TIRAU TRAGEDY.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 267, 20 December 1928, Page 5

TIRAU TRAGEDY.

L > CORONER’S INQUEST. Bfe.--|jL . Dangers of Fumes. circumstances connected with ■Re-'deaths ofiStanley Owen Chapman, ■ fTrevor Chapman, aged 16, who dieti Sts the result of gunshot wounds iTirau on Sunday, December -2nti, HMMgfce subject of an. inquest held ast week before Mr. 'l'. r * ' acting-coroner, and a Inspector Eccles, of ■ *;- '■ij w .'' 1| the on police. -|f was given by •!,; farmer, Tirau, .:ihat he llfltllf® the Chapmans for about i}J- le last saw Stanley Owen tt. r - • J ■ve about a week previous He hadpllways found normal and in good health, ’t” Ino reasjlh to believe that aj§6cted. Witness 'flpruce Trejfcr Chapman alive ‘A ■. P was quite normal If laid not seer, either of the ;^. r -out shooting with a rifle. inst., at 2.30 a.m., he retelephone ' message calling I Chapman’s house. He and James went over as as they could. Miss Ileen ;-.t< asked his brother to go for saying that her brother H|Pb was hurt and that’her brother was not about. . His brother Bwent for the doctor, while witness acFCompanied Miss Chapman through t»£he paddocks at the back of the Chouse. ' Stanley was found lying in Lthepaddock twelve chains away from from a wound in •' ll ' r^e 'V 3S lyiog beand the barrel was ards his head. Deceased unconscious. He was pyjama suit arid lie wore ln returning to the house Bruce Chapman in bed. '■ ound in his head, above ffj. i an d ’was unconscious. .■ i Bruce Chapman could .-hot from Stanley Chap|HU|H)h'hi<;h was four feet away, w-'"^ 1 ordered that the wound Stanley Chapman was He knew both deceased lads and temperate B^BHPhabits. L. Hazlett said he knew the and had always regarded ||||||||y Chapman as being perfectly There was never any susmental trouble about him, a young man of good 1 fitness said he arrived at house at 3.40 a.m. on the tragedy, and found that man had recently died, a gunshot wound just over which appeared to have |||l|||||Pßaused by a .22 bullet. Lleaffi was dttte to laceration of the brain caused by the bullet. Witnessjconsidered .theswound had not been* 'self-inflicted, if having been evidently caused .by some other person using the rifle, while deceased was in bed. j.„Witness knew Bruce Chapman to, ,bft;rguite a normal, healthy lad.

He went across the paddock and a isundi'«tarfley Chapman lying on his with-a fbullet wound in his fore|ad. He Was alive but in a moricondition. The wound had hoi n from point-blank range and have bedn self-inflicted. Death soon afterwards and was of the, brain. Wilthat he would say from of such cases that dein a very bad mental and that his act was ennipulsive. He understood that Chapmen had been using and he thought that 1 1 1 have the effect of undermental condition. A tons circumstances such as bring on a sudden menChapman, ter of v said that during the H&iths the health V her Sbeen ■.sijja.-fac- _ _ had .. Svous WF : ‘ on the 'evening of I)e----s^ie accompanied her brotTito tiie P^ at cycle, and returned at 11,20 p.rn. During his eohuersation and quite |iprmal, and he signs clfleing ill at any He went straight to bed - when home. Stanley occupied a with his brother Bruce at back of the house.’ Bruce had a calibre rifle, which was top of the wardrobe in *'■ He had been in ’ • a O• va.ck.-a From ••'it' '■ I", tlio sntisFe- 5 S*.: i;!• •■. ; ’ kf'| r; Ui i-i : - - • »! Oj. * :'u!!'!;iv BfiS9ggS|BK ; bvi r-ivu--; oonieoT-v ran o!f She looked i.un ki:o * room, and j o-md Brae?, in Wd

With a wound in the head. He was alive, but unconscious. She then roused the house and telephoned Mr. Couborough. Witness narrated how, in company with Mr. Coubrough, sh; found her brother Stanley lying wounded in the paddock about half a mile from the house. .Witness said her brothers were very fond of each other, and that their relations with their father had been quite all right. Witness said Stanley had been using poison for destroying rabbits for tw > weeks prior to December. She thought the fumes from this poison, carbon bi-sulphide, had affected his health. -<B6th her brbffiiSrite.jj(Kd! i iher4j jfelf had been affected by the fumes of the poison when using it. Her brother Stanley had been practically in charge of the farm during the last six months, owing to her father’s illness. Witness said all her family were normal with the exception of a sister aged ten years.

The father of the deceased, Thomas Chapman, said his farm consisted of 430 acres, on which sheep and some 20 cows were run. There were a fair number of rabbits on the property. Witness said he had been ill for some time and had left all the work to the boys, Stanley being practically ill charge. He did not remember Stanley complaining to him of being unwell, but on several occasions witness had advised him not to work too hard. He was a good lad and realised his responsibilities. The work and management of the farm had caused him a good deal of worry. After using the poison, which they did not understand, f i- destroying rabbits, Stanley had li t been too well. Witness said he never noticed anything wrong with Stanley mentally, although he knew that he did not look well. He did not have any conversation with the boys on the evening of December 1, and he did not hear them return from the pictures. There had been no quarrels between the deceased and himr-’f for a long time, and the boys wore good friends and got on well with their neighbours. Witness said that previous to the date of the tragedy Stanley could not sleep well and his nerves were not good, and witness thought that this, coupled with the headaches caused by the fumes from the rabbit poison, brought on a sudden fit of insanity. The jury returned the following verdicts: “That Bruce Trevor Chapman met his death from a gunshot wound apparently inflicted by his brother, Stanley Owen Chapman, whilst in a state of acute mental depression.”

“ That S tanley Owen Chapman met his death by a wo*md self-ir.fiicted with a .22 calibre bullet whilst in a state of acute mental depression caused through overwork an:’ worry intensified by the inhalation cf fumes from carbon bi-sulphide imo’-operly used in poisoning rabbits.”