A Man Shoots at his Wife.

Manawatu Herald, 29 October 1898, Page 2

A Man Shoots at his Wife.

The occurence... tooJkDlacjß,. at the house ofa man named Thomas Harry Baker at Silverstream. Baker? who had been absent during Wednesday, arrived home at about half-past 5 o'clock in the evening. Immediately on arrival he accosted his wife and inquired why she had not given a rote to Mudgway, the baker, which he had left to be handed to him when he B called. Mrs Baker replied, stating that she had waited for him, but he was late in calling, and she was obliged to go away and get the cows in, and before she returned he (Mudgway) had called and gone away again. 1 The outcome of this* was that the , man commenced to abuse his wife. 1 They were in the bedroom, at the time

and (so Mrs Baker alleges) he took uj his gun, which was loaded. Pre sen .lag it at her, he srid, "If yoi Stir, I'D shoot you lihe a rabbi':." Mrs Baker caught hold of .he ba_ is\ of the weapon and pushed ii to on< -Ide, when it went off and struck the .vashstand jug standing close by Smashing it to atoms. L.ker t 'he_, i 1^ alleged, ali^.c'. her on the head v/i'l the barrel of ihe g« n. *fhe women, vho was in mo-lal tei. or, rushed oue of -he room and ovi of the house, and did no. relur a , sleeoinjin an oulhO-Ge. The Coa st&bie found Mrs Ea'.er at he. fr iter:' s hbuse. Afcer malJrg invesu*ai_o_ the constable went to looh for E. e_'. whom he found about to take a C-._ to Trentham. The officer asked him what had occurred between hims^'f and hh wi c, and Baker replied by alluding, at .iie outset, to the neglect of his wi'e i i not delivering the note he had ent . :*sted to her to deliver. He then said, "We were in the bedroom, and I picked up the gun and said ' .C 3 here, Polly, I'm— —if I know ,_ bat the prevents me from shooting you lihe this.' And I let fire at the v/ashing-jug. I then threw the gun on the bed and walked out." Constable Patton arrested Baker, and took charge of the gnu. a singlebarrel breechloader. There was a careddge in it, a fact to which he drew the man's attention. . Ea'.er mrde some escuse about this, and then said, " The flrsi opportunity I get I will cut my throat, or else make a job oi' it like Chemis." The man appeared as it he had been recently dr_n__-_ ."?. There were wild rumours about 'he city la_c ni^ht that Mrs E-.':er had been badly rjj ured, bnt a . am ." er of fact she Only sue! c ined a snr'l lm~np on the head and a scr ach ove_ tbe eyebrow. — N.Z. " Times."