INQUEST.

Colonist, Volume XXVII, Issue 3880, 29 March 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

INQUEST.

(„Qn Saturday, March 22nd.,' at'three p'.ta; an inquest. waU^hold'a* ithe Hospital,^ ori ' the' j body ;of tie late John' Frederick Kellyy-before' eDr r l>uff,; acting Coroner, and' the; following? Jurors;:—Henry ,ißaigent; (foteman)-, ■'H.i T;' Hail,..'George. '.Theik. iJoseph-^Gilbei'tson, Henry Barnett, Andrewißrbwn, li. H; Chittenden. J.; R. iSigley, John LocW,-James. Nicholson, John Brooker, and A', D.'Joiies.l. „ ■:,- jAfter.the Jury hadr viewed the bodyV jthe following.evidence wasitaken:—« ui« e"h \ ".;'., '' James" Noble'j sprinter, ''sworn/ . deposed: On Tuesday' "morning,; the \lßtbi "instant, X" ■werit'twith'vHa'rry 'arid' Frederick;.' Kelly ifpr private rifle practice! ■We reached/thie Maitai 'butts -at fivo^ 'minutes' '■ past''1 'sixj'; o'clock... Frederick Kelly undertook , to• 'mark,1.;1 and Harry Kelly and Myself wentl'but'io'tW4300 yards r:ange."s' 'When'l'gdt'-there '-fsaw the danger board, drawn< in, by,-Frederick .Kelly! We/ ; fired,ithrea tshots ;each <h.alternately. Frederiolc.'Keily .was alone? at;j the. marking place.,.,At Harry .Kelly's fourth shot deceased ea'me'jrom but/of' the" '.buttsjn-frqnt of the; 'target.'.'/ JusVas" Harry Kelly had pulled the' 'trigger] I saw Frederick Kelly. in. that posirj j'tioh,' he'-iumped behind the, butts, and | carneput again, iv.front of the .large target. [jTh'ere are Wo targets, and we= were, firing at [ the small one.. ,'.^?e. rani,' towards. Frederick Kelly as, fast as; we, could, and I reached; him .first.. He j was,/holding his wrist, and I got Out .my handkerchief,' and passed it once tightly round< the,. wound.... When Harry. Kelly came up, he exclaimed, ■ "It's all;,up jwith.yo ( u Fred,','.v ; We thenjbound the handkerchief more tightly' round .the; wound. Harry Kelly told me to take his brother <?own, as qiiickly as.possible''to the dop'tor's, while* h^ went-to feteh !i our, rifles, and "I/, did. so. Wetfirst - wenti' to* Dr'Hudson's,: hut he was; from home.. .Harry, Kelly:caught us up there. We then proceed'ed'to Dr,! Sealy's.. He 1 was. out, but he -was quickly brought from Mrs Hargreavesiiwhoilives at the opposite side of the .street.- ;>.< Dr Scaly remove&the'Laiidker.chJelfromi the-wound, arid puti a-bandage on.'. ,Hfl tftld us ithatiw.e had better ■ take' Frederick' Kelly L tft,the,Hospital.; oHarry Kelly asked if we CAUkt-; not get; ariotheri> doctor' nearer, and Dr Scaly mentioned' "DrLeggatt. uWe 'went theve,; and. I-left the Kellys1 and-prbceeded home with the guns; •'. !'' ■"•■■• ■■'■ • • :, , By the Foreman: :I.did-not notice' whether, the danger..board was outibefore the shot was^ fired, but afterwards I saw it was. I did riot at that. time', know of any : regulations regarding firing, neither had Iseeri'any book of regulations.' •■- ■.■'•■"•■'] ; ' '■' : Bya Juryman : The target we" were fiiiiig at was: very dirty that morning.:' It was'not easy to distinguish the dauger board."' ' ;',By the Coroner : -There was a danger flag, and Frederick Kelly used it to 'signal the misses.,•:•.'.•, ;■ ,;' ••/'■■.■.!■' '■'■'■ ■■' ■■'•'' ■ By a Juryman: I do not know whether the board or the ; flag-was mostly used by markers.. .It was the first time11 had been there with company. Frederick Kelly knew how to use the danger signals, as he had been acting as marker ; before. : Kobert Henry Kelly, engineer's apprentice, sworn deposed :. Deceased, was. my brother. On Tuesday morning. I, weut out for private rifle' practice - along with my brother and James Noble. ;My brother said that he would "mark for us. I had; fired jfour shots Jand Noblethree when the accident occurred. We were-firing •alternately. .The shots were properly marked, and Noble's third shot was signalled as a .miss; I prepared; to,-fire my fourth 'shot, .and as I had been missing I took along, steady aim. Just