Fired a few shots to let his neighbours know that he had a gun

By 1937 Theodore Wilhelm Vetter had been in and out of gaol a number of times, and this was having an effect on his marriage.

The electoral rolls for that year show that his wife, Mary May, was living in Wright Street, North Croydon, and that their eldest daughter, Mary Louise, was also on the electoral rolls as living there.  We can assume that their youngest daughter, Joan Margaret was also living there.

However there was no sign of Theodore on the electoral rolls, and in fact during his last time in prison Mary did not visit him, whereas previously she had always made the trip to Yatala Prison to do so.

This may well do with the fact that Mary was now suffering from myxedema, a disease resulting from under activity of the thyroid gland, and was most likely unable to make the trip. In fact Mary was to die from the disease on June 30th of this year.

In late January of 1937 Theodore was again arrested, and once more was in Hindmarsh Court explaining his way, or at least trying to explain, out of another fine or prison sentence.

Constable Shannon had arrested Theodore under the Firearms Registration Act.  He had been called to Wright Street, North Croydon, after there had been a compliant about bullets being fired through a glasshouse.  The glasshouse being next door to where Mary and her daughters lived.

On arresting Theodore the Constable had asked him if the gun was registered, and Theodore honestly answered that it was not.  Constable immediately confiscated the gun.

Constable Shannon then asked Theodore why he fired the gun at the neighbour’s glasshouse.  Theodore replied that he had just bought the weapon and had fired a few shots to let his neighbours know that he had a gun.

Once in front of magistrates Evans and Cooley at the Hindmarsh Court house, Theodore had little chance of getting his gun back, and was dually charged and fined £2, and £1 costs.

I can imagine Theodore’s annoyance at this, especially having only just purchased the gun.  But what does not make sense to me is the fact that it looks like Theodore was not living there.  So why was he firing a gun at the neighbours glasshouse.  Knowing that Theodore had a temper, I am inclined to make the assumption that he had called round to visit his wife and family, and that, perhaps, they had denied him entry.  So he decided that the only way to gain entry was to fire a gun!