A WOMAN RETALIATES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 51, 22 August 1911, Page 5

A WOMAN RETALIATES.

SHOOTS HER ACCUSER. { •> IN HIS FATHER'S HOUSE. ' By Telegraph—Press Association. < Auckland, Monday. A fisherman named Thomas Madigan was shot in the head at his father's house, in Eglington street, Parnell, on . Saturday night, end now lies in the, district hospital jn a serious condition. ' Subsequently the police arrested AwnU McConnell, & middle-aged married wo» . : man, on a charge Of having attempted , . to murder Madigan. ,r rt" l The parties concerned have 'been liv- * ■< ing together for three or four years, and u a quarrel between them terminated in Madigan being wounded by a buUet from a revolver, the missile penetrating hia right ear and lodging either in the base of his skull or in the muscles of his neck. Madigan was taken to the Parnell police station at 10.35 p.m. on Saturday, and it was at once seen he was and on being questioned he informed the constable that he had bpen shot through! the ear with a pistol. On being asked who did it, Madigan replied, "That woman." The constable asked him if ' he meant Annie McDonnell, and Madigan replied, "Yes, she shot me at the old man's place." Madigan, whose wound was bleeding, was taken in a cab to a ' doctor, who, after examination, said that he was of opinion that the bullet had lodged in the base of the skull, lie injured man was then removed to the hospital. Constables Magee and Gatward were dispatched to arrest the woman McOonnell and to take possession of the revolver. When they arrived at the house they found the wounded' man's father (James Madigan), Ms wife (Mary Madigan), and Annie McConncH. All three are alleged to have been under the influence of liquor. As soon as the police appeared in the house Mary Madigan commenced to rave about Annie McDonnell having shot her son Tom. In a statement she made to the constables, she said: "Tom went to lie down on the bed in a back room and asked me not to allow Annie McOonnell in the room. McOonnell then took a lighted candle' and went into the room, and a few minutes afterwards I hfcard a shot, and I went in and feund my son on the floor' bleeding. He said, 'Get a doctor, I'm done for.'"

James Madigan made a similar statement to the police. McDonnell said that Tom Mndignn, James Madigan, Mary Madigan and herself were all in the house together. At 9.30 p.m. Tom Madigan went ont and got a gallon of beer and two squase "riggers." The old man was in bed. ' They were all drinking when Thomas Madigan caught hold of her and aecused her of familiarity with other men. He struck her twice on the head with his fist, and then went into the bedroom. She followed, and picked up a revolver off the taible and fired. She told the police that she did not know what she fired at. She said she had bought the revolver herself, "as Tom was always provoking her." A five-chambered revolver containing . one spent and one unspent cartridge was found on the floor. The constables arrested McConnell and took her to the central police station. She will be charged in the police cour* this morning with attempted murder. Madigan himself was very muddled on Saturday night, and could not give, a rational account of the shooting incident. On admission to the hospital the doctors said he was in no immediate danger, and last evening his condition, though serious, was not. alarming. The wound was examined under the X-rays at 11 a.m. yesterday, but the exact position • of the- bullet was not ascertainable. Madiga* is a single man, 47 years, of age.