INQUEST.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 882, 24 September 1881, Page 2

INQUEST.

An inquest on the budy of the late Mr Richmond Renall was held at Worth's Royal Hotel at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon before Dr Spratt, District Coroner, and a jury of whom Mr I M. Girdlestone was foreman. The jury having viewed the body, the following evidence was adduced :

Robert Rowe: I heard on Wednesday that some of deceased's cattle were in the-d pound, and sent my children up to him. They called at his house, but Is|! was not there. As they* went by the bush his dogs came out barking, They went up again in the evening, but could not find him. I fancied that he might have met with an accident while falling bush, and on Thursday morning, about 5 o'clock I went up myself. He was not at his house. I then went into the bush to see if he had been falling bush, as I thought a tree might have fallen onhim. I cooeyed, and then I heard the dogs barking. I followed the sound, and came across one of his dogs, who led me to where deceased lay by the side of a tree, about 300 or 400 yards from his house, and about 100 yards in the bush. He was lying on his side, with one hand on his breast, and his eyes open. I thought at first he was hurt, but when I came close I saw blood on hia shirt, and found he was dead. I did not move him, but went straight to his brother's, Joseph Renall, about threequarters of a mile off, and informed him of the occurrence. We went back together, and found that deceased had been shot. I noticed that his shirt was burnt where the shot had gone in. When we got there Mr McLachlan, Mr Buckeridge, and my two boys were there. Deceased's gun was lying on tho ground, about ten yards from him, It was a breechloader, one barrel containing a discharged cartridge, and the other a loaded one. I have known deceased more than ten years. He was a very nice young man, and I never noticed anything wrong, either in his mind or manners. Both hammers of the gun wore down, but one cartridge had not exploded, The gun was then produced, and on being examined by the jury, one lock was found to be very defective, the hammer going down with the slightest pressure of the trigger. James Sexton, I last bhw deceased on Monday, between 10 and 12 o'clock. He was in his usual way, and quite right. I hare known him nine months, and hav« never seen anything wrong with him. Spencer F. Beard: I am a surgeon, residing in Masterton. I have examinee} the body of deceased, I noticed about two inches above the lower margin, of the breast-bono a jagged hole the size qf a florin, witl) a red margin the size of the top of a teacup. Op tlis left-hand side of the back, about two inches tl(q hip bone and three or four inches frorn the back-bone, was a jagged wound not quite the size of a shilling. There wore also holes in the shirt and waist, coat correspondirg with the woumjs on the body. The waistcoat was bnrnf in front, I found a blaokoued bloody w4 underneath the body, The direction of the sljot was frorn front to baolf, pel downwards. I think if tjeceasetj ljacj tripped and fallen, and the gun had gone off, it would have inflicted a wound such as I have described, It would he impossible for a person to inflict such a wound on himself of his own free will, Death would ensue in a very few minutes. Deceased could not have suffered any pain,_ as his face had quite a calm expression on it.

Constable Fleming deposed to the dangerous nature of the gun, one barrel going off at half cook. \ The jury retutncl tho following vertjict | -Thaf tlje decased Bjcl)moijd' IJena]J accidentally met wttl) his death, whjle carrying a loaded gun between the 2Qth and 22nd September, 1881, at Humnuio : rangi, which, on explosion, shot him through the body, and then and there caused his death.