"SO I THEN WENT MAD" SAID WIFE

NZ Truth, Issue 1261, 30 January 1930, Page 5

"SO I THEN WENT MAD" SAID WIFE

Startling Allegations of Threats With Knife and Gun , :..■ y, ■■'.-.-/. . • ■• .- *■ • .-y •■■-.--.■-.;■ > ' - • (From "N.Z. Truth's" Napier Ilepresentative.). , .

That she was very fond of her husband and had "done her best to make it up," but adding that his religion had caused all the trouble, was the explanation advanced by Elsie Georgia Baylis at the Napier Magistrate's Court, when she was called upon to answer a charge of unlawfully presenting a firearm at . her husband, Prank Alexander Baylis.

ACCORDING -to her y husband,- Mrs. Baylis:,was;npt of 'fc' sunny, nature; as on-one occasion she had driven^ a knife under his shoulder blade, and then blown a hole m .the- kitchen wall with a shot-gun. : ' y In giving evidence. in support of the police case which was laid under the Arms Act, the woman's husband, a laborer, residing at Greenmeadqws, a small' township a few miles from Napier, stated they were married m 1926 and after residing m Napier for some time they moved to Taradale. There were two children of the marriage, but they were now m a home. After their removal -to Taradale there was some discord m their married life, which resulted m Baylis eventually leaving his wife. The day after they were married,' Baylis alleged, he Was threat- . ened with a knife by his wife,,further threats against him and the children - being made. .She had also said that she would take her own life. . • ; ' While living: at Greenmeadows he went back'to his former home m order to see the .children. His, wife, hey alleged, first drove i knife^under his shoulder blade and then raised, a shot gun and blew a hole m the kitchen wall. She came to • the place where he was on December 27 late m the afternoon when everybody, was away. When she secured possession of the gun she loaded ; it and pointed it at him. Senior-sergeant Powell: What did she say? — I'll blow you apart. ; I. then went off for my life. She also said that she would bowl me over and the children after ml.' I then' went for "thej police as I was afraid of my life. . A \ In reply to Mr. Mayne. Baylis said he blamed his wife for the whole of the trouble of his married life. Mr. Mayne: Isn't it a fact that the. trouble was caused by your religion ?-•-> No. 7- w , Mrs. Baylis. will say .that she did not point the gun. at you. but threatened to take her own life. — That Ma allei. ,' Constable Gartley, of Taradale, said that on the evening of the day on which the offence Was alleged to .have taken place he went to the scene, as a result of a telephone message. 7-y y He found Mrs. Baylis ■'•in -her husband's whare m the;' possession "of "a gun, which was loaded. r --' AA---He. asked her how she .got into/ the whare and she replied ..that she had broken the lock, with an axe. In reply to a questipn7as;to7what she intended to do with 'the dun. she allegedly said? "I intend to shoot my husband and then myself." She also said that her hut-

-band had got away th«f7tlme;-but * • 7* she would set him yet. - She told the constable that if he let her go then he. would find her In the . nearest water -hole. Before the constable took her away she: asked to see her husband, and when % he came forward she at once made threats to him. In reply to Mr. Mayne the constable said that Mrs: Baylis had been In the. hospital for some time and had had ta return there. Mrs. Baylis said that on the afternoon of December 27 she returned fronil Auckland and went immediately to the ; y Greenmeadows wool waßh, where; she -y saw her husband. She asked him to make it up, but he"-' • refused;,- She then broke the lock .of the whare and entered. .The gun was hot loaded by her, : as she threw the cartridges out of the window.- 7.; • "I asked him to make a fresh start on account of the kiddies but he wouldn't, and then I went,;mad. ■'-.■' ■;.'• .-•■' ."I am very fond of . my husband, and have done my best to make it up, but It is his religion that -has caused all the trouble." •' ■ '■ a . , .Senior-sergeant Powell: ' Tou admit that you were In the whare?— rTes. Did you not say to . Constable Gart - ley that you would blow your husband's y brains out? — I don't know. I said a lot 7? of things. I was laughing* and cryingyVw at the same time. . , £■/* : And you intended to do for your hus- : . -■** band.?— No, I did not, sergeant, I have"*!*' a lot of time for him. y y7': :^ : • The magistrate said it was pw-.-A'A fectly plain that there had been y; tension between the two parties, N but as to whose fault it was did not y7 concern him m this case. The woman was apparently , ta^a^, highly nervous-state and was liable^Tto^.i do strange things when' she was^ng/ry. He did not want to imprison and it would be absurd to fine her. 77 Mr. Mayne stated that Mrs7gßaylis would be remaining m the hospital until her nervous troubles were>nred; In reply to the magistrate .;Jthe aef cused said that she had no friend's who Avould look after her. Nobody wanted , her, she said. "Well, I can't have women or men kicking' round, the country with rifles threatening to do for themselves ar other people. We are not ih Samoa," said his yWorship,. m granting an adjournment for a we.ek on the under- ' standing that Mrs. Baylis went back to hospital. The senior -sergeant said that m the meantime he woilld make arrangements if possible for the Salvation Army to look after h«r.