A SOUTHERN TRAGEDY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10115, 10 October 1910, Page 5

A SOUTHERN TRAGEDY.

RESULT OF A NEIGHBOUR'S .QUARREL. ' BULLETS PLYING. GORE, Last Night. A serious shooting affray occurred at Waipounamu, near Riversdalc, at midnight on Friday night. It appears that a middle-aged bachelor, who was living alone, named James Louttit, entertained an aparent grudge against two neighbours, brothers named Howell. On Friday night ho visited the farm of the elder brother, Edward. The first intimation of the visitor was a noise outside the bedroom window.

The sash was pushed up, and a small quantity of scrim, saturated with kerosene or some other inflammable material, was thrown inside.

Howell jumped out of bed, and was fired at from the window. The bullet, as far as is ascertainable, glanced off Howell's chest and lodged in his neck.

Howell, who was not incapacitated, rushed outside and made for his assailant, who ducked and fired a second shot, which lodged in Howell's neck, a third, which found its mark near the groin, and a fourth, which missed.

By this time Howell had closed with Louttit, and held him until assistance arrived.

Louttit was later arrested on a charge of attempted murder. •i The doctor does not think that Howell's condition is serious. None of the bullets have, so far, been extracted.

Louttit was brought before the Justices, and remanded for .eight days for medical treatment.

|The accused seemed quite disinterested in the Court proceedings. The neighbours had predicted the present trouble.