FATAL WOUND

Southland Times, Issue 21589, 29 December 1931, Page 7

FATAL WOUND

YOUNG GIRL DIES ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE OF RIFLE INCIDENT ON FARM (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 in shooting blackbirds. The accident happened on a farm owned by Mrs J. C. Williamson. Miss Adamson, who resided with her mother on a property about a mile and a half from the scene of the fatality, left her home in the morning and was engaged in picking loganberries with several other young people. She was working between rows of fruit when Hubert Hassett, aged 16, who had been shooting birds eating 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 Adams was seen to be in a grave condition. She was conveyed .to Auckland Hospital in a van. An operation was performed, the bullet being extracted, but the girl died about two hours after admission. Miss Adamson, -who was the youngest of five children, was prominent among the young people of the district. She was a member of the Te Atatu Tennis Club and also of the Te Atatu Girls’ Club, in which she took an important part in gymnasium work.