KILLED WITH RIFLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 362, 24 May 1928, Page 1

KILLED WITH RIFLE

SYDNEY WOMAN’S DEATH MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER SISTER’S DRAMATIC PRAYER FALLING on her knees on the verandah of a house of tragedy, a Sydney woman prayed for her brother (now charged with murder) and a dead woman with whom he had lived.

Curious people gathered, and bared their heads.

(United P.A.—By Tel Reed. 10.35 a.m. SYDNEY, Tto-day. Miriam Merriman, aged 56, residing at Middle Harbour, North Sydney, was found shot through the head, apparently with a pea-rifle, which was found in the house. It had been recently discharged. Frederick Lawrence, 62, a painter, who had been living with deceased for 20 years, claiming to be her husband, was arrested and charged with murder. He denies the charge. He told the police that the deceased must have committed suicide, but the police found the pea-rifle in another part of the house, entirely apart from the body. Lawrence’s sister, living a mile

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away, paid a chance visit to the house. When she learned what had happened she fell on her knees on the front verandah, and prayed aloud for her brother and the dead woman. Curious crowds gathered, and bared their heads. The police last night searched a long time before they found the 10-year-ofid son, nearly frantic at his aunt’s "home. He told the police that he saw his father creeping along the passage toward the mother with a pea-rifle. His father gave him a twoshilling piece to clear out quickly. The police learned that Lawrence was mostly unemployed lately, and wanted his wife to shift to another suburb, but she was so attached to the place that she declined.