A TRAGIC AFFAIR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11952, 30 March 1894, Page 2

A TRAGIC AFFAIR.

-v™ A MAN SHOT BY A CONSTABLE. Stdnet, March 19. Great public excitement has been creatod at Broken Hill bya case in which two constables shot a man they wished to arrest. The man was John Considine, a bhif t boss in the Proprietary Company's mine. On Saturday night Constables White and Shields warned him to go home, cl.se on to midnight, and some words onsued. Considine struck Constable White, whereupon Constable Shields drew his baton and hit the man oa the forehead. Considine went off, but returned again with, as tho policemen say, an iron bar in his hand. With this weapon tbey state he struck Shields on tho left side, breaking one rib, and also hit White on the head, cutting through hiß thick cloth cap, and inflicting a scalp wound. The police ran to the station, which was near at hand, and procured rovclvors. They then sallied forth in search of Considine, and camo across him neor his home, which is about 100 yards from the scene of the first affray. Just at this stage the facts are far from clear, but one or two witnesses who were close by say that they hea**d the police call on Considine to stop, and the man Vnn£ nn }iig wav Three revolver shots were fired at him by one of the constables from a distance of ten paces. The police were afraid that the man was still in possession of the iron bar, and Oonsidino was just entering his own premises by tbe back way, when the police again fired at him, and he was in the act of turning round when a shot struck him in tbe stomach, going through his intestines and entering tho lumbar region of the spine. The constable, not knowing that Considine was hurt, and , seeing that the man had nothing in his hands, closod with him and threw him down. Considine then said, " I give in." Tbe police were taking him off, but, when only a few yards had been traversed, Considine said " I'm done," and fell to the ground. A cab was procured to convey him to the hospital, but the wounded man died within tive minutea. Six shots wore fired in all, and according to the evidence of witnesses and of Constable White himself it was he who fired the fatal bullet. Considine was a married man with a wife and two children and a man of great strength. One of the bullets went thro.igh the window of a house fifty yards away and narrowly missed a woman who was asleep 'n bed. A mass meeting was bold on Sunday ancl a deputation waited on tbe SubJnspector to ask that he should place tho two constables under arrest This ,vas done on Monday. Both men are greatly distressed at tho o^curronce.—Christchurch Press.