THIRD LIFE WRECKED
Sequel to Death Pact MAN’S FIANCEE COMMITS SUICIDE rE death pact of Harold Wilson and the girl Ivy Walton, who were found dead in a house at Lyall Bay, Wellington, is given an added poignancy by the death of Florence McMurtrie who committed suicide on Tuesday. It was revealed that she was engaged to Wilson and took her life in a fit of despondency. The coroner said that Wilson was evidently a scoundrel. Press Association.
WELLINGTON, To-day. The inquest ill regard to the death by gas poisoning of Florence McMurtrie, in a house in Tasman Street on Tuesday, showed a direct relation with the Lyall Bay suicide pact of Harold Wilson and Ivy Walton last Saturday. Miss McMurtrie was the daughter of a farmer at Kimbolton, who last saw her four years ago. Jessie Gladys Pemberton, with whom she lived for a year, stated that deceased had been engaged to Wilson and was to have been married this month. At nine o’clock on Monday evening she -was in good health but seemed upset, and told witness that she did not think she would go to work next day. Following an inquiry from Miss MeMurtrie’s employers -witness went to her house, hut found it locked. A neighbour looked through the window,
and from what he saw, the police were summoned. Deceased was found dead in the kitchen with a gas tube near her head. The gas was turned on. Witness had no doubt from the note left addressed to her, that Wilson’s suicide was the reason for deceased taking her own life. The coroner, Mr. W. G. Riddell, remarked that Wilson, from what they knew of him, appeared to have been a scoundrel. He not only committed suicide himself but wrecked the lives o" these two women. A verdict was returned that deceased died from gas poisoning selfadministered, while suffering from depression. , The discovery of the bodies of Harold Wilson, and Ivy Walton lying clasped, in each other’s arms in a gas-filled room was made at Lyall Bay on Sunday. At the inciuest it was stated that the deceased Wilson had been keeping company with the girl, and that her father had
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Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 256, 19 January 1928, Page 15
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364THIRD LIFE WRECKED Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 256, 19 January 1928, Page 15
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