Tragedy in Leicester; Stoneygate Shooting Sensation: Attempted Murder of a Girl: Young May Kills Himself: Cyclist Seriously Wounded: A sensational tragedy took place in Leicester on Wednesday night, as the result of which one man is lying dead and another is at the Leicester Royal Infirmary in a wounded condition. It appears that about ten o’clock, a man named Horace Pinsent, aged 19, who lived with his parents at the King’s Head public House, Burley’s Lane, was walking with a girl about his own age, or slightly older, on the London Road, near Knighton Grange Road. The girl’s name is Ada Smith, and she lives in Bedford Street. They had a quarrel about something, and it is stated the girl expressed her intention of not walking out with him anymore. Anyhow the results were startling. Without any warning of his intention, Pinsent pulled a revolver out of his pocket and fired point blank at the girl from a distance of only about a yard or so. It is a marvelous thing that she was not killed, as it was, the bullet grazed her cheek and passed through her hat. She screamed and that, and the noise of the shot, attracted the attention of people in the vicinity, of whom there were quite a number. What next happened is regrettable in the extreme. Mr. Herbert Hytch, a tailor aged about 22 who lives with his parents at 45, Wood Hill, who was riding by on a bicycle got off, but before he could do anything Pinsent shot at him and the bullet struck him in the neck, inflicting a serious wound.
Pinsent takes his life: Two more shots followed in rapid succession fortunately without hitting anyone, and then Pinsent ran off in the direction of the town. He was followed, and when near Toller Street, apparently realizing the madness of his action, he turned the revolver on himself, and with the last cartridge in it shot himself through the head, placing the barrel in his mouth. Death must have been instantaneous as he was found within a very few seconds of the shot, his body lying in Toller Road, with the head against the kerbstone. Meanwhile, Mr. J. E. Lester, who was driving his motor car along the road close to where the shooting began, and saw that Mr. Hytch was severely injured – for he was lying where he had fallen in a pool of blood – ascertained that Dr. Gibbons of Knighton Grange Road was the nearest Doctor and ran towards his house to summon him. Dr. Gibbons, however, had heard the shots, and met Mr. Lester on the way. Hurrying to the spot, he saw at once that Mr. Hytch’s injuries could not be dealt with at his surgery, and the wounded man was lifted into Mr. Lester’s car, and with Dr. Gibbons accompanying him, was driven to the Infirmary.
Police on the Scene: Mrs. Gibbons, at Mr. Lester’s request, rang up Knighton Police Station, and informed the police and Superintendent Sturgess and other officers were soon on the spot, while Mr. Lester, after leaving the patient at the infirmary, drove to the Central Police Station and gave information. Mr. Herbert Allen (Chief Constable) and Superintendent Carson were both in the building and Mr. Lester drove them up to the scene of the tragedy, passing, on route, Pinsent’s dead body then lying in Tooler Road. The girl, who was naturally in a very distressed condition, had been taken into a house near till she recovered, and then she was driven down to the Central Police Station to give any information she had about the matter. The body of Pinsent was removed to the mortuary in the Fire Brigade body van, and there, shortly before midnight, it was identified by his father and brother.
The Weapon: The revolver which the dead man used was of a heavy pattern, and had been loaded in five chambers, all which were discharged. The shots at the girl and Mr. Hytch would account for two of the cartridges, and probably the other shots fired numbered two, although accounts differ as to whether it was two or three. This would leave the cartridge with which Pinsent committed suicide. The weapon was found lying near to the body:
INTERVIEWS WITH PINSENTS RELATIVES: A TRAGEDY OF JEALOUSY: Ernest Pinsent, the brother of the deceased youth, interviewed on Thursday by one of our representatives, expressed the opinion that the tragedy was one of jealousy. “My brother,” he said, “was an engineer’s patternmaker, and worked at the Eclipse Foundry, Graham Street. He was a very steady, intelligent young fellow, and was a teetotaller. He had been going out regularly with this girl, Ada Smith for about six months. He never told us much about her. My brother came home from his work for tea last evening and left shortly before eight o’clock. There was nothing in his demeanour to indicate that he was upset, and he said he was going to an Oddfellows’ Club to pay his subscription. He also took my card with him. The news of the tragedy came to us as a great shock. My brother was a very quiet chap and didn’t seem to have a temper. I think jealousy must have turned his mind. We did not know he had the revolver until the police came to tell us last night what had happened. The revolver belonged to my father who kept it in a drawer in his bedroom. The revolver was five-chambered and was kept loaded, four cartridges being bullet cartridges and the other a blank cartridge. We have no dog, and my father kept the weapon for protection. My brother must have fetched the revolver from the bedroom when he came home to tea yesterday. When my father went to the drawer in his bedroom late last night, he found it had gone”. Mr. John Arthur Pinsent the father of the deceased said he could not account for the tragedy unless it was that his son lost his balance through infatuation over the girl. He had been walking out with her for about six months and was certainly very fond of her.” “My Son”, added Mr. Pinsent, “was a quiet, inoffensive lad, who gave great promise at his trade; but since he started courting, he has not been himself.”
