PRESSED THE TRIGGER AND ACCIDENTALLY SHOT HIS FRIEND

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18639, 17 December 1928, Page 10

PRESSED THE TRIGGER AND ACCIDENTALLY SHOT HIS FRIEND

WAS GIVEN GUN TO MAKE HIM LOOK LIKE REAL MEXICAN BANDIT. Per Press Association. WIIANGAREI, December 17. Henry Samuel Kedgley, a bank clerk, who was the victim of a shooting accident on Friday, passed away at the hospital at 2 o’clock on Sunday morning. At the inquest to-day the evidence showed that Kedgley and a clerk named Grove went into the bedroom of the resident officer, Potter, at noon on Friday, preparatory to leaving for lunch. Grove asked Potter to let him have another look at a Mexican helmet lying on the top of the wardrobe. Kedgley put it on first and then handed it to Grove who was standing in the middle of the room near a wardrobe. Kedgley was immediately in front of him between the mirror and the back door. Potter said: ‘‘All you need is a gun to make you into a real bandit.” Wjth that he placed a revolver in Grove’s hand. Potter also said something about ‘‘Put it to your hip.” Grove did so and remembered pressing the trigger not realising that the weapon was loaded, though he admitted that he should have done so. The revolver exploded, the bullet striking Kedgley, who was two feet away. The evidence of several witnesses testified to the friendliness of the clerks and to the accidental nature of the whole occurrence. The Coroner returned a verdict of accidental death.