FATALITY AT MERCER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 155, 1 July 1907, Page 5

FATALITY AT MERCER.

MAN: AO3DEWTALLY SHOOTS HIMSELF. A young man, aged 25 .years, named David Adams, accidentally shot himself at Mercer yesterday morning, and died in the train while being removed to the Auckland hospital. The deceased was employed at a flaxmill near Mercer. His mother and brother reside at Pokeno.

An inquest was held at the Auckland hospital at 11.30 to-day by the Coroner (Mr. T. Gresham) and a jury of six.

Dr. C. G. Aickin, senior medical resident officer at the hospital, stated that he had examined the body on its arrival at the hospital, and considered that the man had then been dead for about threequarters of an hour. The charge had entered under the left armpit, and the wound of exit was in the left shoulder i just behind the shoulder blade. The ! wound of entrance was immediately over the main blood-vessel? of the arm, ! and these were severed. The wound might have been the result of an accident. The cause of deatE was shock and haemorrhage. Constable Waterman, stationed at Mercer, stated that he had known deceased for the last twelve months. On being called to the scene or the accident he examined the rifle, and found that the charge which caused the accident was the last in the magazine. Everything that was possible had been done for the sufferer. Septimus Reginald Smith, bush-con-tractor, residing at Mercer, deposed that ha had previously known Adams for only a few days before the accident. About 10 ajn. yesterday, deceased, witness, and his two brothers, and two other men named Rowe and Dix, went out for shooting practice to the opposite side of the river from Mercer. They had with them a Winchester repeating- rifle, owned by deceased. They all had a turn at target shooting, and finally one of witness' brothers handed, the rifle to deceased, with only one cartridge remaining in the magazine. Deceased had loaded the gun himself. The shooting having been suspended, deceased started to explain the mechanism of the gun to the others. After that they all began playing with a dog which had accompanied them, and deceased, holding the rifle in his right hand, was throwing a small toy wheel to teach the animal to retrieve. Just as the dog returned with the wheel in its mouth, Adams shifted the rifle to his left side, placing it, with the butt on the ground, at his feet, and the muzzle resting on his thigh. The dog rose up on its hind legs, scratched down the barrel, and, presumably, fired the trigger, the hammer in that case being necessarily at full cock. The charge entered deceased's left armpit, and the wound bled profusely. After the accident, Adams expressed the opinion that he had himself lowered the hammer to "safety," just previous to the occurrence. He was removed to an adjacent house, and subsequently to the railway station. A messenger was sent for Dr. Reekie, of Pukekohe, who, on arrival, ordered his removal to the Auckland Hospital, a special train being procured for the purpose. The doctor effectually stopped the hemorrhage, but Adams died in the train while passing through Pukekohe.

The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental Death," no blame being attachable to anyone.