as I pulled-the trigger my.h^other came suddenly in front of the bull's eye. I saw him spring back into the butts, aud he appeared again on the ] opposite side, in front of the big target. We j threw down our guns, and ran up to him as hard as we could. ""Sfbble got .to my brother first, and he wrapped Up' my brother's right arm. W? afterwards, bound, the handerchief tighter,, aud I told them to go quicldy to the 'doctor's,.,,'l .went .back for our carbines. I could not see the danger board clearly. The target, would nothave done for a match, it wa3 dirty. ; Anyone lying down and; taking aim at the bull's-eye; could not see the danger board.. My brother told me that he had put ootthe danger ;board,, but I did not see it-. Charles Johansen,told me that he was at the butts on_ a certain, day along with others, johansen was called on to fire in his turn. He asked those, standing by if. it was all right, and they answered yes. : Johansen fired,,, and;just at, that moment he saw a man in frontof the target, and saw hini'leapback to get out of .the, road;,;iJust as Johansen fired. some, one sung out that the danger board was out. ; The splash of. the lead from the.bullet Johanseni fired hit the man in the side.;. , Johansen told ,. me <" this since > accident to-,ray, brother to" show that- the danger board was not easily seen. As far as I know, my brother was • competent to act as marker.; He; had just been elected a covporal :ia, the- College Cadets. He was seventeen years olage. He was a good shot. -; . Horace Wimsett,-blacksniith, sworn, deposed-: lam a sergeant in the H Battery of New Zealand, Artillery.■; On.the morning of ithe:lßth instant, I was called vipbri at twenty •to six. o'clock by' Charles Johausen, a companion,, and, a.gunner in the;H Battei^, to prqeeed to?the,Maitai ra^ge for privatd practice. He left. me,iand ■ he^ said he wduld go jmd.get the targets ready., ,1 iollowed.him some"'ten' minutes ; later."' On. nearing the Hardy1 street" bridge I heard shbts being fired rather quickly, and wheiij I •was.ab'p'ut.h'alf- ;- way 'be't'weeh Mr ;Huddlestone!s corneryand theMaitai.buttslmet^oVileleading Frederick/j Kelly,''l 'saY t'h'at 1 Kelly's 'arm",was + hound (ip, and. I. iiSked, what Had been •the,matter,-; w.heri I was tbld cby' Nbb^e that ; sorqe,,fellow had shot Kelly in'the. arm I proceeded,to the-Butts to' learn who itHras.' Tliere;rrnet Charles Jbhanserii' who 'told' me just as, lie. was'ne'arihg^tlie ;200: ytfrdV! range 'he' saw; HarryJi,Kelly.and■ N.ob,le:funning: very fast. He -thought that they' 'were racing, until 'one of them exclaiiied "My Grb'd, he is.'shot," When-1-'arrived at the'bntts, 'I found/the, danger' board tfnt, and I saw blood upon the ground, ;wlnclv"!j supposed came from the' wound1 ;iu F..Kelly's arm I then examined' the;;tai'gefc: aloDg (-Hvitli:'iJohan3sui,: but; we could not!'see'ahy,'shots upon it.' I noticed that ■'•'the'-danger flag rwas lying in the butts dt-the ;time'. -The do[ngtT board was not out', tb4is full1 extent; 1 'On'the evening; of the 'l;Bth> instantVl 'went to' Mr Kelly's house in .Waitnea'street/and saw Frederick Kelly and 'I asked him' bow th'a'Occident'liappened; He tpld 'me :tbat':his brother': Harvy''and Npble Had been missing the target to the left; that bjG pushed out'-the- danger board anil went o!ut, tend, stood in front of the large target: [Jo then said he. thought tlioiy would see'him, alnd then ; .lie proceeded ;aci-oss ; to the small tlirget to «how them with his hand where they were missing. Wljiie in the^ict of doing so, he notit-eJ the flash from a gun, and started to run in the butts, when the ball struck him ifa tl ft aim.' ißy the Foreman : The danger board works in a'slide. It droop 1?, and in my opinion is too low. ' The clanger flag has been in geueial u&e since December. Anyone taking aim at the bull's-eye from the'3oo yards range in a recumbent position could not see the dangei b'pard. To any- one standing erect the board A^ould be quite visible. If Frederick Kel.y had used the'danger flag the accident would not have happened. I Major Pitt, who was in attendance, explained to the Jury the Regulations that existed for filing." 