ACCIDENTAL DEATH.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18157, 23 October 1930, Page 6

ACCIDENTAL DEATH.

MOTUMAOHO FARMER. ONLY RECENTLY MARRIED. DANGER OF SMALL RIFLES. (Special to Times.) ' MORRINSVILLE, Thursday. The adjourned inquest touching the death of James Murray Thompson, aged 30, who was found dead on his farm at Motumaoho last Saturday, with a pea-rifle alongside him, was held before Mr Wyvern Wilson, district coroner, at Morrinsville, this morning. -j Dr. G. Craig stated in evidence that last Saturday at noon he was called to Mr Thompson's farm at Motumaoho. He found Thompson in the cowshed, lying on his face, with arms and legs spread out. Witness said he thought deceased had been dead under eight hours. On examination of the body he found a deep wound on the right side of the temple, where a bullet had entered. He considered death was caused by a bullet through the brain. A rifle was lying on the ground on deceased’s left side, the muzzle pointing towards the body. Mrs Thompson, wife of deceased, said she had been married five months. On Saturday morning her husband returned from the factory after milking at 9.30. They breakfasted together, and her husband went out to stop the Kiwi bus, which his father was catching. When he returned he fed the fowls, and said he was taking a gun with him to shoot rabbits. She did not see him again. He seemed in his usual health and spirits. The morning was very stormy. Corroborative evidence was given by Alexander Murray Thompson, father of deceased, and Constable Heeps, of Morrinsville. “All the crcumstances point to an accident,” remarked the coroner, who added that deceased was of a happy, cheerful disposition, and had recently married. The position of the body indicated that he had been accidentally shot.. He had evidently gone into the shed to shelter from the storm. The head wound was another instance of the danger of small rifles. They looked innocent, but were very deadly.

A verdict of accidental death was returned.