FARM TRAGEDY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 717, 18 December 1933, Page 5

FARM TRAGEDY

i (Press Assn.-

AT TOLAGA BAY man and wife UNHAPPY LIFE TOGETHER MURDER AND SUICIDE

-By Telegraph — Copyright).

Gisborne, Sunday. Following an altercation in the Ihedroom of tlieir house in Wharekaka setfleme'nt Tolaga Bay, in the early hours of this inorning the bo'dy of a woman was found' with h:ef head battered with a blunt instrument which had caused a fracture of the skull, while outside in' a COWshed lay the body 6f her husbarid, shot dead. The ill-fated couple are: Mrs. Annie Amelia Martin, aged about 32 years. Henry Martin, aged 53 years. From the facts revealed so far apparently Martin struck his wife a blow or , blows in the centre of the forehead fracturing her skull. He then carried the body through the house to the garden. In the centre of I the woman's forehead, there is a hole i about an inch in diameter and over | an inch deep. Martin then found a lantern, lit ! it, visited a shed at the rear of the cowshed, pfocured a gun and shot himself. Police Investigations First news of the tragedy was received by Inspectof O'Halloran' of the Gisborne police early this morning when "he received a telephone message from Constable Canning at Tolaga Bay stating that the body of Mrs. Martin had been found, the. woman having apparently been murdered. The body was lying in the garden of the Martins' home and covered over with a sack and a'li oil- . skin. The husband was missing. Cdnstable Canning received this information at 4.40 a.m. and immediately telephoned the inspector. From information then available, Inspector O'Halloran feared that it was a case of the woman being murdered and the husband missing having perhaps taken to the hills. He immediately got in touch with members of the foree in Gisborne and before 7.30 a.m., a party comprising inspector O'Halloran, Senior Sergeant Wade and Plain Clothes Constable King accompanie'd by the coroner, Mr. E. L. Walton, S.M., left for the scene of the tragedy. On arrival there they were met by Sergeant Sparks of Tokomaru Bay who had been ordered to the scene and had with him Constable Canning. The latter stated that since his 'phone massage the husband had been found at the rear of the milking shed about 150 yards from the house. He had procured a gun from the shed attached a strap to the trigger, and looped the lower end of the strap. He had then apparently placed the

muzzle of the gun in his mouth, put his foot in the strap and shot himself. Death ensued instantaneously. An investigation of the woman's injuries showed that slie had been struck in the centre of the forehead by a blunt instrument and it is con'sidered that the act was committed with a heavy iron bolt on which a small portion of blood was discovered. The two bodies were conveyed to Tolaga Bay where an inquest was opened by Mr. Walton. Evidence. of identification was given by William FaiTell a nephew of the deceased man and the inquest was then adjourned until Friday next. An Unhappy Life Martin had been a resident of the Tolaga Bay district practically all his life. He served in the Boer War and in the Great War and held medals for both. He was a dairy farmer at Wharekaka which is a discharged soldiers' settiement about four miles from Tolaga Bay. From information gleaned from various sources it appears that the couple led a most unhappy life. Quite recently Mrs. Martin had left home and commenced proceedings for a separation. However a reconciliation was apparently effected to some extent and she returned home. The house is a tworoomed whare at the far end of the settiement. On Saturday evening, it is alleged, a quarrel took place between the couple in their bedroom and this continued for a considerablo time. Then, it is alleged, Martin came out of the bedroom, carrying the body of Mrs. Mai"tin. The children looked horrified and he gave them to understand that he had killed their mother, telling them to ring the policeman and tell him so. He told them not to ring for some time so as to give him a chance to get away. The children, it is believed, followed these instructions, which accounts for the fact that the news was not 'phoned to Constable Canning until 4.40 a.m. There are five children in the family, the eldest being 12 years of age.