Baby’s Cries Reveal Parents’ Tragic Fate

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 846, 14 December 1929, Page 22

Baby’s Cries Reveal Parents’ Tragic Fate

J A Poison Mystery ? mystery as to the cause of the death o£ 3 Mr. Charles Henry Bottomley (37), and his fzi wife, Mrs. Peggy Bottomley (30), whose j bodies were found in the bathroom of their house at Denmark Road, Carshalton, remained unsolved when the latest mails left England. The theory of death by poisoning is generally accepted, but a thorough search of the house by Scotland Yard officers has failed to reveal any trace of a poison bottle. Neither has ft been possible to state which of the two died first. At first it was thought that the couple had been overcome by gas fumes, but there was no geyser or gas in the bathroom. The continual crying of the couple’s 18-months-old child led to the discovery of the tragedy. Mr. Crossley, a neighbour, described how he had heard the baby crying during the night. Becoming alarmed, he let himself into the house by the backdoor, which had been left unlocked. "Roaming About House” "I found the little girl roaming about the house, crying bitterly,” he said. “I was unable to force the bathroom door, so I called in some workmen, who brought a ladder.” They entered the house through the bathroom window, and found the dead bodies, unclothed, lying across the floor. The bath was full of soapy water. The couple had lived in Denmark Road for about three weeks. Mr. Bottomley, who was Conservative agent for Sir Alfred Butt, M.P. for Balham and Tooting, was well known and liked in the district. Pre came from a family of Conservative agents and it is believed that his father, Mr. J. H. Bottomley, who is agent for Sir John Leigh, of Clapham, is the oldest agent in England. Mr. W. Bottomley, a brother, has taken charge of the child. He strongly believes that the affair was accidental.