FEARFUL TRAGEDY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 18, 12 April 1927, Page 13

FEARFUL TRAGEDY

four children shot DEMENTED MOTHER’S ACT HUSBAND’S AWFUL DISCOVERY Press Association GORE, To-day. A fearful tragedy has occurred at Kaiwera. Returning home at lunch time a farm labourer found that his wife had shot their four children dead, and that she herself was shot in the breast. She is now in a critical state. George Cockburn Rae, who was working for a farmer at Kaiwera, a somewhat lonely settlement about six miles from Pukerau. left his home as usual this morning to plough a paddock, his ■wife and four young children being apparently on good terms. At 12.30 o’clock he returned to the farmhouse for lunch. On nearing the house he heard a shot ring out, and rushed inside. He saw a note on a table, and dashed for the bedroom. Here he was confronted by his wife with a pea-rifle in her hands. Blood was streaming from a wound under her left breast. In a room off the kitchen the husband discovered his four children, three being shot dead and the fourth expiring as he entered the room. The children were dressed in their night attire at the time, and it is presumed they were shot by the mother after she had put on their nightdresses. The police were communicated with, and the demented mother, still alive, was brought to the Gore Hospital, where she lies in a very critical state. The husband is suffering from shock, and so far is unable to give a very coherent account of the tragedy. Neighbours state that the husband, wife and children were on the best of terms. They had never known of any friction. Mrs. Rae is said to be the daughter of a Tuatapere resident. The children’s ages ranged from one year to five years, and the couple had been emploved on a farm at Kaiwera for some two or three years. The condition of Typhena Carroll Rae, the mother, is still very grave; but she has a fighting chance of recovery.

A few further details of the gruesome affair are available. The mother is 24 years of age. All the four children were shot in the abdomen with a pea-rifle, one having two bullets in its body. The mother left a note Intimating an intention to commit suicide, and was rational enough late last night to make a statement to the Coroner. The inquest opened on the scene of the tragedy this morning. Evidence of identification was taken and the proceedings were adjourned.