THE PAKARAE SENSATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9112, 11 June 1908, Page 5

THE PAKARAE SENSATION.

DETAILS OF THE SHOOTING, BY TELEGRAPH —PBKKB ASSOCIATION*. GISBORNE, June 10. The condition of the girl Petersen, who was shot by her lover Walter i Symons, at Pakarae, remains critical. A bullet was extracted from the region of the heart by Drs. Collins ami Reeve at four o'clock this morning. It is feared the girl will not last through the day. The shooting occurred at two o'clock yesterday afteniuon. Petersen, who was a very capable girl, had lately bsen in charge of the Pakarae Hotel during the absence of the licensee. She was formerly engaged to Symons, and they were to be married in January last, but she broke off the engagement, and it is understood he had been pestering her for the return of some money he had advanced her.

Yesterday afternoon, according to the girl's depositions, taken before Mr Barton, S.M., this mornings he accosted her in the hotel yard, and demanded his money. She stated that she had none. He asked her to get some from Mr Shaw, licensee of the hotel. She replied that she had none due to her, and would not as k for that which she had not earned. He then, pointing a revolver at her, said: "Take this!" and fired two shots, both taking effect; one bullet striking her in the mouth, the other in the region of the heart. An hotel employee named Harry Mays, hearing the revolver shots in the yard, jumped a back fence, and rushed to the scene, where he found Symons about to discharge the contents of the third chamber of the revolver into his own head. Mays struck the man a blow on the arm, and the revolver was discharged in the air. By this time, Shaw, the licensee, had arrived on the scene. Symons remarked: "Jack; I have done it, and I am not sorry." Sizing up the situation, Shaw threw the man, who wa3 immediately bound with ropes and held a prisoner till the police arrived, when tie was arrested. THE VICTIM'S DEPOSITIONS. A PATHETIC SCENE. GISBORNE, June 10. The Rev. Futher Lane returned from Pakarae at mid-day, havirg made the journey thither to tender spiritual consolation to the sufferer. The rev. gentleman confirms the particulars already given. Mr Barton, the magistrate, happened to be at the hotel at the time, travelling on h's coastal circuit, and he was particularly kind and rendered much assistance all night. Father Lane says that Miss Petersen was perfectly conscious, but at the time of his leaving this morning her condition was still very critical. Her mother and two brothers from town were with her. A pathetic scene, the rev. gentleman stated, occurred when tl e accused was taken to ■ the patient's room to hear the depositions read. The spark of love, in apue of all that had occurred, had not been extinguished, and looking up into his face she a-Ocad: "Walur, why did you do this?" The reply, as the rev. pertleman heard it, was: "I did it." The prisoner was seemingly unmot ed. Symons had been keeping company with Miss Petersen for over a year, and he was to have been married to her, but it was put oft' till Easter, and subsequently broken off. The consequent disappointment that SymorjS experienced was, so far as Father Lane cuulu ascertain, the son, motive for his alleged action. • SYMONS TAKEN TO NAPIER. NAPIER,, June 10. Walter Symons, charged with attempted murder, was brought to town this forenoon by Detective Rawle and Constable Dandy, and lodged in the lock-up. Accused will probably be brought before the Police Court to-morrow morning.