ACCIDENTS & FATALITIES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 83, 12 April 1915, Page 7

ACCIDENTS & FATALITIES.

WIFE MURDER AND SUICIDE. Peb Press Association. Christchurch, April 12. A shocking murder, followed by the suicide of the murderer, happened at Woolston this morning. The facts are that Charles Gustav Petersen, aged 6-1, a laborer, residing in Park Street, Woolston, and his wife, Catherine Mary Petersen, aged 48, were found in their bedroom about midday, quite dead, the husband having cut Ids wife’s throat with a razor and then his own. A razor was found lying at the back of the husband, close to his head. Gustav Vincent Peterson, about 2d. who resided with his parents, loft home at 5 a.in. and went fishing at Hedcriffs. and on his return about midday found the blinds down and the fire not lighted. Entering the bedroom lie found Ids parents dead.

The husband had not been working for the past four years, and is alleged to have developed a mania of jealousy. He labored under the delusion that many men were in the house or visited it, and on several occasions bad threatened violence. The wife had been in failing health recently, and during the last fortnight was worse.

At the inquest a verdict was recorded that the wife was murdered by f he husband, and that the husband committed suicide. tragedy at porirua. Wellington, April 12.

Shortly after midnight a patient in the mental hospital at Porirua escaped from the institution. He broke a window in his dormitory, and made his way to a dump of native hus>h about a quarter of a mile away. He was found there this morning hanging by the node and quite dead. The escapee had only been an inmate of the hospital for about three months, and came from the Taranaki district. He suffered from delusions of persecutions, but had never before shown any suicidal tendencies. WOMAN ATTEMPTS SUICIDE. Christchurch, April 12. A married woman named Winifred Cliss, residing at Richmond, is alleged to have attempted suicide this afternoon. She was found in a room halfsuffocated, having closed the doors and turnde on the gas. Medical aid was called, and it is expected that theie will bo no ill results. FATALITY AT STREET CROSSING. Palmerston North, April 12. A fatal accident occurred at Cook Street crossing on Saturday night. A well-known resident of Palmerston named Owen May was knocked down and fatally injured by a, Wellington train.