THE DEADLY PEA RIFLE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2771, 29 March 1910, Page 5

THE DEADLY PEA RIFLE.

A FATALITY AND A SERIOUS WOUND. TPon Pmcss Association.! DUNEDIN, March 28.. The inquest on trie oo<ly of Geoffrey Fisher, who died in the hospital this morning from the effects of a wound in the groin sustained as a result of a poa rifle accident at Middlemarch, was opened to-night. Geoffrey Fisher, the father of deceased, gav e evidence that deceased and two boys named Mc. Corkindale and Mcßantney were in company when the accident happened. Deceased loaded the rifle and shortly afterwards McCorkindale .picked it up. As he lifted it the hammer slipped, and the rifle w r ent out, the bullet lodging in deceased's groin. The inquest was adjourned till Wednesday evening. The boys McCorkindale and Mcßantney have been brought before the Court at Middlemarch on a charge of being in possession of firearms "while under 16 years of age. The boys were severely admonish eel, and ordered to pay costs. The firearm was coniTseated. An adult wlio gave the rifle to Mcßantney about a year ago would also have been prose, euted but for the fact that th e time limit for laying an information had expired. A farmer named James Hewson, aged 60 years, was accidentally shot in the back at Tahitita on Friday. His son was loading a pea rifle, which went off, the bullet lodging in Hewson’s back. The injured 1 man was brought to the hospital to-night, and an effort will be made to locate the bullet.