DEATH OF YOUTH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 June 1943, Page 2

DEATH OF YOUTH

ACCIDENT AT MAURICEVILLE DURING HOME GUARD RIFLE PRACTICE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. Evidence that deceased had a thymus gland twice the average weight for a lad of his age, and that he had collapsed and failed to recover while under an anaesthteic for an eye operation. was given by Dr G. E. Mercer, Wellington Hospital pathologist, at an , inquest yesterday into the death on -4 April 19 of William John Caseley, farm T labourer, aged 16. Other witnesses said that deceased on April 18, during Home Guard rifle practice on the Mauriceville range, was in the butts handling discs for snapshooting when a bullet hit the frame of a target not being used. Splinters from the bullet, which was shattered, struck three persons and one splinter entered deceased’s eye. It was purely an accidental occurrence. He was admitted to hospital for an operation. The coroner, Mr W. G. Mellish, said it was unfortunate that the lad’s life should be cut short in such a manner, but a post-mortem examination had disclosed a condition which could not be discovered by a clinical examination. The operation was properly performed. He returned a verdict that deceased died of sudden cardiac failure while undergoing an operation to his eye.