TRAGEDY OF JEALOUSY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3635, 7 May 1927, Page 3

TRAGEDY OF JEALOUSY.

MAN MURDERS GIRL AND RIVAL.

SUICIDE THEN COMMITTED.

Sydney, April 29

Consumed by hte pangs of unrequited love, William Gordon Fuller, aged 24 years, an engineer, shot dead Thelma Hammill, aged 19 years, and George Walker, aged 27 years, outside the girl’s home late last Monday night. Fuller left a letter in which he states his intention of shooting Miss Hammill and himself. Both Walker and Fuller had known Miss Hammill for a considerable period, and both had been courting her. The police theory is that Fuller’s jealousy gained the upper hand when he was told by the girl that she did not want to see him again and when he heard that she and Walker were about to be married. Fuller called at the girl’s home at Ashfield early on Monday evening, after she had gone with Walker to a local picture entertainment, and asked her stepfather if he could see her on Wednesday, after he had been told that she had gone out with Walker. Fuller was told that he might come to the house and see if the girl would see him, and then he left. Evidently he returned later at night and secreted himself near the front gate or on the front verandah. At all events shortly before 11 o’clock neighbours were aroused by pistol shots, and the girl’s step-father found her body and Fuller’s near the entrance of the front garden. Walker, on the point of death, was found about 40 yards away, whither he had crawled after Fuller had shot him. GIRL PIERCED BY THREE BULLETS.

An examination of the bodies showed that Fuller had fired two bullets through the .girl’s breast and one through her head. Walker was shot through the chest and a similar wound had caused the murderer’s death. The number of shots that Fuller fired, the deadly effect with which he placed them and his own suicide after the double murder all spoke of the dreadful determination with which he had entered upon the ghastly deed.

The letter found in one of Fuller’s pockets was to the effect that he was not insane, but intended to committ suicide.. He had “kept company” with Thelma Hammill for five years, he said but “a cur had taken her away from him.” He loved her, and would always love her. He intended to take her “across the line” with him, and he would also shoot the mail who was going with her.” She had taken his engagement ring and then dismissed him. His heart was broken. She had spoiled his life.

RECENT ARRIVAL FROM NEW

ZEALAND,

Some mystery attaches to Walker, who was also known as G. IV. Smith. A bankbook in his possession had an address at Surrey Hills, where he was but vaguely known as a cook. It is believed that he came from New Zealand to marry the girl Hammill. It is understood that he was a New Zealander. Fuller had also followed his profession at sea, and on his body was found a snapshot of himself in an officer’s white uniform, and a New Zealand passport.

Later police inquiries led to the belief that W'alker, or Smith, was attached to a sugarcane cutters’ camp at Broadhurst', on the Richmond River, Northern New South Wales. He had substantial accounts with the New Zealand Post Office Savings Band at Invercargill, and with the Commonwealth Band in Sydney. The former was in the name of George Walker and the latter of George William Smith. He came to Australia from New Zealand by the Moeraki, which left Bluff for Melbourne on April 11.