A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY

Waikato Argus, Volume XXIV, Issue 3753, 9 April 1908, Page 2

A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY

Husband's Awful Crime. Murderous Assault. WIFE AND FAMILY OF FIVE ATTACKED. THREE CHILDREN KILLED WITH AN AXE. HUSBAND COMMITS SUICIDE. By Telegraph. —Press Association. Invercargill, Last Night. A shocking tagedy occurred early this morning in South Invercargill. A man named James Reid Baxter, who carried on business in the borough as a seed merchant, made a murderous assault upon his wife and family. The injuries inflicted upon three of the children were so serious that they died before any assistance could be obtained. Mrs Baxter and two other children were also fearfully maimed, and they are now in the hospital in a critical condition. Baxter commited suicide by exploding a detonator cap in his mouth. The scene of the tragedy was a horrible one, and presented evidence of a most awful struggle. The cause of the tragedy is not explained. The tragedy was evidently premeditated. The victims were apparently asleep when Baxter entered the bedroom occupied by his wife and some of the children armed with an axe. He attacked one after the other with maniacal fury, battel ing in their heads with his heavy weapon, The family were alone, and were unable to offer any resistance, while the whole tragedy had been enacted before the neighbours had any knowledge of the occurrence. The discovery was first made by a person who called at Baxter's house early in the morning, who on receiving no reply to repeated knocks, made further investigation, which aroused his suspicion, and he then communicated with the police. The police on entering the house, found Baxter and three of the children lying dead, while the mother and two other children were unconrciojs, and suffering from what appeared to Le fatai injuries. The victims of the tragedy were stiil in their beds, and it is probable that the three children who were found dead had been killed instantaneously. Baxter was a man about 43 years of age, who had a shop in town, and carried on a nursery at Invercargill South. The names of the victims are:—Basil, aged nine; Roy, aged four; Ronald, aged two. Those in the hospital, for whom only slight hopes of recover l ,' are entertained, are: -Mrs Baxter," aged 37; Phyllis, aged 11; baby, aged 6 weeks. There is no apparent motive for the tragedy. The Inquest. Invercargill, This Day. The inquest on the victims of the Baxter tragedy began yesterday afternoon. Archibald McLean, chief missionary in Invercargill, said: "i reside next door to the house occupied by the deceased, and was intimately acquainted with him and the family. The two boys lying dead in the front room are Basil and Roy, and the one in the back bedroom is Ronald. I heard no noise or disturbance last night, and I noticed nothing unusual in Mr Baxter's manner lately. Between 10.45 and 11 yesterday morning I went to the front window of the house and raised the blind end saw the b idies of Basil and Roy. I then telephoned to the police. Mrs Baxter and the baby and Phyllis were removed to the hospital. I accompanied the sergeant into the house, entering by the front window, and made a hurried examination of the two bodies in the front room and found life extinct. In the room immediately behind it Roy was found dead in bed, and Phyllis was alive on the floor, but unconscious. We then entered Mrs Baxter's bedroom. As we went in she raised herself and turned towards the door and said "What is the matter," and then sank back unconscious. The baby was in its cot alongside.and was conscious. Looking through the bathroom window and seeing a body in the bath, we burst the door, and found Baxter lying in the bath which was full of water. Baxter was dead, and holding a gun in one hand, the muzzle pointing towards his feet. The gun contained a discharged cartridge in the barrel. The inquest was adjourned till Thursday, but if Mrs Baxter is not then in a condition to give evidence it will be further adjourned.