WAIKINO. WAIKATO. 19th of October 1923. 10 am. The Headmaster of Waikino School Robert Theodore Reid was in the teacher’s room, perhaps going over some reports, perhaps grading some papers. The classrooms were full of children, maybe learning English, a bit of maths, or even history and undoubtedly looking forward to the morning break only half an hour away. 

The Headmaster Robert Reid had brought his dog Pax (a brown and white setter) with him to work, as he had done many times before. Pax spent the day in the school’s front yard, presumably sleeping most of the daylight away, as Pax seldom made a fuss.

However, as the clock ticked over to 10.10 am, Pax began barking loudly. Curious about what had caught the canine’s attention, Robert arose from his desk and wandered through the entrance to the front door. He opened the door to see a man in his 50s, 6 feet tall, tanned and sporting a small moustache approaching the school. As the man got closer to the entrance he announced his hideous intentions to Headmaster Robert Reid, “I’m here for revenge!”.

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Written and edited by Sirius Rust

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The podcast version is the intended way to consume this story but we make a transcript available for those that would rather read instead. This can be found below

Case 33: Waikino School Shooting

DISCLAIMER: 

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We have surmised some of the exact language/quotes used during this crime based on newspaper reports, written articles, and court records. We believe it aids with the human element of the story and helps with drawing the listener further into the narrative without changing any authentic factual components.

Further disclaimer, certain names are spelt differently in various sources. For example, in some sources the victim’s name is McCarry, other times it is McGarry. We have gone with the spelling of the names as they were originally printed in the 23rd of October 1923 edition of the Te Puke Times newspaper. Our apologies if we have mispronounced or mistitled any person.

This episode contains descriptions of violence against children.

—

WAIKINO

Waikino, which translates in English to ‘harmful waters’, is a small settlement found approximately 9 km west of the township of Waihi in the Waikato region. 

Waikino was established sometime in the early colonisation period of New Zealand. However, the area became a focal point of the gold mining industry when the Victoria Battery was constructed in the region in 1898 which was the largest quartz-crushing plant in all of Australasia. This allowed the miners to process gold-bearing rock from the nearby Martha Mine.

The fallout from this construction was a large influx of workers immigrating to the province. With families moving to the area for work, basic public amenities needed to be established in the settlement.

Waikino School was established in 1908. The school was built half a mile away from Waikino on top of a hill overlooking the township. The school was of modest size, sporting only two classrooms (one senior room for children 8 and up and one for infants) each being 47 feet long and 21 feet wide, centering the two classrooms is an entrance area (although it is described on the building plan as a porch) of 20 ft by 18 ft and finally extending off the entrance to the north of the building is the 13 ft by 11 ft teachers/headmasters room.

Waikino School was a modest, unassuming place where approximately 100 children attended daily to get an education. Mrs Ida Robinson, who grew up in Waikino and attended the school during this time described a memory of the school to the Ohinemuri Regional History Journal in September 1989, “Mrs Robinson also remembers Friday afternoons at Waikino School, when they all assembled to salute the flag and sing the National Anthem. Later the girls went to sewing class. All was quiet and peaceful until they heard a pitiful scream and strange noises coming from the cloakroom. Some of the older girls stood up and peered through the glass panels in the door. They urged her to run out because the Headmaster [was] there thrashing her brother – a quiet well-behaved little boy of nine years – not with a strap but with a long supplejack (a vine native to NZ). That was because in the exam, he did badly in arithmetic.”

Other than routine corporal punishment, which was viewed as customary in those days, the school was believed to be a safe place for the children of Waikino and a place that many enjoyed attending. That would all change however on one fateful day in 1923.

19 OCTOBER 1923

19th of October 1923. 10 am. The Headmaster of Waikino School Robert Theodore Reid was in the teacher’s room, perhaps going over some reports, perhaps grading some papers. The classrooms were full of children, maybe learning English, a bit of maths, or even history and undoubtedly looking forward to the morning break only half an hour away. 

The Headmaster Robert Reid had brought his dog Pax (a brown and white setter) with him to work, as he had done many times before. Pax spent the day in the school’s front yard, presumably sleeping most of the daylight away, as Pax seldom made a fuss.

However, as the clock ticked over to 10.10 am, Pax began barking loudly. Curious about what had caught the canine’s attention, Robert arose from his desk and wandered through the entrance to the front door. He opened the door to see a man in his 50s, 6 feet tall, tanned and sporting a small moustache approaching the school. As the man got closer to the entrance he announced his hideous intentions to Headmaster Robert Reid, “I’m here for revenge!”.

