Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Elder son of C.E.W. and Janet HYDE

BORROWED RIFLE
TO SHOOT HIMSELF
In the Longreach Coroner's Court yesterday, a witness told the Coroner (Mr. P. T. Noone) how he had lent a rifle to a man, and later found the man shot dead with it. The Coroner was enquiring into the death near Tocal on March 13 of Edward. Charles Withorne Scott Hyde. Norman Goodwin Keith Foster, an employee of Bogewong station, said that on 13th  March he, was crutching sheep on the property, and deceased was talking to a man named Martin. Martin had asked him if Dick (deceased) could borrow a gun from him... Foster  said he went to the house, and gave deceased the rifle, a .22 repeater. At that time deceased had appeared normal. Later Foster said he heard Hyde had shot himself, and with a  first aid kit, he went to the spot. Hyde appeared to be dead. The rifle lying near him, Foster recognised as the one he had lent Hyde. When Hyde borrowed the rifle, he said he  was going shooting, and remarked there was a lot of green feed about, and plenty of pigs. Foster said he asked Martin if he had ever lent Hyde a gun before. Martin had replied  that he had, but Hyde had always returned it. Had he known about a disturbance at the Tocal Hotel this morning, or that Hyde intended shooting himself, he certanly would not  have lent him the gun, said Foster. Othwell Leonard McCosker, employed as a fencer on Tarcombe station, said he and his brother were coming into Longreach on 13th March, and when about a mile on the Longreach side of the Tocal Hotel, they had found deceased's truck parked on the side of the road. On investigating, the found deceased lying on the ground, with a wound in the head. A rifle lay near his feet. He was breathing heavily. McCosker said he went back to the hotel, and informed the licensee (Mr. Royle) of what had happened. To the bench, he said he thought nothing could be done to save Hyde's life. He did not know anything about Hyde's domestic affairs, and did not think him a man who  would commit suicide. The inquest Was adjourned to 20th. June, when evidence will be given by Alfred Milton Royle, and Constable Cummins, Police Constable, stationed at Stonehenge.