Recorder (Port Pirie, SA : 1919 - 1954) Wed 14 Dec 192184859

Oliver Axon's Death

CORONER SAYS HE SHOT HIMSELF.
WHETHER INTENTIONAL OR
ACCIDENTAL IS UNKNOWN.

An inquiry was held at the Pirie
Courthouse yesterday by the Coroner
(Mr. D. C. Scott) into tlie circumstan-
ces surrounding the death, of Oliver
Cromwell Axon,. which occurred, on ,
Monday afternoon. Sergeant Mattin
appeared for the police.
Evidence was given by the widow,
Annie Axon, to the effect that her hus-
band was 69 years of age. She last
saw him alive at 11.30 o'clock on Mon-
day. The deceased had not been well
during the last fortnight. He said to
her: "Can I go for a drink?" and wit-
ness replied: "No; if you go I must go
with you." He answered: "Well, that
settles it." and he went straight to his
room, which was detached from the
house. Shortly-afterwards her grand-
daughter said: "Oh. daddy's done
something to himself." Witness went
to the room, and saw her husband sit-
ting on a tool chest and leaning on
the bed. She noticed a wound in his
forehead that was bleeding and saw a
pea-rifle on; the floor as if it had slip-
ped out of his hand. The rifle was
usually kept in his room. She had

never heard him threaten to take his
life. About a week ago her son, at
her suggestion, took the rifle out of the
bedroom, as she was afraid he might
do himself some harm. Her husband
had been drinking, but he was sober
on Monday. After her gandchild spoke
to her, she heard a noise of a bump as
if something had fallen.
Edward Lewis Axon, son of the de-
ceased, said he last saw his father alive
at 7 o'clock on Monday morning. He
was then very shaky. The pea-rifle be-
longed to his father, and was used for
shooting sparrows and cats. He could
not give any reason why the deceased
should shoot himself. The sparrows
were a source of annoyance, as they
did damage to the grape vines and fruit
trees. Shot cartridges were used for
the sparrows, and ball cartridges for
cats. The deceased was ruptured badly
and was at times very irritable. He
had been drinking "pinkie" and beer
during the past fortnight.
The Coroner: It is a pity the use of
"pinkie" cannot be prohibited.
Dr. O. Leitch deposed that he ex-
amined the deceased at 11.30 a.m. on
Monday at his house, No. 11. Revell
street. He was lying on a bed, and
was unconscious and bleeding from a
gunshot wound on the left upper part
of the frontal bone. witness ordered
his removal to the hospital. The wound
had been inflicted at close quarters.
An operation was performed at the hos-
pital, but the deceased died at 2.30
p.m. from laceration of the brain, com
pression, and continuous hemorrhage
caused by the wound.
Margaret Foster, aged eleven, who
lived with her grand-parents in Revell
street, said that after her grandmother
spoke to deceased on Monday morning
he went into his bedroom, and she
heard the report of a gun. She went
into the room with her grandmother
and saw her grandfather lying on a box
There was no one else in the room.
Constable TL Martin deposed that he
was called to the house and saw the
deceased lying on a bed. bleeding from
the wound. There was a Iirge pool of
blood on the floor. A pea-rifle was
standing on the floor against the wall
and it contained a discharged cartridge.
The Coroner returned a verdict that
the deceased had met his death by gun
shot, self inflicted, and that the evi-
dence does not show whether it was
intentional or accidental.