JOHN CHRISTOPHER HIGGINS

John Christopher Higgins was born sometime in 1865 in Canada. Little is known of John’s formative years, growing up in Canada. However, what we do know is that here in the Great White North, John Higgins met the woman who became his wife, a young lady named Clarice.

John and Clarice married sometime between 1900 and 1908 in the United States of America. Clarice Higgins described her marriage to John at a later date as, “[being] happy on the whole, though they had had a hard struggle.” The union produced two offspring, both sons. 

The couple immigrated to New Zealand shortly after being married and settled in Waikino. John took up a small farm in the bush near the tiny township. The couple initially lived in a tent on their farm before John built a Canadian-style log cabin. To make a living John raised chickens and sold firewood.

The family eventually moved into an iron house as they continued to tend to the farm. 

It was during this time that John Higgins was becoming increasingly paranoid, believing his neighbours were ‘out to get him’. This all started shortly after moving to the Waikino farm when some of his chickens died. John believed that the neighbours had poisoned the creatures.

Clarice Higgins said at a later date that her husband John had even bored holes in the wall of their house so he could keep an eye on the neighbours and he used to stand there at night, watching intently. He even built a trap door into one of their homes so he could exit the house quickly. Clarice noted other strange behaviour such as John constantly talking to himself, not allowing her to talk at night because “the neighbours would hear” and telling her that the neighbours were on the hill with a telescope watching him.

Sometimes, John even made his son sleep in the stables to protect his horses against the neighbours.

John’s accusations spread to the Waikino and Waihi areas as well. John would tell anybody who would listen about his enemies. He told one man, S. Morony, a miner in Waihi, that he would get up at 3 am every morning due to his enemies and those same enemies would chase him at night. Other interactions included odd and threatening behaviour toward townsfolk.

These interactions got Higgins the nickname “Mad John” around the area.

John Higgins even went to the local police with his concerns about his neighbours and enemies but reportedly “could not get satisfaction” from authorities. After this, John travelled to Auckland to the American Consulate. He spoke to the American Consul about his concerns but he was similarly dismissed.

On the 17th of October 1923, John Higgins found that one of his horses had died. Three of John’s horses had died previously which had greatly disturbed him. John attributed the horse’s passing to his neighbours/enemies telling his wife Clarice, “This is some more of their work”.

WAIKINO SCHOOL SHOOTING

19th of October 1923. 10.10 am. John Christopher Higgins approached Waikino School, and as he got closer, the Headmaster’s dog Pax began barking at him.

The Headmaster of Waikino School Robert Theodore Reid opened the front door. Robert confronted John, “I’m here for revenge”.

Headmaster Robert Reid asked John to come into his office so they could speak further. The twosome crossed the porch area, curious school children watched them as they did so. Robert and John entered the headmaster’s room. 

John Higgins entered the room first. Robert closed the door behind them. As he turned around, John Higgins was pointing a Colt .32 calibre automatic pistol at stomach height:

JOHN: “The miners have been hounding me, spying on me, stalking me, killing me horses. I’m here for my revenge”.

ROBERT: “You can go and tell the police.”

JOHN: “You must be dense if you don’t know what I am here for… I have come here to die but I’m not afraid to stand before my God.”

ROBERT: “Surely you would not shoot innocent children? I did not think you would be such a coward.”

JOHN: “That’s what I am here for.”

ROBERT: “Why don’t you go to the battery and shoot men?”

JOHN: “No.”

A short silence followed.

JOHN:  “I’m wasting my time”.

ROBERT: “You’ll have to shoot me before the children”.

Headmaster Robert Reid then screamed to the teachers and children to run for their lives. 

JOHN:  “You leave me no choice… If you will have it, then take it”.

*BANG*

John Higgins fired his Colt .32 calibre automatic pistol. The bullet exited the barrel and tore through Robert Reid’s right shoulder and entered his jaw. Robert Reid fell to the floor seemingly dead. 

Higgins briefly looked down at him and uttered, “You’re settled, you can do no more damage!”.

What happened next is somewhat unclear. Some sources say that John Higgins fired randomly into the porch area as the children were running for the exit. 

Other accounts claim he was more methodical and even targeted certain children due to his imagined grievances.

The prevailing account is that after shooting headmaster Robert Reid, John Higgins quickly exited the teacher’s room and entered the porch area. He briefly turned his attention to the infants class, he pushed past the teacher, Miss Kendon and fired two shots into the room. The children scattered and ran for their lives. 

John Higgins then turned his gaze to the other senior classroom. The children were already trying to escape the gunman, teachers ushering them to safety as they did so. Some tried to run for the door, others jumped out the classroom windows, and others were simply paralysed with fear at their desks.

