TRAGEDY AT MARTON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 180, 17 December 1912, Page 5

TRAGEDY AT MARTON.

MURDER AND SUICIDE. By Telegraph— Presi Association. Palmerston North, Last Night. Word has been received of a double tragedy at Marton Junction to-day. A horseman riding along the road in the vicinity of Marton Junction Station was nearly thrown through his horse shying at some object lying by the roadside. He rode up to see what the object was, and found it to be the body of a girl. He immediately reported the matter to the police. Another body, that of a man, was lying near by. The man was reported to be H. W. Urquhart, of Wellington, and the girl Lorna Gordon, of Marton. Information so far obtained is to the effect that Urquhart was a carpenter, of Wellington. Recently he was engaged at Marton as clerk of works on a residence undergoing erection. While there he became acquainted with Miss Gordon, who was 20 or 21 years of age. Several letters had passed between them. The relatives of the girl objected to the intimacy between the two. Urquhart had gone back to Wellington, and a day or two ago wrote to Miss Gordon from there, telling her that a friend of his would reach Marton by the Main Trunk train that day, and asking her to exchange the letters that had passed between them. The girl apparently had come in from Fern Flats, where she was residing with her relatives, and had gone to the train to keep the appointment. It was Urquhart himself who brought the letters. They went a few chains away from the station, and there the tragedy had been committed by the roadside. The girl, when found, was not quite dead, but expired soon after assistance arrived. The discovery was made about an hour after the train had left. The girl was shot twice in the arm and in the right side. ! The man was shot through the heart, and was dead. A revolver was lying near. The tragedy has caused a great I sensation in Marton. i