Into the Valley of Shadows.

NZ Truth, Issue 1108, 24 February 1927, Page 9

Into the Valley of Shadows .

♦ — Sloman Insane When He Slew His Family With Tomahawk (From "N.Z. Truth's"' Palmerston North Representative.) What is -the terrible force which impels a man to turn m a wild frenzy and slay the family he has loved and for whom he has slaved?

{ -^^M\mfm^HmaXS KXND husband, a ™^^,<i™™™fls| devoted father, and Pv^Tl A 1 a S 00(i citizen, WilCJ \«4 / Z\ a Ham George Slon=NrW* **• i 'man, of Levin, rose OfirjM from his bed m the mflr^^^^^^**"™ heads he battered with a tomahawk. He then sat down and wrote three letters, one of which gave directions for the administration of his estate, after which he took poison. The wife went to her grave without ever knowing of the terrible transfor- ■ mation of her husband, -while the daughter lingered a while • and then followed. The son, under care and attention, is still seeking to recover the health and strength of young boyhood; The tragic circumstances surrounding the affair, which were revealed m the Supreme Court at Palmerston Nprth last week, when Sloman faced two capital charges,, constitute one of the most amazing psychological dramas ever heard. With his wife dead as the ambulance drew up at the doors of the hospital, and his children hanging between life and death .with terrible injuries, Sloman is said to have pleaded that nothing be done to aid their, recovery. "I cannot bring back or describe the atmosphere. I was m that night," Sloman said later to a mental specialist. "I never felt I was' killing them. "I felt that I was jiist putting them to sleep. I felt I was protecting them. I felt that I was approaching bankruptcy; and that my loved ones were, going to suffer." Throughout' the trial Sloman sat listening intently to the evidence. He pleaded-nt>t guilty through his counsel, Lawyer M. H. Oram, and betrayed no emotion, although occasionally he alj lowed his head to drop forward' on his

arms as they rested on the rail of the -dock. . - - How the tragedy was discovered was 'related by Arthur Horace • Strong, a laborer, who was m the employ of Sloman. On the evening of November 4 he left his employer's poultry farm m Weraroa Road for home, when there was nothing unusual m the behavior or attitude of Sloman. On the following morning Strong arrived at the house prepared for the day's work. Seeing nobody about he knocked at the doors and windows for half- an hour, at the end- of ' which time he peered through a side window. He. was shocked to see young Russell Sloman lying on his bed covered with blood. lii a front room Mrs. Sloman was m bed with her head deeply gashed, whije on another bed Sloman.lay m an unconscious condition. Across the passage, m a third bedroom, the daughter, Rita, was also found m an injured condition, her head being covered with . blood. The following letters were found m the kitchen after the tragedy: "Charlie Odlin: Forgive me for the rash deed. I cannot stand it any longer and I cannot leave the wife and children to suffer. "Dear Em.: My brain seems to have gone. I cannot, endure life any longer and I cannot leave the wife and children to suffer. I have sent them to, heaven and am going also.. May God help me if I have done wrong, but I could see no other way. Forgive me.— W.G.S." • . An impressive array of doctors was called by the defence to testify that at the time of the tragedy Sloman was suffering from an acute depressive form of insanity and did not realize what he was doing. Accused was acquitted on the ground of insanity and ordered to be detained m the, Wellington prison at the pleasure of the Minister of Justice.