Higgins barged into the senior classroom with gun in hand. “I’ll have to kill you all”. 

8-year-old James Peter McKinney was shot in the elbow but he was still able to escape the classroom and ultimately survived the attack.

John shot 12-year-old Alexander John Bustard in the groin, however, the boy still managed to escape and survived his wounds.

Next, Higgins shot 13-year-old Kathleen Sarah McGarry in the thigh. Again, although injured, the teenager managed to exit the building and survive.

John took aim at 9-year-old Charles Alan Stewart who was sitting at the second-row desks. The colt fired and the bullet entered the young boy’s head, killing him instantly.

The next child to capture John Higgins’ attention was 13-year-old Kelvin Maurice McLean. Some newspapers reported that Higgins had specifically targeted Kelvin McLean because he believed the teenager had informed the school authorities about his own 16-year-old son playing truant. Leading to John Higgins receiving a letter from the Auckland Education Board which caused him to march down to the school and confront the headmaster. Although, these reports have largely been dismissed as a rumour.

Nevertheless, Kelvin McLean was in Higgins’ sights. Kelvin pleaded with the gunman, either saying depending on what witness you ask, “You won’t shoot me, Mr Higgins. I want to go home to my mother” or “You won’t shoot me, will you, Mr Higgins? Remember I used to help you fill your firewood sacks”. The gunman fired at the teenager, hitting him in the leg. Kelvin dropped to the floor. John Higgins then shot him in the back of the neck and once more in the head. Kelvin McLean was dead.

12-year-old Peter Raymond Shaw attempted to climb out the window to escape but was shot in the fingers by John Higgins. Peter fell back into the classroom and hid under a desk. Later, after the chaos had dissipated from the classroom, the 12-year-old made another attempt to climb out the window. This time successful.

Two other children were injured while escaping through the classroom window, James Cocharne broke his right arm and Ashley Curry sprained his wrist. 

After the school had largely emptied. The gunman, John Higgins, returned to the headmaster’s quarters, awaiting more targets.

BACKUP

As the children fled the school. They were guided down the hill by their teachers. They were then asked to go home and tell their parents what happened.

As the bullets were flying, the gunshots were heard around the township as well as the nearby Victoria battery.

The locals and miners responded to the bullets and armed themselves with rifles and spades. They made their way to Waikino School. 

The miners confronted John Higgins, who they could see from the teacher’s room window. Higgins responded, “What the hell do you want?”. one of the miners shouted back, “If you don’t come down, we will burn the school down.” Seemingly resigned to dying at the school, John replied, “Well then, let her go.”

During this time, John Higgins took Headmaster Robert Theodore Reid’s body and placed him in the cupboard, covering him in paper.

Around this time, two police officers from nearby Waihi arrived at the scene, Sergeant O’Grady and Constable Olsen. Sergeant O’Grady yelled at John to surrender and throw his gun out the window.

John Higgins responded by firing his gun out the window and threatening to burn down the school, “Is that you Sergeant?; come and have a go!”. Sergeant O’Grady permitted the armed locals and miners to defend themselves and fire at the gunman.

During this time, brave miners snuck in the entrance and made their way across the porch toward the door to the teacher’s room where Higgins had barricaded himself. Sergeant O’Grady and Constable Olsen joined them.

Constable Olsen dashed toward the teacher’s room door. He peered through a bullet hole in the door. However, before he could take a shot at the gunman, John Higgins quickly spun around and fired through the gap. He hit the officer in the groin, and Olsen fell backwards.

A hole was made at the upper part of the door using a spade and Sergeant O’Grady fired his gun through the gap but Higgins took cover behind a cupboard. 

An armed Sergeant O’Grady asked the gunman to surrender once more. After this, the gunfire ended. John threw this gun out the window and yelled “It’s all done”. O’Grady bashed the door to the teacher’s room down, John Higgins was quickly seized and he made no attempt to resist arrest. 

Sergeant O’Grady marched John Higgins outside. As he was being led through the porch area of the school, one of the miners punched Higgins in the face. John was placed in a police car and taken to the Waihi Police Station.

After the arrest, police secured the school, searched the teacher’s room and found three plugs of gelignite with a fuse and detonator attached, enough explosives to blow up the entire school. 

They also opened a cupboard to find the Headmaster Robert Reid inside. While badly injured, the headmaster was still alive and would ultimately survive his injuries. He said later that he had feigned death so John Higgins would stop shooting at him.

TRIAL

John Higgins was eventually moved to Mount Eden Jail in Auckland to await his trial. 

