LAST LETTER TO MOTHER

NZ Truth, Issue 1206, 10 January 1929, Page 7

LAST LETTER TO MOTHER

What pathos, what anguish of spirit often is distilled m the retorts of those pathetic last hours, when a man or a woman decides to cut short the span of life by suicide, and, m coming to the decision, writes a final message of cheer or regret to the remaining earthly beings who showed him love! Such a letter is the one written by George Allen to his mother, a short while before he violently assaulted the woman he once loved, then took his own life, after keeping the police at bay for five hours. From the depths of his heart he wrote: "My dear mother, — As I can stand this no longer, I am going to the shop ... I have no heart for anything else, and I am just a wreck ... I can't say what will happen when I get there . . ; . goodbye, dearest mother, and don't grieve for me; Whatever happens will be for the best.— George. " What a world of meaning there is m the words: "Whatever happens," m the light of subsequent tragedy!

threatening death to anyone who approached. Just before seven o'clock, Allen brutally struck Mrs. Withey at least three times with the butt end of a shotgun, slammed the door of her shop, and sat at a vantage point which covered all approaches to the tiny structure. The shop is of the small lock-up variety, containing two compartments, divided from the telephone exchange at the rear of the "Herald. office by a right-of-way. When first the police caught sight of Allen he was seated at .the one small casement window m the rear compartment of the place, the gun across his knees and a string tied to the triggers. He told the little knot of police and newspaper men gathered there, that he never would be taken aliva.

for he was at one time a warder m a Dominion gaol. , He was, however, kicked out of the service for alleged practices which are not appreciated by the authorities. A charge of using official quarters for f a wrong purpose was brought against him, and though it was not fully proved, he got the order of "the boot." . Baxter is considered one of the toughest crooks of Sydney, and the only hard honest work he has ever done was when he put m four years behind prison walls. As for "nerve,'.' hide, or gall, Baxter is full of it, as proved by the fact that he once sued a well-known bookmaker

rifice of human life. As it was, m the brief conversations which passed between some of the police and Allen there was a high element of danger. He could easily have shot any one oi? more of them, and some of the huge crowd of theatregoers who had forsaken the pictures for the' more intense theatre of life itself, were also m real danger of death which lay m the trigger-fingers of the madman who peered at them through the window of the small shop; Two of the detectives, Revell and Walsh, spoke to Allen on several, occasions, even suggesting that he would starve if he did not come out. "Starve!" replied Allen. "I have a month's supply of chocolates here, and there's plenty of soda water. The police employed every possible means of persuasion. They assured him that Mrs. Withey was

for alleged libel, asking a jury to award him £ 5000 damages. The only damages which came nis way were those to his already unwholesome character. This is the man who is now trying to exploit New Zealand "mugs" of both sexes. If any are foolish enough to fall for his specious circular letter after this warning they will have only themselves to blame. If . any persons . who read this have reason to think they have any expectations, under the will of some long-lost or forgotten relation, there are plenty of reputable firms .who ■will act for them on an honest basis, and who do not circularize possible clients from nonexistent suites of offices m distant pities. v ■■•,;■•. ,