DEATH OF MRS. PEECK.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 193, 16 August 1910, Page 9

DEATH OF MRS. PEECK.

•; HER- HUSBAND COMMITTED FOB TRIAL. MELBOURNE, August 3. Ai the inqnest to-day into the circumstances surrounding tie death of Mrs. Annetta Peeck, victim, of che East Bairnsdale tragedy, Mrs. Francis, niece of iErnest Peeek, said that on the afternoon of June 21 sic saw Mr. and Mrs. iPeeck in their dining-room. Peeck saic •they wero being poisoned. Poison was ■being pu£ in -£he jam, £>roth, and medicine also, and that .they were being waichtd by a secret society. Mrs. Peeck -was crying. She said she had jS taken some of the broth, and "woks up • : ijrith dreadful pains. Peeck said that ihe tracks of buggies which had been - driving -aii out all nignt could be seen outside the house. Witness went outside to satisfy !him, and on returning tried, but failed, to prove it -was a delusion. .'He /asked witness to see that his children were properly itreated if anything happened to him. Peeck and his wife jwere"fond of each other,.and also of the «faildren_ -' " -•■-• •■■ . Mr. F. Stuart, solicitor, stated that on ihe iight of June 17 he went to - OPeeefs home, and drew out his will. The .will was made out in favour of his wife, lifetime and widowhood, and after her death, or eecond marriage, then 4o the children. The wife was appointed ; executrix. ' Sergeant Williams stated that, after 3u3 removal to the Hospital, Peeck said lie wanted to make a statemont, and on paper and pencil being, provided, he /wrote as follows^—"I make the followtrue statement. My wife and I decided to die together.- We had two lazors, which could be found on the bedroom floor. She lay bads and cut hers, and Jay where she felL I then cut anine, but could not. sever the jugular '.irein. I then started taking drugs and •morphia, hoping to kill myself. At last I lay on the bed and cut my arm. Then I heard the children crying, I ran to ■ Sox's, and told than by rapping." The Coroner found that death was caused ,by a wound in the throat inflicted by deceased's husband, Ernest George Peeck, who was committed for trial at the Supreme Court, Bairnsdale, on September 21. Bail was refused.