A Terrible Tragedy

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 53, 23 July 1914, Page 5

A Terrible Tragedy

( IItLDIiEX SEE THEIR MOTHER MURDERED. KILLED WITH AX AXE. By Telegrapn—Press Association. , Wlnmgarci, Last Night, •a ill:' inquest eoncerninu- lhed«it;h °' •'■ !:'n- Ilaimnon. the victim, of the ■ i.ir.iiiig-hoiiso trage,!,- yesterday, the ■y-dence of a son ag,,] ];;. s i, owea th . lt "- parents quarrelled three weeks ago. mother joking with the boarders. The witness lathe,. i cnt his moth money, and 'his father was annoyed because s.hc did not return it to llidm, and He declined to go to work until it was paid.

Ihe night "before his mother was killed, his father rolled up (his swag and said ilr. was going to Kawakawa in the morning, un Tuesday morning, witness and Ms father, who slept in a tent in the grounds, got up at four o'clock, and asked his mother for money fo.- the journey.' His mother refused,' and' 'his father got the axe, and when the mother's hack was turned he struck her on the Head. She screamed and fell backwards. His- father then struck lier two or three times as she lay on t'he floor, end left the axe buried in her ihead. IfU father then shouted "good-bye," and rushed out of tibe'bouse. His mother uttered no sound save a low moaning after the first blow. x Arthur Hamimon, aged 15. said his parents quarrelled a good deal at times. His father had. two weeks previously threatened to "do for" witness for taking his mother's nart. A medical witness said that the axe was extracted with difficulty. . W. Woods, a boarder, said ti!w deceased had told him three weeks ago that her husband had threatened hei' again. ■Sergeant -Moore stated that Mammon, or. arrest, said, "It was done for lihe best. It was done for the children's sake. She said I wouldn't work, and she was cruel to the children. It will all come out now." 1 The coroner sajd it was a- shocking , case. ' A verdict of "wilful murder" was returned, 'and the accused was brought before the Court and so charged'. He was remanded until Monday. j