INVERCARGILL TRAGEDY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3770, 5 September 1907, Page 3

INVERCARGILL TRAGEDY.

Jealous and Unrequited Lover. Shoots a Young Woman. And Attempts Suicide. Both In Serious Condition. Invercargill, Septemper 4. Shortly after 11 o’clock last night a shocking scene took place at Nightcaps. Henry Reid, a miner, about twenty-two years of age, was the principal participant. He is a Tasmanian, and came to live at Nightcaps seven months ago. Reid has lodged with Mrs Gibbon nearly the whole of that period, and it seems that be fell in love with Miss Lydia Gibbon, twenty-two years of age. She however, did not encourage his attentions, being engaged to another, a flaxmiller in the district. About a month ago she told Reid finally how she was placed, and that she could not have anything to do with him. OVERCOME BY JEALOUSY. Jealousy appears to have be?n working till last night, when Reid could contain himself no longer. He had been working in the mine J till 8 o’clock. He went home /dressed, went to receive his pay at / about nine, and returned at ten. One of Miss Gibbon’s sisters, aged fourteen, gave him supper, and a few minutes later Lydia herself came in. Her sister retired, leaving the two alone, the rest of the family being in bed. The onl3 r sound audible in the house was the quiet talking of the man and girl in the kitchen. - Not longiafter eleven, F. Gibbon, a carpenter, was startled by hearing two shots fired in quick succession, and another, muffled, a few minutes later. At first it did not strike him that the sound was from a firearm. He concluded it was the banging of a door. But presently he heard groans, and rose to find out the cause, but hearing nothing more, returned to his room, thinking that the groans came from some of the younger members of the fapiily, who were suffering from whooping cough. Alt was not until J. Foster, a miner, who slept in an adjoining room, awoke him that he became alarmed. Foster cried, “ Whatever is the matter ?” and both men got up without delay. There were lights burning in both dining room t and kitchen. jl ' THE GIRL DISCOVERED. F" On opening the door leading outside from the kitchen they stumbled across the prostrate body of Miss Gibbon, lying in a pool of blood. The two men carried the girl into the house, and Dr Baird and the police were at once summoned, < The young woman’s face was blackened with the smoke from the powder, and a bullet wound was seen just over her right eye. She was quite unconscious. About a chain away from the house, in an adjoining section, is a well about twenty-five feet deep, holding four or five feet of water. Here Reid was found groaning and clutching a rope. Gibbon went down the rope and the swooning man was hauled up. He was all but unconscious, having shot himself through the palate. BOTH IN A SERIOUS CON- / DITION. This morning both sufferers were taken to Riverton Hospital. The doctor reports that both cases are very serious. Reid is shot through the palate, and the bullet has lodged in an inaccessible place at the base of the brain. The condition of Miss Gibbon is, if anything, more serious. She is also shot in the thigh. The doctor holds out little hope of recovery in either case. So far neither has been able to speak. A packet of strychnine, purchased from an Invercargill chemist, was found in one of Reid’s pockets. Miss Gibbon was at one time an attendant at Seacliffe Asylum. Invercargill, Septembers. The latest news from Nightcaps is that there is a chance of recovery both in Reid and Miss Gibbons. She was able to say, “No, thank kou,” when asked if she wanted) a drink of water. It is stated that if she survives she will not lose the sight of the left eye, under which the bullet entered.