The shooting on Wellington's waterfront - Grave Story 70

Drunken seamen and a gun sounds like a recipe for disaster. So it turned out to be as members of the public watched horrified as a man was shot dead on September 19, 1892 near Railway (now called Waterloo) Wharf.
At 10.50am in broad daylight several shots rang out ending with one man shot through the heart and a second wounded.
It all started the night before. Crew from the Danish barque Doris Eckhoff were drinking at a hotel.
Chief officer of the Doris Eckhoff was Henry William Finley, an Irish-born man, who was not on friendly terms with anyone.
William Lynch, a seaman from the English ship Waimate met with Finley and Chief officer Ernest Seel of the American barque William B Flint.
It led to an argument that appeared to run its course when the three men set off for their own ships.
The next morning Lynch - along with Charles Greenrose, 40, and Donald McDonald - visited the William B Flint, to apologise to Seel, they said.
They found Seel and Finlay walking along the shore.
Finley attacked Lynch who fought back.
During the fight, Finlay drew a revolver and fired.
Greenrose had gone to intervene but caught one of the bullets in the chest, dying at the scene. He was believed to be a Russian or Finnish sailor.
Lynch ran to his ship and during the chase McDonald was hit by a shot intended for Lynch.
A shot was later found to have pierced the galvanised iron doors of a large storage shed nearby.
Finlay was arrested aboard his ship where the revolver was found.
McDonald received a wound to his thigh but it was not considered serious.
Little is recorded about the trial, but in 1900 police reports say Finley was released from prison early from his 10-year-sentence for manslaughter.
Greenrose is buried in Karori Cemetery in an unmarked paupers', and now overgrown, grave near the fenceline by Standen Street.