The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-11-01
BOY KILLS HIS
LITTLE BROTHER
Kenneth Gregory is Fatally
Wounded by Accidental Dis
charge of a Rifle.
ARTERY IN NECK SEVERED
ACCIDENT CAUSED BY CHILDREN
PLAYING WITH GUN.

Kenneth Gregory, 10 years old, was
accidentally shot and killed yesterday
morning about 9 o'clock by Archie
Gregory, his 13-year-old brother, at
their home, 1915 East Seventh South
street The tragedy occurred because
the elder boy did not know that the
% rifle with which he was playing was
loaded. He playfully pointed the gun
at his brother and pulled the trigger.
The rife ball severed an artery in the
younger boys neck and he bIed To-
death within a few minutes.
Mrs. Annie Gregory, mother OF the.
boys, is widow and does day work for
the support of her family. She left.
home early yesterday morning while
the boys were still in bed. to do some,
work for family in the neighborhood.
When the boys got up Kenneth asked
his brother to get the rifle from its hid.
ing place in the wOodshed and bring ir
into their room.
Rifle Was Concealed.
The boys had purchased the frearm
from another small boy for so cents.
They had not told their mother that
they had the gun for fear she would
forbid them using it. For this reason
they had kept it concealed in the wood
shed. The gun was cheap .22-calibre
rifle, and appeared scarcely formidable
enough to inflict a serious injury
When the elder boy returned with the
gun his little brother Was kneeIing near
the doorway tying his shoestrings
Archie Gregory raised the gun to his
shoulder and remarked:
Here's where 1 start hunting"
Then he DOipfpd the orr, J,
er and pulled the trigger. As he did so
the brother fell to the floor fatally
wounded, the bullet having severed an
artery in his neck.
The boy dropped the gun and ran.
terror-stricken, from the house. His
screams attracted neighbors to the
scene of the accident Efforts were
made 10 stop the flow of blood from
the wound in the boys neck. but they
were unavailing and the boy died with
in few minutes. DR.. G. @. Plummer
was summoned, but the boy was dead
when he arrived.
Mrs. Annie Gregory, the widowed
mother of the dead child, was called
from her work and reached her home
just as the little boy was breathing his
last. Her grief at the tragic accident
was almost lncOnsOlabIe.
No Inquest Necessary.
Chief of Police George A. Sheets and
Coroner Dana T. Smith were notified
and drove TO the house soon after the
shooting and Investigated the details
of the tragedy. They found that the
shooting was purely accidental, so that
the slayer of his little brother was not
arrested and the coroner deemed an
inquest unnecessary.
To Chief Sheets little Archie Gregory
said:
Il did not know the gun was loaded.
I 4 -
The gun was in the woodshed and 7
suppose my brother must have loaded
it. He sent me after the gun, and when
1 brought the gun into the room
pointed it at him and pulled the trigger.
L did not intend to kill him, and did
not know the rifle was loaded until It
went off,
q The boys body is still at the house
and funeral announcements have not yet
been completed.
Different Version Given.
James H. Kelley, proprietor Of the
Buffalo saloon, gives little different
version of the shooting from that of the
coroner and the chief. He said that it
is his belief that the boy did not pull
the trigger at all. but that the hammer
OF the gun struck the door jam as the
boy was bringing it into the room and
that the rifle was thus discharged
g NOAAI III IAAe uOOr Jam near
where the boy stood that would tend to
give strength to this theory.
The little boy, in his excitement. first
said that he pointed the gun at his
brother and pulled the trigger. then he
stated that he was bringing the gun
through the door when it was dis
he knew not how Mr.. Reil-
ley had the boy hold the gun as he
SAID he had held it at the time Of the
accident and measured the distance of
the dent in the doorway from the floor.
and he says that this TALES with the
place where the hammer would be ant
to strike the doorway as the boy passed
through.
In either case, whether the boy Dur-
posely pulled the trigger not knowing
that the gun was loaded. or whether
the hammer, in striking the door Jam
had discharged the rife. the shooting
was clearly shown to have been acct