ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1493, 6 January 1916, Page 3

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

BODY FOUND IN A DITCH. Stratford, January 5. An inquest was concluded last night on the body of Francis Uulonberg, an elder!} farmer ot the Mid hirst district, who was last seen on 23rd December. The body was found in a ditch by the roadside near Midhirst, on 28th December. Lengthy evidence was taken, but no indication was given of the manner of death. A verdict was returned of “Found dead,” but there was no evidence to show how death occurred. THE DEADLY PEA RIFLE. Elthajx, January 4. A pitiful accident occurred on the Stewart road this morning, when Joseph John Robertson, aged two years and eleven months, was shot dead with a pea rifle by a young companion aged eight, who was a visitor from Auckland. From what is learned the rifle was left in a shed over night with a bullet in it, the rifle being of an old-fashioned type from which the bullet cannot be extracted. Childish curiosity prompted the eight-year-old boy to examine the weapon, with the tragic result recorded above.