DISTRESSING FATALITY
WALLACETOWN LAD SHOT.
GUN ACCIDENTALLY DISCHARGED.
A distressing fatality occurred at Wallacetown on Tuesday evening when Ernest Galbraith Townshend, 18 years of age, accidentally shot himself in the head while out shooting rabbits.
The youth, who is the son of Mr Herbert Townshend, bricklayer and farmer of Wallacetown, was in the habit of going out shooting rabbits in the evening, and slept in a hut situated a short distance from his parents’ residence. On Tuesday evening his sister saw him about 6.30 p.m., when he told her that it was his intention to attend a dance at Waikiwi later on that evening. As he slept in the hut his absence was not noticed, but about 7.30 a.m. yesterday morning, his sister found him lying beside a barb-wire fence, with a gunshot wound in the head which had proved fatal. His single-barrel gun was lying beside him with the discharged cartridge in the breech. It was apparent that he had been getting through the fence, when the trigger caught on the wire, discharging the gun.
The lad’s family are highly respected residents of the district, and a great deal of sympathy will be felt for them.
An inquest will be held at Wallacetown at 9 a.m. this morning before the ActingCoroner, Mr J. Ward, J.P. -Southland Times, 2/4/1925.
DEATHS
TOWNSHEND — Accidentally killed at Wallacetown, on Tuesday, March 31, 1925, Ernest Galbraith, beloved son of Herbert and Emma Townshend; aged 18 years. The funeral will leave his parents’ residence, Wallacetown, at 2 p.m. on Friday, the 3rd inst., for the Wallacetown (new) Cemetery. Friends please accept this (the only) intimation. — Macdonald & Weston, Undertakers. -Southland Times, 3/4/1925.
ACCIDENTAL DEATH
WALLACETOWN FATALITY.
INQUIRY BY ACTING-CORONER.
TRAGIC CIRCUMSTANCES.
An inquest concerning the circumstances of the death of a young man, named Ernest Galbraith Townshend, who was found dead in a paddock at his father’s farm at Wallacetown on Wednesday morning, was held yesterday morning before the ActingCoroner, Mr James Ward, and a Jury of four, of which Mr J. G. Jenkins was Foreman.
Senior Sergeant G. Scandrett represented the police.
Jessie Townshend, a sister of the deceased, said she last saw him alive at about 6.30 p.m. on March 31, when he was in his hut about one chain away from the house. He had then informed her that he was going to a dance at Waikiwi. As far as she was aware there was nothing to worry deceased. When about to turn the cows out after milking the following morning she discovered her brother lying dead in the paddock. It was a usual thing for him to go shooting rabbits in the evenings.
Herbert Townshend, father of the unfortunate boy, identified the remains as those of his son, Ernest Galbraith Townshend, eighteen years of age. The boy, who was an apprentice bricklayer by occupation, was quite capable of handling a gun, which in this case was a single barrelled one, though he was at times inclined to be somewhat careless. The only conclusion that witness could come to was that the boy was killed as he dragged the gun through the barbed-wire fence about 250 yards from the house.
Constable T. Beadle stated that he was advised of the accident by the Rev. Mr French and when he arrived at Mr Townshend’s property he found the body lying about five yards from the fence. Deceased had no cartridges in his possession, but he found an empty shell case in the gun. The face and skull were partly blown away. Both Dr. Barclay and himself had tried the gun on the barb-wire and it had snapped the trigger when drawn through. By the nature of the injury the gun must have been close to the temple. When the deceased was getting through the fence his head would be in the line of fire. It was, he thought, quite clear that the gun had gone off accidentally through the trigger coming in contact with one of the barbs in the fence.
The Jury returned a verdict that the deceased was accidentally killed by the discharge of a shot gun whilst out in search of rabbits.
The Acting-Coroner, on behalf of the Jury and himself, expressed their deep sorrow and sympathy with the relatives at the untimely death of the boy and these remarks were endorsed by Senior-Sergeant Scandrett. -Southland Times, 3/4/1925.
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