BROTHER KILLS BROTHER

NZ Truth, Issue 1201, 6 December 1928, Page 8

BROTHER KILLS BROTHER

Young Mm '§ Mind Becomes I)erangecl, and He Commits Murder and Suicide TRAGEDY Of ' JLLJtEAITH ON A FARM (From "N.Z. Truth's" Put^ruru Representative.) There is something hideous m the circumstance where youth takes the life of youth; where the mind, pitifully deranged by miserable health or unfortunat? (incident, urges the human being along tlie ugly road of homicide^ '^l\ tlie m ore poignan^ are those cases wherein brother slays brother. ■ ' . Some't^ne after midnight on Saturday last Stanley Chapman, who had barely passed beyond the mark of his majority, deliberately wip ed out the life of his 16-years-old brother, Bruce, withouV any apparent cause or purpose.

•THE two boys lived with their father; 1 and mother, an elderly and ■' well - beloved couple, In a trim little cottage which formed part of the bush hamlet known ac Timu, a scattered little colony on -the' Rotorua ■ line' bei tween Hamilton and Jlotprua, where j the worlc. of the farm 'had; for some ! time, been organized by- the boys, whose father ■'had- suffered the misfortune of continued sickness and disability/ ' ; ; Although the old folk had successfully reared seven children, the youngest of whom is a small daughter, aged' eleven, the disadvantage of indifferent health seems to have been their portion for some considerable time, and for the most part, ''they appear" a sensitive and {lighly-strung family. Although both the dead boys were somewhat ■ tall and well-built, it appears that Stanley, the elder of the two, -vftLs; not so ' robust as his outward physique would indicate, for about six years ago he suffered a nervous breakdown, and for some considerable time was, obliged to take a rest from farm wor.lft '■ ■ '•■■■••"•. ■ When he returned from his holiday

For Recuperation

he displayed "all the signs of a partial recovery at • least, . but whether this condition was merely illusory, 'or whether the subsequently heavy resppnsibility of overseeing the farm and a|J : "'its-' attendant '"■'cares overwhelmed him again is riot quite clear, but 'in January of this year his health again collapsed, and he was"' once more sent away to recuperate. I Since- then he suffered, frequent moods of depression, while his mental condition caused his family much concerri,' and shortly before the ugly incident of last Saturday, arrangements were almost complete to once more eivfe him! a ' rest, to restore his good health. Undoubtedly, for a youth of 21, the cares and little ■worries of farm management, added to the circumstance that his father and youngest sister were sick, "may have been aggravating elements m his state of partial mental chaos, but his brother and sisters did what they could to offset any outward troubles. They adopted a cheerful attitude towards him, and made every possible excuse for him to enjoy himself, so that his small pleasure?

might offset any tendency 'to brood over his difficulties. ■ ' On the night of the tragedyj for example; his sister. Eileen persuaded him to take her on the piJHon-seat ' of hlf? motor-cycle to attend' the cinema at Putaruru. ■ . The -sole picture shown that night was'a comedy^ and there was nothing of an inflammatory nature m the theme j which would be likely to : excite his tense, nervous disposition. When the two returned home, a little before ,half-past eleven, thMr brother, who had been- to the' loca} picture show at Tirau, was m bed, his peaceful, regular breathing 'clearly indicating that he was asleep. Eileen asked lier brother if he was going to church on the following morn- j ing, and oh receiving an assurance that he was, she bade him a cheery ''Goodnight," arid went off to her own room. Stanley Chapman was to have read a paper before the Bible class j at' the tiny Methodist chapel at 1 , Putaruru at 10 ' o'clock on the Sun- 1 j day morning, and it is ghastly to think that' whije the youthful j congregation pleasurabjy apticipated the arrival of the quiet young churchman whom the majority re* spected, he lay dead alongside the brother whom, some awful complex had prompted him *to slay. After bidding her brother "Goodnight," Eileen went to bed and immediately fell off to sleep. '"Just how long she Had been asleep she could not say,

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but some premonition, some strange noise, perhaps, stroke her. ' Sitting up m bed, she listened for a moment or" so, ana across th© : silent stretches of the night she heard footsteps on the floor of the back verandah, followed by the sharp "click" of the latch on the gate which breaches the tall Lawsonlana -hedge '■ at the- side •' of t}ie liouse. :■ ■ " As her father was not a good sleeper, and frequently arose during "the ntght to get himself a glass of water, the girl paid very little heed to these sounds untfl a minute, or maybe two minuses, afterwards,' she heard what sounded like a rifle-shot* from the direction of the paddock nearby, 'the sharp, incisive "crack" of a, Winchester being accompanied by a moaning sound which issued from the boys' room. I^asjtily scrambling 1 out of bed, she summoned other members of the-fam-ily, and a hurried 'investigation of the hbusehb)d brought them to the' lean-to m whjch the £wb boys, Stanley and Bruce.had slept for a number of years. By the dim light of a candle. they saw Brqce lying quite dead on his bed, his' face and' the pillow on which his' head rested horribly

Body In Paddock

covered with blood which streamed, from a riflb-buljet wound m the left temple. ■ There was no sign m the room of Stanley, the eldest boy. The ''distraught people enlisted the assistance of- their nearest neighbors, and commenced a thorough search of the paddocks nearer 'the Chapman cottage. They had not traversed a great distance along and through the grass enclosure which ran to the left of the homestead, before they found ' that which they sought, yet feared to find. Lying on his back, a bullet wound through his forehead, lay Stanley's poor huddled body. The simple-living, quiet folk of the countryside' were horrified when, the (news passing from lip to lip, thjey learned of the almost unbelievable act i which the older boy had perpetrated. It seemed incredible that the reticent, church-going, fine-living personality of young Stanley Chapman should have been ended m so horrible a fashion. ' And it seemed all the mo re pathetic when it was recajled how the two boys were attached to each other. : The inquest was formally opened and adjourned. . \ • : , iniiiiiiiiniiiriuiu>iiiiiiiMmiiiiiimiiimiiiiiiiilllllillllllllllllllilllllllimilillllli|iiiriimiiniiiiiirnmiir Btlllll!llllllllHlllllllMllll!Hl(lllllllllMlilMt»iMiniiiiiiMMUiiiiiiiiwiiiiiiMM;iitMMiii>fnrfiittwttiMtMffM.