BANK ROBBED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 August 1938, Page 6

BANK ROBBED

MANAGER’S LIFE OF LUXURY. • SHOT HIMSELF & FAMILY. ■ At the inquest on Mr William Rawson Cornall, 36-year-old bank manager, who shot himself, his wife and two children, aged five and four, at their Cheshire home, it was revealed that irregularities which may amount to five figures were being investigated. Cornall earned £7OO a year, but he lived like a millionaire, it was disclosed. If he had to travel the shortest distance he took a taxi; if he heard that a friend was in financial trouble he sent him a large cheque; if a servant or porter did him a small service he would tip him £5. But the money he spent was not his. He had taken it from the bank and had skilfully hidden the thefts. Discovery was imminent. So William Cornall gave one last luxury party, then took his wife and two children to their expensive home, Guyswood House, Romiley, Cheshire. He drew a revolver, shot them all, then turned the weapon on himself and died. ' “He was the most generous man I have ever met,” one of Cornall’s closest friends said after the inquest. "Help to friends in heed and tips cost him hundreds of pounds a year. His wife and children had every wish gratified. Money dripped likp water through his fingers. We all regarded him as a man of substantial means, and although we knew he was living fax - beyond his bank manager’s salary, we though he had a large private income.”