THE WAIKINO TRAGEDY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2649, 23 October 1923, Page 3

THE WAIKINO TRAGEDY.

FUNERAL OF THE VICTIMS. MURDERER SAYS DEVIL EN- ' TERED INTO HIM. Waihi, Last Night. The funeral of the two victims of the Waikino -school-house tragedy, the two lads, McLean, aged 13, and Stewart, aged 9, who were shot dead by John C. Higgins, took place at the Waihi cemetery yesterday afternoon. The hearse bearing the coffins was followed by several hundreds, including the teachers and pupils of the Waihi and Waikino public schools. The community is still profoundly stirred by the awfulness of the man’s act and grave anxiety is felt for the lives of Mr Robert T. Reid, the headmaster, ' Constable H. G. Olsen, and, Alexander Bustard, aged ,13 years. Some slight improvement in the condition of all these three was reported to-day, while the girl, Kathleen MeGarry, is now out of danger. A pathetic incident is reported in the ease of fhe shooting of the lad McLean. The latter appealingly' put out his hands to Higgins and said: “You won’t shoot me, Mi* Higgins? I want to go home to my mother.” The lad was well known toHiggins, the McLeans and Higgins being neighbours. In the shooting of the lad Raymond Shaw, the latter was in the act of climbing out of the window when a bullet struck him on his fingers, which caused him to fall back into- the schoolroom. He crawled and hid under the desks and later, when Higgins was shooting in another part of the building, he made a second and successful attempt to climb out of the window.

According to Higgins’ own statement to the police, he appeared to have had no particular resentment against the Education Board and made no complaint against the headmaster or teaching staff. He ~said that during the past three years he had lost three or four horses and his loss he attributed to the action of settlers in the neighbourhood. He said the devil entered into him when he shot Reid and he didn’t clearly know what he was doing after, but added that he was sine he didn’t fire at any girl. Higgins has a wife and two boys, aged 16 and 6 years. The former left-school last Christmas and the other had not started to go to school. His wife is a small thin woman, whom he married in Canada just before leaving that country for New Zealand. During the 3.6 years they have beea on the present bush holding his wife had only been in Waikino township about half a dozen times,