New Zealander Killed

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 655, 6 May 1929, Page 9

New Zealander Killed

SHOT DURING BERLIN RIOTS Failed to Put Up Both Hands (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. F , rcss Association) Received 11 a.m. BERLIN, Sunday. AMONG those who were killed in last night’s rioting in Berlin was Mr. Charles E. Mackay, a New Zealander, formerly of Wanganui, who recently had been doing journalistic work. The police say that he was shot accidentally.

A PPARENTLY he disregarded the warning of the police about being in the streets and strolled unconcernedly about the Neukoelln quarter of the city in the thick of the disturbances. The police found Mr. Mackay’s body lying in a street with a bullet wound in the breast. He was rushed to a hospital but died on the way. The shooting has now ceased, but the casualties are 23 dead and 100 wounded, 65 of them seriously. The representative of a Berlin newspaper was wounded in the leg. The newspapers severely criticise the police methods, demanding a strict inquiry. It is pointed out that not one policeman figures among the 23 dead. The police are still holding two districts that are the centre of the trouble. There is a state of seige. The streets are cut off from the rest of Berlin by barbed-wire barricades. The Communists* attempt to precipitate a general strike have utterly failed. Mr. C. E. Mackay, who was shot in Berlin, is probably Charles Evan Mackay, Mayor of Wanganui from 1906 to 3 920. He was then involved in sensational court proceedings, and left New Zealand under a cloud two years ago. Ho was an able lawyer.

duce his identity papers with the other hand. Unfortunately the policeman thought Mr. Mackay was going to use a revolver, and fired immediately. Prior to the shooting of Mr. Mackay, the “Daily Telegraph’s” Berlin correspondent commented on the fact that the casualties did not appear to be among the Communists, whom the police were supposed to be suppressing. On the contrary the victims included three widows, two of whom were known merely to have been engaged in house cleaning. A man was killed while going to work. A Socialist was killed who merely appeared at a window and waved to the police to show that he sympathised with their actions. Another police bullet killed a middle-aged war cripple, who was waiting in a doorway for a favourable opportunity to fetch a jug of beer. The “Sunday Express” says is regrets to have to announce the death of Mr. Mackay in Berlin. It says he was the paper’s assistant correspondent at Berlin. BRILLIANT MAN The “Express” publishes a cablegram from Mr. Sefton Delmer, its chief correspondent in the German capital, saying: “Mr. Mackay was one of my best friehds and one of the most brilliant men I ever met.” The correspondent describes how he and Mr. Mackay toured the Wedding district on Friday until 11.30 p.m. Then Mr. Delmer went to cable to London, while his assistant went to the Neu* koelln district with instructions to ascertain from the police whether the disturbance was continuing. Mr. Mackay had no intention of entering the danger zone. If he did so it was by accident. The writer adds that Mr. Mackay always wore next his chest an amulet of greenstone which had been given to him by a Maori chief. If that exercised any influence at ajl it brought only bitter sorrow and disappointment. Mr. Mackay was in London last year and engaged in a business venture in which he invested all his money. The business failed and Mr. Mackay went to Berlin nine months ago. His grandfather was an officer in the Maori War.