MADNESS, MURDER, AND SUICIDE.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 671, 14 June 1870, Page 3

MADNESS, MURDER, AND SUICIDE.

(From the Age, May 23.) The town was startled on Saturday by the announcement that a terrible tragedy had occurred at Ballarat in the early part of the day. Our evening contemporary gives the following account of the ghastly occurrence : The metropolis, unfortunately, is not the only place in the Colony where horrible crimes are perpetrated. The premier goldfield city has become the scene of a more awful occurrence than has just terminated in Melbourne. This morning, shortly after 9 o'clock, and just as the business of Ballarat was about commencing in full activity, as is usually the case on Saturday morning, the residents of Ballarat were startled by the report that Mr Cooke of the firm of Cooke Brothers, had shot Mrs Moss, the wife of a tinsmith, and plumber in Armstrong-st, and had then commited suicide. As far as we can learn the particulars of this most distressing case, they are as follows : —At nine o'clock this morning Mr Cooke was seen in the yard at the rear of Mr Moss's shop talking earnestly to Mrs Moss. From part of his dress he produced a bottle and exhibited it to Mrs Moss. She inquired what was in it, and to her horror was told by Mr Cooke that it contained poison. For some time the conversation was prolonged, but it was carried on in such low tones that it was inaudible to those near. After the conversation was over Mr Cooke went into the shop alone. As Mrs Moss seemed intent upon following him, a servant who was standing by interfered, and urgently requested her not to do so. The doomed woman would not, however, be moved from her purpose, and she immediately followed Cooke into the house. A few moments after her entering into the house the report of a gun was heard, accompanied with loud screams. A woman then rushed into the shop, and found Mrs Moss shot. She was leaning against the wall, pale, bleeding, and apparently dead. Cooke was armed with a double-barrelled gun, and just as he was secured round the body, by a neighbor who had come into the shop, he fired the weapon, which was pointed at his throat. The charge, entering at the lower part of the face, went right through his head, and blew the brains right through the top of his skull. Mrs Moss fell from the wall to the floor on the second discharge from the gun taking place. The dead bodyof Mr Cooke fell close to that of Mrs Moss. From the time when Mrs Moss was first seen after she had been shot she never spoke. As the two bodies were lying on the floor of the shop, they presented a most awful appearance. Mrs Moss had been shot below the left breast, and the charge had gone through the heart. Cooke's head was literally blown to atoms. Mr Moss was absent from home when the murder and suicide took place ; but a messenger was sent for him. When the sad news was conveyed to him, he fainted away, and in this condition he was taken home. The excitement caused is very great, as all the parties to this lamentable occurrence are so well known. Mrs Moss was a woman of more than ordinary attractions. She was well known and universally liked. Her connections are very numerous and most respectable, and for some years Mr Moss, as a plumber and tinsmith, has been carrying on a most extensive business. Mr Cooke, as already mentioned, was a partner in the firm of Messrs Cooke Brothers, wholesale ironmongers. Mr Cooke was unmarried, and was universally respected. The murdered woman had no children, so happily there is no family deprived of a mother's care. Up to this time no difinite cause has been assigned for the occurrence of such a fearful tragedy, but rumors of various kinds are afloat. The bodit s are now in charge of the police, and until the inquest is held it would be unwise to mention any of the numerous guesses as to why such a frightful crime has been committed. This melancholy affair will certainly cause great excitement in Geelong, where the unfortunate lady and her family were for years well known and greatly respected. For some considerable time dating, we believe, from 1855, Mrs Moss, then Miss Claxton, was one of the leading amateur vocalists in that town, and was for some time connected with the choir of the principal Baptist Church. She was also one of the best amateur contralto singers then in Victoria. She was also a member of the Sacred Harmonic Society in that town, and it was during her connection with that body that she made the acquaintance of Mr Moss, to whom she was eventually married. Mr Moss was then associated in business as a wholesale tinsmith with Mr Bennett, a gentleman highly respected by his brother townsmen. A strange fatality seems to have attached to this ill-fated firm and family, for some few months after his marriage with Miss Smith (another member of the same musical society),

Mr Bennett was accidentally shot while in the height of enjoyment at a picnic at Mount Moriac. Shortly after this melancholy event Mr Moss relinquished business in Geelong and left for Ballarat, at which place he has up to this time been carrying on a large business. Still more fatality. Mrs Doolan, the younger sister to the late Mrs Moss, and who herself was possessed of great personal attractionp, died some few years back at Echuca, after a lingering illness, caused by receiving severe burns at a fire which took place at her residence. From another correspondent in Ballarat we have received the additional particulars that Mr Cooke was about thirty years of age, and Mrs Moss thirty-one or thirty-two.