THE INVERCARGILL TRAGEDY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 400, 20 June 1908, Page 4

THE INVERCARGILL TRAGEDY.

Baxter’s Will.

Sitting in Chambers at Wellington, the other morning, Mr Justice Chapman granted probate of the will of James Reid Baxter, late of Invercargill, seedsman, deceased, to the Public Trustee.

Details of the tragedy, which a few mouths ago startled and horrified everyone throughout the Dominion, will be fresh in the minds of our readers. Mrs Baxter and her children were discovered in a dying condition. On a search being made of the house in which the Baxters lived, the husband and father was fouud in the bathroom with his brains blown out. The evidence at the coroner’s enquiry indicated that he had first attacked bis family with a piece of iron, and then shot himself. His widow and children succumbed to their injuries. The will left by Baxter bequeathed all the estate to the widow, and administration of her estate was therefore granted by the court to the Public Trustee. On her death the estate devolved on her children, and vested finally iu the last surviving child. Accordingly, administration was also granted to the Public Trustee of the estate of John Colin Baxter, a minor, deceased. A devolution of the whole estate of the father and mother became vested in Phyllis, the last surviving child, and distribution will now be made amongst her paternal and maternal relatives.