THE RESULT OF HIGH WORDS.
ROXBURGH, April 4,
A man named Bernard O’Neill was shot in the side of the face this afternoon by a person named Charlesworth. It appears that the two men had been drinking together, and the wounded man had given some offence, which is supposed to be the cause of the deed. An inquiry will probably he held to-morrow. It is possible that O’Neill will recover. -Evening Star, 4/4/1888.
THE ROXBURGH SHOOTING AFFAIR.
[From Our Own Correspondent.] LAWRENCE, April 5.
A few particulars are to hand relating to the shooting affair at Roxburgh yesterday. It appears that Isaac Charlesworth, a gingerbeer manufacturer, offered to give Barney O'Neill, a miner, a ride in his trap on his way to work, over the ranges in the direction of Pomahaka. While waiting for Charlesworth at his house, O'Neill made an improper remark concerning Charlesworth's daughter. This gave Charlesworth much annoyance, and, seizing a loaded gun standing in the corner of his dwelling, he made a remark to O'Neill, at the same time firing the contents of one barrel at him. The charge struck O'Neill on the side of the mouth, some of the shot lodging in his neck. O'Neill ran out of the house and fell down on the road, blood flowing freely from the wound. Dr Dunn's services were soon obtained, and the injured man was removed to Heron's Hotel. Charlesworth is now in custody, and will come before the Police Court this afternoon. Although the wound is a severe one it is expected that O'Neill will pull through. -Evening Star, 5/4/1888.
BEFORE THE COURT.
Isaac Charlesworth was charged at the Police Court, Roxburgh, on Thursday, with shooting at Bernard O'Neill with intent to murder him. The bench was occupied by Messrs Cooper and Burton, Js.P. On the application of the police, accused was remanded till the 13th. No bail was asked for. -Tuapeka Times, 7/4/1888.
The Lawrence paper states that Barney O'Neill is now reported to be out of danger, but he was not well enough to give evidence on Friday; therefore a further remand for a week was granted. -WEvening Star, 14/4/1888.
Our Roxburgh correspondent, writing on Thursday, says that the man Barney O'Neill is progressing favourably. He feels very little pain; and strong hopes are entertained of his recovery. Doctor Dunn, who is attending him, does not think that the patient will be strong enough to give evidence at the court on Friday, when Charlesworth is to be brought forward. Another remand will likely be applied for. -Tuapeka Times, 14/4/1888.
THE SHOOTING AFRRAY AT ROXBURGH.
(From Our Own Correspondent.)
Roxburgh, April 23.
The man O'Neill died at half-past 8 on Friday evening last, the 20th inst. He had repeated and severe attacks of bleeding during the week previous to his death and sank from exhaustion. A coroner's jury was empanelled to inquire into the case on Saturday, Mr Burton, J.P., acting as coroner, and Mr Inspector Hickson, of Clyde, conducting the case for the Crown. After a careful hearing, lasting from 11 a.m. to 9.50 p.m., the jury brought in a verdict of "Wilful murder" against the accused, Isaac Charlesworth, who was thereupon committed to take his trial at the July sessions of the Supreme Court.
The following is a summary of the evidence: — William Henry Charlesworth, eldest son of the accused, deposed to lending the gun with which the injury was inflicted to William Bowden, a carpenter, from whom he afterwards received it, loaded, his father having previously declined to receive it, on the ground of being unused to handle loaded firearms. On bringing it to the dwelling, which he did about an hour and a-half before the affair took place, he deposited it in a corner of the cordial factory, a lean-to to the north of the building. He remembered seeing a man and his father enter the gate leading from the rear, and after some conversation with himself, they went into the little factory, presently a shot was fired, and the man, evidently wounded, made his way over their stone wall to the ditch on the other side of the main road. After about five minutes, his father and himself went to the fallen man and endeavoured to raise him, but without success. The doctor had been previously summoned by the wife's order, and apparently without any delay whatever. Finding their efforts to raise or restore the man fruitless, they returned to the house,
Mrs Murdoch, a neighbour, gave evidence to the effect that she heard a shot fired, ran out, and saw the man with a wound in the left cheek, crossing the road. She tried to get assistance, but failed. The medical man then arrived, and escorted O'Neill to the township.
William Bowden and Adam Hamilton proved that the gun had for some time — from the 31st March to the 4th April — been in the possession of the former, and that it was handed back loaded to young Charlesworth.