The trial for John Higgins commenced on the 11th of February 1924. This trial was to determine whether the gunman was of sound mind when he carried out the crime.

A Dr Bull appeared in court and told the jury that John Higgins was suffering from chronic insanity through the delusion of persecution and became the subject of homicidal mania, “It is quite possible he may have known it would do a certain amount of harm, but I think he was unconscious of the degree of harm it would do.”

Other doctors gave evidence agreeing with this, while others disagreed. Ultimately the decision was up to the jury. Justice Stringer summed up the case for the jury as detailed in the 15th of February 1924 edition of the Press newspaper, “Summing up, Mr Justice Stringer said that if it was admitted that Higgins had caused the death of the children – and the onus was on the defence to prove that accused was not responsible for his action – Higgins was subject to the penalties of the law for murder unless he had exhibited to the satisfaction of the jury that at the time of the tragedy he was irresponsible within the definition of the law. His Honour asked the jury to return a verdict in one of two definite forms, either a single verdict of guilty in case the prisoner was not irresponsible, or, on the other hand, that he was insane at the time of the commission of the crime.”

During the trial, evidence was presented regarding what John Higgins discussed about the shooting post-arrest. He told police that he didn’t know why he went to the school except for a feeling that he had to do something about his perceived persecution. 

John also said that he knew what he was doing was wrong and that he would be charged with murder. Adding that he must have been crazy to carry out those actions and was ultimately sorry to the families to whom he had brought grief, “I am prepared to face the consequence for this terrible deed; I know I was doing wrong, but could not help doing it. The devil was in me”.

The jury retired at 11.25 am and returned about an hour later; guilty.

John Higgins was sentenced to death. 

However, less than a month later, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after it was determined that John Higgins was suffering from chronic delusional insanity.

John Christopher Higgins passed away in 1937 at 72 years old at the Avondale Lunatic Asylum in Auckland. His remains were cremated and his ashes were interred at Waikumete Cemetery.

AFTERMATH

The Education Board held a meeting shortly after the school massacre and decided that Waikino School would open again once it had been cleaned. This was something that many of the townsfolk of Waikino protested. 

The week after the shooting, on the 24th of October, Waikino School mysteriously burnt to the ground. The children of Waikino would go without an official school for two years until a new school was opened in March of 1925.

In the aftermath of the shooting, the townsfolk and NZ Truth subscribers raised almost £100 (approximately $10,000 in 2023) for John Higgins’ wife Clarice and her children to return to her family in Canada. The town reportedly rallied around Clarice and treated her with much kindness. This is evidenced by a letter from Clarice printed in the NZ Truth newspaper on the 22nd of March 1924:

Dear “Truth” –

I feel, before leaving for Canada to-morrow, I must write a few lines to your paper thanking your subscribers for their kindness to me and my boys by letter and money.

You do not know what it meant to me to receive them away back in that lonely bush.

I could not eat or sleep, thinking how I was going to go through my trouble, but God has given me grace and strength to bear it.

Thanking them all again, especially the Salvation Army,

I remain,

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. Clarice Higgins.

A follow-up to this saga was printed in the NZ Truth newspaper on the 13th of September 1924 with a letter from the mayor of Waihi Mr W. M. Wallnutt:

[To] The Editor, Truth, Wellington,

Dear Sir, – No doubt all those kind friends who, through the medium of your widely-read paper, came to the assistance of Mrs Higgins, wife of John Christopher Higgins, will be interested to learn that she has now settled down to the duties of farm life amongst her people in Alberta, Canada and that her eldest boy is also at work on the farm. Mrs Higgins, in a letter to me of recent date, again expresses her appreciation of the help and sympathy which was extended to her during her great trouble, and wishes to be remembered to them all. I should like to add that the friends who responded to your appeal in the matter have done greater service to this poor woman than they probably appreciate. She was lifted out of the slough of despair during her dark hours, and is now making a fresh start in life amongst her own people. 

Yours faithfully,

W. M. Wallnutt,

Mayor.

CONCLUSION

Ultimately, of the eight people shot that fateful day in October 1923, two died, 13-year-old Kelvin Maurice McLean and 9-year-old Charles Alan Stewart.

Headmaster Robert Theodore Reid who was shot by John Higgins survived his injuries, but he never worked at the school again, he resigned and never taught again. As a constant reminder of that day, he suffered paralysis in his right shoulder as a result of being shot.

The other four children who were shot by John Higgins that day made a recovery from their injuries, however, 13-year-old Kathleen Sarah McGarry, who was shot in the thigh, suffered from a limp for the rest of her life. The government also donated £50 to help cover the hospital expenses of the injured children.

