WAIKINO TRAGEDY.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 October 1923, Page 4

WAIKINO TRAGEDY.

FUNERAL OF VICTIMS. WAIHI, Oct. 'Z'2. 'llio funeral of tile two victims of til.. Waikino sclioolhouse tragedy, when twi lads M’Lean (13) and Stewart (9;, were shot dead by John C. Higgins, took place at tho Waihi Cemetery yesterday afternoon. The hearse hearing the Collins was followed by several hundreds of persons including tho teachers and pupils of the Waihi and Waikino public schools. The community still is profoundly stirred by the awfulness of the man’s act and tho grave anxiety felt for the lives of Robert T. Reid, head master. Constable H. Olsen and Alexander Luster, aged IJ years. Some slight improvement in tlie condition cl the three was reported to-day. while the girl Kathleen M'fiarry is out id' danger. A pathetic incident is reported in the case of the shooting of the lad M’Lean. The hoy appealingly put out his hands to lliggins and said “Von won't shoot me. .Mr Higgins. I want to go home c, my mother.” The lad was wellknown to lliggins. the M'Leans and Higgins being neighbours. In the shooting of the lad Raymond Shaw the latter was in the act of climbing out of a window when a bullet struck him on his lingers, which caused him to fall hack into the schoolroom. Ho crawled and hid under the disks, and later when lliggins was shooting at another part of the building he made a second and successful attempt to climb out of the window. According to Higgins’ own statement to the police it appears he had no particular resentment against the Education Board, and made no complaint against the head-master nr teaching stall’, lie said that during the past three years he had lust three or four horses and the loss he attributed to the nation of the settlers in I lie neighbourhood. lie said tilt' devil entered into him when he shot Mr Iteid. and he did not clearly know v. hat lv was fining after, but he added he uus sure he did not tile at any girl. lliggins has a wile and two hoys aged 10 and 0 years. The elder left school last Christmas and the other had not started to go to school. His wife is a small, thin woman, whom he married in Canada just before lent mg that country for New 7>eatnnd. -luring the sixteen years they had been on their present hush h iding his wife had onlv been in the Waikino u>« ii-Lip about half a dozen times.