DREADFUL TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 161, 9 July 1910, Page 15

DREADFUL TRAGEDY.

WIFE AND FOUR CHILDREN MUBDEKED IN A COTTAGE, : JATHEB FOUND WITH A COT ' ; ' ' THROAT. A shocking tragedy-was discovered at Sunderland between 8 and 9: o'clock on the morning of May 28, Involving the deaths of a woman and four children, while the •woman's husband was taken to the infirmary suffering from a eelf-lnfllcted wound on the throat. . . ■■; . . The house Tfhere the murders occurred Is No. 2, Back Aylesbury-etreet,. In the . West Knd of Snnderland, a congested and poor district, mostly inhabited by' Bhipyard workers and labourers. It is..a one-storey building, with a yard between, it and. a cottage fronting on to Aylesbury-street. The place is close to Millfield" Station, on the Ndrth-Bastern Hallway, the station being the first from -Sunderland Central on the line to Durham. About three weeks ago the 111-fated family, consisting of William Jones, about 35 years of age, said to be a. laboured; Susannah Jones, his -tfife; and folir children —three girls and a ia live at the place mentioned. The children were James, aged eight years; Mary- Josephine, aged seven; -Susannah, aged five; aiad a biiby girl about a year and four months old. They came from Southwick-on-Wear, : having previously lived in Malvern-street, near StoHey-lane, Soutuwick. The man was not working, and it Is understood he had been but bf employment for the past three years. The first Indication, that something was wrong "was A SOUND OF MOANING prdceedlng from Jones' house; This was heard by a young man who resides at No; 2, Aylesbury-street, the cottage on the other side of the yard. He could not locate the ' sounds. Immediately, nor .guess iheir exact ; nature. At first he went Into the back street to find out their cause, thinking the ' noise came from there, but found that the ' moans proceeded from the rooms occupied by Jones and his wife and family. A voice was murmuring feebly "Will no- one come to my assistance?" and the young man at once went Into the yard and opened the dobrj The first object to strike attention, was the man Jones himself, -who was lying on thfe floor at the bedroom door, bleeding pro- , filsely from i. GHASTLY WOUND IST HIS THHOAT, > which had evidently been Inflicted by a I razor which lay near. Both rooms contained blood in almost every part. The sight in the bedroom was yet more horrible. Mrs Jones and the baby lay dead In bed ivrith shocking wounds on ihe throat, and, on a "shakedown" in the corner of the ibonj, which the three other children used as a bed, they were all lying dead, 1 also with their throats cut. Considerable force must have been -used to Inflict euch terrible wounds. The woman, however, had other injuries. In addition to the gaping wound In her throat, there 'was a terrible slash betw-een the breasts and the neck, and a large piece of the breast had been cut bs. She had also been battered 1 about the head. Jones liinisolf was alive, th-dugh the wound on his throat was severe. Meanwhile, the alarm had been given, and the police soon arrived. As soon as possible the police ambulance was brought, and : Jones was conveyed on it to the Infirmary. It Is said that, -while being removed, he , moaned: "OH, WHT DID I DO IT? Why did I do It? No motive can be assigned for the crline, unless It be that the fact of being out of work so long hail preyed on the man's mind. The furniture of the place showed that the ' family were very poor. On the wall of the bedroom In "which the deed was committed, the following words ' were written, "Revenge is sweet." Later inquiries Show that Jones and his wife frequently quarrelled, and on two occa- ■ sions the wife had taken out summonses for lassault against her husband; but ench time the pair settled their differences without going into court. Jones had fonrid casual work not long ago at the labour yard at the Sunderiahd workhouse. It seems that on the Saturday evening Jones was helping his wife cloth to make mats, "which he used to do In order to supplement the scanty income. At 7 o'clock he went out, stating that he was going to visit his parents. He went over the Alexandra bridge to Soutbjwlck, where he was seen by a Ifieiid, but he was-not seen at his father's hotise. At 11 p.m; he returned home, and not a sound seems to have been heard by the neighbours until the , man'a groans aroused attention the next morning.