One Bullet—Two Victims – The Fugitive Hector Shot During Arrest

Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette – Cue 27 March 1913 –

In the early months of 1913, the quiet goldfields town of Meekatharra was shaken by a dramatic and troubling incident that quickly became known locally as the

“Meekatharra Shooting Sensation.”

It was about nine o’clock in the evening when the disturbance occurred in a house situated near the town’s recreation ground. Without warning, a shot rang out, sending alarm through the small settlement. When people rushed toward the house to investigate, they found a disturbing scene. A woman lay wounded inside the front room, while a man was discovered some distance away from the building, also suffering from a gunshot wound. The couple’s names were Mr and Mrs Valerie (a French woman) and George Johnstone.

Both had been struck by a single bullet, fired from a 32 Winchester rifle.

The unusual circumstance that one shot had injured two people added to the shock and confusion surrounding the incident. Word spread rapidly through Meekatharra, and before long, a crowd of curious townsfolk had gathered around the house. Police soon began their investigation. As inquiries continued, attention turned to a missing rifle of the same calibre that had belonged to Mr Burgoyne, a station owner near Meekatharra. The weapon had disappeared from his property, and suspicion soon fell upon an Aboriginal stockman named Hector, who had been employed there but had since vanished. There appears to be no motive for the shooting.

Meanwhile, the wounded man and woman were taken for treatment. Though both injuries were serious, reports soon circulated that they were progressing favourably and had recovered sufficiently to leave the hospital within a week. The search for Hector continued for several days across the surrounding country. At daylight on the morning of 27 March 1913, Constable John Joseph Cooney, accompanied by a native tracker called Giggup, located him at a native camp approximately twenty miles from Meekatharra in the direction of Abbotts.

When the police moved in to make the arrest, Hector resisted fiercely, armed now with a revolver, and during the struggle, a shot was fired. Hector was struck in the groin by the police. Despite the severity of the wound, he was secured and brought back to the Meekatharra police station. Dr Shields examined him shortly after his arrival and ordered his immediate removal to the hospital, where he was admitted in a critical condition. For a short time, his life hung in the balance.

Later that same afternoon, however, Hector died from his injuries.

Authorities announced that an inquiry would be held to examine the circumstances surrounding both the original shooting and the fatal confrontation during his arrest. Thus ended one of the more dramatic and unsettling incidents recorded in the early days of Meekatharra, a brief but violent episode that stirred the remote goldfields town and left behind many unanswered questions