FAMILY TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 August 1922, Page 5

FAMILY TRAGEDY.

FOUR FOUND DEAD. s REST OF FAMILY UNCONSCIOUS. USE OF DRUG SUSPECTED. CURIOUS MELBOURNE CASE. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received August 14, 10 pm. Melbourne, Aug. 14. One of the most shocking tragedies in the history of Melbourne, resulting in four deaths, was discovered at the residence of Dr. Granstoun, at Hampton. A patient went to consult the doctor, but failed to obtain a reply to his ring at the door-bell, and, hearing the telephone ringing inside, he became suspicious that something was wrong. He peered through the letter-slit in the door and saw a man lying in the passage. Assistance was obtained and an entry forced. It was then found that the man lying in the passage was the doctor, who, dressed in pyjamas, was unconscious, having apparently emerged from the bathroom and collapsed. A search of the house resulted in finding the dead bodies of the doctor’s sons—John, aged 15; Robert, 10, and Colin, B—and a young woman named Gladys Baylis; while Mrs. Cranstoun and the doctor’s two other young ehildi-en—Margaret (13) and Bella (6) —were found unconscious. The doctor, his wife and the two girls were removed to the hospital, and it is "expected they will recover. At present nothing is known of the circumstances that led up to the tragedy, but in all cases, it is believed, the victims were subjected to morphia injections. When found, the doctor had a hypodermic syringe lying beside him. The body of John was found lying on the hearthrug in the draw-ing-room. Robert and Colin were in separate beds upstairs, and Miss Baylis, who had acted as companion to Mrs. Cranstoun, was on a bed downstairs. The two girls and the mother were also in bed.