SHOOTING FATALITY AT GREENVALE

Southland Times, Issue 23498, 3 May 1938, Page 4

SHOOTING FATALITY AT GREENVALE

EVIDENCE AT INQUEST

An inquest into the death of James Ralph Clark, who was killed at Greenvale in a shooting accident on Sunday, was held at Greenvale yesterday afternoon. Mr Andrew Martin, J.P., who has been authorized to act, as district coroner until further notice, presided. Sergeant J. Abel represented the police. The inquest was adjourned sine die. Hugh Richmond Henderson, a sheep farmer of Greenvale, gave evidence of identification. Clark had been employed as a farm labourer by witness and had lived on the farm. He had seen Clark alive at 1.10 p.m. on Sunday. He had hot known that Clark intended going shooting with two other men. The rifle produced was his father’s rifle. Allan and Ritchie were both employed by witness. Leonard John Ritchie, a rabbiter, employed by Mr Henderson, in giving evidence, said that at about 1.10 p.m. on May 1, he together with James Ralph Clark and John Alexander Allan had gone deer stalking. They had walked about two miles and a-half and then separated with the object of stopping the deer getting out. Witness took the right-hand side and Allan took the left. “Clark was supposed to go through the middle and to keep well behind us,” said witness. Witness did not fire any shots and only heard one shot fired. The rifle he had with him was a .303 calibre rifle, which belonged to Mr Henderson, who had told witness to use it whenever he required it. The rifle Allan had been using had been borrowed from the house. Clark had not had a rifle at any time. “The shot I heard was followed by several screams,” said witness, “and I ran about 50 yards through the scrub in the direction of the sound. As I approached, Allan called out to me and said that he had shot Clark through’ the leg. I rushed on to where Allan was standing with Clark, who was hanging on to some scrub and bleeding badly.” Witness assisted to put Clark on to Allan’s back and the latter carried him on to the flat, while witness went for assistance. Witness returned and helped to take Clark to Mr D. McKenzie’s house. Clark died just as they entered the house. It had been about 10 yards from the place where Allan fired the shot to where Clark had been standing. He and Allan had measured the distance that morning.

John Alexander Allan, a labourer employed by Mr Henderson, said that he had known Clark all his life and had gone to the Waitati school with him. At about 2 p.m. he had been kneeling down on a steep slope. He had heard a slight rustle in the scrub and had loaded his rifle ready to fire. When he heard the rustle again he had thought it was a deer and seeing something in the bush he waited about half a minute and then fired. “I heard a scream and I rushed to where the sound came from, realizing that I had shot Clark. When I reached him he said, ‘You’ve broken my leg.’ I shouted to Ritchie who came and assisted to put Clark on to my back. I carried him on to the flat, while Ritchie went for assistance. When’ I fired the shot I had no idea Clark was in front of me.” Mrs M. Kirkpatrick, of Greenvale, said that she had been called to Mr D. McKenzie’s house on May 1 about 3.30, p.m. The boy Clark had been lying on a stretcher in the sitting room when witness entered. Being a qualified nurse she examined the boy, who died within a minute of her arrival. All was done for the boy that could have-been done.

The inquest was adjourned to Gore at this stage to take the doctor’s evidence and the police evidence. Constable J. Feely said that he had gone to Greenvale on Sunday afternoon and had seen the body of Clark at Mr D. McKenzie’s house. There had been no marks on the body apart from those made by the bullet. He had given instructions to have the body removed to the Gore hospital morgue. He had taken possession of the rifle and the spent cartridge shell. Dr Catherine M. Hastie, house surgeon at the Gore hospital, said that she had examined the body and. had found it to be that of a well-nourished boy aged about 15 years. There had been no external marks of violence on the body apart from the marks caused by a bullet which had entered the right thigh and gone out through the left thigh. The bullet had torn an artery and had also broken the left thigh bone. The cause of death in her opinion was haemorrhage from the main artery of the thigh. The inquest was adjourned sine die in order to have the rifle examined by the authorities at Wellington.

THE WEATHER The weather during April at Gore was extraordinarily dry and fine, and apart from some rain during the last two days of the month and one or two heavy frosts about the middle of the month, the majority of days were as warm as in the summer. The sun shone on practically every day and the total sunshine for the month was 160 hours 50 minutes. The total to date for the year is 802 hours 15 minutes, and compared with thfe figures for the same period last year this is an increase of over 250 hours. The hottest day of the month was on April 7, when the barometer registered 78 degrees. Particularly heavy visitations of frosts for this time of the year were experienced on April 11 and 12, 13 degrees being recorded on both days. The dry spell was broken on April 28 when a light rain began to fall in the afternoon. It continued to rain throughout Friday but the weather cleared on Saturday, and although the sky has been overcast no further rain has fallen. The total rainfall for the month was .97in, compared with 4.23 in for April last year. GOLF The change in the weather upset the majority of the players that took part in the Gore Golf Club’s April medal match on Saturday afternoon. After having played on the dry fairways for so long the players found the wet weather difficult. Some good cards were returned, however, and three players played below their handicaps. The best cards returned were:

RIFLE SHOOTING The members of the Gore Defence Rifle Club fired the second series of a competition for a trophy presented by Mr P. R. Mallon under rough conditions. The ranges were 500 yards and 600 yards. H. Windle won the Mathews Button for top score off the rifle with a total of 90, counting out G. Bain, who made the same score. G. Bain won the range prize at 500 yards with 47, in-

W. Campbell 93-24-69 A. K. Wilson ' 85-14-71 M. S. Tansley 84-10-74 L. G. Thomson 88- 9-79 A. J. Parsons 92-13-79 A. B. Caverhill 95-16-79 L. E. West 103-24-79