Kelvin Maurice McLean and Charles Alan Stewart were buried on Sunday, the 21st of October 1923, two days after the shooting. Hundreds of people showed up to the funeral to grieve one of the darkest days in New Zealand’s history. 

The procession to the burial was one of the largest ever seen in the district. Reportedly more than 1,000 people were present at the gravesite to watch the young boys, who were taken so tragically, lowered into their final resting spot.

Their epitaphs read:

—

In loving memory of
Charles Alan

Dearly beloved second son of
Charlie & Jane Stewart

Who was killed in the Waikino School Tragedy.

19th October 1923

Aged 9 ½ years.

For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven.

—

In Fond Memory of
‘Our’ Kelvin

‘The Dearly Loved’

4th son of T. H & M. McLean

Killed in the Waikino School tragedy

19th of October 1923

‘Oh memories’

—

SOURCES

Internet Articles
Find A Grave, Kelvin Maurice McLean, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/173185046/kelvin-maurice-mclean
Find A Grave, Charles Alan Stewart, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/173185135/charles-alan-stewart
Wikipedia, Waikino school shooting, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikino_school_shooting
Wikipedia, Waikino, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikino
Ohinemuri, Growing up in Waikino, https://www.ohinemuri.org.nz/journals/61-journal-33-september-1989/1239-growing-up-in-waikino
Wikitree, John Christopher Higgins (abt. 1865 – 1937), https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Higgins-6948
Tumblr, The Waikino School Shooting, https://wantedknown.tumblr.com/post/48917521945/the-waikino-school-shooting
Stuff.co.nz, Revisiting a dark day: A mass school shooting – in New Zealand, https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/109153685/revisiting-a-dark-day-new-zealands-first-mass-school-shooting
NZ Herald, Waikino School: The story of New Zealand’s first and only mass school shooting – and a family secret laid bare, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/waikino-school-the-story-of-new-zealands-first-and-only-mass-school-shooting-and-a-family-secret-laid-bare/7NZL4S5FVDG6RXDUS34BOYEWJI/
Stuff.co.nz, Murder in a small Kiwi school, https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8112416/Murder-in-a-small-Kiwi-school

Video
Youtube, Interesting Fingz, Waikino School Shooting, https://youtu.be/SnMKMQcxWvQ

Newspaper Articles
Auckland Star, 22 October 1923, Page 6, The School Murders, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19231022.2.89
Auckland Star, 15 December 1923, Page 11, Higgins Committed On Murder Charges, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19231215.2.103
NZ Truth, 22 March 1924, Page 5, A Woman of Sorrow, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19240322.2.28
Evening Post, 23 October 1923, Page 4, Waikino Tragedy, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19231023.2.24
Evening Post, 24 October 1923, Page 9, The Waikino Tragedy, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19231024.2.102
Auckland Star, 20 October 1923, Page 7, Higgins Discusses Crime, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19231020.2.71
Auckland Star, 20 October 1923, Page 7, Waikino Tragedy, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19231020.2.68
Auckland Star, 12 February 1924, Page 7, Murder Charge, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19240212.2.82
Evening Post, 20 October 1923, Page 10, Waikino Tragedy, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19231020.2.98
Manawatu Standard, 20 October 1923, Page 5, Waikino Horror, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19231020.2.28
NZ Truth, 27 October 1923, Page 5, Massacre of the Innocents, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19231027.2.29
Press, 12 February 1924, Page 9, The Waikino Tragedy, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19240212.2.90
Press, 15 February 1924, Page 10, Sentenced to Death, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19240215.2.87
NZ Truth, 8 March 1924, Page 7, Death Sentence Commuted, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19240308.2.27
Press, 14 February 1924, Page 12, Waikino Murders, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19240214.2.84
Waihi Daily Telegraph, 14 February 1924, Page 3, Waikino Tragedy, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WHDT19240214.2.24
NZ Truth, 13 September 1924, Page 7, Mrs. Higgins’s New Start, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19240913.2.48
Hawera & Normanby Star, 15 December 1923, Page 7, Waikino Murder, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HNS19231215.2.61
Waikino Times, 14 February 1924, Page 5, Death Sentence, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19240214.2.44
Manawatu Standard, 25 October 1923, Page 5, Ill-Fated School, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19231025.2.17
Northern Advocate, 31 May 1924, Page 5, Waikino School Tragedy, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19240531.2.23
Waihi Daily Telegraph, 8 December 1923, Page 2, Waikino Tragedy Inquest, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WHDT19231208.2.7