'All firing for (knernment ahd other piizes was superintended by an officer of the Staff; and private practice should not take place according to the Peculations (Nos. 2)8 and 209) without a commissioned or non-commissioned officer being present. The danger .board had. since the accident, been ordered^1 be done aw ay with, acd the danger flag was only to be used in the i f utme., The officei s had also been instructed iby him to see that Regulations 208 and 209 ' weie strictly put in force in the future. Since Ihp had beeu in command of the Volunteers a couple of accidents had occurred, and both | times jit had been through neglect, in the danger flag not being used <»j . it' , |Dr. A. J. Ijjeggatt, bwovu, deposed: I am<a : legallyi qualified -,and registpvjedj practitioner residing in Nelson. On Tuesday morning I ,-was called to see the deceased at my surgery. He had his right wrist tightly bandaged, and

on undoing the bandage, I found a gun shot wound,"the bullet having passed right through the arm, breaking both bones in its course. Thero was a good deal of oozing, but no large artdiy /was ■ bleeding. I bandaged up the wound,'and sent him home. I saw him "again in the course of the day, and the following morning. I did not open the bandage,until the afternoon of Wednesday. The wound then looked perfectly healthy, although there was still oozing. I bandaged it up again, and made a suggestion that his father should come and see me about deceased's removal to the Hospital, as I did not think the place he was living in was a suitable one for the treatment 'of gunshot wounds. On the following'morning about nine o'clock, a little girl "came to my house and asked me/to go and' see the deceased, as he Avas in pain. I went shortly afterwards, and found his arm in a state'of mortification for six inches above the bandage. I'immediately ordered his removal to the Hospital, where on a consultation w,ith. Dr Boor it was decided, to rejhove his,ai'm, which was accordingly i done above the elbow.,' I|Saw the,deceased the lastatime about an'hour after the operation. - <.■_ , i Dr Boor, Resident Surgeon -at ,the, Nelson Hospital, sworn, "■ deposed:' Frederick > Kelly | was brought,, to tha Hospital on Thursday 'morhiug last^b'y order of Dr Leggatt.'i H« was', suffering from a gunshot wound ixt the 1 right arm.' { The arm itself was cold, pulseless green, and in a state of mortification, which was extendiHg=-Hp- etowards"the shoulder, and !.£hejO.dour/.therefrom was ; ,veryloffeo&i¥Iel> If rthV arm A had been allowed to remain, I believe tha ( tdeath would/ have. {re|ujted;within rtwelv£ hours.',''Keliyjs"pulse was,quick and 'W6aki-;and jhis features wejre ,v^ry*pafii<L I', f orm'edari opinion that immediate amputation ■ of'the afm! Was. necessary, and withrttiis) Dr Leggaitfc'pncurred. I performed; the opera'tienrat half-past two.on Thursday afternoon, Dr iLeggatti'assistmg. ■' It' '>vas'. performed i without 1 much 'loss 'di^^'blo'od.V' Kelly,.'soon i'allied1 from' the 2 effects 1" ;of' the'chiorp'form, : and;'. becarn'e ri'4ensibl4,'*'ißut'l^e^n«Bver rallied frbm the 'sh'ock'of tll% ,op.er^tipn,'''jH(» cbntinuetT mbrepr'less' sepible'during'3^ura. day nighty liis father remaining,with1, iiim! all night;; '.I'saw him'at h^lf--^st'two 'on |^»day morning, and; again1 at half' past^igm,' an| h« was then'sinkihg'fast.', He dfefc|'atc&.!.'o'c]qck. Thecause'"6f^'desith'was' :sße£k., after tion 'for injuries' 'oausecf' by "4' 1 'wound. '■;■' The' Jury retniried^a verdict of,,accidental death,1; and ' expressed theniselves'■ satisfied with! the explanationHhat Major Pitt.'had given!.'l'' ii::' > i-';'-:'!' iJ'-: ■■■■ .