SHOOTING AFFRAY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17454, 31 December 1930, Page 8

SHOOTING AFFRAY

YOUNG MAN ARRESTED UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES (Received Dee. 31, 2 p.m.} LONDON, Dee. 30. While diaries ,Stephen, of Ring wood, a retired civil servant, was peacefully attempting to solve a crossword puzzle, John Hill, 29, a poultry fanner, an adopted son of Stephen’s sister, who bad bequeathed him her property after Stephen’s death, entered the room. Stephen asked Hill if be could finish the, puzzle. Hill, after writing down words loading to the impression that ho was drunk, dropped the erissword puzzle ami wont to a desk. An explosion followed, and Stephen felL to bis knees with a pistol bullet in his head, but he was not seriously wounded. He rose up and ran out of the house shouting for help. Hill, exclaiming that it was an accident, followed, brought a constable to the cottage, and submitted to arrest. Hill, who declared that ho shot ’Stephen unintentionally, 'after loading the pistol to kill rats in a fnwlhouse, Was committed for trial on a charge of malicious wounding, possessing a .firearm without a certificate, and stealing and forginc Stephen’s cheques to the amount of £90.,