TRAIN TRAGEDY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 239, 23 July 1935, Page 5

TRAIN TRAGEDY

MURDER AND THEN SUICIDE. A SECOND WOUND EXPLAINED. (United Press Association—Copyright). (Received This Day, 11.25 a.m.) LONDON, July 22. At the inquest at Southampton concerning the death of a couple found shot in a train the verdict was that John Keyes murdered Emily Jarvis and then committed suicide. A retired detective-inspector gave evidence regarding a previous ease where the contracting of a finger on the trigger caused a second) shot. A London cablegram dated July S stated l : The discovery of a couple found dead on a midnight train, with two bullet wounds in each heart, led to a surprising theory at an inquest at Southampton that the case might be muider by a third person. The couple were John Keyes, aged 24, a purser, and Emily Jarvis, aged 24, whom Keyes is reported to have wished to marry. She was engaged and refused to give up her fiancee. An automatic pistol was found in the compartment; also an undischarged cartridge which did not fit the automatic.

The Coroner said it was most extraordinary that there should be two bullet wounds in each case. The shock of having a bullet in the heart must have been awful.

“I can not see how a man would have power to pull the trigger the second time,” said the Coroner. “The possibility of a person entering the train at Waterloo Station and shooting the couple may be a mare’s nest, but it is necessary to adjourn the inquiries.”