TRAGEDY AT PATEA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1204, 5 February 1914, Page 2

TRAGEDY AT PATEA.

WOMAN SHOT IN PRESENCE CHILDREN. Wanganui, February A tragedy occurred at Patea at half past four this morning, when Thomas Hewitt, aged thirty-five, a carpenter, shot his wife, aged twenty-six, in her sleep, and then shot himself. S. Johnson, from whom the Hewitts rented rooms, was roused by shots, and informed the police, who on investigation found the woman dead with a wound in the. temple. The man was lying on the floor, shot through the head. He was just conscious enough to tell the police he had shot his wife and himself, and then became comatose. He was removed- to the hospital, where he soon began to sink. Two children, aged nine and six years, were in the room when the shooting took place, but were too terrified to move, or cry out. The eldest, a boy, told the police, he was awakened by a shot, and then saw his father shoot himself twice in the head. Hewitt, an ex-American Navy man, had been in the Dominion some little time, and his wife came from America and joined him about two months ago. They had been at Patea about five weeks. The tragedy is attributed to the husband’s jealousy, it being stated there had been trouble between the pair before coming to Patea, since when Hewitt had been moody. HEWITT DEAD. Wanganui, Later. Hewitt, who murdered his wife at Patea, is dead.