MAN AND WIFE DEAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 262, 26 January 1928, Page 1

MAN AND WIFE DEAD

NEIGHBOUR’S TERRIBLE DISCOVERY VICTIMS IN NIGHT ATTIRE A GHASTLY tragedy—apparently a case of murder and suicide—was discovered in Point Chevalier to-day. At No. 12 Raymond Street a man and a woman were found dead. They were:— PETER WILLIAM CLOS, aged 31, and MABEL CLOS, aged about 40, his wife.

r J'HE tragedy was discovered at 11.40 a.m. by Mrs. Edith Croad, of 6 Raymond Street, when she went to return a book she had borrowed from Mrs. Clos. She saw the bare feet of a dead man and the barrel of a shotgun lying pressed against the back door. She immediately Informed Constable L. Spellman, who hurried to the scene of the tragedy. He was greeted by a distressing sight when he arrived at the house. Clos lay betwen the wall and the back door doubled up at the end of a couch. He was dressed in his pyjamas. It is thought that he committed suicide after killing his wife, who was lying dead in a front bed room in her night attire. Mrs. Clos had been shot from be hind, evidently while asleep, as the bed-clothes were hardly disarranged In the same room was another single bed from which the clothes had been hastily thrown back. Mrs. Clos’s head had been almost shot away. Clothes were lying about the room as though the couple had undressed as usual before going to bed. The theory is that Clos had taken the gun into bed with him and then when his wife had gone to sleep he had shot her from his own bed. The beds were only a few feet apart. After that, he must have gone through the living-room, and the kitchen, and taken his own life at the door which opened on to a porch. There was a piece of string round his toe and another round the trigger of a single-barrelled gun. Close had evidently leaned over the gun and bent his head over the muzzle. There was an empty cartridge in the living-room and another in the gun. Two unused cartridges were lying on the kitchen table not far from where Clos was lying. A resident who lives nearby In Raymond Road, saw Clos yesterday morning at 10.50 a.m. He was then dressed in his pyjamas just as he was found this morning.

GUN SECURED YESTERDAY The last person who saw Clos alive was a neighbour living opposite. She saw him walking home to 12 Raymond Street carrying a brown paper parcel under his arm. She said that it was either a gun or a rifle. The gun appeared to be quite new. Dr. O. P. Lamb, who was called by the police, is of opinion that the tragedy occurred early this morning. The milkman, Mr. Burgess, delivered the milk to Clos’s house at midnight. Everything seemed in order when he called last night, and the back door was closed as usual. There were no lights in the house to-day when the tragedy was discovered, and it is believed that early this morning Clos must have turned out the lights after shooting his wife and opened the back door so that he had sufficient light to

take his own life. The blinds in the house were all drawn. On the kitchen table, not far from where Clos was lying, was a small whisky flask almost empty. Also on the table was 8s 8d in small change, which had been left for the baker. The sum of £3 8s lOd was found in the house altogether. Evidently the Clos household was not in want. The home was nicely furnished and there were a piano and a gramophone in the living room. Clos was a labourer who worked in the Point Chevalier district. He was a returned soldier, having served with the Ist Battalion of the Auckland Infantry Regiment in the war. H 6 was discharged in October, 1917. Clos was born in London and was at one time an amateur boxer. Clos and his wife had been living at 12 Raymond Street for about 12 months. PREVIOUSLY MARRIED Mrs. Clos had been married twice. Previously she was Mrs. Barnett. There were three children by the first husband, two daughters and a son. One daughter is living at Whangarei. She recently visited her mother. Another daughter, still single, is living in Auckland, and the son, a boy of 16 or 17, lives with his grandmother, also in Aucklann. There may have been some discord in the family, as Mrs. by her first husband did not live at home. The unmarried daughter left about a month ago and the boy had been away for some years. Residents in the vicinity of the tragedy have difficulty in accounting for it. Clos was very little known by the neighbours, and Mrs. Clos was believed to suffer from poor health, though she was noticeably of a bright disposition. The two, however, lived a very reserved life. They did not mix very much with residents of Raymond Street, except their nearest neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. Croad and Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Learning.