THE INQUEST.

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 116, 29 March 1892, Page 2

THE INQUEST.

Caleb Cull deposed : Ho was the father of the deceased ; on Sunday ho last saw him alive, between 8 and 9 p.m. when he left to go shooting with E. Rowlands ; he had a gun with him ; he was fond of shooting ; he was m his usual spnifca ; he understood well how to use a gun ; ho and Rowlauds were always on the best of terms ; they have known 9:ieh other for two years ; witness was quite satisfied the affair was accidental ; could not say if E. liowlauds thoroughly understood a gun ; deceased was 30 years of age. Ernest Rowlands deposed : Ho was a laborer working for his father ; kuew tbe deceased John Cull, arranged with him ou Saturday to go shooting on Sunday, deceased called for witness at 9 a.m. ; he had a gun with him ; witness had an old gun which he loaded on leaving the house ; the}' went in the direction of lulford's bush ; witness fired at a kaka but did not kill it ; witness loaded again directly; they sat down and talked about things in general ; witness had always been friends with Johnny : they again proceeded through the bush, Cull leadiug by some distance, but witness could alwaysseehiin; after they got to the clearing Cull said "Look out for pheasants"; witness half cocked his gun and they were walking on when the guv of witness went off (the gun was produced and appeared in perfect order) ; they were among tangled vines, one of which may have caught the trigger ; Cull was about six yards away from witness at the time; when he called out witness rushed to himand caught deceased as he was falling; witness was not sure at the time whose gun had gone off, but h.e saw snioke then issuing from his own gun, also the spot on the back of the deceased where the charge had entered near the right shoulder; Cull said " Old man you have shot me " ; witness then laid deceased on the grass and ran for assistance to his father ; got a stretcher and followed his father to the spot where they found Cull dead ; was away about half an hour. By the Coroner : Did not feel anything pull his gun when it went off. By a juryman : Cull was dying when witness left him. Thos. Rowlands deposed : He was a blacksmith hying at Hiwinui ; about 12 o'clock on Sunday his wife and son rushed in and told him the Litter had shot Jack Cull ; sent one son for a doctor aud another for help, and told Ernest to fol low him ; wont to the spot and found Cull lying on his side dead ; assisted to carry the body home. Hans Law deposed that when he was sent for he took water and painkiller with him ; saw that Cull was dead, and assisted to carry the body to the father's house. W. N. Satchell deposed: He was a medical practitioner residing iv Palmerston North ; arrived at the scene of the accideut and saw the body of the deceased in the father's house ; made a superficial examination of the body ; found the marks of a gunshot wound over the lower part of the right lung behind ; concluded that death had resulted, within a very few minutes after the wound was received; there was no other mark of violence on the body ; death resulted from bleeding within the lung. Constable Brown having given the usual formal evidence the jury, of which Mr Murphy was foreman, brought in a verdict of " Accidental Death." The jury were of an opinion that more care should be exercised by sportsmen when in the bush.