FORTY-ONE SHOTS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 162, 5 April 1921, Page 5

FORTY-ONE SHOTS

THE RIVERTON SENSATION TRAGIC STRUGGLE ON RAILWAY STATION Fofty-one shots were fired by the- Russian, Koorman Tomayegg, when he ran amok on the railway station at Riverton (65 miles from Adelaide) on March 22, and killed Mr. Percival Brookfield, M.L.A., besides wounding four other persons. An eye-witness of tho sensational episode was Mounted Constable Woodhead, who described it as follows:—

"I was at the station when the train arrived. I saw the prisoner step off tho train in company with two or three other men, and I took particular notice of this group. I walked up towards them. As I was approaching them two shots were fired, and I saw one man fall. Another man was held up by by-standers and placed in a compartment. Another shot went -between me and the train. Then another hit the metal on the line. The man ■ then ran up the platform and I ran towards him. He fired two or three shots at me point blank. I was not armed in any way, and did not have my uniform on. I got behind the picket fence of the Clare platform. I was powerless. The man had only to step over the end of it and he had me. He lost sight of me. .Ijowever, and ran back to the platform and fired seven shots in rapid succession. He followed me to the eiid of the platform and went Track again and reloaded. I decided to take a sportsman’s risk and ran across the metal, jumped a fence, and hid behind some stinkwort in a paddock nearby. Without arms I was absolutely helpless. He had one shot at me while I was hiding in the stinkwort, and it whizzed over my body. Then his attention was diverted from me for a moment, and he went to the end of the platform and once more reloaded. Altogether he fired 41 shots. Somebody fired two shots at him with a rifle. There was a New South Wales policeman, on the. train, but I did not know at the time. Mr. Brookfield asked him for a revolver which he had. Mr. Brookfield took the revolver and ran right out in the open, firing as he went. The Russian put three bullets into him, and I heard them strike. By this time I had possession of a revolver and rifle. They were brought across to me by the postmaster. By this time the crowd had got all round the prisoner and they would have hung and Quartered him had they got hold of 1 ira. The Russian’s revolver jammed, and that stopped him shooting.. Three fellows on either side pounced upon him simultaneously with me. I said 'knock his brains out? Somebody gave him a crack on the head and down he went. Even with that blow it took four of us all our time to secure him and get the handcuffs on. Wo got Mr. Brookfield away, and he seemed fatally hurt. The other people were taken into the railway station and attended to by a doctor.” The assistant stationmaster stated that the shooting occurred about five minutes after the arrival of the train, which was an hour and ten minutes late. It was a full train, and contained about 200 passengers. The alarm went up that a man had run amok. Two shots were heard, and a man was seen hurrying up towards the' other end of the platform. A young man.' a passenger on the train, picked up some stones, and threw them at the Russian, but did not hit him. The Russian turned his revolver on tho young man, and fired at him point blank without any shots taking effect. He also had three shots at a young woman, but missed her. By this time the platform had been cleared. Anyone who stepped out on to the platform was fired at. The stationmaster gave orders for the train to be taken out of the station, and this was done. While the train was leaving the Russian started shooting again, and fired ten or eleven shots at the train. A window which was being shut down by one of the cleyks was smashed by a bullet. Ths man again went up to the end of the platform, which he had to himself. firing shots in the direction of the stationmaster’s office.

The late Mr. Percival .T. Brookfield was born in Liverpool (England) 41 years' ago, and at the age of thirteen years went to sea. That life was not attractive to him, and 'two years later he left the vessel on which he was employed in Melbourne. For the past twenty-three years he had been engaged as a mining prospector and underground miner in Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales. The last six and a half years were.spent at Broken Hill. When the 1916 referendum campaign was being fought Mr. Brookfield strongly opposed conscription fotr service abroad, and when fined . .£5 with the alternative of a month’s imprisonment for making certain statements, went to gaol rather than pay the fine. On coming out of gaol' early in June he had no intention of seeking n seat in Parliament, but consented to contest the by-election for Sturt, with the result that he was returned on February 5, 1917, as member for the district. Because of the part he pleyed in ths. breakaway from the official Labour Conference in 1919, Mr. Brookfield was expelled front the Australian Labouj Party, which refused to endorse his nomination. Then followed the breakaway in local Labour circles, and the Independent Labour Party came into being. This party ran Mr. Brookfield at the State elections on March 20, 4920. He was returned ns one of the three repres“ntntives for Sturt. During the session of jhe new Parliament Mr. Brookfield gave fairly consistent support to tho Storey Government, but frequently adopted the attitude of the candid critic on the floor of the House. It was generally understood that ho would have been reinstated as a member of the official Labour Party at the annual conference. Notwithstanding his extreme views. Mr. Brookfield enjoyed great personal popularity among members of the House.