THE MELBOURNE TRAGEDY.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2011, 4 August 1880, Page 3

THE MELBOURNE TRAGEDY.

Tho “ Argus” gives the following account of a terrible scene which occurred in the dress circle of the Opera-house on Saturday night, July 24th. Mr J. J. Macgregor Greer, a young gentleman who only landed in the colony a few days ago, shot his wife and Mons. A. L. Soudry, one of the members of the French Exhibition commission appointed in connection with the Melbourne Exhibition, and then attempted to take his own life. He was seated beside his wife during the evening, and when the curtain fell at the close of the fourth act, M. Soudry took a seat next to Mrs Greer, M. Soudry had scarcely sat down when Greer drew a revolver, and fired two shots in rapid succession, the first at M. Soudry, the second at Mrs Greer. A third shot was fired, the pistol this time being aimed at Mons. Georges Burk, a friend of M. Soudry, who was sitting in the chairs at the back of the circle. This shot missed its mark, and Greer rushed along the gangway. Putting the pistol to his ear as he ran he fired a fourth shot into his own head, and fell on the floor, about ten paces from the spot where the others dropped. These were the main facts of the occurrence, but some time elapsed before this short narrative could be obtained, for a panic took place in tho crowded dresscircle, and men and women fled from the house in a state of mad excitement. There was, as is not unusal on Saturday night, a full attendance in all parts of the theatre, and every seat in the dress circle was occupied. Tho curtain had only fallen a minute or two at tho end of the fourth act, about a quarter to eleven o’clock, and a number of gentlemen had left their places for the vestibule and the refreshmentrooms, when suddenly two sharp cracks wore heard, followed by a third and fourth. For an instant it was supposed that the explosions had taken place on the stage, because in the last act firearms had to be used, and one or two might have gone off prematurely. The screams of the women, and the rush for the doors, however, showed that a real tragedy had commenced amongst the audience. The common impression, except in the immediate neighbourhood of the scene, was that a madman had begun to fire recklessly at the people round about him. Hence tne rush pell-mell for tho door. One man bounded clean over the high seat at the back of tho dress-circle as well as over tho chairs on the temporary bench, and hurried to the entrance. The ladies hastened out of their seats, and fell over one another on the carpet; at one moment three lay on the top of one another, and with difficulty could be raised to their feet. Others tumbled over chairs and screamed hysterically. Few had the coolness to keep their places, until the cause of the mischief fell helplessly between the back seats and one o the sofas, where two gentlemen held him down. The revolver got thrown under the sofa. Meantime the lady and gentleman fired at had also fallen ; the lady lay stretched out on the seat; and the gentleman disappeared between the benches. Two or three rows of seats had become deserted, and for a moment or two no one |had the presence of mind to go forward and see what help the wounded required. Those who wanted to get in were kept back by others eager to escape. One lady had clambered over into the Melbourne Club box, and others had run out through tho stage door]