The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 4.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 400, 4 June 1880, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 4.

Now that the shooting season has set in, we presume that we may expect to hear of the usual number of accidents due to the incredibly careless use of firearms which, in spite of repeated frightful examples, yet prevails among so many who call themselves sportsmen. A fatal accident has occurred lately which serves as a striking illustration of what we are referring to, and if it were possible to instil caution into the fools who, according to Oarlyle, form the bulk of the population, ought to have that effect. We have no wish to hurt the feelings of the survivor or his friends, therefore will not mention the real names of the parties concerned, but the occurrence is a sad and serious fact. Two young men (call them Brown and Jones) went out shooting together. They had two horses, but only one serviceable gun which was a double-barreled one. After one or two unsuccessful shots came the catastrophe. We shall let the unfortunate survivor tell how it happened in his own words. This is what he said at the inquest:—

" I fired, but missed. It was then that Q B asked me to come to him for ammunition, as mine was in the pecketsof my great coat, which was strapped on my horse behind the saddle, while he wore his shot-belt round his body. I went between the horses at deceased's right side, and he poured the charges from the flask into the right barrel of the gun, which was the one that had been discharged, and I rammed thorn home. The left barrel of the gun was still at full cock, as from tlie time I fired to the time I went to the deceased I had not let down the hammer of the left barrel. I got a cap from deceased, and was raising the gun with my left hand to put the cap on, when the horses came together and threatened to jam me botween them. Fearing an accident with the gun, I Btepped back to avoid being crushed between the horses, and in doing so I dragged the gun towards me to clear the horses. In stepping back, the left barrel of the gun went off, but whether tbe trigger caught in my clothes or hit against my arm, I cannot say. The charge lodged in the calf of George's right leg, who immediately said, v My God, I am shot I"

Fancy a man, professing to be be in the full possession of his senses, starting to load one barrel with the other loaded and at fall cock, and doing this while standing between two horses, one being held by his friend, who was sitting on the other. The accident having occurred, his next proceeding was only what might have been expected. He lays his friend down, makes no attempt to stop the flow of blood, and starts off on foot for assistance, the nearest house being over a mile away. To a question as to whether he did not think it necessary to bind up the wound, the witness answers in the negative, upon which the Coroner remarks:— " There must have been some very great bleeding at some time, for by it the lad lost his life. You went away for someone else, who probably knew as little how to act as you did yourself. You should at onco have put some sort of a light bandage above tho wound—between it and the heart. If you had done so, }'ou would have saved the young man's life." Bitter words these for one who describes himself as the " close and intimate friend of deceased " to hear, but not uncalled for, and, possibly, salutary. It is not at all likely that a shot wound in the calf of the leg would have caused the death of a young and hearty man. That death was really due to gross neglect of the very commonest precautions.

It would be well that the remarks made by the Coroner in this case (himself a medical man) should be circulated as widely as possible. In this district accidents are very likely to occur in places where surgical aid cannot be procured without the lapse of a considerable time —very often sufficient to turn the scale between life and death. It is true that we should have thought that our very school children would have had sufficient same to take those precautions, but experience constantly teaches the contrary, and we therefore quote the the concluding portion of the Coroner's remarks, in the hope that they may perhaps prove useful in a contingency which may occur any d*.y.

From the rcportof the inquest we learn that " The Coroner, in referring to the young man's death, which had evidently taken place from a loss of blood that might have been prevented by judicious precautions, saw that fatal results often attended accidents simply from the want of a little useful knowledge. It was well that people should know how to act when placed in circumstances similar to those in which p found himself last Sunday. When n wound was inflicted on any part of a person's leg below the knee, a bandage, of any kind, tied tightly round the knee would stop the bleeding. Whercevcr the limb was wounded, and excessive blooding resulted, a tight bandage put round the limb, between the wound and the heart would stop the bleeding. Even when a bandage could not be well applied, placing the thumb upon the artery in the groin, where the pulsations are felt, and pressing strongly, would stop the bleeding for a time. Tho game

course of bandaging would be successful with the arm ; and where the hand had been injured, bleeding could be stopped by doubling the forearm at the elbow, and passing the bandage tightly round both forearm and bleep—the thick part under the shoulder. He hoped the Press would take note of these simple instrucr tions, and impress their necessity upon the public."