DOUBLE SHOOTING TRA GED Y AT HO WICK

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1046, 9 August 1930, Page 1

DOUBLE SHOOTING TRA GED Y AT HO WICK

HUSBAND KILLS WIFE

Turns Shotgun on Self

JjfUiLBN shot his wife in the left A breast with a double-barrelled shotgun and then, reloading the gun and removing his coat and waistcoat, he turned the gun on himseit. Both people were shot through the heart and death was instantaneous. The couple left one son, Dougall Millen, aged 13, who is attending King’s College. Rita Howie, a little girl of 13 years,

was a witness of the tragedy. As soon as she saw the gun being fired she ran into Howick for the police. Millen and his wife had been living apart for a year and for some time past he had been endeavouring to get Mrs. Millen to return to him. This, however, she steadfastly refused to do. Relatives stated this morning that Millen had been injured in the war and that ho was a man of very violent temper and difficult to live with. WENT ON TO VERANDAH This morning, just before nine o'clock. Milieu arrived at the cottage in Moore Street in bis motor-car, and asked to see Mrs. Millen. She was in bed. She threw a wrap over her shoulders and went on to the tiny verandah which fronts the street. Rita Howie, who was waiting to go on an errand for Mrs. Bellingham, was standing near, but as she thought Mr. and Mrs. Millen wanted to discuss private business she walked away. Millen persuaded his wife to leave the verandah, and then tried to drag her toward the waiting motor-car, which was standing on the grasrf side of the unformed street. Mrs. Millen broke away after a short struggle. Rita Howie said she heard Millen arguing heatedly with his w ife. When Mrs. Millen broke away from her husband, she apparently endeavoured to run across the street to a" house occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Millen ran back to his motor-car, and grabbed a double-barrelled shotgun front the back seat, where it was lying, unknown to his wife. OVER IN FEW MINUTES Then came the culmination of the ghastly tragedy, which was over in a few minutes. Millen fired one shot at his wife, who had turned to look at him. The shots did not strike her. He aimed again, and this time the shot entered the body on the left side over the heart. Neighbours and Mrs. Bellingham heard Mrs. Millen scream °ut “Help, help, Thelma;” as she fell to the ground. Mrs. Bellingham, whose Christian name is Thelma, rushed out. She w as dazed by the suddenness of the tragedy. Then in an instant Millen had loaded the gun again, removed his coat and waistcoat, and shot himself through the heart. He fell on the grass near his dead wife. After the first shot, Mrs. Milieu seemed to be petrified. Her face was ghastly white and she just stood in toe rain on the wet grass looking at ner husband before the second and total shot was fired.

Mrs. Milieu arrived to stay with Mrs. Bellingham only last Tuesday. Mrs. Bellingham herself had only token the cottage a fortnight ago. COULD NOT AGREE

For some time past Millen and his *'f® have not been able to agree, and Mrs. Millen desired to obtain a separation and maintenance order sgainst her husband. The case came j*P at the Magistrate’s Court iuAuck*nd yesterday and was adjourned. Millen had desired his wife to go uck to him, but she would not do °> as they had tried in the past and CQ uld not agree. Lntil a fortnight ago Mrs. Millen «au Mrs. Bellingham had been farni®g on part of the farm of Mr. Millen, ® n -. on the main Howick Road, near 8 junction of the road leading to JtoJMand's Beach. However, the whole v farm was sold, and Mrs. Millen d decided to stay with Mrs. BellingJ?™* her sister-in-law, for a short _,® e > until she decided what to do. on ? women milked about 30 cows toeir p art t ij e f arm , au( i had vn Very wellan Vu n was living with relatives in nHart of the district, but be frotrv ntly att erupted to see bis wife to •, ant l Persuade her to return to him. 108 Millen family ia very well

FATAL END TO QUARREL Woman’s Vain Fight for Life A DOMESTIC difference ended in the deaths of a man and his wife at Howick this morning’. The victims of the tragedy were:— MRS. HILDA ISABELLA MARIA MILLEN, aged 35. HENRY JOHN MILLEN, aged 39. The tragedy occurred in Moore Street, some distance off the main thoroughfare through Howick, outside a cottage in which Mrs. Millen and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Bellingham, were living temporarily.

known both in Howick and Auckland. Mrs. Milieu's people are also wellknown in the district. Both families have lived there for many years. SERIOUSLY WOUNDED During the war Millen served in Egypt with the Auckland Mounted Rifles. He held the rank of quarter-master-sergeant. A brother-in-law stated this morning that Millen had been seriously wounded. The scene early this morning presented a dismal sight. Rain was falling heavily as the two bodies were lifted from the wet grass and placed on a motor-lorry, to be to the morgue at the Auckland Hospital. Dr. Martin Ross, of Otahuhu, was immediately called to the scene of the tragedy, and ascertained that both Millen and his wife were dead. Death was caused by gunshot wounds. It was learned this morning that there were no financial worries. Both Millen and his wife were comfortably off.

Millen had been farming in the Pakuranga district for some years and was a keen horseman. He owned several trotters, one of the best-known being Lady Roberts. Milieu left a letter to his son, which is in the possession of the police.

QUIET SIDE ROAD

DEATH IN PEACEFUL SETTING FEW HOUSES NEAR It was a quiet, grass-grown side-road that was the scene of the tragedy. There are few houses on it, but the bodies were found in the centre of a group of three cottages on the grass at the side of the road opposite Mrs. Bellingham's house, where Mrs. Millen had been staying. rvN the side where the shooting occurred is the cottage of Mr. Smith, and it was outside his gate that Mrs. Millen fell dead. About 50yds furtheT down the undulating clay road is a cottage where Mrs. White, an elderly woman, and her daughter live. They were at the back of their house at nine o’clock and did not even hear the shots.

Miss Smith, who lived in the house opposite Mrs. Bellingham’s, was in bed when she heard the shots. One of the first of the relatives on the scene was Mr. Frederick Fitzwilliams, Mrs. Milieu’s only brother. He lives at Howick and was summoned to Moore street by a messenger on a motor-cycle. The bodies had not been moved when he arrived. POLICE SENT FOR Constables Kennedy and Devereux, of the Howick Police Station, were sent for, and Constable Kennedy immediately telephoned to Sergeant Rowell, of Otabubu. The message was sent on t'o the central police station in Auckland, and Detective-Ser-geant J. Bickerdike and Detective Allsopp left immediately for Howick, where Sergeant Rowell bad already joined the local men. Later Inspector J. Mcllveney, who is at present acting-superintendent in charge of the Auckland head district, and Sub-Inspector T. Gibson, of the detective force, also visited Howick. The relatives and those of the neighbours who had met Mrs. Millen during her brief stay in Moore Street speak very highly of her. ‘‘She was a lovely woman,” said Miss Smith, who lives opposite the Bellingham home. TRAGIC SHOCK A tragic moment awaited Mrs. McIntyre who, with her husband, was sitting in the grandstand watching the Auckland B v. South Auckland match at Eden Park this afternoon. On opening a newspaper Mrs. McIntyre collapsed when she learned that her eldest brother had been concerned in the Howick tragedy. She was carried to the St. John Ambulance rooms suffering from severe nervous shock. She was attended by Dr. J. A. Watson, and was later taken by the ambulance to the hospital. Mrs. Mclntyre lives at 18 Wynyard Road, Mount Eden. INQUEST OPENED The inquest concerning the deaths of Milieu and Mrs. Millen was opened this afternoon, before Mr. F. I-I. Levien, S.M., coroner. After evidence of identification had been given by Mr. Norman Millen, a brother of | Henry John Millen, the inquest was adjourned sine die.