Husband Finds Wife and Daughter Shot

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 384, 19 June 1928, Page 13

Husband Finds Wife and Daughter Shot

TRAGEDY IN BEDROOM i HEARD THUD IN NIGHT Press Association. NEW PLYMOUTH, Monday. The home of Percy H. Surrey, a well-known Huirangi farmer, was the scene of a shocking tragedy early yesterday morning, under j circumstances that suggest an act of dementia on the part of an | elderly woman. Mr. Surrey’s wife, Eleanor Emma Surrey, aged 49, and her daughter, Berys Minnie Surrey, ! aged 19, were found dead in a locked bedroom, shot through the breast with a shotgun. It is stated that for a year or more Mrs. Surrey had been constantly under the care of a doctor, suffering chiefly from inability to sleep, though the suffering was not noticed to be particularly accentuated on the day before the tragedy. She was known to have been considerably worried during the last month or so over the effects of insomnia. The family lived, as a rule, on most affectionate terms, and it is therefore surmised that the double tragedy could only have been the outcome of the workings of an unbalanced mind. On Sunday evening Mr. Surrey, who himself has been more or less of an invalid for three years, went to bed early. He was soon followed by the rest of the household, consisting of his wife, his daughter, and his two sons. About 7.30 p.m. Mrs. Surrey took her husband a glass of water, appearing at the time in a normal state of health and mind. It was the last time he saw her alive. Owing to the condition of their health, she did not sleep in the same room as her husband, but with her daughter in another room. The women occupied separate beds. About 1.30 a.m. Mr. Surrey was awakened by what seemed to be the sound of a dull thud, and the noise of a woman in distress. On investigation, he found that the door of the room occupied by his wife and daughter was locked. However, access to the room was gained by going out on to the verandah and getting through a window. A candle was still burning on the dressing table, and an open book and spectacles were lying on Mrs. Surrey’s bed. The daughter was breathing when Mr. Surrey entered the room, but died almost immediately. Mrs. Surrey was dead. On his arrival, the doctor could only pronouncel ife extinct. A shotgun was found in Mrs. Surrey’s room, which belonged to her son, and was kept in another part of the house. In addition to the three children living at home at the time of the tragedy, Mr. Surrey has three married daughters living in Taranaki.