FEARFUL TRAGEDY.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 119, 31 May 1876, Page 4

FEARFUL TRAGEDY.

Mr Kenneth Brown, the head of one of the most important families in th e country, has shot his wife A few ye;” g ago Mr 'Brown, then a flourishing settle. ? went over to Melbourne with a horse called Victorian—a great local celebrity «—in the hope of his winning the Champion Cup. This led to his stopping in Victoria, where he met with and married the unfortunate lady who has just fallen by his hand* During the day of the fatal occurrence Mr Brown had a quarre] with the deceased, and threatened to blow tip the house with a flask of powder which he had in his hand. This was taken away from him by a man named Simpson, who was removing some furniture. He then armed himself with a double-barrelled gun. This also Simpson took away from him and locked it giving the key to Mrs Brown. Simpson then loft, when another quarrel seems to have occurred, and the unhappy man, again possessing himself of the gun, followed the deceased into the kitchen, and 'bred at her while taking refuge with a servant, wounding her in the side and chest. The deceased then sought to escape from the house, but was shot dead by her husband at the kitchen door, her head being nearly severed from her body. The coroner’s jury returned a verdict of wilful murder ■ against Kenneth Brown. The deceased lady leaves behind her two young children. The position of Mr Brown’s family connected as it is with those of the principal settlers throughout the colony, has not only added to the sensation which such an act must, under any circumstances, have excited, but has carried affliction ’of the most terrible character where it must be most felt.— Frecmantle JHerald.”