WAIKINO TRAGEDY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4618, 29 October 1923, Page 2

WAIKINO TRAGEDY.

HIGGINS BEFORE THE COURT. REMANDED TILL SATURDAY NEXT Over one hundred people were present at the Auckland Poljce Court on Saturday morning, when John Higgins, aged 57, the central figure in the Waikino school shooting tragedy, was ushered in. A very brief glimpse of Higgins was allowed. Handcuffed, he entered t(he dock, followed by a constable. The clerk, Mr Hewlett, read the charge: “John Higgins, you are charged that on the 19th October, 1923, at Waikino, you did murder one Kelvyn Morris McLean, and one Charles Allan Stewart;” “I ask for a remand in this case, your Worship,” said Senior-Sergeant Rawle. “Yes,” said Mr F. K. Hunt, S.M. " “Till Saturday next, sir,” said the senior-sergeant. “Very well, Saturday next,” said the magistrate. “I appear for accused, if your Worship pleases,” said Mr J. J- Sullivan. Higgins,, wearing a dark suit and a blue shirt without a necktie, was apparently calm. He stood in the dock with his arms pinioned behind, and stared at the magistrate unblinkingly. The wound on his nose, said to have been caused by a kick in the struggle which occurred at the. time of his arrest, was plainly visible. Immediately after the remand had been granted Higgins was tapped on the shoulder by Constable McDonald, and,, turning, he disappeared behind, a crowd of policemen into the prisoners room, from which he wals transferred to a police van and conveyed back to Mount Eden Gaol.