and, it is alleged, a dispute at once arose between him and his stepfather, Daniel M'Curdy, a farmer by occupation. The latter, it is said, took up a knife, and Toomey, liftjn# a chair, used it in his defence. He djd not, however, ward off M'Curdy' s attack, and the knife was either thrown, at him. or M'Curdy brought it down on his ann, cutting him. above the elbow. Tooniey, leavijig the room, then procured a rifle, and fired at M'Curdy through a window, the bullet striking M'Curdy in the thigh. The ass.ist.ance of the police was invoked, and Toomey was arrested and taken tj the Central Police Station, where he was charged witli discharging a firearm with intent to do grievous bodajy harm. M'Curdy walked to the Hospital, and on examination It was found he was suffering from a, w^und in the right thigh, but it is "not thought probable thajt the bullet lodged in his leg. Toomey was examined at the Police Station by Dr Gordon Macdonald. He bap a sliaht cut, such as might have been inflicted by a knife, on his left arm, but it h, not of a serious I nature.

, '- I A beginning ha= been masio with the work J of enlarging the much -discussed casualty g ward at Lyttelton. Carpemens havp dis- >- located part of the roof, and ha\Q erected the framing for the extension of the room s ■u^od as^an o^ei^ating theaije. • c