SHOCKING ACCIDENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1945, 19 September 1889, Page 3

SHOCKING ACCIDENT.

Some remarkable evidence was given at an inquest held recently on the body of a boy named Alfred Hockley, of Elstead, near Guildford. The boy went on to the common between Elstead and Tilfond, and found a number of blank unfired cartridges, which bad been thrown away during the military manoeuvres in the district. He exploded several with a stone, and finally set the heath on fire. In trying to extinguish the flames, a number of cartridges which he still had in his pockets ignited, with the result that his clothing took fire, and was literally burnt off his body. The poor lad managed to reach his home, a mile and a quarter distant, but arrived there perfectly naked, except his stockings, and so dreadfully burned that he died afterwards. It was shown in evidence that boys regularly hunted for and found cartridges on the common, and the father of the deceased said that on© day a lad picked up between 600 and 700 undischarged cartridges. The jury, in returning a verdict of “Accidental death,” requested the coroner to make a strong representation to the War Office on the manner in which the cartridges were thrown away, the practice being both dangerous and extravagant.