FATAL BULLET WOUND
TIMARU, Last Night.
Walter Douglas Harte, aged 19, eldest son of Mr. W. Harte, registrar of the Supreme Court, died in the Timaru Hospital to-night as the result of a shooting accident.
Mr. Harte and four companions went to Hanging Rock, 15 miles from Timaru, to spe.nd the week-end. Mr. Harte entered a tent alone, and a shot was heard, his companions finding him gravely injured in the head. Mr. Harte was brought to Timaru but died five hours later.
It is understood that Mr Harte was not familiar with firearms and that the rifle went off while he was inspecting it. He was well known in cricket land football circles. -Central Hawkes Bay Press, 17/10/1936.
DEATH OF YOUNG MAN
EVIDENCE AT INQUEST
CORONER ADDS RIDER
An inquest into the circumstances of the death of Walter Douglas Harte, who died in the Timaru Hospital on Monday night as a result of a bullet wound in the head, was held before the Coroner, Mr A. L. Gee, yesterday afternoon.
Sergeant Vaughan conducted the proceedings for the police.
Before hearing evidence, the Coroner expressed his sympathy with the relatives of the deceased.
Dr. Allan Keith Tullacti, house surgeon at the Timaru Public Hospital, said that Harte was admitted to the hospital at 7 p.m. on Monday. Witness detailed the nature of the injuries, which were consistent with a wound from a pea-rifle bullet. Death was due to an extensive fracture of the skull and laceration of the brain.
Angus Charles McInnes, registered masseur, said that he was near the scene of the accident, which occurred at Hanging Rock. He was about to leave when two companions of Harte informed him that an accident had occurred. Witness went to the tent where the injured lad was lying. He was lying face downwards over a bed, and on turning the lad over, he saw a wound in the forehead. Witness sent a car for Dr. P. B. Benham at Pleasant Point, and in the meantime he attended to the wound.
Graeme Alexander Foote, clerk, residing at 36 Wai-Iti Road, said that Harte, three other companions and witness were camped at Hanging Rock for the week-end. They had a .22 calibre Winchester repeating rifle. During Monday afternoon they were target shooting, and returned to the camp at 4.15. Witness placed the rifle in the tent, and at the time he was not sure whether the rifle was loaded or not, but he had an idea there were bullets in it. Witness, Rendall and Harte were playing outside the tent, and it was while they were there that Rendall brought the rifle out again. He held the rifle on his hip and pointed it towards, the sky. He then took it back into the tent, without attempting to fire it. Rendall came out of the tent again, and shortly afterwards Harte went into the tent. The next they heard was a very muffled report, and on rushing into the tent they found Harte sitting on the blankets, huddled up, with the rifle between his legs. The muzzle of the rifle was resting against his shoulder. Witness had told him that he was going to clean the rifle, but he could not say whether Harte knew it was loaded or not.
Sergeant Vaughan: The fact that you told him you were going to clean the rifle would lead him to believe that it was empty.
Witness: I Can’t say. Harte did not know anything about a rifle.
The Coroner: You were actually the last one to use the rifle? — Yes. I was the last to fire it.
Constable C. L. Pont, of Pleasant Point, said that at 5.45 p.m. on Monday he received a message from Hanging Rock that there had been a shooting accident. He went to Hanging Rock and found Harte lying unconscious. The rifle was lying nearby. There was a spent cartridge in the breech and a live cartridge in the magazine.
Alexander Costie Rendall, clerk, residing at 17 Hatton Street, gave similar evidence to the witness Foote. He had an idea there were cartridges in the magazine of the rifle when it was put in the tent, but he was not sure. The rifle had been used during the afternoon, but no further cartridges were put in. When he took the rifle out of the tent, he simply pointed it skywards, and then took it back into the tent. He did not particularly notice whether the trigger was at halfcock, but he was under the impression that it was. During the afternoon, Harte had about half a dozen shots, but the rifle was loaded for him each time.
A verdict was returned of death from a fractured skull and laceration of the brain, the result of a shot from a Winchester repeating rifle, received while camping at Hanging Rock, near Pleasant Point. There was no evidence to show how Harte came to fire the rifle. The Coroner added: “It might have been accidental, and probably was.”
The Coroner added the following rider: “It is deeply to be deplored that men more especially young men, and boys, do not take warning from the number of fatal accidents which occur from time to time throughout the Dominion, as a result of the careless handling of firearms. Experienced riflemen know and realise the danger of leaving a rifle loaded and the majority of these experts are most particular to see that the weapon is empty before putting it down. Unfortunately people of lesser experience seem unable to grasp the seriousness of leaving a cartridge in the chamber, the result being fatalities, such as we have been inquiring into to-day.
“A somewhat similar fatality occurred at Awakino yesterday when a man who was pig shooting laid a loaded rifle down and was shot when the weapon was accidentally discharged.
“I do sincerely hope that these two regrettable tragedies occurring on the same day will impress themselves upon the minds of men and boys throughout the Dominion and result in sportsmen seeing that their rifles are unloaded before being put down even for a few minutes.”
Sympathetic reference to the death of Douglas Harte, an old boy of the school, was made by the Rector, Mr A. G. Tait, addressing the students of the Boys’ High School at assembly yesterday. Mr Tait, in referring to the distressing accident, referred to the popularity of deceased who had left school within the last few years and yet had been closely associated with it, both in football and cricket as a member of the Old Boys’ Club.
A motion of condolence with the relatives was carried in silence by the school. -Timaru Herald, 28/10/1936.
No comments:
Post a Comment