SENSATION AT ATAIO

Otago Witness, Issue 3870, 15 May 1928, Page 27

SENSATION AT ATAIO

ALLEGED ATTACK ON RESIDENTS TWO MEN SHOT AND WOUNDED. TIMARU, May 11. A sensational affray occurred at Otaio in the early hours of the morning. It appears that Bernard Lewis Blackwell and Ernest M'Cunn, potato diggers, journeyed with their employer to the house of a man named Ancell, where it is alleged that the visitors forced an entrance by breaking down the door. Mrs Ancell, in night attire, made investigations, and found Blackwell in the bedroom of her eighteen-year-old son. She ordered him out, but he declined, and, it is alleged, struck the woman and her son. Sirs Ancell then secured a shotgun, which she gave her son. Blackwell appealed to M'Cunn for assistance, and after an interval both visitors left the house. Blackwell threatened to return, and the youth fired a shot in the air. Blackwell then went to the house of Robert Bari, a brother-in-law of Mrs Ancell, close by, where it is alleged that he shattered the large windows and threatened to murder Barr. Blackwell entered Barr’s house, and when ordered out made threats, and Barr hit the intruder over the head witn a shovel. Blackwell then retreated, but returned, and broke another window. At this stage young Ancell fired a shot at each man, hitting one in the leg and the other in the body. The men returned to their employer's car. and they were brought to the police station at St. Andrews, and later to Timaru, where both are now in hospital. Their injuries are not regarded as serious. The cause of the disturbance has not been disclosed.