MURDER AND SUICIDE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2950, 9 December 1916, Page 11

MURDER AND SUICIDE

MAN AND WOMAN FOUND DEAD

IN HEART OF THE CITY

■ A tragedy was enaoted in premises known as No. 33 Cambridge Terrace (on the .corner of Cambridge. Terraoe and Tennyson StreotV during the mgns hours on Thursday or early yesterday morning, which resulted in the death of a woman named Emily Thomas, sometimes known as Mrs.' Cope, said to bo a marriedi woman, about 35 years of ago, and a man named Gilbert Marshall (somotimes known as Thomas), a recent arrival from Australia, about 40 years of ago. The woman was last seen alive on her own premises by some neighbours at about 10.30 p.m. on Thursday, and the noighbours report that though the house adjoining is practically under the same roof, no noise of an untoward nature was heard during the night. At 8 o'olock yesterday morning an old man named J. S. M'Donald, who was employed to sweep out the premises, clean the windows, etc., went to tho house in question, and finding tho door, locked he entered the house through ono of the back windows. Hearing no sound within /jo deoided to make investigations, and p'ushod open/the door of tho bedroom on the ground floor usually ocoupiod by Emily Thomas. The bodies of tno two unfortunate people were found on the floor of the room. After satisfying himself that they wore both dead, M'Donald hurried down to the Taranaki Street Polico Station to •Teport the tragedy. ■

•A few minutes later Senior-Sergeant Miller, accompanied by' Detective-Sor-geant Lewis and Constable Anderson, went to Cambridge Terrace to investigate the affair. On entering the room where the bodies lay it .was. at once seen that there had been a struggle between the two, and various articles of furniture, etc., had been thrown or knooked about the room.

There seemed little doubt as to how the woman had come by her death. Finger marks still upon her throat indicated that she had been strangled. In the case of the man the cause of . death was not so apparent. His appearanco indicated that he may have taken poison. The cause of death will be absolutely determined by the postmortem investigation to be made by Dr; Fylfe

The police at onco, callcd ill Dr. Henry, who could only state that both the man and the woman had been dead for some hours.

The deceased!, Emily. Thomas, alias Cope, was not unknown to the police. She was a few weeks ago charged with being the keeper of a oiie-woman brothel, and was convicted. On her appeal the conviction was quashed on a technical point.

Albert Marshall, the male deceased, came from Australia recently, and lias been known to pass as Mr. Thomas, the husband of the deceased woman. He was a very powerful man, 6ft." 2in. in height, and broad and muscular in proportion.

The bodies now lie in the morgue at Clyde Quay.