A GUN ACCIDENT.
About one o'clock yesterday afternoon a serious misadventure occurred at South Dunedin. In Sydney street there are two cottages, separated only a few paces, one of which is tenanted by Mr Edward Keating, stoker at the gasworks, and his family, and the other by Mr Hagen. The neighbors are and always have been most friendly terms. Shortly after dinner yesterday Robert Hagen, a young man, by occupation a bootmaker, went to the back of the house to clean a double-barrelled gun that had been in use the day previous, and while doing so he conversed across the fence with Miss Mary Cecilia Keating, one of Mr Keating's daughters, eighteen years of age, and hitherto employed as a tailoress at the New Zealand Clothing Factory. The girl was standing in the scullery washing up the dinner-ware. Hagen and Miss Keating were chaffing and laughing, and Mr Keating was standing by, when suddenly the gun went off and the shot from the left barrel entered the open doorway of the scullery. Some of the shot went through the dishes and pierced the boards of the scullery, and some unfortunately struck the girl, penetrating her eyes and neck. She cried out "Father, father, what is it? am I shot?" and Mr Keating ran up the steps and caught her in his arms. A messenger was at once despatched to the Caledonian Hotel, from whence Mr John Blaney telephoned for Dr Coughtrey. The doctor drove out immediately, and ordered Miss Keating's removal to the hospital. Arrived there, it was found that the right eye was so badly torn and shattered as to make an operation for its removal indispensable. Dr Stenhouse, the ophthalmic surgeon at the hospital, performed the operation, The unfortunate girl was conscious when driven to the hospital. Mr Hagan makes the following statement regarding the affair:— "I was out rabbit shooting on Saturday near Cargill's. Another young fellow named William Dunn, who lives at Mornington, was with me. It is his gun that we used. Young Tom Keating, about fourteen years old, was with us. We all used the gun. I fired the two barrels, and then handed the gun to Dunn. He loaded the right-hand barrel with the last charge of shot we had and gave the gun to Keating, who fired the right-hand barrel. That was the last time the gun was fired before we came home. Dunn told me to take the gun home and clean it. Yesterday, after dinner, I took the gun out to do so, believing it was empty. I put on two caps to clear the nipples first. I did not raise the gun to my shoulder. The girl was just opposite me, and her father standing near by, I was talking to the girl, and I put out the gun in front of me and pulled the light trigger. The cap exploded, I then pulled the left trigger, and the barrel discharged. The left barrel must have missed fire when I thought I fired it on Saturday. That is the only way I can account for what happened." The above statement seems to fairly describe the occurrence, and we may add that Mr Keating's family express the opinion that the affair was purely accidental. Hagen, who is very much cut up, says that he is fairly well accustomed to the use of firearms, and it appears from all that can be made out that he was not larking with the gun in the way of pretending to shoot at the girl. The gun was, of course, pointed her way at the time it went off, but it was apparently an accident that it was so. Inquiring from Dr Coughtrey this morning we learn that the case will be a critical one for two or three days, and that if Miss Keating does recover there is very little hope of her ever regaining the sight of her left eye, which was also torn by the shot. Mr Keating himself, who was at the hospital when our reporter called at his residence to-day, had a narrow escape. He was standing on the lower level of the yard when the shot was fired, and the pellets went over his head. -ES, 19/12/1892.
MISS Keating was accidentally shot in the face on Saturday, at Donedin, by an individual named Kobert Hagan, and her injuries are very severe, and her face very much disfigured. -Ellesmerer Guardian, 21/12/1892.
Pitiful. — The doctors fear that Miss Keating, who was shot in the face in South Dunedin on Sunday week by a young man who was "fooling" with a gun, will be blind for life. -Southland Times, 28/12/1892.
Messrs D. S. Jolly, J. B. Fergusson, and Dr Stenhouse waited on his Worship the Mayor on Thursday morning to consult him as to the best means of raising funds in aid of Miss Keating, who was accidentally shot lately, and will in all probability lose her sight in consequence. It was decided that the above gentlemen form a committee, with power to add to their number, and that subscription lists be sent to the various factories in the city and suburbs. The open air performance of "The Messiah" in aid of the fund will be held in the Caledonian grounds on 14th January, under the patronage of the Most Rev. Bishop Moran. -Otago Witness, 5/1/1893.
KEATING BENEFIT.
Under the patronage of His Excellence the Earl of Glasgow, KCMG
CALEDONIAN GROUNDS.
THIS AFTERNOON,
In the presence of His Excellency the Governor, the Countess of Glasgow, and Suite,
Handel's Grand Oratorio,
THE MESSIAH
Will be performed by a CHORUS of 300 and ORCHESTRA of 50.
Conductor
Signor R. Squarise, R.C.M.T,
Organist Mr W. J. Taylor, F.C.O.
Leader of Orchestra
Mr E, Parker.
Gates open at 2 o'clock.
MESSIAH at 3.
Choristers are requested to be in their places by 2.45.
Musical Selections by the KAIKORAI BAND, from 2.45.
Fund Treasurer: His Worship the Mayor of Dunedin,
JAS. B. FERGUSSON, Hon. Secretary.
____________________________________________
THE KEATING BENEFIT.
MEMBERS of the CALEDONIAN SOCIETY are respectfully requested NOT TO MAKE USE of their TICKETS of MEMBERSHIP.
JOHN GLEGG, Secretary. -Otago Daily Times, 28/1/1893.
Dunedin, Saturday. The experiment of giving an open-air performance of "The Messiah" was tried to-day on the Caledonian Ground, and proved successful. The weather was dull, but fine, and not a breath of wind was stirring. The chorus and orchestra, numbering about 300, were in the grand stand, and most of the audience, numbering over 3000, and including the Governor and Lady Glasgow and suite, were on the ground below. Only the choruses were given. At the conclusion Signor Squarise, who conducted, was presented to his Excellency and congratulated. The performance was in aid of Miss Keating, who has lost both her eyes by being accidentally shot just before Christmas. After the "Messiah" performance the Governor inspected the local Volunteers, who mustered well. -Hawkes Bay Herald, 30/1/1894.
Mr J. B. Fergusson has received encouraging reports from the principal of the Jubilee Institute for the Blind, at Auckland, concerning the progress which has been made by Miss Keating, who, it will be remembered, was rendered blind by an unfortunate gun accident at South Dunedin. Miss Keating has mastered the Braille and Moor types, the theory of music, and the type-writer; also learned to wash, mangle, and iron; will shortly be taught to cook; and is at present studying the violia, organ, and piano. Miss Keating adds that she is very well and happy, and thinks she is getting on very nicely. -ODT, 23/8/1894.
Miss Keating, who was injured by a gun accident at South Dunedin, will have been in the Jubilee Institute for the Blind two years at the end of July, and it is proposed that she shall remain there till her studies are finished. There is still £200, with £10 to be added for interest, to credit of the trust, of which Mr J. B. Fergusson is the hoc. secretary, and as showing that this fund has been economically administered we may state that the actual expenses to date come to only 15s. -ODT, 27/2/1895.
The Keating Trust Committee are bringing their labors to a conclusion, and intend to shortly present a final report to the subscribers. We understand that, as the outcome of the public effort on behalf of Miss Keating when she lost her eyesight by a gun accident, the cost of her training at the Auckland Blind School has been defrayed, she has a pianoforte, a typewriter, and a cottage, and is now credited with £7l in the bank. -Evening Star, 10/7/1897.
Mary Cecilia Keating died at the age of 80 in 1955, at the home of the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Southern Cemetery, Dunedin. DCC photo.
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