ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1801, 11 October 1888, Page 4

ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE.

Melbourne Oct oh r 2

A man named Geo. Symes, a blacksmith by trade,was arrested at Lilydale on Wednesday morning on a charge shooting, with intent to murder, his wife and mother-in-law, .Air<Clifford, It appears that at ten o’clock Sjmels, who had been separated from his wife for some time, went to the house where she n sides, and which belongs to Mrs Clifford, and, after lome altercation, fired four shots from •.. five-chambered revolver at the woman, one of them taking effect on Mrs Clifford, the bullet passing through her arm into her aide. Mr Strachan, baker, who was on his usual rounds, heard the shots and screaming as he approached the house, and met Mr Symes in the passage. Strachan closed with him, and, with the assistance of a man named Baynes, living next door, succeeded in securing Symes and detaining him until the arrival of the police, who arrested him. The revolver was found in the possession of the injured woman, who appears to have snatched it from him after ha fired at her. On examination one chamber whs found to be loaded and the other four empty. In Symes’ possession were found thirty-one bull cartridges fitting the revolver. Mrs Clifford, who is between sixty and seventy years of age, is now under the treatment of DrDu’ton, and, although she is still in a precarious condition, he has some hopes that the wound may not prove fatal. Symes, who appears comparatively unconcerned, has made no statement, nor given any reason for the act.