Mr. Lester’s Narrative: Graphic Story: Mr. James Ernest Lester, who is a member of the firm of J. E. Lester and Folwell, electrical and motor engineers, Humberstone Gate, gave our representative, yesterday, a graphic story of the exciting incidents of the tragedy, so far as they came under his notice. He said: “I was driving my car towards home, about 10 o’clock, last night, and when nearly opposite the gates of “Ashleigh” I heard a revolver shot fired behind me. A moment before I had passed a young couple walking on the footpath on the same side as I was driving. Pulling up instinctively when the shot sounded, I looked round, and saw the girl running towards me screaming. She ran straight for the car and sheltered behind it. Pinsent was then standing on the footpath, pointing the weapon towards the car. At the same moment a cyclist who proved to be Mr. Hytch, and who was riding behind me, jumped off his machine, and, as it appeared to me, turned his light on to the girl’s assailant. Afterwards he explained to me that, seeing Pinsent had turned the barrel of the revolver towards him, he lifted the bicycle in front of him as some sort of shield. It was then that the second shot was fired, and Hytch dropped the machine, crying “Murder, I’m shot, Help, Help.” He staggered out into the road, and for the moment I lost sight of him. Jumping out of the car I told the girl to run away and having no desire to get in the way of a bullet I went across the road, keeping the car between myself and the man with the pistol. He fired two more shots across the road, in the direction of the Guildford Road, who they were intended for I could not say. By this time, a dozen or twenty people had come up, attracted by the reports but everybody kept at a respectful distance from Pinsent, and indeed, went helter-skelter when the later shots were fired. The young man then walked away quietly in the direction of the car, and I saw nothing more of him until the police took me to the mortuary half an hour later, to see if I could identify the body. Hytch had ceased to cry out, and I was afraid he was killed, but the moment Pinsent disappeared I went over to the wounded man, who said, “I have been shot.” I said “Yes: I know you have. Sit down, old chap and I’ll fetch a doctor.” He sat against the palings, and I ran to Dr. Gibbons’s house, close by. The doctor had heard the shots and had come out to his gage to see what had happened. I took him across to Hytch, who was bleeding from the chin and neck, just under the left jaw. The Doctor was under the impression at first that he had been hit by two of the bullets, but an examination rather led to the belief that a bullet had entered under the jaw and come out at the chin, or vice-versa. Ascertaining that the car was mine, Dr. Gibbons asked me to take the man to the Infirmary, and I did so. He told me that he was a tailor, and when I remarked that I was afraid he would not be able to go to work today he said it was a pity, as he was very busy. Afterwards I went to the police station, and whilst we were talking there, a message came to the effect that a man had shot himself at Stoneygate. At the moment the police did not know whether this might refer to the shooting of Hytch. The Chief constable, Mr. Allen, was in the office at the time, and he at once suggested going up to the place in my car. We drove up to Stoneygate and on the way we passed the ambulance which contained Pinsent’s dead body. The poor chap had evidently gone into Toller Road and shot himself with the last cartridge remaining in the revolver. In order to be quite sure that the body found in Toller Road was that of the man I had seen with the revolver, the police asked me to look at it in the mortuary. I did so and was able to identify the man by the clothes and the build. The girl who had in the meantime been brought to the police station identified the boots and the watch chain, which were shown to her, as being Pinsent’s. I understand there was a letter found in one of his pockets, addressed to his parents. The girl’s injury so far as I could see appeared very slight. The bullet had grazed her cheek and passed through the brim of her hat. It was evident that if I had been a few seconds later I should have been in the direct line of the bullet. The girl, I understand, took refuge in a house in Barrington Road, and afterwards went to the Central Police Station in the care of Superintendent Sturgess. I asked the girl if there had been any previous quarrel, and she told me that on the previous night Pinsent threatened he would shoot her if she did not go out with him again.”
“A Loving Couple”: Girl’s Friend Interviewed: “The were an exceedingly loving couple, and much attached to one another,” said Miss Florence White, of Craven Street, to one of our representatives, speaking of Miss Smith and the young man, Pinsent. White stated that previous to about 11 weeks ago, Smith, who formerly lived with her mother in Woodboy Street, lodged at her house, and they were very friendly. “Pinsent was the nicest fellow that ever wore a pair of boots. He was quite a gentleman in appearance and everything. Ada had been going out with him since about October, and when she lived with me, they were quite comfortable, and as happy as could be. They used to go out every night, and he thought a great deal of her. The last time I saw her was about eight weeks ago, and I am very sorry for what has happened. She lodged with me for about four months.”
Mr. Hytch’s Condition: Mr. Hytch, who is in the Royal Infirmary, continues to make satisfactory progress, the report last night being that he was “going on nicely.”
[Note: Ernest is Ernest Hunt]
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive
Referenced
GRO0431 Tiverton: Horace Pinsent: 1893 – 1913
GRO0515 Tiverton: John Arthur Pinsent: 1869 – 1930