SUICIDE IN STREET

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 422, 1 May 1937, Page 5

SUICIDE IN STREET

GUNDAGAI TRAGEDY Wife Found Murdered Sydney, April 24. Walter Charles Small, 42, a temporary shire engineer and owner of a grazing property, shot himself dead in front of the Gundagai (N.S.W.) police station, shortly after he had killed his wife at his home five miles away. Mrs Small was shot between the shoulder blades with a shotgun, evidently the same one which her husband used to commit suicide. Small’s motive did not become clear in the ensuing police investigations, but as he was to have visited Sydney for an operation within a few days for an internal illness the police formed the opinion that this might have preyed on his mind. Small was well known in the district and was highly respected. Two of his brothers, one an inspector and the other a constable, are in the Police Force, and another brother, who was also an inspector, recently retired.

Letters found in Small’s clothing sent police post-haste to the dead man's residence, which they found barricaded up. They forced their way in. They found Mrs Small lying dead across a bed. She had apparently been killed about two hours previously. She had evidently been dressing to go to the township. There had been no struggle. She had died instantly from the shot, fired from behind her. Earlier in the morning Small had taken his five children, ranging in age from seven to 14 years, to a convent school at Gundagai.