Attempted Murder.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3642, 24 April 1906, Page 3

Attempted Murder.

A little excitement was caused on Saturday last when it became known that a man named John Owen, employed by Mr Percy Easton, on his dairy farm at Moutoa, had attempted to shoot his employer. It appears from information received that Easton wished his employee to do some work on the Saturday morning, but Owen refused, and demanded payment of his work up to then. He had only been employed about a week. Easton refused, stating that he would pay him that night, but Owen refused, and showed fight. He started off by brandishing an axe, and under threat, Easton went into the whare and wrote out a cheque. Next Owen demanded all the money Easton had on him, instead of the cheque, but there was no money about, so Owen flung the cheque and book away from him and made himself possessed of a gun that was handy. He threatened Easton’s life with this, and after claiming some cartridges let one off in the air to see that it worked all right. With the next he threatened to do for his employer and afterwards burn the whare down, remarking at the same time that no one would be any the wiser. At this, Easton made tracks across the paddocks, and cleared a high fence to his own astonishment, in his travels. Meanwhile, Owen had some trouble in getting cartridges to fit the barrel of the gun owing to their being a little large. Eventually he succeeded, but the shot missed the mark, and Easton got clear away. The police were communicated with, and a search revealed the gun with a cartridge partly jammed in the barrel of the gun. The police are still Oa the look-out. Owen has been engaged at several of the mills in the vicinity ofFoxton, and is spoken of as being of an exceptionally melancholy disposition.