SHOCKING TRAGEDY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2317, 11 February 1892, Page 3

SHOCKING TRAGEDY.

Feb. 0. This morning the whole of Tauranga was thrown into a state of great excitement through the news that Duncan Munro (stepson of Mr James Bodell, late mayor of the town), had murdered his wife and four children, aged respectively J) months, 3, o, and 6 years, the youngest being a girl and the three others boys. For the last couple of days Duncan Munro, who was about two or three years ago an inmate of the Whau lunatic asylum, has been certainly not accountable forh|s as he is suffering from rehgious mania,' and has been talking of offering up a sacrifice tq the Most High, but as he had done the same on former occasions no notice was taken of him except that his relations kept an eye on him. Last night his brother left him at his house at about 9 o'clock, with his wife and children in the front part of the house and Duncan in the kitchen, with a room adjoining to sleep in. The door between the front rooms and kitchen was only to ba opened from the front. At 7 o'clock thw morning the daughter of McEoberts, ;-. milkman, wont with the milk but could not make anyone hear, and she called her father, who was in the milk cart. Mcßoberts opened the kitchen door and discovered Mrs Munro and the eldest boy on the floor in a pool of blood and their heads frightfully knocked He then saw Munro on the beach at the back of the house in his night clothes. Mcßoberts informed Mr Bodell, who lives opposite, and the police and doctors.

were soon in attendance. It was then found that the wife and child still breathed, and underneath the bodies was found a flat iron and a rolling pin covered with blood, which were evidently the weapons which had been used. On going into the front bedroom it was found that two little boys in the double bed had their skulls smashed, and in the cot was the little girl with her brains spattered over the bed clothes. When the doctors arrived all the the bodies breathed, but from the first no ho t es were held out. Since then the youngest child and the two eldest boys, George and Johnny, have died. There are great signs of a desperate struggle, for articles of furniture and ornaments are smashed and broken. It is presumed that the murder took place about 3 a.m. Munro was promptly arrested in the town in his night shirt, which is covered with spots of blood. Dr Hullen thinks it probable that a knife was used on Mrs Munro, but no such-weapon can be found. All the skulls were battered on the left side. The man Duncan Munro, the author of the tragedy at Tauranga, committed the dreadful deed while suffering from religious mania. The first discovery of the tragedy was mad« by a milkman on going round with the milk about six o'clock in the morning. The family lived in a small four-roomed cottage at the back of the Presbyterian Church, and close to the Waikarau beach. Just before reaching the house the milkmau saw Munro on the beach in his nightshirt. Finding that'no one answered his knock, and seeing the front door open, the milkman began to suspect that something was wrong. On opening the door, he saw the eldest boy lying on the floor, just at the entrance to the kitchen in a pool of blood apparently dead. On going into the kitchen, he saw Mrs Munro lying on the kitchen floor, apparently dead, and battered about the head almost beyond recognition. Further examination showed that the other three children had also been attacked, and an awful sight presented itself. In the bedroon the second boy lay apparently slaughtered in his cot, and the third boy and the baby were lying battered in bed, having evidently been sleeping with their mother. They all appeared to have been attacked in bed, and were all attacked in the same way. The father appears to have got up towards daylight, seized a flat iron by the handle, and struck it into the heads of his unfortunate victims. They were all struck in the same way, the point of the iron having been driven into their heads over and over again. There were no marks at all on the bodies. The baby had evidently been struck unconscious at once, as when found it looked quite peaceful, with its head on its right hand, as if struck dead while sleeping. Mrs Munro would appear to have got out of bed, and partly dressed, as she had her underclothing, corset and a petticoat on, and had evidently rushed out of the room either to escape the maniac or to protect one of her children. She was seriously mutilated; almost the whole of the back of her head being hammered in and the brain protruding ; pieces of her skull were picked up on the kitcken floor. There are marks of a violent and desperate struggle having taken place, the sides of the room being marked with blood and hair where she had fallen or been knocked against it. The victims are—Grace Emma Munro, the wife, thirty years ; George, six years; John Hugh, five years ; and Lilian, nine months. The father's age is thirty-three. He was born in Victoria, but has been a resident of Tauranga since the year 1864. The two eldest boys lingered till about eleven o'clock, when they died nearly at the same time. The baby lived till about half past one o'clock. None of them recovered consciousness. Mrs Munro lies in an unconscious state, breathing heavily, but no hopes whatever of her recovery are held out, and it seems to be only a matter of how long she and the other child will live. After committing the dreadful deed the father wandered about the beach, round to the sulphur works, and along to the strand, where he was arrested. On being spoken to he admitted he had killed them all, and said, "Glory, hallelujah;" and when asked how he did it, said it was with a flat iron, and that God had told him to do it. Later.

Munro, who has been in the police cell all day, has been howling and screaming and singing hymns, and although he is conscious of what he has done, he seems to have no idea of the enormity of the crime. Since morning he has neither eaten nor drunk anything. This afternoon composing draughts were administered to hiin. He has been liable to homicidal mania for some years past Since he was a boy he has beQn gubjept to epileptic fits, and two or three years ago developed religious mania, which culminated in snch dangerous symptoms that he was sent to the Auckland lunatic asylum. After being there a few months, his wife yielded, against her better judgment, to the earnest solicitations of her relations, and he was releasee! from, the asylum. Of late he fyad again developed very dangerous symptoms, and has threatened the life of his family several times. The day before the fatal deed was done he said that he had a sacrifice to make. Dr Bullen repeatedly warned Munro's relatives of the danger of h,is being at large, especially fa his family, but unfortunately no notice was taken of the warning. In his lucid intervals ]Mfunro was an affectionate husband, fond of his children, and a most temperate man.