DEAD IN A CHAIR

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LII, Issue 32, 21 April 1931, Page 3

DEAD IN A CHAIR

UNMOVED FOR TWO DAYS

REMARKABLE DISCOVERY

A remarkable discovery was made by Sergeant O'Dwyer, of the Campsie police, recently, says a Sydney newspaper, when he found the dead body of Mrs Annie Moloney, aged 80 years. For years Mrs Moloney had led a secluded life, attended only by a mid-dle-aged woman who is mentally deficient. Their cottage was clean and well tended, and the pair led a quiet but apparently happy existence. Last week a baker called, and the younger woman, who always called Mrs Maloney "mother," said, "No bread today, baker. .... Mother is dead." "Eh!" ejaculated the startled baker. "Mother is dead," repeated the woI man. Half an hour later the baker met Sergeant O'Dwyer, and, entering into a conversation, commen»in^ "Funny thing happened to me to-day, sergeant," he related his experience. The ! sergeant walked round to the Malon!ey household, and in response to his knock the younger woman appeared. "Where's mother?" inquired the sergeant. < "She's dead," said the woman quite ' cheerfully. "Where?" queried the sergeant. Without the slightest hesitation the woman led the sergeant into a small kitchen. The old woman was sitting stiffly in a chair. The sergeant called to her, then walked across and laid a friendly hand on her shoulder. He recoiled. She was dead. Sergeant O'Dwyer summoned a doctor, who made a post-mortem examination, v_hich established that the woman had died of heart failure at least two days previously. The younger woman's unbalanced mind had not been able to appreciate the significance of death. "Mother's dead, but she's alright," she declared with a smile.