George Ormand remembered the accused, O'Neill, and another man being in the bar of the hotel owned and conducted by witness' father on the morning of the 4th April. They had some drink, but left the hotel before they could have become intoxicated, O'Neill and Charlesworth going in the direction of the latter's residence. Dr Dunn deposed to finding the man bleeding profusely near the spot where the shooting is alleged to have taken place. He treated him at his surgery, where the flow of blood was mainly stopped, and subsequently at the Commercial Hotel. He considered his patient in better hands there than he could possibly have been at an hospital, for the first 10 days he seemed to do pretty well, but after that he gradually sank, bleeding being repeated and excessive. A post mortem examination revealed the presence of extensive suppuration in the left side of the face, adjacent to the wound. Some 17 pellets of shot were also taken from the wound, several being altered in shape. On consultation with Dr Hyde, of Clyde, it was considered inadvisable to perform any operation in view of the weak state of the wounded man.
Constable William Pool deposed to meeting O'Neill bleeding profusely from a wound in the cheek. He (Constable Pool) escorted him to the doctor's house, and on the way, the deceased described how it happened. He arrested the accused and conveyed him to the lockup. Subsequently he visited the spot, noted where the blood was visible, and took measurements of the shed in which the affair occurred.
Mr Hickson read over to the jury selections from the portion of the law relating to the case, after which the deposition of the deceased was read. This has previously, in substance, appeared in our columns, so the same ground need not be gone over again. The most important feature of the deposition is the deceased's acknowledgment that he made improper overtures to the daughter of the accused — herein, of course, lying Charlesworth's plea of justification. At the same time he most positively states that the girl he addressed was represented to him as being a stranger, a young woman from Victoria, and not one of Charlesworth's household. He describes the way in which his assailant held the gun, and his own efforts to reach the other side of the road and get medical assistance. He further identifies Charlesworth, then and now in custody, as his assailant on the 4th inst.
This was all the evidence, and, after careful deliberation, the jury found that the deceased, Bernard O'Neill, came by his death by a gunshot wound wilfully inflicted by the accused, Isaac Charlesworth, on the 4th inst. This is, of course, practically a verdict of wilful murder.
The courthouse was a centre of attraction during the day, and much interest was manifested in the case, the verdict of the jury being rather curiously waited for, though the result could have been in little doubt from the first. The accused, who was undefended, and who reserved his defence, was of course formally committed for trial on the charge, and will be brought before the Supreme Court next July. -Otago Daily Times, 25/4/1888.
(Barney O'Neill, who it will be remembered was shot in the face at Roxburgh by Isaac Charlesworth, died from the effect of his wounds on Friday evening last. An inquest was held on the following day, and Mr Charlesworth was declared guilty of murder. We do not know that ever we commisserated so deeply with a poor unfortunate laying under the capital charge us we do with the accused in this case. The circumstances leading to the fatal shot were of so exceptional a nature there is no wonder the poor unfortunate man was rendered blind to the possibly fatal consequences of his act. It is to be hoped, that Charlesworth was not aware of the gun being loaded, and that he lifted it and pulled the trigger by way of expressing his disgust for the deep insult the deceased had levelled at him and his family, and not with the idea of washing out the stigma with the deceased’s blood. With all nations the honor of a man's family, the chastity of a man’s daughters, is held sacred, and with none more so than with the Briton. Little wonder, then, that when poor Charlesworth was assailed and that under his own roof, on this touching and trying point, he lost himself in passion. Whilst the case is sub judice, as a public journalist we have to confine our remarks, hence here we leave it. -Dunstan Times, 27/4/1888.
The trial of Isaac Charlesworth for the murder of Bernard O'Neill at Roxburgh took place at the Supreme Court, Dunedin, on Friday, and resulted in the jury acquitting the prisoner after two hours' deliberation. Charlesworth was defended by Sir R. Stout. -Bruce Herald, 10/7/1888.
"The law is peculiar," was the remark of many on hearing that Isaac Charlesworth (the man who shot Barney O'Neill at Roxburgh), had been acquitted. To the ordinary mind it is rather odd, to put it mildly, that a person can deliberately take up a gun and discharge its contents at a man who had committed the offence of uttering some improper remarks, and then, when the case is tried, the verdict of "Not Guilty" is brought in. Of course the supposition that Charlesworth was unaware that the gun was loaded must have influenced the jury considerably, and, it is fair to assume, was the ground on which the prisoner was acquitted. -Lake Wakatip Mail, 27/7/1888.
FOR SALE
AERATED WATER and CORDIAL BUSINESS, In Working Order.
Proprietor will instruct purchaser to manufacture goods, as he is leaving the Colony. No cordial maker within 30 miles. Two Quarter-acre Town Sections, Stone House, Stable, &C.
Apply to J. CHARLESWORTH. Cordial Maker, Roxburgh, Otago. -Otago Daily Times, 27/7/1888.
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