A BANK TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 306, 19 May 1913, Page 5

A BANK TRAGEDY.

THE DEATH OF ROY COKER. MISADVENTURE PRESUMED. The Wellington Dominion gave fuller particulars of the death of Roy Cokei y . ' late of New Plymouth. It says:— "Before business commenced in theBank of New South Wales on Friday morning, the servants of the bank oa duty were made painfully aware that a . tragic and fatal affair, had taken place ; on the premises, Roy Desmond Coker, : j (a young man of twenty-two years, who j had been eighteen months in the service of the bank) being found shot. The staff had scarcely assembled for . duty when a shot was heard. Investigation followed, and Coker was dis- . covered fatally wounded. Dr. Henry ; i was telephoned for, and, when he arrived, he stated that life was extinct. : j It is the custom to bring the gold up ; I every morning from the valuts before' ; i the business of the day begins, and the ' tellers' revolvers arc brought up at the ' same time. Coker, who was a Terri- , torial, was supposed to be a good deal i interested in revolvers, and it is thought that he was inspecting the weapon when it went off accidentally. ■ The chambers were fully loaded, and the ; ' bullet struck him in the forehead. 1 !

Mr. Coker, who was a promising fmnk '' officer, was a son of the late Mr. Walter Coker (formerly proprietor of a piano , business in New Plymouth), who died : six years ago, and was a nephew of" Mr. "and Mrs. Thomas Bush, of Wellington Terrace, where Mrs. Coker (a sis- 1 j ter of Mrs. Bush) was staying prepar- ! atory to securing a permanent home of her own in Wellington. Messrs. George Bush, of Jfelsoni and Mr. E. ' Perie Bush (a member of the "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford" Comedy Company), ■ j are cousins of deceased/ Mr. Coker * was popular with everyone who knew him. He spent the whole of Thursdayevening up till / ,10„10> p.m. with his , mother and Mr., and Bush, at the latter's home, and iji 1 the opinion ,of ; his relatives there is. not the slightest , doubt that the fatality was an accident.