ice-skating to horseback riding. In 1925, she entered Celeron High School. There she began organizing a dramatic club and a school band. She directed and starred in plays and musicals. On July 3, 1927, it was Freds twelfth birthday and the eve of the 4th of July. Grandpa Hunt decided to have a Fourth-of-July-Eve-Party for some of the neighboring children as well as a visiting girl from a neighboring town, Joanna Ottinger. Grandpa had bought that afternoon a .22 caliber rifle and foolishly gave it to the kids. It had bullets in it to practice with in the backyard. Fred fired some shots at a tin can. Lucy then followed and finally Joanna picked up the gun. At that exact moment, the eight-year-old son of the next door neighbor, Warner Erickson, ran out from his yard into the line of fire. Joanna was firing and the bullet from the gun went through Warners back and lodged in his left lung. He fell to the ground screaming and bleeding. His lower limbs, back, and arms were paralyzed. Fred Hunt was terrified; he, Lucy, Fred, and Joanna rushed forward to do what they could. Then Ericksons parents came out hysterical with rage and charged Grandpa with having deliberately telling Joanna to fire at their son. Policed were called and a harrowing ordeal followed. Warner was hurried to the hospital unable to move. The boys father, Einer Erickson, filed a complaint at his attorneys office, charging Grandpa with deliberately and willfully giving orders to kill. Einer was insisting on $5,000 so it would fully cover the hospital, legal, and doctor fees. Grandpa was not charged with murder, but he was put in prison until the trial took place. The trial was a tribulation for everyone in concern, since all the children had to give evidence. Even thought the shooting had been an accident, Grandpas irresponsibility was punished appropriately. Since Fred Hunts capital was only a few hundred dollars and his only asset was the house, Einer Erickson could not be ...
